Chapter 473: Minato Area Experience
While Li Qingyang's matter was being discussed by the Executive Committee, the Ministry of Security had already talked to He Qiang and expressed the hope that a position could be assigned to a person with a "sensitive identity" in the "Fuji Pharmacy". He Qiang wisely did not inquire into the specific identity of this person, nor did he refuse the request of the Ministry of Security. After all, the fate of the Li family was now firmly tied to the Haihan people, and Haihan had never done anything. Do anything harmful to the interests of the Li family. Of course, the most important thing is that He Qiang is also a senior member of the Li family. He also knows what kind of organization the Haihan Security Department is, and this organization is something the Li family can never afford to offend.
As the cooperation between the two parties enters its third year, the cooperation between the Li family and Haihan has long been not limited to the business field, such as cultural promotion, finance, immigration, military and even intelligence collection, etc. The Li family is also Gradually get involved and become an important force for Haihan in the mainland. The industries under the Li family's name spread across Guangdong are almost all responsible, to varying degrees, for collecting local military and political information and regularly summarizing it to Guangzhou.
Of course, the extent that the employees under the Li family's name can do is to record the government's movements that are known to everyone, and they are not the type of targeted intelligence collection work done by professional intelligence personnel. After the information was summarized in Guangzhou, the Security Department personnel of the General Office of the People's Republic of China selected the valuable information, sorted it out, and then sent it back to Sanya for the Executive Committee's decision-making reference. Only a handful of agencies in major states and cities have intelligence personnel stationed by Haihan on a permanent basis. As a senior member of the Li family in the business field, He Qiang is naturally well aware of this aspect of cooperation.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, what the Li family is doing now can actually meet the standards of confiscating the family and exterminating the family. However, with Haihan as a strong backing, the Li family is not too worried that this kind of behavior will attract government investigation. Nowadays, the scale of Haihan's business is getting bigger and bigger, and local distributors often have government interests involved behind them. As long as the Haihan people don't do anything that blatantly violates the rules, the local government will not interfere. Even intelligence agencies like Jinyiwei were not immune and became puppets in the face of huge commercial interests. This is also one of the reasons why the Nanjing Town and Fu Division insisted on sending personnel from its directly affiliated personnel south to investigate Haihan, but did not give instructions to the Guangdong branch.
Lin Nan immediately introduced He Qiang and Li Qingyang. After the two met, He Qiang asked the clerk to take Li Qingyang to see where he lived. After Li Qingyang thanked him, he followed the clerk through the store to the employee living area behind the store.
It is said to be a residential area, but it is actually a small courtyard. The south-facing side is a shop, and the other three sides are two-story buildings. The one to the east is used as a medicinal material warehouse, and the rooms on the other two sides are for shops. of shop assistants live. He Qiang himself does not live here. The Li family has purchased multiple properties in Sanya to provide them to resident managers like He Qiang.
In accordance with the requirements of the Security Department, "Fuji Pharmacy" arranged a small single room on the second floor for Li Qingyang. It was fully furnished and daily necessities were purchased. Several sets of clothes were even prepared and placed on the bed. This made Li Qingyang After watching it, I couldn’t fault it at all. There was a small window at the head of the bed. When Li Qingyang walked in, he discovered that the window was not papered, but made of precious Haihan glass. From a distance, he could only see the empty window frame. From this, Li Qingyang also had a new estimate of the financial resources of this shop. The average medicinal shop probably would not have the spare money to spend on installing glass windows in the rooms where employees live.
After Li Qingyang looked at the room, the clerk took him downstairs and told him the location of the toilet and shower room. All men live in this courtyard, so the toilets and shower rooms are shared. Of course, the bathroom equipment used in the shop under the Li family's name was naturally produced by Haihan. After seeing it, Li Qingyang suddenly felt that he looked like a country bumpkin who had never seen the market. These ceramic sanitary ware all look very high-end and very clean and hygienic. Even the toilet paper used is white. This is enough to make Li Qingyang from Nanjing feel ashamed of his previous living standard.
When Li Qingyang visited the residence in the backyard, Lin Nan took the time to explain to He Qiang the precautions: "...This person comes from a noble family. Although he has joined us, his thoughts are still somewhat wavering. Manager He usually Think of more ways to let him feel the strength of my Haihan and slowly rub away those bad thoughts in his mind.”
He Qiang responded: "Don't worry, Mr. Lin, I will do this with care. Seeing that he has just arrived in Sanya not long ago, there is no need to take any special measures. As long as he lives here for two or three months, he will naturally be able to do it." You will feel the strength of Haihan. I think all the rich people who came from Guangdong looked down on Haihan and thought that there was nothing good in this remote place. Now they are rushing to sell houses and buy real estate here and bring their children here. Enroll in school. I think this guy named Li is also a smart guy, and he will probably be able to appreciate the benefits here in a few days.”
Lin Nan nodded and said: "What Manager He said makes sense, but we have limited his activity area to the business district, so we will try not to let him go out alone in the near future. In addition, we must also control the people he can come into contact with. Be under control and try to keep him away from people who have just arrived from the mainland, especially unknown strangers.”
The reason why Lin Nan wanted to emphasize this point was to let Li Qingyang's mentality go back and forth. Of course, the Ministry of Security will not be so stupid as to let Li Qingyang sign a few documents before completely trusting him. The necessary monitoring methods will continue. In addition to this kind of control within the drug store, Lin Nan of course also made other arrangements to prevent Li Qingyang from taking some irrational behavior.
When Li Qingyang returned to the store after visiting, He Qiang asked him: "Mr. Li, are you satisfied with the environment in our store?"
Li Qingyang responded quickly: "Satisfied, satisfied, I am very satisfied."
"If you need anything, just ask, my boss is very generous." Lin Nan said with a smile.
"It's all thanks to the leaders of Haihan who take care of the business, otherwise we wouldn't be so generous!" He Qiang responded knowingly.
Li Qingyang thought that this drug store had such a close relationship with the Haihan people, so it seemed that they were complicit in the evil. I have to be careful not to reveal any clues when I stay in this drug store from now on, otherwise I will be reported at any time.
Then I heard He Qiang continue to say: "Mr. Li works in our shop. The reward is tentatively set at ten yuan per month, and food and accommodation are not included. Is that okay?"
Li Qingyang didn't react for the first time, and then he remembered that this was the territory of Haihan. The currency here was not silver coins or copper coins, but banknotes issued by the Haihan people, in yuan. Ten yuan a month includes food and accommodation, and the salary is quite good. You must know that as a military attaché of the sixth grade, his statutory annual income is only more than one hundred and less than two hundred taels of silver, which is no more than being a bookkeeper here. of high income. And he hasn't forgotten that he can also get another income at the same time - the Ministry of Security also has to pay him a salary. The combined income from these two sources is almost double the income from being a Jin Yiwei. , just thinking about it makes Li Qingyang dumbfounded.
After Li Qingyang came to his senses, he quickly thanked He Qiang. He also knew that this income was given purely for the sake of the Ministry of Security. Although it was not enough to bribe him, Li Qingyang, it was still a sum of money that could not be ignored no matter how he thought about it. Since Lin Nan didn't object, this income can be pocketed reasonably and legally. After meeting He Qiang, Lin Nan took Li Qingyang out of "Fuji Drug Store" and continued to visit the business district. Li Qingyang walked and looked around, and found that it was indeed reasonable for this place to be called the first port of Qiongzhou. The goods sold here were not only produced in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, but also products north of the Yellow River. It can be imagined that this port How large a scale of business operations it has driven. However, there were no buskers or beggars commonly seen in bustling areas on the street, nor were there a few idle people. This made Li Qingyang quite puzzled, so he took the initiative to ask Lin Nan about it.
Lin Nan explained: "In the area under the rule of the Haihan Executive Committee, there will always be a shortage of labor force. There will be no one who is good at it and cannot find a livelihood and needs to beg for health care. Even people who are physically disabled and unable to engage in manual labor will , we will also arrange for such people to do some things within their capabilities, and will not let them have nothing to do.”
Li Qingyang felt a little incredible when he heard this, and asked: "Brother Lin, tell me, if you are a blind man who cannot see, what can you do?"
Lin Nan smiled and said: "Don't look down on the blind. You can learn some skills to make a living even if you can't see. For example, playing musical instruments, massaging, etc. I once heard the leaders say that blind people have no sense of taste, touch, and smell because they have no vision. , hearing is more developed than ordinary people. No one is born useless in this world, it just depends on whether he is on the right path!"
Li Qingyang felt that there seemed to be something else in Lin Nan's words, but it didn't seem to be directed at him.
Lin Nan continued: "Under Haihan's rule, everyone must participate in labor. We do not support any idlers here. The leaders have said that Haihan's wealth is created by everyone, so Haihan's prosperity belongs to everyone. Those who have contributed to this and everyone involved in this process will be rewarded accordingly for their efforts.”
Although Li Qingyang also thought that what Lin Nan said was a good idea, as a Jin Yiwei of the Ming Dynasty, he felt that it was a bit unreasonable for him not to refute anything, so he immediately responded: "You have taken in so many people of the Ming Dynasty, but these people have From now on, he will not pay taxes to the Ming government. Does Brother Lin think this is consistent with the Executive Committee’s claim that it is not hostile to the Ming Dynasty? ”
Lin Nan shook his head and said: "The vast majority of these people are disaster victims. If they don't take refuge with us, then they have to rely on the Ming Dynasty to provide money and food to relieve them. Where will the taxes be collected? We will contribute money and efforts to help the Ming Dynasty. Isn’t this enough of a show of goodwill to save the expenses of providing relief to the victims?”
"This..." Li Qingyang always felt that there was something wrong with this statement, but for a while he couldn't think of how to refute it.
Lin Nan did not leave time for Li Qingyang to think slowly. He pointed at the flow of people on the street and said: "Brother Li, please open your eyes and look here. Look at the expressions on the people's faces. Please tell me, what can you tell from their faces?" Do you see the emotions of humility, despair, numbness, and misery? I think you can't find them here, because the people living here don't have to worry about food and clothing. They know very well how much reward they can get for their work, and they don't have to expect it. For God's sake, there is no need to worry about the evil hands of the tax collectors sent by the government. They know that there is an omnipotent executive committee, and all problems will be solved. They just need to follow the orders issued by the executive committee."
Li Qingyang said: "Everything here is decided by the Executive Committee, and what situation the Ming Dynasty will be placed in!"
Lin Nan smiled and said: "If the executive committee does not govern well, the people can choose to leave here on their own and go back to where they originally lived. You can just ask someone on the street to see whether Sanya is better or Sanya is better. Daming is better elsewhere.”
Li Qingyang thought that even the accounts of drugstores in this place could get a monthly salary of ten taels of silver. The income of ordinary workers must be far better than that of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of wealth alone, the level here must be far higher than that of the Ming Dynasty. These Ignorant people don't know how powerful it is. Naturally, they will say that this place is good because of the high income.
Lin Nan saw that Li Qingyang did not continue to argue, so he did not take the initiative to pursue it. He pointed forward and said: "Ahead is Victory Port, the first port opened by the leaders here. Let's go and take a look."
Since the opening of Victory Port, it has undergone several reconstruction and expansion projects in less than three years. Today's Victory Port is no longer what it was at the beginning. The port pier made of bluestone extends for several miles to the west along the bay, with wide trestles extending into the sea every few tens of meters. There are densely packed ships docked in the bay, as many as two to three hundred. Many trestles are bustling with people, and workers are constantly loading and unloading goods, creating a busy scene.
Li Qingyang had seen the busyness of commercial ports in Jiangsu and Zhejiang before. Compared with the Victory Port Terminal, the level of prosperity was similar, but the order on the pier was far less than here. Li Qingyang looked at it for a moment and found that every dock here had special loading and unloading lines to ensure that the loading and unloading workers working on the docks would not cause chaos and congestion. The large number of hoisting machinery on docks and trestles also effectively saves manpower and improves efficiency.
Lin Nan introduced from the side: "Those wearing white vests are ordinary loaders, those wearing yellow vests are foremen, those wearing blue vests are responsible for counting goods, and those wearing red vests are inspecting labor discipline."
(End of chapter)