1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1087 Propaganda Means
The folk customs in Shandong have been tough since ancient times, and most of the people have self-organized local armed forces. During times of war, associations for self-protection are also the norm.Although the rebels of the Denglai Rebellion had crossed the sea and fled to Liaodong, the social order in the Jiaodong Peninsula has not been fundamentally improved. Various gangs that appeared during the war replaced the rebels after the war and became the new law and order threats, and the garrison of the local guards is difficult to effectively control and attack them because of the great loss in the war.The armed defense system organized by the people in villages as units became the norm in this period.

Some of the refugees who lost their homes during the war also chose to attach themselves to these villages that are stronger and have a certain ability to protect themselves, and sell their labor in exchange for living space.In Dazhuangzi like Yangjiazhuang, there were as many as hundreds of refugees collected sporadically after the war, but because these refugees had solved the most urgent survival problem, their desire to change their living environment was not so strong.Even if they will suffer a certain degree of oppression because they are dependent on others, Yangjiazhuang, which can provide the most basic living conditions, is probably more reliable than an unfamiliar environment with unpredictable prospects.

It's just that Haihan, as an outsider, still lacks understanding of this complicated situation, so the publicity strategy adopted at the beginning may not have immediate results.Moreover, Haihan used cavalry as the implementers of propaganda. This kind of super-standard configuration was indeed too eye-catching in the Jiaodong Peninsula after the war. How could ordinary people dare to believe that they were a good source.

The horse team rested for more than an hour on the hillside far from Lixu in Yangjiazhuang. The cavalry took out bean cakes from their saddlebags, broke them up and fed them to the horses.This bean cake is considered a concentrate, and it can't 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.The people in Zhuangzi still maintained a high degree of vigilance during this period, and the suspension bridge entering and exiting the village was never lowered.Sun Zhen held up the binoculars and looked at it for a while, but finally he could only sigh helplessly.

"If it is operated by your special warfare battalion, how long will it take to take this place?" Wang Jinmin leaned over and asked.

Sun Zhen glanced sideways at Wang Jinmin, and said calmly: "Half a stick of incense! If there are guns available, it should be faster. Don't feel unconvinced, can you rely on your cavalry to attack the city and pull out the village? Listen to my advice, if you see this kind of village, go around it!"

Wang Jinmin snorted and said, "Don't forget that our cavalry are also infantry when we dismount, and we also know the combat skills that infantry should have! How can this small village be difficult for my cavalry battalion?"

Sun Zhen shook his head and said: "You are taking it for granted. The battlefield situation is changing rapidly. You can't simply use the combat skills you know. The combat skills you learned in the military camp may not be suitable for the current environment. Like this I have been practicing horse riding for more than a month, and I know the essentials of the movements, but I often fail to ride it."

"You can't do it after practicing for so long, you are stupid!" Wang Jinmin complained unceremoniously.

Arguments are debates, but Yangjiazhuang's full wariness towards the Haihan Cavalry is obvious, and there is no better way to gain the trust of these villagers. All they can do is leave here and go to the next goal .The 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 is not difficult for the horse team to find the settlements of the people, and soon they are in the south Found another village.

Although this village is as wary of the Haihan people coming in groups as Yangjiazhuang, it does not have a complete defense system like Yangjiazhuang, so the panicked villagers just piled flat carts, door panels, gravel and branches Going to the entrance of the village as a roadblock is obviously not comparable to the moats and suspension bridges around Yangjiazhuang.

Wang Jinmin single-handedly came to the entrance of the village again, and repeated his previous remarks to the villagers hiding behind the roadblocks. Of course, this attempt failed to gain the trust of the villagers without any suspense, so he had to throw the Haihan printed Post leaflets as a means of indirect communication with people in the village.

But this time it seems to have received 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 on the disaster relief matters mentioned in the notice.Wang Jinmin immediately signaled to his companions in the rear, then got off his horse and walked to the roadblock.A few men with hunting forks and sticks came out from the village, searched the man and horse, none of them were armed, then moved the barricade three feet away, and let Wang Jinmin enter the village.

After Wang Jinmin entered the village, someone soon brought him to an old man, who seemed to be the person in charge of the village.

"Honorable, your notice says that there are benevolent people distributing relief food on Zhifu Island, but is it true?" The white-haired old man asked excitedly with Hai Han's notice in his hand.

Wang Jinmin nodded and said: "My master is a great philanthropist from the south. In order to save the people in Shandong, he specially transported millions of catties of rice and grain, and it was piled up on Zhifu Island at this time. It's clear."

The old man asked again: "What's the point of receiving the relief food?"

Wang Jinmin shook his head and said: "It's nothing special, as long as you go to Zhifu Island, you can have a bite to eat. Does the old man think this is a lie?"

Someone nearby replied: "Earlier, some people released food in the name of disaster relief, but after going to the local area, they found out that bandits set up a trap. All young and strong were forced to join the group, and all women and children were taken away. Only the old, the weak, and the sick Can was driven back, but he 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 said the food had been released. After inquiring, they found out that they were acting for the government to make a name for themselves as good husbands."

Wang Jinmin said: "It's understandable for everyone to be worried. My master has hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land in the south, and he is also proficient in maritime trade. His family property is rich enough to save the people in Shandong. I escaped from Dengzhou Prefecture after the outbreak of the Denglai Rebellion, and now I have come back from the south for thousands of miles. I also want to try my best to help my parents and folks. If you want to find a long-term livelihood, you only need to go to Zhifu Island, and my master will help you Arrange one by one."

The old man asked: "Even if your master has mountains of gold and silver, there are so many refugees in Shandong, aren't they afraid of being eaten up?"

Wang Jinmin said: "It's not enough to eat without doing anything. Disaster relief is to save the emergency and not the poor. What my master provides is not only relief, but also a corresponding self-help model."

Wang Jinmin has also received relevant publicity training before this, and he is quite familiar with Haihan's immigration policy. Since these village names are willing to listen, he will seize the opportunity to publicize the policies he knows. Then he explained the various benefits of Haihan's introduction of immigrants to the onlookers in detail.He also knew that these ordinary people were most concerned about the land policy. Although Haihan's land was publicly owned, the right to use it was privately owned. Except that it could not be transferred privately, it was actually not fundamentally different from Daming's land policy. The ownership of the land belonging to the emperor was transferred to the Haihan Executive Committee.

Of course, these details don’t 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 emigrate to the south according to Haihan’s arrangement, they can obtain the land allocated for personal cultivation according to different standards in different regions.For the rural people who have been farming for generations, the land is undoubtedly the foundation of their foothold.The wave of land annexation in Shandong 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 the two states of Denglai. After the war, the country gentry obtained a large amount of cheap land, and more farmers lost their self-sufficiency as a result, and were completely reduced to being squeezed by the landlord class.

In fact, many of what Wang Jinmin said made the villagers feel unbelievable. For example, Haihan has a super large island in the southern waters that can accommodate a million people, or the local government in the south cooperates closely with Haihan and even helps organize The people immigrated from the area ruled by Daming to the island ruled by Haihan.But Wang Jinmin swears and swears so much that he spit all over the place. In addition, he was born in Terengganu, and there are many authentic and credible elements in the experience he said. The villagers are not sure which of what he said is true.But with regard to the land policy, Wang Jinmin basically followed the scriptures, speaking clearly and clearly. These villagers have limited knowledge, and it is difficult to pick out any loopholes in it.

Wang Jinmin spoke dryly, and finally persuaded the other party. When the horse team turned around two days later, he took a few people from this village as representatives to Zhifu Island to see the actual situation, and then they came back to testify to the propaganda notice and the actual situation 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 I didn't hit a wall completely, but it can be regarded as opening up the situation a little bit, and I saw the hope of attracting immigrants.

The horse team arrived in Fushan County in the afternoon, and the sight of this place made everyone intuitively understand why the superiors sent them out to carry out this kind of promotional activity that seemed to have slow results.

The city wall of this county is probably no more than two miles in circumference, but the area of ​​the shacks and slums built outside the city is at least twice the size of the county.As far as the eye can see, there are almost all low and dilapidated shacks, people in ragged clothes, and you can smell the stench coming from the air—it is probably impossible to have anything in this dirty and messy environment. Public health facilities exist.It would not be surprising if a large-scale epidemic suddenly broke out here.

The arrival of the cavalry inevitably caused a small riot. In a small place like Fushan County, the last time a cavalry of this size appeared was during the Denglai Rebellion. Including civil and military officials, they couldn't find ten decent horses.

In order to avoid causing a larger riot, the horse team stopped about half a mile away from the slums around the city.Wang Jinmin was planning to go out to search alone again, when he saw a few government servants in official uniforms walking out from between the shacks, stopped to watch for a while, and then walked towards the horse team.

The detachment Sun Zhen was in was mainly cavalry, and the company commander of the team was named Liu Xian, but he always discussed things with Sun Zhen. After all, Sun Zhen was an officer sent by the Special War Battalion and a native of Shandong. Its opinions still have relatively great reference value.Liu Xian saw those government servants approaching, so he called Sun Zhen to get off his horse and wait.

"Han Qin, the head of the Xiafushan County Yamen, please tell me, where did this come from?" The leading Yamen servant walked up to the horse team and revealed his identity.

"It turned out to be Lord Han." Liu Xian stepped forward to greet him, and then roughly explained the identity of the horse team and the purpose of coming here.

After hearing this, Han Qin felt a little dazed. He had been working in Fushan County for nearly 20 years, and he had also experienced the turmoil of the Denglei Rebellion. Food refugees were transported to the south for resettlement.This sounds like a means of relief for refugees, but it is beyond his previous cognition.

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 thousands of miles away for resettlement? His first reaction was to feel that he had encountered a group of well-dressed liar.But these poor people who had lost their homes were of little value, and Han Qin couldn't figure out what good it would be for the person in charge of this matter to trick these poor people to the south.

Han Qin asked: "What you said is really unbelievable, is there any other evidence?"

He saw that many of the group of people stood in a bow-legged posture after dismounting, which seemed to be the sequelae of long-term riding, and he felt suspicious of their origins at the moment—it was nothing more than riders from the south. Could it be that these tall horses also came from From the South?Seeing that each of these people is full of murderous intent, they are probably bandits from the caravan running around in Shandong.

Liu Xian then took out the printed publicity notices and leaflets and showed them to Han Qin and others, which stated that Haihan came to Shandong to solicit immigrants.But after reading it, Han Qin not only did not believe Liu Xian's statement, but felt that this group of thieves deliberately set up a trap to lure the people. conspiracy.

This Han Qin can be regarded as a bold person, so he immediately shirked and said: "This matter can't be counted if I talk about it, how about this, please go to the county government and report this matter to the county magistrate personally, presumably the adult will also Support such acts of kindness.”

Liu Xian thought for a while, and was about to say yes, but Sun Zhen who was next to him shook his head and interjected: "Master Han's words are wrong. We are here to help the people, not the county magistrate. Why do we need the magistrate's consent?"

(End of this chapter)