Chapter 2791
While Jiang Jianzhang was preparing for the dinner, Bai Kesi explained the naval development status of the Northern Region to the two young people around him.
Twenty years ago, when Haihan used the Dengzhou area and the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula as the boundaries to delimit the northern region and formally incorporate it into the national territory, the financial situation of this region was still in a very difficult situation. At that time, Haihan needed to accept and resettle a large number of refugees who continued to pour into the Denglai region from inside and outside Shandong. At the same time, it also had to face the Liaodong region, which had been ravaged by war for many years and was completely impoverished.
At that time, in order to feed the hundreds of thousands of people under the jurisdiction of the Northern Region, the Executive Committee had to allocate a large amount of food and materials from the south to support the Northern Region every year, and at the same time exempt the Northern Region from the taxes it needed to pay, so that it could barely maintain the population here. Stabilize the situation.
At that time, the largest export from the northern region was not the local specialties, but the tens of thousands of immigrants who had to leave their homes to make a living. To this day, at least 50% of the Han immigrants resettled by Haihan in various overseas colonies are northerners from Shandong, Liaodong and other places. Even in the South China Sea, thousands of miles away, there are many Haihan immigrants with northern accents.
However, such difficult times have become history. As the war in the north gradually subsided, agricultural production in the areas controlled by Haihan recovered rapidly, and daily necessities such as rice, flour, and oilcloth gradually became self-sufficient and no longer relied solely on supplies from the south. The development of various mineral resources and the establishment of a maritime trade system have made the maritime trade channel established between the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea a way to make money in the northern region.
Although today's Northern Region is still far less wealthy than the Donghai Region, its financial situation has been greatly improved compared to previous years. Not only does it have enough energy to organize the development and construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as Qingdao Port, it even raises its own military expenditures. Expanding the size of the garrison is also out of the question.
Affected by the military budget and the international situation in Northeast Asia, the North Sea Fleet has not undergone large-scale expansion and restructuring for a long time. Even the plans to build new warships are often related to the retirement of old ships. Arrange hooks. It was not until the financial situation improved in recent years that the North Sea Fleet began to accelerate the pace of expansion.
It is worth mentioning that although the establishment and command of the garrison forces in each overseas region are in the hands of the Ministry of National Defense, in fact the military expenditures of the core armed forces garrisoned in various regions often come mostly from local finances and are not entirely dependent on national defense. The allocation of departments makes the establishment more flexible.
It is not difficult for Chen Yixin to find some objective reasons for the expansion of the North Sea Fleet. For example, in 1652, Wang Tom led a fleet to North America. Some of the ships and personnel were transferred from the North Sea Fleet, so these missing parts need to be supplemented. After the completion of Qingdao Port, the North Sea Fleet is equivalent to having an additional large naval base, which naturally requires more troops to be garrisoned.
The Executive Committee may not necessarily agree to such an expansion application, but there are indeed no strong measures to restrict the Northern Region. As long as Chen Yixin can find the money to solve the military expenditure problem on his own, the Executive Committee as far away as Sanya can only Turn a blind eye to this.
After hearing this, Bai Letong asked: "The North Sea Fleet's self-expansion is a big or small matter. Isn't the Executive Committee worried that the armed forces of the Northern Region will gradually escape control?"
Bai Kesi said: "Of course there are such concerns, but for now it is still in a controllable state. First, Chen Yixin's loyalty to the Executive Committee is unquestionable, and second, the Executive Committee can still control the arms industry at its source. Take control of the armed forces in overseas regions.”
Even if the Northern Region can expand the North Sea Fleet by building its own shipyards, this does not mean that the Northern Region can achieve military independence. Shipborne artillery and ammunition, steam power systems, navigation clocks, sextants and other equipment required by naval ships are all produced by arsenals in the south, and their supply, repair and maintenance all rely on the logistics system of the Ministry of National Defense. If overseas regions want to gain military independence, they must completely give up these advanced equipment. But without the blessing of these equipment, the strength of the North Sea Fleet would not be much stronger than the traditional navy of the same era.
Similarly, the situation in the Army is roughly the same. Whether it is individual weapons such as rifles or heavy equipment such as artillery, their production capacity is firmly controlled by the Executive Committee. If an overseas region wants to rely on military means to establish itself, it must first abolish its martial arts. Normal people will definitely know what choice to make.
Even if the Northern Region builds dozens of combat ships and recruits tens of thousands of soldiers at once, without the approval of the Executive Committee, it will be difficult for these troops to form real combat effectiveness.
Bai Letong didn't know much about this field before, but after listening to Bai Kesi's explanation, he suddenly realized it.
Ning Zijing understood this far better than Bai Letong. He added in a timely manner: "The state has always strictly controlled military supplies. If the demand suddenly increases in a certain place, it will inevitably attract attention, even if it is done secretly. There is no way to hide the increase in troops.”
As one of Haihan's earliest officially-led commercial organizations, Qiong Lianfa was responsible for purchasing and transporting various military supplies for Haihan in the Ming Dynasty in the early days of its establishment. Therefore, the state's supervision methods in this regard have no impact on Ning Zi. It’s no secret to Jinglai.
Of course, with the various natural resources and processing capabilities that Haihan currently has at his disposal, he no longer needs to purchase from other countries through secret channels as before, and most military supplies have become self-sufficient.
At the reception banquet hosted by Jiang Jianzhang for Bai Kesi and his entourage at his official residence, almost all the local civil and military officials were present. In this newly built port, there were more than forty officials of all sizes. Almost all the departments that a city should have have set up here, which shows that the Northern Region also attaches great importance to the development prospects here.
Bai Kesi noticed that more than 90% of the officials attending the banquet were from Denglai, and most of them were named Ma and Jiang, accounting for almost a quarter of the officials present. As for the background of these officials, even if Jiang Jianzhang did not introduce them, Bai Kesi could guess a little bit. It can be seen that Chen Yixin still prefers relatives and relatives when appointing officials.
Whether this method of appointment is good or bad is actually difficult to say. The disadvantage is of course that it is easy for officials to protect each other and form cliques for personal gain, but the advantage is that they understand the local situation better, and the ruling party will encounter much fewer problems than officials transferred from outside.
(End of chapter)