Chapter 1332 Desperate

Judging from the social atmosphere of Haihan's challenge to the Spanish fleet at home, Liu Shang believes that the people of Haihan did not feel much panic about the outbreak of the war, but regarded this as an opportunity to demonstrate national power. Not only did they not flee, but they

Many people actively participated in the preparations and watching the war. The Haihan navy and the coastal defense fort worked together to defeat the invading enemy fleet in full view of the public. This performance made the people even more popular.

Greatly encouraged, Liu Shang even saw young students organizing petitions, demanding an official expedition to the Spanish fleet's home base and retaliating against it with military means.

If it is said that when he first heard about the incoming enemy troops, Liu Shang still had the mentality of a mediocre person. By the way, he would take a look at the loopholes in Haihan's defense line and provide some help for the Ming army to regain this place in the future.

But after witnessing the battle with his own eyes, Liu Shang already understood where Haihan's confidence lay. A fleet as powerful as Spain had already been defeated and fled without even touching the soil of Victory Port. If it were replaced

If the Ming Navy's navy is facing off against the Haihan Navy in its position, the chances of even the main force escaping from the battlefield will be slim, right?

Liu Shang suddenly felt that the Guangdong and Guangxi officials had left Haihan's various behaviors indifferent over the years, perhaps not just because they were short-handed, but because they knew that military means were not only useless to Haihan, but could easily irritate him.

Its rebound. Sanya can defend against foreign invasion, but many cities in Guangdong and Guangxi cannot.

Before Liu Shang came to Hainan Island, he also went to Guangzhou City to see Haihan's local operations. In addition to the piece of land on the edge of the Pearl River east of Guangzhou City, Haihan is now building a new business on the sandbank on the south bank of the Pearl River opposite Guangzhou City.

A port town named Haizhu Town was built. The Haihan people built a two-mile-long dock on the river bank, as well as supporting facilities such as business houses and warehouses, and these docks undoubtedly became the name of Haihan.

It is a designated stopping point for various commercial firms, shipping companies and other institutions. Although it is across the river from Guangzhou City, it has not affected the rapid prosperity of Haizhu Town in just one or two years.

Of course, what Haihan sent here through shipping was not only a variety of goods, but also a variety of people with different functions. Among these people were not only merchants, but also many intelligence personnel with similar identities to Liu Shang, and a considerable number

of paramilitary personnel.

The escort agency "Golden Shield Escort" jointly opened by Haihan and Guangdong businessman Li Jifeng has been operating for several years. The geographical scope of the business has expanded beyond the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and has also been established in Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi and other places.

Trade routes and freight channels have been established, and a large number of branches have been built in various places. Golden Shield Escort has hired a large number of armed personnel in a legal name, and a considerable proportion of them are even equipped with standard muskets provided by Haihan.

As far as Liu Shang knows, the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi are not unaware of these situations, but they are deliberately pretending to be deaf and mute and turning a blind eye. It can be said that they are allowing Haihan to do whatever he wants. According to statistics from the intelligence department, Golden Shield escorts are only deployed along the Pearl River.

There are about two thousand armed personnel. If these people are organized, they will be like the strength of two infantry reinforcement battalions. If necessary, Liu Shang believes that they only need half a day to prepare, and they can attack Guangzhou

The city launched an attack.

At that time, Liu Shang did not think that Haihan's small actions could really threaten the security of Guangzhou's city defense. He just felt that the local government's inaction was a serious dereliction of duty. However, thinking about it now, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

.If these armed personnel have the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army, or these so-called escorts are simply another identity of the Haihan Army, then even if the two thousand Haihan Army will not be able to capture Guangzhou City for a while, it will be enough to block it.

The defenders inside could not get out of the city.

In such an environment where Haihan is monitored face-to-face, any action taken by the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi near Guangzhou will be leaked, and they would not dare to make any attempt to expel Haihan by force. It is only natural.

Doubts about Ming's military strength like this became more and more frequent, and Liu Shang also felt less and less confident about his mission to lurk in Haihan. The longer he stayed, the clearer he became about what he was doing now.

Most of the things they did were useless. Personal strength could not narrow the strength gap between the two countries, and the information collected through intelligence methods did not help Ming use political, economic or military means to deal with Haihan, a difficult opponent.

In the comparison of strength between the two countries, except for land area and population, Liu Shang cannot see that Ming has any other advantages. Although Ming claims to have a standing army of two million, it is really divided into the Guangdong and Guangxi regions and can fight wars.

The army does not even have 100,000 troops. The troops that can be mobilized for mobile operations across the coast may not even be able to raise 20,000 troops. And based on the comparison of the strengths of the two armies, if Haihan were to launch an offensive against the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, the two sides would be

Wan Ming's army will definitely be unable to withstand it. As for the recapture of Hainan Island, even if all the troops from Guangdong and Guangxi can fight together, it won't be enough to fill the gun holes - not to mention that even if a hundred thousand troops are mobilized, there will be no such many ships.

Transport the army to Hainan Island in a short time.

Liu Shang sighed and continued reading the special issue he had not finished yet. Haihan officials characterized the battle as a fight against foreign invasion, rather than a "fight against piracy" as claimed before the war. The article stated this

Spain, which launched its troops to attack Sanya the next time, defined it as an "evil country" and listed it as an unwelcome trade object, and called on its citizens and allies to stop all trade with the Spaniards, especially the Manila authorities. Of course, this trade blockade is not mandatory.

method, but with the appeal that Haihan officials have in the region, Liu Shang has no doubt that this statement will be interpreted as an official decree by people from all walks of life.

In the future, it is estimated that not many people will dare to go against Haihan's official will and continue to secretly trade with the Spanish in Manila. It is not difficult for people with a little brain to think that since Haihan can arrive in the Spanish fleet this time,

I got the early warning a few days ago and prepared for war in advance. It must be someone in Manila who sent the message in advance to warn me. If I continue to go to Manila to do business regardless of life and death, I am afraid that I will be blacklisted by the Haihan Ministry of Commerce.

This informal trade ban will definitely have a certain negative impact on Haihan's foreign trade income, but Liu Shang also knows that Haihan people are extremely shrewd in business and will definitely not do business at a loss. If he dares to adopt such a method, then there is a possibility.

The pros and cons were calculated in advance. Even if they suffered a loss, the Spanish in Manila would definitely suffer a greater loss.

But in Liu Shang's view, perhaps this is just the beginning of Haihan's revenge methods. If it is just a trade blockade, it probably won't relieve Haihan. There will definitely be other means to force the other party to bow its head. Liu Shang, on the other hand,

I really hope that Haihan can fight hard, use all his elite troops, and go to Manila to fight the Spanish to the death, but for now, there seems to be no sign of continuing the war. Both fleets of Haihan Navy have returned to victory.

At the base in the port, it is said that several ships have been sent to the dock for repairs, and the soldiers have begun to lift their combat readiness status in batches. It seems that they will not fight again in the near future.

Moreover, the newspaper quoted senior military officials as saying that Haihan's battle was a "self-defense counterattack" and was aimed at repelling the enemy's attack. As for attacking Manila or even eliminating the Spanish presence in this area, the newspaper was half-hearted.

Not a single sentence was mentioned. Based on the official propaganda methods of Haihan that Liu Shang knows, if there is a war next, it will probably be the same as before. Before the war starts, the news will be released to the society, and the direction of public opinion will be actively guided, so as to prevent the people from being confused by the information.

Suspicions arising from lack of transparency can also prevent anyone from using this to incite public sentiment and create chaos.

Liu Shang directly skipped the large amount of space devoted to praising the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army. This was not because he still had serious objections to the Haihan Army, but because he had witnessed with his own eyes the entirety of the Haihan Army's defeat of the Spanish fleet.

The process, simply using words to describe the battle during this period was too pale, and he was not interested in spending time to relive this fierce naval battle through words. What Liu Shang was really interested in was such official statements as

It is easy to ignore these brief descriptions, but Liu Shang has spent more time working in the publicity department recently, and has gradually understood Haihan’s publicity techniques. It is often these seemingly inconspicuous information that will foreshadow what is to come.

The following situation will develop.

However, before Liu Shang could finish reading this special issue, he received a new task. He went to the immigration camp on the Luhuitou Peninsula to explain the battle process to the new immigrants. This job was tailor-made for him. Liu Shang

Shang Ziran could not refuse, so he rushed to the immigration camp together with several other propaganda personnel who had been notified.

When Liu Shang first arrived in Sanya, he actually stayed here for a few days. Now that he has returned to his old place, he already feels like he has returned home in glory. He is now an official on behalf of the Youth League who went out to perform tasks, and the people who used to yell at him back then

The immigration officer, now wearing a humble face, followed step by step and introduced the various facilities in the immigration camp. It seemed that the other party no longer recognized that the official in front of him came from here a few months ago.

He is an ordinary immigrant who went out. Of course, even if he recognized him, he would probably pretend not to know.

Liu Shang did not intend to laugh at the snobbery of these lower-level officials. Whether in Haihan or Ming Dynasty, such a situation was not uncommon in the officialdom, but it was just a normal reaction of the lower-level officials.

After a brief visit to the immigration camp, the management staff gathered more than 400 immigrants who would be resettled in various parts of Hainan Island in the near future, and staff from the propaganda department gave them a lecture. Of course, the content was not only about the war the day before, but also many more

Regarding the work and life rules of new immigrants, we need to explain and emphasize to them again.

Liu Shang was queued to the last one to take the stage, so he sat aside and drank tea while waiting for other colleagues to finish their speeches. His position was opposite the hundreds of immigrants sitting on the floor at a 45-degree angle, and he could just observe these people.

The changes in his expression while listening to the lecture. Liu Shang has performed similar tasks several times during his trip around the island, so he has accumulated a certain amount of experience. In addition, he has also had the experience of telling stories in teahouses before, so he can easily learn from the audience's emotions.

You can tell whether they are interested in what they are hearing by changing their expressions.

After Liu Shang's eyes scanned the faces of the people in the front rows, he suddenly felt that someone was watching him somewhere, and this person seemed to be among the immigrants. After scanning the crowd several times, he finally found it.

The root cause - a middle-aged man in gray clothes held his head with one hand, seemingly absent-minded, but his eyes were always locked on him.

Although this man looked ordinary, Liu Shang's heart beat faster when he saw this man, because he had known this man before coming to Hainan Island. To be precise, they were colleagues who worked together.

When Liu Shang first took over this task, he was not the only candidate. As far as he knew, at least five to six people were included in the dispatch plan. However, he set off alone and did not know about the other candidates.

Was he also sent to lurk in the Haihan controlled area? Liao Yuan and others who had entered Sanya before were not the same batch of infiltrators as him.

The face he saw in front of him was something Liu Shang had seen once when he was interviewing for this task. He didn't know the person's name, but he should be an expert transferred from a branch somewhere. This person appeared in

At this moment, he should be at least one batch later than Liu Shang. And this person obviously recognized Liu Shang's identity from the moment they met, so he kept staring at him.

According to the plan, Liu Shang's only contact during the period of lurking in Haihan was Liao Yuan. If other intelligence personnel wanted to establish contact with Liu Shang, they should do so through Liao Yuan. But now Liao Yuan is not in Sanya, but Liu Shang happened to meet

It's a bit tricky when you have a new colleague who recognizes you.

Logically speaking, Liu Shang cannot take the initiative to look for other lurkers in the local area, but this special situation of meeting each other by chance and getting to know each other is unplanned. Of course Liu Shang can pretend not to recognize the other party, but in his heart

But there was an inexplicable worry - in addition to Liao Yuan, this was another risk that would expose his identity.

When Liu Shang comes to the stage to give a speech, according to the rules, he must first explain his identity and position, and this will undoubtedly give the handle to that person. If he comes back to ask for some help, will he help Liu Shang or not?

Shang knew nothing about his identity, but his own identity could not be kept secret. This passive feeling was really difficult for him to accept.
Chapter completed!