Chapter 1705 Differences of Opinion

Regarding the positioning and future development direction of Xingdao, there have always been differences of opinion within Haihan's senior management, including in Xingdao itself, where the two civil and military officials in charge of the military and political power also had different views on this. Roger thought wholeheartedly.

Xingdao should be built into a bridgehead for Haihan's military expansion into the Indian Ocean, while Tan Juren believed that Xingdao's geographical advantages should be fully utilized to build it into a commercial hub port connecting the two oceans.

The problem with Xingdao is that this place is too far away from the mainland of Haihan. The cost of obtaining resources from the country is very high. Whether it is materials or manpower, the expensive freight alone is prohibitive, let alone the resettlement of immigrants.

Cost. Although the Executive Committee's support for Star Island has always been pretty good, and it attaches great importance to the troops formed by Roger. The Ministry of National Defense also specially transferred him across the sea to the Manila front line to participate in the war. However, due to the limitations of the objective environment, Star Island

The resources that the island can obtain from the country and surrounding areas are indeed far less than other Haihan colonies.

Except for Star Island, most of the other colonies are located on the coastlines or adjacent waters of Annan and Ming Dynasty. They can rely on the resources and markets of these two big countries for construction and development. In terms of manpower, it will be easier to recruit immigrants nearby.

Star Island is located on a maritime transportation thoroughfare and is surrounded by almost all hostile countries and competitors. It has to develop while guarding against foreign enemies. This will naturally be much less efficient than other colonies.

Therefore, Roger believes that since the development of Star Island is difficult, he should not consider the development direction of civilian or commercial applications for the time being, but simply build it into a military base, and then use war to support war and use war to exploit resources in surrounding areas.

The speed of plundering and accumulating wealth and population will be much faster than slowly developing on your own, and it can open up territory for the country, which is also in line with Haihan's development momentum of outward expansion.

Of course, there is also Roger's own selfishness in this. As a senior general guarding the border, he naturally wants to use his military exploits to gain greater power and fame for himself. I think back then he was willing to give up his original life to participate in the extremely risky mission.

One of the purposes of the time-travel operation is to make achievements in this time and space and become a founding general who will go down in history. Although Xingdao is a smaller place and the conditions are worse, it leaves him a lot of room for free play, allowing him to complete it here.

Many ideas that could not be implemented in previous years.

However, in the view of Tan Juren, who is in charge of civil affairs, commerce, agriculture, infrastructure and other affairs, Roger's idea is actually a bit biased. Considering the geographical location and merchant navigation status of the Malacca Strait, not using it for commercial development is simply a waste of resources. Moreover,

According to Haihan's development theory, the purpose of military expansion is to serve commerce. Haihan wants to extend the maritime trade routes westward to the Indian Ocean, and Star Island will inevitably take on the role of trade between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean for a long time.

The role of hub port.

This God-given opportunity is not to develop commerce, but to turn this place into a large military base. Naturally, Tan Juren is unwilling to agree with Roger's idea and clearly opposes the excessive militarization of Star Island. However, the problems he faces are also similar to Roger's.

Similar, that is, the resources and labor required to build a large-scale trade port. Without sufficient capital and manpower injection, it is simply impossible to turn this poor desert island into a trade port like Sanya.

Tan Juren also tried to introduce investors from Haihan, Ming Dynasty, Annan and other countries, but the results were not ideal. Even if he could take the initiative and come up with some preferential tax and policy measures, he was willing to take great risks in this country.

There are still very few businessmen investing in local areas, and only a few businessmen engaged in the shipping industry are willing to open offices here in Xingdao. However, traditional investment projects such as plantations are not very effective in Xingdao, and there is a lack of stable surroundings.

The environment and sufficient human resources make most businessmen stay away from Xingdao.

Under this situation, if you want to change the appearance of Star Island, you can no longer rely on the assistance of external forces. Tan Juren hopes to shift local limited resources more towards civil and commercial infrastructure construction, but this is definitely not the same as Roger

There is a conflict in their plans. Especially for a limited resource like labor force, both of them want to invest it first in the fields they are responsible for, so competition will inevitably occur.

This day, due to the issue of human resource allocation, the two of them inevitably had disagreements during the meeting, but neither one could convince the other to accept their opinions. Fortunately, they have been working together for nearly two years, and there has been no way to solve this problem.

There was a difference of opinion, and both of them knew that quarreling would not be of any use, so even if they could not reach an agreement, they would not break out into a quarrel. Since they knew that there would be no result, the two of them dropped the topic in a tacit understanding

, and start discussing the next project.

"The prisoners of war and exiled prisoners brought from Manila have been placed in the first and second hard labor camps. However, there are many Spaniards and local indigenous people in this group, and we do not understand the language. The management and arrangement work is more troublesome.

, we have to find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible." Tan Juren paused and added: "There are probably more than 400 prisoners with this problem now."

Roger responded: "This is not difficult to solve. When we fought in Manila before, we hired a lot of Portuguese people to serve as translators. Maybe we should send people to Malacca City to hire a few Portuguese people."

Tan Juren shook his head and said: "It's not impossible, but there are certain intelligence risks in doing so. I think it's best not to try it."

Roger immediately realized that the distance between Star Island and Malacca City controlled by the Portuguese was only 400 miles, and both sides had the same purpose of building a colonial base here, which was to control the important sea channel of the Strait of Malacca. To put it bluntly, both sides also had the same purpose.

Competitors. Although Portugal and Haihan have signed a strategic alliance for several years, no one really regards that agreement as an unbreakable bond. The military alliance between the two parties is only to deal with the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

It will only take effect when there are Western maritime powers like France, and when there is a conflict of interest between the two sides, the Portuguese will definitely have their own little calculations.

Although Star Island allows Portuguese merchant ships to dock here, the Portuguese have not been allowed to stay here for a long time in the past, let alone enter sensitive places such as labor camps. This precaution is also due to security considerations.

Roger was reminded by Tan Juren and immediately realized that his method was inappropriate. He quickly changed his words and said: "This method is a bit inappropriate. Let me think about it... there should be many prisoners sent from Manila who can speak Spanish."

We can select some smart people from among the Chinese people who speak the local dialect to do the translation work."

The method proposed by Roger is undoubtedly the most time-saving and worry-free one. Since hiring Portuguese would involve intelligence risks, and the cycle of applying for translators from China is too long, then we should look for them from the existing personnel on the island.

It is simplest and most efficient to have the right person do the job, and there will be almost no additional cost. The only problem is that it takes a little time to choose the right person.

Tan Juren agreed with Roger's opinion this time: "My thoughts are the same as yours. These Han prisoners who have been exiled to Xingdao can be fully utilized. I have asked people to roughly circle a list based on their personal information.

, do you want to take a look?"

Roger waved his hand and said: "You can just decide on this matter. There is no need to spend time discussing it. I just emphasize that serious criminals cannot take on such tasks. This is the long-standing rule of the hard labor camp."

Tan Juren said: "Of course, don't worry, this list is full of people with three years or less, with relatively minor crimes. I will gather these people later and take a look for myself."

Roger is not very interested in the specific affairs management of the hard labor camp. Anyway, the labor arrangements of these hard labor prisoners are mainly based on military projects. Tan Juren wants to implement his new management plan in the hard labor camp. As long as there is no trouble, Roger will also be responsible for it.

Let him go and be at ease.

At this time, Qin Huacheng encountered his first trouble after arriving at Star Island in the barracks of the hard labor camp.

To be precise, in fact, this trouble has no direct relationship with Qin Huacheng. Several Spanish prisoners in the same cell number as him were very dissatisfied with the food arrangement here. After dinner, they gathered together and cursed non-stop. Prison leader Lin Xingsui

Although I couldn't understand what these foreign devils were talking about, I could guess from their expressions that it was not a good thing, so I immediately warned them and told them to shut up and be quiet.

The Spaniards didn't know whether they didn't understand Lin Xingsui's identity or background, or they had the intention of replacing him, so they immediately had a conflict with Lin Xingsui. Lin Xingsui was from southern Fujian, and he was eager to

The next words were all in obscure southern Fujian dialects, and here the Spaniards were chattering, and the two sides suddenly became a chicken-and-duck situation.

Seeing that the two sides were getting more and more angry and started to push each other, Qin Huacheng finally lost his temper and stood up to try to dissuade him. Although he could not understand the Minnan dialect that Lin Xingsui was speaking in a hurry, the Spaniards knew that

What he said couldn't help him, so he tried to persuade the Spaniards to stop arguing with Lin Xingsui, lest they ask for trouble later.

Qin Huacheng worked as a security policeman in Manila for a period of time, and he was very skilled in coaxing and intimidating. With a few words, the Spaniards actually shut up one after another, gave up the idea of ​​taking action, and returned to his bunk angrily.

Above. After the guard who came after hearing the news asked what happened, he did not trouble the Spaniards anymore. When he left, he patted Qin Huacheng on the shoulder to indicate that he had done a good job.

"Not bad, I didn't expect you to be able to communicate with these ghost guys." Lin Xingsui calmed down and finally resumed his Hai-Han Mandarin with a distinct Minnan accent: "You understand what these ghost guys say, then maybe

There will be an errand for you soon."

"Do you have an errand for me to do?" Qin Huacheng didn't understand what Lin Xingsui meant by "errand".

Lin Xingsui raised his finger and pointed at the Spaniards who had just clashed with him and said: "There are hundreds of ghosts like them in this hard labor camp. Because of the language barrier, the superiors have always treated these ghosts very badly.

It’s a headache. If you can communicate with them, you will definitely get ahead with this ability.”

Only then did Qin Huacheng suddenly realize, and he thought to himself, God is really helping me. I originally thought that I had nothing to do, and it would be difficult for me to become famous here, but I forgot that knowing Spanish is also a kind of specialty. If the prison authorities want more

To properly manage these Spanish prisoners, it is obviously necessary to have translators who understand Spanish to provide assistance.

Qin Huacheng quickly asked Lin Xingsui for advice: "I heard that many prisoners from Manila had been sent to Xingdao to serve their sentences before this. There must be many of them like me who can speak Chinese and understand Spanish.

, didn’t the government select some people to do the job of translating? Is there anything special I should pay attention to when doing this job?”

Lin Xingsui waved his hand and said: "I have found a few people from the prisoners before, but they all seemed to have problems, and they were given up after working for only a few days. They were all decided by the superiors. The reasons are not clear, so I dare not discuss them casually.

.Anyway, if I ask you to do this errand, just remember to be careful in your words and deeds."

The four words "Be careful in your words and deeds" are unforgettable to Qin Huacheng. The root cause of his accident in Manila can be said to be that he failed to be careful in his words and deeds. As a result, he left a lot of clues and was easily investigated by the Military Intelligence Department.

He checked everything and found out that he had lost a great future. So after arriving at Star Island, he also changed his past style of dealing with people and became cautious in everything in order not to make the same mistakes again. If he could get a chance to turn around again

, even without Lin Xingsui's reminder, he would definitely warn himself to be careful.

The next day, Qin Huacheng, who was in pain from the previous day's work, did not get a chance to breathe. The number one he was working on had to continue working after breakfast, and today's schedule was not a half day, but a full day. The only thing to be thankful for was that

Their destination was still the base construction site from yesterday, and they did not have to go to the dam and dock where the construction conditions were more difficult.

Because Qin Huacheng did not perform well at the shoveling job yesterday, today the guard assigned him to push a trolley loading building materials. But to be honest, this job is no easier than shoveling. The trolley does not look large in volume, but it is full of concrete.

The weight after that is really heavy, and the construction site is a sloping land. Loading uphill and emptying downhill is really not easy for a person like Qin Huacheng who has very limited explosive power and physical strength. After going back and forth for two times, his arms are weak and his feet are weak.

.

As a result, Qin Huacheng inevitably became the target of loud reprimands from the guards, but his actions became slower and slower. In the end, Qin Huacheng managed to persist until the lunch break.
Chapter completed!