Lu Ming

Shao Qiang, a chubby and unremarkable civil servant, used to be the deputy head of the Chikan District Government.This time, among the few people who signed up and were willing to open up wasteland, he was finally selected by the cabinet because he had managed the government affairs of a district in detail, as the onshore person in charge of the southward pioneering operation.

However, it is not so easy to be a civil servant, especially sitting on a sailing warship with only 500 tons.Sha Zhengming sailed all the way from Guangzhou, and from time to time he would order the fleet to conduct various tactical maneuvers on the ocean, which made Shao Qiang quite upset.

Fortunately, according to the time agreed in advance, the fleet has arrived at the sea off Qiongzhou Mansion at this moment, so Shao Qiang will be able to breathe a sigh of relief soon.

as predicted.When the clock on his wrist pointed to 10:[-] a.m., Sha Zhengming issued an order, and the fleet located just north of Qiongzhou Prefecture began to slow down, formed a two-line formation, and headed towards Qiongzhou.

At 12 noon, five streamlined battleships with beautiful white sails slowly stopped in the inner bay of Shenying Port.

The reason why the original 7 ships became 5 when they entered the port was because of a small episode: when the fleet sailed to a sea area not far from the coast, the lookout post reported that a ship suspected of pirates was found in the southeast Robbery of merchant ships near shore.

For this situation, the crossing fleet that has swept the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong to the point where they can't find anything is naturally very familiar.With Sha Zhengming's order, the fleet dispatched two 150-ton frigates to solve the problem, and the routes of the remaining ships remained unchanged.

Shenying Port is the Haikou Port of later generations.Of course, the scale of Shenying Port in this era is not large, and it is far worse than that of later generations.

But small scale doesn't mean it's not prosperous.Since the Song Dynasty, Shenying Port has been the most important commercial port on Hainan Island.Most of the betel nuts, coconuts, cattle, spices, logs and other tropical and subtropical local products produced in Hainan are imported into mainland Guangdong.In the Ming Dynasty, according to Qiu Jun's "Scholar Zhuang Ji": "The gathering of sails and masts is like a forest standing like a bamboo".

At this moment, General Sha Zhengming, Sha Zhengming, had already put on the traditional robes of Ming military generals.Standing on the bridge, looking at the bustling scene of Shenying Port and the dense masts on the shore, he nodded and said, "It seems that the first thing we need to do is deal with the pirates!"

"of course."

On the surface, Shao Qiang, who is only a counselor of the general army's Yamen, doesn't need to change into an official robe to prepare for socializing, so he still wears a white checked suit.

Shao Qiang's state has slowed down at this meeting, and his complexion has improved a lot: "Public security is the foundation of all social activities. After you take over the base, don't do anything, and first vigorously sweep the surrounding sea areas. I will send a telegram immediately, Want a 'labour camp' management team to come over."

The term "labor camp" is widely used in the crossing people.The labor camp Shao Qiang mentioned at this moment must be a "high-intensity labor camp" for future pirate prisoners.

"Hehe, no problem. Hurry up to build the camp and make it larger, so that there will be too many people staying there!"

Having said this, Sha Zhengming straightened his sleeves, turned around and went down to the deck, and boarded the boat that came to pick him up along the rope ladder.

Soon, the boat arrived at the official wharf of Shenying Port.At this moment, the pier was already full of officials and local gentry who came to welcome the fleet.

Today's time-traveling forces are no longer the situation they used to be when they were unknown.Even if a squadron came to Qiongzhou to set up a sub-base, the local aborigines were also prepared early.

After all, after several years of distribution and sales of industrial products, even in a remote place like Qiongzhou, there are already a group of enthusiastic "enlightened people" and officials who like money waiting here.

Among the people who came to greet him, Jia Huanbao, the Tong Zhi of Qiongzhou Prefecture, had the highest official position.As for the magistrate... Sha Zhengming said that Potian was just a general, and if the genuine Qiongzhou magistrate came out to welcome him, it would break the civil and military rules of official circles.

However, Jia Tongzhi quickly told General Sha in a low voice after the two parties greeted each other: The magistrate has already prepared a banquet in the backyard of the government office, and he is waiting for Master Sha to visit.

General Sand Ginseng naturally smiled and agreed: No matter what you do, it is better to get the assistance of the local officials than to not cooperate.

Next, Sha Shen will take out the official document issued by the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi: as early as more than a month ago, the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi went to Wenqiongzhou government, and ordered Qiongzhou government to immediately remove the existing pirates on the grounds that the pirates were becoming more and more rampant. On the basis of Baisha Water Village, a new Water Village was expanded to accommodate the government troops sent from Fucheng to assist in suppressing bandits.

Qiongzhou Mansion has been preparing for this matter for several days.

Chapter 566 The reception of local characters

After ceremonially issuing/receiving the official document, the sand general who came across the sea is considered to have completed the formalities with the local officials of Qiongzhou.Next, Adenophora will warmly invite the host to board the battleship together and inspect the "Baisha New Village" under construction.

It was the first time for the indigenous officials to board a warship with white sails.Sand Ginseng will take the guests around the boat enthusiastically during the start-up of the fleet, and even said that he will take everyone out to sea to shoot guns and fish when he has time...

Shenying Port in the [-]th century is a beach composed of a series of natural bays.The Ming people did not have machinery to make large-scale transformations like later generations, so the Shenying Port complex is more of a primitive seaport based on the terrain.

Sha Shenjiang and Shao Qiang drove all the way, and what they saw were the wooden piers lined up on the shore and the warehouse houses on the shore.Among them, there are official and private wharves, fishing boats keep coming in and out, and the shore is crowded with people, bustling and lively.

In addition, there are beacon towers and piers all over the road, and the defense system is very sound.Obviously, this area of ​​Qiongzhou is facing a very serious banditry.

Five ships from afar sailed south along the coast for about three or four miles, and soon, covered by white fine sand, a harbor surrounded by wooden piles and watchtowers appeared on the shore: Baisha Water Village .

Although the latitude of Hainan is still a bit higher compared to Thailand, Malaysia and other places further south, the climate here is already considered a tropical area compared to the mainland.

Since it is in the tropics, the unique white sea sand of the tropical coast appears in front of us: this is also the origin of the name Baisha Water Village.

Sha Zhengming stood at the bow of the boat, and after staring at the studio-style water village in front of him for a few moments, his thoughts turned. Is it a resource?"

"See what you're going to do."

Shao Qiang smiled: "It would be good if you dig sand to decorate your private beach in the north. After all, the white sea sand these days is non-polluting and natural, suitable for petty bourgeoisie like you."

"If it's about burning CPU... glass..." Seeing Sha Zhengming, who was tall and strong, looked unhappy, Shao Qiang gave a dry laugh and then turned to the topic: "It can also be operated, but it needs to be scaled up."

As Shao Qiang talked, he automatically switched to the district chief mode: "Well, the transportation efficiency is too low these days, so the best way is to build a factory on the spot, so as to make use of the local sea sand resources."

"However, I personally don't recommend doing this. Wouldn't it be good to keep the primitive scenery like Hainan in the future as a scenic spot to build hotels and speculate in real estate? Why bother to destroy the environment. As for the sand... other places are nothing more than low-purity quartz, which is transported to glass There will be an additional sorting process after the factory, which is what we do in the kiln area."

"Oh, that's it!" Sha Zhengming nodded, as if he had figured it out.

Just as the two were muttering about this in private, the officials also returned to the bow, because everyone heard the sound of the cannon from the water village: "General Sha, this is General Tang from the water village coming to welcome you."

"Hahaha!" Sha Zhengming laughed boldly when he heard the words: "Head the order and fire the salute."

Accompanied by the salute of the bow of the ship, the gate of Baisha Shuizhai opened wide, and several Ming-style hard sailing ships sailed out from inside.

……

According to the rules of meeting for the first time, Tang Yunwen, the general of Baisha Water Village who came out of the village to meet him, was wearing the official uniform of a third-rank military general. He seemed to be standing firmly on the bow of the boat at the moment, but in fact his mood was very complicated.

First of all, unlike the joyful Qiongzhou civil service system, Tang Shenjiang has a lot of resistance to the arrival of Guohai Qianglong.This is understandable: no matter how you say it, if a general with a strong army squeezes in on his own territory, the master will not be happy, after all, he is a soldier.

It's a pity that no one cares what Tang Shenjiang thinks.

Although Tang Yunwen was the highest ranking military general in Qiongzhou, including the surrounding waters, there seemed to be two or three thousand "heroic soldiers" under his command, but it was useless.To put it bluntly, in the huge military and political system of Ming Dynasty, he was actually just the head of the frontier defense regiment.

Commander Tang, the chief officer of the remote defense zone, was powerless to resist the order to move the defense issued by the military region headquarters.Not to mention that Commander Sha's move to Qiongzhou was promoted by Deputy Commander Cao of the military region, which was in full swing, and the military order was signed by Commander He and Governor Xiong of Guangdong and Guangxi.

As a matter of fact, no one has ever asked Captain Tang for his opinion on the matter of moving the defense... When he himself learned about this matter, Qiongshan's civil servants were already urgently planning how to get money from the guests .

Poor Captain Tang was the last senior official in Qiongshan to learn about this.

So Tang Yunwen's mood today is very complicated.

However, from another perspective, that is, Tang Yunwen's original intention, this traditional soldier actually had such unclear expectations for the arrival of Sha Zhengming's fleet.

At the same time as the financial collapse in the late Ming Dynasty, external pressure became stronger and stronger.The field frontier defense regiment like Baisha Water Village has to suffer under the internal environment of financial austerity, and at the same time, it has to face the increasing number of pirate groups and colonial hooligans. how hard.

But in the past two years, the situation has suddenly changed.

Accompanied by the crossing forces step by step from a corner of Tainan to the mainland, there are waves of pirates going south.

When crossing the Zhongshui Strait, the pirates went south, when crossing the Fujian Sea, the pirates went south, and when crossing the Guangdong Sea, the last group of passionate pirates in South China who didn't want to be dogs also ran to the Beibu Gulf to eat Annan rice too.

During the two or three years mentioned above, General Tang, who was stuck in the Qiongzhou Strait, the throat passage to the south, tortured groups of runners, and his understanding of the traversers was actually far beyond the latter's imagination.

Not to mention that Cao Zongbing's name frequently appeared in Tang newspapers afterwards.

This is the root cause of Tang Yunwen's complicated mood today.He knew that the comers were not good, he knew that the comers were feudal towns, but he also knew that the comers were rich and powerful, and those "Western warships" had cannons that could break gold and rocks, and "officers and soldiers" who were fed with money.

Still the same sentence, Tang Yunwen is a soldier after all, he still hopes to see peace in the jurisdiction.

……

After a while, the ships of both sides approached, and Tang Yunwen climbed onto the big ship Xifa along the rope ladder.

Considering that the other party is a confidant of the big boss in the provincial capital, and his own family lacks face and face, before he can figure out Guo Jiang Qianglong's temper, Tang Yunwen, who is sophisticated in the world, decides to lower his posture: "Tang Yunwen sees the general!"

"Master Tang, where do you start when you come out?"

After several years of traveling through time, the time-traveling forces have already established a set of routines for dealing with various classes and occupations of the aborigines.For a powerful military leader like Tang Yunwen, without clearly showing hostility, the traversers must focus on infiltrating.

So Sha Zhengming hurriedly took a step forward at this time, stretched out his arms to hold the hands of Tuanzhang Tang, and said with a look of reproach: "You and I are brothers and colleagues, and we have to stir the ladle in a pot from now on, how can you be so unreasonable?"

Tang Yunwen raised his head when he heard the words, and found that the other person's eyes were clear, and his expression was absolutely innocent, so he relaxed a lot... That's right, since he was able to defeat Zheng Zhilong and Li Kuiqi, he must have a heroic attitude.

"Not a difficult one to deal with."

After making up his mind, Tang Shen stretched out his sallow skin a lot: "So, I invite General Sha to enter the village to rest for a while."

"It's easy to say, I'm going to the old brother's village to have a look."

The next moment, a group of civil and military officials moved to the shore again, and dutifully completed the complicated procedures of the officialdom.

Unlike those civil servants whose heads were in the sky, Sha Zhengming took a good look at it after entering Baisha Water Village.However, what makes people sigh is that the Baisha water village under Tang Yunwen's jurisdiction is no different from the Ming army camps he has seen in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Although the preparations were made in advance, the officers and soldiers who caught the eye seemed to be very energetic, but the dilapidated barracks, old ships, and the strong atmosphere of decay in the air could not be concealed.

After hastily entering the village, everyone has completed another procedure.After that, it was finally the last inspection project: Baisha Xinzhai.

Baisha Xinzhai is not far from the old village, just in another harbor a few miles away.

When the soldiers sent the adults to Xinzhai with poles, it was just in time for the construction scene in full swing.

The originally desolate bay, full of rocks and weeds, has changed its appearance.A few rows of simple houses have been built on the bank, and a traditional wooden trestle bridge has also been built.At this moment, Ming people are surrounded by workers along the coast.The brigade is shirtless and holding wooden tools, picking soil and rocks through the river, and is repairing the bay.

"There is no one here. The Qiongzhou government received the paper from the chief envoy a few days ago, but they didn't dare to delay for a moment. They immediately sent the people from the surrounding counties. They worked hard day and night to get this appearance."

Jia Tongzhi from the Qiongzhou Prefecture had an expression of asking for credit at this moment: "General Sha, are you satisfied?"

"Satisfied, satisfied! Sha thanked all the adults here. Sha will definitely report this matter to my commander-in-chief. A heart is indispensable!"

According to the infrastructure standards of the traversers, this construction site under construction must not meet the requirements.Fortunately, at the beginning, Sha Zhengming's requirements are not high. The fleet can berth and personnel can go to and from the dock.So he hastened to encourage the native officials.

There are still joints in this matter.Qiongzhou is isolated overseas, and now it is under the jurisdiction of the crossing forces, and it can't reach that far.In other words, if the cross-travelers want to garrison troops in Qiongzhou to build a new military port, they must go through the local civil service system, instead of recruiting people to build it by themselves like the Guangzhou New District...at least not at the beginning.

That's why there was this scene just now: at the same time as the Qiongzhou civil official group received the official document, it also received the actual 2 taels of Cao Datou cash from the Guangdong Chief Political Commissioner.

The 2 taels of silver was the most fundamental motivation for Jia Tongzhi and his civil servants to quickly mobilize the people to build the harbor.It would be ridiculous to rely solely on an official document, not to mention Xiong Wencan, even if the emperor issued an imperial decree, without money, it would be impossible for the extremely poor Qiongzhou government to make such a big move to dig a harbor for someone.

In fact, the exquisite Cao Datou wrapped in [-] pieces of red paper is the first real silver that Qiongzhou Prefecture has obtained from the superior yamen for the first time since the Ming Dynasty.This time, the entire Qiongzhou Mansion, including the subordinate officials of the prefect, was really shocked!

You must know that in the past years, apart from urging taxes and food, the yamen in Guangzhou have never allocated a penny to the Qiongzhou government.Hehe, I think too much.

Of course, everyone in the world knows who paid the 2 taels of silver.Jia Tongzhi and the others knew exactly who to give credit for.

Chapter 567 Head Negotiation

After a lot of superficial communication, Sha Zhengming's inspection work in Qiongzhou for the first time was completed.

After that, as the crew of the fleet docked at the port disembarked, the Southward Fleet took over its home port in a true sense.

Although the current home port and even the infrastructure have just started, this is already a good start.With the continuous investment of resources in the future, Sha Zhengming has reason to believe that Baisha New Port will definitely be built at a speed that is astonishing for a wise man.

When the first team of sailors boarded the pier, General Sha Shen and Shao Qiang "went home" with a group of officials—in Qiongzhou Fucheng, the masters of Futai are still waiting for the welcome banquet, and the adults cannot be allowed long wait.

Qiongzhou City in the Ming Dynasty, because it was a prefectural city and monopolized most of the sea trade on the island, was generally quite prosperous, not inferior to those third-tier cities in the mainland.

Sun Futai of Qiongzhou Prefecture is also a kind and interesting official.When General Sha Shen and a group of subordinates came to the government office, Sun Futai cheerfully set up a banquet in the flower hall to entertain the guests.

During the meeting, both the host and the guest enjoyed themselves happily. While enjoying the drink, the two sides also exchanged opinions and views on issues of common concern.

For the local bureaucratic group in Qiongzhou, today's banquet is still very important.Officials now desperately need to know what the next move will be so that they can cooperate and continue to benefit from it.

Of course, the premise of everything is that the negotiation goes smoothly.

So after drinking for three rounds, Sun Futai asked the general on behalf of everyone: "Is there still room to contribute to the general?"

General Sha Shen laughed loudly when he heard the words: "People, there is no shortage of anything right now, only people!"

After a few years in the seventeenth century, for the time travelers, they now know what they lack: people.

People are the primary productive forces.

Everything needs people to create.The time-travelers have infinite technology and relatively abundant resources, the only thing they lack now is people.

General Sha Shen's words did not exceed the expectations of the local officials.

Immediately, an official with a big beard and a red face stroked his beard and said, "To tell you the truth, it's the busy farming season. Even the farmers who come to work right now are the ones who have resorted to tricks." That’s how it got done.”

"Therefore..." the bearded official said with a sincere expression: "The people's resources are exhausted, and next year's taxation will definitely be in trouble, and the province will not be able to explain it."

If the bearded officer said, Sha Shen would be indifferent... Such matters are not under the control of him as a soldier, so he concentrates on eating a Lingao roast suckling pig on the table without lifting his head.

At this time, District Chief Shao Qiang, who was wearing a long robe, appeared on the stage.He stood up and nodded to the bearded officer: "We already understand what Ding Tongpan means."

What Qiongzhou bureaucrats are worried about is indeed a problem.

For the ancient agricultural society, the most important thing for regional officials every year was taxation or taxation.To put it bluntly, the rest of the social service projects are incidental. When a superior evaluates an official, the most important weighting item is whether he can receive the full amount of taxes.

These officials in Qiongzhou Prefecture, this time, took advantage of the opportunity of their superiors to issue a document to travel through the public to pay the bill, and coordinated with the county officials below to mobilize the people's power to make a sudden repair of the harbor.

However, if these people's power is used for a long time according to the wishes of the crossing people, the officials will be a little bit overwhelmed.Because the people that officials can mobilize are all registered "taxpayers".If these people are tied to the construction site for a long time and no one is farming in the field, then the next season's grain harvest will not be harvested, and the officials will not be able to pay taxes, and they will collectively be analized by the provincial bosses.

As a people-friendly official who has lived in Daming for several years, Shao Qiang is well aware of this, and he understands what the officials think.

"Everyone, this matter is easy."

After Shao Qiang got up, he smiled and dropped a sentence, and then proposed a solution.

In the current situation, first of all, migrant workers must be recruited in large numbers. This is the basic principle.Now that the crossing people have come to Hainan, it is definitely impossible to build a port.Use long-term, large-scale infrastructure projects to promote yourself and peacefully evolve the indigenous people. This is the core task when traveling across the crowd to open sub-bases.

Then according to the internal document "Several Principles for Negotiating with the Daming Local Government" issued by the cabinet before, Shao Qiang easily proposed a solution: taxation.

Since Qiongzhou is worried about taxation, it is very good. This year's tax, the counselor of the General Military Mansion, solemnly expresses his position on behalf of the General Military Mansion: We will cover it.