Chapter 3436
The most active person on this matter is of course Qian Tiandun's old partner Chen Yixin.
After Qian Tiandun went south, although they were thousands of miles apart, they still kept in contact. Chen Yixin knew very well what kind of support Qian Tiandun needed most after seizing several islands in northern Malacca.
The current situation of Qian Tiandun and the special forces division is somewhat similar to when they first entered Liaodong twenty years ago. They urgently need to introduce a large number of Han immigrants to complete the development of the local area and stabilize Haihan's rule.
However, Qian Tiandun's current location is too far away from the mainland and is not a traditional Han settlement. It is much more difficult to introduce a large number of Han immigrants than in Liaodong back then.
Therefore, before the start of the Ming Dynasty war in the first half of the year, Chen Yixin had already made up his mind to try to send some Han people, especially young and strong laborers who could do heavy work, to the new territory occupied by Qian Tiandun.
It didn't matter whether these immigrants were prisoners of war, prisoners, or any other status. He knew that as long as they were sent over, Qian Tiandun would naturally find a way to deal with them.
Later, in the military operation in North China, Chen Yixin's troops captured as many as five figures of Ming troops, as well as a large number of accompanying troops. If these prisoners of war can be sent to the South China Sea, the population problem faced by Qian Tiandun will definitely be solved.
The only problem is to transport so many people from near the Bohai Bay to the Strait of Malacca, thousands of miles away, which is far beyond Chen Yixin's ability.
Although the North Sea Fleet and the shipping lines in Shandong and Liaodong have many ships that can be used to transport immigrants, these ships usually only travel to the coastal areas of the mainland, and the sailors are only familiar with offshore sea conditions, and it is difficult to operate in unfamiliar waters like the South China Sea. Complete the transportation mission.
Therefore, the transportation of these immigrants can only be completed by segmented transportation. First, board the ship from the ports near the Bohai Bay and transport them to major ports such as Zhoushan and Zhangzhou in the south. They can be transported as far as the Pearl River Estuary, and then transfer to other places. Ships from the south are sent towards Malacca on the South China Sea.
In order to make the most efficient use of the ship's transportation capacity and reduce transportation costs, almost every cabin of the immigration ship was packed to the brim, as if it was reenacting the time when Haihan first arrived in Dengzhou and shipped a large number of refugees to Zhifu Island to the south. scene.
Even so, it is not easy to complete such a long-distance transport of immigrants by sea. The transportation task that started in late summer has been carried out for about four months so far, and it is still far from completing the transportation plan formulated by Chen Yixin.
The immigrants on the four ships of James Shipping Company were all loaded in Hong Kong, totaling nearly 2,000 people. With so many people crammed into the cabins of the ships and traveling across the ocean, various injuries and illnesses continued to appear during the process. Although each ship was equipped with a doctor, they simply could not take care of so many people. It was inevitable that there would be people injured during the long journey. damaged.
But for Zhan's Shipping Company, which undertakes the transportation task, it is not a big deal if some immigrants die on the way. The cargo owner also allows normal "loss" during the transportation process.
The reason why they had to enter Cam Ranh Port to avoid the storm was not because there were casualties among the immigrants on the ship, but because the ship was damaged and had to be repaired in order to complete the next two thousand miles of voyage from Cam Ranh Port to Star Island.
After Qiu Zhiguo and Qian Shaobao learned about the situation on the ship, they had a tacit understanding and never mentioned letting the people on the ship go ashore to rest. If these people are allowed to go ashore, additional troops will have to be arranged to guard them. If any trouble occurs during this period, it will have to be solved by Cam Ranh Port itself. It would be better to just let these immigrants stay on the ship and provide them with food and water.
Although this kind of response is a bit cruel, it is not an errand that should be done with kindness. These immigrants were not recruited from regular channels in the country. To put it more seriously, they were all convicted of crimes. Giving them the opportunity to go to overseas colonies to regain their lives was already the most merciful decision of the Executive Committee.
If unfortunately he dies on the way, it is destiny and he will not have such a good life.
Qian Shaobao had some knowledge of this matter before, but he didn't know much about the specific immigration transportation situation. He just took this opportunity to find out from Qiu Zhiguo.
According to Qiu Zhiguo, almost every month one or two fleets transporting immigrants south pass through Cam Ranh Port, but not every fleet will stop here for supplies.
Immigration fleets belonging to regular shipping lines like this usually prepare all the materials needed for a direct voyage to the destination as much as possible when setting off. If there are no accidents on the way, they will not stop at ports along the way.
After all, every extra day spent on the road means an extra day of food and drink on the boat. The number of people carried by an immigration fleet is often in the thousands, and a considerable amount of materials are consumed every day. The expenses saved by shortening the voyage time are all the profits of the shipping company.
Cam Ranh Port has also received one or two transshipment transactions, both due to situations similar to this one. The immigration ship was severely damaged by wind and waves and could not be repaired in the short term. The ship owner could only find a ship at Cam Ranh Port to transfer the immigrants to their destination. land.
While they were talking, someone came to report to Qiu Zhiguo that he needed to help register the maintenance procedures for these immigration ships. Qiu Zhiguo had no choice but to complain to Qian Shaobao and Li Dechang and go to handle official business first.
When talking to Qiu Zhiguo just now, Li Dechang didn't interrupt much. Qian Shaobao also wanted to hear his opinion, so he asked him what he thought about the operation of these immigration ships.
Li Dechang said calmly: "The shipping companies that are undertaking this business now basically have mature plans for transporting immigrants. The ships run fast, have guaranteed food and drink, and are equipped with doctors accompanying the ships. The loss of personnel during the journey is already very small."
"I heard from my father that in the early years, dozens of people died on almost every ship that shipped immigrants to Star Island. After arriving at the local area, another group of people had to be lost because of the unsuitable climate and soil. In the end, only three points were left. The second living person is considered a pretty good situation.”
His father, Li Dagui, had been in charge of local civil affairs and shipping affairs after Haihan captured Amborna Island. Because of his outstanding performance, he was favored by Roger and was later transferred to Xingdao.
Li Dagui not only witnessed the process of transporting immigrants from Haihan to the South China Sea in the early days, but also personally operated part of it. Naturally, he was very clear about the cruel history. Li Dechang has heard his father talk about these things since he was a child, so in his opinion, Cam Ranh Port's handling of emergencies is perfectly normal.
Qian Shaobao was quite interested in this period of history. He had only seen relevant records in historical documents before, so he asked Li Dechang to explain in detail what he knew about the history of immigration transportation and the current population composition of the Xingdao region. .