Chapter 557 What people want
"You..." The fat official pointed his finger at the Haihan officer and was so angry that he didn't know how to retort.
Officer Haihan continued to say expressionlessly: "It's okay if you don't want to be inspected. We will send you back to Guangzhou by ship immediately."
"You're such a cunning person, aren't you afraid of being punished by the court!" The fat official still shouted with a stern expression and refused to admit defeat.
The officer's face turned gloomy: "My lord, I think you probably haven't understood the current situation on Qiongzhou Island. If you want to spend your term on the island in peace, you'd better keep your mouth shut first. Beware of trouble coming from your mouth!”
After the warning, the officer ordered the soldiers on standby: "Search this ship carefully and don't let go of anything suspicious! If anyone obstructs it again, they will be treated as private pirates!"
The incident was not a big deal, and after receiving a stern warning, the officer who attempted to cause trouble quickly silenced himself. Because he also remembered that before setting off from Guangzhou, Liu Qian had warned them not to have conflicts with the Haihan militiamen after arriving in Qiongzhou, because few of these militiamen were Han and did not have much respect for the imperial court. , let alone what the Ming Law is. After the chaos in Qiongzhou, the imperial court no longer had much actual control over the local area. Once it conflicts with these militias, the situation will be difficult to control. And given the temperament of the Haihan people, they would probably choose to protect their shortcomings instead of maintaining the dignity of the court.
After completing the inspection and registration procedures required by the Haihan people, the officials were finally allowed to land. All the officials were gathered together, and then a Haihan man stepped onto a simple wooden platform built from cargo boxes to address them.
"My lords, welcome to Qiongzhou. I am Qiu Yuan, the Qiongbei area affairs director appointed by the Haihan Executive Committee. Before your arrival, I will be responsible for coordinating the post-war order restoration and management agency reconstruction of the entire Qiongbei area. I hope you will After you take office, you can cooperate with our arrangements and work with us to restore social order in northern Qiongzhou as soon as possible and stabilize people's hearts.”
Qiu Yuan paused and then said: "The adults who take over here in Qiongzhou Fucheng, please follow our guides to the Yamen to go through the handover procedures later. The adults who take over in other states and counties can choose to go to their posts by land or sea. Later Someone will register for you, and we will be responsible for arranging the itinerary on the road. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask the reception staff next to you.”
After Qiu Yuan finished his brief speech, he left on his own, leaving behind a group of Ming officials looking at each other. What they originally thought was that even if there was no welcome ceremony, at least a reception banquet should be arranged. After all, when they stopped at Lijiazhuang and Wanshan Port on the way, the local Haihan person in charge arranged a simple banquet to welcome them. , but on the ground, the only preferential treatment was canceled. This gap made the officials find it a bit unacceptable for a while.
"It's going to be hard in the future!" Yan Mingjun stood at the back of the crowd and sighed in a low voice.
Li Jin next to him heard it clearly and turned his head and asked: "Why does Brother Yan say this?"
"When they were in Lijiazhuang and Wanshan Port, the Haihan people had to worry about the opinions of others, but when they arrived in Qiongzhou Mansion, they had nothing to worry about." Yan Mingjun said with a wry smile: "In other words, They no longer need to take special care of our feelings.”
"We are officials of the Ming Dynasty, and they don't dare to do anything to us." Although Li Jin somewhat agreed with Yan Mingjun's views, he still refused to let go.
"Da Ming... I'm afraid that in the eyes and hearts of these people, Da Ming has long since lost his place!" Yan Mingjun felt agitated, but he still did not say this out loud for fear of being overheard by others.
Soon, staff came to lead the way and took away several officials who would take over the official positions in Fucheng. The remaining people have to register one by one and arrange their next trip.
The only officials who came to Danzhou to take over this time were Yan Mingjun and Li Jin. The person responsible for registering them was a dark-skinned young man who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old. Yan Mingjun asked curiously: "Are you a Li or a Miao?"
The young man stopped the pen in his hand, looked up at Yan Mingjun, and responded coldly: "I am a Haihan from Annan!"
"It turns out that he immigrated from Annan." Yan Mingjun nodded and said, "I think you write this word in a decent way, but was it taught by Haihan people?"
The young man responded: "Exactly."
"But there are many problems with your writing. There are no strokes, and many words are not even structured correctly..." Yan Mingjun was born in Juren, so his knowledge is naturally good. At a glance, he found that there were many problems with the words written by this young man. .
"This is Haihan script. It is easy to learn, recognize and write. Haihan schools all learn this new script." Seeing that Yan Mingjun's conversation was polite, the young man patiently explained to him.
After hearing this, Yan Mingjun's face darkened again: "Then the local students will not take the imperial examination again in the future?"
The young man responded: "The imperial examination? What's the use of it?"
"If you pass the imperial examination, you can become a high official!" Li Jin next to him couldn't bear to listen and couldn't help but interjected.
"Like two adults?" The young man looked at the two of them and couldn't help but smile: "It doesn't matter if the senior officials don't do it, I'd rather follow the leaders to do things."
Li Jin's face also darkened: "Are you looking down on us?"
The young man shook his head and said: "That's not true. Anyway, when you two go to the local level, you have to serve for the executive committee. Why should you be so clear about it? Officials in the Ming Dynasty are just an identity and are of no use to me." "Being an executive committee member." Will you serve?" Yan Mingjun noticed this sentence: "We are officials of the imperial court, how can we serve this Haihan Executive Committee?"
The young man waved his hands and said: "I won't argue with you two on this issue. You will understand it naturally after you arrive in Danzhou. Here are your letters of introduction and itinerary. You two chose to go by boat. You can go to the pier with your letter of introduction. Take the shuttle boat we arranged and depart in the afternoon. We will arrive at Danzhou Baimajing Pier tomorrow morning. As for the luggage of the two of you and your entourage, someone will take it to the ship for you later and there will be someone responsible for receiving you. .”
Yan Mingjun took the two documents with still wet ink from the young man and saw that the seal stamped on the place where the payment was signed was not the Qiongzhou government office, but the circular seal of the "Qiongzhou Fucheng Provisional Management Committee". There was an inexplicable "Qiongzhou Fucheng Provisional Management Committee" in the middle of the seal. Five-pointed star pattern. The seal was obviously stamped on a blank document first, and the boy just filled in their names, destination and other information on the sealed document.
"Sky boat?" Yan Mingjun frowned and said, "Can't you prepare another boat for us?"
The young man responded: "The shuttle boat is arranged for free. You can hire a boat yourself. However, due to the recent crackdown on piracy, the Qiongzhou Strait has been closed to navigation. There are very few boats that are allowed to go to sea. If you want to hire a boat, this trip may be difficult." It will cost hundreds of taels of silver..."
"Forget it, how about taking the land route?" Li Jin interrupted before he could finish. A hundred taels of silver is not a small sum of money for him. Although he received two big red envelopes when he came to take up the post, he was not able to get back the investment he invested in buying this position. Now of course he has to save some money. Save it.
The young man shook his head and said: "It is more than two hundred miles from Fucheng to Danzhou, and you can only go there by yourself. I personally do not recommend that you two adults make this choice."
"Just hire a few carriages for us." Yan Mingjun said: "The land route is not closed, so it won't cost much to take this trip, right?"
"It's not a matter of money. You two adults have probably seen that Haikou Port is being renovated and the sediment accumulated in the port berths is being dredged. In addition, a new port is being built ten miles west of here. Not to mention horse-drawn carriages, even cattle are being built near Fucheng. They have all been requisitioned to pull trucks at these two construction sites. Even if the two adults are willing to pay a high price, they can't hire a truck at the moment." The young man explained patiently: "Don't worry, adults, this ship is also ours. Although the regular ship registered under the name of the Han Shipping Department is not as good as a special passenger ship, it is not enough for the two of them to sleep in the cargo hold. After taking this letter of introduction, the person in charge on the ship will naturally make arrangements for the two of them and their entourage. Everything.”
When the two left the registration office, they were still a little confused. But one thing they all realized was that Haihan's control over the Qiongbei region exceeded their expectations before coming here. If the young man did not lie, then the Haihan people not only had the ability to expropriate the cattle and horses near Fucheng and organize the construction of large-scale projects here, but also put all the shipping industry on the Qiongbei coastline under their own management.
The two accompanied their families and followed the instructions in the letter of introduction to find Pier A3 where the shuttle boat docked. Li Jin shouted from afar: "That's the ship!"
A large wooden sign about three feet long was hung on the side of a lucky ship, with the words "Fucheng - Danzhou" written in ink on it. The ship's number "Qiong Haiyun" was also written on the side of the ship below the wooden sign. Twenty-seventh" is the same as the note on the letter of introduction.
After the ship boss checked the letter of introduction, he let them get on the ship and arranged the only four cabins on the ship for them. Soon after, someone sent their luggage to the ship. Yan Mingjun took the opportunity to chat with the boss of the ship and found out that he was originally a refugee from Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture two years ago. He happened to encounter the Haihan people who were in charge of food and housing and were recruiting immigrants, so he brought his family to Qiongzhou. Because he was a fisherman before, and after he came here, he was assigned to work at sea, but he no longer fished, but started shipping.
Yan Mingjun asked: "It is said that the Haihan people have created a big situation in Yazhou. What kind of situation is it? Can you tell me about it?"
The boss of the boat responded: "You are a stupid person. I haven't been to many places and I don't know how to describe them. But Sanya is indeed a good place. It is much more prosperous than this city. The people live and work in peace and contentment. There is no need to worry about any natural or man-made disasters. As long as you have persistence With the committee here, there is no problem that cannot be solved.”
"There is no government in the local area?" Li Jin didn't feel right when he heard this, so he immediately interrupted and asked.
"Yes, the Yamen in Yacheng are still there, and there are also offices of the Inspection Department and the Navy here in Sanya, but they are no longer in charge and are just showing off to the outside world." The captain laughed and said, "Two I have come to Qiongzhou to serve as an official, and I will be very happy.”
Yan Mingjun asked in confusion: "How do you say this?"
"When you are an official in Qiongzhou, you don't have to do anything. The executive committee can manage the place in an orderly manner, and adults don't need to worry about it..." the ship boss said nonchalantly.
Both of them felt their hearts sink when they heard this. There is no doubt that in some places on Qiongzhou Island, the functions of the government have been completely eclipsed by the Haihan people. It is not the Ming government that governs the local area, but the Haihan Executive Committee who came from behind. But it goes without saying that it is difficult for local officials to have a good response to this change. Whether it is economic, military or governance capabilities, the Haihan people seem to be much stronger. And once they use their usual method of opening a road with banknotes, how many officials can resist this temptation? At least the two of them were unable to resist, and both accepted the money sent by the Haihan people in Guangzhou.
"You two adults, don't think there is anything wrong with this. I see that the adults in Yacheng are living happily. The royal court's salary is quite a penny, and Haihan will also pay them special fees. You don’t have to worry about local government affairs, I don’t know how comfortable it is!” The boat boss sighed: “A few adults also bought real estate in Sanya and moved to Sanya to live in Sanya. How comfortable and comfortable this life is!”
"Don't you think...it's not the government but the executive committee that manages the place? Is there anything wrong with this?" Yan Mingjun couldn't help but want to make sure again.
"Improper? What's wrong?" The boat boss sneered: "When the government was in power, no one took care of local disasters. The villain mortgaged his family's house and fishing boat to earn enough money for his family to live on. Months of food. After all the life-saving food was eaten, the government still had no way of recruiting people, so the villain had no choice but to flee for survival. Since he arrived at Haihan's place, he has never lived without food and clothing. The leaders also gave him a place to live. Allowing children to go to school for free, do you think the government can give such a life to a villain? ”
"But the Haihan people are unorthodox after all..." Yan Mingjun was about to say a few words of persuasion, but the ship's boss shook his head and interrupted him: "Ignorant people don't understand whether they are orthodox or not, and they don't need to understand. I only know, follow. The leaders of Haihan work hard, have no worries about food and clothing, have stable income, and live better day by day. This is better than the hungry orthodox people, right? ”
"You are talking nonsense!" Yan Mingjun also felt that he did not know how to refute him, so he had to classify it forcefully.
Chuanlao Dadao: "It doesn't matter what the adults think. Whether it is good or bad, we ordinary people naturally have a strong balance in our hearts."
(End of chapter)