Chapter 457 Fishermen’s Petition
Gu Kai heard a commotion in his daze. He opened his eyes and could see through the small window on the side of the ship that the sky was already bright. Gu Kai raised his hand and looked at the time. It was just after 7 o'clock in the morning, which was also the time when he usually got up to wash up and have breakfast while listening to the "Soviet March" played on the loudspeaker.
But now that he was on a business trip on Hong Kong Island, he no longer needed to abide by Sanya's schedule. Gu Kai closed his eyes and planned to sleep for a while. However, the noise outside did not seem to stop. Instead, it became louder and louder. During this period, it seemed that There were also sounds of quarreling.
Although there were people from the militia on duty on the shore, and it was impossible for other people to approach the dock where the "Lightning" was docked, Gu Kai still turned over and sat up, planning to go out and see what was going on outside.
Gu Kai came to the deck and saw a group of Ming people on the shore. There were about sixty or seventy people. They were stopped outside the dock by the militiamen on duty. Although the number of militiamen was small, the appearance of loaded guns and live ammunition was still very intimidating. The common people did not dare to get too close, but they did not seem to have any intention of retreating.
"What's going on?" Gu Kai asked the sailor on the trestle who was arranging the cables.
The sailor quickly put down his work and responded: "Reporting to the chief, I heard that these people asked to meet the chief. The people of the militia were afraid that the situation could not be controlled, so they blocked them out."
There is nothing wrong with what the militia did. Their duty on this trip was to protect the safety of the people traveling through the area. Naturally, they would not let this group of people pass by at will. Chuan Chuanzhong will not deliberately create an image that is close to the people. Consciously keeping a distance can create a sense of authority.
Gu Kai thought for a while and told the sailor: "Go and tell the people in the militia, let the people elect a representative first, and then bring him over to meet with me."
The sailor responded and trotted over. After receiving the order, the militia platoon leader followed Gu Kai's wishes and asked the people to elect a representative. After a while, the group of common people recommended an elder to come out. After a brief body search, the militiamen brought him to Gu Kai.
"Young man Huang Sanyuan, I have met Mr. Haihan!" When the elder came to Gu Kai, he bowed his head and bowed.
Gu Kai saw that his hair was gray and he was probably fifty or sixty years old. He quickly stretched out his hand to support him: "No need to give such a big ceremony!"
The militia platoon leader next to him introduced: "This is Mr. Gu of our Haihan Executive Committee!"
"Old man, what's the matter with you guys making trouble at our door so early in the morning?" Gu Kai didn't intend to chat with him slowly and got straight to the point.
"Master Gu, I am a villager from a nearby fishing village. I heard that the masters from Haihan are going to start building a port locally. Is it true?" Huang Sanyuan asked cautiously.
Haihan's plan to develop this area was originally not expected to be kept secret due to the large number of people involved. However, the two inspection teams have only been here for a day, and the news has already spread among the local people. It seems that the spread of gossip in this era is not at all behind that of the time and space before Gu Kai traveled through.
Gu Kai did not deny it, nodded and replied: "We do have this plan. If everything goes well, construction will probably start soon."
"Rong, please ask me one more question. Most of the land around here is owned by local people. What do the masters of Haihan plan to do with it?" Huang Sanyuan asked worriedly.
The land issue is undoubtedly the most basic social contradiction of this era. It can be said that the root of most civil conflicts between farmers and landlords, and between landlords and officials is on land. The public land ownership system promoted by Haihan in the areas under his rule was completely different from the land system of the Ming Dynasty. When the Haihan system expanded outward, it was very likely that this system would become one of the social conflicts most likely to break out.
The Executive Committee has always attached great importance to this hidden danger that may become an obstacle to Haihan's expansion. To this end, it has held training classes since the first half of last year to train naturalized cadres from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Help them correct their thinking and improve their theoretical level. However, when such matters involve specific parties, a lot of troubles often arise. For example, when the Sanya New Port was first opened, the militia groups dispatched to secretly suppress the troublemakers were not just one or two households, but now the young military officers in charge of Wanshan Port Chen Yixin rose to power through his outstanding performance in suppressing troublemakers.
Of course, the situation in Hong Kong Island is definitely different from that in Sanya. When the Executive Committee annexed the Sanya area, it had already reached a secret agreement with the Yazhou government. The conditions that should be negotiated have been almost reached, and the benefits that should be given are also similar. Everything is in place, and there won’t be any official pressure. However, the limited resistance among the people cannot make waves in the face of powerful armed forces, nor can it prevent the Executive Committee from promoting the new land system in Sanya.
However, the location of Hong Kong Island is quite far away from Haihan's actual control area, and Haihan's influence is not enough to directly control this area under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty. Although there may only be a few hundred local residents, if disputes or even conflicts arise over land during the development process, it will inevitably attract the attention of the government if things get serious, which is the last thing the executive committee wants to see.
As the saying goes, as long as no one makes trouble, Haihan can close the door here and slowly build a social system with Haihan characteristics, just like what was done before in Heitu Port, Changhua Port and other places. But the problem is that Haihan's previous influence did not cover this area. The local residents have at most heard of the Haihan people's reputation, but do not understand their rules. If they rashly implement public ownership of land here, they are bound to be criticized by the local people. Resistance from residents. In order to properly solve this problem, the Executive Committee has prepared corresponding plans in advance. Gu Kai said in a deep voice: "As for the land under local names, as long as we can produce the property title, we can buy it at an additional 20% of the market price, and we can choose to live a better life in Yazhou, and we will be responsible for transporting it. , and arrange life and work. If you don’t want to sell, we won’t force it, but you still have to abide by the rules we have set when living here.”
The method Gu Kai mentioned seems reasonable and fair, but if you think about it carefully, it is actually a semi-forced transaction. At the market price plus 20%, even if he bought all the limited arable land in the southwest coastal area of Hong Kong Island in one go, it would not be a big expenditure for Haihan, not to mention that there are a large group of Guangdong rich people waiting to pay. Money is no problem at all in this process. Moreover, most of the people living on the island are fishermen, and the cultivated land is very limited. At most, they can only grow some fruit and vegetable crops, and the food is basically purchased from the mainland.
Of course, that being said, the money may not actually be paid out when the time comes. There is another very important part of the conditions Gu Kai said, that is, the property deed must be produced. Hong Kong Island is far away from Xin'an County. The government agencies on the island are all in the north, while the seaside area in the south is completely autonomous. Most people do not go to the government to apply for special property deeds in order to save some taxes and expenses. And the tax collectors of Xin'an County Government were not willing to come to this smelly fishing village just for a little money. There is not much cultivated land cultivated by the people here. If they were asked to show legal proof of land ownership, they might not even have ten households.
If you can't get the land deed approved and issued by the government, then to put it bluntly, this is ownerless land. However, Haihan had already received an official document issued by the Guangzhou government. As long as he circled the land and paid a sum of money, all the land here would be named "Haihan". Therefore, what Gu Kai said about spending money to buy land actually only sounds good. In fact, probably only one out of ten local people who can get money from this kind of transaction save.
However, most of the local people are fishermen and do not completely rely on the land for their livelihood. Even if they lose their land, they can still rely on the sea to live. Therefore, the following content was added to the conditions mentioned by Gu Kai - those who stay here in the future must abide by Haihan's rules and regulations. If not, then there will be consequences at your own risk.
These seemingly mild conditions actually did not leave much choice for the local people. After hearing this, Huang Sanyuan was stunned for a while and said: "Mr. Gu, what should the locals do if they can't get the government-stamped house deed?" ?”
Gu Kai responded calmly: "It doesn't matter if we can't take it out. We won't shun the villagers. But the government has allocated this land to us. If you continue to occupy our land here, you will It doesn’t make sense, right? How about this? Anyone who is willing to work for Haihan can continue to live here. As for the land, you don’t have to worry about it. People who work for us never do it for the sake of no place to live and no food to eat. Don’t worry about things, we can provide all these things and pay commissions to all employees on a regular basis, provided that you obey the arrangements.”
"This..." Huang Sanyuan showed an obvious look of embarrassment on his face. Who would want to suddenly become someone else's slave in the presence of a good free man? Being a fisherman here is a poor point, but at least you can live a free life. Huang Sanyuan thinks Gu Kai's suggestion is not very attractive. But he didn't dare to refute the other party rashly. Haihan's reputation had spread last year. Liu Xiang and his gang, who had controlled the local area for many years, were beaten to pieces by these people and returned to Fujian. How could ordinary people afford to offend them? At least we can talk about terms now. If we anger these people, who knows if their soldiers will directly drive them out of the area?
"Mr. Gu, can you please allow me to convene the villagers to discuss this matter after I go back and make a reply?" Huang Sanyuan did not dare to refuse Gu Kai's proposal face to face, so he could only use delaying tactics.
Of course, Gu Kai could easily guess Huang Sanyuan's thoughts, and smiled and said: "Of course it is possible, but there is something I forgot to mention just now. I will add it now. Those who are willing to work for us will have full accommodation and food included. The monthly salary starts from two taels of silver.”
"Two taels of silver? Food and accommodation included?" Huang Sanyuan's eyes widened immediately.
The living conditions of fishermen on the island are not comparable to those of farmers living on the mainland. The main output here is seafood, but due to limitations in preservation and transportation, they do not have the ability to send large quantities of fresh seafood to Guangzhou, which is their main source of income. The seafood is sold to merchant ships passing by, but this pure buyer's market cannot achieve an ideal price at all. Therefore, the lives of these fishermen on the island have always been in a state of barely maintaining food and clothing. The little income from selling seafood can't save even a few taels of silver in a year. If a typhoon blows off the roof of the house, or someone in the family gets sick, they often have to borrow money to survive.
What is the level of two taels of silver? For these fishermen on the island, if they can load a boat full of seafood every day, two taels of silver is basically the income from a month of hard work. Of course, this situation is not realistic. Even if we exclude the days every month when we are unable to go to sea due to weather reasons, fishermen still have to spend time maintaining their fishing boats and repairing their fishing nets. This is exactly the reason why it is said that fishing takes three days and two days drying the nets. . If the expenses necessary for survival are included, the treatment offered by Haihan is really not low. Judging from Huang Sanyuan's values, I am afraid that most local people will find it difficult to resist this temptation.
As for freedom? With current interests, what’s the point of that ridiculous freedom? You know, it only costs a few taels of silver per month to work as a servant for those masters in Guangzhou, but the Haihan people only offer 2 taels of silver per month!
Seeing Huang Sanyuan's surprised expression, Gu Kai knew that his little trick worked. Gu Kai snapped his fingers, and a sailor who was arranging the cables at the front of the deck immediately looked back - he had become accustomed to Gu Kai's method of calling during the two days on the road.
"Sailor, please report your personal situation and current income." Gu Kai decided to show Huang Sanyuan a living example.
The sailor immediately stood up and replied: "The leader of the report, the villain Han Song, is nineteen years old. In September last year, he joined the Ministry of Shipping as a clerk. Now he is an exclusive sailor of the Lightning. The Ministry of Shipping has rated him as a second-level worker, and his monthly salary is 100%. The coupon is five yuan, and the business trip allowance will be calculated separately.”
"Very good, you tell this old man how to exchange circulation certificates and silver in the place under our jurisdiction, Haihan." Gu Kai continued to order.
"One circulation coupon can be exchanged for one thousand taels of silver. The villain's monthly salary is equivalent to five taels of silver." The sailor was well informed and understood what Gu Kai meant when he asked him to tell these situations, and he immediately I said it very consciously.
"Five...five taels of silver!" After Huang Sanyuan heard this number, his breathing became rapid. Everyone knew that the Haihan people were rich, but working for the Haihan people and earning such a considerable income was something he had never thought about before. These people in the fishing village had no other skills, but they grew up on the seaside. The ability to drive a boat was almost brought from their mother's womb, but Huang Sanyuan never thought that this skill would be so valuable.
(End of chapter)