Chapter 558: A show of force
After talking with the ship's boss, Yan Mingjun became more depressed. He tried to prove that the Haihan people's rule in Qiongzhou had no legal name, but it was obvious that the ship's boss, who had been favored by Haihan, did not care about this. Ordinary people are more concerned about who can make their lives better than who is orthodox. However, the achievements of the Haihan people in this regard are obviously much better than those of the local government, so that the image of the government among the people has gradually changed. It has become a decoration and has little sense of existence.
This time it was Li Jin's turn to comfort him: "Brother Yan, don't pay too much attention to the remarks of these vulgar people. Uneducated people don't know the importance of the court's orthodoxy. I heard that Danzhou is a place where culture and education are prosperous. I guess there will be no such thing." Never hear these disobedient remarks again.”
Yan Mingjun's expression softened slightly, and he nodded in response: "Brother Li is right, Danzhou has always been the cultural center of Qiongzhou Island, with numerous talents. Presumably, under the guidance of many sages, the local people will not be so easily influenced. The bewitchment of the Haihan people.”
The ship boss had no time to chat with the two officials at this time. His ship had to load a batch of goods from the mainland before departure. However, because the Ministry of Shipping had informed him in advance, his ship would no longer carry additional passengers.
In the afternoon of that day, this shuttle boat that regularly travels between Fucheng and Danzhou departed from Pier A3 of Haikou Port at the scheduled time and sailed westward toward Danzhou. The voyage from Haikou Port to Danzhou's Baimajing Pier is about 80 nautical miles. At the average speed of an ordinary Fu ship, it will take nearly a day to arrive. However, the sail rope system of this ship has been modified, and the speed is compared to Ordinary fortune ships have improved by about 30%, and the time required to complete this voyage has been reduced to fifteen or six hours. The Haihan warship, which had escorted the official fleet all the way, would no longer continue to perform escort missions during this voyage.
When night fell that night, the ship had already sailed into the waters within Lingao County. Yan Mingjun woke up the next morning and went out to ask the sailors. He learned that he had reached the Yangpu Peninsula waters north of Danzhou Bay. After bypassing the peninsula to the southwest, he reached Baimajing Pier at the entrance of Danzhou Bay.
After the two alternate officers had a simple breakfast with their families and entourage on the ship, they heard the ship's boss shouting loudly on the deck: "The White Horse Well is ahead!"
The two officials came to the deck and saw a strait about a mile wide in front of them. The ship's boss explained that after passing through this strait, they entered Danzhou Bay.
The two of them were really tired after traveling on the sea for many days after setting off from Guangzhou. Now that they were about to arrive at the terminal, they both felt a little relieved. Although I don’t know what the current situation is in Danzhou, it is better than drifting on the sea all day long.
After the ship sailed into Danzhou Bay, it immediately turned to the southeast and docked. Both Yan Mingjun and Li Jin noticed that the wharf here was the same as Haikou Port. It was still a traditional wharf, not like Lijiazhuang and Wanshan Port. Paved with cement. However, when the ship docked, they noticed that construction was taking place on the coast not far away, and workers were constantly laying small loads of mud on the dock floor.
"That's Haihan cement!" Yan Mingjun introduced to Li Jin: "This material looks like mud, but after the craftsmen smooth it out and dry it in the shade, it will be as solid as a rock in a few days."
Li Jin responded: "Looking at this posture, Haihan is planning to build a lot of construction here. Brother Yan, they really don't regard themselves as outsiders!"
Yan Mingjun and Li Jin don't know how much it costs to build a Haihan-style concrete pier, but there is no doubt that the cost of building the pier must be paid by the Haihan people themselves, and they will be here Spending large sums of money on construction is enough to show that they have full control over the local area.
Before landing, as always, someone boarded the ship to register them and check the people on the ship. After everything was verified, they were allowed to land.
Li Jin had sharp eyes. As soon as he got off the boat, he saw the flags of "Qiongzhou Navy", "Hainan Guard" and "White Horse Inspection Department" on the pier. He immediately felt confident, greeted Yan Mingjun, and strode over, planning to Look at the situation of your colleagues and subordinates in the future. But when he arrived, Li Jin was immediately dumbfounded.
A pavilion was built under these two banners, and there were seven or eight people wearing Ming army uniforms. One of them looked like he was the Chief Qian of the Wei Suo, but these people were not equipped with any weapons, and their His attention was not on the dock at all, he was sitting around playing with the horse crane. This kind of entertainment card originated in the Qi period of tomorrow, which is the prototype of mahjong in later generations.
Li Jin coughed loudly, and someone turned back to look at him and said, "What are you doing? If you need to do something, turn left and go to the row of red brick houses. Just go to the one with the Port Services Center sign on the door."
Li Jin held back his anger and said: "I am the new general Li Jin appointed by the imperial court to Danzhou!"
"Hey, it's Mr. Li!" Mr. Qian's attention was finally diverted from the horse tag in his hand: "Why are you standing there in a daze! Get up quickly and give up your seat to Mr. Li!"
"No need!" Li Jin became even more angry when he saw that Mr. Qian didn't stand up to reply: "Who are you?"
Mr. Qian slowly put down the horse tag in his hand, looked at Li Jin with a half-smile and said, "My subordinate is Xiao Yin, Mr. Qian of the Danzhou Guard Army. If Master Li is willing, you can call me Xiao Laosan."
Li Jin asked: "How come I heard that this Danzhou Qianzong's surname is Tian?"
Xiao Laosan responded: "Mr. Tian Qian unfortunately died in battle last year while resisting the pirate siege. Xiaguan used to serve in Changhua County and he just took over."
This Xiao Laosan is the boss Xiao who used to be stationed in Changhua County. Not long after the railway project from Changhua to Shilu started, he was completely bribed by Qiao Zhiya. Later, Haihan donated a position as an alternate to President Qian for him. When Danzhou was attacked last year, the local garrison generals and President Qian were eager to seize him, so the vacant position was just cheap. Xiao Laosan. However, after he was transferred to Danzhou to take up a post, it was actually not much different from that in Changhua. He was still just a puppet following Haihan's arrangements. Of course, this money is definitely better than when I was the general manager in Changhua County.
"You call yourself a subordinate, but you should know that your position is inferior, but you sit and talk to me. What's the point?" Li Jin saw that this guy had no self-consciousness at all, so he couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Lord Li, please calm down. We are all working for the leader...for the imperial court. Why bother with these details?" Xiao Laosan didn't listen to him at all. He said something nice, but continued to sit still. . "Here comes someone!" Li Jin shouted, and four of his soldiers immediately came over.
"What are you doing? Want to do something? Brothers, show off!" Xiao Laosan's face darkened, and he shouted, and several people present reached out and dug into his arms.
Li Jin was immediately startled and secretly thought that he would suffer a loss. Although his soldiers were all equipped with single swords, they were all detained by the militiamen before disembarking, claiming that they were so-called "control knives" and could only be returned to them with the approval of the local Haihan chief. However, it seems that the local Haihan person in charge did not arrive at the dock in time to greet them for some unknown reason. Therefore, these soldiers are now bare-handed, and they are only orderlies and domestic servants. Being bodyguards and thugs is purely a part-time job. , not to mention how powerful the force is. Even if the seven or eight people on the opposite side took out only daggers, it would still be enough for them to drink a pot.
Unexpectedly, what these Ming soldiers took out from their arms was not a weapon such as a dagger, but a bamboo whistle. When they put it in their mouths, they blew a sharp sound that could be heard hundreds of feet away.
Before Li Jin and his men could figure out what was going on, a group of men in black had already arrived running. These people were holding short sticks in one hand and rattan shields in the other. They were immediately summoned by Xiao Laosan to control them. Li Jin and others were surrounded.
The leading man in black pointed at Li Jin and others with a short stick and shouted: "Everyone squat down! Hold your heads with both hands!"
Li Jin would naturally not do such a shameful thing. After hesitating for a moment, the man in black shouted: "Do it!"
Immediately, sticks came from all directions. This short stick copied the style of the American Aetco 113 police baton. The stick was two feet long and one inch in diameter. It was made of solid wood and had non-slip texture and a metal ring for hanging on a belt clip. It's no joke to hit the body with this thing. If you master the strength well, you can break the bones.
Several of Li Jin's soldiers raised their hands to block a few attacks, and were quickly knocked to the ground by random sticks. At least Li Jin himself had some skills. He raised his foot and kicked over a man in black in front of him, and then he saw an opportunity and rushed out of the encirclement. However, in just a moment, Li Jin found that two more groups of men in black arrived, and dispersed the group outside, controlling his escape route.
Li Jin only regretted that he didn't have a weapon in his hand. If he had a single sword, he would still be confident that he could break out. But now he is bare-handed and his opponents are outnumbered. As long as he is hit with a few sticks in a row and his movements slow down, he may be knocked to the ground.
"Stop, stop, stop! What are you doing!"
With a shout, the men in black who had originally planned to surround Li Jin stopped their movements and separated on both sides. Only then did Li Jin see his savior, a dark-skinned Haihan man. He was also surrounded by several Haihan militiamen with live ammunition.
Although this man's skin color is quite close to that of the locals, Li Jin can still tell at a glance that he is not a Mingren, because the confidence, calmness, and feeling of being in control of everything on his face are the basic characteristics of ordinary Mingren. Won't have it.
Before Li Jin could speak, Xiao Laosan had already approached the Haihan man and explained: "Director Zhang, this is Mr. Li Jin, the new general from Guangzhou. He had a misunderstanding with his subordinate just now, so he called the police. Brothers, come here and maintain order.”
"Why are you taking action to maintain order again!" The person Xiao Laosan calls "Director Zhang" is Zhang Xin, the head of the Danzhou Provisional Management Committee. According to the arrangement, he should be here today to greet the two alternate officials. But something happened before that delayed the trip. I hurried to Baima Well and happened to encounter the scene just now. If he hadn't stopped in time, Li Jin would probably have had to eat a stick before he was done.
"Mr. Li was frightened. Were you not injured just now?" Zhang Xin's rebuke to the police force was just one sentence. In fact, giving the new officials a warning was one of his prepared strategies, but he did not expect that Li Jin would arrive. The dock took the initiative to stir up trouble. Although Xiao Laosan did not get Zhang Xin's prior instructions, he was not someone who would take immediate losses. When he saw that the momentum was not right, he immediately followed his usual practice and blew the whistle for help.
Xiao Laosan and his gang were placed here mainly to show off to the outside world, making this place seem to be still under the control of Ming Dynasty, but the real ones responsible for law enforcement were the police and militia controlled by Haihan. Although under the banner of "Qiongzhou Navy", "Hainan Guard" and "Baima Inspection Department", in fact, only the people under Xiao Laosan's leadership are here to make up the numbers. This is different from Sanya's Daming Navy and Inspection Department. Working together is also a wonderful experience.
Li Jin was not stupid, and he quickly realized the reason for this situation. Although he was very angry, he also understood that a powerful dragon could not defeat a local snake - not to mention that this Haihan was not an ordinary local snake at all, but a full-scale local snake. The local emperor became emperor.
Seeing that Qianhu named Xiao was so familiar with Haihan officials, Li Jin probably understood why he treated him so blatantly as if he was nothing. In the territory controlled by the Haihan people, who could have a bigger backer than Haihan? Obviously, the identity of a Ming official is not popular here. At most, this identity can be more convenient when helping the Haihan people.
Li Jin knew that if he fell out with the Haihan people again, no one would be able to save him. He suppressed the anger in his heart, cupped his fists at Li Jin and said, "I'm fine, but I'm just a few of them." What should we do if our soldiers are harmed for no reason?”
"Hurry up and send these people to bandage the wounds and check if there are any broken bones!" Zhang Xin didn't say anything nonsense, and immediately arranged for people to help or carry these unlucky people away: "They should all be skin injuries. , I will arrange doctor treatment, please rest assured, Mr. Li.”
Yan Mingjun also rushed over while he was talking. He saw Li Jin walking into the pavilion with the military flag in the distance. He was waiting for his luggage and family to disembark before meeting him. Unexpectedly, a fight broke out over there within a moment. By the time he rushed over panting, Zhang Xin had already arrived to stop the farce.
After Zhang Xin and Yan Mingjun also saw the courtesy, they took the initiative to greet them: "You two adults have worked hard all the way and must be very tired. I have prepared a carriage to send you two back to the city to rest. I will hold a banquet for you two adults in the evening. Wash the dust.”
"Thank you, Director Zhang." Although Yan Mingjun didn't know how senior Haihan's "Director" was, when he heard others calling him that, he just followed the local customs.
(End of chapter)