Chapter 2795
Twenty years is just a drop in the ocean in the long river of history, but for the area where Zhifu Port is located in Fushan County, Dengzhou Prefecture, it has been a period of greatest change in history.
Before the Haihan forces entered here, Zhifu Island was just an unattended island on the north coast of the Jiaodong Peninsula. The sandbank connected to the coast would be submerged under the sea from time to time. The island had neither resources nor fertile land, and even There is no permanent population. Throughout the dynasties, no one has ever considered this place to have any development value.
The neighboring Fushan County is only a traditional agricultural production area, relying on the mountains and the sea. Its economic level can only be ranked in the middle and lower position among the seven counties and one state under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture.
It wasn't until 1634 that Wang Tom and others led an armed fleet to arrive here and chose Zhifu Island as Haihan's foothold in Shandong, that the situation here began to change.
The Haihan Army not only wiped out the bandit armed forces near Fushan County, but also opened a window for foreign trade in this region. As the only port controlled by Haihan in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea region at that time, Zhifu Port was included in the huge shipping system at the beginning of its construction and enjoyed the huge dividends brought by Haihan's expansion of its sphere of influence to the north.
Even though Haihan later occupied the Jinzhou area on the Liaodong Peninsula across the sea and owned Port Arthur, a port with relatively better conditions, Zhifu Port was still defined as the rear of the Liaodong battlefield for a long time. Base, various resources from the south and the Central Plains will still be destined for Zhifu Port, and then transferred to Liaodong from here.
At the same time, Haihan began to exploit the Fushan copper mine in this area. This important strategic resource was also one of the reasons why Haihan chose to settle here. The mining of Fushan Copper Mine not only brings considerable financial revenue to the Northern Region, but also provides a large number of employment opportunities for local people.
After the Qing army invaded Shandong in 1639, tens of thousands of refugees poured into the Denglai area, once again providing Haihan with a large amount of cheap labor.
Since then, the Northern Region Management Committee and the Haihan Armed Forces have begun to openly take over local military and political affairs. Facing internal and external troubles and having no time to look around, the Ming Dynasty gradually lost control of the Dengzhou area.
When Bai Kesi came to Zhifu Port last time, it was basically a military base environment, but the port infrastructure at that time was very primitive, not even comparable to Qingdao Port, which had only opened its port last year.
But the port we saw at this time was no different from those big ports in the south. Whether it was the trestles for docking ships or the rows of uniform warehouses on the coast, they were all built in accordance with the standard Haihan system, and the nearshore areas of the piers were all made Due to the hardening treatment, there are even more cargo hangers several feet high than in Qingdao Port.
The white lighthouse over ten feet high at the east corner of Zhifu Island can be called the best local landmark. Such tall lighthouses are rare even in major southern ports.
The port has also laid several tracks specifically for transporting dry bulk cargo. Freight trains driven by small steam locomotives constantly travel between the cargo yard and the port.
Bai Letong noticed that the bulk cargo unloaded from the cargo ship docked at the dock was almost all coal, and he subconsciously asked: "Where did this coal come from?"
Bai Kesi said: "In the past few years, it was mainly transported from the coal mines in the Datong River Basin of Korea. However, in recent years, large coal mines have also been discovered in Longkou Town, west of Dengzhou. It only takes one day to ship and transport it by sea to Zhifu. Hong Kong, so part of the coal here should come from local production. "Since the Fushan Copper Mine smelts ore locally, the charcoal produced locally in Fushan County is of course far from enough to meet the fuel demand and can only rely on external sources. enter.
There are many coal resources in Shandong, but most of them are located in inland places such as Zibo, Feicheng, Xinwen, Yanzhou, and Zaozhuang. Transportation to the sea is inconvenient. Only Longkou Coal Mine is located on the seaside, so mining and transportation are relatively convenient. Therefore, it has become one of the key mineral deposits that Haihan mines in Shandong.
In addition to supplying Fushan County, the output of Longkou Coal Mine will also be transported to nearby Zhaoyuan County. The local gold mines are also large fuel consumers.
"Gold, copper, and coal are the main industries of the Northern Region in the Jiaodong Peninsula. As long as these industries are supported, the financial situation of the Northern Region will not be bad. This is why the Northern Region can organize the development of Qingdao on its own Port and expand the North Sea Fleet without relying on funds allocated by the Executive Committee.”
Bai Kesi spoke highly of the mining operations of the Northern Region. There is no doubt that Chen Yixin has chosen a correct development route that is in line with the actual local situation, so that the Northern Region can still have the advantage of having poor maritime trade conditions. Stable and substantial financial income.
When Bai Kesi's boat docked, it could be seen that there were thousands of people waiting on the pier. Apparently the local government also attached great importance to the arrival of Bai Kesi and his party, and had organized relevant people in advance to greet them at the dock.
There was a military tent on the pier, and there were a number of soldiers on duty with guns outside the tent to separate it from the people on the pier. At this time, a thin middle-aged man walked out of the tent surrounded by a large group of people. Judging from the momentum, he should be Chen Yixin, the chief officer of the Northern Region.
After the springboard was set up, Bai Kesi led a group of people to wait to disembark. Chen Yixin stepped up to greet him and said, "Old Bai, long time no see! It's been a hard journey!"
The two reached out to hold each other's hands and exchanged a few words. Bai Kesi then called Bai Letong and Ning Zijing to him and asked them to say hello to Chen Yixin.
"Letong and Zijing have grown so big! The last time I went back to Sanya, you were only this tall!" Chen Yixin joked and raised his hand to mark his height on his chest.
The last time he returned to Sanya to report on his work was almost ten years ago. Bai Letong and Ning Zijing were both teenagers at that time, but they grew into handsome young men in the blink of an eye. When Chen Yixin saw them, he seemed to have seen what he looked like when he first arrived in Shandong, and he couldn't help but feel a little sad in his tone.
The two young men did not have that deep memory of Chen Yixin. In addition to naturalized officials, there were dozens of high-ranking officials who traveled back to Sanya every year to report on their work and visit relatives. Foreigners like Chen Yixin only returned to Sanya once every ten years. When sending officials, it is difficult to make a deep impression on them.
Moreover, Chen Yixin started his official career by joining the army, so almost all the senior officials of Haihan who had good relations with Chen Yixin were military generals. Bai Kesi and Ning Zijing's father, Ning Qi, only had an average personal relationship with Chen Yixin. When Chen Yixin returned to Sanya to report on his work, apart from professional contacts, he did not go out to visit them. There is no intersection at all.
(End of chapter)