What happened on Taiping Island immediately caused an uproar.
The Japanese on Taiping Island were organized by businessmen and were not government actions. Taiping Island has never been Japanese territory. The Japanese mining of the phosphate ore on it is tantamount to illegal mining.
Now that they have risen to a high moral level, the Japanese have no confidence to make trouble.
But because it was Lanfang people who came out to defend their rights, the Japanese had something to say.
Yes, the ownership of Taiping Island does not belong to Japan, but it does not belong to Lanfang. Taiping Island belongs to the Republic of China. Since the Republic of China government has not made a sound, why should the Lanfang government expel Japanese businessmen?
The Lanfang government produced a certificate, which clearly stated that the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China entrusted the management of the South China Sea Islands to Lanfang.
Suddenly there was an uproar in the public opinion, especially in the southern military government. A group of people jumped up and down, expressing their disapproval of the letter of appointment, and at the same time reiterated their determination to attack the Beiyang government and unify the Republic of China.
This time, the direction of public opinion is different from a few months ago.
Only half a year after the publication of the Daily News, it has indeed achieved remarkable results. The most obvious aspect is the public’s recognition of Lanfang in the Republic of China.
Especially in recent times, articles overturning the verdict of the Foreign Legion have frequently appeared in newspapers. Articles reflecting on the truth of the previous movement have also begun to appear. Many people have begun to rethink whether signing the Treaty of Verdun is helpless patriotism or patriotic. Complete traitor.
Of course, this kind of reflection is limited to the areas controlled by the Beiyang government. In the areas controlled by the southern military government, anti-Lanfang and anti-Foreign Legion voices are still the mainstream.
Therefore, although the southern military government has not yet attacked the Beiyang government, the media circles are already holding their own opinions and are at war with each other.
The media in the areas controlled by the southern military government clung to the fact that the Beiyang government had lost power and humiliated the country, and expressed opposition to the Beiyang government's blatant betrayal of the country's territory. Lanfang has now established its own country, and the Beiyang government has transferred the management of the South China Sea Islands to Lanfang. It is a betrayal of national sovereignty.
The media in the areas controlled by the Beiyang government, which is dominated by daily news, openly ridiculed that KMT's behavior in not allowing Lan Fang to set foot in the South China Sea was to prefer foreigners to domestic slaves. Although Lan Fang established his own country, he still had the same roots as the Republic of China. , a narrow strip of water, kmt knew that the Republic of China government was unable to safeguard the sovereignty of the South China Sea, and would rather let the Japanese steal the resources on the islands than let Lan Fang defend their rights. How slavish.
Well, since the fall of the Qing Empire, the word servility has become extremely lethal, so the southern military government seems to be at a disadvantage in this debate.
However, the reason why shameless people are shameless is because their moral standards have seriously deviated. They do not think their behavior is shameless at all, but take it for granted.
Lanfang had no interest in fighting a lawsuit with the southern military government. Starting from Taiping Island, Lanfang's warships were like seeders and began to frequently shuttle to the Beihai Islands, sending groups of Marine Corps soldiers to the Beihai Islands. , acted as an island defense force and began the actual occupation of the North Sea.
In fact, they did not send many people. Even on the largest Lin Island, the famous Yongxing Island, Lanfang only sent one platoon to establish a wireless telegraph station on it to communicate with Lanfang domestically. As for the smaller islands such as Xiyue Island and Nanwei Island, Lanfang only sent less than one squad, which was only a symbolic island defense force.
Even though there are just such a few people, they are enough to demonstrate their sovereignty.
The current Beihai is surrounded by only five countries: Lanfang, the Republic of China, French Indochina, the United States, the Philippines, and British Malaya.
France and Lanfang were allies, and the Republic of China was unable to intervene. The Americans and British wanted to reach out but had no legal basis, so they could only express their concerns angrily.
As a country outside the region, Japan has shown extraordinary enthusiasm for the South China Sea. It is said that in Japan, so-called experts have begun to search for relevant documents and want to find evidence that Japan and the North Sea are also related.
Well, this is doomed to be in vain. The Japanese have nothing to do with the North Sea. Historically, Japanese men went to sea to be pirates on the Yellow Sea, while Japanese women went to sea to find Chinese for breeding. The Yellow Sea alone is enough.
To meet the needs of the Japanese, the Japanese have never reached as far as the North Sea.
In fact, until there was no proof of oil and gas resources in the North Sea, there had never been any issues regarding the dispute over the ownership of the North Sea. Countries in the relevant sea areas may feel disdainful of Lan Fang's massive discharge of island-defending troops, but they did not feel the pain.
This time and space is different from another time and space. There is no oil production equipment in the North Sea now, and the relevant countries have not conducted resource exploration in the North Sea. Therefore, except Qin Zhiyuan, no one knows what is on the bottom of the North Sea.
Of course, unless Lanfang carries out large-scale development of the North Sea, no one will know the secrets of the North Sea, because now these islands including the nearby waters belong to Lanfang, and other countries except Lanfang are not qualified to operate in these places.
Carry out exploration work.
Occupying these islands has other special effects, especially larger islands like Lindao and Taiping Island. Airports can actually be built on them. This is equivalent to unsinkable aircraft carriers that can control Lanfang's national borders.
The line advanced directly to the north for more than 1,000 kilometers. Wanghai Prefecture, the largest area in Lanfang, actually became an inland island, which greatly reduced the defensive pressure.
While controlling the islands in the South China Sea, Qin Zhiyuan did not give up his campaign on French Indochina.
In early July, Qin Zhiyuan went to Saigon and signed a contract with Bastian regarding the lease of Cam Ranh Bay.
Cam Ranh Bay is located in the southeast of Annan. The bay is 17 kilometers inland. It is formed by two peninsulas into two gourd-shaped inner and outer bays. The inner harbor of Cam Ranh covers an area of 60 square kilometers. The mouth of the bay is only 1,300 meters wide. The outer harbor is flat and the water depth is
1022 meters, the bay mouth is about 4000 meters wide, and the water depth outside the mouth is more than 30 meters.
Cam Ranh Bay is deep enough to berth battleships and aircraft carriers, and can be said to be one of the best deep-water ports in the world.
At the same time, the location of Cam Ranh Bay is of extremely important strategic value on the important waterway connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Of course, the French are not unaware of the value of Cam Ranh Bay, but for the French, Cam Ranh Bay does not have much development value, because the home port of the French Far East Fleet is not Cam Ranh Bay, but Guangzhou Bay in the Republic of China.
, which is the future Zhanjiang City.
Compared to the French, the Republic of China, which had not yet become a colony, obviously had greater strategic value.
In Qin Zhiyuan's eyes, Cam Ranh Bay, which has good hydrological conditions, is the cradle of Lanfang Navy.
Therefore, Qin Zhiyuan and Bastian hit it off when it came to leasing Cam Ranh Bay.
After the agreement is signed, Lanfang will lease Cam Ranh Bay for 99 years at a price of 1 million francs per year. After the expiration, if Lanfang is willing to continue the lease, the agreement will be automatically extended.
In other words, Lanfang obtained the permanent use rights of Cam Ranh Bay at a price of 1 million francs per year.
Of course, this agreement is not limited to Cam Ranh Bay, but also covers approximately 100 square kilometers of land near Cam Ranh Bay. The French colonial government will be responsible for the relocation of the Annan people in the concession.
Concession, Lanfang actually has his first overseas concession, which makes Lanfang look more and more like a member of the great powers, although this great power does not seem to be so well-deserved.
After leasing Cam Ranh Bay, Qin Zhiyuan immediately recruited workers in Annam and Siam. The first batch of workers was 100,000, and he immediately began to officially develop Cam Ranh Bay.
100,000 people, this is really a big deal, but Bastian is obviously not interested in it.
If you want workers, you don’t need to go to Siam. Annan can satisfy you. Even if you want to find 1 million workers, it’s no problem. If you feel that your influence is not enough, there are still Khmers and Laos, so why bother to go?
Go to Siam to recruit workers. Bastian goes straight there.
The relationship between Bastian and Qin Zhiyuan is also very good. They are both colleagues and partners, so Bastian does not know anything about Qin Zhiyuan.
Siam will be Thailand in the future, Khmer will be Cambodia, and Laos will be Laos. In current Southeast Asia, Khmer and Laos Annan form French Indochina, and Myanmar a little further west is a province of British India. Siam
Luo was sandwiched between British India and French Indochina, becoming a buffer zone between the two places.
It is precisely because of the compromise between the French and the British that Siam has become independent to this day. Otherwise, it would be a fool's errand for the King of Siam to secure his throne.
The current total population of French Indochina is about 15 million. Although it is a bit difficult to find 1 million workers, it is not impossible.
Can I eat rice from Siam? Qin Zhiyuan was half joking and half serious.
When he said this, Qin Zhiyuan and Bastian were in the French Indochina Governor's Palace in Hanoi. Bastian did not mean to treat Qin Zhiyuan as an outsider, because maybe in the near future, Qin Zhiyuan will also
He is the owner here.
Siam is the granary of Southeast Asia, and its rice production is astonishing. Qin Zhiyuan's statement that he wanted to eat Siam's rice was of course a joke, but Bastian took it seriously.
You should not engage in trivial matters. Siam's current status is quite special, and the French government does not want to change the status quo. Bastien has a certain degree of political acumen. Based on his understanding of Qin Zhiyuan, he can vaguely sense that Qin Zhiyuan has bad intentions.
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The current colonial system was established by the French and the British. Although Bastian and Qin Zhiyuan have a good relationship, there is no negotiation at all on the issue of national interests. Bastian clearly understands this.
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You are overthinking. I have no intention of changing the status quo. Siam is Siam and will not become a colony of Lanfang. We Chinese do not have that habit. Qin Zhiyuan denied it flatly.
Well, Qin Zhiyuan didn't finish what he said. The Chinese really don't like colonies, because as long as the land that the Chinese like, it will become their own inherent territory. There has never been such a thing as a colony.
