Chapter 1477 Reassurance
The population problem has always been one of the important factors that has troubled Haihan in developing overseas colonies, especially in Northeast Asia, which is thousands of miles away from Hainan Island. It is impossible to count on how many immigrants will be able to move from Haihan, so they can only look for nearby ones. Population sources. Introducing immigrants from Shandong is naturally a good choice, but as the situation in Shandong has gradually stabilized in the past two years, the number of refugees recruited by Haihan has also become increasingly scarce. If we want to repeat the situation in the previous two years, refugees will flock in as long as there is food. It is not easy to find a way out. Moreover, the Shandong government has been very wary of the immigration methods commonly used by Haihan. Even if ordinary people are fleeing, it is almost impossible to cross the state to the Haihan controlled area. Only those who have spent money to buy a pass from the government Only merchants with road records can enter and exit Fushan County smoothly. As a result, the number of immigrants Haihan can obtain from Shandong will naturally be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult to meet the needs of Liaodong.
Apart from Shandong, there are probably only a large number of Han Chinese with ambiguous identities in the area behind enemy lines in Liaodong. The reason why the identities of these people are ambiguous is because Liaodong is already an occupied area. Most of these Han people are currently slaves under the rule of Hou Jin, and the Ming Dynasty does not have the ability to rescue them. If Haihan could use force to open a breakthrough in Houjin's ruling area and rescue the Han people in the occupied areas, then these people probably would not mind changing their identities to be loyal to the Han regime from the south in the future, and it would not be easy for Ming Dynasty to use this as an excuse. Attack Haihan.
Of course, realizing this plan cannot be done just by talking about it. It must have the cooperation of the military to promote its implementation. The post-Jin army will not just watch Haihan do whatever he wants and plunder the population in his occupied area. Even if He Li and others did not understand military affairs, they also knew that this matter might be accompanied by a series of small-scale wars in the future, using war to plunder the population. This was similar to what the gold thief did.
The Hou Jin Dynasty originally lacked a population, so every year they invaded the south to attack the grass valley and kidnapped many people from the Ming Dynasty and brought them back to Liaodong to be used as slave labor. And Haihan obviously plans to follow the same example. I will get people out the same way you brought them in. When it comes to fighting, Haihan is not afraid of his opponents, and the military probably hopes to have a reasonable excuse to keep Liaodong in a state of war to some extent, so that it can have a long-term available place for actual combat training in Northeast Asia. field.
Of course, this will also include a lot of political games within Haihan. After all, for Haihan’s existing Liaodong strategy, continuing to fight Houjin is not a necessary option. Even if the purpose is to gain population, the Haihan Executive Committee will not We may not necessarily agree that the military will continue to maintain a high-pressure posture against Houjin in the Liaodong region. Because such an approach will inevitably require Haihan to maintain a large-scale garrison in Liaodong for a long time, and the military expenditures and material consumption of the war caused by this plan are even more difficult to predict, the two camps, both civil and military, will definitely start to expand around this unplanned military expenditure. It's a game.
But let alone Liu Shang in this level of gaming, even his boss Yu Xiaobao, and even Sha Xi, who he currently works for, can’t get involved. And with the level of intelligence Liu Shang has access to, it’s hard to imagine that Haihan’s senior officials would What a difference there is on this issue. The information Liu Shang obtained only came from a preliminary plan drawn up by Sha Xi after consultation with the military generals. Even if it was to be implemented, it would be at least some time later. But now Sha Xi hopes to make these southern businessmen feel at ease investing in Liaodong, so he instructs Liu Shang to reveal to them this plan, which has not yet been finalized, so that they can relax about the manpower issue.
It has to be said that Sha Xi’s work experience in the past few years has made him very experienced in dealing with such issues. He anticipated some issues that southern businessmen might worry or question in advance, and then made targeted preparations. Sure enough, after Liu Shang said this, He Li and others also felt that this matter seemed to be relatively feasible. After all, Haihan had already taken back most of Jinzhou from Hou Jin, and he wanted to open a few more places in the north in the future. It should not be more difficult than conquering the current area to allow those Han people who had escaped from Hou Jin's rule to defect to the south.
The existence of the Dongjiang Immigration Zone has made southern businessmen realize that the nature of Dongjiang Town may no longer be an official Ming army hanging overseas. Although it still retains this name in name, in fact the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town have They began to act according to Haihan's arrangements, and were currently extremely dependent on the supplies provided by Haihan to survive. There was no way to break away from this control based on a parasitic relationship.
He Li and others are smart people, so they naturally understand what this situation means. The existence of Dongjiang Town allows Daming to regain this area in name, but in the future, they can only hold their noses and admit Haihan's actual control of this area. . In a few more years, when Haihan turns this place into an iron barrel array, there will be no possibility for Ming Dynasty to take the land back.
The control of this place has always been in the hands of Haihan. For those businessmen who are willing to invest in Liaodong, it is actually good news. After all, Haihan built a country with force and prospered with business. In terms of business reputation, it is still It's very guaranteed, at least it's much better than many places in the Ming Dynasty where orders were changed overnight. Many Ming businessmen operating plantations in Haihan Kingdom signed contracts for more than ten years, and many signed contracts for twenty, thirty or even longer years. I think the situation in Liaodong should be similar in the future.
The team led by Liu Shang spent half a day visiting the Dongjiang Immigration Area, during which Jin Ping mainly explained the local construction conditions. Occasionally, when businessmen asked questions about sensitive topics, Liu Shang would take the initiative to answer them. He had kept in mind all of Sha Xi's instructions to him before. If he could handle this group of southern businessmen during this visit, then another achievement would be added to his personal resume, and this would be a great achievement for him. His future career promotion will definitely play a positive role in promoting it.
After completing the investigation and visit here, the team continued to drive to the northeast. Because this team all used horse-drawn carriages as transportation, the route was specially designed to bypass the mountainous area northeast of Lushun and travel directly along the Bohai coastline of the Liaodong Peninsula.
"It's about seventy or eighty miles from here to the front line. We will stop at the inn to rest tonight. If you have any questions at the moment, you can also ask them." Liu Shang introduced the current position to everyone on the carriage, and at the same time We are ready to continue to answer questions and solve problems for these investors.
"Mr. Liu, I would like to ask, this port of Port Arthur is so far away from the front line. Do we usually use this route to transport supplies to the front line?" At that moment, someone asked a question that interested him.
Liu Shangying said: "Most military supplies are transported directly from the sea to be unloaded near the front line. The ships you see anchored at Port Arthur are basically transporting civilian supplies. As for why we go by land instead of by sea, of course we have to take care of you. demand, so that everyone can see the original style of Liaodong continent with your own eyes and make an accurate judgment on whether it is worth investing in. ”
Liu Shang's tone was very sincere, and at first glance it seemed to be true. But if you think about it carefully, this visit is completely arranged by Haihan. Wherever he takes the southern businessmen to see, the itinerary has been planned in advance. In other words, what the southern businessmen can see here is actually Haihan. It was just a scene that was intentionally arranged for them to see.
Someone else asked: "If the gold thieves bypassed your army's defense line from the sea and directly invaded the rear, wouldn't it be easy to succeed?" Liu Shang smiled and shook his head: "Brother, I take it for granted! The enemy currently has no troops at all. With the ability to deliver troops on a large scale by sea, they can't even get together a few ships that can carry a hundred people, so how can they invade the rear? Besides, if our Haihan navy discovers its fleet, it will happen in less than two days. They were all sunk. Now the few remaining boats of the Jin people are staying in the inland river and dare not go out to sea, so there is no need to worry about what tricks they can do. "
He Li was just secretly amused after hearing this. He would definitely not ask such a childish question. If the Haihan people didn't even take measures to deal with such superficial military issues, how could they possibly fight all the way north from the South China Sea to Liaodong? Able to maintain an undefeated record. If it were possible to bypass the defense line and attack the rear, I'm afraid the Jin people would have already tried it, and they would not have the patience to give Haihan time to develop.
Although He Li has never been to Liaodong, he has already seen the map of Liaodong at Lushun Fort. The current occupied area and the location of the northern defense line are clearly marked on it. In his view, Hou Jin was good at cavalry warfare after all, and the chance of a comeback should still be on land. Whether the Haihan Army could hold the northern line of defense was probably the most important basis for businessmen to judge whether the local area was worth investing in.
That night the convoy camped at a post station near the coast. This place used to be a post station under the jurisdiction of the Jinzhou Guard. It was in a state of neglect after Hou Jin occupied it. However, after Haihan took over this area, he cleaned up the post station. came out and put it back into use. Although Haihan has a real-time information transmission tool such as telegraph, there are still many documents and files that need to be transmitted manually. The distance between Lushun Fort and the Jinzhou Isthmus is more than 100 miles. It is indeed necessary to set up such a post station to provide food and accommodation for changing horses on the way.
After many battles with Hou Jin, the number of horses Haihan kept in Liaodong, especially the number of war horses, even exceeded the total number of war horses in the entire Haihan country. And even this small inn actually has seven or eight horses, which shows that the local horse resources are indeed quite sufficient.
This inn is still managed by the military, so the people responsible for reception here are also personnel from the military logistics department. Liu Shang did not dare to show off his identity, so he specially asked the accompanying officers to come forward to check in.
The accommodation conditions of this inn in the wilderness are actually not comparable to those of Port Arthur, but there are no other options within a few miles, so we can only stay here for one night. As for the food, it is even simpler, rice porridge, pickles, or noodles. If you are willing to pay extra, you can also buy a salted egg.
For the businessmen who had eaten various kinds of banquets in the past few days, such content was really unattractive. After eating a little, they went back to their rooms to rest. We set out from Lushun Fort early this morning. Although we were traveling by horse-drawn carriage, we were really tired after being on the road for a long time. Being sleepy and exhausted can accurately describe the current state of this convoy. Maybe when we set out tomorrow, the packhorse pulling the cart will have to be replaced by the horses from the inn for a few days.
After nightfall, the sounds of various birds and animals could be heard faintly in the wilderness outside the inn. This primitive flavor was something that the pampered businessmen who were used to it had not experienced for a long time. There were occasionally howls of wolves in between, which made the foreign guests lying on the bed quite frightened. However, Liu Shang had already assured them that no wild beast could attack this inn, so they could only reluctantly believe it.
The post station is surrounded by a two-meter-high barbed wire fence, and there is a trench outside. Coupled with the monitoring and attack by the post station sentries, it is generally difficult for wild animals to approach the inn station, let alone break through the iron mesh defense here. When the fortifications were first built, there were still desperate wolves that launched an attack, but in the end they just left more than 20 corpses and retreated in anger, which fully demonstrated the terrifying combat effectiveness of Haihan's logistics troops.
Although the beast was terrifying, everyone could not bear the exhaustion and soon fell asleep. Until I woke up the next morning, sure enough, no beast had broken through the outer barrier of the inn.
While everyone was having breakfast, the convoy indeed replaced several pack horses whose physical strength had seriously declined. They were first fostered in the inn and then continued towards the Golden State Isthmus. After entering the plain area where Haihan and Houjin fought, there was a deserted scene within a few miles. There were no people or houses. This place seemed to be able to cultivate at least 10,000 acres of fertile land. What is currently lacking is probably It’s just investors like them joining us.
At the location of the Chinese army camp, which was about five miles away from the defense line, Qian Tiandun, the local top commander, took the time to meet with this group of businessmen. The reason why he came forward in person was naturally to attract investment and endorsement, so as to gain more trust from southern businessmen.
These southern businessmen have all heard of Marshal Qian Tiandun's reputation. After all, it was said that Marshal Qian's troops were responsible for Haihan's battle on Zhoushan Island. And this person will appear on the border of Liaodong. It is conceivable that he is here to command the Haihan army's campaign against Liao.
"... You are all guests from afar. Logically speaking, I should personally accompany you on the next trip. However, due to work reasons, I can only ask my deputy, Commander Takahashi Minami of the Special Operations Battalion, to do it for you!" Qian Tian Dun said a few words in a nonchalant manner, then took his leave and left.
(End of chapter)