Chapter 297 Eyes fall on Hong Kong

"Oh, food is indeed a problem......

Lin Xiao pondered for a moment and said, "I'll think of a way." ”

Macao is a small place, and the daily necessities of daily life depend on the continuous supply of Chinese merchants from all over the coast, and the merchants have their own methods, and the number of troops stationed in the army is very small, so there is naturally no need to hoard a large amount of grain.

But Lin Xiao is different, at the moment Lin Xiao urgently needs to consider to solve, not only the problem of rations for the people of Macao, but also more urgently, after the capture of Guangzhou, there are still a large number of hungry people waiting for relief.

As the number of troops under his command increases, the territory of Guangfu is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more hungry people under Lin Xiao's rule, how to let them fill their stomachs has always been a headache for Lin Xiao.

In the long run, potatoes and sweet potatoes can greatly alleviate this problem, but at present, Lianchengbi and others are still cultivating seeds, which is far from quenching the thirst of the near.

Because of this, at present, Ding Shuai in Sichuan, Zhu Yujia in Huguang, Liu Xulei in Jiangxi and others, Lin Xiao has asked them to find their own way to fight local tyrants and raise food on the spot.

There is still a lot of grain in stock in Qinzhou, but this is war rations, which are for emergency use, so this expedition, the "Qinzhou" did not bring much grain except for the personnel, but loaded more than 200 tons of cement just produced in the factory of Zhou Gong.

According to Hu Zixing's report, not only the newly recovered Shunde County, Xiangshan County, and other places were full of homeless people begging along the streets, but according to the information discovered by the scouts, no less than 10,000 hungry people had gathered in and around the city of Guangzhou alone.

It seems that although Guangdong is much richer than Guangxi due to the development of coastal trade, the people are also short of food, and the number of displaced refugees is probably even more under the years of war.

Not surprisingly, this front alone, with the recovery of the entire territory of Guangdong and southern Fujian in the future, will inevitably need more food, so Lin Xiao's ultimate gaze on this trip is always staring at this place.

……

After a little silence, Lin Xiao walked to the desk, took out a map drawn by the Francophile and spread it on the table, looked at it, turned his head to look at Qu Shiyun, and asked thoughtfully: "Ge Lao, what do you think...... How is Jack Lee? ”

"Jack Lee?"

Qu Shiyun said with a little doubt, "This person is a businessman, but he has a wide range of contacts and some means to do things, what, do you want him to get food?" ”

Lin Xiao smiled faintly, how much grain could he get? Tens of thousands of stones are dead, what's the use of that!

"I want to invite him here, and you will come forward to talk to him, and let him preside over the Chamber of Commerce, what do you think?"

"Oh, presiding over the Chamber of Commerce?" Qu Shihu said suspiciously, "You're not afraid that he will trap you?" ”

"Don't be afraid, if you don't do well, you will be replaced,"

Lin Xiao grinned, "However, he has to promise to do three things for me." ”

Jack Lee, the national righteousness has nothing to do with him, and the businessman doesn't know how to hate the country, it's normal, but the food can't count on him, and it's still a little useful in other aspects.

At present, after the reorganization of the Macao Chamber of Commerce, a Chinese must be found to preside over it.

"What three things? Let's hear it. ”

"The first thing is not difficult, it is nothing more than for him to organize manpower and continue to ensure the normal supply of daily necessities for Hao Jing;"

"The second thing is to let him come forward and buy a few shops and warehouses from the Francophone for us, and after that, we will do our own business;"

"What's so hard about that? It's not like there are a few Francophone people going this time...... What about the third piece? Without waiting for Qu Shiyun to answer, Li Tao on the side said suspiciously.

"This third piece is a little difficult, and it is necessary for him to immediately purchase a large number of bricks, lime, wood, stone and other building materials for us."

"Building materials? Substantial? Qu Shiyun was puzzled again, what is this for?

"Yes, come and see,"

Lin Xiao pointed to a certain place on the map, and the old god said on the ground, "I want to build a base for an ocean-going fleet in this port." ”

Qu Shiyun and Li Tao came over to take a look, and the place where their eyes fell was an island not far from Haojing, and the place names marked were in foreign languages and Chinese characters.

Looking at it, Lin Xiao pointed to the place, there is a river flowing into the sea, next to it is written two words: "Xiangjiang", the place where the Xiangjiang River enters the sea, is a half-moon-shaped harbor, next to the three Chinese characters "Shipai Bay", there is an unknown island outside the port echoing from afar.

Li Tao next to him only glanced at it and smiled, isn't this Hong Kong Island!

However, Li Tao knew that in this era, there was no place name of Hong Kong, and the place where Lin Xiao pointed to was the famous "Aberdeen Pier" in Shek Pai Wan in later generations.

The map shows that from north to south, there are only a few place names on this island, such as "Red Incense Burner", "Skirt Road", "Tai Tan", "Ah Gong Rock", "Shuijing Bay" and "Stanley".

"This island is a lot bigger than Haojing,"

Qu Shiyun nodded, "But is there a village there?" ”

"There are fishermen, but not many, this island is mostly mountainous, not suitable for farming, and the bigger island next to it is called Lantau Island, and there are not many people living there,"

Lin Xiao smiled and said slowly, "I've inquired, this island is called Datan, which belongs to the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture, and this is a natural harbor that I refer to, and there have been sea ships trafficking in spices for a long time......"

"This stream is called Xiangjiang, because the stream water is sweet and delicious, sailors who come to shelter from the wind often come here to take water to drink, and over time it is named Xiangjiang, and this small harbor formed by the alluvial flow of the Xiangjiang River into the sea is also called Hong Kong."

"That'...... From now on, we will call this island Hong Kong Island, how about it? Li Tao's expression was quite realistic.

"Hong Kong Island...... Sounds pretty smooth, Elder Ge, what do you think? Lin Xiao immediately cooperated.

"I think it's okay, just say it,"

Qu Shiyun didn't know anything about such small islands, so he replied casually, but then he wondered, "Why did you want to build a fleet base here?" ”

"The mirror is too small, and my fleet needs a big port."

"Well, then why did I go talk to Jack Lee?"

"Because, you know him well,"

Lin Xiao smiled narrowly, "It's a joke...... Because in fact, I'm about to go out on a trip, and there's something that burns my eyebrows......"

……

Two days later, in the early morning, Lin Xiao, who was wearing a green shirt, appeared in the north of Guangzhou Fucheng, near the Zhenhai Tower at the foot of Yuexiu Mountain.

Lin Xiao's trip was started because of Li Tao's words, Li Tao was worried about the lack of food to help refugees after the recovery of Guangzhou, which reminded Lin Xiao of one thing.

Historically, Wu Sangui led the rebellion of the "Three Feudatories Rebellion", the elderly Shang Kexi did not participate, but his son Shang Zhixin turned against him and led troops to attack Guangzhou, Shang Kexi prepared a large number of firewood, and had the intention of burning the palace.

At present, although there must be a lot of food in the hands of the gentry everywhere, in Lin Xiao's opinion, these are all a drop in the bucket, and if you want to get enough food for tens of thousands of people to eat for more than half a year, you can only find Shang Kexi in Guangzhou.

However, dogs can't change their eating, and Lin Xiao is worried that once Xia Bomin's army besieges Guangzhou, Shang Kexi is likely to jump over the wall in a hurry and burn the hoarded military rations.

During the phone call with Xia Bomin that afternoon, Lin Xiao learned that Duan Zhenghong and the naval fleet had just arrived, and he planned to launch an attack on Zhaoqing City in the early morning of the next day.

According to intelligence analysis, the demoralized Zhaoqing Qing army was already vulnerable at all, and Xia Bomin was full of calculations, and at most one day and night, he could completely annihilate the Zhaoqing defenders.

In this way, Lin Xiao estimated that there would be three days at most, and the army would be able to go straight to the city of Guangzhou, and finally, Lin Xiao told Xia Bomin not to forget to order the Northern Route Army near Shaozhou to immediately go south, capture the Chaoshan area, and outflank Guangzhou.

(End of chapter)