Chapter 1948
After the fleet bypassed Cat Ba Island, it sailed into the beautiful waters of Halong Bay. There are 3,000 large and small islands in this area of about 1,500 square kilometers. Various jagged limestone pillars protrude from the sea, forming a A fantastic sight. Li Bo had never seen such karst terrain on the sea, and he was very surprised at the moment. He stayed on the deck to enjoy the scenery. Baix specially ordered the ship to slow down so that everyone could enjoy the natural scenery.
In fact, Haihan's senior officials also attach great importance to this sea area. A few years ago, some senior officials successively designated some islands with better conditions here as private territories. During their vacations, they would bring their families and stay here for ten and a half days. months.
Li Bo stood on the side of the ship and looked at the scenery for a while, and couldn't help but ask Bai Kesi a somewhat embarrassing question: "Excuse me, Mr. Bai, does this place currently belong to your country or the Annan Kingdom?"
Bai Kesi probably did not expect that Li Bo would ask this question, and he hesitated for a moment before responding: "The agreement signed between our country and Annan Kingdom on the ownership of Black Tu Port has relevant provisions. The twenty-mile radius of the sea area centered on the Black Tu Port pier is owned by The sea areas outside of our country’s control and jurisdiction still belong to the Annan Kingdom, so this place is a part of both countries, and it does not belong to only one of them.”
Because of the special alliance formed by the two countries in the early years, the areas actually controlled by Haihan in Annan were not unilaterally occupied. Bilateral agreements were signed to clarify the ownership of these areas. Hai Han's main goal in this area is the coal mines here. Although Halong Bay is beautiful, there is no need for Hai Han to take it as his own.
For Haihan and Annan, the common interests of the two countries far outweigh the actual ownership of this maritime scenic spot, so both parties have a tacit understanding of maintaining the agreement in the agreement many years ago and will not actively seek changes. , so as not to affect the good diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The voyage from the east side of Cat Ba Island across Halong Bay to Black Tu Port is actually only 20 nautical miles, but in order to fully appreciate the scenery here, the fleet even specially anchored at a small island in Halong Bay for one night to arrange for Li Hao and his party to visit this place. sunrise over the sea.
Although Li Bo hoped to minimize the unimportant arrangements in the inspection itinerary, the beautiful scenery of Halong Bay made him temporarily give up such thoughts, and he readily agreed to stay here for one more night. This decision did not make him regret it in the end. The next morning, he saw the rising sun rising from the sea to the east, and the surrounding islands seemed to be rising together with the rising sun breaking through the sea. The scene was quite spectacular.
"There are such wonders in the world!" Li Bo admired sincerely when he saw this scene. He felt that the wonders of heaven and earth were far beyond his imagination.
"The world is so big and full of wonders. When the prince has time in the future, he can travel around the South China Sea and witness various natural wonders and cultural scenery." Bai Kesi saw that Li Bao rarely expressed his appreciation for the arrangement of the sightseeing tour, and immediately I also responded with two sentences.
Li Pu thought to himself that if he didn't have anything serious to do, it would be nice to stay here for a few days to relax. As for the scenery of the South China Sea that Bai Kesi mentioned, he didn't take it too seriously. The South China Sea is vast and it often takes several days to travel between the two places. A trip of ten days and a half is considered fast. After his trip, When I return to Sanya, I have to concentrate on my studies. I probably won’t have that much time to arrange travel around.
When we were still some distance away from Heitu Port, there were obviously more ships on the sea. They were mainly divided into two types. One was the fishing boats of local residents, and the other was the cargo ships that traveled between Heitu Port and Hainan Island. From Heitu Port, Coal is transported out of the port, and various living materials produced in Hainan Island are transported to Heitu Port.
"About ten years ago, we discovered coal veins near the coastline here, and then began to build a port here and organize people to mine. The quality of the coal here is very good. The so-called black soil, as the name suggests, means that there is coal buried everywhere. Therefore, we are also willing to spend our transportation capacity to transport high-quality coal back to China for use. For example, most of the coal used in Changhua comes from Heitu Port." Bai Kesi briefly introduced the birth of Heitu Port to Li Mu. origin.
When Li Bo visited Changhua, he saw groups of coal-carrying cargo ships at the port. The coal piled on the dock was like hills. At that time, according to Qiao Zhiya, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal were shipped to Changhua every month, and as Changhua's production scale expanded, the amount of coal shipped to the local area every month was also increasing. It can be seen that the production capacity of Black Earth Port is also extraordinary.
Xie Chun, the chief officer of Heitu Port, had received a telegram notice before and made adjustments to the port berths in advance to free up a pier for the arrival of this fleet. He himself also went to the pier to wait to greet Li The arrival of a group of people.
Xie Chun was one of the first batch of officials dispatched from Haihan. He was originally affiliated with the maritime department and engaged in shipping management. After being assigned to Heitu Port, he managed port construction and shipping arrangements. However, after arriving at Heitu Port, Xie Chun took root here. After serving as the director of shipping and civil affairs here, he finally became the local administrative officer. If he continues to stay here, his official position will be beyond promotion.
But Xie Chun really has no plans to transfer here for his career. He came to participate in the time-travel operation alone, but now he has married and established a family here in Heitu Port, and his children have reached the age of studying. Although transferring back to Sanya might allow him to improve his position and even have options for which department to work in, Xie Chun has no such idea for the time being.
If he returns to Sanya, he will be just a very ordinary technocrat in the Time Travel Group. Even if he can have a higher position, he will still be subject to many restrictions from the external environment. But in Heitu Port, it is said that he is true to his words. It is not an exaggeration to follow the local emperor. All matters here, including the judicial system, can be decided by him with a single word, and his power is actually quite large. Although the area and population under Xie Chun's jurisdiction is only a small heavy industrial city, Xie Chun believes that this is the most suitable stage for him to display his talents. Therefore, although there were opportunities to be transferred back to Sanya in the past few years, he voluntarily gave up such opportunities and chose to continue to serve in Heitu Port.
Of course, if it was just to live out the addiction of being a local emperor in Black Earth Port, Xie Chun might get tired of it after two or three years. After all, the place here is small and there is no way to have fun. But now that he has a family and property, he has more things to consider, such as how to ensure that his family's descendants can continue to be prosperous and wealthy. This is a very real issue.
Xie Chun's wife is from Lianzhou Prefecture, Guangxi, and her family is engaged in shipping trade. Since Xie Chun holds great power, it is very easy for him to help his wife's business. The port and coal mines in Heitu Port belong to the state, and Xie Chun will not make any decisions about it, but there is a lot of room for manipulation in transportation, infrastructure, and various supporting industries. When the conditions are not much different, it is often a matter of Xie Chun's words to decide who will take over these transactions. In recent years, the production scale of Heitu Port has become larger and larger, and Xie Chun's wife's family's industry has also grown, and they have benefited a lot from it under Xie Chun's care. Even if Xie Chun chooses to resign and retire decades in advance, he can still ensure the continued prosperity of the family by operating these already established industries.
Of course Victory Fort is not completely unaware of these things, but as long as it does not affect the normal operation of Black Earth Port and the food is too ugly, no one will find fault with Xie Chun. After all, most of the people who came to participate in the time-travel operation in the first place wanted to enjoy the glory and wealth. It is also normal to want to realize personal interests after taking power.
Xie Chun did a pretty good job in grasping the scale. First, he ensured the normal production of Heitu Port and the stability of local people's livelihood. On this basis, he then selected some projects for his own business organizations to come forward to win. After working steadily for several years, they slowly began to monopolize the management rights of some advantageous projects. At this time, there are often no competitors in the industry, and it seems natural to control these projects.
Of course, Xie Chun did not get carried away because of the great situation. He knew very well what could be touched and what could not be touched, and tried his best not to touch the bottom line of Fort Victory. This time, Bai Kesi suddenly wanted to visit Black Earth Port. Although it was in the name of accompanying the Joseon Crown Prince, it still made Xie Chun slightly uneasy. After all, the senior officials of the Executive Committee have very busy schedules. If they want to leave Hainan Island to inspect somewhere, they usually set the schedule two or three months in advance. But this time, Bai Kesi came as he wished, leaving only a few days. Preparing for Black Earth Port made Xie Chun wonder whether Bai Kesi had other intentions.
The Executive Committee's biggest requirement for officials in overseas ruling areas is loyalty, and Xie Chun believes that there is nothing to criticize in this regard. In any case, Xie Chun believed that it was always right to express his attitude first, so he arrived at the port early to wait to show respect for Bai Kesi. As for the North Korean prince who has never met him, Xie Chun actually doesn't care too much. This kind of arrangement for foreign dignitaries to visit Heitu Port has not happened before. Most of them just take a look at the things and don't know how to do it. It affected his status in Black Earth Port.
"When I received the telegram earlier, I thought you would come here after staying in Tushan for one night. Why did you stay for two more days? Lao Bai should have brought the distinguished guests to my place as soon as possible. There is nothing in Tushan except big-headed soldiers. Why? I feel comfortable here!" Xie Chun greeted Bai Kesi warmly when he saw him just getting off the boat.
Bai Kesi smiled and said: "The coal here is all over the mountains and plains, and all you see here and there are miners. How can it be better than the big-headed soldiers in Tushan?"
Xie Chun also smiled and said: "But the scenery here is great! As for the food, I have all kinds of delicacies from the mountains and seas. How can the place in Tushan compare with Heitu Port!"
This is not Xie Chun's boast. The Tushan Peninsula is backed by the floodplain of the Red River Delta, where only food crops are grown on a large area. The Heitu Port is backed by hundreds of miles of mountainous forests, and the geographical environment is more complex. The natural products are also much richer than those on the Tushan Peninsula. Moreover, people of high status like Xie Chun have already moved their residences away from the settlements close to the mining areas, so they no longer have to suffer from being shrouded in coal ash all day long. In terms of living conditions alone, Black Earth Port does have some special advantages.
"It's almost dinner time now. Let's have some lunch here first. If the prince is interested, we will arrange to go to the mining area in the afternoon and hold a banquet for you all in the evening." Xie Chunxian He took the initiative to report the arrangements he had made to see if Li Fu and Bai Kesi had any other opinions.
Li Bo naturally had no objection to following the host, but he was just thinking that this man had just boasted that Haikou was full of local delicacies, so he didn't know what kind of hospitality this so-called "just eat" would be.
What Xie Chun said about eating casually was not that casual. Lunch was arranged at a restaurant near the port, which was of course one of the highest-end dining places in the local area. Although the business scale is not as large as those of big restaurants in Sanya, it has everything it should have, and it is said that several of the kitchen masters are famous chefs invited from Sanya, Guangzhou and other places. The dishes that can be eaten in big cities can also be eaten here. Enjoy.
Li Xi explained to Li Bo in a low voice: "Although the places visited during this inspection are not cities in the traditional sense, due to developed industries and prosperous economy, businesses such as restaurants are also quite prosperous. It’s no worse than big cities like Sanya and Danzhou.”
Li Bo nodded slightly. This is not difficult to understand. Salt, iron, and coal are big businesses in any country, and all the merchants who can participate in the operation are rich in financial resources. Where these industries are located, there must be Indispensable are these high-end shopping places specially prepared for wealthy people. Thinking about the coal produced in Heitu Port, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal are transported to Changhua every month. One can imagine the local economic level.
On the way from the port to this restaurant, Li Bo also paid attention to the urban area here. Although the mine is nearby, it is shrouded in coal ash all year round, and the houses do look a bit dirty. Yes, but the street seems to be in order. Coal is not transported to the port via the main road used by horse-drawn carriages. Instead, there are at least two tracks leading from the mining area to the port coal dump. Small steam locomotives pull rows of freight wagons to complete the short-distance transportation tasks in between. The routes of these two freight tracks bypass areas where local people live, which can be regarded as minimizing the pollution caused by coal during transportation.
Li Bo had seen in Changhua and Shilu that the local track systems for transporting ore were far more complicated than here, so he was not surprised. However, considering that Haihan has even used this advanced and efficient transportation system overseas, it shows its strong engineering and construction capabilities.
(End of chapter)