Chapter 1476 Dongjiang Immigration Area
Almost at the same time, on the coastal plain thirty miles northwest of Lushun Fort, a large number of people were walking out of their tents, preparing to start today's work. Not long after Haihan captured the Jinzhou Isthmus, he designated a resettlement area here for the people of Dongjiang Town. More than 4,000 immigrants have been transported here in succession over the past month, and the first immigrant village under construction has also begun. On a large scale, the land reclamation outside the village is also proceeding in an orderly manner under the guidance of agricultural technicians sent by Haihan.
However, for these people who finally returned to their hometown in Liaodong after several years of wandering, the living environment here is already very different from when they left. This not only refers to the devastation left by burning, killing, and looting after Hou Jin occupied this place, but also the yamen that managed them changed from the Qianhu Guardhouse in the Ming Dynasty to the Immigration Department and Police Station in Haihan. Although the Haihan people did not explicitly ask them to change their nationality, everyone knew that the world in Liaodong had probably changed. Since the commander-in-chief did not have any objections to such an arrangement, then ordinary people like them naturally also He will not forcefully come forward to defend Ming Dynasty.
After all, survival is the top priority right now. Even if we have to build a home from scratch here, even if we may have to take orders from the Haihan government in the future, it is still a thousand times better than the life in Pidao where we have no hope and can only wait to die. . At least the Haihan people have stepped forward to complete the task for them, such as regaining their homeland. If they can settle down and return to normal life, then for civilians like them, whether they will be Ming people or Haihan people in the future How big of a difference can it make?
Jin Ping is the first district chief of the Dongjiang Immigration District jointly appointed by the Dongjiang Town General Military Office and the Haihan Immigration Office. The main reason why he can take this position is his identity - Shen Shikui's deputy Jin Ri Guan is his father.
In terms of official power, Jin Riguan is considered the second-in-command of Dongjiang Town, one level higher than Shen Zhixiang. However, unlike the Shen family's uncle and nephew who both joined the army and prepared to carry out family inheritance within Dongjiang Town, Jin Riguan's son Jin Ping did not enter the army and chose to take the civilian route. Due to limited qualifications, Jin Ping was unable to pass the imperial examination to become an official. After reluctantly gaining the title of scholar in Shandong in the early years, he returned to Dongjiang Town and became an official in charge of civil affairs.
This approach originally had some promise. After all, the jurisdiction of Dongjiang Town was still in Liaodong at that time, with tens of thousands of people under its control, and there was still a lot of money to manage civil affairs. But then the situation took a turn for the worse. Dongjiang Town was forced by Hou Jin's military pressure to go overseas. On Pi Dao, civil affairs became a thankless job. Tens of thousands of refugees will create countless troubles in front of Jinping every day, and they must be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise once a civil commotion occurs on the island, it will have serious consequences that cannot be dealt with.
In an environment like Pidao where there was a lack of food and clothing, Jin Ping, who originally wanted to be a casual civil servant, had to work at full capacity under tremendous work pressure, maximize the use of limited resources and materials, and find ways to ask for help. The military came forward to urge food supplies from the Ming Dynasty and the neighboring North Korea. After two or three years of training, Jin Ping has developed real skills in the field of civil affairs management.
Haihan cooperated deeply with Dongjiang Town. After the war, they began to discuss the issue of relocating Pi Dao soldiers and civilians back to Liaodong. Dongjiang Town recommended Jin Pinglai as the person in charge of the resettlement area. Of course, in addition to the General Military Mansion, he, as the person in charge, needs to be loyal to the Haihan Immigration Agency.
There was not much buffer time between the end of the war in the north and the beginning of the migration of the people of Phi Island, so Haihan hurriedly let him take office without even having time to conduct more professional training on this candidate. However, officials from the Immigration Department soon discovered that the candidate recommended by Dongjiang Town did have some skills. He showed relatively strong commanding abilities in organizing people to implement infrastructure projects, and he also handled all aspects of relations well. There was indeed Qualified for this position.
Jin Ping quickly gained recognition from Haihan with his abilities. He also knew that after the people of Dongjiang Town settled down, his position as district chief would most likely become a real one, and he would then hold an official position recognized by both countries. This is probably a once-in-a-century spectacle. But the more this happened, the more cautious Jin Ping became. His father once told him in private that Haihan had the intention of dividing the military and civilians of Dongjiang Town to separate the Shen and Jin families.
Because the division of labor between the Shen family in charge of the army and the Jin family in charge of the people in Dongjiang Town has been going on for a long time, and now that the generals and civilians are separated and relocated, the power in the hands of the Jin family is almost no longer controlled by the General Military Office, but is directly given by Haihan. The affairs of the Dongjiang resettlement area are no longer directly under the command of the General Military Mansion. In this way, the relationship between the two parties changed from a superior-subordinate relationship in the past to a de facto equal level. Although everyone is determined to join Haihan, no one can guarantee that the other party will not want to gain more benefits for themselves in the process. If the Shen and Jin families are suspicious of each other, or even create a gap, then maybe This is a scene that the Haihan people like to see. When the time comes, they will have more sufficient reasons to take over the power of Dongjiang Town.
Jin Ping agreed with his father's view, so although he was grateful to Haihan for sending troops to regain Liaodong, he was still somewhat wary of him. He is not worried that the Haihan people will harm his compatriots. Judging from the cooperation over the past year, the other party should not have too many bad intentions. At most, they just want to swallow up Dongjiang Town’s establishment. However, retaining the establishment is currently detrimental to Haihan. Han still has some uses, so this possibility is unlikely. At most, the other party will find a way to bypass the existing bureaucracy and gradually take away the control of Dongjiang Town from the hands of the Shen and Jin families.
Because of this, Jin Ping was extremely careful in handling various affairs after returning to Liaodong, leaving no opportunity for Haihan people to find fault as much as possible. Unexpectedly, such high standards and strict requirements became evidence of Jin Ping's professional ability in Haihan's eyes. , helped him gain more favor and trust from Haihan.
Today, Jin Ping did not rush to the village construction site to check the progress of the house construction as usual. Instead, he led several subordinates to the intersection outside the village early, as if waiting for the arrival of some big shot.
But the wait lasted for a long time, until in the morning, I finally saw several carriages slowly approaching in the distance. Jin Ping and others quickly tidied up their clothes and stood on the side of the road in an orderly manner, waiting for the arrival of the convoy.
When the convoy came to a slow stop, the first two carriages were all rich businessmen dressed in silk and satin, and the last car, which was quite large, had more than ten people carrying rifles on their backs. The Haihan soldiers seemed to be the accompanying guards.
Jin Ping glanced at him and found the person he was waiting for among the crowd. He hurried forward, bent down and bowed deeply: "Jin Ping, who is a humble official, has met Mr. Liu."
When the southern businessmen set off from Shandong, the news was notified to Lushun Fort via the radio, and Sha Xi made arrangements for the visit in advance. The relevant notice was sent to Jinping yesterday. The "Master Liu" that Jin Ping refers to is Liu Shang who was sent by Sha Xi to accompany the southern businessmen to visit the Haihan controlled area. Although Liu Shang's official position was not too high, it was of a special nature and had the trust of both the military and Sha Xi, so this mission was entrusted to him. Considering security issues and certain military restricted areas, the military also deployed a team of elite escorts to prevent them from straying into certain dangerous areas.
Liu Shang quickly stretched out his hand to help Jin Ping up, saying thank you for your hard work. Although the other party was meeting with the courtesy of a lower official, Liu Shang would not be so arrogant as to think that he was really a big shot. Everyone is running errands for their boss, and no one is necessarily more noble than the other.
After Liu Shang met Jin Ping, he introduced to him the identities of the businessmen who were traveling with him. Although the notice from Sha Xi did not inform Jin Ping of the real purpose of this visit, Jin Ping had been dealing with the Haihan people for a long time, and he could roughly guess that the Haihan people took these southern businessmen around, most likely to ask for help. Convince them to invest money and do business here in Liaodong. After all, the territory that Haihan has established in Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. Without the introduction of external forces, the development of such a large area will definitely be slow with Haihan and the manpower of Dongjiang Town alone. The capital injection from the south may be able to speed up the development process of Liaodong.
Next, Jin Ping led the way into the immigrant village under construction and introduced them to the current resettlement work in Dongjiang Town. Even though the southern businessmen were well-informed, the huge construction site spread out across the vast wilderness still gave them a strong visual impact. At the same time, there are dozens of standard residential houses under construction, and during this period, there are many streams of people continuously transporting various building materials and tools to the construction site. At a glance, at least one or two thousand people are working on this large construction site. stop.
In the distant field, you can still see no less than twenty cattle plowing the farmland driven by farmers. The path leads to the far end of the sight. It is not known how much land reclamation area has been planned.
"According to our country's plan, more than ten immigrant villages will be built in this area to resettle the people of Dongjiang Town." Liu Shang raised his hand and circled everything he saw: "All the development here The construction costs, including the people’s food, clothing, housing and transportation, are currently provided by our country as free loans to Dongjiang Town, and these loans are recovered year by year through the proceeds from the development.”
"The leaders of Haihan Kingdom are our reborn parents. This great kindness and kindness will be unforgettable by the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town!" Jin Ping flattered him at the right time. But this is indeed the reality at the moment. If Haihan hadn't provided money and food for the land, the people in Dongjiang Town would probably have to wait for death on the island. Although these expenses will still be returned to Haihan in the form of a share of profits or increased taxes in the future, the assistance provided by Haihan did save Dongjiang Town, which was on the verge of destruction.
"Our country and Dongjiang Town are allies, and these rescues are all within our scope. District Mayor Jin need not be too polite. The soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town are not afraid of hardships to guard the border for the country, and the leaders of our country also admire them very much." Everyone carried the sedan chair. , since the other party is well informed, Liu Shang doesn’t mind saying a few nice words to praise Dongjiang Town.
Of course, if Shen Shikui, Jin Riguan and others heard this, they might blush. After all, Dongjiang Town's fearlessness of hardships was completely the result of being suppressed by the Jin Army. If they could defeat the enemy, who would be willing to stay there? Guarding the border on the skinny island.
He Li and others felt their hearts tremble when they heard this. The outside world had already speculated about the private alliance between Haihan and Dongjiang Town. However, this was the first time they heard Haihan officials admit this relationship in public. . If they were to be investigated seriously, this alone could be used to charge Dongjiang Town with treason. Of course, now that the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula has been taken over by Haihan, and he has asked the court for credit in the name of Dongjiang Town, who dares to liquidate Dongjiang Town's faults at this time, even if he is labeled as a group with Hou Jin by public opinion? .
This alliance is obviously because Dongjiang Town is on the weaker side, and Haihan is willing to pay and make efforts to let the people of Dongjiang Town move back to settle and develop, so he is obviously determined to take advantage of this group of people. He Li looked at the way Jin Ping was bowing down to Liu Shang, and he could naturally imagine how much authority Haihan had in the minds of the people in Dongjiang Town.
Of course, the relationship between Haihan and Dongjiang Town is not actually the focus of He Li and others. What they need to know is that since Haihan has gradually moved the people from Dongjiang Town back to Liaodong, this will have a negative impact on the subsequent investment activities. What's the benefit? Especially for material carriers like them, is it possible to obtain relatively direct benefits from these immigrants?
Jin Ping's next explanation gave them a clearer answer. According to Haihan's plan, after completing the task of relocating immigrants from Dongjiang Town, at most only one or two thousand people will be left to work in the fields. From now on, the food needed by Dongjiang Immigration Area will mainly be supplied by self-sufficiency. The rest of the labor force will be assigned to various construction projects in the Haihan controlled area, which will naturally include the transactions that southern businessmen will invest in Liaodong. Whether they want to run plantations or other projects, the Haihan Immigration Agency will coordinate with the Dongjiang Immigration District to arrange manpower to meet the labor needs of southern businessmen.
"Then what if there is still a gap in the labor force?" He Li asked. This situation is very likely to occur. After all, there is no floating population in the local area. With such a small population base, it seems difficult to have a large increase in a short period of time. Once various development projects are rolled out, a population of more than 10,000 may seem like a lot, but even counting the working-age labor force among them, it may not be able to meet local demand.
Liu Shang took up the topic and responded: "In the future, we will try to continue to receive Han refugees from the north. If done properly, the local population will increase by 10,000 to 20,000 every year."
(End of chapter)