1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2165
When Xiu Nian came back to the town panting and carrying the clay pot, the sky had already started to darken.On the way to the town hall, he met Wang Xiucai from the town school. The other party saw that he was hurrying along with a clay pot in his hand, so he asked him if he had brought the pot back from Fuqiang Village.

Xiu Nian was taken aback, and asked Wang Xiucai, "Could it be that Xiucai also received this item?"

Wang Xiucai nodded and said, "For those who go to Fuqiang Village on business, the village head will give him pottery products made by himself. Before leaving, I went to the school in their village to teach for a few days. When I left, I not only gave pots, He also insisted on giving me two water tanks."

Xiu Nian said with a smile: "How can a scholar carry two water tanks, this village chief also likes to joke!"

Wang Xiucai said: "Then you don't need to do it yourself, just let them send it to the town in a carriage on the market day. Now the two tanks are placed in the school, one is in the kitchen for drinking water, and the other is for water storage in the courtyard. By the way, why did you bring it back by yourself, this pot is quite heavy, why not let them deliver it another day?"

Xiu Nian was embarrassed to say that she was too thin-skinned to make such a request to Ren Song, so she could only forced a perfunctory smile.But judging from what Wang Xiucai said, Ren Song didn't have any other thoughts about him, and other people had accepted this kind of thing, so Xiu Nian didn't need to worry about what would happen if he accepted it.

At this time, the public canteen in the town was closed, and Xiu Nian didn't dare to ask the cook to make another meal for herself.Fortunately, before he left in the morning, he packed a few steamed buns from the cafeteria, went out for a long walk and carried them back, which came in handy at this time.Xiu Nian went back to her residence in the town hall, poured a bowl of cold water, then cooked the meal indiscriminately with the dried red bayberry sent by Wang Dagui.

After eating, Xiu Nian didn't rest, he still remembered to report back to Jiang Zian and report the results of his visit to two villages today.

Jiang Zian didn't rest at this time, when Xiu Nian arrived at his office, Jiang Zian was having a meeting with several of his subordinates.Xiu Nian originally wanted to retreat outside and wait, but Jiang Zian asked him to come in and sit down to listen, as if he didn't intend to shy away from it.Xiu Nian wanted to know more about the government affairs of Baiquan Town, and now she couldn't wish more, so she moved a stool and sat down.

The content discussed at the meeting was actually some very routine work, such as the return of the East China Sea Fleet from an expedition. In the near future, Baiquan Town will also organize military labor activities and related folk propaganda work; Arrange the harvesting schedule of each village to ensure efficiency, as well as the subsequent delivery of grain into the warehouse.

These tasks require people from the town hall to go to various villages to organize and implement them. Most of the contents are very cumbersome. Some projects are even a little incomprehensible to Xiu Nian. Is there any direct relationship between Hirado, where the Eight Laws of War are thousands of miles away, and the farmers who are devoted to farming?
However, the projects discussed by everyone basically have nothing to do with the things that Xiu Nian is responsible for. As an observer and the person with the most junior qualifications here, he naturally dare not interrupt and ask questions, so he can only sit honestly and listen to other people. Discuss the implementation plan of these tasks, and plan to ask Jiang Zian about the secrets when they have the opportunity.

Before Xiu Nian had the opportunity to ask Jiang Zian for advice, Jiang Zian asked him first.After the meeting came to an end, Jiang Zian took the initiative to turn the topic to Xiu Nian: "Everyone should have met Xiu Nian yesterday. This is our new colleague. Those who have obtained the second-level superior evaluation will surely join us soon."

After hearing what he said, Xiu Nian realized that she had undergone a secret evaluation during the training period in the immigration camp. Although she didn't know what the grading standard of this evaluation was, but from Jiang Zian's tone, her "Second Grade Superior" It seems to be quite good, and even the chance of naturalization can be won in a short time.

Xiu Nian thought about it for a second. Before she was assigned to Baiquan Town, her performance was highly evaluated by the officials. Therefore, as soon as she arrived in Baiquan Town, she gained Jiang Zian's trust and was accepted into the town office. Such extraordinary treatment should be related to this assessment.

Then I heard Jiang Zian continue to say: "As you all know, Xiu Nian was born in Japan. I heard that she performed meritorious service in the fleet's expedition to Hirado, so she was assigned to our Baiquan Town. However, the details involved military secrets , we won’t go into details…”

Xiu Nian's heart beat faster when she heard that, she was just helping to maintain order and act as an interpreter during the time when the Haihan army moved away from the people, it sounded like Jiang Zian regarded him as "one of his own".It seems that there must have been a certain degree of dislocation in the transmission of information between the military, the immigration camp, and Baiquan Town, so that Jiang Zian mistakenly believed that he was a Japanese serving for the Haihan Army.

Xiu Nian also knew that there were indeed Japanese officers in the Haihan Army. When he was evacuated from Hirado, he had met a Haihan officer who could speak fluent Kyushu dialect, so he was misunderstood that he had been serving the Haihan Army. It's nothing new.

Xiu Nian was a little dumbfounded, but she couldn't explain this kind of thing clearly to these colleagues.Jiang Zian has already defined what he did during Hirado as "military secrets", so even if he wants to say it, these people may not dare to listen.

Since Xiu Nian has done things for the military, and was assigned to Baiquan Town to manage this group of Japanese immigrants, what else would Jiang Zian have to worry about?So as soon as Xiu Nian arrived in Baiquan Town, Jiang Zian let him stay at the town office, and sent him out on his own on the first day of work, without worrying about what would happen to Xiu Nian.

Of course, trust belongs to trust. Jiang Zian actually has no idea about Xiu Nian's ability and whether he is qualified for this job, so he must use practice to verify whether the immigration camp's evaluation of her is accurate.Jiang Zian sent Xiu Nian to visit various resettlement sites in Baiquan Town, just to test his quality.

"Xiu Nian, which two villages did you visit today, and what did you gain, please share with us!"

When Xiu Nian heard Jiang Zi'an calling her name again, she quickly stood up and responded, "The villain went to Gaoxie Village and Fuqiang Village today to check the temporary residences they prepared for the new immigrants, and also talked to the village chief and the immigrants. We talked with them and confirmed that these new immigrants have been properly resettled locally."

Jiang Zian nodded and said, "If I'm not mistaken, these new immigrants should have started working today."

Xiu Nian responded: "Mayor Mingjian, that's exactly the case. The local village chiefs Wang and Ren both said that they should be arranged to start work as soon as possible to save resettlement costs."

Jiang Zian said with a smile: "Wang Dagui and Ren Song are both smart people, they will definitely not let the new immigrants have nothing to do, that's why they can become the two richest villages in Baiquan Town... By the way, why did you choose this village? Two places?"

Xiu Nian didn't hide anything, she just made it clear that she wanted to be able to take the ride from the town to Gaoxie Village, and the two villages are not far apart, so she included it in today's itinerary.

Jiang Zi'an said: "Then what do you think of these two villages after you have been there?"

Seeing that Xiu Nian seemed a little hesitant, Jiang Zian encouraged him, "Everyone here is my own, so you can just talk about your thoughts. If there is anything you don't understand, you can also bring it up."

Only then did Xiu Nian respond: "These two villages are very different from the place where the villain used to stay. They don't rely entirely on farming for their livelihood. The village's own industry will bring them extra income. The villain's impression Farmers in China don’t live like this.”

Jiang Zian nodded and said, "Then, who do you think has a better life than the Japanese farmers you have come into contact with before?"

This time, Xiu Nian replied without hesitation: "Naturally, the farmers in Baiquan Town live better. Many of them live in houses built of bricks and tiles. They don't have to worry about food and shelter. Their children can go to school and read... the most important thing is, They feel that the place where they live is very safe, and they don't have to worry about natural or man-made disasters."

"Zhoushan is guarded by General Shi and the East China Sea Fleet, so it is extremely safe." When it comes to this topic, Jiang Zian and everyone have a confident smile on their faces: "Don't talk about pirates and bandits, even the Daming Prefecture near Zhoushan , and absolutely dare not send troops to harass my Zhoushan Island!"

The confidence of Jiang Zian and others is of course well-founded. Since Haihan occupied the Zhoushan Islands, the East China Sea Fleet has held large-scale military exercises in Hangzhou Bay and the Yangtze River Estuary almost every two years to remind the Jiangsu and Zhejiang authorities not to forget The Haihan Fleet blocked Hangzhou Bay and faced the lessons of Yangzhou City.

Before the end of last year, the armed men sent by Zhoushan rioted in Yangzhou City, slaughtering all the private armed forces of the local Shanshan salt merchants overnight. The ruthless means used by the salt business to be blocked in Yangzhou.There were many people in Yangzhou who tried to challenge Haihan's authority, but after this battle, they all fell silent.

Regardless of whether they are powerful or influential, as long as they oppose the Zhoushan authorities, they will inevitably suffer great hardships.But as time went on, there were fewer and fewer forces in the surrounding area who had the guts to make an enemy of Haihan.Although the local people don't know the actual situation of the East China Sea Fleet's overseas operations, as long as they go to Dinghai Port, they can see the armed warships belonging to the East China Sea Fleet docked at the military docks, and their trust in the government is naturally extremely firm.

"Yeah, with the East China Sea Fleet guarding, there is nothing to be afraid of!" Xiu Nian also agreed with this point of view at this time.The most famous of the Hirado clan is the navy, but the Hirado navy seems to have no courage to fight a decisive battle in front of the Haihan fleet, and after withdrawing to Seogwipo, Xiu Nian heard the Haihan officer mention that, The Hirado navy fleet has been wiped out.

Of course, what Xiu Nian didn't know was that it was not the East China Sea Fleet that wiped out the main force of the Hirado Navy, but the Xu Family Army from Fujian, the genuine Daming Navy.However, Xu Jiajun's identity was too sensitive, and he went out to fight without the approval of the court and the Ministry of War, so he never revealed his identity during the operation. Naturally, this record was attributed to the Haihan Army by people who didn't know the truth.

Whether it is Ming Dynasty or Japan, there were constant wars during this period.Just a few months before Haihan sent troops to attack Hirado, the Shimabara Rebellion, an armed movement launched by Catholics, broke out in Kyushu, Japan. At its peak, the number of troops reached 7000, and the shogunate army who came to quell the chaos broke out many times. , At the same time, a considerable part of Kyushu was involved in the flames of war.However, because the Hirado Clan was far away from the war-torn area, it did not receive much direct impact. Instead, it took advantage of the chaos to receive many refugees who fled.

At that time, Guangming Temple used the incense money of the believers to organize several porridge activities to relieve these refugees who fled to Hirado. Xiu Nian learned how to organize and implement such activities at that time, and later unexpectedly settled in Seogwipo. The battalion came in handy.For the Hirado people who have just experienced the war, the stable environment in Zhoushan is undoubtedly extremely important, which will also help them settle down and integrate into the local society as soon as possible.

Since Jiang Zian said that he could ask questions, Xiu Nian also bluntly asked some things he didn't understand. For example, do these villages in Baiquan Town have their own special side jobs?How can the town office manage and organize such complex production activities with just a few people?Which things are under the jurisdiction of the town hall, and which things are the responsibility of each village?
Jiang Zi'an said: "You are asking these questions carefully. It can be seen that you are indeed using your brain to do things. Then I will briefly talk about our situation in Zhoushan, but there are some things that you still need to experience yourself in the future."

According to the existing administrative structure of the Zhoushan Colonial Area, it is divided into three levels: management committee, town, and village. Basically, the work is done according to the ready-made system.

The agricultural and sideline products of each village are adjusted to local conditions, and the operation items are selected according to the local conditions.Of course, due to the different specific conditions of each village, the business conditions may not be as smooth as the two villages that Xiu Nian visited today.After all, local self-production and self-sale cannot make farmers any money. Only by opening up sales channels and selling agricultural and sideline products to real merchants can these industries obtain real benefits.

In short, in addition to finding suitable business projects for each village, the town office must also try to establish sales channels.This is not an easy job, but fortunately, there is a trade center in Dinghai Port that specializes in trading various commodities, where all kinds of agricultural products can be listed for pre-sale, which makes it easier for the town office to find sales targets for the village. Much smaller.

"With a sound system, everything will become organized, and it's not as complicated as you imagine. Here is a copy of the "Town Office Work Rules", you should read it first, and come back at any time if you don't understand ask me."

Xiu Nian took over the thick work rules from Jiang Zian, and her heart is based on this amount, the system must be quite sound.

(End of this chapter)