Chapter 1196 The chance to regain freedom

Han Zhengshan did not dare to express his thoughts to others. Although everyone here wanted to leave as soon as possible, there were probably only a few people who had the courage to plan a prison escape. Moreover, this hard labor camp only held prisoners with shorter sentences.

, once it fails, it will become impossible, and there is really no need for them to take this risk.

And according to the rules here, if you report someone else's misdeeds, you will be rewarded with points once verified. Han Zhengshan can't believe that these people are so noble that they won't betray themselves for points. People like Zhao Sanbiao who are so carefree will not accept anything in return.

He is a very meticulous person, and as soon as he realizes that he has the intention of escaping from prison, he will probably report it to the guards as soon as possible.

At night, Han Zhengshan, who had a sore back and a sore back, was lying on the hard wooden bed, thinking in his mind that the other two people who were also captured and brought to Zhoushan were probably assigned to other hard labor camps to knock stones, and they might not be able to do it in the future.

There was another chance to meet. Han Zhengshan actually still had some questions in his mind. For example, did Cui'e seek his help for ransom money, or for her other concubine Gu Hui? And what kind of influence did Gu Hui have on the Haihan people?

The unfavorable evidence actually prompted Haihan to kidnap all the relevant people back to Zhoushan and imprison them. The Haihan people were obviously very afraid of the information they knew, but why did they just imprison them and not take a more thorough solution?

It's a pity that many speculations can only be buried in his heart. He knows that he will never have the chance to explore the truth again.

After staying in the hard labor camp for a few days, Han Zhengshan gradually learned about the composition of the people here. For example, the number of prisoners he was in were all pirates who had previously operated in the Zhoushan Islands area. Most of them took up arms.

Pirates become fishermen when they lay down their weapons, so it has been difficult for the government to completely eliminate piracy activities in this area. The Haihan people's approach seems simple and crude. They will first sentence all the pirates they catch to heavy sentences, and then let these pirates

They identified each other in exchange for the opportunity to reduce their sentences, so basically no one who joined the pirate organization could escape Haihan's repeated investigations.

However, people like Zhao Sanbiao, who are originally small minions in pirate organizations, are basically sentenced to relatively light sentences, and the general prison term is not more than three years. Only those leaders and leader-level figures will be sentenced to heavy sentences or even directly

Execution. Moreover, according to Zhao Sanbiao and others, there were many Ming army prisoners in other camps, but their accents did not seem to be from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but from the northern region.

On the thirteenth day after Han Zhengshan entered the hard labor camp, after the work was over, everyone in the cell except him was taken away by the guards, leaving him alone in the cell. Han Zhengshan vaguely felt that something was going to happen.

But he couldn't figure out the direction at all and couldn't figure out why the Haihan people wanted to leave him alone.

But an hour later, Zhao Sanbiao and others came back, but everyone's expressions were a little strange. Han Zhengshan took the initiative and asked: "The guards took you away, but are there any special arrangements?"

Zhao Sanbiao sighed and said: "Brother Han, we are leaving here soon, please take care of yourself from now on!"

Han Zhengshan wondered: "Why is this? Could it be that the Haihan people are so kind-hearted that they want to release you early?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "It's true to say yes, it's no to say no, alas...it's hard to explain in one sentence!"

When Han Zhengshan heard that there was a chance to regain his freedom, his curiosity naturally increased and he quickly asked: "What is it? Can you tell me?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "The guards called us out just now and told us that we have a chance to leave the camp early. The condition is to accept Haihan's unified arrangement and go to the south to settle down."

Han Zhengshan said: "Going to the south? Is that Fujian or Guangdong and Guangxi? As long as you don't leave the Ming Dynasty, it's not a difficult matter. Why do you all look so ugly?"

Zhao Sanbiao smiled bitterly and said: "If we really go to Lingnan, why should everyone come back crying... The place where the Haihan people plan to go is much further than the land of Lingnan!"

Han Zhengshan thought for a while and said: "Is that the Qiongzhou Island occupied by the Haihan people? I heard that the place has been renovated by the Haihan people. Sanya, the capital of the Haihan people, is known as the first port in the South China Sea. It is no longer known as the end of the world and the mountains and rivers.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing there.”

"Sanya in Qiongzhou is naturally good. When the guards talk about Sanya, they describe it as a paradise. But how can such good things come to people like us?" Zhao Sanbiao shook his head and denied Han Zhengshan's speculation: "Haihan arranged to go there.

The place is much further than Qiongzhou Island. It is said to be a place called Vung Tau Port on the coast of Champa State, two thousand miles south of Sanya."

"Vung Tau Port? I have never heard of this place name." With Han Zhengshan's knowledge, he had only heard of the existence of the Champa Kingdom. As for the more specific place, he didn't know anything about it. He could only guess and asked:

"Then this place should be far away from Zhoushan, right?"

"More than five thousand miles." Zhao Sanbiao's expression was really not good-looking: "It is said that the direct flight from Zhoushan to the local area without stopping on the way will take more than half a month to arrive."

Han Zhengshan did not know and could not imagine where he could reach by sailing all the way south for more than half a month. In short, it was far away from the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps he had only been to those places when the Sanbao eunuchs went to Nanyang. The Haihan people were so far away

It has territories in far away places, which shows that its sphere of influence is really quite large. Of course, using Haihan's usual methods to speculate, the local area is probably similar to Zhoushan Island, but small Southeast Asian countries such as Champa City, I think

Necessary is much easier to attack than the Ming Dynasty. If the land is occupied by Haihan, he probably won't even think about resisting.

Only by being arranged to go to such a far place can we get the freedom we dream of. No wonder Zhao Sanbiao and others have such strange expressions. Should they stay on Zhoushan Island to serve out their sentence, or should they leave their hometown and go to the South China Sea thousands of miles away?

It is really a dilemma for them to become a free person in Zhibin. After all, if they settle in such a far away place, there is a real possibility that they will not be able to return to their hometown in their lifetime.

Han Zhengshan suddenly thought of something and asked again: "Since our numbers are all assigned to the south, why am I excluded?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "I have already asked about this. The superiors said that you have just arrived and are not yet qualified for reassignment, so you are not included in the list of people arranged to go to the south this time. This is not necessarily a bad thing for you.

Don’t take it too seriously.”

Han Zhengshan thought that even if he arranged for me, I might not be willing to go to such a remote place. He then asked casually: "How can you maintain your livelihood if you are arranged to go to such a far place? You can't just knock stones, right?"

Zhao Sanbiao shook his head and said: "That's not the case. As mentioned above, when you go to the local area, according to the labor force population, each person will be allocated thirty acres of cultivated land. In the first three years, all taxes will be exempted. Grain, tools, and residence will all be unified.

You don’t need to pay for the distribution. If you don’t want to farm, Haihan will arrange other things to do. In short, you just have to work and won’t starve to death.”

Han Zhengshan thought that these conditions were quite favorable. Thirty acres of arable land could be used to grow vegetables and grains, which was enough to support a family. There was no need for immigrants to invest in the early stages. Even if they were not prisoners, some poor people who could not survive in the local area would probably try to join them.

, go to the south to find a way out. I had heard earlier that Haihan was recruiting immigrants in Zhejiang, and it seemed that he had some skills. But in this way, all the inmates who lived with him would have to be replaced, and he would have to

Readjust to the environment.

But what Zhao Sanbiao said next immediately attracted his attention again: "I heard that the prisoners in the Niujiao Bay hard labor camp will have the opportunity to shorten their sentences in the future, and they will be given priority to be resettled overseas."

This news was a mixture of good and bad news for Han Zhengshan. The good news was that he seemed to have seen the opportunity to regain his freedom in advance, but the bad news was that the place where freedom might be achieved would be far away from the Ming Dynasty, and there might be no chance of returning home in the future.

The orders from above came and were carried out quickly. Early the next morning, the guards asked everyone to pack their luggage and prepare to set off - except Han Zhengshan, of course. And perhaps he was about to embark on a long sea journey, so breakfast that day

It was also relatively rich. In addition to the daily brown rice vegetable porridge and kimchi, there were also white flour steamed buns and salted fish, which was a rare treat. Although Han Zhengshan was not on the list of people leaving, he also enjoyed special treatment.

Before leaving, Zhao Sanbiao called Han Zhengshan aside and told him a few honest words: "If you want to leave here alive, don't cause trouble in the camp, especially if you want to escape from prison, don't try it!

"

Han Zhengshan forced a smile and said, "I have no such intention."

"You don't have to pretend. There were several nights when I woke up in the middle of the night and saw you standing in front of the window and groping around in front of the door. I knew without asking that you were looking at how to remove the window lattice and door lock, right?"

Zhao Sanbiao also smiled and said: "If someone had reported you, you would have been dragged out to soak in the sea water until you became swollen. Don't be impatient. Maybe after a while, you will leave here like us. The risk is not worth it. I don't

Say, it won’t necessarily matter if others see it.”

Han Zhengshan was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that Zhao Sanbiao had noticed what he thought was a hidden move. The other party didn't report him quietly, which was considered very kind. He then clasped his fists and said, "I'll take note of my debt to Brother Biao first. Shanshui

We meet again, and if we meet again outside someday, there will be rewards!"

After having breakfast, Zhao Sanbiao and others packed up their luggage and gathered together to set off. The number of people knocking stones on the construction site today has obviously decreased a lot, less than half of the usual number. It seems that this batch of prisoners sent to the south is really a small number.

Quite a few. As Han Zhengshan was knocking on the stones, he suddenly felt a sense of loneliness. He was not a sentimental person to begin with, but what he had experienced these days kept knocking his willpower. After staying in prison for a long time, he really became determined.

It also inevitably starts to become fragile.

While Han Zhengshan was knocking stones in the hard labor camp, Wang Tom and Shi Diwen were studying the official documents and telegrams sent from Sanya. In the past year, Haihan's main external focus was on the development work in the north.

Since the National Day in April last year, nearly half of the mobile forces of the Haihan Army and the Navy have been concentrated in Zhejiang and Shandong. The resulting resource tilt has inevitably stalled the development and construction process in the South China Sea area.

Come down. Now that winter has entered in the north, and Haihan's military operations in Shandong and Zhejiang have come to an end, the Executive Committee hopes to return its focus to the south and continue to consolidate and strengthen Haihan's control in the South China Sea.

At present, Haihan's presence in the South China Sea is mainly based on several ports on the east coast of the Indochina Peninsula, plus the Ambrosia Islands at the junction of the Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, and the Borneo waters, Star Island at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, and Sumatra Island

Bangka-Belitung Island between Borneo, this series of strongholds and colonies is a directly controlled area connected in series.

Ports located in the Indochina Peninsula rely on the mainland and are slightly less difficult to develop and construct. However, the island strongholds in the South China Sea are far away from the Sanya base camp, making the transportation of materials and personnel extremely inconvenient, and the development process is relatively slow. In addition, last year's sea

The Han Dynasty concentrated most of its maritime transport capacity in the north and promoted the implementation of the northward plan. The resources available to the South China Sea were relatively less. Now the Executive Committee has decided to adjust the allocation of resources. The first task is to transport more Han people to the South China Sea.

Strongholds throughout the South China Sea will strengthen the control of the Han nationality over the local area. At the same time, the increased labor force will effectively speed up the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as ports, roads, residential areas, and plantations.

At present, the number of immigrants in the surrounding areas of Hainan Island is gradually stabilizing. There will not be a large wave of low-cost immigrants pouring into Hainan like in previous years. Instead, there will be a purposeful introduction of some skilled immigrants with special skills, such as

Craftsmen from various industries, open-minded literati, businessmen who have in-depth cooperation with Haihan, etc.

The sources of cheap labor gradually shifted to the north and south. In the south were slaves trafficked from South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and even North Africa. These people were mainly placed to work in plantations across the South China Sea; in the north were slaves from the Central Plains.

, mainly war refugees from North China and Liaodong. These people are basically Han Chinese. They are not very different from Haihan in terms of language, culture, and living habits. They can re-adapt to the environment much faster than those foreign slaves.

They are also one of the immigration targets that the Executive Committee is most willing to accept.

However, with the arrival of winter, the northern route temporarily came to a standstill, and the source of immigrants from Haihan was also greatly affected. Therefore, the Executive Committee asked the colonies in southern Ming Dynasty, including Zhejiang, to increase their efforts to collect immigrants as much as possible.

Filling the labor gap in the development of the South China Sea colonies. Of course, this task is not easy to complete. After all, Haihan's labor gap in the South China Sea is not a small number. A few thousand people in any one stronghold will not be too much. In this case

Under such circumstances, the hard labor camps used to hold prisoners of war and prisoners in various places have naturally become the focus of relevant departments.
Chapter completed!