Chapter 1222
The Current Situation of Star Island
Chapter 1222 The Current Situation of Star Island
Different from the stations on the way to the south, the reception banquet for Tan Juan and his party was held in the officer's canteen of the garrison camp, rather than a high-end restaurant or private official residence.The reason is also very simple. There are no high-end consumer places here, and Roger's residence has nothing to do with the word "official residence". When he first arrived here, he lived in a prefabricated house brought from Sanya. , Later, a separate courtyard was built and replaced with a small bungalow with masonry structure, that's all.
It's not that Roger is willing to be poor. It's just that the objective conditions here are not enough to talk about material enjoyment. Because of the shortage of labor force and limited engineering and technical personnel, infrastructure projects such as docks, roads, bridges, immigrant villages, and water supply and drainage facilities are needed. As a priority, other construction projects can only be placed in the back row.Even the garrison troops who have been here for more than a year are still living in wooden barracks.Roger's living conditions are already considered the highest level in the local area, but compared to the leaders of other colonies, this kind of treatment is indeed a bit shabby.
If only one of Tan Ju was entertained, then Luo Jie’s residence would be able to make do with a table. However, the welcome banquet was not limited to the two of them, and their respective subordinates would also be present to accompany them. Only the officer’s canteen in the camp is more convenient. up.
Although the environment is not comparable to the high-end places on Ambuna Island, fortunately, the chef is also an apprentice who has received hands-on training from Chef Fan in Sanya Victory Fort, and his skills are not bad.Moreover, this place is close to the coast, and the seafood is really fresh, so the deliciousness is not inferior to the banquet that Tan Juren enjoyed at the previous stations.
At the welcome banquet, everyone had a lot of wine and wine, so it was not suitable for talking about serious matters, so Tan Juren randomly picked some interesting things on the way south as a topic of conversation.When talking about his hunting experience on Annabuna Island, Roger said casually: "If Director Tan likes to hunt, that's easy. I'll take you to the north to hunt when I have time some other day. I don't have so many restrictions here. You can hit whatever you want!"
The northern part of Xingdao is still an undeveloped uninhabited land, with an area of hundreds of square kilometers, with mountains and water. The geographical environment is almost the same as the wildlife area on Abuna Island, except that there are not so many types of animals. .Roger would organize his men to conduct live-fire drills in the wilderness of the north of the island every other month, and after that, there would be a wave of hunting, so that the soldiers could maintain the state required for collective combat for a long time.Roger is naturally indifferent to the kind of commercial hunting on Amberna Island. In Zhang Yun's place, one cannot be killed, and the other must be protected. How can hunting here be comfortable and enjoyable?
Tan Juren wasn't really interested in hunting. The reason why he would go there was more to see his friends.But since Roger took the initiative to invite him to show his kindness, he would naturally not refuse the kindness, so he immediately accepted it with a smile.He is new here now, and the most important thing is to establish a good relationship with Roger, who has been in charge of the local military and political power for more than a year. Next, he will take over the local administrative affairs, and many details must be handled with Roger's help.
However, Tan Juren did not forget the business. At the end of the welcome banquet, he took the initiative to ask the new security officer Han Zhengshan to receive a short-term firearms training in the barracks, so that he could carry out relevant work as soon as possible after taking office.To Roger, this was just a matter of one sentence. Dang even told his adjutant to contact Han Zhengshan to arrange the training schedule.
The residence that Luo Jie prepared for Tan Juren was of the same grade as his own residence, and it was also a separate small courtyard. The furniture and other daily facilities were already prepared, and it could be said that it had reached the standard of moving in with bags.Tan Juren had visited Roger's residence before, so he would not complain about such treatment.
After washing and lying down on the bed, Tan Juren was also quite emotional when he thought of the experience of traveling south.In the past, my understanding of overseas colonies was mostly on paper, only mentioned in the documents I exchanged, and I didn’t have an intuitive feeling. This time, I took the errands sent out and traveled all the way, and I finally got a personal experience.Needless to say, Haihan is growing stronger and stronger. Being able to open up a colony thousands of miles away from the mainland is a symbol of national strength in itself, and each colony has chosen different development directions depending on their respective environments. , It also made him feel a lot.
Both Da Nang and Quy Nhon ports are relatively pure commercial ports, and their development direction is mainly for maritime trade; while Cam Ranh Port is a military-civilian integration, mainly for military purposes, and the local area is developing to meet the needs of the garrison; Vung Tau Port It is located at the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula, the most important sea estuary, and it is also the junction of Annan and Champa. Its geographical location is unique. Although it is not prosperous at present, it has great potential for development; and Ambuna Island is located in the hinterland of the South China Sea. It will be regarded as the center to win over the dignitaries and dignitaries of the countries in the South China Sea and collect military and political intelligence. It has invested the most in the local area, and its prospects are naturally bright.
These colonies have their own advantages and strengths, and their development directions are different. The experience of these visits also made Tan Juren start to think about the advantages and best development directions of Sing Tao.
The Executive Committee's plan is to build Xingdao into the southwestern border bridgehead of Haihan Kingdom for a period of time in the future. In principle, the function of this place should be viewed as a military strategic location, which has to be said to be a very pragmatic choice.In this era, the number of merchant ships passing between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean is far less than that time and space they used to be in. If you want to build Xingdao into a regional trading hub port like Singapore, the current east-west maritime trade volume is still difficult to meet the development needs.
Before Haihan entered this area, the Portuguese had the greatest influence in the Strait of Malacca. On the coast about [-] kilometers northwest of Xingdao, there was the city of Malacca occupied by the Portuguese after they drove out the original natives.Portuguese merchant ships traveling between the two oceans will naturally choose their own ports to berth first.The Dutch really wanted to intervene in this area, but it was a pity that they were driven out by the Portuguese every time they tried. Therefore, the route of Dutch merchant ships traveling between the two oceans did not pass through the Strait of Malacca at all, but chose to approach the city of Batavia. the Sunda Strait.Therefore, merchant ships of these two countries operating in the Far East are unlikely to use Sing Tao as one of the must-stop ports.
The countries in the Malacca Strait area currently regard Haihan as a new external threat. Even if they don't publicly tear their faces, it is inevitable to be on guard secretly. Naturally, no ships will run to Xingdao to dock. .
There are not many foreign merchant ships that may really use this place as an entrepot trade port at this stage. They are basically from Daming and countries in the Indian Ocean. It is difficult to develop to the scale of Hainan Island or Daming coastal trade ports in the short term.Moreover, the existing local population size and needs also predestined that the development direction of Sing Tao at this stage cannot be positioned as a trading port.First of all, carry out agricultural development, try to feed the existing resident population, and try to be self-sufficient in terms of supplies other than armaments. This is the more realistic development goal of Xingdao in the near future.
But so far, Tan Juren's understanding of Xingdao is mostly based on paper information, and the actual contact is limited to a few glances after landing today, which is far from enough for planning Long-term development.Tan Juren himself is very clear about this point, so he is not in a hurry to think about things that are too long-term. How to perform his duties, he should wait until he conducts a field trip to the local area.
The next day, Luo Jie appeared in person and took Tan Juren to investigate the current situation of Xingdao.And this inspection trip returned to the place where Tan Juren went ashore yesterday. After all, this is a colony near the sea, and the importance of the port to this place is self-evident.
"This place was called Keppel Harbor in the time and space before us, and it was the most important port at the southern tip of Singapore. There are two islands in the south, one small and one large. The original names were Blarney Island and Sentosa Island, but now these two The islands have been assigned to the navy, and they have not been named yet." Roger paused, and said proudly: "According to the executive committee's naming principles for new place names, we can apply to order these two places with our own names. island."
Tan Juren said: "According to Daming's name, shouldn't this place be called Temasek?"
"Temasek refers to the entire Xingdao, but the small subsidiary islands can still be named by themselves. This is a good opportunity to be famous in history!" When Roger said this, he winked at Tan Juren and said: "Juren Island, Juren Island , can be regarded as a good lottery!"
Tan Juren didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "The people here don't know how to take the Imperial Examinations of Ming Dynasty, so what's the glory of calling Juren Island!"
The place name of Temasek was only called in the Ming Dynasty, but as early as the early [-]th century, the Yuan Dynasty sent people to a place called "Longyamen" to look for elephants. Wang Dayuan's "Daoyi Zhilue" mentioned " The description of "Dragon Yamen Gate" is "two doors with Temasek fans intersecting like dragon teeth, with a waterway in between". sharp stone.
And this "Daoyi Zhilue" written by the Yuan Dynasty also attracted much attention in the Ming Dynasty. It was once compiled into the "Yongle Dadian" and "Siku Quanshu". Even when Zheng He went to the West, this book was One of the fleet's references.
"Zheng He's fleet docked at this place, and we also found some living utensils left by the fleet at that time and stone tablets buried in the highland." Roger continued to introduce the local culture to Tan Juren ostentatiously. History: "200 years ago, this place was also a port city, and many Han Chinese lived here."
"Then how did it become depressed?" Tan Juren only knew that this place had become a buffer zone for the surrounding multinational wars when Haihan arrived, and there were not many permanent residents. It had long since become a deserted island, but he did not I know all too well how this place suddenly fell into decline.
"This place was originally the territory of the Malacca Sultanate, but this regime was destroyed by the Portuguese more than 20 years ago. Now the Johor Sultanate in the north of Xingdao is the regime re-established by the fugitive nobles. The Portuguese took the island in 1613. The town was completely burned down, so the island has basically been in a state of no man’s land since then.” Roger patiently explained to Tan Juren: “There was no one here when we came, so we went straight to the place without any effort. Occupy it."
"The Portuguese are quite ruthless!" Tan Juren couldn't help sighing after hearing this.Obviously the Portuguese were able to capture here at that time, but they had already occupied the city of Malacca in the northwest at that time, so they naturally didn't care much about the small port on the Xingdao side, and with the limited population, they couldn't allocate enough manpower to deal with it. Implement long-term occupation, so simply set fire to all the facilities on the island, no one can even think about gaining a foothold here.
"It used to be very ruthless, but now... it's very cowardly!" Roger gave an unceremonious evaluation: "After we came, the Portuguese also sent a boat to go around and saw our flags. Put one in, turn around and leave."
Tan Juren laughed a few times, and then asked with concern: "Then is there any force nearby that has shown an obvious hostile attitude towards us?"
"It's not too hostile, but there are quite a few countries that are afraid of us... basically all the surrounding countries are on this list." When it comes to this topic, Roger's expression is not so relaxed: "Although they are not Dare to openly oppose us, but there are still many means available to slow down our development. You see, we have settled here for more than a year, and the population is still pitifully small. We can recruit from surrounding countries The number of immigrants arriving is extremely limited, and there are somewhat artificial resistance here."
Haihan's expansion model has extremely high requirements for infrastructure construction, which in turn brings a demand for labor. However, overseas enclaves like Xingdao, which are thousands of miles away from Hainan Island, almost rely solely on immigrants from China. For development and construction, the speed is naturally not much faster.
Roger went on to say: "Of course, in our current situation, we can't take the initiative to start a war with the surrounding countries and rely on force to plunder the population. The Executive Committee still hopes to use commercial organizations such as the South China Sea Trade Alliance to gradually soften the surrounding countries with interests. The attitude of the country, after all, the market is also very important to us.”
“Is there any notable progress in this regard?” Tan Juren asked hopefully.
"No!" Roger shook his head without thinking: "So far, I haven't seen any signs of softening my attitude, and diplomatic work is not my field of expertise. So I have been reporting to the Executive Committee since last year. , requesting to send a partner who is responsible for administrative and foreign affairs.”
Speaking of this, Roger raised his hand and patted Tan Juren on the shoulder: "From now on, you will be responsible for these matters. If you need my cooperation and assistance, you can just ask. As long as I can, I will definitely give it to you." You lend a hand."
(End of this chapter)
Different from the stations on the way to the south, the reception banquet for Tan Juan and his party was held in the officer's canteen of the garrison camp, rather than a high-end restaurant or private official residence.The reason is also very simple. There are no high-end consumer places here, and Roger's residence has nothing to do with the word "official residence". When he first arrived here, he lived in a prefabricated house brought from Sanya. , Later, a separate courtyard was built and replaced with a small bungalow with masonry structure, that's all.
It's not that Roger is willing to be poor. It's just that the objective conditions here are not enough to talk about material enjoyment. Because of the shortage of labor force and limited engineering and technical personnel, infrastructure projects such as docks, roads, bridges, immigrant villages, and water supply and drainage facilities are needed. As a priority, other construction projects can only be placed in the back row.Even the garrison troops who have been here for more than a year are still living in wooden barracks.Roger's living conditions are already considered the highest level in the local area, but compared to the leaders of other colonies, this kind of treatment is indeed a bit shabby.
If only one of Tan Ju was entertained, then Luo Jie’s residence would be able to make do with a table. However, the welcome banquet was not limited to the two of them, and their respective subordinates would also be present to accompany them. Only the officer’s canteen in the camp is more convenient. up.
Although the environment is not comparable to the high-end places on Ambuna Island, fortunately, the chef is also an apprentice who has received hands-on training from Chef Fan in Sanya Victory Fort, and his skills are not bad.Moreover, this place is close to the coast, and the seafood is really fresh, so the deliciousness is not inferior to the banquet that Tan Juren enjoyed at the previous stations.
At the welcome banquet, everyone had a lot of wine and wine, so it was not suitable for talking about serious matters, so Tan Juren randomly picked some interesting things on the way south as a topic of conversation.When talking about his hunting experience on Annabuna Island, Roger said casually: "If Director Tan likes to hunt, that's easy. I'll take you to the north to hunt when I have time some other day. I don't have so many restrictions here. You can hit whatever you want!"
The northern part of Xingdao is still an undeveloped uninhabited land, with an area of hundreds of square kilometers, with mountains and water. The geographical environment is almost the same as the wildlife area on Abuna Island, except that there are not so many types of animals. .Roger would organize his men to conduct live-fire drills in the wilderness of the north of the island every other month, and after that, there would be a wave of hunting, so that the soldiers could maintain the state required for collective combat for a long time.Roger is naturally indifferent to the kind of commercial hunting on Amberna Island. In Zhang Yun's place, one cannot be killed, and the other must be protected. How can hunting here be comfortable and enjoyable?
Tan Juren wasn't really interested in hunting. The reason why he would go there was more to see his friends.But since Roger took the initiative to invite him to show his kindness, he would naturally not refuse the kindness, so he immediately accepted it with a smile.He is new here now, and the most important thing is to establish a good relationship with Roger, who has been in charge of the local military and political power for more than a year. Next, he will take over the local administrative affairs, and many details must be handled with Roger's help.
However, Tan Juren did not forget the business. At the end of the welcome banquet, he took the initiative to ask the new security officer Han Zhengshan to receive a short-term firearms training in the barracks, so that he could carry out relevant work as soon as possible after taking office.To Roger, this was just a matter of one sentence. Dang even told his adjutant to contact Han Zhengshan to arrange the training schedule.
The residence that Luo Jie prepared for Tan Juren was of the same grade as his own residence, and it was also a separate small courtyard. The furniture and other daily facilities were already prepared, and it could be said that it had reached the standard of moving in with bags.Tan Juren had visited Roger's residence before, so he would not complain about such treatment.
After washing and lying down on the bed, Tan Juren was also quite emotional when he thought of the experience of traveling south.In the past, my understanding of overseas colonies was mostly on paper, only mentioned in the documents I exchanged, and I didn’t have an intuitive feeling. This time, I took the errands sent out and traveled all the way, and I finally got a personal experience.Needless to say, Haihan is growing stronger and stronger. Being able to open up a colony thousands of miles away from the mainland is a symbol of national strength in itself, and each colony has chosen different development directions depending on their respective environments. , It also made him feel a lot.
Both Da Nang and Quy Nhon ports are relatively pure commercial ports, and their development direction is mainly for maritime trade; while Cam Ranh Port is a military-civilian integration, mainly for military purposes, and the local area is developing to meet the needs of the garrison; Vung Tau Port It is located at the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula, the most important sea estuary, and it is also the junction of Annan and Champa. Its geographical location is unique. Although it is not prosperous at present, it has great potential for development; and Ambuna Island is located in the hinterland of the South China Sea. It will be regarded as the center to win over the dignitaries and dignitaries of the countries in the South China Sea and collect military and political intelligence. It has invested the most in the local area, and its prospects are naturally bright.
These colonies have their own advantages and strengths, and their development directions are different. The experience of these visits also made Tan Juren start to think about the advantages and best development directions of Sing Tao.
The Executive Committee's plan is to build Xingdao into the southwestern border bridgehead of Haihan Kingdom for a period of time in the future. In principle, the function of this place should be viewed as a military strategic location, which has to be said to be a very pragmatic choice.In this era, the number of merchant ships passing between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean is far less than that time and space they used to be in. If you want to build Xingdao into a regional trading hub port like Singapore, the current east-west maritime trade volume is still difficult to meet the development needs.
Before Haihan entered this area, the Portuguese had the greatest influence in the Strait of Malacca. On the coast about [-] kilometers northwest of Xingdao, there was the city of Malacca occupied by the Portuguese after they drove out the original natives.Portuguese merchant ships traveling between the two oceans will naturally choose their own ports to berth first.The Dutch really wanted to intervene in this area, but it was a pity that they were driven out by the Portuguese every time they tried. Therefore, the route of Dutch merchant ships traveling between the two oceans did not pass through the Strait of Malacca at all, but chose to approach the city of Batavia. the Sunda Strait.Therefore, merchant ships of these two countries operating in the Far East are unlikely to use Sing Tao as one of the must-stop ports.
The countries in the Malacca Strait area currently regard Haihan as a new external threat. Even if they don't publicly tear their faces, it is inevitable to be on guard secretly. Naturally, no ships will run to Xingdao to dock. .
There are not many foreign merchant ships that may really use this place as an entrepot trade port at this stage. They are basically from Daming and countries in the Indian Ocean. It is difficult to develop to the scale of Hainan Island or Daming coastal trade ports in the short term.Moreover, the existing local population size and needs also predestined that the development direction of Sing Tao at this stage cannot be positioned as a trading port.First of all, carry out agricultural development, try to feed the existing resident population, and try to be self-sufficient in terms of supplies other than armaments. This is the more realistic development goal of Xingdao in the near future.
But so far, Tan Juren's understanding of Xingdao is mostly based on paper information, and the actual contact is limited to a few glances after landing today, which is far from enough for planning Long-term development.Tan Juren himself is very clear about this point, so he is not in a hurry to think about things that are too long-term. How to perform his duties, he should wait until he conducts a field trip to the local area.
The next day, Luo Jie appeared in person and took Tan Juren to investigate the current situation of Xingdao.And this inspection trip returned to the place where Tan Juren went ashore yesterday. After all, this is a colony near the sea, and the importance of the port to this place is self-evident.
"This place was called Keppel Harbor in the time and space before us, and it was the most important port at the southern tip of Singapore. There are two islands in the south, one small and one large. The original names were Blarney Island and Sentosa Island, but now these two The islands have been assigned to the navy, and they have not been named yet." Roger paused, and said proudly: "According to the executive committee's naming principles for new place names, we can apply to order these two places with our own names. island."
Tan Juren said: "According to Daming's name, shouldn't this place be called Temasek?"
"Temasek refers to the entire Xingdao, but the small subsidiary islands can still be named by themselves. This is a good opportunity to be famous in history!" When Roger said this, he winked at Tan Juren and said: "Juren Island, Juren Island , can be regarded as a good lottery!"
Tan Juren didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "The people here don't know how to take the Imperial Examinations of Ming Dynasty, so what's the glory of calling Juren Island!"
The place name of Temasek was only called in the Ming Dynasty, but as early as the early [-]th century, the Yuan Dynasty sent people to a place called "Longyamen" to look for elephants. Wang Dayuan's "Daoyi Zhilue" mentioned " The description of "Dragon Yamen Gate" is "two doors with Temasek fans intersecting like dragon teeth, with a waterway in between". sharp stone.
And this "Daoyi Zhilue" written by the Yuan Dynasty also attracted much attention in the Ming Dynasty. It was once compiled into the "Yongle Dadian" and "Siku Quanshu". Even when Zheng He went to the West, this book was One of the fleet's references.
"Zheng He's fleet docked at this place, and we also found some living utensils left by the fleet at that time and stone tablets buried in the highland." Roger continued to introduce the local culture to Tan Juren ostentatiously. History: "200 years ago, this place was also a port city, and many Han Chinese lived here."
"Then how did it become depressed?" Tan Juren only knew that this place had become a buffer zone for the surrounding multinational wars when Haihan arrived, and there were not many permanent residents. It had long since become a deserted island, but he did not I know all too well how this place suddenly fell into decline.
"This place was originally the territory of the Malacca Sultanate, but this regime was destroyed by the Portuguese more than 20 years ago. Now the Johor Sultanate in the north of Xingdao is the regime re-established by the fugitive nobles. The Portuguese took the island in 1613. The town was completely burned down, so the island has basically been in a state of no man’s land since then.” Roger patiently explained to Tan Juren: “There was no one here when we came, so we went straight to the place without any effort. Occupy it."
"The Portuguese are quite ruthless!" Tan Juren couldn't help sighing after hearing this.Obviously the Portuguese were able to capture here at that time, but they had already occupied the city of Malacca in the northwest at that time, so they naturally didn't care much about the small port on the Xingdao side, and with the limited population, they couldn't allocate enough manpower to deal with it. Implement long-term occupation, so simply set fire to all the facilities on the island, no one can even think about gaining a foothold here.
"It used to be very ruthless, but now... it's very cowardly!" Roger gave an unceremonious evaluation: "After we came, the Portuguese also sent a boat to go around and saw our flags. Put one in, turn around and leave."
Tan Juren laughed a few times, and then asked with concern: "Then is there any force nearby that has shown an obvious hostile attitude towards us?"
"It's not too hostile, but there are quite a few countries that are afraid of us... basically all the surrounding countries are on this list." When it comes to this topic, Roger's expression is not so relaxed: "Although they are not Dare to openly oppose us, but there are still many means available to slow down our development. You see, we have settled here for more than a year, and the population is still pitifully small. We can recruit from surrounding countries The number of immigrants arriving is extremely limited, and there are somewhat artificial resistance here."
Haihan's expansion model has extremely high requirements for infrastructure construction, which in turn brings a demand for labor. However, overseas enclaves like Xingdao, which are thousands of miles away from Hainan Island, almost rely solely on immigrants from China. For development and construction, the speed is naturally not much faster.
Roger went on to say: "Of course, in our current situation, we can't take the initiative to start a war with the surrounding countries and rely on force to plunder the population. The Executive Committee still hopes to use commercial organizations such as the South China Sea Trade Alliance to gradually soften the surrounding countries with interests. The attitude of the country, after all, the market is also very important to us.”
“Is there any notable progress in this regard?” Tan Juren asked hopefully.
"No!" Roger shook his head without thinking: "So far, I haven't seen any signs of softening my attitude, and diplomatic work is not my field of expertise. So I have been reporting to the Executive Committee since last year. , requesting to send a partner who is responsible for administrative and foreign affairs.”
Speaking of this, Roger raised his hand and patted Tan Juren on the shoulder: "From now on, you will be responsible for these matters. If you need my cooperation and assistance, you can just ask. As long as I can, I will definitely give it to you." You lend a hand."
(End of this chapter)