Chapter 1590 Danzhou Style
However, Xun Pengcheng is a man who has seen the world and knows how much Haihan officials attach great importance to public security. Since he can safely hand over the management of this area of dozens of miles to such a police station, it must be because the public security situation here is well maintained. And being able to manage this area with a very complex social structure with such a small number of personnel shows that the police here must have some special methods.
If Xun Pengcheng was still working in his old profession, he would have gone to the door to conduct interviews and record them as news material when encountering such a situation. But now he is quite wary of yamen that belong to the judicial system, such as the police. He is unwilling to have any form of contact with these yamen unless necessary.
Therefore, although the coachman Lao Gao claimed that one of his nephews worked at the police station and could take Xun Pengcheng to visit, Xun Pengcheng was still respectful and indifferent to this. Besides, he hasn't made up his mind to invest here yet, so it's a little early to come and burn incense, and it would be inappropriate to leave too many traces. However, he didn't mind hearing Lao Gao talk about the situation of this police station and learn how the police here manage this area.
Lao Gao did not shy away from this topic and answered readily: "It's very simple. There are plantations of all sizes in this area for dozens of miles. Plantations only have two things. One is that they have no legal status. There are many slaves, and secondly, there is a lot of money. The most likely to cause security problems are these foreign slaves. The police station's method is also very direct. Wherever there is trouble, fines will be paid, and whoever can't manage his own people will be fined heavily! , then the punishment will be until bankruptcy!”
Xun Pengcheng did not expect that the police station here would use such a simple and crude method with no technical content at all. After hearing this, he was a little confused. But he soon remembered that the area under the jurisdiction of the Haitou Town Police Station was basically full of large plantations that were not short of money. What seemed like a large amount in the eyes of ordinary people may not be a big amount in the eyes of these operators.
But the fine mentioned by Lao Gao is obviously not a small amount. The operators of these plantations would feel pain if they were punished, and one can imagine the intensity of the punishment.
Lao Gao continued: "The default rule of the plantation is that as long as the slaves make mistakes, they will be shackled, and even if they want to run away, they can't run very far. Moreover, each family has its own garden guard team to deal with those who are disobedient. Slaves who want to escape will usually not report things to the police station if they can handle it on their own. If there is a bigger disturbance, such as if slaves organize a riot, the various garden protection teams will join forces. "
When Lao Gao said this, Xun Pengcheng understood the mystery. The method of the police station was to allow each plantation to carry out joint defense and autonomy to a certain extent, and distribute the task of maintaining public security to each family. In this way, of course, it can effectively reduce the work intensity of the police and strengthen local management of slaves, a high-risk group for public security. If there are signs of a problem, the plantation operators who are the first to notice it can deal with it as soon as possible.
But Xun Pengcheng has much more knowledge than Lao Gao. He can see the benefits of this solution, but of course he can also realize that there are many disadvantages in this way of handling it. First of all, this gives the plantation a reasonable excuse to have a certain scale of private armed forces, and these private armed forces themselves will also become a certain security problem. Secondly, this method of joint defense and autonomy gives plantation operators too much power, and they can even decide on their own whether to kill or kill their slaves. This is obviously neither humane nor in line with the spirit of the rule of law advocated by Haihan officials. Once out of control, it is likely that a culture of disregarding human life will gradually form among the people.
Although according to what Lao Gao said, the Haitou Town Police Station has taken care of the nearby area in an orderly manner. There have been no major disturbances in the past year or two, and the plantation's self-organized garden guard team is not qualified to equip muskets. They are mainly weapons such as sticks. However, Xun Pengcheng always felt that this way of dealing with it was not a long-term solution, and he did not know whether the top brass of the Police Department understood the situation here and what attitude they would have towards the private armed forces owned by the plantation.
Thinking of this, Xun Pengcheng felt that he had made the right decision not to follow Lao Gao to the police station to meet his younger relative. There were also many plantations in Yacheng, Lingshui and other places near Sanya, but he had not heard of the plantations there. How dare you blatantly establish a private armed organization like this. Although the practice here is temporarily allowed by the government, Xun Pengcheng always feels that the hidden dangers are too great, so it is better not to get involved yet.
When Lao Gao saw that Xun Pengcheng insisted on his own opinion, he didn't force him anymore, but he couldn't help but say a few words, saying that Xun Pengcheng didn't understand the world. Xun Pengcheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this, and he was too lazy to explain his thoughts to Lao Gao. He didn't even ask, but he knew that with so many plantations supporting him, the richness of this police station was probably enough to make his colleagues elsewhere envious. The money collected in this kind of place would never be clean. If it wasn't investigated, it would be fine. Once checked, it would be sure. Something went wrong.
Of course, maybe the higher-ups turned a blind eye to the situation here and were unable to invest more security resources in this place. Xun Pengcheng even maliciously speculated that perhaps their superiors had received a lot of benefits from it, so they allowed them to do whatever they wanted in the area at the junction of Changhua and Danzhou.
Xun Pengcheng would not express this idea to Lao Gao. He knows people and faces but not his heart. Who knows whether Lao Gao will betray him in a second. After a series of events, Xun Pengcheng is now very vigilant and is always on guard against other people.
After spending two days on the road making a casual inspection of many plantations along the way, Xun Pengcheng finally arrived in Danzhou. Following Xun Pengcheng's instructions, Lao Gao drove straight to Danzhou City and did not continue to inspect the agricultural conditions in Danzhou. Xun Pengcheng has already figured it out clearly that the cost of developing a plantation dozens of miles away from Danzhou is already unacceptable to him, and the cost here in Danzhou is even higher, so he can basically just visit the local area. The trip to the plantation was crossed off. It would be better to use the time saved to see what other livelihoods there are in and around Danzhou City.
Danzhou City is an important town in Qiongbei that Haihan captured in 1630. After six years of construction, it has become one of the most prosperous ports on Hainan Island. There is an endless stream of ships of all kinds entering and exiting Danzhou Bay every day. All kinds of materials shipped from northern Annan and Lianzhou Prefecture in Guangxi have Danzhou Bay as their main destination, especially the Baimajing Cargo Terminal located on the south bank of Danzhou Bay. It has become one of the ports with the largest cargo throughput in the Beibu Gulf.
If the huge coal fleet that Xun Pengcheng saw at Changhua Port was spectacular, then the scene at Baimajing Wharf in Danzhou Bay could be described as prosperous. If you look at the number of ships entering and exiting the pier, this place is not much better than Victory Port. Of course, there are not as many merchant ships, cargo ships and passenger ships here as there are in Victory Port. The largest number are fishing boats. The rich fishery resources in the Beibu Gulf have kept Danzhou's fishing industry extremely profitable. Some of the specialty fish caught here are even frozen and sent to Sanya by speedboat as a special treat for travelers. Welfare.
According to Lao Gao's introduction, Danzhou's fishing fleet should be second only to Sanya in size and is the second largest fishing base on Hainan Island. As for how much fish can be caught here every month and what the profits of the fishing fleet are, Lao Gao really can't say, but so many fishing boats coming in and out of the port will not lie. Such a prosperous industry must have huge profits. The income can be used as support to develop. Xun Pengcheng looked hot and asked: "Lao Gao, is the fishery here similar to the plantation, and it is getting bigger and bigger?"
Lao Gao nodded and responded: "That's the truth, but there are not as many fishing fleets here as there are plantations, only a dozen or so. The small fleets have basically been merged, and those that can stay now There are at least twenty or thirty ships in size.”
Xun Pengcheng did not continue to ask any more questions. It was obvious that fishing was not feasible. He could afford twenty or thirty fishing boats, but the question was where could he, a foreigner, recruit so many people who were familiar with the sea conditions and conditions of the Beibu Gulf? A sailor during the fishing season? Unless he directly pays for the fishing fleet and its people, the possibility of such an operation is even slimmer.
Another sight that attracted Xun Pengcheng's attention was the huge billboard standing next to the official road, which was three stories high and more than three feet wide. In order to prevent it from being easily blown down by strong winds, this billboard is composed of many bamboo pieces with gaps in the middle to allow air to circulate, and is fixed with a triangular bracket made of logs behind it. Even if some typhoons occasionally blow off some bamboo fragments, the cost and difficulty of repairing them are relatively low.
Of course, the billboard itself is not enough to attract Xun Pengcheng's attention, because billboards like this are actually not uncommon in Sanya. Nowadays, both sides of the import and export channels of Victory Port and Sanya Port are almost all large billboards set up by merchants who spend a lot of money, which can be clearly seen on ships entering and leaving the port. As for the billboard next to the official road in Danzhou, what interested Xun Pengcheng was the content on it.
The content of the billboard is actually very simple. There are only two rows of text painted in white paint. The first row is "XX miles away from Danzhou City" and the second row is "XX miles away from XX Academy." They look like road signs. In fact, the advertisement is unforgettable and the effect is very significant. Xun Pengcheng had seen all kinds of billboards in Sanya, but this was the first time he saw such a trick to advertise the academy. He couldn't help but admire these Danzhou operators for actually using this method of teaching and educating people. It became a business.
After passing Baimajing Pier, we are only a few miles away from Danzhou City. When the weather is good, we can even see the arrow tower at the head of Danzhou City clearly with the naked eye. There are also a large number of quite regular buildings on both sides of the official road. These buildings are all very regular with white walls and gray tiles. According to Lao Gao, this is the "Academy City" known as one of Danzhou's new sceneries.
Of course, it is an exaggeration to say that the city is a bit exaggerated, but in terms of the scale of the academies concentrated here, it is indeed the largest under the rule of Haihan. The number of students studying here at most is more than 10,000, which is larger than that of the high-end academies in Sanya. The total number of students in military academies is several times more. Danzhou Academy is known as one of the local characteristics, and this Academy City is the best example.
Xun Pengcheng was also very interested in this place and chose to get off the car and walk, wanting to feel the cultural atmosphere here. The gates of these academies are all built towards the official road, and each one is more grand than the other. The gatehouse here is two stories high, and the one opposite is three stories high. If you asked the mayor of Danzhou to write a plaque for the academy, then I will carry Ning Qi, the director of Haihan Culture Department, and make a bigger plaque to hang it in a higher place.
Such signs of comparison are everywhere. Xun Pengcheng can see clearly without asking Lao Gao. He can't help but shake his head at the moment, thinking that although Haihan advocates business, how can he treat the academy as a business? Can it achieve the purpose of teaching and educating people through words and deeds?
Of course, since these academies can put on such a grand display on their facades, one can imagine how powerful they are. This is not only the financial strength required to open an academy, but also the plaques hanging at the entrance of the academy can also reflect the level of his connections. Xun Pengcheng couldn't help but imagine what kind of people he could invite if he opened an academy in Danzhou and wanted to ask a big shot to inscribe a plaque as a facade.
After much deliberation, Xun Pengcheng found to his dismay that he had no personal contacts with the big shots in the official circles, and in the end he probably had to write the plaque himself. And if this was compared to the place like Academy City, it would just look like it had no cards. Not to mention the teaching staff, teaching conditions, and employment resources, the appearance alone loses a lot. Who would come to study in such a college with no foundation?
"Sure enough, it still doesn't work!" Although Xun Pengcheng had roughly expected this situation before coming to Danzhou, he was still a little bit shocked when he came into contact with the reality. As a scholar, Xun Pengcheng does not understand the way Haihan operates the education industry. Will turning these academies into highly competitive commercial outlets help improve the training effect?
"Lao Gao, do you think these students from the academy can pass the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination?"
But Lao Gao's answer made Xun Pengcheng suddenly enlightened: "The academies here are different from those in the Ming Dynasty. They are not all trained to educate scholars, and they do not need to take the imperial examination. It is inappropriate for you to compare like this."
yes! Haihan's academies offered a variety of strange majors, which Xun Pengcheng was slightly aware of. He had forgotten that the educational direction of these academies was not to allow students to familiarize themselves with classics and history and then take the imperial examination, but to enable them to find employment as soon as possible after graduation. Become a cog in the huge machine that is Heihan.
(End of chapter)