Chapter 1087 Propaganda Methods
Shandong has a strong folk custom since ancient times, and many people have self-organized local armed forces. It is also normal to form associations to protect themselves during times of war. Although the rebels of the Denglai Rebellion had crossed the sea and fled to Liaodong, the social order in the Jiaodong Peninsula did not fundamentally improve. Various gangs that emerged during the war replaced the rebels and became the new public security after the war. Threats, and the local garrison troops suffered huge losses in the war, making it difficult to effectively control and attack them. The armed defense system organized by the people on their own in villages became the norm during this period.
Some refugees who lost their homes during the war also chose to attach themselves to these villages that were stronger and had a certain ability to protect themselves, selling their labor force in exchange for living space. Large villages like Yangjiazhuang collected hundreds of refugees sporadically after the war. However, because these refugees had already solved their most urgent survival problems, they did not have such a strong desire to change their living environment. Even if they suffer a certain degree of oppression because they depend on others, Yangjiazhuang, which can provide the most basic living conditions, is probably more reliable than a strange environment with unpredictable prospects.
It's just that as an outsider, Haihan still lacks understanding of this complex situation, and the publicity strategy adopted at the beginning may not have immediate results. Moreover, Haihan used cavalry as propaganda implementers. This super-standard configuration was indeed too eye-catching in the post-war Jiaodong Peninsula. How could ordinary people dare to believe that they had a good future?
The cavalry rested for more than an hour on a hillside far away from Yangjiazhuang. The cavalry took out bean cakes from their saddlebags, broke them into pieces and fed them to the horses. This bean cake is considered to be a fine feed, and it cannot be fed much in a day. During the mission, the war horse still mainly relies on the grass in the wild as its staple food. People in Zhuangzi still maintained a high level of vigilance during this period, and the suspension bridge entering and exiting the village was never lowered. Sun Zhen held up the telescope and looked at it for a long time, and in the end he could only sigh helplessly.
"If it were operated by your special operations battalion, how long would it take to capture this place?" Wang Jinmin came over and asked.
Sun Zhen glanced sideways at Wang Jinmin, and said calmly: "Half a stick of incense! If there are cannons available, it should be faster. Don't feel unconvinced, can we rely on your cavalry to attack the city and take out the stronghold?" Take my advice and walk around this kind of village!”
Wang Jinmin snorted and said: "Don't forget that our cavalry are also infantry when dismounted. We also know the combat skills that infantry should have! How can this small village be difficult for my cavalry camp?"
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Sun Zhen shook his head and said: "You are taking it for granted. The battlefield situation is changing rapidly, and you cannot simply use the combat skills you know. The combat skills you learned in the military camp may not be suitable for the current environment. Just like this I have been practicing horse riding for more than a month, and I know all the essentials, but I often fail to ride.”
"You've been practicing for so long and you still can't do it. You're stupid!" Wang Jinmin complained unceremoniously.
Arguments are arguments, but Yangjiazhuang's wariness towards the Haihan Horse Team is obvious, and there is currently no better way to gain the trust of these villagers. All they can do is leave here and go to the next goal. . Jiahe River is the main water vein in Fushan County. Almost all the villages in this area are concentrated along the Jiahe River, even Fushan County is no exception. Therefore, it was not difficult for the cavalry to find people's settlements. Soon they were in the south Found another village.
Although this village is also wary of the Haihan people coming in groups like Yangjiazhuang, it does not have as complete a defense system as Yangjiazhuang, so the panicked villagers just piled flat carts, door panels, gravel and branches Being used as a roadblock at the entrance of the village is obviously not comparable to the trenches and suspension bridges surrounding Yangjiazhuang.
Wang Jinmin once again came to the village entrance single-handedly and repeated his previous words to the villagers hiding behind the roadblock. Of course, this attempt undoubtedly failed to gain the trust of the villagers, so he had to throw Haihan's printed letter from the air again. Notice leaflets as a way to communicate indirectly with people in the village.
But this time it seemed to have achieved different results. After Wang Jinmin waited at the entrance of the village for a while, someone actually asked him to dismount and enter the village to consult face-to-face about the disaster relief matters mentioned on the notice. Wang Jinmin immediately signaled to his companions at the rear, then dismounted and walked to the roadblock. Several men came out of the village carrying hunting forks and sticks. After searching the man and finding no weapons, they moved the roadblock three feet away and let Wang Jinmin enter the village.
After Wang Jinmin entered the village, someone quickly brought him to an old man, who seemed to be the person in charge of the village.
"Hunter, your notice said that there are kind people distributing relief food on Zhifu Island, but is it true?" The white-haired old man asked excitedly, holding Haihan's notice in his hand.
Wang Jinmin nodded and said: "My master is a kind man from the south. In order to save the people of Shandong, he specially transported millions of catties of rice and grains. Now they are piled on Zhifu Island. Is it true or false? When you go there, you will naturally It’s clear.”
The old man asked again: "What's the point of receiving relief food?"
Wang Jinmin shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter. As long as you go to Zhifu Island and keep it, you can have a bite to eat. Doesn't my husband think this is a lie?"
Someone next to him responded: "Earlier, some people distributed food in the name of disaster relief. However, after arriving at the local area, they discovered that bandits had set a trap. All young and strong people were forced to join the gang, and all women and children were kidnapped. Only the old, weak and sick were taken away. I was driven back, but I didn’t even see half a grain of rice.”
Another person also said: "Some squires said they were releasing food for disaster relief, but when they went there, they claimed that the food had been released. After asking about it, they found out that they were acting for the government to gain a reputation as a good father-in-law."
Wang Jinmin said: "It's understandable that you are worried. My master owns hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land in the south, and is good at maritime trade. His wealth is as rich as any country in the world, and it is enough to save the people of Shandong. To be honest, I am the same. I escaped from Dengzhou Prefecture after the Denglai Rebellion broke out. Now I have traveled all the way back from the south to help my fellow villagers. If you want to find a long-term livelihood, you only need to go to Zhifu Island and my master will do it. Arrange one by one.”
The old man asked: "Even if your master has gold and silver, there are so many refugees in Shandong, aren't you afraid of being overwhelmed?"
Wang Jinmin said: "It's not enough to just eat and do nothing. Disaster relief is about rescuing emergencies, not the poor. My master provides not only relief, but also corresponding self-rescue models." Wang Jinmin has also received relevant publicity training before, and for Haihan He was relatively familiar with the immigration policy. Since these village names were willing to listen, he would seize the opportunity to explain the policies he knew well. Then he explained in detail the benefits of Haihan's introduction of immigrants. Watch the villagers. He also knew that what these ordinary people were most concerned about was land policy. Although Haihan's land was in public ownership, the right to use it was private. Apart from the fact that it could not be transferred or sold privately, there was actually no fundamental difference from Ming Dynasty's land policy. It was just a name change. The land ownership belonging to the emperor was transferred to the Haihan Executive Committee.
Of course, these details do not need to be explained so clearly at the moment. Wang Jinmin only needs to let these people know that as long as they are willing to follow Haihan's arrangements and immigrate to the south, they can obtain land allocated for personal cultivation according to different standards in different regions. For rural people who have been farming for generations, land is undoubtedly their foundation. In Shandong, the land annexation trend after the Denglai Rebellion was very violent. In order to survive, the people who lost their means of production had to sell their land in exchange for life-saving food. This situation was particularly prominent in Denglai and Denglai states, and landlords with stronger economic strength After the war, the gentry obtained a large amount of cheap land, and as a result, more farmers lost their ability to be self-sufficient and became completely exploited by the landlord class.
In fact, many of what Wang Jinmin said made it difficult for the villagers to believe. For example, Haihan has a huge island in the southern sea that can accommodate a population of one million, or that the local governments in the south cooperate closely with Haihan and even help organize it. People immigrated from the areas ruled by the Ming Dynasty to the islands ruled by Haihan. But Wang Jinmin swore and swore so hard that he was spitting. In addition, he was actually from Dengzhou Prefecture, so his experiences had many credible elements. The villagers were not sure which of his words were true. But regarding the land policy, Wang Jinmin basically followed the script and said it with nose and eyes. These villagers had limited knowledge and it was difficult to find any loopholes in it.
Wang Jinmin was so talkative that he finally convinced the other party. When the cavalry returned two days later, he would take a few people from this village as representatives to Zhifu Island to see the actual situation, and then they would come back to confirm the propaganda notices and policies with their own experience. What Wang Jinmin said is true.
After Wang Jinmin returned to the cavalry, he informed everyone of the results of the negotiation, which also lifted everyone's spirits. This time we didn't completely hit a wall, but it opened up the situation a little bit and saw the hope of attracting immigrants.
The cavalry team arrived at Fushan County in the afternoon, and the scene here made everyone intuitively understand why their superiors sent them out to carry out such a propaganda campaign that seemed to have slow results.
The city wall of this county town is probably only two miles in circumference, but the area of the slums built outside the city is at least twice as large as that of the county town. As far as the eye can see, there are almost all low and dilapidated shacks, people in ragged clothes, and you can also smell the stench wafting in the air - there is probably nothing possible in such a dirty and messy environment. Public health facilities exist. It would not be unusual at all if a large-scale epidemic suddenly broke out here.
The arrival of the cavalry inevitably caused a small commotion. In a small place like Fushan County, the last time a cavalry of this size appeared was during the Denglai Rebellion, and currently the entire Fushan County garrison along with Not even the civil and military officials could find ten decent horses.
In order to avoid causing a larger-scale riot, the cavalry stopped about half a mile away from the slums surrounding the city. Wang Jinmin was about to go out alone to explore again, when he saw several government officials in official uniforms walking out of the shacks. After stopping to watch for a while, they walked towards the cavalry.
The detachment Sun Zhen belongs to is mainly cavalry, and the company commander who leads the team is named Liu Xian. However, when something happens, he always discusses it with Sun Zhen. After all, Sun Zhen is an officer sent by the special operations battalion and a native of Shandong. His opinions still have relatively large reference value. When Liu Xian saw the government officials coming this way, he called Sun Zhen to get off his horse and wait.
"Han Qin, the chief of the Fushan County government, could I ask you, where does this come from?" The leading government servant walked up to the cavalry and revealed his identity.
"It turns out to be Mr. Han." Liu Xian stepped forward to greet him, and then roughly explained the identity of the cavalry and the purpose of coming here.
After listening to this, Han Qin felt a little confused. He had been working in Fushan County for almost 20 years, during which time he had also experienced the turmoil of the Denglai Rebellion. This was the first time in a long time that he had heard that someone was planning to bring Wu Yi from Shandong. Refugees without food were transported to the south for resettlement. This sounds like a means of relieving refugees, but it is beyond his past knowledge.
Han Qin believed that it was normal for rich people to donate money and food for disaster relief. How could there be such a method of packing people up and transporting them thousands of miles away for resettlement? His first reaction was that he had met a group of well-dressed people. liar. But these poor people who had lost their homes were of little value, and Han Qin couldn't figure out how deceiving these poor people to go to the south would benefit the person in charge of this matter.
Han Qin asked: "What you said is really unbelievable. Is there any other evidence?"
He saw that many of the group of people were standing in a bow-legged posture after dismounting. At first glance, they were the sequelae of long-term riding. His origins were even more suspicious at that moment - they were just riders from the south. Could it be that these tall horses were also from the south? Shipped from the south? Judging from the murderous intent of each of these people, they were probably horse gang bandits roaming in Shandong.
Liu Xian took out the printed notices and flyers and showed them to Han Qin and others. It stated that Haihan came to Shandong to recruit immigrants. But after Han Qin saw it, instead of believing Liu Xian's statement, he felt that this group of thieves had deliberately set up a trap to lure the people. There must be some kind of big conspiracy, but he knew too little information and it was difficult to understand the opponent for a while. conspiracy.
Han Qin can be considered a bold man, so he immediately shied away and said: "I can't do anything about this matter even if I talk about it. Why don't you go to the county office and report the matter to the county magistrate in person? I believe he will do the same." Support such acts of kindness.”
Liu Xian thought for a moment and was about to agree, but Sun Zhen, who was next to him, shook his head and interrupted: "Master Han is wrong. We are here to save the people, not the magistrate. Why do we need to ask for the magistrate's consent?"
(End of chapter)