Chapter 2378
Is the purpose of the series of control measures currently adopted by Haihan in Fushan County to protect the local area in troubled times, or to take advantage of the chaos to expand the control area beyond Fushan County and even capture the entire Dengzhou? These possibilities actually have no significant impact on the officials in the county who have been ignored for a long time. They now have empty titles, no real power at all, and no ability to influence Haihan's decision-making. The wisest thing to do is to prevent themselves from being involved in the ensuing chaos.
Although Han Qin has no real power, he has been a head catcher in Fushan County for many years and has made many acquaintances with local people from all walks of life. It is not difficult to ask someone to send a letter to Majiazhuang outside the city. It does not take much effort. It's done.
After Ma Cai, the eldest son of the Ma family, read the secret letter sent from the county seat, he did not dare to make an immediate decision. Instead, he took the letter and went to Ma Dongqiang for instructions.
"The county magistrate asked us for help?" After listening to his son's story, Ma Dongqiang took the letter and read it again. He was still a little embarrassed and muttered: "Are they a little too nervous? The refugees haven't entered Dengzhou yet. Are you planning to run away early?”
Ma Cai said: "Perhaps these adults just want to take advantage of this opportunity to join Haihan legitimately."
Ma Dongqiang sneered and said: "These people don't stand up to appease the people. They only want to use Haihan's protection to protect themselves. No wonder Haihan has been unwilling to use them... I'm afraid it won't work to take refuge in Haihan at this juncture!"< br>
Ma Dongqiang naturally saw clearly how Haihan treated the local officials in Fushan. After the county government officials were gradually eliminated, some of the original county government functions were even transferred to the Ma family. The reason why Haihan doesn't trust these officials is not only because of their status and position, but also because he sees that these people have a weak sense of responsibility and it is difficult to entrust them with important responsibilities.
However, Haihan did not make things difficult for them. Instead, he supported them in continuing to invest in the business industry, indirectly providing them with many benefits. Although these few people have no hope of promotion in their official careers, their families have become much richer in the past few years, which can be said to be a blessing in disguise. Even if you resign and become idle from now on, you can always live the life of a rich man, and you definitely don't need to worry about your livelihood for the rest of your life.
Ma Cai heard that his father was not happy with what these people were doing, so he asked tentatively: "Will the boy stop this?"
Ma Dongqiang shook his head slightly and said: "They asked you for help. Presumably you owe them some favor, so why not take this opportunity to settle it. As for whether to let them go to the island, that is not something you and I can decide. You don't need to take it. There is no need to say good things for them, just let Haihan make the decision. Remember, don’t be too smart and make decisions on Haihan’s behalf!”
Ma Cai's heart palpitated slightly when he heard this, and he quickly bowed in response. He believed that he had his brother-in-law, Chen Yixin, as his backer, and he usually had few scruples in doing things. Apart from his old father's lessons, it was also difficult for him to listen to other people's opinions. At this time, after listening to Ma Dongqiang's warning, Ma Cai also realized that he had almost made a mistake.
After the father and son finished talking, Ma Cai took the letter sent by Han Qin's trustee and went to the temporary headquarters next to Majiazhuang to find Chen Yixin. The fate of these three people was left to Chen Yixin to decide.
It can be said that Chen Yixin has been very busy in recent days. Meetings are coming one after another. There are a lot of things that require his personal intervention and decision-making. Ma Cai waited outside the conference room for about half an hour before finally waiting for Chen Yixin.
Chen Yixin read the letter sent from the county at almost a glance and asked Ma Cai in a deep voice: "Are you sure it was written by Magistrate Zhang?"
Ma Cai quickly responded: "It is indeed Zhang Zhixian's handwriting that is correct."
Chen Yixin pondered for a moment, then told Ma Cai: "Then you go and make arrangements to bring these three people and their families out of the county... Do this at night, try not to make too much noise, and don't publicize it. , so as not to affect the public sentiment.”
As Ma Dongqiang judged, Chen Yixin did not have any special affection for these three people. The reason why he had been providing resources to support these three people was mainly to buy horse bones for a thousand gold, to show Haihan's goodwill to the outside world, and to show his love for Daming. Special treatment from officials. However, the qualifications of these three people are mediocre, and their positions are also wavering. In Chen Yixin's opinion, there is no value in in-depth utilization. They only use it to maintain the existing local government agencies, so that Fushan County is still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty in theory. In this way, the Ming Dynasty It will also feel better on the face.
Nowadays, chaos in Shandong is imminent. It is reasonable for these people to find a safe place to avoid this chaos when they hear the bad news outside. Although Zhang Pucheng only said in that letter that he wanted to send his family and belongings to Zhifu Island, Chen Yixin couldn't understand his little point, so he simply fulfilled their wish. Although Zhifu Island is not large in area, it will not be unable to accommodate these three families.
However, if the people knew that these officials had escaped secretly, some bad rumors would inevitably arise, so Chen Yixin specially told Ma Cai to arrange for him to move the three people in a quiet time to avoid making too much noise. causing panic among the people.
Ma Cai responded understandingly, and when he was about to say goodbye, Chen Yixin stopped him again: "The county has implemented controls. You can go in, but they can't get out, and even if they get out, they can't get to the island. I wrote a warrant to You, take them out of the city and onto the island with the warrant.”
Ma Cai thought the same thing. Normally, you can move around anywhere in Fushan County except Zhifu Island. But now that military control has been implemented, even if he is Chen Yixin's brother-in-law, he still can't pretend to be Chen Yixin with his face. The pass shows that you must have a warrant from Chen Yixin before you can do anything.
After Ma Cai got the warrant, he also sent a confidant into the city to go to the county government office to inform Han Qin of the progress here, and asked them to go home early and pack their soft luggage. They would arrange to leave the city tonight, and there would be a carriage by then. When they arrive at home, they don’t need to prepare their own carriages and horses.
"The eldest young master of the Ma family can be relied upon to get things done so quickly!" After receiving the news, Han Qin immediately went to report the good news to Zhang Pucheng and Huang Qu.
Zhang and Huang were also very happy. They originally thought that it would take two or three days for a reply, but they did not expect that this horse was so efficient. After sending the letter in the morning, they got a reply in the afternoon, and in the evening The work was done, and there was really no time wasted.
"It's not too late, let's go home and pack our luggage!" Since he can leave tonight, Zhang Pucheng is not in the mood to drink tea. There are so many valuables at home that need to be packed away, so he has to hurry up. The other two people had the same thought, and immediately went home to pack their things.
When Ma Cai delivered the letter, he also specifically warned them not to make it public. Naturally, the three of them understood this. When they returned home, they closed their doors, refused visitors, and asked their families to quickly pack up their belongings. They originally had their own private carriages, but two days ago Haihan announced that all carriages and horses in the county would be requisitioned. They were not spared, and Haihan's army came to requisition them all. Fortunately, Ma Cai was thoughtful and arranged transportation for them. Otherwise, they would not be able to carry many things with them if they had to carry them manually.
But they didn't know how much the carriage arranged by Ma Cai could carry. In order to avoid suffering a loss, they tried their best to pack up all the belongings in the house and put them in the yard. Then they could move as much as they could. If they really couldn't transport that much, they didn't know. , and then consider discarding some bulky, bulky and worthless things.
Among them, Zhang Pucheng, the county magistrate, had the clearest idea. He was already tired of his career as a nominal magistrate, and had long had the idea of abandoning his official position and joining Haihan. If Haihan wanted to take the opportunity to cause trouble and expand his influence in Shandong, If the scope of control is reduced, the need for the Fushan County Government's existence will be further reduced, and Haihan may not be willing to spend money to support "idlers" like them. Rather than being kicked away by Haihan at that time, it would be better to take the initiative and strive for better conditions.
If things continue to develop in this direction, then he may not return to the county town and continue to be this clay Buddha. Zhang Pucheng took all the belongings from his residence that were buried in the ground, hidden on the beams, and stuffed in the bottom of the rice vat. He came out and was ready to leave completely.
Of course, it is also possible that the situation is far less serious than what the outside world has publicized. After a while, the storm will subside, and everyone will have to go back to their own ways and continue to accompany the Haihan people in this peace drama. Therefore, Zhang Pucheng did not explain his plans to his family, and planned to adapt to the situation after arriving at Zhifu Island.
After working as errands in Fushan County for several years, these three people have indeed accumulated a lot of property. It is not an easy task to pack it all up and prepare to transport it away in one day. At night, when Ma Cai came into the city with carriages and horses to pick them up, these three families had not yet finished confiscating the goods. In desperation, Ma Cai could only give them half an hour more to load the items they wanted to take away into the truck as soon as possible.
The property of the head catcher Han Qin was not as large as that of the other two. He was the first to finish cleaning up. He even had time to find Ma Cai and ask him how he planned to explain the whereabouts of the three of them. Even if the presence of the county government is extremely low now, the sudden collective disappearance of the county's civil and military officials and the sheriff will definitely attract the attention of interested people.
Ma Cai responded angrily: "How can you explain it? We can only spread the word that you, Mr. Han, have followed Mr. Huang to Dengzhou to reinforce the city defense. As for Mr. Zhang, I will trouble him to get seriously ill. Tomorrow I will I will arrange for people to stay at your home first, so that the family will not lose any vitality and arouse suspicion.”
Han Qin raised his hands and praised: "Young Master Ma has thought carefully! I will allow Han to repay this kindness in the future!"
Ma Cai's tone was very impatient, but Han Qin didn't dare to argue with him. Today's young master Ma is not only a wealthy local squire, but also has an identity that cannot be ignored, that is, the brother-in-law of General Haihan. Now if I want to go to Zhifu Island to escape the war, I have to rely on horses to help me. What's more, Ma Cai arranged everything in detail. Even if Ma Cai's attitude was not so comfortable, Han Qin was still grateful.
At midnight, the other two families finally finished cleaning up. Ma Cai asked the three families to board the covered carriages, then left the city from the north gate of the county and headed north along the newly built official road to Zhifu Island. .
Zhang Pucheng looked out through the gap in the car hood and could see the lights on the east coast. He knew that it was the port area of Zhifu Port, and there was no night curfew there. At least before the martial law was announced this time, the port area had always been lively at night. But this time such a big thing happened in Shandong. It is difficult for Zhang Pucheng to have a definite answer at the moment to how much impact Zhifu Port will be affected in the future, and whether it can return to the bustling traffic scene.
Zhang Pucheng looked away from outside the car, wanting to see the expressions of his two companions at this time, but there were no lights inside the car, and the moonlight outside was blocked by the hood, so he couldn't see anything.
In order to facilitate the command, Ma Cai also rode in the same carriage with the three of them, but he was obviously not interested in chatting with the three of them on the way. He had not said a word since he got in the carriage and set off. The three of them didn't know whether he was putting on airs or asking for silence during the trip, so they could only remain silent along with Ma Cai.
About one mile away from Zhifu Island, we reached the checkpoint to enter Zhifu Island. When the Haihan Fleet first captured Zhifu Island, they built a large number of fortifications on the narrow sandbank connecting the mainland and Zhifu Island, with a depth of tens of feet. A few years have passed, and those temporary fortifications have been transformed into stronger semi-permanent fortifications, leaving only a road in the middle that is more than two feet wide as a land passage into and out of the island.
Their convoy was stopped at the checkpoint. Ma Cai got out of the car, took out Chen Yixin's warrant and went through the formalities, and was quickly released.
Ma Cai returned to the car, knowing that the three of them were waiting for him to bring back the results. He immediately warned: "From now on, we will reach the Zhifu Island base. There is a military base ahead. The three adults must not poke their heads into the car." Look outside to avoid misunderstandings.”
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief when they heard his warning. This time they left the county and their destination was Zhifu Island, where Haihan troops were stationed. However, before they actually set foot on the island, they were not sure whether they could get shelter from the Haihan people. And Ma Cai's warning was just a reassurance for them.
In fact, Zhang Pucheng had been invited to Zhifu Island more than once. When he and Haihan were discussing how to coexist peacefully in Fushan County, it was Chen Yixin who invited him to the island to meet. But now and then, at that time he was representing the Ming Dynasty official, but now he came here as a refugee seeking asylum. Even if the Haihan people had actually taken him to visit the facilities on the island before, now he I could only follow the arrangement and sit in the carriage honestly, not daring to make any peeps.
After passing that checkpoint and proceeding about two miles, the convoy stopped again. Ma Cai asked them to wait in the car and got off the car to go through the handover procedures.
(End of chapter)