Chapter 167 Wei Ping’s Little Abacus
When Li Nai heard the sound, he raised his head and looked towards the queue next to him, and unexpectedly saw a few acquaintances - Wei Ping and his friends who he had met at the Inspection Department yesterday were also queuing up here to receive breakfast. Seeing that no one was paying attention, Li Nai winked at He Qiang, and the two of them silently changed the queue to behind Wei Ping and others. Yesterday, they had many questions about the Inspection Department, but with Schneider always watching, it was not convenient for them to communicate with Wei Ping alone.
Li Nai and He Qiang once thought that these people from the Inspection Department had been placed under house arrest by the Haihan people, but now it seems that it is not that serious. These people can still enter and leave the small courtyard freely, and there is no one around to monitor them.
"It's early for inspection, Wei!" Li Nai pretended to greet Wei Ping.
When Wei Ping saw that it was the two businessmen who had come to the Inspection Department to give gifts yesterday, he nodded in response. He has no intention of dealing with these foreign businessmen now. All he can think about is how to get the Haihan people to give him a higher degree of freedom of movement, at least to break through the existing "within thirty feet distance around the Inspection Department" scope of activities. .
On the first day that Wei Ping and his subordinates arrived at Victory Port, they were put under house arrest by the Haihan people in the small courtyard of the Inspection Department. Not only were sentries on duty around the small courtyard around the clock, but even three meals were served from outside. After being sent in, there is no chance to go out for activities. Wei Ping didn't know until this moment that his brother-in-law had found a tricky job for him.
Fortunately, the Haihan people are kind-hearted and do not skimp on living conditions. Although the three meals are not very delicious, they are at least enough to satisfy them and they can still have a meaty meal the next day. The housing was quickly changed from tents to cabins. Although it still looked a bit crude from the outside, seeing that the Haihan people actually installed glass windows in the cabin, Wei Ping felt that he had nothing to complain about.——Brother-in-law The two sets of glassware at home were all given by the Haihan people. They usually collected them like treasures. My two young nephews didn't even let them touch them. If he knew that he lived here, he would actually live there. I wonder what kind of expression I would have if I saw a house with glass windows.
Of course, in addition to this, the financial rewards promised by the Haihan people are the focus of Wei Ping and others. Everyone can get double the original salary, and there is also a full fifty taels of "Yulin Inspection Department Special" every month. "Office expenses", this amount of money alone is as much as six hundred taels a year! After a brief discussion, everyone decided that Wei Ping would get half of the money, and the remaining half would be shared equally among the other twelve men.
However, although the plan was good, it could not keep up with the changes. In the middle of the night on the fifth day after arriving in Victory Port, a guy tried to escape from the small courtyard, but was caught by the night watch team leading a big black dog. The next morning, a Haihan leader named Ren came from the labor camp and had this unfortunate guy taken away. He would complete three months of hard labor in the labor camp - of course during this period he would not be able to Any reward is available. The Haihan leader named Ren also said that because the inspection department had made such a fool of himself, half of the "special office funds" for the first month would be directly deducted, and if a similar situation occurs again, the entire amount will be deducted.
Someone asked a lot, what would happen if there was a third incident? The leader smiled sinisterly and replied that if this happened a third time, everyone in the inspection department would be sent directly to the labor camp without any explanation.
So for the sake of everyone's benefit, the remaining people will be much more peaceful from now on. Wei Ping found that many people would even remind each other that there is nothing worth complaining about the current living conditions, and they must not have any deviant thoughts. They should stay here for two or three years and then return to Yazhou to buy a house and land. This group of people stayed in the yard every day, watching the Haihan people direct the people to build roads and build houses.
Of course, when a group of new immigrants comes to the port, this group of people will stand behind the fence of the small courtyard to watch, and bet on whether some of the new immigrants will be arrested and sent to a labor camp for disobeying orders on the dock. go. Wei Ping's vision is higher than that of these subordinates. As the immigrants arrive one after another, his heart sinks little by little - the more people here, the more powerful the Haihan people are. As it grows stronger, the possibility of this place returning to the Ming Dynasty becomes smaller.
The name of the Inspection Department has no influence at all in this place. As far as Wei Ping and the locals they can come into contact with, whether they are militiamen on duty or ordinary workers delivering meals, they all have a reputation. "Executive Committee", no one cares about the Yazhou official's attitude towards this place. This is a scene Wei Ping has never seen in other places in Yazhou. In this case, it became a very unrealistic idea for them to use these locals to deliver news to Yazhou. If they had to do this, it would be more likely that the news would reach the ears of the Haihan people directly.
One month later, there were no further problems with the Inspection Department, and the Executive Committee distributed half of the "special office funds" to them as promised - of course, this money was also distributed in the form of circulation coupons. They were told that these circulation notes could be exchanged for silver of equivalent value only when they left Port of Victory in the future.
But this actually doesn't matter, because they don't have any need to spend money here. The Haihan people are responsible for all the food, clothing and housing. As for travel, they can't get anywhere even if they are confined in the yard. The only things the Haihan people sell to the outside world are salt and glassware, and even these two items are only sold to merchants and not to retail investors at all - even if they buy them, they can't ship them out. In view of the good performance of the people in the Inspection Department, the Executive Committee finally agreed to give them more space for activities, but still limited the scope to "within a distance of thirty feet around the Inspection Department." As for what can be done within this thirty-foot distance, it is basically to go to the cafeteria stall outside the gate of Base 1 to get meals three times a day.
Although the scope of activities is pitifully small, everyone in the inspection department cherishes this hard-won opportunity. Even Wei Ping, who always likes to send his men to work, has changed his habit and queues up to receive three meals in person every day, even in the morning The same goes for this meal. Wei Ping would go out to eat breakfast every day before returning to the small courtyard of the Inspection Department to continue sleeping.
This is of course also one of the management methods of the executive committee, allowing these people to go around the area outside the courtyard every day and chat with other people, which at least makes them feel that they are not prisoners of this place. After gradually reducing their hostility and resistance, it will be much easier to brainwash their consciousness and culture through various details of life. In this regard, there are already examples of Luo Shengdong and others, and the Executive Committee believes that these people in the Inspection Department will not be more disciplined than the Ming Navy.
Such a subtle effect still has a certain effect. At least Wei Ping's own hostility towards the Haihan people has become much weaker than it was at the beginning. He found that these Haihan people did not have the usual faces of those in power. Everyone seemed very peaceful and could get along with ordinary people on an equal footing. This was something that the gentry or wealthy businessmen of the Ming Dynasty could never achieve. Moreover, these Haihan people did not show any obvious hostility towards outsiders like the Inspection Department. Occasionally, someone would even ask him, "How often can I have a meal of meat when I am in Yazhou?" or "How many people in the Ming Dynasty usually marry?" "A wife" and other questions that made him laugh or cry.
Wei Ping was not surprised at all that merchants from Guangzhou finally appeared in Victory Port. He knew that with the Haihan people's business skills, it was only a matter of time before glass products and refined salt were transported to the mainland. What's more, the Haihan people have been constantly expanding the docks on the seaside, and it will certainly not be just to dock their limited number of sea-going ships. After living here for a long time, Wei Ping has gradually realized that the Haihan people have many long-term plans for this place, and they don't just plan to use this place as a place to stay.
The ever-expanding seaport terminal is only one aspect. Wei Ping noticed that the Haihan people spent a lot of effort on repairing the not-too-long road from the port to Base No. 1, using a kind of plaster to pave the entire road very smoothly. Street trees were planted next to it, and flower beds and seats were arranged. And that's not all. On both sides of the road, workers have begun to level the ground under the command of the Haihan people. It seems that there are still some projects to be carried out.
Some people in the Inspection Department thought that the Haihan people wanted to build private houses to accommodate the increasing number of immigrants. But Wei Ping has a different view on this. Newly arrived immigrants will be arranged to live in a camp at the foot of the west mountain for a few days, and then most of them will be transferred to other places to stay in Shengli. There are not many people here in the port, and the Haihan people do not need to build large-scale houses near the port to accommodate immigrants.
Regarding the next projects that the Haihan people will carry out, Wei Ping believes that they are most likely to be facilities such as warehouses, shops, restaurants and restaurants. Because this road is in an excellent location in Port Victory, if this area really becomes a prosperous port in the future, then a large number of foreign merchants and sailors will definitely need places to eat, stay, and shop. This section of the road leading to the gate of Base No. 1 will undoubtedly be the most prosperous area in the entire port area. Wei Ping, who is more agile in thinking, has already smelled a business opportunity.
Wei Ping thought that if his guess was true, if he could open a restaurant or the like here, he would certainly not have to worry about running out of business in the future, and the money from maritime merchants was much easier to earn than the money from the poor people in Yazhou. However, in order to do this, Wei Ping still has two problems that he must overcome. One is to find out whether his guess is true, and the other is how to convince the Haihan people to allow him to invest in the project if this is the case. A business is run here.
Wei Ping came back from his thoughts, looked at Li Nai who was staring at him eagerly, and suddenly had an idea in his mind.
(End of chapter)