Han Zhengshan didn't dare to show his thoughts to others, although everyone here wanted to leave as soon as possible, there were probably few people who had the courage to plan a prison escape. Moreover, the camp is full of prisoners with shorter sentences, and if they fail, they will become indefinite, and they really don't need to take this risk.

And according to the rules here, if you report and expose the misdeeds of others, once it is verified, you will be rewarded with points, Han Zhengshan can't believe that these people's character can be noble enough not to sell themselves for points. A guy like Zhao Sanbiao, who has a big mouth and doesn't take anything seriously, but has an extremely meticulous mind, as long as he senses that he has the intention of escaping from prison, I'm afraid he will report to the guards as soon as possible.

At night, Han Zhengshan, who had a sore back and back, was lying on the hard wooden bed, but he was thinking in his heart that the other two people who were also arrested in Zhoushan were probably also assigned to other hard labor camps to knock stones, and there may not be a chance to meet again in the future. Han Zhengshan actually still has some questions in his heart, such as whether Cui'e found her help for ransom, or for her other concubine Gu Hui? And Gu Hui had some evidence that was unfavorable to the Haihan people at the beginning, and he was able to provoke Haihan to tie up all the relevant people back to Zhoushan and imprison them. The Haihan people were obviously very jealous of the information that their own people knew, but why did they just imprison and not adopt a more thorough solution? Unfortunately, many speculations could only be buried in his heart, and he knew that he would not have the opportunity to explore the truth again.

After spending a few days in the hard labor camp, Han Zhengshan also slowly learned about the composition of the people here. For example, the number one he is on is all imprisoned by pirates who used to operate in the Zhoushan Islands area. Most people are pirates when they take up arms, and fishermen when they lay down their arms, so it has always been difficult for the government to completely eradicate piracy in this area. The Haihan people's approach is simple and rude, all the pirates caught are sentenced to heavy sentences first, and then let these pirates identify each other in exchange for the opportunity to reduce their sentences, so anyone who joins the pirate organization, basically no one can escape from Haihan's repeated investigations.

However, characters like Zhao Sanbiao, who were originally minions in the pirate organization, were basically sentenced to relatively light sentences, and the general sentence would not exceed three years. Only those who are at the level of leaders and chieftains will be sentenced to heavy sentences or even directly executed. Moreover, according to Zhao Sanbiao and others, there are still many Ming prisoners in other camps, but the accent does not seem to be from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but from the northern region.

On the thirteenth day of Han Zhengshan's entry into the hard labor camp, everyone except him was taken away by the guards after finishing work, leaving him alone in the cell. Han Zhengshan vaguely felt that something would happen, but he couldn't figure out why the Haihan people wanted to leave him alone.

But an hour later, Zhao Sanbiao and the others came back, but everyone's faces were a little strange. Han Zhengshan took the initiative to ask, "The guards will take you away, but what are the special arrangements?"

Zhao Sanbiao sighed and said, "Brother Han, we are about to leave here, take care of ourselves in the future!"

Han Zhengshan said curiously: "Why is this? Could it be that the Haihan people are so kind that they want to release you ahead of schedule?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "Yes yes, yes yes no yes, alas...... It's hard to put into words!"

When Han Zhengshan heard that he had a chance to regain his freedom, his curiosity naturally increased, and he hurriedly asked, "What is the matter, can you tell me?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "Just now the guards called us out and told us that there was a chance to leave the camp in advance, on the condition that we accept the unified arrangement of Haihan and go to the south to take root and settle down. ”

Han Zhengshan said: "Go to the south? Is it Fujian or Liangguang? As long as you don't leave Daming, it's not a difficult thing, why are you all so ugly?"

Zhao Sanbiao smiled bitterly: "If you really go to Lingnan, why do you have to come back with a sad face...... The place where the Haihan people want to go is much farther than the land of Lingnan!"

Han Zhengshan thought for a while and said: "Could it be Qiongzhou Island occupied by the Haihan? I heard that the local area has been renovated by the Haihan people, and Sanya, the capital of the Haihan Kingdom, is known as the first port in the South China Sea, and it is completely no longer known as the poor mountains and bad waters at the end of the world, and it is not necessarily a bad thing to go there." ”

"Sanya in Qiongzhou is naturally good, those guards describe Sanya as a paradise when they talk about it, but where is the turn of people like us for such a good thing?" Zhao Sanbiao shook his head and denied Han Zhengshan's speculation: "The place that Haihan arranged to go to is much farther away than Qiongzhou Island, and it is said to be on the coast of the Champa State, two thousand miles south of Sanya, a place called Vung Tau Port. ”

"I've never heard of the name of Vung Tau Port. With Han Zhengshan's knowledge, he had only heard of the existence of the Champa State, and as for the more specific places, he didn't know anything at all, so he could only guess and ask: "Then this place should be far away from Zhoushan, right?"

"More than five thousand miles. Zhao Sanbiao's face was really not good-looking: "It is said that the direct flight from Zhoushan to the local area does not stop, and it will take more than half a month to arrive." ”

What places can be reached by sailing all the way south for more than half a month, Han Zhengshan doesn't know and can't imagine, in short, it is far away from the Ming Dynasty, maybe only when the Three Treasure Eunuchs went to Nanyang, they went to those places. The fact that the Haihan people have territories so far away shows that their sphere of influence is really quite large. Of course, based on the usual methods of the Haihan, it is speculated that the local area is probably similar to Zhoushan Island, but a small Nanyang country such as Zhancheng must be much easier to start than the Ming Dynasty, and it is estimated that the land occupied by the Haihan will not even have the idea of resisting.

was arranged to go to such a far place in exchange for the freedom they dreamed of, so it is no wonder that the faces of Zhao Sanbiao and others are so strange. Whether to stay on Zhoushan Island to serve their sentence, or to leave their homeland and go to the coast of the South China Sea thousands of miles away to become a free man is really a dilemma for them. After all, if you settle in such a distant place, you may not be able to return to your hometown for the rest of your life.

Han Zhengshan suddenly thought of something, so he asked again: "Since we were all assigned to the south, why did you just exclude me?"

Zhao Sanbiao said: "I have already asked about this, and the above said that you are new to the country and do not have the conditions for redistribution, so you are not included in the list of people who arranged to go to the south this time." It's not necessarily a bad thing for you, and you shouldn't worry too much about it. ”

Han Zhengshan said in his heart that even if I was arranged, I might not be willing to go to such a remote place, and asked casually at the moment: "How can I maintain my livelihood if I arrange you to go to such a far place?"

Zhao Sanbiao shook his head and said: "That's not it, as I said, when I go to the local area, I will divide 30 acres of cultivated land according to the labor population, and I will be exempted from all taxes for the first three years. If you don't want to farm, Haihan will also arrange other things to do, in short, if you have work to do, you won't starve to death. ”

Han Zhengshan said in his heart that these conditions are quite generous, thirty acres of arable land to grow vegetables and grains is enough to feed a family, and there is no need for immigrants to invest themselves in the early stage, even if they are not prisoners, some poor people who can't survive in the local area will probably try to join them and go to the south to fight for a way to survive. I heard earlier that Haihan was recruiting immigrants in Zhejiang, and it seems that there are some doorways. It's just that in this way, these cellmates who live with me will probably have to be replaced, and they will have to adapt to the environment again.

However, Zhao Sanbiao's next words immediately regained his attention: "I heard that the prisoners of the Niujiaowan Hardship Camp will have the opportunity to shorten their sentences in the future, and they will be given priority to be placed overseas." ”

This news is a mixed blessing for Han Zhengshan, the good news is that he seems to see the opportunity to regain his freedom in advance, and the worry is that maybe the place where freedom is realized will be far away from Daming, and there may no longer be a chance to return to his hometown in the future.

The orders from above came and were carried out quickly, and early the next morning, the guards asked everyone to pack their bags and prepare to set off - except for Han Zhengshan, of course. And maybe it is about to embark on a long journey at sea, and the breakfast on this day is also relatively rich, in addition to the daily brown rice porridge and kimchi, there are also white flour steamed buns and salted fish, which is also a rare treatment. Although Han Zhengshan was not on the list of departures, he also enjoyed special treatment.

Before leaving, Zhao Sanbiao called Han Zhengshan aside and told him a few honest words: "If you want to get out of here alive, don't make trouble in the camp, especially if you want to escape from prison, don't try!"

Han Zhengshan said with a strong smile: "I don't have this thought in the future. ”

"You don't have to pretend, there have been several nights when I woke up in the middle of the night, and I saw you standing in front of the window and fumbling around the door, and you don't need to ask to know that you are looking at how to remove the window lattice and door lock, right?" Zhao Sanbiao also smiled and said: "If someone reported you, you would have been dragged out to soak in the sea water until it swelled." Don't be in a hurry, maybe after a while, you'll be out of here like we did, and it's not worth the risk. I don't say it, but it's not necessarily when others see it. ”

Han Zhengshan was secretly surprised in his heart, but he didn't expect that the action he thought was hidden had been noticed by Zhao Sanbiao. The other party did not report him quietly, which can be regarded as very kind. At the moment, he hugged his fists and said: "I owe Brother Biao this love first, there is a meeting in the mountains and rivers, and he will see you outside in the future, and there will be a return!"

After Zhao Sanbiao and the others had breakfast, they packed their luggage and set off. And the number of people who are knocking stones on the construction site today has obviously decreased a lot, not even half of the usual, and it seems that this batch of prisoners who have been sent to the south is really quite a lot. Han Zhengshan knocked on the stones, and suddenly felt a sense of loneliness. He wasn't meant to be sentimental, but the encounters of these days were constantly taking a toll on his willpower, and after spending a long time in prison, his mind inevitably began to become fragile.

When Han Zhengshan was knocking stones in the hard labor camp, Wang Tom and Shi Diwen were studying the official telegram sent by Sanya. Since the National Day in April last year, nearly half of the mobile forces of the Haihan army and navy have been concentrated in Zhejiang and Shandong, and the resulting resource tilt has inevitably brought the development and construction process of the South China Sea region to a halt. Now that winter has entered the north, and Haihan's military operations in Shandong and Zhejiang have all come to an end, the Executive Committee hopes to return its focus to the south and continue to consolidate and strengthen Haihan's control over the South China Sea.

At present, Haihan in the South China Sea mainly consists of several ports on the east coast of the Indochina Peninsula, plus the Ambuna Islands located at the junction of the Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo Sea, the Sing Dao at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, and the Bangka-Belitung Island between Sumatra and Borneo.

The ports in the Indochina Peninsula are dependent on the mainland, so the development and construction are slightly less difficult, while the islands in the South China Sea are far from the Sanya base camp, so the transportation of materials and personnel is extremely inconvenient, and the development process is much slower. In addition, last year, Haihan concentrated most of its maritime capacity in the north and promoted the implementation of the northbound plan, and the resources available to the South China Sea are relatively small. Now the Executive Committee has decided to adjust the allocation of resources, and the first task is to transport more Han Chinese to various bases in the South China Sea, strengthen the control of the Han people over the local area, and at the same time, the additional labor force will effectively speed up the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as ports, roads, residential areas, and plantations.

At present, the number of immigrants in the surrounding areas of Hainan Island is gradually stabilizing, and there will be no large wave of cheap immigrants pouring into Haihan as in previous years, but more purposefully introducing some skilled immigrants with special skills, such as craftsmen in various industries, open-minded literati, businessmen who have deep cooperation with Haihan, and so on.

In the south, slaves trafficked from South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and even North Africa were mainly placed to work on plantations in various parts of the South China Sea, and in the north were mainly war refugees from the Central Plains, North China, and Liaodong, who were basically Han Chinese, and there was not much difference in language, culture, and living habits from the Haihan, and the speed of readaptation was much faster than that of those foreign slaves, and they were also one of the immigrants that the Executive Committee was most willing to accept.

However, with the arrival of winter, the northern route came to a standstill for the time being, and the source of immigration from Haihan was greatly affected, so the Executive Committee asked all the colonies in southern Daming, including Zhejiang, to increase the expropriation of immigrants to fill the labor gap in the development of the South China Sea colonies as much as possible. Of course, this task is not so easy to complete, after all, the labor gap of Haihan in the South China Sea region is not a small number, and a few thousand people are not too much to fill in any stronghold. Under such circumstances, the hard labor camps used to hold prisoners of war and prisoners in various places have naturally become the focus of the relevant authorities.

(End of chapter)