Chapter 1307 Balance Point

Although he arrived at the port in the middle of the night, the port was not completely dark. Liu Shang was surprised to find that there was a dock that operated all night long. Many workers were still loading and unloading goods from ships under the lighting of torches and lanterns. In such a busy port,

He had only seen this scene in Sanya before. Zhang Qianzhi said that this was the norm in Haikou Port, which shows that the trade prosperity here is probably not much worse than that in Sanya.

Naturally, there was no need to expect the local chief executive to come to the dock to greet them at this time. However, the corresponding reception work had been arranged in advance. After disembarking from the ship, someone would take them to the government-run guest house located in the former Qiongzhou City. This place was originally

It is a private residence for officials, but the original owner "missed" when Haihan took over the place a few years ago. After the confiscation, the house was converted into an official guest house, specially used to receive Haihan official personnel.

and visiting foreign envoys.

This guest house has four courtyards, and the inspection team was concentrated in one of the courtyards. Although it was already midnight, the guest house quickly provided them with supper and hot water, and the service level was not bad. Liu

Shang has now learned to judge the prosperity of a region from the environment of the local guest house. Judging from the living environment here and the furniture, bedding, and decoration levels in the rooms, the economic situation in Haikou is obviously not bad, and may be better than before.

Danzhou, which I have been to, is even better.

But it makes sense when you think about it. After all, this used to be the capital of Qiongzhou Island, the political and economic center of the island, and its foundation is much better than other areas on the island. To operate a new city based on the original Qiongzhou City,

Naturally, it is a bit higher than the starting point of other places. Moreover, there is only the Qiongzhou Strait, which is ten nautical miles wide, between this place and the mainland. It is the closest city to the Ming Dynasty on this island, and has a unique geographical advantage in terms of trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Advantages. With Haihan's management level, it will not be difficult to build this place into a prosperous trading port.

There was nothing to say all night. Early the next morning, the local chief executive Qiu Yuan took the initiative to come to the guest house and meet with the inspection team.

Qiu Yuan can be regarded as someone who started his career relatively early in the Cross Travel Group. He was the person in charge of commercial affairs in the Yazhou working group of Haihan's first overseas agency. He was later transferred back to Sanya and worked as a manager for a period of time.

The position of director of the Shengli Port Management Committee was later assigned to Qiongbei and became the person in charge of the Haikou area.

Qiu Yuan is only thirty-four or five years old now. He is already in the prime of life and is already a high-ranking member of the party. He has rich experience in governing. Many people believe that he will be one of the strong contenders to join the executive committee in the future. Since

Since he took control of Haikou, the changes and development of this area have indeed been obvious. Not only has the cargo throughput and trade volume increased significantly, but the local population size and infrastructure level have also increased with the tide, which has been greatly improved compared to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, these words are very unpleasant to Liu Shang's ears. After the Haihan people took over this place, they did better than the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't this mean that the Haihan people's governing ability is better than that of the Ming Dynasty? Even so, Liu Shang would never agree with the Haihan people.

As invaders, the Han people seized the territory that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty. To the Ming Dynasty, these Haihan people were not good people who saved the people of Ming Dynasty, but real bandits, no matter what achievements they made here.

, and cannot change the nature of its invasion of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Haihan people obviously did not care too much about the attitude of the Ming Dynasty. What this group of people care about is to continuously expand the scope of activities, increase the scale of trade, and earn more wealth from import and export trade, so as to build the country they control.

areas, and attracted more immigrants to move to areas where life was stable and prosperous under the rule of Haihan. The officials in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty obviously had no effective means of curbing these intentions of the Haihan people, and could only watch them.

After taking Hainan Island, it continued to suck blood from the Ming Dynasty through trade and population migration.

"According to statistics from the Haikou Immigration Bureau, the number of immigrants entering from the local area in the first half of this year reached more than 14,000, and the registered population increased by more than 6,000, which is a slight increase compared with the same period last year. However, the labor gap in Haikou is still

Obviously, the demand for at least 2,000 laborers in Haikou Port and Qiongbei Military Port on the west coast alone cannot be met. So I hope that the Ministry of Civil Affairs can give a certain preference to the immigration quota applied for by Haikou City.

This labor gap should be filled as soon as possible."

After Qiu Yuan briefly explained the local population changes, he changed the topic and made a request. However, of course, he could not expect Yu Xiaobao to make a decision on this matter. Qiu Yuan only asked him to play a role in passing on the news.

When Liu Shang heard this, he secretly thought that along the way, except for the Shilu Mine, which used a large number of prisoners as labor force, officials in almost every place claimed that the demand for labor was not being met, and Haihan

One of the main purposes of manufacturing and promoting the use of steam engines in large quantities at all costs is to make up for the lack of manpower. From this point of view, Haihan’s population demand is indeed a shortcoming that restricts its development speed. If some articles can be written on this aspect

, perhaps it can also slightly inhibit the development of Haihan.

In Haikou alone, more than 10,000 immigrants have entered the country in half a year. Presumably Sanya, as the largest immigration entrance to Haihan, will absorb even more immigrants during this period. This does not include Guangdong.

, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places along the coast absorb immigrants controlled by Haihan. It is roughly estimated that Haihan absorbs at least tens of thousands of immigrants from Daming every year and migrates overseas. This number is quite large.

It's just that if we want to completely ban citizens from migrating overseas in the southern coastal areas, the movement will definitely be huge. By then, it will not be difficult for Haihan to realize who this method is aimed at. If we break up for this, it will be very difficult for Ming Dynasty.

Facing the threat of war, there will be a risk that the gains outweigh the losses. Therefore, if the method is too simple and crude, I am afraid that it will attract direct revenge from Haihan, which may be a blow that the current Ming Dynasty cannot bear.

But if you don’t do this, how can you curb the outflow of southern people to Haihan? Most of the people outflowing from the Ming Dynasty were attracted and organized by Haihan’s immigration recruitment activities. The stability and prosperity they yearned for can now be achieved in the Ming Dynasty.

Is it possible to give it? Liu Shang is not optimistic. At least in the towns he visited under the rule of Haihan, the public security is far better than the Ming cities he knows, and you will never see people begging on the streets.

It seems that under Haihan there is no room for idlers to survive.

The income level of the people of Haihan is indeed higher than that of the Ming Dynasty, especially the craftsmen with various skills. There are many people who are successful in Haihan by virtue of their craftsmanship. For example, Liu Shang heard that Zhang Qianzhi

Zhang Tiangui, his father, was just an old shipwright before coming to Haihan, but now he is a master figure in Haihan shipbuilding industry. Not only is he highly respected, but his descendants are also admired, and almost all the men in the family have obtained official status. This is

Zhang Qianzhi is just his youngest son, and now he has become an influential young official in Haihan. Imagine if his family had not moved to Haihan, Zhang Qianzhi might still be working as a carpenter in a shipbuilding workshop.

It has the prestige now.

For those with skills, moving to Haihan can not only get better income, more opportunities to use their expertise, and even become an official with their skills. This level of treatment makes it difficult to resist the temptation.

. Even the storyteller Liu Shang used to hide his identity can be recruited into the officialdom. What else is impossible?

These benefits given by Haihan are definitely not copyable by Ming Dynasty. It seems to be quite difficult to retain Ming Dynasty's professional talents with favorable conditions. Moreover, this kind of policy-level matter is not his concern at all.

Where he can still exert his power, even if he reports the situation he knows to the superiors, the big shots at the top may not be willing to follow his suggestions to formulate new population management policies. Even if they are formulated, they may not be able to be implemented locally.

After all, the southern coastal areas have been severely infiltrated by Haihan. I am afraid that the vested interests do not want Haihan's expansion to be hindered. Their interests are tied too deeply and tightly to Haihan, and it is no longer easy for the imperial decree to do so.

It can be changed.

The more Liu Shang thought about it, the more headache he felt. The situation Haihan had created in the south was too big. From his perspective, he could not think of any effective way. At this time, Yu Xiaobao and Qiu Yuan were still discussing how to solve the problem.

Recruiting immigrants from the Ming Dynasty more efficiently made Liu Shang feel even more irritable after hearing this.

Yu Xiaobao said: "Chief, the biggest employment gap here is the labor force. There are not many requirements for personal labor skills. This application should be easier to pass. In the second half of the year, a batch of immigrants will be shipped back from the north.

It will be at least five digits, so you should keep an eye on it when the time comes."

Qiu Yuan snorted and said: "If it were so easy to get it, I wouldn't have mentioned it to you specifically. The northern immigrants transported back from Shandong were so popular that they were intercepted by Zhoushan, Penghu, and Hong Kong along the way.

There isn't much left on Hainan Island. Once we get here, we have to compete with other cities and counties for heads... Do you think people like Zhang Xin and Qiao Zhiya will just watch and take action? If I move slower, I might not even be able to drink the soup.

One bite!”

Qiu Yuan's status is different, so it's not a big deal to complain about his colleagues, but Xiaobao doesn't dare to pick up on his words. It's okay to talk in private, but now there are a group of subordinates present, and it would be a big deal if he just chimed in a few words casually.

There is no better or worse performance.

However, Yu Xiaobao had to admit that Qiu Yuan's complaints were somewhat justified. Haihan's demand for population is still very large. Various cities and counties have a large number of agricultural projects and infrastructure projects that require labor force, and they are recruited from the outside every year.

The immigrant population cannot fully meet the demand. Especially the Ming immigrants who have the same ancestors as Haihan can integrate into Haihan society more quickly because there is no cultural barrier, so they are also an important resource that local governors compete for.

The number of immigrants recruited from Ming Dynasty every year is limited, so who gets more and who gets less is not just a matter of reporting to the executive committee. For the sake of their own governance performance, local officials will make every effort to recruit them.

The policies of relevant departments are tilted. This competition is not limited to the field of professional talents. The general labor force is also a popular resource. Qiu Yuan spends a lot of energy in this area every year, and he does not dare to slack off. He does not

If we work hard, other local officials may not stop. When the immigration quota is reduced, there will be no place to cry.

This kind of game situation is also an objective manifestation of the internal competition in the Haihan officialdom. Local officials hope to pave the way for their official careers by creating political achievements, and trying to obtain more resources will undoubtedly help their jurisdictions.

The most troublesome thing about this situation is actually the Executive Committee. Although nominally the immigration allocation plans are drawn up by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and discussed and issued by the Executive Committee, in actual operation, local officials in various places will try their best to submit them to the Executive Committee.

The committee complains, hoping to win more quotas for its jurisdiction. These overt and covert public relations activities will still affect the final decision-making of the executive committee to a certain extent, but it will inevitably suffer complaints and complaints because of it. After all,

The total resources are limited, and no matter how they are allocated, it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

How to grasp the balance between the development speed and resource allocation of each region is a subject that tests the executive committee's governance ability. However, so far, the executive committee's work results in this area can only be said to be unsatisfactory.

However, local officials still have many complaints in private. Yu Xiaobao has actually heard complaints like Qiu Yuan's in other places more or less, but from his standpoint, he definitely cannot express his position on this, otherwise it will be very difficult.

It can easily be interpreted as the attitude of the executive committee.

In response to Qiu Yuan's grievances, Yu Xiaobao could only persuade him kindly: "Chief, the immigration quotas at Victory Fort are also adjusted every year. Chief Tao also said that the palms and backs of the hands are full of flesh, and no matter who is wronged,

No. I think this balance is not so easy to grasp. The top priority is to find ways to open up the country and think about how to introduce more immigrants from other countries."

Qiu Yuan snorted and said: "If you want me to say that fighting is the fastest, think about it. Every time we fight a big war, we will usher in a wave of immigration population growth. It can be as few as thousands or as many as several thousand.

Ten thousand, each city and county can get some benefits. The Leizhou Peninsula on the other side of the strait has a population of tens of thousands. You said it would be great if it was directly merged into Haihan and moved some people to Hainan Island. Haikou City is the closest and receives

There is no pressure for thousands of people.”

Liu Shang was shocked when he heard this. He originally thought that Qiu Yuan was gentle and seemed to be a good talker, but he didn't expect that this man was very ambitious and had already set his sights on the Ming Dynasty territory across the strait.
Chapter completed!