Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 136 A Perfect Plan, Seeking an Expeditionary Force

From a domestic perspective, finding ways to solve the population problem is actually not surprising to others.

Although Zheng Yi did not mention the population issue himself, others had already thought about it. Penang's population of more than three million is simply not enough to support such a large-scale industrial construction in Penang, especially when the majority of the population must be maintained by the Chinese.

In fact, there are not many Malays in the Malay Peninsula, only about four or five million at most. Even if the restrictions on Malay identity and naturalization are relaxed, it will be difficult to solve the fundamental problem.

On the contrary, although the city of Penang is small, it can definitely accommodate at least a few million more people.

However, Xu Shengli couldn't help but say: "Although Tangshan is a big country, the people of Guangdong and Guangxi are the mainstream population among our Nanyang Chinese, so it is indeed easy for them to adapt.

But how do we do this cooperation? Is it human trafficking?"

"Human trafficking has been carried out by gangs in China for many years. Even the shameless Nanjing authorities have never done this openly. I'm afraid Generals Li and Chen are unlikely to agree to this."

As for Nanyang, there are naturally special circumstances. People don't have much qualms about spending money to buy people, but they are worried about whether those who sell people there can feel guilty about it.

Tangshan's human resource pool is almost unlimited, which is a truth that everyone understands, but the transportation capacity itself is limited. A ship ticket, even for a standard cabin, costs at least dozens of yuan, but sitting in a standard cabin can really kill you.

If you take a cabin ticket, it will cost at least 200 yuan, which means yuan for a round trip.

People without money cannot afford the 200 yuan boat ticket, and rich people have no need to go to Southeast Asia.

Zheng Yi has done a great job in Penang in recent years, but for ordinary people in the country, only the elite know that Penang is indeed good.

For ordinary people, they still believe that going to Southeast Asia is a deadly endeavor, and no one would go unless they really couldn't survive.

You tell them that Penang is great, the wages are high, and they can come back and become landlords after working there for a few years?

Who are you trying to fool? You can't even brag. You used to say there was a gold mountain in Southeast Asia.

In fact, the first group of people who went to Southeast Asia were really fooled by the saying that there was a gold mine in Southeast Asia, so they became pigs. The saying that there was a gold mine has been around for more than a hundred years.
Now Zheng Yi has really created a gold mine in Southeast Asia and needs people to dig it out, but the people in the country no longer believe it.

After all, Penang’s rise lasted only a little over three years, and such a short period of time was not enough for the people in the country to understand the actual situation in Southeast Asia.

So when Zheng Yi mentioned recruiting workers and cooperating with two generals, everyone's first reaction was to buy piglets.

Everyone is indeed not opposed to buying piglets.

The question is whether they can sell it.

Zheng Yi: "I was just about to discuss this with you. There are quite a few misunderstandings in China about our situation in Nanyang. On the other hand, land in Penang is indeed a bit tight."

"Penang Island has a total area of ​​293 square kilometres, roughly the size of three Macaus. A large amount of this area is used for factories and docks. Even though the newly built welfare housing has ten floors, it's still crowded. There's no doubt about that."

"Penang's current registered population is 3.62 million. I've thought that this total population is relatively appropriate for the size of Penang, especially for social housing. If the population increases significantly, I don't know how long it will take to build the houses alone."

"Instead of this, why don't we give up simply importing people and discard the old mindset of buying and selling piglets, and instead adopt a leasing model? What do you think?"

"rent?"

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "We can do this through talent leasing, or outsourcing. I suggest renting soldiers directly."

"Rent... soldiers?"

"Yes, the soldiers' missions don't all involve going to the battlefield, right? There's also a type of troop called engineers, right?
Can we be called working soldiers? What does it matter? For the Guangxi and Guangdong cliques, it is difficult to raise military equipment and military pay. "

"On the contrary, the source of soldiers is relatively simple. They fight against the Japanese, we give them money, and they use our money to expand their army, buy weapons, and pay their salaries. After the expansion, they send this part to us to earn military salaries."

"One year, two years, or three years are all acceptable. If we agree on a deal, we will not only pay them, but we will also equip them with equipment before they return from their work in Southeast Asia."
Even in Nanyang, you can work in a factory while doing military training, just take turns."

Qian Qiwen: "And...still need military training? Will this delay production?"

Zheng Yi: "Not only them, but all the old workers in Penang, except the Japanese, need military training. Once a week is enough. Let them come. We can also ask them for more officers and train the rest of the people in Penang as well."

"Everyone, military training?"

"Then, why don't the Japanese train?"

Zheng Yi: "Nonsense! Even if the Japanese are willing to train me, I have to dare to use them. Letting them work in a factory is fine, but who would dare to let them fire weapons?"

Seeing that no one understood, Zheng Yi reiterated, "Everyone, I repeat to you once again that the Japanese attacking Penang is not just my unfounded worry. Moreover, we cannot rely on the British and Americans."

"Relying on others is not as good as relying on yourself, so I have decided to implement a half-work, half-military system throughout Penang, including factories and chambers of commerce. Every school and factory will have to conduct regular military training." "So for the new town, I suggest using soldiers from home as a replacement for now. This has three advantages."

"First, we now have trade with the two generals, so supporting them is more legitimate. Moreover, they are soldiers, self-organized, disciplined, and easy to manage.
If this method works well in the future, we and other generals can also adopt this operating mode. If the young marshal hadn't been transferred to the west and no longer on the coast, I would have wanted to use this trick on the Northeast Army a long time ago."

"Based on the actual situation in Penang, I think it is not a problem for us to employ a workforce of about two million people. We can also afford the military salaries.
The conscription of around two million soldiers shouldn't be a big deal for the generals from the country, so it's just right to use Generals Chen and Li as an example."

"Secondly, for the generals, I pay for the soldiers' salaries, their weapons, their training, and even give them an extra labor fee. They just need to recruit them. Isn't it difficult to pay and recruit soldiers in this country these days? Isn't this just a matter of everyone getting what they need?"

"And this has another advantage, which is that it saves space. Soldiers can just live in dormitories. One dormitory can accommodate eight people, all men.

They can wash, eat, and sleep together. One dormitory building can easily accommodate two to three thousand people, and there's no need to allocate welfare housing to them."

"The third is to share what we have with each other. Through this method, they will have more soldiers under their command. After they come to Southeast Asia to work for a few years, I will really equip them with guns and weapons when they return. When they return, they will really be able to fight the Japanese."

“If the Japanese were defeated one day, or if these people returned home unwilling to fight, they would be skilled workers after working in Penang for two or three years. They would also become talents for economic development.”

"Penang will be an excellent training school for exporting skilled workers to the domestic market. If we want to invest and set up factories in the country, we will not have to worry about a lack of skilled workers."

"This method not only helps us gain workers and labor, but also greatly improves the military quality of our Penangites. It's nothing more than spending a little more money. Penang's situation is special after all. I'm short of everything right now, but I don't lack money!"

"As for the problem of insufficient transport capacity, and I know that the people in China still have misunderstandings about our Nanyang, I mean, we can directly borrow and lease British and American warships.

Wouldn't it be perfect to have them help us use the navy to transport the army and package our plan into an international project?"

"Do you think this is a good idea?"

This wild imagination made the CPUs of everyone present burn out.

From the perspective of solving Penang’s labor shortage, apart from being too expensive and troublesome, there seems to be nothing wrong with it in other aspects.

As for the fact that this is too expensive, just think of it as supporting the war of resistance. It actually makes me feel much more comfortable when I think of it that way.

Of course, Zheng Yi also has some little thoughts.

If we start asking the two generals for the person now, assuming it takes three years, including the time for travel and various delays, we should be able to return by the end of 39 or the beginning of 40.

It happened to be the most intense and difficult period on the front line of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. At that time, the Japanese oil reserves were almost exhausted and they were about to take action in Southeast Asia.

One year of training on the domestic battlefield is 41 years.

In 1941, China was about to send an expeditionary force to Southeast Asia.

Why not send those who have actually been to Southeast Asia?

These soldiers will return to their country to fight for a year and accumulate some combat experience. After a year, those who are still alive will definitely be veterans.

Isn't this just accepting his command?
Yes, Zheng Yi actually decided to seize the command of the expeditionary force when the time comes. Anyway, the expeditionary force is mainly to cooperate with Britain and the United States in the war.

Zheng Yi has reputation in both Britain and the United States, and he is confident that he still has a say in Southeast Asia.

These people have worked in Penang before, so they definitely have no objections to being under my command. I just need to find a way to deal with their superiors.

After the Japanese surrender, the bald man asked them to go back to fight the civil war?
Fuck you.

He just used these soldiers to seize territory.

If he remembered correctly, Japan surrendered in August.

The British troops only returned to Southeast Asia in October and November.

The remaining three-month window period is just right for him to use these people to help him grab land.

Perfect plan.

Of course, the cost is indeed high, and it can almost be regarded as being rich and willful.

Moreover, the idea of ​​borrowing warships from Britain and the United States is really a wild idea, but it is also a good opportunity to demonstrate one's own power.

Let Nanjing be more polite to us.

(End of this chapter)