1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 157
It is not uncommon for He Qiang to inlay windows with small pieces of glass or colored glaze before, but due to technical reasons, it is difficult for these things to be available in large flat plates, and they are often made of small pieces. Come and put together, and the price of the finished product is extremely high.In Li Jifeng's study, there are two windows inlaid with shards of glass, which have excellent light transmission. Even closing the windows during the day can make the room very bright, but the glass pieces used in those two windows are smaller than the window in front of him. Much more.Even so, there are only two glass windows in the entire Li family's courtyard, which shows how precious this thing is.

In addition, when He Qiang went to Haojingao to do business with Frangji people, he had seen this kind of glass inlaid glass doors and windows in their churches. It is said that they were all shipped from far away Europe.And those Frangji people once said that even in their hometown, this kind of thing is also very valuable.

Now He Qiang saw this kind of glass window again, but he never expected that it would appear in the small wooden house where the inspector lived. The tall glass window was matched with the simple wooden house. I don't even know what to say.

"I think this can at least dispel some of Mr. He's doubts. That's right, we do have the ability to manufacture glassware." Seeing He Qiang's reaction, Schneider had roughly guessed how he was feeling, walked behind him and whispered softly. Said: "For us, glass is not a big thing, we can make as many as we want!"

Schneider's deliberate showing off is not exaggerated. At present, a glass workshop has begun to be built in the valley across the river from Base [-], and flat glass has also begun to enter the trial production stage.With the current technical level that the traversal crowd can achieve, it is not possible to produce too large a size for the time being, and the scrap rate is extremely high, and a large number of glass fragments were produced during the trial production process.

In addition to returning these broken pieces of glass to the furnace, some of the slightly larger sizes were used to inlay doors and windows.It's just because the processing speed of this mosaic process is relatively slow, and the output of glass doors and windows is not large. At present, it is only beginning to renovate the houses in Victory Port and Base No. [-].The inspection department was also fortunate enough to catch a boat with the wind, and replaced all the windows of several rooms from wooden slats with glass.In the eyes of the time travelers, this is just a matter of convenience, making full use of waste, and training a few craftsmen who install glass doors and windows by the way, but in the eyes of outsiders, this can be regarded as a show of extravagance.

He Qiang didn't know the principle of glass manufacturing, nor did he know the cost of making glass for Haihan people, but he judged one thing from Schneider's words - Haihan people didn't pay much attention to glass products, which was very interesting. Probably because they thought it would be easy to make, maybe as easy as building these log cabins.

"If the Haihan people can transfer the technology of making glass..." He Qiang thought further without knowing it.

"I met Mr. Shi!" While speaking, inspector Wei Pingwei had already dressed and came out, but his spirit was a little listless, and it seemed that he hadn't had enough sleep.

"Inspector Wei, these two are businessmen Mr. Li and Mr. He from Guangzhou. They said they wanted to visit you." Schneider nodded to Wei Ping as a greeting, and explained to him the purpose of their visit directly. .

"Visit me?" Wei Ping walked up to Li He and the two of them, looked them up and said, "What's your business?"

"Next is He Qiang, the steward of Guangzhou 'Furuifeng'. This is the owner of our third young master. I am new here, so naturally I have to visit the local parents and officials first." He Qiang clasped his fists and bowed.

"Parents?" Wei Ping showed a strange expression on his face: "My place here is too small, so I won't let you drink tea, please go your own way. If you have anything to do in Shengli Port, let Mr. Shi come forward Just deal with it, don't come looking for me."

He Qiang said a few words politely, then took out two ingots of silver from his sleeve and stuffed them into Wei Ping's hands: "A little heart, please be sure to accept it."

Wei Ping looked at Schneider's face, saw him nod his head slightly, and then picked up the money.

After leaving the small courtyard of the Inspection Department, Li Nai and He Qiang felt unspeakably awkward.While Schneider was still talking to Wei Ping in the courtyard, Li Nai lowered his voice and asked He Qiang: "Uncle He, could this inspection be... Haihan people looking for someone to impersonate?"

He Qiang shook his head and said: "That's not true. Last year the shopkeeper came to Yazhou for inspection, and I came with him. When I was having dinner with Mr. Tongzhi of Yazhou, this inspector Wei was also present. It seems to be Mr. Tongzhi's or something. Relative, I remember that he was working in the Inspection Department of Tianya Town at that time. It was just a chance meeting at that time, I recognized him, but he no longer recognizes me."

"But why does he seem to care about Mr. Shi's face all the time?" Li Nai asked.In this era, the inspection department is simply the nemesis of businessmen, but who would dare not care about the existence of the inspection department for any businessman?Even a big company like "Furuifeng" must remember to pay tribute to the inspection department every time it goes to a place, otherwise it is impossible to say when the caravan transporting goods will be seized by them and arrested.But this situation seems to be reversed in Shengli Port. Instead, the inspection department depends on the faces of the Haihan people, the businessmen?
Both of them felt that there were too many problems in the place of Victory Port, and there was a strange smell that could not be explained clearly.Obviously there are naval warships and inspection departments here, but both of them feel that this place seems to be different from the places they have been to before.Everything here looks very orderly, and the environment is clean and tidy, but somehow there is always an invisible sense of disobedience.

Schneider quickly came out of the yard and led the two towards the gate of Base No. [-].Perhaps it was the detailed description heard from shopkeeper Li before coming here that played a role. The two were not too surprised by the strong wall and moat-like trenches of the No. [-] base, but a notice board standing at the door attracted Li. Nye's attention.

Two lines of words were written with a brush on the notice board: ordinary people stop here, and members of the commune need to register first before entering.

There was a small pavilion next to the notice board, and a person who looked like a clerk was sitting inside. There were two militiamen standing upright at the entrance of the suspension bridge outside the pavilion, holding five-foot-long matchlock guns in their hands.

Li Nai asked curiously: "What does this member mean?"

"Community members are a kind of staffing system here." Schneider explained: "We use communes to organize the people here. Only people with membership status can enjoy various local welfare benefits, such as education, medical care, and labor levels. Promotion, etc. If you don’t have membership status, it’s just a temporary worker, and you won’t get anything but a little wage.”

Li Nai was startled when he heard that, what about the commune? Isn't this just controlling the people of Daming in a disguised form?Coupled with the militia soldiers that can be seen everywhere here, Li Nai seems to understand why Wei Ping and his gang are huddled in the small courtyard doing nothing.

But Li Nai still did not give up and asked: "Then what is the role of the government's local government?"

Schneider stopped, looked at Li Nai meaningfully, and said after a long time: "If you want to hear the answer you want to know, then I can tell you that the government of Yazhou is of course here to maintain normal social order. , to manage the local people, the Yulin Inspection Department you just went to is the highest local authority."

"So, there is another answer?" Li Nai was a young man after all, and continued to ask relentlessly despite He Qiang pulling his sleeve repeatedly behind him.

"You must want to know, so I'm not afraid to tell you." Schneider said with a smile, "The Yazhou navy you saw when you came here, and the Yulin inspection department here, these people rely on us to get They are raised by money. Do you understand what I mean? What they should do and what they should not do here must be done according to the rules we set, so that everyone can save a lot of unnecessary trouble."

"Then isn't this place...isn't it out of my Ming Dynasty's jurisdiction?" Li Nai was surprised and angry.

"No, no, of course, this place is not out of Ming Dynasty's jurisdiction." Schneider immediately shook his head and denied Li Nai's statement: "You have also seen that Ming's army and officials also exist here, but we are replacing them to perform functions. .”

"You are acting like Li Daitao!" Li Nai couldn't agree with Schneider's sophistry.

Schneider shrugged his shoulders and said: "Even if it is, it will not cause any loss to Daming, and we can manage this place better. I'm not afraid to tell you that most of the residents here are bankrupt elsewhere. Those who cannot continue to live, after they came here, got food, housing and jobs. We let these people see the hope of living, and together we built this barren place as you can see look."

"The people are under the control of the local government. Even if they go bankrupt, the government will try to arrange their way out!" Li Nai still refused to admit defeat.

"To be honest, I don't think the government in Yazhou or other places has the ability to do better than us." Schneider said with a mocking look on his face: "A total of 620 nine people were sent from Yazhou last month. There are 430 ordinary people, and the rest are convicts. Yes, you heard me right, the Yazhou government is trying to find a way to bring their prisoners here. Not only can they save a lot of expenses, And you’ll get a nice kickback from us.”

Schneider paused, and his expression became disgusted: "In fact, I recently heard a very bad news. The Yazhou government plans to arrest some nearby farmers who lost their land, and then treat them as prisoners. Give it to us so they can make extra money in a 'reasonable' way."

(End of this chapter)