Chapter 229 Changes in the situation in Yazhou
The immigrants on the island will receive supplies about once a week, mainly vegetables, fruits and a small amount of livestock. Since the trade with the North Vietnamese caravans began, rice has not been a scarce commodity in Black Earth Port. Therefore, tons of rice are also stored on Fushuizhou Island, which serves as a transit supply station, in case of emergencies. Even if supplies cannot be supplied for ten days and a half in extreme circumstances, the residents of the island do not need to worry about falling into a food shortage situation.
The "Speed" also brought supplies to the residents. Tao Donglai ordered that most of the meat, vegetables, and fruits on the ship be left to the island residents, leaving only the supplies for the rest of the trip. . It is indeed a hard job to be stationed on such an island for a long time. What the executive committee can probably do is to enable the residents of the island to provide better food. Tao Donglai also promised the residents that when their garrison period was up, they would move to Victory Port to settle, which aroused cheers from the residents.
According to the arrangements of the management committee, a small livestock farm has been built on the island, raising dozens of chickens, ducks and eight pigs. Because it is isolated overseas, the island's wild animals are mainly various seabirds, and there are no carnivorous beasts at all. Therefore, there is no need to worry about wild beasts attacking the breeding grounds. This is much better than Victory Port and Black Earth Port. In order to prevent wild beasts from attacking, the breeding farms in these two places not only dug isolation ditches around the perimeter, but even buried bamboo and wood picket isolation belts.
On that day, the "Speed" did not rush to travel overnight, but anchored at Fushuizhou Island for one night. As soon as it got dark the next day, everyone got up and set off. After the sailboat left Fushuizhou Island, it headed southeast at full speed. It was a smooth journey and we arrived at the Yinggehai area that afternoon. Before dark, the "Speed" had arrived at the mouth of the Ningyuan River outside Yazhou. According to the pre-arranged schedule, Tao Donglai would have to visit the Yazhao Office on his return trip, and this was also the first of this inspection. The last stop of the journey.
At noon, Wang Tom used the radio to contact the Cliff Office and informed him of the possible arrival time. As soon as the "Speed" arrived at the mouth of the Ningyuan River, it saw a Cangshan ship of the Ming Navy coming out of the mouth of the river - Luo Shengdong, who loved to join in the fun, would never miss such an opportunity to flatter him at close range.
When Wang Tom contacted the Cliff Resident Office today, Luo Shengdong also happened to be drinking tea at the Cliff Resident Office. After boarding the big ship of Haihan, Luo Shengdong found that his future suddenly became brighter. Not only did he earn a lot of money, but his popularity in Yazhou City also skyrocketed. Many powerful people knew that he had good relations with the Haihan people, so they relied on their connections and asked Luo Shengdong to purchase the Haihan products that were in high demand on the market. Since the opening of the mainland route, most of the limited output of the Cross-Training Group has been shipped to profit. For sale in the more lucrative mainland areas, they have become scarce in Yazhou, which is very close to Victory Port. Not to mention the sharp rise in prices, many things are in a state of pricelessness but no market.
Under this situation, basically don’t even try to get Haihan’s products without a special relationship. Even merchants such as "Fu Ruifeng" and "Anfuxing" that have business dealings with Haihan have no solution to the current tight situation - just having money is useless, and now the Haihan people can't get it. I want to sell something, but what can I do if there is no supply?
But Luo Shengdong is a little different. He is the type of Ming Dynasty official who can be "fighted for" in the eyes of the Executive Committee. When necessary, the Executive Committee will also give him some motivation from behind - for example, providing him with a small amount of money. Haihan products allowed him to establish his own personal connections in Yazhou.
This approach quickly achieved results. Now among the powerful circles in Yazhou City, Luo Bang from Shuizhai is somewhat famous. Even Jin Yiwei and Dongchang Fanzi who are stationed in Yazhou are now starting to Become brothers with him. There is no other reason. None of these privileged department personnel stationed in Yazhou are willing to stay in such a remote area. However, if they want to be transferred back to the mainland to enjoy their happiness, there are only two ways. One is to receive awards for meritorious service, and the other is to bribe their superiors.
The special nature of Yazhou as a place of exile greatly reduces the possibility of receiving awards for meritorious service. This place is full of prisoners who have been exiled from all over the country. Is it possible to find a crime to arrest these people and sentence them again? The consequence of doing this is probably to be scolded by your boss for being incompetent. Then the only way left is to bribe the boss, but Yazhou is a poor place and has no specialties. Isn't it possible to send coconuts and homespun cloth to the bosses in Qiongzhou and Guangzhou?
However, since the emergence of Haihan people, this situation has changed. The new products that Haihan people have continuously introduced are in short supply on the market, and these rare gadgets are perfect for giving as gifts. In the current situation where Yazhou Commercial Bank is completely out of stock, local Jinyiwei and Dongchang Fanzi are eyeing Luo Shengdong's path.
Of course, there were also people with ulterior motives among them, who suggested that Luo Shengdong and the Haihan people should be arrested and their goods confiscated directly. However, the person who came up with this bad idea was quickly dealt with internally. According to the information currently available, the Haihan people have gathered thousands of people in Yulin. In other words, thousands of people rely on the Haihan people for food. They only rely on the manpower of Yazhou. Even if Jinyiwei and Dongchang join forces to go to Yulin I'm afraid if you arrest someone, there will be no return. This worry is not unfounded. From the inspection department sent there two months ago, no one from the entire team has returned to Yazhou during this period, except for those regularly brought by the Shuizhai warships "inspecting Yulin". Apart from the letters reporting safety, these people seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
Jin Yiwei and Dongchang are not all fools. They just feed on intelligence. Of course, they can more or less detect that there is something wrong with the Han people who went to sea, but so what? The Haihan people were just a group of businessmen. They did not kill officials and rebel, but they just sold some rare gadgets through various channels. It is said that the Haihan people still have a militia group of hundreds of people in Yulin. No one is willing to go out of their way to cause trouble for the Haihan people. What's more, there is no one in these two yamen who dares to say that he has not won the garrison. What are the benefits of cliff office?
In addition to the two secret service agencies, Luo Shengdong's prestige in Shuizhai is also growing. Ever since Luo Shengdong got the one-foot square mirror requested by his sixth concubine for He Shenjiang, He Shenjiang had almost treated Luo Shengdong as a confidant. Due to the abnormal structure of Yazhou Water Village, there are no guards or a thousand generals under the generals. Luo Shengdong, the general manager, has the feeling of being superior to one person and the whole village, and does not even need any generals. With the warrant, all the warships in the village can be deployed to set sail. As for the group of people who followed Luo Shengdong, they have been running a private salt business for several months, and now they are all making a lot of money, which has also brought him more followers.
Regarding the current situation, Luo Shengdong himself knew very well. He knew that all this was thanks to the Haihan people. If the Haihan people cut off his supply of goods, the power he had established in Yazhou Water Village would soon be destroyed. When the tree falls and the monkeys disperse, the personal connections in Yazhou City will be quickly severed, and the Haihan people will quickly support Luo Shengdong No. 2 to take his place - I'm afraid there are already a lot of people who want to kick him out and replace him. .
Every time he went to Victory Port and saw the speed of development there, Luo Shengdong was completely unable to think of confrontation. Luo Shengdong went to Victory Port half a month ago. At that time, he happened to see at least twenty or thirty Haihan artillery pieces piled on the pier, and boxes of matchlock guns were piled up like a hill. These Things are being moved and loaded into a lucky boat by workers. Ren Liang, Luo Shengdong's immediate boss during the labor camp, explained to him in an understatement that these arms were being sold to a country in Southeast Asia. Luo Shengdong was a smart man, so he could certainly understand what Ren Liang was saying - since Haihan could sell these weapons to others, he must have stronger military force. Thinking of the continuous forts under construction on both sides of the Victory Port fjord, Luo Shengdong knew that the current military equipment of the Haihan people had far exceeded that of the local Ming army. No, even the more than 10,000 garrison troops on the entire Qiongzhou Island. Taken together, I am afraid that we will not be able to enter this harbor that was in a deserted state half a year ago.
The only good thing is that, at least so far, the Haihan people do not seem to be planning to attack Yazhou with force. If that day really comes, Luo Shengdong will be very hesitant whether he should be loyal to the Ming Dynasty or whether he should be aware of the current situation and join the invincible Haihan people as soon as possible. But no matter what, building a good relationship with the Haihan people now will leave a way out for the future. Therefore, Luo Shengdong went to the Cliff Station Office almost every day when he was not on duty. Sometimes he would also specially invite several local officials to go with him according to the instructions of the Cliff Station Office.
With reference to later generations of national leaders, it stands to reason that Tao Donglai's whereabouts should be kept secret. However, after He Xi left, the vigilance of the people in the Cliff Office in terms of intelligence security has indeed dropped a lot. After receiving the telegram message, Qiu Yuan, who was in charge of receiving Luo Shengdong, did not shy away from his presence as an outsider, and began to order people to buy groceries, clean, and prepare cars and horses separately.
When Luo Shengdong asked, he heard that it was Tao Donglai who was coming to Yazhou today, and he quickly asked Qiu Yuan for the task of welcoming him. Luo Shengdong had frequent contacts with Haihan and was very aware of Haihan's power structure. Tao Donglai was undoubtedly the core leader of this group of Haihan people. I'm afraid it would be better to flatter him than to pick up someone at the Cliff Office. moon. So Luo Shengdong invited Qiu Yuan to go back to Shuizhai to order a Cangshan boat and go to the mouth of Ningyuan River to wait for Tao Donglai's arrival.
After the two ships approached, everyone on the "Speed" could clearly see Luo Shengdong and Qiu Yuan standing on the bow of the Cangshan ship waving. Tao Donglai didn't think there was anything wrong with Luo Shengdong's welcome, so he and Wang Tom transferred to the Cangshan ship, while the "Speed" was anchored in the shallow water near the Ningyuan River entrance. During the chat, Tao Donglai also revealed intentionally or unintentionally the fruitful results of this trip-tens of thousands of taels of arms were sold, and thousands of immigrants would arrive in Victory Port by boat in the near future.
After hearing this, Luo Shengdong sighed: "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been very few such large-scale sales of weapons to foreign countries. In addition, the overseas people have surrendered. What President Tao did is really the first of its kind in the history of this dynasty!"< br>
Tao Donglai smiled and said: "Mr. Luo, we are not Ming people, and what we do is not for the Ming Dynasty."
Luo Shengdong responded awkwardly: "Yes, yes, I made a mistake!"
This time Luo Shengdong did not make a mistake accidentally, but deliberately tested it. Although Tao Donglai disclosed very little information, Luo Shengdong believed that what he said was the truth, because he also happened to see the scene of Haihan arms being loaded onto the ship. Haihan now has various profitable businesses, and has been continuously introducing immigrants to enrich the population of Victory Port. Although Luo Shengdong is not on the intelligence front, he has actually been very sensitive to smelling a hint of danger. Although Tao Donglai had expressed his attitude more than once that Haihan would never integrate into the Ming Dynasty, Luo Shengdong still wanted to confirm again and again whether his attitude would change. But it was obvious that as Haihan's power grew stronger and stronger, they became more confident, and Tao Donglai had no intention of surrendering to the Ming Dynasty.
Tao Donglai's statement made Luo Shengdong a little worried, because according to the current development of the situation, it seems that it is only a matter of time before the decline of Yazhou City and the rise of Shengli Port. In the past month or two, many immigrants who had previously moved to Victory Port have returned home to visit relatives, and using their own experiences as illustrations, more people have moved to Victory Port. Many people did not even wait for the ships that regularly come near Nanshan Town to load immigrants, but went directly to Victory Port by land. This is fundamentally different from the original Yazhou immigration situation.
At the beginning, the immigrants recruited by the Yazhou Residential Office in Yazhou were poor people who had lost their fields and had no skills to survive. In order to survive, these people had to grasp the life-saving straw of Haihan. But recently, more and more people have been moved after hearing about the superior living conditions in Victory Port, and have begun to move their families. Most of these people are farmhands and long-term workers of local powerful people. Although they have no land themselves, they rely on the money given to them. The host family can still survive by doing farm work. The departure of this group of people has caused small-scale farmland abandonment outside Yazhou City, and the reduction in food production is bound to create a new group of unemployed people after the recent autumn harvest.
In addition, the number of craftsmen in Yazhou City is also gradually decreasing. Only one of the original five blacksmith shops is still open. Carpenters, plasterers, bamboo craftsmen, etc. have also begun to disappear from Yazhou City unknowingly. Others may not know, but Luo Shengdong knew very well that these people basically went to Victory Port. The impact of this migration of craftsmen on the local area is particularly obvious - the door of Luo Shengdong's future father-in-law's house was broken for four days. He searched all over the city but could not find a carpenter to repair it. In the end, he had no choice but to chase the ducks. When it was put on the shelves, Luo Shengdong called two shipwrights from Shuizhai to repair it.
If things continue like this, within a year or two, Yazhou will probably be nothing more than an empty city. Except for the prisoners in various yamen and Yazhou jails, most of the others will move to Shengli, which is more lively and has more convenient life. Settled in Hong Kong. And people with this idea include Luo Shengdong himself. He knew that the Haihan people had planned a large commercial area in Victory Port, and there were already merchants enclosing land there and preparing to build commercial facilities. Before the price of land in Victory Port increases, Luo Shengdong is also planning to buy a piece of land there. As for the specific business, he can wait and see, and occupy the land first.
Of course, Luo Shengdong also knew that his worries were unnecessary. This should be a matter for the magistrates of Zhizhou and Tongzhi. As a small naval commander, he did not even have the slightest say in local governance. Since the adults are not in a hurry, why should I bother myself? It is better to make a fortune with peace of mind first. Luo Shengdong put aside his distracting thoughts and turned to Tao Donglai to ask about the supply of several commodities that were in short supply recently.
The Cangshan boat sailed upstream at an extremely slow speed. It took a full hour to finally reach the dock in the north of Yazhou City. Malike, Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan from the Cliff Office had been waiting on the shore for a long time. After exchanging a few words, they set out on their way back. Tao Donglai also took this opportunity to experience an original human-powered sedan. Luo Shengdong knew that Tao Dong came to the cliff office for something important. It would be inappropriate for him to force himself into the situation at this time, so he said goodbye and led the team back to the water village.
After the group returned to the Cliff Office, Zhang Guang and Zhao Xiaoruo, who had stayed at home, also came out to meet them. Then several errand servants from the Cliff Office came out to pay homage to the head of Haihan whom they met for the first time.
The topic at the reception banquet will naturally not leave the business negotiations in Vietnam, and the huge gains achieved during this trip made everyone at the Cliff Office also very happy. Maliko smiled and said: "Mr. Tao, if the immigration problem is solved this time, the pressure on our side will be much less. Although the number of immigrants in Yazhou has increased a lot recently, if it continues at this rate, I'm afraid In half a year, there won’t be anyone left in Yazhou who can move.”
Tao Donglai shook his head and said: "Neither Yazhou nor Vietnam is our final solution to solve the source of immigrants. In the short term, we will focus on Hainan Island and surrounding areas. In the long term, we still have to focus on the mainland. Hainan The local population is limited. Needless to say, what is the biggest problem that Vietnamese immigrants will bring to us? Have you ever thought about it? ”
Maliko tentatively replied: "Population proportion?"
"That's right." Tao Donglai nodded and said: "If we follow the current plan and introduce 30,000 to 40,000 Vietnamese immigrants in the next year, this number will greatly exceed the local naturalized population. Although in our eyes It seems that all naturalized citizens will be treated equally, but ordinary people may not all think so. We must consider in advance the impact and impact that the large-scale immigration of foreign people may have on the lives of local naturalized people, otherwise it may happen in the future. There are many problems that are difficult to solve. Xenophobia is nothing new.”
(End of chapter)