Judging from the written work reports submitted by the military team of the Guangzhou Office to the Central Military Commission every month, it can be seen that they have been planning for the occupation of Hong Kong Island for a long time, and have also made many on-the-spot inspections for this purpose, and even the waters near Hong Kong Island have been selected as targets for the training of troops going to sea.

Tao Donglai put down this file, and already knew about this matter in his heart. Obviously, the military is well aware of the actual situation on Hong Kong Island, and has long listed Hong Kong Island as the main target of the next mainland attack. Tao Donglai believed that without his knowledge, the militants in the General Staff Department might have even planned a plan to occupy the area by force on paper.

Of course, Tao Donglai didn't mind that he was kept in the dark, and there was indeed no need to report to him before concrete progress was made in the implementation of this kind of thing. Moreover, his temporary position in the Military Commission requires more political elements, and he does not have much energy to intervene in the specific affairs of the military in peacetime.

"So the application submitted by the military team of the Guangzhou Office this time is actually the meaning of the General Staff?" Tao Donglai asked.

Yan Chujie did not deny Tao Donglai's speculation, nodded and said: "In the process of inspecting Hong Kong Island, the Guangdong side found that there were actually no hidden political dangers in the local area that we were worried about, so they submitted the relevant plan to the Military Commission. However, the General Staff believes that if the actual situation on the ground is reported completely and truthfully, it may encounter some unnecessary pressure in the voting of the Executive Committee. After our deliberations, it was decided to keep some of the less important information so that the plan could be communicated to the Executive Committee as much as possible. ”

Tao Donglai shook his head slowly and said: "I'm not accusing the General Staff of doing this wrong, but leaving such an obvious loophole is to leave a handle for people! Knowing that there are people in the executive committee who like to drill the horns of the bull, you still ...... it."

"Old Tao, don't get excited, this matter is not so strict. Yan Chujie didn't wait for Tao Dong to attack, so he hurriedly persuaded: "I also said at the meeting just now that the point of the matter is not whether the military deliberately concealed the situation on Hong Kong Island, but to see if we can take this opportunity to do what we have always wanted to do but have not done." ”

Tao Donglai continued to shake his head and said: "I know that the staff is not selfish, but the rules of doing things must always be wanted, and I am afraid that you will not be able to control it in the future!"

"Lao Tao, if you must pursue responsibility, then this matter will be on my head. Yan Chujie said in a deep voice: "After all, I am the one who is in charge of the Military Commission now, and it is impossible for me to let the people below carry this pot." ”

Tao Donglai took a deep breath and said, "It's not a question of whether you have the blame or not, but this matter itself is not in accordance with the rules, do you understand?"

"I understand, so what? If we don't forcibly erase this matter, according to Ning Qi, we must take into account that there are people settled there, then how long will this matter have to be delayed because of the local 100 or so residents? Three months or five months?" Yan Chujie's opinion on this matter was obviously very stubborn, and he was not shaken by Tao Donglai's accusation: "This year is the third year of travel, and we are still nesting in Sanya as a rich man, at this rate, how long will it take us to build a planned transcontinental power?" Thirty years or forty years? If these things still need to be left to the next generation to complete, then what is the point of us crossing over? Lao Tao, we are all in our thirties and almost forty years, and we will retire at the age of 60, and we will not have many years to jump.

Tao Donglai was obviously also touched by Yan Chujie's words, and only after a long time did he respond: "I haven't forgotten why we gave up our previous Qiē to come here, our goal is still the same as before, and I won't say anything more about this matter, but I hope this is the last time, don't wait until one day the Military Commission causes trouble, and then say who should carry this pot and who should not carry it, do you understand what I mean?"

"Understood. Yan Chujie's mouth responded, and his heart hanging in mid-air finally let go.

Yan Chujie was not worried that Tao Donglai would fall out with him for this matter, after all, the two were comrades-in-arms who had known each other for many years, and they had traveled together to fight the world in this time and space. However, he was afraid that Tao Donglai would be too principled and would suspend the relevant plans for the opening of Hong Kong Island because of the military's false report. In that case, it will not only lose the manpower, material and financial resources that the military has previously consumed for this matter, but more importantly, it will delay valuable development time.

For Haihan, although it has encountered many difficulties since the crossing, on the whole, the process of external expansion has been relatively smooth, and the Executive Committee has been able to focus more resources and energy on external expansion measures. But even so, this expansion rate is still a little too slow for the traverser. Everyone left their past lives behind and embarked on this path of no return, and the purpose of most of them was to come here to be the founding father, not to be the father of the founding father. If the dream of building an invincible empire is not fulfilled in the prime of life, then even if the next generation realizes this vision, it will not be complete for the traversers.

The Military Commission's emphasis on Hong Kong Island is even far greater than that of the four port locations in southern Annam. As far as Haihan is concerned, the completion of those four ports is related to the progress of the great goal of controlling the Strait of Malacca in the future, and for the location of Haihan's main base and main trade direction, considering the opponents that may be encountered, it is not a very urgent matter to control the choke point of the shipping lanes in the South Seas. The ownership of Hong Kong Island is a major event that will directly affect Haihan's strategy against the mainland.

If Hong Kong Island can be taken smoothly, it will basically be able to control the waters of the Pearl River Estuary in a down-to-earth manner, and affect all the shipping lanes in the Liangguang region to Fujian, the Taiwan Strait, and the coastal provinces to the north. With Hong Kong Island as the axis and springboard, Haihan was able to free up his hands and feet to gradually expand his influence in the southeast coastal area, instead of relying on "small fights" such as the Guangzhou Office and Wanshan Port to brush up the progress.

For the military, the strategic significance of controlling Hong Kong cannot be ignored, and even Yan Chujie does not need to explain it to Tao Dong at all. Hong Kong Island is positioned to be attacked, retreated, and defended, allowing warships to reach the city of Guangzhou, or relying on the local natural terrain to build an insurmountable fortress port, thus blocking the entire Pearl River estuary. Taking control of this place is equivalent to giving an insurance policy to Hainan Island, which is lonely overseas. Even if the Executive Committee is undecided on this, the military has already made up its mind, and sooner or later it will have to find a reason to set foot on Hong Kong Island.

Two days later, the "Lightning" sailing ship carried seven joint inspection teams composed of the military, the Ministry of Shipping, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Construction, and set off from Shengli Port for the Pearl River Estuary. As requested by the Executive Committee, they will conduct a site visit to the area on the southern side of Hong Kong Island and assess the value and difficulty of local development.

However, on the same day that they set off from Shengli Port, the Guangzhou side made new progress, and the master Liu, who had received a large commission, did not live up to the expectations of He Xi and others, and actually completed what He Xi asked for in only a few days -- in the name of Haihan Commercial Bank, register in Guangzhou Prefecture, and build a commercial port and facilities on the south side of Hong Kong Island under Xin'an County within the year.

In fact, the registration procedure itself costs very little, but obtaining this registration qualification without leaving a trace has cost the Guangzhou Office a full amount of 1,000 taels of silver. Of course, compared to the results achieved, this thousand taels of silver was worth a thousand dollars. After receiving this news, while informing the base camp of the good news, the Guangzhou Office began to think about whether the first batch of immigrants should be naturalized from the Haihan Movement, or whether a part of the immigrants directly recruited from the local area should be sent to the local area.

As soon as the news came out, the office moved up and down. It is clear to everyone that if the establishment of a Hong Kong base is approved, the most promising candidate for the post of local official in charge will definitely be born on the side of the Guangzhou Office. Except for He Xi, who is too professional, and Cai Jinmei, the head of banking affairs, it seems that everyone else is likely to be promoted to the next level at this opportunity. Sister Ma Yuma, who is in charge of health care, Sha Xi, who is in charge of immigration, Chen Tianqi, who is in charge of information, You Yihan, who is in charge of transportation, Xiao Liangyuyao and Xiao Liangyu Yao of the military team, and Chen Yixin and Li Dou, the young duo of Wanshan Island, seem to have the opportunity to leap into the dragon gate.

Of course, the person with the greatest opportunity is still the current director of the Guangzhou Office, after all, compared with other personnel, Mariko is a professional politician, and his comprehensive ability and overall situation are indeed better than other competitors. In terms of work ability, it can be said that Mariko's experience in the system has helped him win at the starting line, no matter how hard others work, the lack of political experience is a shortcoming after all, and this is precisely Mariko's strength.

After all, Hong Kong Island is not a small place like Dawanshan Island, and it is enough to put two competent officials there. Even the least politically sensitive person knows that Hong Kong Island is a place that plays a great role in military and commercial affairs, and that the population allocated to the local area will certainly not be as simple as one or two communes. Sha Xi, the immigration director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs stationed in Guangzhou, boldly predicted that in the period after the occupation of Hong Kong Island, it is feared that a considerable part of the residents recruited by the Guangzhou Office from the mainland will be diverted to Hong Kong Island, and the number of immigrants may even exceed the existing population on the island in a very short period of time.

As long as there are a few thousand people living in the local area, it is inevitable that a complete set of administrative management teams will be needed to maintain the operation of the Haihan ruling system, and various grass-roots management institutions will also come into being.

On the same day that the expedition from Shengli Port arrived in Aberdeen, another team from Guangzhou to inspect the local situation also arrived at the same time. However, the team from Guangzhou is not Haihan's own people, but an investment investigation team organized by Haihan and participated by a number of wealthy businessmen.

In today's Guangzhou, there is meat to eat with the Haihan people, which is basically a common concept in the business circle. In the first two years, most of the merchants who cooperated with the Haihan people made a lot of money, and the scale of business and the radiation area have also developed significantly compared with the past. Nowadays, when the merchants of Guangzhou hear that they are from Qiongzhou Island, most of them will ask whether they are from the south or the north, and as long as they hear that they are from the south, their attitude will immediately change.

After all, the richest area of Liangguang is no longer Guangzhou, but Sanya in the south of Qiongzhou Island – yes, the number of people who speak the name Yazhou in business circles is gradually decreasing, and it is replaced by "Sanya", which is said to be a direct transliteration of the Li language. As long as it is said that it is a person from Sanya, it must be on behalf of Haihan, and the word Haihan can now be regarded as a symbol of financial strength and credibility in the market.

Two years ago, when the Haihan people established "Qiong Lianfa" and dragged a group of wealthy businessmen to Yazhou to invest, there were still many people who had a wait-and-see attitude, and even many people thought that the Haihan people were a group of liars. However, the subsequent development can be said to be beyond everyone's expectations, these wealthy merchants not only obtained excellent economic returns on their investment in Qiongzhou, but also expanded their business coverage from Guangzhou to the whole territory of Qiongzhou Island, and some have even sold their goods to Annan and Champang, which used to be only visited by professional maritime merchants.

The success of "Qiong Lianfa" has also brought many additional benefits to Haihan, and under the conscious promotion of relevant departments, these large businesses have begun to gradually accept and enjoy the so-called "Haihan lifestyle", and are proud of the use of various stationery, glassware, sanitary ware, four-wheeled carriages, and even Haihan bank checks and other distinctive items in their lives. These goods are often limited customized versions specially developed by the Haihan business and trade department in order to cater to this part of the high-consumption group, which is a rare thing that money cannot buy in the market, which also greatly satisfies the vanity of wealthy businessmen from the side, and also increases their motivation to show off and publicize to relatives and friends. The trend brought about by these middle- and upper-class people in society often causes more middle- and lower-class people to follow suit, which is very much in line with the policy formulated by the Executive Committee at the beginning, "let a group of people get rich first, and then let this group of people lead others to enter the Haihan social system together".