Chapter 220: The Little Crossroads Plan (Part 1)

The so-called Gaoshanling is actually a ridge of the Piye Mountains to the west of Lingao County town. The Piye Mountains have six main peaks, standing tall over the northern plains of Lingao. The six ridges of the Piye Mountains command a view of the Beibu Gulf to the northwest, forming a natural barrier. To the southeast, they offer a commanding view of the villages and fields for dozens of li around. It is a crucial strategic location in Lingao. On the Xixing Ridge of the Piye Mountains, a coastal defense battery was established during the Qing dynasty, its cannons controlling the sea areas around Lingao Cape, Xinying Port, and Paipu Port in Dan County. In 1950, the Kuomintang defenders also set up artillery positions on Xixing Ridge as a key point of Lingao’s coastal defense.

After the liberation of Hainan Island, the People’s Liberation Army also stationed artillery units in the Piye Mountains, with their base on Mopan Ridge, one of the six ridges.

“The distance from Lingao County town to Gaoshanling—that is, the Piye mountain area—is only 3-4 kilometers by modern road. It’s still relatively close to our main base. After eliminating the Gou estate, we established Damei Village, which has a very good mass base. If we upgrade Damei Village to Damei Commune, we can move some immigrants there to strengthen our forces in the area. Stationing an infantry company there would make it quite secure. This way, we would form a barrier to the west. No enemy would be able to launch a direct attack on Bairen City,” said He Ming, the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs, assessing the benefits of establishing a branch stronghold in the Piye mountain area at an Executive Committee meeting.

“But wouldn’t that result in too many strongholds and a dispersal of our forces?” Wen Desi expressed his concern. The size of the army hadn’t increased much, but the number of places to defend seemed to be growing. Nanbao and Ma’niao were currently relying on their militias for self-defense. These militias were adequate for dealing with bandits, but they would probably scatter immediately if they encountered the Ming army.

“No, it won’t,” He Ming said, pointing to the large-scale map of Lingao hanging on the wall. This map was unique in its accuracy for this era, having been re-surveyed and corrected based on modern map data.

“Defense doesn’t mean clustering troops in one place is the best defense,” He Ming explained. “Effective defense requires controlling the key points on the periphery.”

Controlling the Piye mountain area would establish a defensive line for Bairen City to the northwest. Not only would it block the Ming army’s attack route from Danzhou, but setting up an artillery battery on Xixing Ridge would also strengthen the defense of Bopu Port.

“Our current formation is a long snake,” He Ming’s pointer slid along the Wenlan River. “From Bopu to Nanbao, it’s a straight line. If we were attacked from the side and our communication lines were cut, our entire strategic situation would become very passive…”

“Well, I don’t think any army in this era is capable of cutting our communication lines…”

“I think it’s still possible. Let’s not be too complacent,” He Ming said, being more cautious and prudent. “Has anyone here truly witnessed the combat capabilities of the armies of this era?”

Apart from fighting pirates, bandits, and local braves, the “New Army” trained by the Crossing Group had not yet truly faced the Ming army, the Eight Banners, or the “roving bandits.” The invincibility of the Minié rifle and line-infantry tactics had not yet been truly tested.

“If just a few dozen cavalrymen were to charge onto our highway, kill one person, and hijack an ox-cart, our transportation would be effectively cut off. We would have to provide escorts for every transport convoy.”

Everyone was well aware of the consequences if such a situation were to arise. First, the supply of raw materials would be interrupted. The newly established industrial city of Bairen relied on a continuous supply of industrial raw materials from Bopu and Nanbao to maintain production. Second, the farms developed along the Wenlan River would be severely damaged. Crops, unlike factories, could not be defended with cannons and walls.

“We are now defending a ‘surface,’ not just a ‘point’ as before. We need to change our thinking in a timely manner. To control all of Lingao, it’s not enough to just occupy the Wenlan River basin,” He Ming said.

To defend the surface, they had to gradually control the strategic points on the periphery, using points to control the surface. Turning the Piye mountain area into a base was one such step.

He Ming’s explanation silenced the previous doubts. Ma Qianzhu struck while the iron was hot and presented a report on the next phase of development for Lingao, the so-called “Little Crossroads Plan.”

In the history of Hainan Island’s development, since the Song dynasty, there had been proposals to open up a “Great Crossroads” across the island. The so-called Great Crossroads involved creating two main roads, one north-south and one east-west, on the basis of the post roads that circled the island. This would not only greatly shorten land journeys but also strengthen the government’s control and development of the island’s interior.

However, this idea had never been realized from the Song, Yuan, Ming, to the Qing dynasties. Yuan dynasty troops had once reached the foot of the Wuzhi Mountains and erected a stele to mark their presence, but they eventually retreated to the coastal areas. During the Ming dynasty, the road was extended to the foot of the Limu Mountains in the island’s interior, where the Shuihui chiliarch fort was established, but that was as far as it went.

The Crossing Group’s subsequent plans for Hainan Island included a new version of the “Great Crossroads” plan. What the Executive Committee was currently working on was the “Little Crossroads Plan” for Lingao. The central idea was also to strengthen their actual control over the entire county by building a crossroads.

With good roads, the flow of goods and people, the implementation of government decrees, and the movement of troops would all become very convenient. The powerful control that modern states have over their grassroots and populace is built on the foundation of good roads and communication networks.

The Little Crossroads Plan not only involved control over the entire county but also related to the Crossing Group’s planning for Lingao’s political, economic, and industrial layout. It was a key project in the first five-year plan, second in scale only to the comprehensive management of the Wenlan River basin.

The Little Crossroads Plan already had a certain foundation. The north-south road traversing Lingao had been opened, extending from Bopu all the way to Nanbao. The three bases of Bopu, Bairen, and Nanbao had grown from points to a line, and then to a surface, not only dividing the entire Lingao County in two but also controlling the most suitable land for development on both banks of the Wenlan River, including the county town itself. They had also effectively taken control of Lingao County town. This north-south main road not only passed directly in front of the Wenshui Bridge outside the East Gate, but the Crossing Group had also used the opportunity of the Tiandihui leasing the school lands to build a branch road to the West Gate. Shan Daoqian’s next step was to build a ring road for the county town—although this ring road was only a few hundred meters long, it would bring the surrounding villages and land completely under their control.

The Crossing Group had previously set up a watchtower by the Wenshui Bridge to monitor the county town, directly observing the East Gate. Now, with the establishment of the school land estate outside the West Gate, they had indirectly taken control of the West Gate as well. For a small city like Lingao, with the East and West Gates controlled, the South Gate completely within their line of sight, and no North Gate to speak of, the entire county was laid bare before them.

Wu De planned to use the watchtower outside the East Gate as a core, settling dozens of immigrant households to form a new fortified settlement. This would serve to both monitor the county town and protect this central point of the crossroads—Lingao County town, with its geographical advantages, was the best intersection point for the “Little Crossroads Plan.” The Crossing Group’s future designation for Lingao County town was “county-wide transportation hub and goods distribution center.” They planned to first establish a large ox-cart freight center there. To this end, they had already purchased several plots of land nearby to be used as pastures for the oxen.

In the longer-term plan, a large transportation interchange center would be built by the Wenshui Bridge, consisting of a train station, a long-distance bus station, and an inland waterway terminal on the Wenlan River. Travelers and goods arriving in Lingao would be distributed from here to various parts of Lingao and even the whole of Hainan.

The highway through the county town extended south to Nanbao. The establishment of Nanbao town not only allowed them to acquire various resources from the Nanbao mountain area but also opened up connections with the Li areas of Lingao. This would facilitate trade with the Li areas and allow for various economic, cultural, and religious infiltration, in order to completely eliminate the potential instability factors in the Li areas.

The Crossing Group’s positioning for Nanbao was “a window for trade with the Li areas and a supply base for mining and forestry products.” As for Bairen City, it was the “manufacturing center and political-military center.” Bopu was the “shipping, foreign trade, and chemical industry center.”

After controlling Nanbao, the Crossing Group would also formally establish a fourth commune in the Jialai area north of Nanbao: Jialai Commune. Jialai Plain was one of the four major plains of Lingao and a major agricultural area in modern Lingao. In this era, its development level was very low. According to the Agricultural Committee’s investigation, there were few farming households here due to its proximity to the Li areas, making concentrated development relatively easy.

Wu Nanhai planned to open a farm and set up an immigrant settlement in Jialai once the development of Meitai Plain was complete, turning this area into an agricultural zone directly under the Crossing Group.

The current road conditions of the Nanbao-County Town-Bairen-Bopu highway were as follows: the Bopu-Bairen section had already been paved, and wired telephone and power lines had been erected along the road. The supporting facilities were complete. The Bairen-County Town section was still being paved, but the condition of the simple road surface was relatively good.

The worst section was the route from the county town to Nanbao. Due to its hasty opening and the repeated passage of heavily loaded ox-carts shortly after, the road surface was severely damaged. The transportation department had spent a great deal of manpower and resources on road maintenance. Shan Daoqian clearly stated in his report to the Executive Committee that they must either immediately begin paving this section or lay down a railway track—given the current volume of freight transport, a railway, despite its high initial investment, would have low long-term operating costs.

In the east-west direction, the Crossing Group had established Damei Village at the original site of the Gou estate after eliminating them in the Gaoshanling area to the east. In the Ma’niao Peninsula to the west, there was the Yanchang Village. Currently, a simple road connected Damei Village and Lingao County town. Due to its salt production, there was an old stone-paved road from Ma’niao to Bopu, but its condition was also poor, so salt was still primarily transported by boat.