Chapter 2358
After the fleet left Soya Bay, it bypassed Cape Noshapbu on the west side of the bay, chose to pass through the waterway between Rebun Island and Rishiri Island, and sailed to the southwest.
Mount Rishiri on Rishiri Island, with an altitude of more than 1,700 meters, stands in the center of the island. It is covered with white snow. Looking from dozens of miles away, it looks like a huge iceberg floating on the sea. The scenery Very magnificent.
According to the route planned by Wang Tom, the voyage from Zonggu Bay to the Liaodong coast is about 1,400 to 500 miles. At the current speed of the fleet, it will take at least five or six days to see land. But this is not a problem at all for the sailors who are eager to return home. They all want to return to the base as soon as possible, enjoy the fresh food provided every day, sleep in a warm barracks at night, and no longer have to endure the harsh conditions on the ship. Weather Confrontation.
But in Wang Tom's plan, the return journey is not just about immersing himself in the journey. There are still many places on the way that he is preparing to conduct field inspections. The first goal is Vladivostok.
This place should be under the rule of the Qing Dynasty at present, but it is very remote and there should not be many people settled there. There is no need to worry about encountering Qing troops there. It just so happened that the return trip could pass through Vladivostok, and Wang Tom planned to take advantage of this rare opportunity to inspect this natural harbor, which is said to have quite favorable conditions.
Due to some inexplicable complex, Vladivostok has always occupied a unique position in the development plan of the Haihan Defense Ministry. Although the range of activities that the Haihan Army could reach in the past was still quite far from this place, its location had long been marked on the maps of some top-secret plans.
A week later, the Haihan fleet arrived in Ussuri Bay, and Vladivostok was located at the southern end of the peninsula in the west of the bay. This peninsula is marked as the Amur Peninsula on the map, but in fact this is just a place name given by Tsarist Russia in the original time and space. At this time, Tsarist Russia's sphere of influence had not yet reached here, so there is actually no specific place name here. If Tom Wang wants, he can also name this place "Tom Peninsula".
The southern end of the peninsula is separated by a narrow strait and a large island with an area of nearly 100 square kilometers, which provides a natural barrier for the entrance channel of Vladivostok Bay. Ships coming here only need to sail into the strait from east to west before they can see the entrance to Vladivostok Bay.
This bay called Golden Horn extends into the interior of the peninsula from southwest to northeast, and is about fifteen miles long, with a nearly right-angle bend in the middle. The entire bay is less than two miles wide and the water is about ten feet deep. The bay is surrounded by low hills and the terrain is very dangerous. It has excellent conditions whether it is used as a haven or a military base.
If the time was right, of course Wang Tom had the intention to occupy this place first, but after arriving, he found that there was a huge problem with his arrangement.
The freezing period in Vladivostok lasts for hundreds of days every winter, and the sea surface in the bay usually does not slowly thaw until mid-to-late March. It is only February now, and there are no special ships like icebreakers in the fleet. It is obviously difficult to sail into the Golden Horn Bay to survey the harbor terrain.
Wang Tom looked at the huge ice floes floating on the sea on the deck, and could only give up the idea of letting the fleet venture into the harbor. If the ship is frozen in the harbor, it may take more than a month to get out, or the hull may be crushed by ice floes and completely scrapped.
But even if he was blocked by ice floes, Wang Tom was unwilling to make a mistake this time, and decided to send a small team to land to reconnoiter the situation in the bay.
This time, Tom Wang did not plan to wait for news on the boat, but led the team ashore in person. Shen Xueyi naturally followed closely. He wanted to see what was unique about the harbor that Wang Tom had specially changed his itinerary for inspection.
A company of the Marine Corps landed with Tom Wang. They rowed a small boat and approached the coast. Finally, they boarded the thick ice about ten feet away from the land and stepped onto the land through the ice floe.
After traveling a few miles north, Wang Tom and his party finally saw the scene inside the bay. The small water surface here was full of large ice floes, and large areas of water were already frozen in places where the water flow was relatively gentle. At a glance, I didn't see any large ships anchored in the bay as far as I could see.
Wang Tom took out his binoculars and watched for a while, and found that there were some upside-down small fishing boats on the beach on the other side of the bay. They seemed to be local fishermen. Farther north, you can vaguely see the outlines of some houses, but the snow on the ground is too thick, almost a foot deep, and it takes a lot of effort to get there.
Wang Tom was not surprised that there were people settling in this place. The Ussuri Bay and Amur Bay on the east and west sides of Vladivostok are both sea areas with very rich aquatic resources. They are rich in sardines, fin fish, cuttlefish, herring, etc. Even if you are a fisherman here, you will not be very rich. It’s expensive, but at least you won’t go hungry, and it’s located in a natural haven, so you basically don’t have to worry about bad weather destroying your fishing boat.
However, after observing the surrounding terrain, Wang Tom quickly discovered the shortcomings of this place. There is basically no land suitable for agriculture either near the bay or on the entire peninsula.
This situation is also consistent with the satellite maps that Wang Tom has studied before. The closest agricultural area to the Golden Horn is probably the coast fifty miles to the north. This means that if this area is to be developed and constructed, it will actually have to build two areas. The northern area is specifically responsible for agricultural production. Otherwise, the local needs of materials will not be self-sufficient.
In view of the remote location of Vladivostok, it is almost impossible for Haihan to invest a lot of manpower in local construction and development from the beginning. The lack of conditions for agricultural development near the harbor here makes the entire construction plan much more difficult. It can only rely on supplies shipped from North Korea hundreds of miles away for a long time.
There happened to be people from the North Korean military around him. Wang Tom called Shen Xueyi over and asked him: "If our country builds a colonial port here and needs your country's assistance, what do you think?"
Shen Xueyi said: "This place is covered with ice and snow for several months every year. It is not a livable place. Moreover, I have never heard of any special products here before, and there are no large towns around it. Why did the general choose this place to build a colonial port?" ?”
Shen Xueyi's rhetorical question made Wang Tom slightly stunned. Of course, he couldn't directly say that he planned to set up a military base here. If the natural conditions here were measured by the requirements of a colonial port, it was indeed not an ideal environment.
Shen Xueyi continued: "If your country needs our assistance, it will naturally provide all-out help. However, apart from having a good harbor, this place has no other advantages. I don't think this place is the first choice."
However, Wang Tom has been deeply influenced by other high-level figures in Haihan over the years, and his obsession with Vladivostok is not easy to let go. He still said with unfinished content: "However, harbors with such superior conditions are indeed rare in this area." Shen Xueyi shook his head and said: "General Wang, that's not possible. A few hundred miles to the south is the border of our country, and there are harbors like this. As far as I know, there is a bay in North Hamgyong Province, and it does not freeze in winter. There is still a little land available for farming near the harbor.”
Tom Wang suddenly felt his eyes light up and asked quickly: "Is this place you are talking about a ready-made port?"
Shen Xueyi said: "That place is too far from the nearby towns and does not have much population. It only has a fishing port. If your country is interested, it can be leased to your country for use as a trading port."
"Let's go, let's go and see this place you mentioned!" Wang Tom didn't want to stay in Vladivostok any longer. If there is such a good place as described by Shen Xueyi a few hundred miles south, then there is really no need to invest huge resources in development of places like Vladivostok.
Shen Xueyi is really not bragging. He does know such a place. It is still deserted anyway. It is better to introduce it to the Haihan people. If the Haihan people like the place, they will lease it to them for development, which will also promote the development of the surrounding area. .
The effects of similar cooperation methods have been initially verified in the Datong River Basin. The many local cooperative industries have solved the livelihood problems of tens of thousands of North Korean people, and will bring considerable benefits to the North Korean treasury every year in the future. For a cooperation project like this, North Korea only needs to provide people and land to obtain long-term benefits. At present, there seems to be no other way to effectively solve North Korea's difficult financial situation like this.
However, Shen Xueyi knew the difference between a trading port and a colonial port, so he was very cautious in his words. He only said that this place could be used by Haihan to build a trading port, but deliberately did not mention anything related to "colonization".
Tom Wang doesn't care about these little calculations of the other party. What he thinks about is far more important than these trivial things.
If Haihan wants to effectively control the Sea of Japan area between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago in the future, and also radiate to Liaodong, Sakhalin and other places in the north, then the existing Datong River base will be difficult to meet the requirements. After all, from the Datong River Starting from the base, entering the Sea of Japan requires bypassing the entire Korean Peninsula, which is not ideal from a geographical point of view.
Tom Wang had already conducted a comprehensive inspection of the northwest coastline of the Japanese archipelago in the first half of the trip, but did not find a favorite location. Hakodate in Hokkaido was originally a place with good conditions, but it was too far away from Haihan's existing control area. The straight-line distance from the nearest Dinghai Port was four thousand miles away, and the local population did not have much. Having to travel so far away to build a colonial port all at once, Wang Tom was also worried that the logistics would not be effectively guaranteed.
So on the return trip, Wang Tom chose Vladivostok as the inspection target. The geographical location and harbor conditions here are more in line with Wang Tom's strategic vision, but the environment is not perfect enough, and too many resources need to be invested in the early development and construction, which may not be enough. It's a good deal.
If what Shen Xueyi said is true, then the fact that the port is not frozen is worth a special trip by the fleet.
The group returned to the ship, and the fleet sailed out from the west side of the strait, then turned south and headed toward the Korean Peninsula along the coastline. Only a day and a half later, the fleet arrived at the place Shen Xueyi mentioned.
This is a bay facing south. On the east side is a peninsula about fifteen or six miles long, and on the west side is the mainland. The bay is narrow in the north and wide in the south. It is about ten miles wide at the entrance. It is cut into two east-west channels by two islands, one large and one small, arranged vertically.
At the end of the bay is a sea-facing valley plain, covering an area of about twenty square kilometers, surrounded by mountains. In terms of the usable area of the harbor, it is obviously much larger than Vladivostok, and the river valley plain has natural water conservancy conditions, so agricultural development should be easier.
"This place is called Najin, which is under the jurisdiction of North Hamgyong Province. I actually don't know much about the situation here. I will ask the local officials after I get ashore." Shen Xueyi's introduction was very brief, because he was also very honest. Not very familiar with this place. The only reason I know this place is that I passed by this place on official business in the early years and took shelter here temporarily from the wind and waves, so I have an impression of the environment here.
Wang Tom's view of this place has been reflected in the orders he issued. Several ships began to spread out in and out of the bay. Their mission was to collect hydrological data here, measure the size of the bay, and draw more detailed maps. .
Wang Tom had prepared detailed satellite maps in advance for several key inspection targets during this trip, but Luojin was obviously out of the plan, so there was no detailed map of this place for reference, so he could only carry out On-site surveying and mapping.
Rajin Bay is located more than 300 miles southwest of Vladivostok. The difference in latitude is actually not that big. It is a little higher than Hakodate on the opposite side of the Sea of Japan, but only a small amount of floating ice is seen on the sea surface in the bay. , and the offshore area is not as frozen as Vladivostok. Obviously what Shen Xueyi said is completely true. This is indeed a rare ice-free port.
Whether it is the hydrological conditions or the surrounding environment, this place is obviously much better than Vladivostok, which is three hundred miles away. But Wang Tom had never heard of this place, which also made him briefly doubt the capabilities of the Ministry of National Defense's Military Intelligence Bureau. How could such a good place be missed.
In fact, this is not entirely a question of the capabilities of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but the selection criteria of the Ministry of National Defense for natural ports are mostly based on famous ports in the time and space before the time travel. However, the place of Rajin Bay only began to expand a few years before the time travel. It was developed and constructed on a large scale, so when they crossed, it was not a well-known port, so it was ignored by the Ministry of Defense.
Wang Tom couldn't wait to lead the team ashore. This time, Shen Xueyi had the rare opportunity of taking the Haihan people as their host to visit nearby fishing villages.
(End of chapter)