Chapter 1928
If cargo throughput is used as a comparison standard, Changhua Port, located in the middle of the west coast of Hainan Island, is far busier than Yinggehai, because in addition to exporting a large number of steel products by sea, it is also continuously importing from the sea. The coal produced in Black Earth Port has at least three to five coal fleets arriving here every month, transporting part of the fuel required for the steel industry here.
However, the port conditions of Changhua Port are far inferior to other large ports on Hainan Island. The area of the harbor located at the mouth of the Changhua River is very limited, so congestion often occurs at the entry and exit channels. Although the shipping department and the Changhua local government have made many efforts to improve the situation, such as expanding the wharf, widening the waterway, increasing the loading and unloading cargo spreaders at the wharf, etc., these measures cannot fundamentally solve the local transportation bottleneck.
If foreign ships encounter channel congestion or insufficient berths when entering Changhua Port, it is also very common for them to wait outside Changhua Port for a day and a half, or to temporarily dock directly at the fishing village wharf near Changhua.
However, the fleet that Li Bo and his party traveled on did not encounter such trouble, because before they set off from Yinggehai, a telegram had already notified Changhua of their itinerary. The local governor, Qiao Zhiya, had previously received instructions from Victory Fort, requesting cooperation with the North Koreans' inspection trip. After receiving the telegram from Yinggehai, he asked the port authorities to make arrangements in advance and specially vacated the Two berths are reserved for the expedition fleet.
Although Qiao Zhiya did not wait at the dock in advance, after receiving the news from the port, he arrived at the dock in time to welcome the arrival of the North Koreans. On the contrary, this group of visitors had to wait a while longer on the boat in order to cooperate in completing the ceremonial procedures.
Li Pu didn't express any objection to this arrangement, because he already had a general understanding of the situation of the local Qiao Zhi Yaqiao from Li Xi. Since this is a serious high-ranking Haihan official, rather than a naturalized official like Luo Shengdong, it is completely understandable that he would be a bit more arrogant.
Compared with those high-ranking Haihan officials who often appear in public in Sanya or lead troops to fight overseas, Qiao Zhiya's reputation abroad is not great. People who have never been to Haihan will rarely know that such a number one exists. . But in fact, the Changhua and Shilu areas under Qiao Zhiya's jurisdiction, as well as the related mining and smelting industries, are the important foundation of Haihan's industrialization process.
It was only after Li Xi came to Haihan for a while that he gradually learned that there was such a special place hidden on the west coast of Hainan Island. However, he had never been here in person before. Everything he knew about Changhua was learned through various materials or folk rumors. Therefore, some of the information he could provide to Li Bo was not so certain. ingredients.
For example, there are many rumors about Mr. Qiao, who is in charge of all local government affairs, and Li Xi has heard several different versions.
It is said that Qiao Zhiya was sent to Changhua, a remote village, to serve as an official because he was ostracized by the higher-ups in Haihan. He did all the hard work of building roads, mining, and building ports. This shows that Fort Victory did not like him. However, Li Xi thinks that this statement is pure nonsense. As long as you understand the development process of Changshilu, you can expect that the officials sent by Fort Victory to carry out such an arduous task must have extremely strong abilities and have received sufficient support. of trust.
After all, the funds and manpower mobilized for these large-scale projects were very huge, which was not a small amount for Haihan at that time. Qiao Zhiya was able to be entrusted with important tasks and worked in this position for several years. This is It's obviously not a coincidence.
There are also rumors that Qiao Zhiya possesses special skills. He can not only find mineral veins in the wild, but is also proficient in smelting. It was his strong suggestion that the executive committee chose Changhua, an out-of-the-way place, to carry out large-scale construction projects. . Li Xi was a little skeptical about this rumor. After all, there were too many rumors about the mysterious abilities of the Haihan people. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why they were able to establish a powerful country on the coast of the South China Sea in just a few years. If Qiao Zhiya has any strange abilities, it seems reasonable to Li Xi.
Of course, in addition to smelting and mining, there is another project that must be mentioned in this place, and that is the freight railway connecting Shilu and Changhua. This railway, which was built in 1629, is more than 80 miles long and runs in both directions. It is still the longest railway in Haihan. It can be said to be one of the symbols of Haihan's outstanding engineering capabilities.
The Shilu mine mined by Haihan in the inland area basically relies on this transportation artery to transport the ore to the smelting furnace in Changhua, and then imports the living materials needed by thousands of people in the mining area from the outside. It can be said that it was with the assistance of this railway that Haihan was able to build a huge smelting industrial base on the west coast.
Of course, taking a train to experience this railway entering the inland mountainous area is also an indispensable item for every visitor who comes to this area to visit and investigate, and North Koreans are no exception. Li Pu had already learned about this railway from Li Xi when he was choosing his itinerary. He only had time to take a short train ride in Sanya, but he was quite concerned about this train trip that was dozens of miles long. Interest, which is one of the reasons why he set this place as the destination for investigation.
Although the fleet arrived here relatively late, the pier was obviously fully prepared for their arrival. Not only were the lights brightly lit, but the area had also been cleared in advance. There were only a few staff on the pier and a few vehicles were in place in advance. carriages, and armed troops on guard outside.
Li Bo and others did not wait long before they met the local official Qiao Zhiya. This dark and strong Haihan senior official took the initiative to accuse Li Bo after meeting him: "I have kept the prince waiting for a long time, and I have some official duties that I can't get away from at the moment." , forgive me!”
After meeting Li Bo, these accompanying officials took turns to report to Qiao Zhiya. They knew Qiao Zhiya's status and influence in their country better than the North Koreans, and they did not dare to neglect him at all. Especially Zhang Qianzhi and Gai Liangcai, who knew a lot of secrets, were even more respectful to Qiao Zhiya.
Although Qiao Zhiya today seems to be just a technical official in charge of local industrial development, Zhang Qianzhi and Gai Liangcai know that he was also one of the powerful figures in the Haihan military in the early days. Before he was transferred to preside over the development of Changshilu, Qiao Zhiya was involved in most of the military's combat operations, and he even had a share of the credit for early weapon development. If he had not been transferred here to serve as a local magistrate, Qiao Zhiya would probably be a famous general in the army now, leading troops to fight overseas.
Although Qiao Zhiya has been away from the army for several years, he still has many close friends who hold real power in the army, such as Navy Commander Wang Tom, Shi Diwen who is stationed in the East China Sea, Morgan who specializes in training snipers, etc. Schneider and Gu Kai on the executive committee also have close personal relationships with Qiao Zhiya. Therefore, although Qiao Zhiya is not in Sanya all year round, his status and influence within Haihan are still not bad. If he is willing to return to Sanya to work, he should start as a deputy in the Ministry of Industry. Li Pu knew very little about Master Qiao, but when he saw that the accompanying officials were so respectful to him, which was completely different from when he met Luo Shengdong in Yinggehai, he also thought that his influence must be extraordinary. At the moment, I was even more careful to avoid accidentally offending this high-ranking official from Haihan whom I met for the first time.
After everyone exchanged a few brief greetings, Qiao Zhiya invited everyone to get on the bus and head to the county seat. Although he was late, the reception banquet had already been arranged.
There is still a long distance between the old county seat of Changhua County and the coastline. However, this county seat is not the other county seat. The new county seat is very close to Changhua Port and can be reached in a short drive.
When he arrived at Yinggehai earlier, it was also at night. Although the visibility was not too high, Li Ming was still deeply impressed by the sight of white flowers and a layer of sea salt on the road in the port area. The situation here was just the opposite. The ground is completely dark, and there will be a slight grainy feeling when you step on it. These are all traces left by long-term coal unloading.
Currently, thousands of tons of coal arrive here every month. After unloading at the port, it is then sent to nearby smelting sites via short-distance rail transportation. With this kind of operation day after day and year after year, the ground here is covered with a thick layer of coal ash. The view is not very clear at night, but during the day it can be clearly observed that almost the entire port area here is covered with a layer of coal ash.
To be honest, Changhua County is not a livable place. The coal ash at the port is a trivial matter. What is even more serious is the smoke produced by the furnaces that burn all year round in the smelting and processing area. Qiao Zhiya has no good solution to this problem. He can only plant more trees around his residence and install screens on the doors and windows to clean the air in his living environment as much as possible. However, when the North Koreans first arrived, they were probably still in a relatively excited state and did not notice these details.
After Li Bo and his party landed ashore, they went straight to the banquet. However, Captain Xue and his party hanging behind were not familiar with the sea conditions and the speed was slow, so they fumbled their way to the mouth of the Changhua River and it was already too late. . But what made them even more overwhelmed was that the channel entering the port was blocked by several large cargo ships. It was midnight and the environment was unfamiliar to them, so they did not dare to try to squeeze into the shallow water next to the cargo ships. , it would be really troublesome if it ran aground on a rock.
In desperation, Captain Xue could only order the boat to stop nearby, then put down the small boat on the boat and take two people ashore to see the situation.
After waiting for about half an hour, the people who came ashore finally came back, bringing back two pieces of news, one good and one bad. The good news is that they saw the two ships of the North Koreans at the port, which showed that Captain Xue's judgment was correct and the next stop for the North Koreans was indeed here. The bad news is that the port staff said that there are currently no berths available for berth. They can only find a place to berth near the estuary by themselves. They can only queue up to enter the port after a cargo fleet leaves the port after dawn.
Although the ship couldn't enter the port, people could still go ashore. Captain Xue didn't want to waste another night on the ship, so he took several people ashore in small boats in batches, planning to go to the city to find a place to live. However, the group of them was still running around outside in the middle of the night, and they were inevitably stopped by the police on night patrol. After an interrogation, the police kindly took them to an inn that was still open. However, all the rooms with better conditions were gone, and there were only large bungalows provided for ordinary sailors. In desperation, they had no choice but to make do with it for one night.
Early the next morning, Captain Xue and others began to try to find out about the local geographical environment and whether there were reception institutions like the Guest House in the area. They don't know where the North Koreans are, and they can only get clues in this way first.
"Sir, if you want to ask about the most high-end residence in the local area, it is of course Mr. Qiao's manor at the foot of Daling. However, it is not open to the public. I heard that only big shots from Sanya can live there."
Captain Xue said that he had relatives working in the manor and wanted to find a chance to visit them. He also asked for the direction of Daling, and then he rewarded the waiter. Although this place sounds like it is probably a heavily guarded place, but since we have a target, we have to find a way to find out first to confirm whether North Koreans live there.
This large ridge is about four or five miles east of the county seat. Qiao Zhiya had already circled a large area of land here as his private property, and then slowly built a manor here according to his own intentions. Once Tao Dong came to Changhua to inspect his work and stayed in this manor for a few days. Before leaving, he half-jokingly said that there was no need to build institutions such as guesthouses in the local area. In the future, when important people came over, they would live directly in Qiao Zhiya's private manor. That's it.
Qiao Zhiya didn't even refuse, so he took over the job smoothly, so his private manor would also be temporarily used as a reception at certain times of the year.
Qiao Zhiya thought clearly about this matter. It would not cost much extra to donate his private manor for a few days, but those who are eligible to stay in his private manor must be insiders with status, or foreigners who come here for inspection. Political figures, taking this opportunity to establish good relationships with these people will definitely be helpful to their future career development. And this kind of opportunity cannot be bought simply with money. If you spend a small amount of money to manage high-level connections, you are actually taking advantage.
So this time when the crown prince of Joseon came to Changhua, Qiao Zhiya arranged for them to stay in his private manor as usual. As for security measures, Qiao Zhiya also used his own personal guard. However, because of his special status, his personal guard was larger than Luo Shengdong's, with a full company of men.
(End of chapter)