Chapter 2713
Tao Hongfang asked: "Wouldn't it be good to focus on developing the shipbuilding industry? Along the way, I saw that the shipbuilding industry in Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Zhoushan and other places are developing well. Sasebo Bay is a natural harbor and there are rich forest resources nearby. , it should be developed along this route.”
Amakusa Shiro shook his head and said: "The Sasebo Shipyard mainly serves the stationed fleet. Its daily business is to maintain the fleet ships, which is equivalent to the supporting industry of the base. Although the shipbuilding business is also open to the private sector, the scale of local business is limited and there is not much demand for shipping. , domestic businesses rarely look far away and place orders for shipbuilding with us. Most of the business they can get locally is to build a few fishing boats. If the price is low, there is no profit. If the price is high, fishermen can’t afford it. It can only be said to be better than nothing. ”
Tao Hongfang knew a little about the situation in the shipbuilding industry. After listening to Amakusa Shiro's explanation, he realized that he had indeed misjudged the actual local situation. Most of the local demand for shipbuilding comes from the garrison, and orders for building fishing boats are indeed only a small profit in comparison. The construction cost of commercial ships is closely related to the number of orders. If Sasebo Shipyard can receive too few orders, it will be difficult to compete with domestic shipyards in terms of cost.
When it comes to shipping demand for the shipbuilding industry, the problem comes back to the local population size. Given the current social conditions of the Sasebo area with less than 10,000 permanent residents, the demand for commercial activities and supplies is relatively limited. Nowadays, the local area has basically been able to achieve self-sufficiency in food. What needs to be transported from the country are mainly some military equipment and living supplies that cannot be produced by the country. The quantity is also relatively limited, and there is not much cargo to transport on the return trip. Even a considerable part of the cargo is still Transported by military ships, civilian transport capacity cannot reach saturation at all, and naturally cannot bring much help to the local shipbuilding industry.
At present, many large domestic commercial institutions have set up offices in Sasebo, but the main purpose is to seize the land as early as possible to gain first-mover advantage. This is a business behavior that is first-mover, but the scale of trade is still relatively small. low level.
For these wealthy commercial organizations, there are long-term institutions in Nagasaki not far away anyway. It doesn't cost much to allocate some manpower from there to build a store or buy a store in Sasebo. . If we can find a way to get some business from the garrison, we can earn back our initial investment immediately.
But in order to truly achieve stable profits, we can only wait patiently for the local population to grow, and only after demand reaches a certain scale can these business institutions drive the development of shipping and other industries. So the root of the problem still lies in population.
For Haihan's overseas colonies, population growth was one of the factors that tested the authority's ability to govern. The Sasebo area used to be a sparsely populated place, otherwise it would not have been easily taken over by Haihan without any resistance. In the early stage, it mainly relied on domestic organized immigrants to settle here. In recent years, after the local construction has achieved initial results, it has slowly begun to attract more and more people. More and more Japanese immigrants took the initiative to defect. The growth rate of several thousand people a year is naturally not fast in the eyes of everyone in the mission, but for the Sasebo authorities, this is already much better than the population growth level in the initial period of previous years.
Amakusa Shiro frankly explained to everyone: "According to our estimates, in order to achieve a balanced local fiscal balance, the permanent population needs to be at least 50,000, and this does not include the military expenditure of the garrison. At present, With the population growth rate, we may still need seven or eight years!”
"So long?" Tao Hongfang was slightly disappointed when he heard this answer. Previously, Yuan Wendong said that people from all over Japan have taken the initiative to settle in Sasebo, and the scale may double next year. It seems that the population growth situation is very optimistic, but if you calculate the details, it is not so exciting.
This is not because the Sasebo authorities are ineffective, but mainly because the objective environment here is limited. Unless military force is used to rob the population of the Japanese archipelago, there seems to be no way to increase the population here in the short term. Of course, considering the current relatively stable international situation, there is no need for Haihan to adopt such radical methods. After getting a general understanding of the local situation, the mission also took the initiative to explain to local officials their experiences during their mission to North Korea. Shiro Amakusa spoke highly of the delineation of the exclusive economic zone in Busan and the persuasion of Tsushima to give up its franchise rights, because such changes are undoubtedly beneficial to the development of Sasebo.
With an exclusive economic zone with its own port in Busan, ships from the Sasebo garrison can more easily enter and leave Busan Port to transport supplies and personnel, which will also virtually increase the influence of Sasebo, an emerging colonial zone, in southern North Korea.
After the Tsushima Domain gives up its trade privileges, it will definitely take the initiative to increase trade with surrounding areas. As one of the largest ports closest to Tsushima, Sasebo will inevitably become the target of the Tsushima Domain. By then, the merchant ships and various resources entering Sasebo from the Tsushima Domain will contribute to local development.
After the short meeting, the routine reception banquet followed. Although Sasebo is not yet a prosperous place, the living standards of the upper class are definitely not low. At least judging from the quality of the banquets, it is not far behind the places where the mission has been before.
Not only do the dishes maintain the authentic Haihan flavor, but even the tableware and wine utensils used are all made in Haihan, with no local traces of Japan. This is also very popular with everyone in the mission, because this kind of detail shows Amakusa Shiro's identification with Kaihan's identity from the side.
The combined fleet that arrived here with the mission also followed suit. Haihan's own horses are okay, after all, the conditions at home are better than here, but the North Korean naval force led by Ando Shi is greatly envious of this.
This is just a partial division of the Haihan Army stationed overseas. It can actually have a military port and base with such good natural conditions, and its living standards are not bad at all. For the Korean soldiers who lived on kimchi all year round and rarely saw the oily taste in a meal, they really felt the difference.
During the stay in Sasebo, the main purpose was to complete the defense change of the garrison troops, and the mission had no tasks to perform, so everyone had nothing to worry about, and they drank freely at the banquet that night. Except for Amakusa Shiro, most of the people at the banquet were young and strong, and they were at the age where they like to drink and have fun, so the host and the guest took turns to drink until it was getting dark.
(End of chapter)