Chapter 2455

Gradually achieving influence on a certain region or a specific group through trade, finance, culture and other soft means has been the strategy Haihan used most in the process of external expansion in recent years. Facts have proved that even the Manchu Qing Dynasty was established by barbarians. The regime was also unable to resist Haihan's tactics.

The royal dignitaries of the Manchu Qing Dynasty soon tasted the benefits brought by trade. Various commodities from the south continued to flow into Liaodong through Jinzhou, and even entered the palace in Shenyang City. When Huang Taiji experienced the high price of buying After buying soaps, matches, kerosene lamps, sucrose, refined salt, glassware, tobacco and other Haihan products, I naturally understood why Haihan was willing to have a truce with him and trade. After all, it is not as comfortable as lying down and making money in a war. These things only need to be added by hand. If you sell it to the more isolated Mongolian tribes at the same price, you can easily make a lot of money.

Under the organized propaganda offensive of Haihan merchants, the Haihan style of life was quickly regarded by the Manchus as a more advanced and civilized existence than the Ming Dynasty, and imitating Haihan became an emerging trend among the upper classes of Manchu and Qing society. .

However, what really concerned Huang Taiji was Haihan's weapons and equipment. However, due to the extremely strict official control of Haihan, it was impossible to purchase them through commercial channels. Even if he went to Jinzhou with money to buy them, it would be useless.

Various agricultural and forestry products produced in the Manchu-controlled areas, such as ginseng, mink skin, deer antlers, bear bile, etc., as well as various livestock, also began to enter the southern market in large quantities through the maritime trade routes opened by Haihan. However, among them Naturally, more than half of the profits were pocketed by Haihan.

Almost at the same time as the formal trade with the Manchus, Haihan and North Korea also reached an agreement to jointly develop Jeju Island. Haihan funded the construction of local animal husbandry facilities. In addition to pigs, cattle and sheep, there were also large-scale breeding facilities for military horses. Racecourse. Of course, these investments are not given to North Korea in vain. The large coastal plain in the west of Jeju Island will become one of the resettlement sites for Haihan, and a large number of refugees from Shandong will be transported here for resettlement.

Although the Ming Dynasty has been temporarily freed from external military pressure, severe droughts and locust plagues have occurred in Shandong one after another, as in history. The area affected has even exceeded the previous Qing army's invasion of Shandong, and the number of refugees was naturally extremely alarming. .

But with previous experience, people all knew where to flee to save their lives, so the number of refugees pouring into Dengzhou even exceeded the previous year. Fortunately, Haihan had already prepared for this round of refugee flows in advance. In preparation, there was no rush like the previous year. Most of the refugees were shipped out within three days of arriving in Fushan County, and no more siltation was caused in the local area.

The area of ​​the new resettlement area on Jeju Island is larger than that of Fushan County, and the distance is much closer than that of Taiwan Island and other places in the south. Therefore, the transshipment efficiency has also improved a lot compared with the previous year. Only this immigration route has been opened. In the first month, more than 15,000 refugees were sent to Jeju Island for resettlement.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was still busy wiping out the peasant army in Shanxi and Shaanxi areas, and had no time to pay attention to the natural disasters in Shandong. It could only pretend to turn a blind eye to Haihan's behavior of taking the opportunity to absorb a large number of refugee populations. Emperor Chongzhen and the officials in the court also knew very well , if these refugees cannot be resettled in time and properly, new civil strife will inevitably occur in Shandong. Although Haihan's blood-sucking behavior is hateful, it can be regarded as solving a security risk for the Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning of 1641, Roger, the supreme commander of Star Island, personally led an armed fleet through the Strait of Malacca to the Port of Banda Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra. After a few days of rest, it crossed the Bay of Bengal to the east coast of the Indian Peninsula. This is also

Haihan officially set foot on the Indian Peninsula for the first time. However, this voyage across the Bay of Bengal was mainly for exploration and was not intended to establish a stronghold on the east coast of the Indian Peninsula. After completing the investigation, the fleet will still return to Star Island to station.

However, this trend also made the colonists in various European countries nervous. After all, Haihan has not extended his sphere of influence to the west of the Strait of Malacca so far.

At the same time as Roger was operating, two elite units, the Special Operations Group and the Marine Corps, were also ordered to leave Hainan Island and go south. Taking advantage of the period of peace in the north, the Executive Committee prepared to take action in the south to fully consolidate Hainan Island.

influence in the South China Sea region.

The Marine Corps' destination is Palawan Island, located southwest of the Philippine Islands. Their task is to clear Palawan Island together with the Manila garrison and establish a stronghold in Hunda Bay in the middle of its west coast.

This place called Puerto Princesa was originally a penal colony for criminals by the Spanish colonial authorities. However, after the Spaniards were driven to the Maluku Islands in the south, it was slowly abandoned, leaving only a few hundred

Criminals and their families still live here.

Of course, what Haihan is interested in is not these Spanish criminals, but the mercury mine near the port. There is no mercury mine with stable production capacity in the area under Haihan's rule, and the production here will make barometers, thermometers, and electrical appliances for Haihan.

Equipment, etc. provide raw materials.

The Haihan Army easily occupied the port without encountering any decent resistance. The local criminals wisely chose to surrender collectively and expressed their willingness to be loyal to the new master. However, the Haihan Army did not have time to distinguish these Spanish

Whether people are real criminals or ordinary people who have been wronged are all packaged and arranged to be used as coolies in mining areas.

In order to ensure the safety of production here, the Haihan Army also cleaned up the indigenous tribes within a hundred miles and stationed an infantry company here. Immigrants will slowly move here in the future.

The target of the special operations group is on the island of Kalimantan in the southwest of Palawan Island. Bandar Seri Begawan on its north coast is a famous oil and natural gas producing area in later generations, with reserves far exceeding the Chumankeng Oilfield on the island of Taiwan.

The Siriya area, located two hundred miles away from Bandar Seri Begawan, is the main onshore oil mining area in later generations. With Haihan's existing mining technology, it can barely exploit the shallow oil fields here.

This place currently belongs to the territory of the Boni Kingdom. However, since the middle of the last century, the Boni Kingdom has been successively subjected to armed invasions by Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries, and its national power has been seriously damaged. Now it is only an unattractive country in the South China Sea.

It is just a small country that attracts attention, so Haihan was not polite about it. He directly sent troops to the area to occupy the place first and then negotiate with Bo Ni Country. Of course, just in case, special forces were used.

The battle group is an experienced force to prevent the technical personnel and exploration equipment sent to the area from being put in danger.
Chapter completed!