This is not the first time that Tom has come to Da Nang, in fact, during the civil war in Annam, the Haihan Navy under his command briefly stopped at this place. However, at that time, Da Nang did not have any port facilities, only two fishing village wharves, and now a wharf of more than 300 meters long has been built on the coast of this place, and more than 2,000 construction teams are working overtime to expand the wharf, build various port facilities, and official roads to other cities in the north and south. After Tom Wang walked down the gangway, he saw Ruan Jinggui waiting respectfully on the dock.

Nguyen Ching Gui had recently been notified that he had rushed back from Cam Ranh Bay in the south and had only arrived in Da Nang in the middle of the night yesterday. He was sent here last year to preside over the local affairs of Da Nang, and he has made some achievements. Since Nguyen Ching Gui was familiar with the situation in southern Annam, two months earlier the Executive Committee transferred him to Cam Ranh Bay in the south to help organize the preparations for the construction of the local military port.

Nguyen Ching Gui was informed that the fleet from Sanya had arrived in Da Nang today, so he didn't have a good rest after arriving last night, and got up early in the morning to prepare for work. Although the notice sent by the base camp Tong Guò radio station did not explain the nature of the fleet this time, just judging from the size and the list of travelers, Ruan Jinggui still saw some fame.

If it were just routine patrol work, there would not have been such a large fleet coming, and the personnel would have been simpler, and there would not have been multiple departments as in this one. On top of that, the notice from the headquarters explicitly emphasized the need to keep the ins and outs of the fleet secret, which had not been seen before.

Of course, with Ruan Jinggui's level, he only knew that this fleet was from Sanya, as for why they came and where they were going next, this information was all levels that Ruan Jinggui couldn't touch. All he can do now is to serve these people well and complete the tasks they have assigned.

Wang Tom's itinerary will take two days of replenishment and recuperation in Da Nang, and then head south. The coastal areas of Indochina south of Da Nang no longer have similar large ports, so many of the necessary supplies had to be made here, and the smaller fishing ports further south could only replenish fresh water and a small amount of food.

"The chiefs have worked hard all the way, and the lower officials have ordered people to clean up their residences and prepare hot food, but the local conditions are limited, so the leaders have a lot of forbearance!" Ruan Jinggui is not the first time to receive people from the base camp here, and he did not seem flustered in the face of Wang Tom and others.

"You've worked hard, too!" replied Tom faintly. He didn't have any opinion of Ruan Jinggui, but he really didn't have any friendship at all, it was just a public-to-public contact.

But the next person was different, Wang Tom saluted a military salute, and then hugged the other party tightly: "Old Mu, long time no see!"

As the only armed force in the group, these senior military officers often acted together at the beginning of the crossing, so they were relatively familiar with each other. Moreover, compared with the comrades-in-arms who only sweated together on the training ground in peacetime, they had the experience of fighting together on the battlefield in Annan, and their feelings were naturally deeper.

Mu Xiabai replied with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a long time, I will see you for many days when I see you, this time I want to go with you, then it is up to you to cover me!"

After a few words of greeting, everyone boarded the ox cart prepared by Ruan Jinggui in turn and went to the place where they stayed. In fact, the accommodation arranged by Ruan Jinggui is not far from the pier, and it only takes a moment to walk, but there is a special car to pick you up, which shows the difference in status. Nguyen Jinggui paid attention to these details during his stay in Sanya, but unfortunately there were no horses in Da Nang, so he had to use ox carts to fill the numbers.

The reception banquet has maintained a high standard, the seafood is all fished up from the sea early this morning, the chickens, ducks and pigs are all freshly slaughtered, the chef operates according to the standard "Haihan cuisine" method learned from Sanya, and the wine used in the banquet is also the authentic "Sanya special wine", and the Haihan Executive Committee designates the wine for official reception.

After the banquet was over, Ruan Jinggui ran up and down again, and after arranging all the accommodations for the more than 200 people in this group, he returned to his place before he had time to take a hot face, and someone came to inform him and asked him to report to the garrison camp immediately.

Nguyen Ching Gui hurriedly put on his shoes again and rushed to the militia station located at the foot of the Son Tra Peninsula in the northeast of the Da Nang port area. The local militia army has only two companies of land and is camped near the port. The outer part is a fortress-like building on the north end of the mountain, and the south end is facing the sea, and the part between this building and the mountain is the militia camp. However, the militia is not only stationed in this camp area covering an area of about 100 acres, but also includes the entire mountainous area of the Son Tra Peninsula that juts out into the South China Sea. A vigilante lookout post has been set up at the commanding heights of the peninsula, and when the weather is nice, you can use a guò telescope to check the sea conditions within 30 nautical miles of the vicinity.

After registering at the camp gate, Nguyen Ching Gui was taken to the camp's conference room, where he met several people who had just retreated from the dinner table.

"Director Nguyen, I invited you here to give you a brief introduction to the current construction status of Da Nang. After Mu Xiabai waited for Ruan Jinggui to sit down, he said to him: "Explain the situation in detail in all aspects. ”

Although Ruan Jinggui didn't know why, when he looked at the people present, he also knew that things were not so simple - he was alone in the civil affairs department, and the others were almost all military personnel. There were a few naturalized civilians who were not wearing military uniforms sitting at the bottom, and one of them, Nguyen Ching Gui, recognized him as a naturalized civilian cadre named Lin Nam of the Ministry of Security, who used to be active in the port area of Shengli Port.

What is the origin of the Ministry of Security, after all, Ruan Jinggui has been in Sanya for a while, and he still knows a little about it, as long as it is a matter of the Ministry of Security, it is definitely not a trivial matter. Ruan Jinggui was a little more cautious at the moment, and hurriedly got up and responded: "If the lower officials say something inappropriate, don't blame the chiefs!"

"Since the Executive Committee ordered the development of Da Nang last year, the local resident population has increased from more than 400 to nearly 4,000 at present, of which more than ninety percent are naturalized people who have joined the Haihan nationality......" Nguyen Jinggui adjusted his breathing slightly, stabilized his feelings, and began to introduce the local situation: "...... At present, 300 to 500 new naturalized people are joining every month, most of them former residents living in the vicinity of Hoi An City. Most of these local people came here because they saw that the life of the naturalized people was relatively stable, and their enthusiasm for naturalization was relatively high, and they were more obedient to our management after naturalization. ”

"In terms of products, the Ministry of Agriculture has sent technical commissioners over last year to guide local farmers to reclaim collective farms and plant rice, corn, spices and other crops, with more than 3,000 acres of fields so far. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture has organized people to replant a large number of rubber trees in the nearby forest cutting area of the Son Tra Peninsula, totaling more than 2,000 rubber trees, but the technical commissioner said that it will take several years for such trees to reach the harvest period. Livestock and poultry farming and fishing have also been implemented since last year, and some of the eggs and meat produced in the area will be transported to Hue in the north for sale. ”

Ruan Jinggui is a businessman after all, this memory is very good, for the number of jù without the help of written information, can be casually said one by one: "The technical commissioner sent by the Ministry of Industry discovered the lime mine here last year, and guided the local people to build a cement factory. In addition, the local forest land is dense and the water conservancy conditions are also convenient, so several paper mills have been built, and some of the paper products produced are not only supplied to the city of Annan, but also some of them are shipped back to Sanya for the use of various yamen and academies in Shengli Fort. ”

"The construction of the port is divided into five phases, and the first phase of the project has been basically completed, and the second phase of the project is underway. The existing wharf can accommodate a total of 20 400 ships at the same time, and the port is expected to double the scale of the port after the completion of the second phase of the project in the first half of next year. In addition, the local commercial inns, warehouses, and various civil facilities have been completed one by one in accordance with the plan of the Ministry of Construction, and over time, the prosperous scene of Sanya will be reproduced here. ”

While telling the story, Ruan Jinggui also noticed that today's audience is not just listening, almost everyone is writing and painting on paper while listening. Ruan Jinggui finally finished his speech tremblingly, and saw Mu Xiabai nodding at him, so he slowly sat back in his chair.

"I have a question for me below. The first person to ask questions was Lin Nan from the Ministry of Security: "Director Ruan, I have three questions I would like to ask below." First, please indicate whether there are any local ships from the South Seas currently calling here. Second, is there a local capacity to organize logistical supplies that are now twice the population? Third, how many sailors and crew members are there in the local area who are familiar with the sea conditions of the South Seas, and can Director Ruan gather all these people?"

Ruan Jinggui is also a person who has experienced the civil war in Annam, and after listening to Lin Nan's three questions, Ruan Jinggui has already guessed a few points about the reason why these people are here - this is clearly Haihan is preparing to launch a military operation of a certain scale in the south!

Ruan Jinggui also went to Nanyang in his early years of business, and he still has a general understanding of the distribution of power in Nanyang, but he doesn't dare to speculate on which Haihan's high-level is fighting, and he just responded honestly: "It is true that there are ships returning from Nanyang that occasionally dock at the local area for supplies, but after the destruction of Hoi An City, there are not many foreign ships coming to Da Nang, and there are only seven or eight ships per month, most of which are merchant ships from our side and Daming, and occasionally one or two Portuguese ships will also come to dock here." ”

"As for the supply capacity...... Ruan Jinggui bit and said: "If it is grain, the existing local production may not be able to support twice the population, but meat should be possible, and there are many mountains nearby, and if necessary, hunting activities can be organized to replenish it." No matter how bad the local fishery is, it can increase the catch, but it needs to increase the number of fishing boats. There is no problem with vegetables, the local area only reclaimed more than 300 acres of vegetable land in the first two months, most of which are used to plant seasonal vegetables, and then about half a month, some of these vegetables can start to be harvested. ”

Lin Nan nodded, and while listening, he wrote down what Ruan Jinggui said in the notebook in front of him.

"Familiar with the sailors and crews of the South Seas, this is really not much in the local area......" Ruan Jinggui also showed a look of embarrassment on his face at this time: "The year before last, Hoi An City was breached, and most of the people who ate sailors' meals fled to other places......"

"We don't have a quantitative requirement. Lin Nan interjected and added.

"If there were no quantitative requirements, thirty or forty people would always be found. Hearing such an answer, Ruan Jinggui's heart immediately relaxed, and he immediately responded.

"Naturalized people who want to be reliable must also keep their mouths tight. Lin Nan added two more conditions.

"Hmm...... If so, it may have to be halved. Ruan Jinggui thought about it in his heart before giving an answer.

"Then I'll leave this matter to you, and I only have two days to do it. Lin Nan gave an order to Ruan Jinggui without question.

Although the two were not from the same yamen at all, Ruan Jinggui did not dare to refute Lin Nan's order, but responded repeatedly, but secretly guessed the real purpose of the Ministry of Security in his heart.

Previously, Ruan Jinggui vaguely felt that Haihan was going to do something in the south this time, and Lin Nan's instructions made him more sure of his inference. Just as he was still in deep thought, he heard Lin Nan add: "When you recruit these people, even their families, after we set off, we will send another boat to send all their families to Sanya, where someone will settle their future lives." ”

"Yes, yes, Xia Guan understood. With Ruan Jinggui's mind, he could naturally think that this was a means for the Ministry of Security to seek to keep secrets. After this trip, these sailors will probably follow the fleet back to Sanya, and it is unlikely that the places they have been will leak out lightly - at least for a while to keep this secret.

As for Ruan Jinggui's questioning, the officers led by Wang Tom asked Ruan Jinggui a series of questions, including the situation of various coastal supply points in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula, the recent shape between Annam and the Champa state, etc., Ruan Jinggui spent more than two hours and spoke dryly, and finally basically answered all kinds of tricky questions of these uninvited guests.

When leaving, Mu Xiabai got up and sent Ruan Jinggui all the way to the gate of the camp, before saying goodbye, Mu Xiabai lowered his voice and said very solemnly: "Director Ruan, the nature of this matter, I don't need to emphasize it anymore, I believe you should also understand its importance, right?"

"Understand, the lower officials completely understand!" Ruan Jinggui replied repeatedly: "General Mu, please rest assured, he is very tight-mouthed, and he will never spread the news that should not be said!"