Chapter 528 Postwar Pressure

Compared with an infantry regiment dispersed in the Qiongbei area, although the navy's mixed fleet currently performing blockade tasks in the Qiongzhou Strait is not as strong as the army, its daily military expenditure is much higher than that of the army. Just two flagships

The daily consumption is equivalent to more than two-thirds of the army. For Yan Chujie, who is sitting in Fucheng and commanding the overall situation, this is not just a matter of signing.

"Here comes someone!" Yan Chujie said, "Go and find Xu Yiren from the logistics department."

The orderly took the order and returned to Yan Chujie's office soon with a man. This man was wearing a camouflage uniform, not the gray cloth uniform of the current militia army. Only the more senior militia army knew this.

The flashy Haihan-style military uniforms are the equipment that only the first batch of enlisted militiamen are lucky enough to have. Among these people, those who are still serving in the militia have almost all been promoted to company and platoon-level officers.

Xu Yiren is one of these "veterans" - although his military service is only three years now, he is already the oldest naturalized militiaman in the Haihan Militia. He is also one of the first batch to join the army.

One of the few top students who can read and calculate, he was directly recruited by the company headquarters to do clerical work after joining the army. During the Battle of Hue last year, Xu Yiren also went to Annam with the large army, and very quickly

He successfully completed the task of organizing logistics and heavy transportation. After the battle, Xu Yiren was transferred to the logistics department due to his performance, and is now the warehousing director of the logistics department of the First Regiment. This time the militia army occupied Qiongbei, respectively.

Military supplies distribution centers were set up in Fucheng and Danzhou in Qiongzhou, and Xu Yiren was assigned to work in Fucheng.

"Xu Yiren, how much reserve of Annan clean coal is there now?" Yan Chujie asked straight to the point.

Xu Yiren responded quickly: "The last batch of clean coal shipped from Annan was half a month ago, totaling 140,000 kilograms. After arriving locally, the navy directly loaded up half of it. But counting the days, it will be completed within three to five days.

I will come back to replenish coal. There are less than 50,000 kilograms of coal in the warehouse at the moment. Yesterday, the regiment headquarters sent a notice that the coal ship in Annan needs to be repaired and maintained, and it will take about ten days before it can transport coal again. "

The main supply object of these clean coals shipped from Annan is the steam boilers on the two hybrid warships. Secondly, it is also used as the main fuel for the sea-going fleet to cook and boil water at sea. Recently, the naval fleet has sailed very frequently in the Qiongzhou Strait.

, Wang Tom also consciously wanted to train the sailors on the main ships to be familiar with the steam power propulsion method. The consumption of coal is naturally not a small number. The logistics department of the army also uses coal as fuel. For the cooking class,

This is much more convenient than burning firewood. Therefore, these hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal look like a lot, but they are used very quickly. It cannot be used for too long after transporting more than a hundred tons of coal from Annan at a time.

Of course, this problem is not impossible to solve. The simplest way is to transport more. However, Annan's ships have recently been busy transporting thousands of "pirate troops" back to their bases, and there are also many problems in shipping schedules.

A lot of pressure.

Yan Chujie nodded slightly and said: "Then the existing coal reserves, if consumed at the current rate, will not be able to sustain the next Annan coal shipment?"

"There will be a gap of at least 80,000 to 100,000 kilograms." Xu Yiren responded immediately.

"There is a risk of a gap in material supply. Why hasn't the logistics department reported it?" Yan Chujie's tone suddenly became solemn: "Coal is a strategic material. If the supply is interrupted, it will affect the army's operations. Who is responsible for this?"

Xu Yiren trembled and quickly explained: "I know my fault for my humble position! It's just that this matter has been communicated with the Army three days ago, asking it to temporarily stop using coal and switch to dry firewood before the next coal transportation. In addition, it has also been ordered from the local

Purchase lignite to ensure the supply of coal for military use by the Navy."

After hearing this explanation, Yan Chujie's expression softened slightly: "All the coal in stock has been temporarily sealed and given priority to the navy. I will ask people from Annan to urge them to transport the coal as soon as possible. Okay.

, you go back and do your work first."

After sending Xu Yiren away, Yan Chujie looked at Tom Wang's application report on the table again, and couldn't help but have a wry smile on his face. Tom Wang asked for a thousand tons of coal as soon as he asked for it, but now there are only dozens of tons of inventory in the warehouse.

Unable to meet the Navy's needs. Yan Chujie crossed out the line about coal burning in the report, and then wrote "Insufficient supply, handle as appropriate" at the back.

Then Yan Chujie drafted another telegram and asked the communications department to contact the base camp and arrange for a cargo ship to transport a batch of coal from Victory Port. Although there are some small coal mines in Qiongbei area, the locally produced lignite is easy to weather, has a low ignition point and has a low calorific value.

, and it is not easy to store and long-distance transportation, so the Navy does not like to use this kind of low-grade coal. On Hainan Island, only the naval supply warehouse in Victory Port has a large reserve of Annan clean coal, which can be shipped after ten days.

It is faster to transport Heitu Port from Shengli Port in the south. Anyway, the military coal stored there will not be used for the time being. It is better to transport it to Qiongbei first for emergency use.

As for Wang Tom's second application, requesting to dispatch an engineering team to the selected military port area, Yan Chujie could only express his helplessness.

Although the military has begun to set up its own exclusive engineering and construction department, due to the overall lack of technical personnel, most of the professionals in this area are concentrated in the Ministry of Construction. When the military wants to carry out large-scale infrastructure projects, it can only

Turn to the Ministry of Construction for help. Almost all the main technical forces of the Ministry of Construction are now concentrated in Qiongxi, participating in the construction of the Changzhou Fulu Project.

Although the construction project of the transportation line is almost completed, the amount of work at both ends of this transportation line is also considerable. In order to put the Qiongxi mining base into production as soon as possible, the Executive Committee even delayed the development of several key locations in the Indochina Peninsula.

Compared with the Haikou Military Port Project and these projects under construction, it is difficult to say which one is more important. All the military can do is to continue to make representations to the Executive Committee and apply for the deployment of manpower from the Ministry of Construction to implement the military port project. As for whether it can

If it fails, then it is not something that Yan Chujie can decide unilaterally.

For Haihan, although the strategic significance of occupying the Qiongbei region is great, the price he has to pay after that is also considerable. Although Haihan gained a large area of ​​control and a population of hundreds of thousands, however

These resources cannot be converted into profits immediately, and they will gradually pay off after at least a year and a half. However, during this period, the expenditure of funds and the consumption of materials will not be suspended for a day.

Thousands of people spend money on food, clothing, housing and transportation every day, not to mention a large number of infrastructure projects such as road construction, port construction, and bridge construction to be implemented in Qiongbei. Haihan accumulated money through various business activities in three years

A considerable part of the wealth that came down had to be spent on Qiongbei in the recent period.

Moreover, the scope of impact of this investment is not limited to Hainan Island. Annan and Guangdong are also affected by this. A large number of personnel and materials have to be mobilized back and forth during this period, and such occupation of maritime transport capacity will inevitably affect normal operations.

business activities. For example, in order to transfer thousands of people between Annan and Hainan Island, Annan had to suspend all commercial shipping and devote all its transportation capacity to the transportation of people and materials. The coal supply in Qiongbei was interrupted.

Just one example, the industrial zone in Qiongnan has also been affected to a considerable extent. Charcoal workshops that have been reducing production year by year have restarted operations at full capacity to offset part of the negative impact caused by insufficient coal supply.

Faced with such a huge investment, the Executive Committee is of course also considering other solutions - such as the fundraising development model that has been used many times and has fully proven its usability.

On November 20, "Qiong Lianfa" held the "Chongzhen Three-year Shareholders' Meeting" at Haihan New Port at the southern end of Hong Kong Island. All shareholders, large and small, sent representatives to participate even if they could not be present in person.

The reason why this meeting was held in Hong Kong Island instead of in Sanya as in previous years is because recently the Sanya area, or to be precise, the entire port of Qiongzhou Island, has temporarily closed navigation to mainland ships, and non-Haihan Shipping Department

and ships belonging to the navy are only allowed to enter but not to leave, to prevent the true situation of Hainan Island from being leaked prematurely. Considering that most of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" are settled in the mainland, the Hainan Department of Commerce

That's why we moved this shareholders' meeting to Xingang at the Pearl River Estuary.

Exactly one year has passed since the launch of the Hong Kong project in October last year. The small island on the southwest side of the harbor, which was originally named Ap Lei Chau in time and space, has now been named "Zhennan Island" by the Xingang Port Management Committee, and this port has also

It is logical that it is called "Zhennan Port". A conspicuous gray concrete fort has been built on the island. There are fifteen long-barreled and large-caliber coastal defense guns on each side of the north and south sides, aiming at the channel entrance to and from the harbor to protect

With this emerging seaport town.

Due to the needs of the war on Hainan Island, most of the Guangdong fleet originally stationed here has moved south, leaving only two "Exploration-class" warships stationed here. However, the navy from the north will no longer patrol here, so

There are no external threats at all. Zhennan Port also has a company of artillery and an infantry stationed there, as well as a security police team of fifty people. For such a small port with a permanent population of less than two thousand,

The defensive strength is already quite impressive.

Zhennan Port is surrounded by mountains, and the flat land area is relatively limited, and it was basically divided up by various businesses recruited by Haihan during the development period. Therefore, almost all the harbor towns are filled with business stores one after another.

There are contiguous warehouses, and a small number of local residents either moved to the sailor residential area on Zhennan Island, or moved to the residential area built under the unified command of the Haihan people on a nearby hillside.

Compared with Wanshan Port, which is narrow in area, Zhennan Port, which can accommodate more ships to dock, is obviously more valued by the majority of maritime merchants. Especially maritime merchants traveling between Guangdong and Fujian provinces are happy to use this port

Serves as a supply point and cargo transfer station on the route.

Maritime merchants from Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, and Huizhou in the Pearl River Basin are now accustomed to coming to Wanshan Port to purchase goods shipped from Fujian. And Fujian maritime merchants can avoid having to deal with goods shipped here.

The imperial court was also very happy to collect taxes. Therefore, although it did not take long to build, its prosperity was no less than that of some famous ports in the southeastern coastal areas.

And the merchants who come and go here know very well that although this island is nominally the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the Haihan people have the final say in the town of Nangang. When doing business on the territory of the Haihan people, first of all, there is no need to worry about forced buying and selling.

Secondly, if you are oppressed, you don’t have to worry about various frauds and the like. Thirdly, if there is a problem with cash flow, the Haihan people are very happy to lend money to help. For these reasons, the maritime merchants who come here

We no longer care whether the port actually belongs to Haihan or Ming Dynasty. Even if it is really occupied by Haihan, there doesn't seem to be anything bad about it. At least the money in our pockets has actually increased.

In the two or three days before the meeting, shareholders and business representatives from all over Guangdong arrived at Zhennang Port one after another. Although Haihan's temporary rescheduling notice was a bit hasty, shareholders who have in-depth cooperation with Haihan knew it well.

, in addition to reporting on the operation status of the project, every shareholder meeting also has a very important content which is dividend distribution. One year has passed since the start of the Zhennang Port project, and it has been officially in operation for almost half a year. Haihan has been selected.

If a shareholders' meeting is held at this time, it is very likely that this place already has stable income.

Of course, according to the Haihan people's style of doing things, there is another possibility besides dividends, which is the "surprise announcement" they usually make at shareholder meetings.

The so-called surprise announcement means that Haihan people announce some new business projects at the annual general meeting of shareholders, and these projects often exceed the imagination of shareholders and have excellent investment prospects. According to the Minister of Commerce of Haihan

In Schneider's words, this is a surprise and benefit that Haihan has prepared for its partners. As long as you become Haihan's business partner, you don't need to worry about the future of your business. This has also become a widely spread message in the maritime business circle.

topic, every year before the general meeting of shareholders is held, big businessmen in Fuzhou and Guangzhou will secretly guess what new projects the Haihan people will come up with to attract investment. There will even be some good guys who will offer bonuses to attract people.

Place a bet on the outcome.

After the shareholders arrived at Zhennan Port, people who knew each other would naturally visit each other, and they would also talk about the "surprise announcement" that was likely to occur at the shareholders' meeting. All kinds of speculations were endless.
Chapter completed!