Chapter 475 Navy Yamen
Wei Ping continued: "After the leaders of Haihan settled in Yulin, the people of Yazhou also benefited a lot. In the past, who would be willing to move to this place where prisoners were exiled? Now when we talk about Sanya, who doesn't know that this is One of the best places in Qiongzhou Island? Brother Li, you can ask around. Is there anyone who is too poor to eat within a few dozen miles?"
Li Qingyang was speechless. He was not the kind of aristocrat who didn't know the sufferings of the people. What ordinary people wanted in life was to have enough food, clothing and clothing without having to fight. He still understood this truth. The Haihan people have obviously done a pretty good job in this regard, and they already have a considerable degree of prestige among the people. There is probably a considerable number of local people who only have the executive committee in their hearts, not the imperial court.
After coming out of the Inspection Department, Lin Nan took Li Qingyang to the navy station. It is said to be a naval station, but in fact the navy does not even have a real warship in Port Victory. Now if Haihan had any major foreign military operations, it would definitely not be feasible to ask Yacheng Shuizhai to borrow troops to look after his family like he did in the past two years. The few warships in Yacheng Water Village have all been converted into cargo ships, and the sailors have also been transferred to sailors, working for the salt dealer Luo Shengdong to traffic the Haihan salt produced in Shengli Port and Tieliang Port throughout the country. Ports throughout the island.
Li Qingyang followed Lin Nan into the yard of the navy station and was shocked by what he saw. There is no solemnity here like in the barracks. Instead, it is similar to the market. A large group of people gathered in the courtyard in front of the hall and were discussing something loudly. If the people maintaining order in the yard weren't wearing Ming army uniforms, Li Qingyang would have thought that he had gone to the wrong place and entered a certain chamber of commerce.
Lin Nan called a soldier over and asked: "Where is General Luo?"
The soldier glanced at the bronze Security Department badge on Lin Nan's chest and responded respectfully: "Chief, please wait a moment. I will go and inform Mr. Luo now."
After a while, Luo Shengdong came out of the house, but the group of people in the courtyard immediately swarmed him when they saw him appearing. Luo Shengdong stretched out his hand to separate these people and said loudly: "Don't crowd! Whoever squeezes and waits for a while will not be able to participate!"
As soon as these words came out, they had immediate results, allowing him to pass through the crowd smoothly and come to Lin Nan: "Master Lin, you are a busy man who goes to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. I don't know if it is a private matter or official business for you to come here today." ?”
Lin Nan smiled and said: "I'll bring Mr. Li here to show him the way. It's official business!"
Luo Shengdong looked Li Qingyang up and down, cupped his fists and said, "Yacheng Navy Commander Luo Shengdong has met Mr. Li!"
Li Qingyang quickly returned the greeting with cupped fists. Luo Shengdong was the highest-ranking Ming official he had seen since coming to Sanya, so this courtesy was still indispensable.
Luo Shengdong said: "The sun is shining brightly outside, please come with me to the house to talk."
Luo Shengdong brought the two of them to the front hall, and Li Qingyang suddenly discovered that although it was the layout of the Yamen lobby, what was done had nothing to do with the White Tiger Festival Hall in the military. There are several tables on the left and right sides of the hall, and behind each table is a clerk sitting, dialing an abacus and calculating something.
Luo Shengdong had two chairs brought over and placed them behind the desk, then invited the two of them to sit down. Li Qingyang saw that this position was a bit sensitive and quickly declined. Luo Shengdong smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, just sit down wherever you want. We don't do business here, we only talk about business!"
Seeing Lin Nan also nodded, Li Qingyang sat down. Luo Shengdong pointed to a few people in the hall who were making calculations and said: "They are now calculating the sales of salt last month. After settling the accounts, they will start to distribute the salt quota for next month. Waiting in the yard outside The group of people standing there are traders from various prefectures and counties in Qiongzhou Island who came to collect salt.”
"Private salt?" Li Qingyang reacted immediately and asked Luo Shengdong. To sell salt in the Ming Dynasty, you need a written certificate issued by the Salt Collection Department. Salt merchants can use this to go to the salt field to collect the corresponding quota of salt. This process has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty Navy, let alone the Navy Yamen leading the sale of salt. However, Li Qingyang had heard about the navy on the southeast coast engaging in illegal salt trafficking by virtue of its own transportation capacity, but he did not expect that the navy here in Yazhou would be so unscrupulous in participating in the illegal salt trade. He was directly involved in the court. Organize sales.
Luo Shengdong shook his head and said: "To the court, it is indeed private salt, but to the people of Qiongzhou Island, the salt sold here is official salt!"
Li Qingyang asked in confusion: "An official is an official, and a private person is a private person. Why are there two ways to say it?"
"On Qiongzhou Island, only Haihan's salt farm is producing salt. This is the only one. Where else can you buy it if you don't buy it here? The officials in Qiongzhou City also eat the salt here, but no one dares to mention Haihan's salt. Salt is banned, do you think this is private salt or official salt?" Luo Shengdong responded proudly.
With the commissioning of the Yinggehai Salt Farm, Haihan's salt production capacity has far exceeded the consumption needs of Qiongzhou Island's more than 200,000 people. The Danzhou Salt Farm in the north of Qiongzhou Island has long been sold by the low price of Haihan Salt. The dumping was defeated, and the entire source of salt in Qiongzhou Island has been concentrated in the hands of Haihan. Although it is private salt, it can be sold openly on the market, and the government has no intention of banning it. Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that most of the distributors in various states and counties have official backgrounds.
The private salt business can never be started by just a few private salt dealers. It must involve the interests of many people. Li Qingyang was born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which is where salt merchants gather. He also knows the importance of salt business. There were all kinds of tricks, so Li Qingyang understood what Luo Shengdong said as soon as he heard it. However, Li Qingyang was still a little dissatisfied with the fact that the Haihan people actually controlled the salt industry in Qiongzhou Island: "The local supply of official salt is insufficient. Are there no salt merchants who traffic it from the mainland to sell it?"
As soon as these words came out, Luo Shengdong and Lin Nan couldn't help laughing. Li Qingyang didn't know what he said wrong, so he could only watch them finish laughing.
"Mr. Li, to tell you the truth, nearly half of the official salt on the market in Guangdong is actually sold by Haihan." Luo Shengdong pointed to the people standing in the patio outside: "That group Many of them are salt merchants from the mainland. Do you think they will transport the salt back to the mainland first and then bring it back to Qiongzhou Island to sell it?”
"Then why didn't they buy the salt in Sanya and sell it nearby?" Li Qingyang asked. Luo Shengdong raised his thumb and pointed at himself: "I am responsible for the salt on Qiongzhou Island. No one else is allowed to sell salt on Qiongzhou Island without permission! The salt they buy here can only be shipped back to the mainland. Go sell it!”
Haihan's current salt production system is mainly composed of three major salt farms and a salt industry company responsible for unified sales. In order to save manpower and transportation capacity, there are many regional agents like Luo Shengdong under the salt industry company. Of course, among all the agents, Luo Shengdong is considered a special one, because he "came from the dragon" early, so the territory under his jurisdiction is almost the largest among all agents. In order to be able to take care of the business in the north of Qiongzhou Island, Luo Shengdong specially bought two replacement 400-material sea-going ships from the Ministry of Shipping this year, and has already placed an order with the Ministry of Shipping for two ships that will be delivered early next year. Exploration-class merchant ship.
Originally, it was not Luo Shengdong's responsibility to allocate quotas to these mainland salt merchants. However, the salt company's office was recently moved from Fort Victory. However, the internal decoration had not yet been completed and it was temporarily unavailable. Therefore, the Navy Yamen temporarily He acted as an agent for some functions of the salt industry company and gathered the mainland agents who came to Sanya to buy salt into this yard to wait for the quota to be distributed.
Luo Shengdong didn't think it mattered. Anyway, the Navy Yamen had nothing serious to do now. Even things like patrolling at sea had long been handled by the Haihan Navy.
Soon a subordinate came over to report that the accounts had been settled and quotas could be distributed. Luo Shengdong nodded and said: "Then let's start. Your salt industry company will calculate the accounts clearly by itself. I will not be responsible for any mistakes!"
These matters of cleaning up the accounts and issuing salt receipts were all carried out by the staff of the salt industry company. Luo Shengdong did not directly intervene. He only provided an office space to help maintain order.
Then someone stood at the door and started calling numbers according to the region: "Yong'an Office...Lemin Office...Haikang Office...Hai'an Office...Jianbao Office, whoever's name is called, go in and complete the procedures!"
When Li Qingyang heard this, he realized that this area was actually divided according to the establishment of a health department. He didn't expect to know that these so-called salt merchants probably had some official background. If he is familiar with the coast of Guangdong, he will be able to tell that the places he just called are all within the territory of Leizhou Prefecture.
These salt merchants have previously deposited the money for salt purchase into the designated account of Haihan Bank. Now they come here with the bank receipt to receive the salt collection certificate, and then go to the three major salt farms to transport salt on their own.
In fact, in terms of process alone, the method used by the salt industry company to sell salt is similar to the method used by the Ming Dynasty Salt Class to collect the salt. Both of them pay first and then receive the salt. If there is any difference, it is probably that the salt industry company will not have direct access to cash, which to a certain extent eliminates the possibility of personnel engaging in malpractice and enriching their own pockets.
Li Qingyang felt dumbfounded when he saw that the navy's courtroom was so blatantly selling private salt. But he is also very aware of the staggering benefits involved in this business. He has seen the wealth of Huaiyang salt merchants, and the area covered by Haihan private salt has a population of at least hundreds of thousands, and its profits must be certain. It’s also quite impressive.
Li Qingyang couldn't help but glance at Luo Shengdong again. He had seen many officials' family members work as salt merchants before, but rolling up his sleeves for officials and going into battle in person, and also being a military attache, really broke him a bit. past perceptions.
Luo Shengdong seemed to feel Li Qingyang's gaze, and took the initiative to say: "If Mr. Li has anything unclear, just ask, I will not hide anything I can tell."
Unlike Wei Ping, Luo Shengdong had been notified two days ago, asking him to "cooperate" with the Ministry of Security's efforts to persuade him to surrender. Luo Shengdong himself came from the surrender faction. How could he not understand the secrets involved? He immediately patted his chest and agreed.
Li Qingyang asked: "Luo Shen will focus all his energy on this private salt business. May I ask how the local coastal defense is?"
Luo Shengdong smiled and said: "How about coastal defense? I'm not afraid to tell you the truth. Starting from the Wanli period, it has been almost twenty years now. Apart from the annual salary, Yacheng Water Village has not received any more With the funding from the Ministry of War! The newest warship in the water village was built in the 17th year of Wanli. It is almost forty years old now! Do you dare to go to Qiongzhou Island to patrol the sea in this broken ship? The coastal defense in the south is all taken care of by the Haihan Militia. They have money, ships, guns and cannons, can protect the port, and can fight pirates. What else can we say to people like us who have nothing to do? Come out and help the executive committee sell salt, run errands, earn a little money, and everyone can live in harmony, what’s wrong?”
Li Qingyang was speechless for a while after listening. He had never thought that the Daming Navy stationed in Yacheng would be so poor. Of course, such a navy would not have the confidence to confront the Haihan people, who had great wealth, strong ships and powerful guns. It seemed that the Haihan people had no intention of letting the Ming Dynasty disappear completely. They even gave these gangs a part of their private salt business. **Go run errands. As Luo Shengdong said, both parties have chosen to compromise in the face of interests and miraculously managed to live in harmony.
Of course, poverty is a thing of the past, and now General Luo is one of the richest businessmen in the area. Since embracing Haihan, Luo Shengdong has almost never worried about money. When Sanya New Town first launched garden houses, Luo Shengdong was one of the first customers to place an order. What was once Yacheng Water Village's fleet has now slowly turned into Luo Shengdong's private fleet. If the executive committee hadn't required him to continue to hold the title of general, he would have shed his skin long ago and quit the army to concentrate on being a private salt dealer.
When Luo Shengdong saw that Li Qingyang was silent, he continued: "You don't have to feel discouraged. The leaders of Haihan have never said that they would go against Ming Dynasty. The executive committee has managed this place well, and Ming Dynasty is not the one who benefits the most. The common people? ”
Li Qingyang wondered whether these people still regarded the Ming Dynasty as their home. At least judging from what he had seen so far, the local people did not seem to care particularly whether this place belonged to the Ming Dynasty or the Han Dynasty.
"I guess you have a lot of things that you can't figure out right now. This is actually normal. The people who just came here are almost the same as you." Luo Shengdong smiled and said: "If you stay here longer, you will naturally understand what's going on here." .”
(End of chapter)