Chapter 2437
Compared with negotiations and consultations between countries, the issue of whether a local official like Qu Yutong should go or stay is naturally a trivial matter. Tao Donglai had previously promised Qu Yutong that he would find an opportunity to mention Ningbo's affairs during negotiations with Ming Dynasty's senior officials and try to keep his official position. This was indeed just a piece of cake for Tao Donglai. Of course, if it weren't for Shi Diwen's relationship, even if Qu Yutong came to ask for help, Tao Donglai might not take the initiative to take over the matter. This would be enough to give Shi Diwen face.
"As for the joint military exercise you are preparing, there is no need to cancel it in a hurry. Once there is news about my contacts with senior Ming officials in the north, such a military exercise may be needed to consolidate the effect." Tao Donglai looked at it. Shi Diwen said: "Do you understand what I mean?"
"Understood! I will make arrangements in advance and make preparations." Shi Diwen nodded.
When this joint military exercise is held, the results may be completely different. If the military exercise is held before the high-level meeting between the two sides, it is probably gambling that the imperial court will give up its interference in Ningbo. If the bet loses, not to mention whether Qu Yutong can keep his official position, even the military leaders of the various guards involved in the matter will most likely be implicated and lose their black hats.
But after the high-level meeting between the two sides, both parties informed each other of the interests that need to be protected, including Ningbo. If Ningbo holds a joint military exercise at this time, it will undoubtedly be a way for Haihan to show his influence in this region. If the Ming Dynasty wants to adjust the personnel appointments and removals in this region, it must seriously consider whether this move will have any impact on the relationship between the two countries. Negative impact.
Tao Donglai continued: "I will set off tomorrow. There are still some unfinished matters here. Let's deal with them when I come back from the north."
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "Then when you come back, I will make good arrangements to celebrate your victory. Although Zhoushan is a small place, there is everything you need to eat and play here."
Tao Donglai was in a hurry when he passed through Zhoushan this time. In addition, the itinerary was kept secret, so he did not arrange to inspect the local civil affairs and trade conditions in Zhoushan. He stopped for a few days to rest and then continued his journey north. And Shi Diwen also felt that his reception was not enough to show the kindness of the landlord. If Tao Donglai can really save Qu Yutong this time, then it will be a great favor for Shi Diwen. He will wait for Tao Dong's return trip. It’s natural to give thanks every now and then.
The next day, Tao Donglai and his party quietly left Dinghai Port in the early morning. In order to keep Tao Donglai's itinerary as secret as possible, Shi Diwen arranged for several warships escorting Tao Donglai's fleet to set off first and wait for Tao Donglai's fleet to rendezvous in the waters north of Zhoushan Island. Although there is no risk in Hangzhou Bay, these warships will still escort Tao Donglai and his party to the Yangtze River estuary before turning back.
Five days later, Zhifu Island, Fushan County, Shandong Province.
The ice covering the interior and exterior of Zhifu Port this past winter has basically melted, and ships entering and leaving the area no longer need to risk breaking through the ice to dock. The flow of materials and people has been much faster than in previous months. Dozens of large and small immigration ships from all over the country were lined up on the pier, and nearly a thousand people who were about to board the ships were waiting in line under the command of the Haihan Army.
For the people who are about to leave this place by boat, the mood at this time can be described as both excitement and confusion. The Haihan people claim that they will settle down and start a new life in a place with better living conditions. They will no longer have to suffer from hunger and worry about being involved in wars. However, they are about to leave their hometown and do not know whether they will return to their hometown in the future. The opportunity made them somewhat sad and uneasy.
If they had a choice, of course they would prefer to return to their hometown in the spring and start their lives again, but the problem is that they have lost everything in the winter that just passed. They have no food, no shelter, no money, no security, and no way Counting on the local government's relief, it is difficult to survive even if he returns to his hometown. If it were not for the help provided by the Haihan people, most of them might have died of hunger and cold before the arrival of spring.
In any case, the Haihan people can at least guarantee their survival. In such troubled times, what else is more important than living well?
A fleet flying the Haihan flag was slowly sailing into Zhifu Bay. Several of the ships looked like Haihan warships. However, this did not cause any commotion. Recently, the Haihan Army has been mobilized frequently. From time to time, troops from other places come to reinforce Fushan County by boat. There are such fleets entering and leaving Zhifu Port every few days, and the port staff have already arrived. No wonder.
However, the people who came to the dock to greet the fleet today were not of the usual standard. Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing, who are currently in Fushan County, had already arrived in advance, and martial law was also implemented in the area near the dock, which was obviously very different from the usual level of attention.
The arrival of Tao Donglai was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for these two people. In the past period, tens of thousands of refugees have poured in here, which has put tremendous pressure on Haihan's local governance. Fortunately, Haihan has tried his best to mobilize people and materials to deal with this influx of refugees, and has continued to organize The transportation capacity was used to send these refugees overseas for resettlement, which barely kept Fushan County's relief measures from collapsing due to the excessive refugee population.
The arrival of Tao Donglai symbolizes the executive committee's support and affirmation of the resettlement work in Fushan County. Perhaps he will bring some urgently needed local materials and relief measures to ease the local resettlement pressure. However, the most difficult period has actually passed, and all aspects of work are on track. As long as Fushan County has sufficient manpower and materials, it should not be too difficult to cope with this refugee crisis. That's why Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing were able to find time to come to Zhifu Port to greet Tao Donglai and his party.
Tao Donglai stepped off the ship steadily along the gangplank, shook hands with Hao Wanqing first, said goodbye to each other, and then exchanged military salutes with Chen Yixin.
"You look stronger than before!" Tao Donglai reached out and patted Chen Yixin's arm: "You usually exercise, right?"
Chen Yixin responded with a smile: "You must practice. If you are in poor physical condition, you will not be able to lead the troops in battle!"
In recent years, Chen Yixin has been stationed in Shandong and Liaodong. He has rarely had the opportunity to return to the south to report on his work, and there have been few opportunities to meet Tao Donglai. However, the Executive Committee has great trust in the generals stationed abroad, and Chen Yixin's performance overseas in recent years has also been remarkable. Therefore, Tao Donglai was very warm to him after meeting him, and did not become unfamiliar at all because of the short time they met. .
Tao Donglai pointed to the boat channel behind him: "This time I brought you a batch of medicinal materials and tents from Zhoushan. Let's organize the manpower to unload the goods!" "Okay! Let's get started!" Chen Yixin made a gesture, behind him Zeng Xiaowen, the secretary of Zeng Xiaowen, understood the situation, responded, and immediately went to arrange the task.
The place Chen Yixin prepared for Tao Donglai, who had come from afar, was not far away. It was at the military base on Zhifu Island, and it only took a short carriage ride to get there.
"The environment here is relatively quiet, and the view is broad. You can see Zhifu Port when you open the window. The living facilities are complete. Most of the household items in the house are shipped from Sanya. Living here should be similar to living on the beach in Sanya. ”
After arriving at the place of residence, Chen Yixin enthusiastically introduced the situation of the villa to Tao Donglai. In fact, this is private property in his name, but he usually spends more time in Majiazhuang. Only occasionally when he has military affairs to deal with on Zhifu Island, he will come and stay for a few days. Compared with other houses on the island, this place undoubtedly has the most complete living facilities. Tao Donglai basically did not need to spend time adapting to living here temporarily.
If there is any significant difference, it is probably that the local temperature is much lower than that in the south. However, there is always a fire burning in the fireplace in this house, and the air is very warm. As long as the doors and windows are not wide, wearing a single coat in the house is enough.
Tao Donglai didn't take a break, and quickly got into work mode, asking Chen Yixin and Hao Wanqing to introduce the current local situation first.
"I'll go first." Chen Yixin took the lead and said, "Let me talk about the local refugee resettlement situation."
Since February, sporadic refugees have entered Fushan County to escape the war. It was at that time that the refugee resettlement measures organized by Haihan began to be implemented. The war and subsequent natural disasters in history have caused huge disasters to Shandong. The subsequent refugee flow is likely to last for a long time and affect a very wide area. The refugee population that will emerge is also rare in history. Considering these factors, Fushan County’s resettlement measures have been aimed at accepting a large number of tens of thousands of refugees from the beginning, and the corresponding means are to build large-scale refugee camps, collect various materials, and mobilize overseas transportation capacity to Come to Fushan County to transport the refugees.
Chen Yixin once believed that if sufficient maritime transport capacity could be maintained, Fushan County could receive refugees while transporting them out, and the number of refugees in the county should be controlled below a certain level. However, the actual situation was not as smooth as he expected. After the Qing army withdrew from Shandong, a large number of people who returned to their hometowns found that the local area no longer had the supplies and food they needed to survive, so they had no choice but to flee a second time. This time, a considerable number of people's escape target is no longer blind. It is Fushan County in Dengzhou, which is said to be able to resettle no matter how many refugees there are. After all, except for this place, no government office in any prefecture or county dares to claim that its territory can be unlimited. to receive refugees.
Therefore, Fushan County, which had a relatively stable refugee growth rate in the first two to three months, ushered in its first real wave of refugees around April. The number of refugees entering Fushan County every day was more than 3,000. . As a result, the checkpoints set up on the official roads in the early stage to guide and restrict the movement of refugees were greatly reduced due to the excessive influx of refugees into the county from all directions.
At the same time, most of the first batch of ships transporting refugees from Zhifu Port were still on their way back. At this time, the number of refugees shipped out every day was far less than the refugees pouring into Fushan County. The local refugee camps soon became saturated. , even if the authorities try their best to organize and build new refugee camps, they cannot completely alleviate this trend.
Up to now, more than 50 refugee camps of various sizes have been built in Fushan County. Refugee camps originally designed to accommodate about 500 people now often house more than 800 refugees. The number of refugees currently stranded in the entire county is approximately 30,000 to 3,000, and this number is still increasing day by day. If the trend of fast in and slow out cannot be effectively alleviated in the near future, then in about ten days, the local The number of refugees admitted will exceed 40,000.
So many refugees gathered in the small Fushan County, and they had to eat several kilograms of food every day. Although the related expenses were borne by the Haihan National Treasury, so many supplies could not be produced out of thin air. Fushan County's local food output is limited, and it can only rely on food harvested from the sea and food shipped from other places to maintain the daily consumption of tens of thousands of people. Once there is a food shortage, so many refugees will immediately become a huge mass that may explode at any time. Hidden danger.
Considering that the scale of the Fushan garrison is too small to effectively ensure social order, the military has successively transferred several batches of troops to Fushan County for reinforcements. Even Wang Tom's precious Marines have been transferred here to help. However, the arrival of these troops not only enhances local defense capabilities, but also increases the local material supply burden, and their per capita consumption is much greater than that of refugees who are subject to strict supply restrictions.
"So in general, the current local issues that need to be solved urgently are maritime transportation capacity and material supply. Problems with any of these may cause Fushan County to explode!" Chen Yixin said seriously: "So if it is possible, I suggest that the Executive Committee can mobilize resources and transportation capacity on a larger scale to solve the crisis in Fushan County.”
"Taken together, the root cause is still the problem of insufficient transportation capacity." Tao Donglai, as a bystander, quickly saw the problem: "The ships from the south can transport some disaster relief supplies, so as long as there are enough With the transportation capacity, the urgently needed daily necessities in the local area will naturally be met, and a batch of refugees will be transported on the return journey without running out of food. ”
"That's the truth, but many shipping companies in the south are unwilling to take this job. I think the executive committee needs to come forward to coordinate." Chen Yixin said with regret.
"Isn't there a special freight subsidy issued by the civil affairs department for transporting immigrants? Why are the shipping companies unwilling to accept them?" Tao Donglai asked slightly surprised.
"It's very simple. This errand is too far. Even if it is a round trip from Zhoushan, it takes half a month. There is not much money to be made in the freight subsidy, and the ship can only transport refugees and disaster relief materials, and cannot carry any personal belongings." If the idle ship can still make a run for it, but if the ship that is scheduled to have a mission changes its plan to transport refugees to the north, it will not be cost-effective." Chen Yixin explained to him: "Also, transport. People are not like transporting goods. The goods are all dead and you don’t have to worry about them while they are loaded in the cabin. But if you can’t transport people, you have to be responsible for eating, drinking, sleeping, and sleeping along the way. If more people die on the way, there will be a lot more trouble. Freight subsidies may also be deducted, and shipping companies are definitely not willing to take such unnecessary risks.”
(End of chapter)