Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 12 Taiwan or Hainan

Where to choose to cross?This is not just a location, but more related to their starting base.

A good start means half the battle.Travelers basically love to play games, and they know that one of the keys to strategic games is to get a good base position at the beginning of the game.For them this base should satisfy:

1. It has a good agricultural foundation and can guarantee the supply of food.

2. There is a certain population base, which can meet the labor demand of post-travel industrialization in the future.

3. There are abundant natural resources, which can meet the needs of industrialization.

4. Located in the coastal area, there are ports. After all, maritime trade is the trade that is most likely to amass wealth in this era.

5. It cannot be in the core area ruled by the Ming Dynasty, otherwise it will inevitably cause the Ming government to focus on encirclement and suppression.

6. Not in the land of the Fourth World War.Whether it is the post-gold, or the stream of rushing and offering, it is not something that the transversal people who are not on a firm foothold can deal with.

7. It is easy to defend and has the danger of mountains, rivers and seas.

Obviously, in the time and space they are going to, there are not many places that can meet such conditions.

As a precaution, this question was submitted to the discussion board for brainstorming.

The proposals proposed by everyone on the Internet are basically concentrated in three places: Taiwan, Hainan, and Australia.

Australia got a lot of support, but was the first to be shot.Not to mention whether Australia itself is suitable as a base for traversers, the reality is that it is impossible to get hundreds of traversers to Australia.Basically inoperable.

Taiwan Island is a hot topic of discussion, no matter in terms of geographical location, natural conditions, or development potential, it can be called the top choice.The island does not have a political institution of the Ming Dynasty. Although the Dutch and the Spaniards have built cities, they can only occupy a corner of each other, which belongs to the vacuum zone.However, tropical diseases in Taiwan are very serious, especially malaria, which to a certain extent hindered the entry of immigrants. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the level of development was still very low, and the population was even sparser. There was no human base for large-scale development.

In comparison, Hainan is much superior.Since the development of the Six Dynasties, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was already a county in the south of the border with hundreds of thousands of registered households.In the ten years of Yongle, only Han residents had 40 registered households, a population of 43, and abundant human resources.In terms of agriculture, by the 410rd year of Wanli, the island's official and private land reached [-] million mu.

What is even more rare is that natural resources are not only rich but also relatively complete, which is very suitable for industrialization.There are 88 kinds of minerals (including subspecies) on the island, 67 kinds of which are proven to have industrial development value. Gold mine, rich iron ore, ilmenite and zircon mine are dominant minerals.

The key to the pre-industrial era was coal and iron.Hainan Island has a rare large-scale iron-rich mine in China - Shilu Iron Mine. The average iron content of the ore is 51%, and the reserve reaches [-] million tons. It also has a variety of minerals.What is commendable is that the Shilu Iron Mine is almost open-pit, and it can be mined after stripping the topsoil, without the need for a hugely expensive tunnel system.

In terms of coal mines, Hainan only has low-quality lignite, but across the Beibu Gulf is the Quang Ninh Hongji Coal Mine in Vietnam. In this time and space, the open-pit mine reserves are [-] million tons, and the high-quality anthracite underground has billions of tons. The coal mine is close to the shore. By the sea, shipping is extremely convenient.

With coal and iron, steel can be produced on a large scale. With steel, it is possible to complete the mechanization of various industries, and then manufacture industrial products in batches.

Ancient society may be able to produce amazing works of art, but it cannot compete with the trend of mass-produced goods in industrial society.

If Hainan Island has any disadvantages as a crossing base, it is that it is too close to the mainland, and the Ming government's rule in the area is relatively strict. Except for the inland Li District, most of the island is a "land of kings".

The Ming government will not give up easily such prefectures and counties that have been registered with Qimin for many years, and will definitely spare no effort to conquer these ambitious outsiders—whether they are Xinboni, Australia, or visitors from another time and space.

From the very beginning, the traversers will face crusades from the local and Guangdong garrisons, and they must resist the past in order to gain a firm foothold.

There is still a long-term conflict between Li and Han in Hainan. Since the Yuan Dynasty, there has been a Li riot on average every three years on the whole island. It was less than 1627 years ago from 30 when they crossed. The Shiya riots, the people of Dan, Ya, and Linli responded, and the Ming government mobilized 27 troops to calm it down.How to live in peace with the local people is another problem.

Finally, pirates and criminals were very rampant in Hainan's history, and many counties in Hainan did not have a north gate.In the South China Sea in the late Ming Dynasty, it was the era when Chinese and foreign sea merchants and pirates from all walks of life showed their special abilities. No matter whether it was a sea merchant or a pirate, they would not let go of the opportunity to plunder.Hainan, which is on the main sea traffic route, has suffered a lot from it for a long time.It can be imagined that the time traveler with countless modern tools and supplies will be a big fat sheep that will be salivating in every way.

From this point of view, although Hainan has a better foundation than Taiwan, it will face much greater pressure.

"From this point of view, let's choose Taiwan." In the online meeting, after listening to the executive committee's briefing on Hainan, someone suggested, "Taiwan has malaria, so we can bring quinine and cinchona. It is planted in Taiwan. As for the population, there were so many refugees in the late Ming Dynasty, and it would not be a problem to transport several 10 people with grain and land as bait."

"It's easy to say that you have transported hundreds of thousands of people, what kind of transportation do you use?" Someone immediately questioned.

"Ship, we can use a [-]-ton ship to go through it, and load it with supplies and people. The entire sea overlord doesn't need any cannons. Let's see who doesn't like it and rush up to hit it."

"Are you going to burn it with alcohol or charcoal?"

"Let's build our own boats. Taiwan has high-quality logs."

"Okay, then tell me where the sailor is?"

"Sailors can train themselves and recruit foreign sailors to Macau as instructors."

"Joke, Zheng Chenggong's boats are all driven by foreigners? I don't like you people who worship foreigners."

"Can cinchona trees survive in Taiwan?"

"If you want to put it that way, the Leizhou Peninsula can't grow rubber, no, it can't be grown."

"I'm talking about Taiwan, Leizhou Peninsula and Taiwan are in the same dimension?!"

……

When the topic started to talk about whether treasure ships are wooden [-]-ton ships, whether Artemisia annua can prevent and treat malaria, and whether traditional Chinese medicine is pseudoscience, Wen Desi quickly stopped everyone's enthusiasm, and Xiao Zishan proposed to speak.

"I think Hainan is more suitable." Xiao Zishan didn't say anything just now. He supported the plan of Hainan in his heart, but he was not in a hurry to express his position. After forming a team in my heart, the focus of the speech will naturally be there.

"Why is Hainan more suitable than Taiwan? Compared with the requirements of our bases, Taiwan is far inferior to Hainan on several key issues.

"The first is the foundation of agriculture. The real development of Taiwan's agriculture generally began when Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan and used it as a base to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty - almost the middle and late 17th century. The year we chose was 1628. At this time it There is no agriculture at all, only a small amount of land reclaimed by some coastal immigrant villages. Hainan has at least 380 million mu of cultivated land, and dozens of water conservancy projects built in the past. Note that the number of acres is still on the register, and the land in the Ming Dynasty is concealed is quite a lot.

"In terms of population, there were very few Han immigrants in Taiwan in 1628. The large-scale industrial and agricultural construction after our crossing requires a large number of people as a labor force. Taiwan's population cannot meet the demand, so immigrants have to be imported from the beginning. Refugees were recruited. , organize them to drag their families across the county for thousands of miles, and arrange shipping when they reach the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang. This is a complicated and arduous matter, involving the deployment of manpower and material resources, and dealing with officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty... We Who has such experience and ability?

"Even if enough migrants can be transported to the island, the follow-up work will be very difficult. The refugees are basically poor and empty. They need epidemic prevention, relief, resettlement, housing, seeds, farm tools... Where do these things come from? Based on our early days Strength, it is not enough to do such a big thing. In comparison, Hainan has a population of at least 40, which is enough to meet the needs of early development.”

The discussion just now has exhausted the enthusiasm of most people, and some people's irrational speeches have also made everyone feel disgusted.At this moment, Xiao Zishan's well-founded and well-spoken speech has been approved by the majority of people, and Hainan, the future base, has been voted on.

In this time and space at the end of Ming Dynasty, Hainan set up Qiongzhou Prefecture and led ten counties in three prefectures: Qiongshan, Chengmai, Lingao, Ding'an, Wenchang, Lehui, Huitong, Changhua, Lingshui, and thanks ten counties; Danzhou, Wanzhou , Yazhou three states.

If you take out the Yuan and Ming sub-volumes of the Chinese historical atlas and browse them, you will find that the prefectures and counties in Hainan happen to circle around the entire coast of the island.Historically, Hainan Island used to be in the state of South Li and Han North, but after the Song Dynasty, Han was outside and Li was inside.

Among these prefectures and counties, Qiongshan-Chengmai-Lingao counties have the longest history of development. They are the main Han nationality gathering areas and agricultural areas on the island, and half of the Han population is gathered here.

Among these three places, Qiongshan County, which is the seat of Qiongzhou Prefecture, has the best basic environment: at the end of Ming Dynasty, there were 380 mu of official land and private land on the island, and this county accounted for nearly a quarter of it, with a registered taxpayer population of nearly [-] .

But at the same time, it was also the political and economic center of the Ming Dynasty on the island, and a large number of troops were usually stationed there.It also has political symbolic significance. The fall of a border city like Qiongzhou will shake the Ming court enormously, and needless to say, it will lead to a large-scale military raid.

Although Chengmai is not bad, but it is next to Qiongshan County, so it is a little closer to the Hainan ruling center of the Ming Dynasty.

Lingao became the best choice.

Lingao in this time and space is an unknown small county in Hainan, which is far less famous than Haikou or Sanya. The economy is backward, and tourism is almost blank. Unless you are a donkey friend who likes in-depth travel, most people don’t know that there is such a place in Hainan.If you use a search engine to search for the word Lingao on the Internet, most of the entries are a sentence from the People's Liberation Army crossing the sea to liberate Hainan 60 years ago: The People's Liberation Army first landed at Lingaojiao.That's right, this Lingaojiao is located in Lingao County, less than twelve kilometers away from the county seat.

Although Lingao is unknown, it is a thousand-year-old county.Its county history can be traced back to the fifth year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty.It is one of the earliest areas on the mainland where Han immigrants immigrated, and has a long history of development.Although Lingao is not as populous as Qiongshan, it had a registered population of 45 in the [-]th year of Wanli.The alluvial plains on both sides of the Wenlan River were developed earlier, forming a certain agricultural foundation.If it can be supplemented by the development of certain water conservancy facilities, the agricultural potential is great.In terms of standards, Lingao is the land of fish and rice in Hainan.

Finally, it is separated from the Qiongzhou government by a Chengmai, so it will not immediately face the direct pressure of the Ming government if there is any disturbance.Considering the communication conditions and work efficiency of the ancient dynasties, the affairs across states and counties cannot be handled within a month, and it is estimated that places like Hainan will take longer.

After this topic, some other questions were raised one after another, but Lingao, as the base at the beginning of the crossing, no longer has any objections.In the concluding speech of the conference made by Wen Desi: Everyone agreed that this conference was a "successful conference, a conference of unity, and a conference of victory."In future New World history textbooks, the conference will be called the "First Wearing Congress".Because there are too many representatives, and many people chose to stay in the Old World in the end, the full list can only be checked in the "Old World Cathedral"-in theory, it cannot be checked.

(End of this chapter)