Chapter 5: Build roads first if you want to get rich
() Before the 11 defense replacement teams left the station, Liu Xiaofu made several requests to the assembled team members on the playground: First, if the stations left by the US military are too close to forests, cities, and villages, they should be used temporarily.
And immediately apply to the brigade headquarters to build a new garrison, and no improvisation is allowed; secondly, they are not allowed to get too close to the locals, let alone let the locals get too close to the garrison, and all transactions are conducted outside the camp; thirdly, for the introduction of the US military
Don't trust Shao's local contacts too much, you can have some contact, but all actions must be reported to the brigade headquarters via radio; fourth, report to the brigade headquarters twice a day on the surrounding situation; fifth, pay attention to food hygiene, and do not
They need to eat food provided by local people, and drinking water must be disinfected with disinfectant tablets; sixth, before receiving new orders from the brigade headquarters, no Taiwanese soldiers need to leave the station, let alone enter cities and villages near the station.
These requests of Liu Xiaofu were all specially given by Liu Fu before leaving. Regarding how to strengthen the local dominance, how to treat the locals and how to distinguish the rebels from the locals, Liu Fu will dispatch more professional internal affairs personnel.
Department personnel came to cooperate with the First Mountain Brigade. The only task at present is to arrange the station and stand firm. For all issues that can threaten the safety of the Mountain Brigade, Liu Fu has authorized Liu Xiaofu with one word: kill!
In the following week, 5 of the 11 stations were attacked by local armed forces at night. However, because the soldiers of the mountain brigade strictly abided by the brigade commander's requirements, these sneak attacks were basically stifled at the initial stage.
A total of more than 100 people were killed and wounded. Only one soldier from the mountain brigade was slightly injured and was still hiding.
While burying the opponent's body, they were shot dead by enemies lurking in the woods. Although the mountain brigade suffered few casualties, it consumed a lot of ammunition. However, except for less than half of the fleet that transported the mountain brigade this time, the rest were troop transports.
The ships are loaded with food, medicine, ammunition and equipment, as well as a lot of Taiwanese specialty construction machinery.
Since the shape of Mindanao is very irregular, more than half of the 11 stations set up based on US military stations are located near seaport cities, making it easier to use fleet supplies. Compared with Mindanao, which is full of mountains and tropical rainforests,
of
In the environment, land transportation is much more convenient, but there are still two stations in the interior. One is the Malaybalay station located in the middle of the island, and the other is the Isulan station located on the west side of the island. Neither can be supplied by the navy and can only be supplied by the navy.
The brigade headquarters dispatched convoys for regular supplies.
In view of the numerous mountainous areas and virgin forests on the entire Mindanao island and the inconvenient transportation, Liu Xiaofu's first major task when he came to the island was to recruit local laborers, who were recruited by the Taiwanese government.
fu will fund the construction of three highways that run through the entire island. The first highway is planned to run from Surigao City in the northeastern corner of the island to the south, passing through Butuan City, San Francisco City, and San Isidro.
city, Tagum City, to Davao City, with a total length of 300 kilometers, running through the east side of the island; the second highway is planned to start from Tagoloan City in the north-central part of the island and go all the way south
, passes through Malaybalay City, Valencia City, Quezon City, and reaches Davao City, with a total length of 150 kilometers, running through the middle of the island; the third highway is planned to start from Dipolog City in the northwest of the island, all the way to
In the southeast, it passes through Pagadian, Cotabato, Datu Piang, Mabeel, General Santos City, and reaches Davao City, with a total length of 350 kilometers, running through the western part of the island.
As long as these three roads that run through the entire island are open to traffic, the mechanized infantry of the Taiwan Army can use the roads to control a larger area, and can also help local people speed up the transportation of various goods, thereby helping the local economic development.
As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, build roads first!
Although the total length of the three kilometers is only 800 kilometers, this is not a plain. There are not only undulating mountains, but also vast forests and local guerrillas, so the difficulty of construction is not that difficult. There is no difficulty, there are
Difficulties have to be overcome. Since it is an order from the War Department, even if the corpses are piled up, they must be piled up in three ways.
The first thing to solve is the problem of building materials. The first is cement. Although Taiwan has begun to use asphalt as the main material for paving roads, due to transportation and traffic problems, the cost of transporting asphalt to Mindanao will be very high. Although the cost of cement is slightly higher
, but on the island, volcanic ash, the raw material for firing cement, is all over the ground, so if it is fired on site, the cost of cement will be very low. Coupled with the endless forests on the island, even coal is saved and can be directly used.
If there is less cement in the wood, the cost will be further reduced.
The second is the problem of labor force. In this era, in Mindanao, apart from the relatively concentrated residence in some cities, more than half of the population still lives scattered in many small villages. It is very inconvenient for the Taiwanese army to recruit labor. Moreover, there are many ethnic groups here and the languages are still unclear.
If it doesn't work, how to gather enough road construction personnel is a big problem.
Finally, there is the issue of safety. The construction of these three roads will definitely be opposed by locals or local armed forces. As long as they are not fools, the leaders of the armed forces here will definitely find that if the roads are built, their activity areas will be greatly compressed.
No matter how small it is, Taiwan's or the United States' military will rely on roads to speed up troop transportation and mobilization, which will be a devastating disaster for the local armed forces that mainly focus on guerrilla warfare.
None of the above three issues could be solved by Liu Xiaofu, so a telegram was sent from the mountain brigade headquarters in Mindanao to Taiwan.
After receiving Liu Xiaofu's report, Liu Fu and the staff gathered some road construction engineers and worked out a more suitable plan in a short period of time. They also dispatched a second batch of construction machinery and some Ministry of Internal Affairs agents.
personnel, set off again to support the mountain division with this plan.
This action plan, code-named "Stepping Stone", not only included solutions for building roads, but also added the content of bribery and infiltration of local armed forces. However, this part of the content was specifically implemented by agents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Mountain Division only
Responsible for the highway.
For the three main problems raised by Liu Xiaofu, the plan proposes solutions. The first is to establish three small cement plants locally, obtain raw materials and fuel from the local area, produce them, and transport them by trucks as the highway advances.
cement and fuel;
Second, there is the issue of personnel. There is also a huge debate in Taiwan on this issue. Some people advocate that Taiwan send engineering personnel to Mindanao to build roads. However, they are opposed by the military and the Ministry of Interior. They advocate using local personnel.
The prisoners are used to build roads. This is not only very low-cost, but also facilitates security protection. In fact, they just love to die and will not protect them at all. But it would not be the case if they were Taiwanese. With so many engineering personnel, it will definitely involve a lot of strength in the Mountain Division.
To protect.
Third, there is the issue of security. If the recommendations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the military are adopted, then the Mountain Division will have nothing to protect. It only needs to deploy a small number of troops to keep an eye on these prisoners and construction machinery. The local armed forces
If there is an attack, the main task of the mountain division is not to prevent the prisoners from being killed, but to capture more prisoners. This will be much easier, and using prisoners to work will put less pressure on logistical supplies, and the food will be purchased locally.
That’s fine, as long as you can probably eat enough.
After receiving the new order with the arrival of construction machinery and agents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Liu Xiaofu immediately began to prepare for the capture of prisoners. As for where to catch the prisoners, the personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already told him. He did not have to look for them by himself. As long as the highway
As soon as construction started, the armed men would automatically come to the door. As for where to find the first batch of prisoners, the agents of the Ministry of the Interior also chose a target for him, which was the Japanese who grew and processed Manila hemp on Mindanao.
Starting in 1900, many people from Japan came to Mindanao, bought land here, planted and processed Manila hemp, a cash crop. This Manila hemp is a specialty of the Philippines, especially in Mindanao, which looks like bananas.
Crops like trees are full of treasures, and their
The leaves and stems are rich in fiber. After textile processing, they are high-quality materials for fishing nets and ropes. Fishing nets or ropes woven with this fiber will not be soaked in sea water. Its fruits are rich in oil up to 30%.
, is an important industrial raw material; its flowers can be used as medicine to calm coughs, moisturize and relieve pain.
These Japanese plantations are mainly concentrated in the southern part of Mindanao, just close to Davao City. They have close contacts with local Muslim believers. It is said that many weapons of the armed forces were imported into the Philippines from Japan. However, the United States
People have nothing to hold on to, and nothing can be done to them.
