Chapter 2847
Judging from the intensity of war in this era, hundreds of casualties were incurred during the attack on Gaizhou Acropolis, which is actually a pretty good performance. After all, the total number of troops invested by both sides in the Battle of Gaizhou exceeded 10,000, and the casualties the Haihan Army caused to its opponents were more than ten times its own battle losses. This ratio is basically in line with the gap in military strength between the two sides.
Fortunately, the generals of the Haihan Army boldly adopted a leap-frog offensive, bypassing the large area controlled by the Qing Dynasty in the south, and directly attacking Gaizhou, a land transportation pass. Otherwise, they would have to push hard all the way from Jinzhou. If we come here and conquer all the enemy strongholds along the way, the number of casualties suffered by the Haihan Army will probably increase several times.
Gaizhou Acropolis is not lively, it can even be said to be somewhat depressed. There are no bustling commercial streets here. There are only a few shops selling daily necessities in the city, and there are not even a few decent restaurants. This shows that the spending power of the local people is very average.
However, perhaps because the local people moved in from other places after the war, they have always accepted the arrangements of the Haihan government from the beginning of naturalization and resettlement. Management has been relatively smooth, and the local security situation is also excellent. The official even only stationed an infantry company here symbolically as a guard force, and there were very few civil disputes. The local yamen could not hear a few lawsuits in a year.
On the night he settled in Gaizhou, Chen Yixin asked Bai Kesi and others for advice on the upcoming itinerary.
"There are two routes available at the moment. One is to take the water route and go directly to Shenyang along the Liaohe River. The second is to take the land route and go to Shenyang via Haizhou and Liaoyang. Taking the water route will be faster, but there will be no inspection sites along the way. Taking the land route will Passing through several major mining locations in Liaodong, you can take a look at the local mining development, but it will take more time on the way. ”
Chen Yixin used the map to explain the differences between the two routes to Bai Kesi and others.
Bai Kesi had obviously made up his mind a long time ago and said without thinking: "This is easy to handle. Let's take the land route to Shenyang and inspect the mining projects along the way. We will then take the waterway when we return. By then we will go down the river from Shenyang, and the journey will be long. It will be faster.”
Bai Kesi paused and then added: "When I return, I will also take a look at the situation in the lower reaches of the Liaohe River. The oil wells there should be put into production soon!"
The focus of Baikes' trip was to inspect the development of industrial projects in Liaodong. As for business, diplomacy, military and other matters, they were secondary tasks for him. Therefore, he must have personally visited these mining locations along the way.
Liaodong is rich in mineral resources, especially the coal and iron needed for industrial development. The reserves are very huge, and it is fully qualified to build a coal-iron composite industrial center. This is also one of the projects that Baikes will focus on when he comes to Liaodong. The oil resources in the lower reaches of the Liao River have been a treasure that the Executive Committee has long been eyeing. If they can be successfully exploited, there is a high probability that Liaodong will build a petrochemical industry base in the future.
Whether it is a coal-iron complex or a petrochemical base, it is of extremely great significance to the long-term development of Liaodong region. The Executive Committee also needs to rely on Bai Kesi's investigation conclusions to decide whether to invest industrial resources in Liaodong and turn it into an emerging industrial center of the empire.
So Bai Kesi and his party only stayed in Gaizhou Acropolis for one day, and then changed to a carriage to continue their journey north the next day.
Traveling a hundred miles northeast from Gaizhou, you will arrive at Haicheng, where the seat of Haizhou Wei is. Haizhou Guard was established during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. It had five thousand-household offices under its jurisdiction and was subordinate to the Liaodong Dusi. It was about 120 miles away from Liaoyang City, where the Dusi Yamen was located.
During the Ming Dynasty, North Korean envoys took the overland route to Beijing for an audience. Haicheng was a must-stop stop, and a special custom was formed. When North Korean envoys passed through Haizhou, most of them would use the sea here to greet them. Write a poem about the state. During the Hongwu period, the North Korean envoy Li Qiang wrote in a poem: The legacy of the Bohai Sea is all misty, and the lonely city is watching the setting sun.
During the Jianwen period, Li Zhan wrote in a poem: Where is the Gaoli Pavilion now? It is still illuminated by the setting sun on the sand.
During the Wanli period, Huang Shiyou wrote a poem when he passed by this place and said: The vast wilderness in the northwest ends, and the mountains in the southeast end without Haizhou.
The building scale of Haicheng is larger than that of Gaizhou Acropolis. The city wall is made of adobe and bricks, with a circumference of more than six miles and a height of three feet and four feet. There are Zhenwu, Guangwei, Linqing and Laiyuan cities in the southeast and northwest respectively. Door.
To the south of the city is the Haicheng River, which is nearly a hundred feet wide, and to the north is a hill called Yuhuang Mountain. You can still see the tower on Guangwei Gate from a long distance away.
A stone bridge is currently being built on the Haicheng River, but it has not yet been completed, and the group can only reach the north bank by ferry. Although it was quite inconvenient, everyone was very excited to see such a big city along the way and wanted to go into the city quickly to find out.
However, there was no lively scene in the city as they expected. Although the city was not small, the local population seemed to be not much different from that of Gaizhou Acropolis. There are many shops on the streets in the city, but most of them are closed and not open for business. Obviously, the local business is not very developed.
Liu Shang explained various reasons to everyone. Haicheng was still a very prosperous place during the Ming Dynasty, but after the Manchus occupied the place, they moved most of the Han people away as slaves, which greatly affected the local people's livelihood. Later, when the Haihan Army marched northward and captured this place, the Qing army also moved the local population away first in an attempt to eliminate the possibility of the Haihan Army obtaining supplies here. So when the Haihan Army captured this place, what they got was almost an empty city.
Although some immigrants moved here after the war, the prosperity was difficult to recover in a short period of time, so it became what everyone sees now, and this is also the norm in the Liaodong region.
"The development of Liaodong requires the introduction of a large number of people. The current labor gap is expected to be around 150,000 to 200,000 people. My biggest headache now is where to find so many immigrants." Chen Yixin said unabashedly. difficulties.
The most urgent need for the Northern Region to develop Liaodong is not funds, but labor force. Industrial production facilities such as mines or factories require a large amount of labor to operate. However, the total population of Haihan's ruling area in Liaodong is less than 100,000 people. A city like Haicheng inevitably looks empty. .
Manchus and Mongols from the north and west of Liaodong were not the first choices for immigrants. Of course, Chen Yixin still hoped to introduce Han immigrants from the south or from the direction of the Ming Dynasty. But it is not easy to do. The south is more livable and peaceful than Liaodong. Even if the northern region generously provides land as a settlement benefit, the scale of immigrants it can attract is still far from the expected value.
(End of chapter)