Chapter 992 Return to Sanya Port
March 26, 1634, Pier 4 of Sanya Port. This terminal has a total of eight trestles and 32 berths, large and small, and can accommodate sailboats with a maximum displacement of about 500 tons. It is one of the main passenger terminals in Sanya Port. Foreign ships entering and leaving Sanya Port are usually arranged to dock at this pier. Recently, due to the upcoming Haihan event, ships from various countries arriving at the port have been arriving in an endless stream every day, and Pier 4 has gradually become extremely busy.
Although there are not as many laborers and port personnel as there are at the cargo terminal, there are quite a lot of people engaged in the service industry. As soon as a passenger ship docks, people will gather near the pier and hold up various signs, large and small, to outsiders. Loudly soliciting business: "Old brand hotel, clean and comfortable, free hot water all day long, only one yuan per night!" "Agent for goods purchase, sea and land transfer, local tour guide, honest management!" "Various Haihan specialties, the lowest prices in Sanya! "Recruiting high-paying jobs, those with skills will be given priority, and you can become a naturalized citizen in as little as six months!" "Rent and buy a house, free house inspections, complete range of high, middle and low-end, and you only get commission after signing the house deed!"
"Li Dou, look at this scene, does it look like when we used to hold up light signs to chase stars at concerts?" Chen Yixin, who had just disembarked from the boat, joked to his friend Li Dou who had returned from the same boat: "It's like shouting at the top of one's lungs for the little boy. The idol’s name is the same!”
Li Dou rolled his eyes and replied, "Why don't I remember this? I've never done such a stupid thing!"
Chen Yixin laughed and stopped exposing his shortcomings. He and Li Dou were still high school graduates when they came to this time and space. Now, six or seven years later, they are already representatives of the young officials among the time travellers, each holding the power of life and death in their hands. Those past events before time travel feel like a world away when I think about them now.
"After being here for so long, this place has still changed a lot!" Chen Yixin sighed: "When we left here, the construction of Pier 4 had just started. Look at it now. I heard that construction was starting on the upper reaches of the Linchun River. It’s Pier 10.”
Li Dou responded: "You have been fighting outside. You don't know how big the trade throughput is in Sanya. Let me tell you this, there are at least forty or fifty cargo ships coming to Sanya from Penghu and Kaohsiung every month. There are so many ships. If you think about the fact that there are so many ports for trade and navigation between Daming and Sanya, how many ships will enter and exit the two ports of Sanya every month?”
Chen Yixin said with emotion: "To be honest, before I came here, I thought I would have to wait until I was thirty before I could see a decent Sanya, but the construction speed is much faster than I expected. At this rate, by the time you and I retire, By then, this place should really become a prosperous big city!”
"You should be able to see it!" When talking about this topic, Li Dou also had a longing expression on his face. When they participated in the time-travel operation, they were at the age where they loved fantasy the most, and they were full of all kinds of hopes for their future lives. They all had many ideas about what a powerful country with their own participation in ruling would be like. In the years since time travel, some of these ideas are being realized step by step.
The two of them returned to Sanya at this time, all for the purpose of this founding celebration. Chen Yixin represents the military and political agencies stationed in Zhoushan, while Li Dou represents Hong Kong Island. This was the first time that the two friends reunited since they parted ways in Penghu in 1632. Chen Yixin stopped in Hong Kong on his way south and picked up Li Dou from the same ship. In the past two years, Li Dou stayed in Penghu and never moved, while Chen Yixin's experience was much richer.
Chen Yixin was first transferred to Penghu in 1632 and served as Qian Tiandun's deputy. At the beginning of 1633, Chen Yixin led his army to Taipei and successively captured two armed strongholds in Tamsui River Chicken Coop that were originally controlled by the Spanish. After taking Taipei, he went north to Zhejiang to attack Zhoushan with the troops commanded by Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen. In July, Chen Yixin led the team to sea again, heading north to Japan's Kyushu Island and the southern waters of the Korean Peninsula, and collected a lot of valuable intelligence. In the past year, Chen Yixin's achievements have greatly exceeded those of his friends. If nothing else, he will definitely receive public commendations from the Executive Committee and the Military Commission during the founding ceremony.
Of course, Li Dou is actually doing well. He is currently the head of the Kaohsiung Port Management Committee. As a local official in charge, he still holds considerable real power. Moreover, Haihan's development plan on Taiwan Island in the past two years has been quite large. Many things have to be handled by Li Dou, and his future career prospects are also very bright. It's just that officials like Li Dou who are engaged in administrative work often have to rely on the accumulation of political qualifications to get promoted. It is unrealistic for soldiers to be promoted again and again in a short period of time based on their military exploits.
Almost all Haihan’s overseas colonies sent representatives back to participate in this celebration. They have been arriving in Hong Kong one after another since mid-March. Zhoushan Dinghai Port where Chen Yixin is located is Haihan’s farthest colony in the north. Although he We set out from Zhoushan at the beginning of the month, but encountered bad weather twice in the Fujian Strait and the Pearl River Estuary, and had to stay ashore for a few days. Fortunately, we hurriedly and slowly returned to Sanya before the ceremony, without missing the main business. .
Of course, people with status like Chen Yixin and Li Dou definitely don't need to stay in these hotels outside. There are people waiting for them at the dock. After they landed, someone brought a carriage to take them directly to Fort Victory. However, these two people brought quite a lot of luggage, and it took them a while to carry it. In fact, they originally had an apartment under their name in Port Victory, but it had been empty all year round and had become nothing more than a warehouse for stacking personal belongings. This time, the executive committee specially arranged a place for officials who came back from various places to participate in the celebration to stay in the expanded guest house. There are people there to serve tea and water. The conditions are definitely much better than living in single apartments back home. Besides, they won't live in Sanya permanently. After the celebration is over and the business is done, they will definitely go back to their own place in the north. There is no need to clear out the apartment to live in for such a few days.
Seeing the two people shouting and swarming, the people on the pier naturally knew that this was the arrival of a big shot, and they quickly moved aside to let the carriage headed by the chief leave the pier without the need for the guards with guns and ammunition to greet them. . A group of bearers squatting next to them, waiting for guests, saw it and were even more envious. Most of them were new immigrants who had not yet naturalized in Hong Kong. Apart from their physical strength, they had no other skills and could only do something like this. Physical work.
However, the job of a sedan bearer is not easy. He also faces competition. The salary of carrying a sedan chair is actually about the same as that of a carriage. It is even cheaper for short distances, but the speed and comfort are far inferior to that of a carriage. He can take ten jobs a day, but The bearer does not have such good physical strength. Moreover, riding a horse-drawn carriage is more grand, and wealthy guests often choose horse-drawn carriages instead of the bumpier human-powered sedans.
There are also newly launched two-wheeled rickshaws recently, which have also taken away a lot of business from the bearers. This kind of rickshaw can carry two people and simple luggage, but only one person can pull it. Although the speed is not as fast as a carriage, it is still much faster than a sedan carried by two people. After some bearers have saved a certain amount of savings, they will also buy a rickshaw and change their career. After all, two people have to split the bill to lift the sedan, but in a rickshaw, one person only pays for it, and the income level is still better than that of the bearers.
Fortunately, the rickshaw has less privacy because its hood is semi-open, and the train station is not far from the port. There is a lot of coal ash in the air. In this regard, it is still not as good as a sedan, but it is better in the city of Victory Port. There are more edges. The new four-wheeled carriages are more expensive to build, and most of them are used by the government. Not many private carriages are used for passenger transport, so they have not had a big impact on the livelihood of the bearers yet. When carriages are too busy, sedans are also an acceptable alternative. For example, the number of passenger ships arriving at the port has increased significantly in recent days, and all four-wheeled carriages have been requisitioned by the government to pick up distinguished guests. Therefore, the business of sedan bearers is still Not bad. Although the naturalized cadres who arrived on the same boat as Chen Yixin and Li Dou were not qualified enough to ride in a special carriage, they could still afford to hire a sedan or a rickshaw. All the sedans and rickshaws on the dock were wiped out, except for A large sedan with four people was left parked nearby. When someone came to ask, a man in black next to him bowed and said: "I'm sorry, this sedan has been hired. My master will use it soon."
Seeing the crowd slowly dispersing, the bearer squatting next to him became a little impatient: "Steward Wang, when will your master arrive? It's been more than an hour... Why don't you let us pick him up first? How about a quick trip to the train station? It won’t take you long to pick up someone, what do you think?”
"You're so panicked, can this shipping date be exactly right?" The middle-aged man known as Butler Wang scolded: "Didn't we agree to keep your sedan for half a day? You feel itchy when you see people taking over business. ? Stay away and don’t think about it. Who is my master? You little people who have not yet been naturalized should be careful. If you offend him, you will not be able to make a living in this place! ”
Butler Wang's rebuke was indeed effective, and the bearers immediately became silent and did not dare to answer any more questions. Among them, the longest time they have been in Sanya is only a month and a half. Two of them are new immigrants who have just come out of the quarantine observation period. They don’t understand any local rules and how dare they offend what Butler Wang calls the master. But having said that, Butler Wang had indeed paid enough for their big sedan chair, and naturally he would not allow them to leave temporarily to take on other business.
"Which master is so powerful?" A voice suddenly sounded, and then a group of people came out from behind a pile of goods nearby.
As soon as the leader showed his face, Butler Wang recognized him. His legs went weak and he almost knelt down on the spot: "Chief Zhou, I just said it casually. Don't take it seriously... I just want to scare these sedans." Husband, I have no other meaning!”
The person who made Butler Wang change his attitude 180 degrees is Zhou Hengxing, the director of the Sanya Port Management Committee. Although his position is still the director, he has the final say on all matters of Sanya Port, large and small. The actual power in his hands is actually higher than that of the leaders of most overseas colonies. Everyone who travels here all year round knows him.
Zhou Hengxing happened to be passing by this place on his inspection tour today. He just met Chen Yixin and Li Dou's carriage outside the port. They stopped the carriage and exchanged greetings with Zhou Hengxing. After seeing off the two juniors, Zhou Hengxing happened to hear Butler Wang scolding the bearer. The other party recognized him, but he didn't know which servant this person was. However, from the tone of the other party's words just now, he should probably be someone with some wealth.
"Who is your master?" Zhou Hengxing repeated again. He didn't really want to teach Butler Wang a lesson, but was just out of curiosity.
But when Butler Wang heard it, the smell was different. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. When he was about to confess to Zhou Hengxing again, he saw a sailboat slowly approaching the harbor. At the dock, he quickly said: "Chief, my master's ship has arrived."
This sailing ship was actually the same as the ship Chen Yixin and his party were on. It was an exploration-class multi-purpose ship. The difference was that Chen Yixin's ship was equipped with weapons, while this ship had no gun windows on the side and no collision angle on the bow. The size of the sail and mast are slightly smaller, obviously it is a civilian version. Zhou Hengxing could clearly see that the flag hanging on the ship's mast had black characters on a white background, which was the character "Luo".
"It turns out it's Luo Shengdong!" Zhou Hengxing smiled, waved his hand towards Butler Wang and said, "Okay, I'm an old acquaintance, no introduction is needed."
As the first Ming Dynasty official to take refuge with Haihan, Luo Shengdong seized the opportunity to change his destiny and became the object of Haihan's support from a prisoner. If he hadn't been unwilling to work hard in his official career, he might have been able to be promoted all the way through Haihan's support like Xu Xinsu in Fujian. But even if he has not handled his own work at all in the past few years, and even the Yacheng Water Village has been disbanded early, his official position has still been promoted from the Chief Bai who led the troops in the Border Water Village to the Chief Soldier of Qiongzhou Prefecture.
Of course, this was just a false position without actual military power, and Luo Shengdong no longer relied on the court salary for a living. His current identity is the largest salt merchant in Guangdong and Guangxi, and he is also the general agent of Haihan Salt in Guangdong and Guangxi. He personally sells millions of kilograms of salt every year, earning a lot of money from this. The profits he made made him no longer interested in being an official and leading soldiers.
The scale of business has expanded year by year, and Luo Shengdong's scope of activities has long been no longer limited to Hainan Island. In fact, he may spend more time in the mainland now. After all, the market in the mainland is far better than that in Hainan Island, and it has been Haihan is in complete control, and naturally he will not be allowed to sell salt here anymore. Therefore, Luo Shengdong's main market has now moved to the mainland, and he spends less time on Hainan Island. But for a major event like the founding of Haihan, he would definitely come back to witness it with his own eyes.
(End of chapter)