Chapter 3482
Chapter 3482
Chapter 3482
February 1658, Hambantota Port, Ceylon.
Early that morning, Qian Shaobao rushed to the dock with a steamed bun in one hand and a blueprint in the other. A section of the road that was being built in the past two days had been changed, and he needed to release a new construction plan to his workers before the start of work today.
After Qian Shaobao returned to Hambantota with Gao Qiaonan, he became a foreman again and continued to supervise the construction of various local infrastructure projects. This job was even more difficult than being a combat staff officer.
In just one or two months since arriving in Ceylon, his already dark skin color had darkened several shades, and he looked not much different from the local natives.
However, Qian Shaobao now has no time to care about these trivial matters. He has been living and eating on the construction site during this period. His mind is full of engineering-related thoughts. He even dreams about looking at architectural design drawings at night.
With the addition of thousands of young and strong laborers from Colombo, the construction progress of port facilities has been significantly accelerated. Piers have sprung up on the coast like mushrooms after a rain, and ships entering the port no longer have to spend a day or two waiting for empty berths at the dock.
If nothing unexpected happens, the first phase of the port project can be completed at least two or three months ahead of schedule. This is also a great achievement for Qian Shaobao, who lacks combat opportunities.
As the dawn broke, a cargo fleet arrived at the small harbor of Hambantota, including two warships responsible for escort.
Qian Shaobao recognized at a glance that the two warships belonged to the special operations division stationed in Phuket, and immediately thought of asking the crew about the latest situation there.
Although he would contact his father in Phuket via telegram every few days, sending and receiving messages by telegram was too troublesome, so the two sides basically just sent telegrams to report safety and there was no further communication.
Qian Shaobao hurriedly announced the new construction plan to the workers, and then rushed to the dock where the two warships were moored. But when he arrived, he saw that Gao Qiaonan had come to pick up the ship in person. Could it be that the ship had brought some important items?
Before Qian Shaobao could figure out what was going on, he saw his father Qian Tiandun appear on the gangway. It turned out that he had come to Ceylon for an inspection without any announcement.
The whereabouts of Hai Han's high-ranking officials were top secret and were rarely announced in advance. Qian Shaobao didn't care. Although he was Qian Tiandun's eldest son, in the military, his identity was just a combat staff officer, so it was normal for him not to have access to confidential information.
But since they had already met, there was no need to avoid it. Qian Shaobao quickly stepped forward and joined the team to welcome Qian Tiandun.
Qian Tiandun did not immediately go to the residence arranged by Gaoqiao Minami to settle down, but asked to visit the current infrastructure progress first.
Gao Qiaonan heard this and called Qian Shaobao over: "Major Qian Shaobao is the supervisor of the port project, so it is most appropriate for him to make the introduction."
Qian Shaobao did not refuse and immediately led the way, introducing the current progress of the project to Qian Tiandun.
Qian Tiandun spent half a day inspecting various infrastructure projects in the bay. It was not until lunch time that the group went to the officers' mess at the garrison headquarters. It was not until they sat down to eat that Qian Tiandun asked Gao Qiaonan about the previous battle situation in Colombo and the results of dealing with the Portuguese.
Qian Tiandun's evaluation of the war with the Dutch was simple. After Hai Han entered Ceylon, it would inevitably come into conflict with the Western colonial powers that came here first. Using this small-scale armed conflict to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys and make their attitude clear was actually a good thing for all parties.
I believe that after this battle, at least Portugal and the Netherlands will be quiet for a long time, and Hai Han will be able to concentrate resources to complete the construction of Hambantota Port as soon as possible.
It is not difficult to see from this evaluation that in Qian Tiandun's mind, the construction progress of Hambantota Port is far more important than this military operation.
Qian Tiandun then added: "Next, I will arrange to relocate some of the laborers and engineers from Phuket. Priority should be given to arranging manpower for the local port project, and the supporting storage and transportation facilities should also be completed as soon as possible."
Gao Qiaonan understood the meaning of the song: "Does the Executive Committee have any new arrangements for this area?"
Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Commerce will soon send people to inspect the construction here. As long as the port facilities are qualified, Hambantota Port will be included in the next batch of overseas ports to be built. At that time, the country will allocate special resources and funds. We must seize this opportunity!"
Gao Qiaonan said with a look of relief: "It seems that the Executive Committee has also recognized your vision for the trans-Indian Ocean trade route!"
Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "The Executive Committee has actually always approved of this, but before we made any progress, the Executive Committee was worried that the resources invested would go to waste, so they were unwilling to make arrangements in advance."
Qian Tiandun's goal after moving south from the northern region was to move westward into the Indian Ocean. However, during this process, the support provided by the Executive Committee was relatively limited. It only covered the basic military expenses of the special operations division, but did not provide Qian Tiandun with much useful help for the three islands in the Strait of Malacca and the subsequent development and construction on Ceylon.
So far, Qian Tiandun has invested a lot of money out of his own pocket in the development projects of these islands, and these investments can only be slowly recovered through operating ports after the trade routes are operational.
The development of these islands is like a bottomless pit. Qian Tiandun has been pouring in his savings from years of business in the north over the past year. Even though he had considerable assets before, he could not afford the huge expenses required for large-scale infrastructure.
Although Qian Tiandun was willing to invest, if the construction period was too long, there was a possibility of a funding shortage. If the Executive Committee did not take any action, he would have to consider introducing external funds to support the development plan of the islands in the Indian Ocean by the middle of this year at the latest.
Now that the Executive Committee has stated that it will invest resources in the construction here, this will undoubtedly greatly reduce the difficulty of development and ease the financial pressure on Qian Tiandun.
Of course, it is not so easy to allocate funds from the national treasury. If Qian Tiandun wants to get the money, he must first have these islands pass a joint inspection by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Commerce.
The information Qian Tiandun received indicated that this inspection would have certain requirements for the infrastructure of each island, and the three islands along the Strait of Malacca had been under construction for more than a year, so there should be no problem in passing the inspection. What Qian Tiandun is most worried about at the moment is whether the construction progress of Hambantota can meet the standards.