Chapter 207 Investigation along the way

The so-called "Greater Sanya" development strategy focuses on the construction of this large area east of Yazhou, south of Lingshui, and located in the southwest corner of Hainan Island. The executive committee is prepared to spend five, ten or even longer years to develop this large area.

This area has become the strongest base of the Haihan regime in the South China Sea.

In the early stage, this development strategy is mainly centered on Victory Port and gradually radiates development to surrounding areas. In order to make full use of limited human resources and armed forces, the Executive Committee believes that the development area at this stage should not be too far away from Victory Port - of course

Resource-based colonization areas like Black Earth Port are a special case. Crossing Group must have coal and coke resources there to ensure the scale of local steel production.

But in addition to the energy industry, the layout of other industries can only gradually expand outward according to this strategy. Although the development prospects of the Yinggehai Salt Field are very attractive, there are two unavoidable problems for the current Chuanchuan Group.

There are problems. First, the local terrain is flat and there is almost no dangerous terrain for defense. The voyage from Victory Port is more than fifty nautical miles. At the speed of the existing Fuzhou or Guangzhou ships, it will take a whole day to go smoothly.

, once an accident occurs, there is no time to rescue, and from a military point of view, the risk of development is relatively high; secondly, although the area available for salt farm development in the Yinggehai area is large, enough manpower must be invested, and the current import of immigrants

The speed may not be enough for large-scale development projects.

If we do not compare the theoretical output of the two places, but simply compare the difficulty of development and construction and the military risks required, then Tieliang Port's score will undoubtedly be much higher than that of Yinggehai. The only weakness here is probably due to the peculiar terrain.

There are loopholes in the defense in the north. However, this is not a big deal in the opinion of the Executive Committee. It is more than enough than above, and it is always much better than the geographical environment of Yinggehai. The purpose of the Military and Police Department's inspection is to base the inspection here on

Based on the actual situation, a practical and effective defense system is designed.

The coastal defense artillery system will definitely not work in the short term. In fact, many people also think that the Executive Committee is making a fuss - does a salt farm really need to build a fort for protection? If this is really done, then Hainan Island will not be able to do so in the future.

Just build a fort around the island?

The Military and Police Department has no obsession with building forts. This is not a victory port anyway. Even if there is a fight, it will only lose some salt. Since we cannot rely on artillery fire to confront possible invading enemies head-on, we must at least retreat.

The second requirement is to formulate an escape plan. This is also the minimum requirement of the Executive Committee, at least to ensure that the personal safety of the naturalized people working here can be guaranteed.

According to the actual situation here, after lowering the requirements by one level, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao's tasks became much easier. The harbor of Tielugang is several kilometers deep inland. In the early stage, it is entirely possible to build salt farms only in the inland areas.

By setting up observation posts on the mountains along the coast, just like what the Military Police Department did in Yulinjiao, if there is an external threat, as long as an early warning is given, the saltworks staff will have at least an hour or two to evacuate calmly and safely.

There is definitely nothing to worry about. The workers in the salt field can retreat westward along the valley between Yalong Ridge and Baishi Ridge, and return to the vicinity of Tiandu in half a day. Although this valley passage cannot currently be used to transport bulk materials,

It's no problem as an escape route.

As for the existence of this valley passage, the Ministry of Agriculture has given a very ideal solution, which is to develop the valley agriculturally, plant oil, hemp, spices and other cash crops on the hillside, and at the same time try to slowly convince those who

The Limiao mountain people who are accustomed to living in the mountains gradually moved out from the inland and resettled them in this ravine. After a few years, an economic corridor of industrial zones-farms-salt fields will naturally form here.

Although some people have doubts about whether the feuding Li and Miao ethnic groups can live in close proximity to each other, the executive committee has shown an optimistic attitude towards this. The two ethnic groups have fought back and forth in the past, except in the early days.

In addition to the official intentions of the Ming Dynasty, it was actually to obtain more survival resources in the mountains and wilderness. Even if it was just barren hillside cultivated land or a small mountain spring, it would become the reason for them to fight.

.

Now the Crossing Group can provide them with sufficient food, pig iron, salt and other daily necessities, and as long as they are willing to go out of the mountains, they can live the same life as the Han people. This is true for many young people of the Li and Miao ethnic groups.

An irresistible temptation - as evidenced by the fact that the Li-Miao militia currently accounts for as much as 40% of the militia. Although there are still frictions and disputes between the two ethnic groups from time to time, with the powerful arbiter of the Crossing Group,

There is no longer the situation in the past where entire villages and entire villages would take part in armed fighting.

The crew of the "Sea Training 02" ship measured the water depth along the entire S-shaped channel entering Tieliang Port, and in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, they also conducted corresponding salinity tests on the water samples. According to the test results,

Look, the salinity of the seawater here is slightly lower than that of the Saltworks Commune and Yinggehai, but it is more than enough to meet the production needs of the saltworks, and it will be easier to transform the large tidal flat areas all over the harbor into salt ponds, and it is not even necessary.

It requires as many lifting and irrigation devices as the salt farm commune to introduce seawater into the inland salt fields. This task can be accomplished by relying on the power of nature when the tide rises every day. The production efficiency after development may be higher than that of the existing salt farm commune.

Outside of the tidal flat area, there is a large area of ​​flat area near Tielugang that can be used for agricultural development. Although the land here has high salinity and is not suitable for the cultivation of ordinary crops, the Ministry of Agriculture has long before crossing

Various plans for agricultural development in Hainan have been formulated in a targeted manner. Relevant units have already made preparations for how to develop the saline-alkali land on the seaside. For example, the seeds of samphire, the preferred crop for seawater irrigated agriculture, have high oil content.

It can be used to extract vegetable oil, and its seedlings and tender tips are also sea vegetables with extremely high nutritional value, commonly known as sea bamboo shoots. In addition, there are also medicinal plants such as black wolfberry, sea fennel, and sea bamboo shoots that are suitable for planting in heavily saline-alkali soils.

Cabbage and other vegetables. In addition to building salt farms, Tielugang can also carry out large-scale agricultural development and build it into one of the production bases of oil crops and vegetables.

It is also worth mentioning that the professional opinions from the Ministry of Construction also played a great role in promoting the selection tendency of the Executive Committee. There are quarries and abundant forest resources in Tielugang for development, which greatly reduces the cost of development.

The difficulty of future development. There is a lack of stone materials near the salt farm commune. Almost all the stones that can be mined were used by the ancestors to make stone salt drying tanks. So when later they needed to build masonry houses, these building materials had to be transported from Victory Port.

Fortunately, the journey is not far and it is not particularly troublesome to ship it over. However, the other site chosen is near Yinggehai, even if there is not even a mountain within a square kilometer, let alone quarrying, even the wood must be sourced from

After being transported to Shengli Port, it can be seen how difficult the early development was.

After receiving opinions from the military and police, shipping, construction, agriculture and other departments, it is only natural that the executive committee is more inclined to choose Tielugang as the next salt farm development location. Of course, this area must be developed

Construction does not start immediately with just a word from the Executive Committee. After this inspection, the relevant conclusions will be sent to the Executive Committee for the Executive Committee to make a decision. After the location is determined, at least one person will be dispatched.

Two groups of inspection teams conducted site surveys and planning, calculated the required materials and manpower, and formulated a more detailed development plan. It is estimated that the actual development of this place will start in half a month at the earliest.

By the time they came out of Tielugang after the survey, it was already afternoon. After the sailboat sailed out of the narrow channel, it passed by the east side of Wuzhizhou Island, drew an arc and headed straight to the open sea. The expedition team will take the following measures on the way to Guangzhou

For the direct route to Guangzhou, the shortest flight distance and sailing time will be calculated. On the return trip, a relatively conservative route will be taken, going south along the east coast of Hainan Island, and by the way, the people and sea conditions in the coastal areas will be inspected.

Although there were a large group of veteran crew members on board "Sea Training 02", the speed of the ship itself was extremely limited, and it had never run this route before. On the fourth day, the Wanshan Islands outside the Pearl River Estuary were finally seen ahead.

Fortunately, the weather conditions were pretty good along the way, and we did not encounter any big waves. This made the naturalized residents who took a boat out to the open sea area for the first time much better off. There were no such things as those seen in the Black Earth Port colonization fleet on the ship.

Critically ill patients who are severely seasick and almost in shock.

The two half-year-olds Yu Xiaobao and Zhang Qianzhi were even more energetic and spent almost the whole time on the deck. Zhang Qianzhi's family has been shipwrights for eight generations, and he himself grew up in a shipyard.

He was very familiar with the ship. During this trip, Yu Xiaobao learned a lot of knowledge about shipbuilding and sailing from him.

"Hai Xun 02 Ship" did not rush to sail north into the Pearl River, but adjusted its direction and sailed northeast. Before going to Guangzhou, they had another inspection mission, which was to explore the conditions of Hong Kong waters and islands.

Hong Kong has been under the jurisdiction of the government since the Tang Dynasty and was subordinate to Dongguan County. In the first year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the government carved out land from Dongguan County because it was too far away from Dongguan County and was inconvenient to manage.

population, Xin'an County was established. From this time until it was forcibly leased by the British in the 19th century, the Hong Kong area was under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County.

The place name Hong Kong actually existed before the travelers came to this time and space. The term "Hong Kong Island" was already mentioned in the art of "Yue Da Ji" written by Guo Di during the Wanli Period. At the same time, the words recorded in the book

In the "Guangdong Coastal Map", the names of Hong Kong, Stanley, Tsim Sha Tsui and other places are marked.

In the current era, the economy of Hong Kong is mainly maintained by agricultural industries such as growing incense, boiling salt, fishing, and farming. Among them, the incense growing industry is the most developed. The fragrant trees abundant in Hong Kong are very popular in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Good products. The "Xin'an County Chronicle" of the Ming Dynasty recorded the production of fragrant wood in Hong Kong. In later generations, Sha Tin, Lantau Island and other places were rich in fragrant wood products. These products were first shipped to Tsim Sha Tsui, and then they were known as "big-eyed chicken" with the unique local name.

The ships were shipped to Guangzhou for sale. One theory of the origin of the name Hong Kong is that the fragrant wood trade here was very prosperous in history.

The salt fields in Hong Kong still use the old-fashioned method of boiling salt, and the output is very limited. However, the Guangdong Salt Classification Department has set up a management agency here - a small inspection department to check and prohibit the illegal sale of salt.

.For the Chuanchuan Group, the salt output here is almost negligible, and the annual output cannot exceed half a month of the salt farm commune.

In addition to the Inspection Department, there are also naval forces stationed here in Hong Kong. There are a small number of troops stationed in Fo Men Tong, Long Chuan Wan, Logue, Tai O, Lang Tao Wan, Lang Bai and other places. Of course, this small amount is only for the huge Ming Dynasty.

In terms of military establishment, according to historical records, at the end of the 16th century, the number of Ming troops and military servants stationed in Hong Kong exceeded 2,000, and there were dozens of large and small warships. Compared with the Yazhou Water Village plus the garrison,

The garrison here is much stronger. And the garrison here is not just for show. Since the Ming and Zhengde years, the garrison here has had many battles with Western colonists, and they have rarely lost. From time to time, everyone came to this time and space.

The most recent confrontation between the East and the West was probably when a Dutch warship broke into the Buddhist temple gate in 1622. However, under the strict defense of the soldiers and civilians of Xin'an County at that time, the Dutch did not choose to attack in the end, but left silently.

One of the inspection missions of the "Sea Training 02" ship to Hong Kong is to find out the situation of the navy station here. Of course, this kind of thing cannot be done openly. Sun Changmi had people use fishing nets and canvas to cover the side of the ship.

The painted ship name and ship number, and then the Military and Police Department used high-magnification military telescopes to conduct reconnaissance of the target area from several miles away. The effect of this reconnaissance is naturally very limited, but for safety reasons, Sun Changmi also

They did not dare to let the ship get too close to the water stronghold of the Ming army, so as not to attract attention and cause trouble. Although there were more than a dozen guns on the "Sea Training 02" ship, its role in naval battles was extremely limited, and the ship itself was not fast enough.

It's not easy to even run away after being discovered.

The ship "Hai Xun 02" spent a day cruising around the waters between Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island. By the way, it also took a look at Tsim Sha Tsui and the commercial port in the typhoon shelter area. The Victoria Harbor at this time was naturally incomparable with the prosperity of later generations.

However, sailing figures can be seen everywhere on the sea, and many merchant ships from Fuzhou and Guangzhou are docked at the port. Sun Changmi considered that the clothes of the people on his ship were too conspicuous, so he did not choose to dock the ship here, but

After completing the reconnaissance mission, they sailed out of this sea area, passed through the waterway between Ma Wan and Lantau Island, then turned northwest and re-entered the Pearl River Estuary.

During the inspection in Hong Kong for more than a day, most of the passengers on the ship were in a state of nervousness. It was not until they returned to the Pearl River Estuary that they slowly calmed down. Not only did they have to beware of the Ming troops stationed there discovering their purpose,

And we have to prevent pirates that often appear near Hong Kong waters - according to Li Nai, in the waters of Daya Bay to the west of Hong Kong, there are several groups of pirates, large and small, who from time to time will seize the loopholes in the navy's patrol and attack in nearby waters.

Attacks on commercial and civilian ships.

However, the naturalized people obviously don't know that the leaders have so many worries in their minds. They simply think that this is just a normal journey. With the omnipotent leaders on this ship, where can they go?

That night, the ship anchored outside a small fishing village at the mouth of the Pearl River, and contacted the Guangdong Office via the radio to arrange a meeting time for the next day. Although everyone wanted to set foot on land early to rest and rest, this place is far away from Guangzhou.

There is still a waterway dozens of kilometers away from the city, and we are going upstream, so it is obviously impossible to proceed in the dark.

As soon as it got dark the next day, the anxious crew rushed the crew up onto the deck, quickly raised the sails and anchor, and even had breakfast after setting off. But it was useless even if they were anxious, the current was against the current.

The speed on the boat was more than twice as slow as riding the wind and waves on the sea. It was not until the sky had darkened that the lookout standing on the bow reported that he had seen the walls of Guangzhou City through the telescope.

After Schneider and He Xi finished their work in the afternoon, they went to the pier only a few hundred meters away from the Guangdong Office to wait. After waiting left and right, both of them were already hungry and wondered whether the ship had an accident on the way.

When the situation was under control, I finally saw the "Hai Xun 02" ship with a conspicuous red cloth tied on the top of the mast appearing in the river.

"Hurry up, start the slogans!" He Xi ordered several young servants who followed.

The servants quickly erected the bamboo poles and unfolded the banner. On the two-foot-wide white cloth, a few big black characters were very conspicuous - Guangzhou welcomes you! This was not because He Xi wanted to sensationalize, but because they were afraid that the ship would arrive too late and they would not be able to see the shore clearly.

The situation on the road was driving past the place, and a conspicuous sign was specially made. Of course, it also showed the presence of the General Office of the People's Republic of China. However, this thing is only useful when it is dawn. If the sky continues to get dark, what will happen?

The lucky man lit up the torch. Fortunately, it was getting late at this time, and there were not many people on the pier. They put up this banner without attracting crowds who didn't know the truth.

After finally waiting for the boat to dock, the first people to step off the gangplank were their old acquaintances Sun Changmi and Doctor Morgan. Schneider and He Xi came forward to greet them, and their four pairs of big hands held each other tightly: "Thank you for your hard work, hard work,

Thank you for the hard work along the way!" "To each other! It's not easy for you either!"

Xiao Liang, who disembarked after him, said thoughtfully: "How does this look... a bit like the Red Army's victorious rendezvous in northern Shaanxi?"

"We have just taken the first step in the long march of thousands of miles, and we are nowhere here!" Yu Yao responded with a smile: "Let's go, get off the boat quickly, I don't want to stay on the boat for a second anymore."
Chapter completed!