Chapter 2899
After Qian Tiandun heard this, he finally understood roughly what happened on Xingdao: "You mean, you sent your troops to other countries to join the war as mercenaries, and then they were discovered by the Executive Committee, so you were arrested. Reduce power? ”
Roger defended: "The ones sent out are actually the foreign corps under the Singdao Garrison. They are not part of the regular army, they are at most a militia!"
Qian Tiandun said: "Maybe you are right, but their employer and the executive committee probably won't agree with you."
Because of its special geographical location, the composition of Xingdao's military resources is significantly different from that of the Haihan Army elsewhere.
The area is far away from traditional Han settlements. Before Haihan entered Xingdao, there were almost no Han aborigines in the area. In order to speed up the population growth, Roger not only found ways to introduce Han immigrants from the north, but also tried to absorb the population from other channels. There will be no restrictions on identity, nationality, and even race in the process.
For a long time in the past, Star Island was the exile destination for Haihan to deal with all kinds of prisoners and prisoners of war, and the prison once became an important local industry.
For example, after the Battle of Manila in 1637, there were thousands of prisoners of war who were exiled across the sea to Star Island to serve their sentences. And every year, the number of prisoners who are exiled to Star Island from all over the country of Haihan ranges from hundreds to thousands.
Even if these prisoners can be released after serving their sentences in Xingdao, they will almost never have the opportunity to return to their homeland and will basically have to stay and live there. Therefore, as time goes by, the population composition of Xingdao has become more and more diverse, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the best in Haihan.
In addition to the Han people, Europeans engaged in trading activities in the local area also gathered almost all ethnic groups in Southeast Asia, as well as slave populations from East Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and other places brought by Western slave traders and Arab merchants. There are even exiled prisoners from Japan, Korea and other countries who were sent to Xingdao in many places, as well as Manchu prisoners of war from Liaodong, etc. It can be called a hodgepodge of races.
The troops of the Star Island garrison mainly come from the local area. Naturally, they are also diverse and the composition of the personnel is very complex. In some companies, Han soldiers accounted for less than half, and among the officers there were many foreigners who had nothing to do with the Han people. Among the entourage who followed Roger to Cam Ranh Port this time, there were several naturalized officers.
To train and command such a "motley army" and to bring together soldiers of all ethnic groups with huge differences in language and culture to form combat effectiveness is of course a test of the commander's strength. Roger performed quite well in this regard, and made full use of the complex racial characteristics of the army to turn disadvantages into advantages.
Since this force is composed of multiple races, when fighting any opponent, there will almost always be soldiers of the corresponding race who can play a special role in reconnaissance, interrogation, and negotiation. In the complex external environment that Star Island is in, this army is even more at home.
It was precisely because of this special personnel composition that Roger later took the initiative to recruit a group of capable non-Chinese personnel from the army to form a so-called "foreign corps."
Although this unit has not been included in the establishment of the Haihan Army, it enjoys the same treatment as the regular army, and when performing military missions abroad, its wartime military pay is much higher than the standards of the Haihan Army.
Of course, this part of the excessive military salary and the military expenses of the foreign legions fighting abroad are not borne by Xingdao, but come from their employers. These employers would sign agreements with Roger to provide the military expenses, supplies and other support needed by the Corps. Of course, the benefits Roger received from them were not only military expenses, but the agreements often also contained some additional conditions that were not humane to outsiders. The strength of the Haihan Army is obvious to all, and it has a relatively reliable business reputation. Spending money to hire such a force to deal with some difficult situations is actually a very cost-effective deal for some countries.
Qian Tiandun heard this and asked curiously: "As the employer of the Foreign Legion, do you just give money, or do you have a specific group? Will there be a situation where both sides of the conflict contact you to send troops?"
Roger smiled and said: "I am not a money-minded businessman. I will still consider what tasks I can and cannot take on. As for both sides of the conflict wanting to hire my people, this situation has not never happened. , but in the end it still depends on which side offers more benefits.”
After Roger said this, he gave Qian Tiandun an example. A few years ago, there was a conflict between the Kingdom of Aceh on the island of Sumatra and the Kingdom of Johor on the Malay Peninsula. The two countries had been in conflict for a long time. They both knew that they could not gain much advantage over their opponents, so they sent envoys to Star Island almost at the same time, hoping to hire Luo. Jay's foreign regiment entered the war.
Since both sides of the conflict had this intention, Roger sized up the situation and naturally raised the price, hoping to choose the side with the higher price to provide support.
In the end, after many negotiations, Aceh gained the upper hand through a higher bid. According to the agreement, Aceh not only paid a considerable military expenditure to Sing Tao, but also agreed to extend the lease agreement for the area where the Dumai Oil Field is located from the original twenty years to one hundred years, and all the nominal lease fees charged during the period were also Included in the reward for this action.
After Roger signed the agreement and received the money, he immediately mobilized his troops and prepared to send troops from the sea to assist the Aceh Kingdom in attacking the port city of Johor.
Unexpectedly, only halfway through sending troops, the Kingdom of Johor urgently proposed peace talks. However, Roger had to do something after receiving the money, so he sent his troops to the coast near Stone City and waited for the results of the negotiations between the two countries.
Johor knew that the Haihan Army would be difficult to defeat when it entered the war. If they tried to resist it forcefully, it would only increase casualties. When the time comes, it will be a small matter if we cannot defend this stone-cut city, but it will be a big deal if our old rivals tear open the defense line and lose more territory. For them, negotiation is the wisest solution.
So after nearly a month of negotiations, the two countries finally reached an agreement, which ended with Johor admitting defeat and paying compensation. Xingdao only sent troops to intimidate, and got a lot of benefits without firing a shot.
Unexpectedly, after Sing Tao withdrew its troops, Johor quietly sent people to Sanya to complain, saying that Roger's behavior violated the "Sing Tao Peace Treaty" signed by the two countries in 1635.
Although the attitude of the Executive Committee was to protect its own people, it was also very dissatisfied with Xingdao's practice of sending troops to join the war privately without any warning. Moreover, the foreign corps established by Roger on Star Island bypassed the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense and returned to Star Island after reaping the benefits. However, when it caused trouble, the Executive Committee had to step in to clean up the mess. The Executive Committee would certainly not tolerate this situation continuing.
So not long after, documents related to changes in the army's establishment were sent to Xingdao. The independent establishment of Roger's troops was abolished, and military personnel, including the Foreign Legion, were also required to be integrated into the regular army.
(End of chapter)