1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1922
At the same time that Luo Shengdong was holding the reception banquet, a three-masted lucky boat slowly sailed into Yingge Harbor.Because of the geographical environment, most of the transportation of materials and personnel between this area and the outside world is done by sea, so the number of ships entering and leaving the port every day is generally maintained at double digits, and merchant ships from foreign countries are not uncommon here.

After the staff on the dock guided the ship to dock, it was registered as usual.However, due to the limited conditions of this era, it is actually difficult to check the identity in real time, so it is only a symbolic management method, and it is more for the convenience of management and statistics of port usage efficiency and cargo throughput.

The owner of the boat, surnamed Xue, claimed to be from Fujian, but he didn't come here specially to buy salt. He just wanted to stay at the port here for a night to rest as it was getting late.This is of course a very normal reason. After all, within a radius of tens of miles from the southwest corner of Hainan Island, only Yinggehai has relatively good port conditions and complete living facilities. If you are willing to spend money, restaurants and inns in the county It can even provide a comfortable service no less than that of Sanya.Therefore, many ships will choose to use this place as a supply point when they pass by this sea area and are not in a hurry.

In the past two years, the relationship between Haihan and Ming Dynasty has gradually improved, and the Haihan officials have gradually released the restrictions, allowing maritime merchants from Ming Dynasty to freely enter and exit Haihan's various trading ports.Due to the inextricable connection between Haihan and Ming Dynasty, generally speaking, as long as they are Han Chinese, or can speak Chinese fluently, they will not be subject to too many restrictions on movement in Haihan.

The owner surnamed Xue walked around the pier, and said he wanted to go to the county town to have a good meal, and he hired two carriages on the pier with pride, and brought a dozen or so crew members into the city together.Before getting into the car, he looked back at the pier again. Apart from his own boat, there were also two sailboats with conspicuous shapes.The densely packed gun emplacement crenels and gun windows on the side of one of the ships have already indicated that it is a warship belonging to the Haihan Navy.

After getting into the car, Captain Xue told the driver to go to the county town to find a lively place to eat.A follower next to him lowered his voice and asked: "Boss, why don't you go to the best place here, maybe you just bump into..."

Captain Xue shook his head and said: "When an important person visits a small county, there will be an official reception banquet. This meal should not be eaten outside. Find a restaurant with a lot of people in the city and see if you can get any news. "

The migrant population in Yinggehai is mainly sea visitors like Captain Xue, and most of them come here to do business related to the salt industry.Therefore, although Yinggehai is not a big place, the service industry is quite developed, and there is everything to eat, drink and play.And places like this often have people of all levels and schools, and there are many sources of news. As long as you find the right way and are willing to spend money, you can usually get some local news that is not particularly confidential.

At this time, the banquet in the county yamen for the son of Joseon and his party is still going on, but the rhythm of the wine fight has basically stopped, because the only ones who are still drinking are Luo Shengdong and Ding Xu. Well, the two will be indistinguishable for a while, and the protagonist, the North Korean, has temporarily left the scene. In the end, they both chose to take the initiative to cease the war.At this time, Hong Jingwen, who was cleared out first, had regained his senses and returned to the chat group.

Seeing that Hong Jingwen had recovered a little, Luo Shengdong teased him: "Brother Hong drank a lot today, so it won't affect the business, right? Don't be unable to write the manuscript or pay the job, and let the superiors punish you for salary!"

Hong Jingwen waved his hand and said, "It's alright, the higher-ups attach great importance to the publicity work of the son's trip, and I am not the only one responsible for it. I am in charge of writing things, and I am not in such a hurry to hand them in."

Zhang Qianzhi heard the words and asked: "I heard that before this departure, the publicity work actually started?"

Hong Jingwen responded: "That's right, the higher authorities originally wanted to issue a special issue to the Times in these two days to report on the prince's visit and investigation arrangements, but the materials were not enough, so they were canceled in the end. But they still instructed several Sanya newspapers. The local tabloids first warmed up about this matter, and it should have appeared in the newspapers yesterday."

Zhang Qianzhi said thoughtfully: "Announcing the inspection of the prince in advance will actually be unfriendly to the security work!"

Hong Jingwen said nonchalantly: "Brother Zhang, don't worry too much! North Korea has no enemies in the South China Sea. Who would be interested in the visiting son of North Korea? Besides, there are troops accompanying us on this round-the-island inspection trip. Who doesn't have eyesight and dares to jump?" If you come out to make trouble, wouldn't you be asking for your own death?"

Before Zhang Qianzhi opened his mouth, Luo Shengdong rushed forward and responded: "In fact, no matter where this prince goes, the local will arrange additional security measures. After all, no one wants to have accidents on their own territory... Since Brother Zhang I think it might cause hidden dangers, so I'll just...forget it after dinner, come here!"

Luo Shengdong immediately called his adjutant and asked him to immediately gather his personal guards to be responsible for the safety of Li Lu and his party during the investigation in Yinggehai.Of course, the leading role in this security work must be left to the accompanying troops from Sanya, and the local armed personnel will just do it.In fact, Luo Shengdong didn't think there would be any danger in Li Mo's itinerary. His main move was to show his positive attitude to Zhang Qianzhi and others, so as not to be thought that he didn't pay enough attention to the safety of VIPs.

The local armed forces in Yinggehai are mainly the two army companies stationed here, and there are also two company-level militias. Most of the members are wounded veterans who have retired from the Haihan Army, or naturalized local young adults. .The militia conducts drills twice a month and will be used as a reserve force in emergency situations.

In addition, it is a small-scale private armed force under the name of Luo Shengdong.Back then, Luo Shengdong used the banner of the Yacheng Navy to trade private salt. After earning money, he secretly organized a group of people and trained them as his own private army in case of emergencies.After all, what he was doing at that time was a business that would cost his head. If he didn't have a group of reliable people around him, he would be extremely irresponsible to himself.

Luo Shengdong himself is a person with a strong desire to survive, otherwise he would not have chosen to surrender Haihan back then. During the few years he was doing private salt business, he was also thinking about the way Haihan trained soldiers, and then he spent money secretly. A lot of money to train a soldier.However, he also knew that training soldiers privately under Haihan's rule was a great taboo, so he took the initiative to declare the matter to Haihan officials in the name of a "private guard" very early on, and at that time Haihan also needed his special identity to go Opening up a channel for the salt business has acquiesced to this kind of side-by-side operation.

But later, when Luo Shengdong made enough money and wanted to abandon business and become a politician and enter Haihan officialdom, this private armed force became an obstacle.In the end, after some bargaining, Haihan's senior officials were grateful for his achievements in running the salt industry for many years, and allowed him to keep a private armed establishment of no more than 20 people, and all of them were not allowed to have any criminal records, and they were not allowed to use force at will. Party records and archives.

Although there are many restrictions, in the end Luo Shengdong was able to keep a private armed guard, and the small number of people also has the advantage of having a small number of people. With the same investment, you can have better individual equipment.Although Luo Shengdong's private guards were far inferior to the Haihan regular army in terms of equipment, they were basically the best models that could be bought from official channels.Luo Shengdong also pays out of his own pocket every year to invite retired officers from the Ace Army to guide the training. It is indeed a small elite team that was spent with real money.

Zhang Qianzhi had also heard a little about this private armed force under Luo Shengdong's name. After all, this kind of naturalized magistrate can also have a private guard, which is rare in Haihan official circles.

Of course, Luo Shengdong is definitely not the only one in the Haihan officialdom who wants to own private arms, but raising soldiers is extremely expensive. Raising an elite army is not the same thing as hiring twenty servants or long-term laborers. There are indeed very few officials who can gain the trust of Haihan's high-level officials.

Previously, after receiving Li Lu and his party at the pier, half of them were the local garrison, and half were the accompanying armed personnel commanded by Gai Liangcai. There were dozens of people on both sides. In fact, it was already necessary to protect one or two important people. More than enough.But coupled with this private armed force familiar with the local situation, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Zhang Qianzhi understood that Luo Shengdong also used this to express his feelings, but he would not expose this mystery in public. After all, Luo Shengdong's move was also a good intention, so he made corresponding arrangements.But Zhang Qianzhi felt that it was inappropriate to do so even without a detailed itinerary for the inspection arrangement of the son of Joseon that had been announced early on. After making adjustments to the security measures, he tactfully put the topic aside.

At this time, Li Lu and Li Xi also came back, and Gai Liangcai came back to the house after a while without making a sound. After sitting down, he met Zhang Qianzhi's eyes and nodded slightly as a signal.

Zhang Qianzhi felt that although Gai Liangcai got the job through some special means, it seemed that he lived up to his name, had a good professional quality, and looked very stable, so there should be no omissions.He originally wanted to talk to Gai Liang after the banquet, but after Luo Shengdong sent more people just now, Zhang Qianzhi also felt that there should be no need for this for the time being.

After the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves, Luo Shengdong arranged to send Li Mo and his party to the guest house to rest.That's right, although Yinggehai is only a small county, it also has high-standard reception institutions because of its relatively developed economy, but the scale is much smaller, and there are only two courtyards in the northwest of the county.However, it was enough to receive Li Luo and his group. The North Koreans lived in one courtyard, and the accompanying Haihan officials lived in another courtyard, which was just arranged.

Li Wei only drank a little wine during the banquet, and he basically didn't feel drunk when the banquet was over, so when he came out, he noticed that there seemed to be a lot more armed guards inside and outside the county office than when he came, and he couldn't help but Some sighed, thinking that Haihan people are meticulous in their work, and they even send extra guards at night.

Naturally, no one would clarify Li Min's misunderstanding immediately, but Luo Shengdong stepped up a few steps, walked up to Gai Liangcai and whispered a few words, probably explaining to him about the additional guards.Gai Liangcai's expression remained unchanged as usual, and he nodded slightly after listening to Luo Shengdong's deployment.

Gai Liangcai was basically in charge of the security of Li Lu's entourage this time, and until no higher-ranking officer came forward, the local security forces had to follow his instructions.However, the commander of the local garrison is only a lieutenant, and Gai Liangcai is currently the highest-ranking officer in the Yinggehai area. Even Luo Shengdong's private armed forces must obey his orders according to the Haihan military regulations.So Luo Shengdong had to report to him after making adjustments to the security measures, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

The road from the county yamen to the guest house is still the main road that runs through the county from north to south, so when the convoy of this group passed through the city in the dark, there was quite a lot of movement.But at this time, there were basically no other carriages and horses on the road, so the speed of travel was much faster than before from the port to the county government.

"It's a box carriage specially used by officials to pick up and drop off dignitaries... There are four of them, accompanied by riders on both sides, they should be them."

On the street-facing seat on the second floor of a certain restaurant in the city, someone had been watching the movement on the street. When they saw the convoy appear, they immediately informed Captain Xue who was still drinking slowly by himself.

Captain Xue put down his wine glass, got up and walked to the railing, just in time to see the convoy slowly disappearing at the end of the long street, and immediately ordered in a deep voice: "Go and find out what's special about that direction."

Although the night is dark, there are still many customers in this restaurant, and there are soft sedan chairs and carriages waiting for business outside the gate. It is not difficult to inquire about the local situation.He didn't wait long before he got the information sent back by his subordinates: "Boss, it is said that the northwest is the local guest house. I think they live there. Do you want to send someone over there to check?"

Captain Xue thought for a while, and finally shook his head and said: "We don't have any locals here, don't act rashly, and just now I saw that the convoy was heavily guarded, so the Haihan people probably don't want anything to happen to the son of North Korea... By the way, the locals The county magistrate seems to have been a military officer of the Ming Dynasty?"

After receiving affirmative information, Captain Xue nodded slightly and said: "It's no wonder that you are a military officer. Maybe these guards just want to show off and make the North Koreans feel good... that's all right, that's all for today." Let’s make plans tomorrow.”

The group of people quickly settled their meals and left the restaurant, disappearing into the night.

(End of this chapter)