1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 229 Changes in the situation in Yazhou

The immigrants on the island will get supplies about once a week, mainly vegetables, melons and fruits, and a small amount of poultry and livestock.Since the trade with North Vietnamese caravans began, rice has not been a scarce commodity in Heitu Port, so Fushuizhou Island, which serves as a transit supply station, also stores tons of rice for emergencies.Even if supplies cannot be provided for ten and a half months under extreme circumstances, the residents on the island do not need to worry about being in a situation of food shortage.

The "Flying Speed" also brought supplies to the residents. Tao Donglai ordered that most of the meat, vegetables, and fruits on board be left to the residents on the island, leaving only the supplies for this journey. .It is indeed hard work to be stationed on such an island for a long time, and what the executive committee can do is probably to make the residents of the island eat better.Tao Donglai also promised the residents that they would be allowed to move to Shengli Harbor to settle down when their stationing period expired, which aroused cheers from the residents.

According to the arrangement of the management committee, a small livestock farm has been built on the island, raising dozens of chickens, ducks and eight pigs.And here, because it is isolated overseas, the wild animals on the island are mainly various seabirds, and there are no carnivorous beasts at all, so there is no need to worry about wild animals attacking the farm. This is much better than Victory Port and Black Earth Port. That's it - in order to prevent wild animals from attacking, the breeding farms in these two places not only dug isolation ditches on the periphery, but even specially buried bamboo and wood picket isolation belts.

On that day, the "Flying Speed" did not rush to travel overnight, but parked at Fushuizhou Island for one night.The next day, just after dawn, everyone got up and set off.After sailing away from Fushuizhou Island, the sailboat headed southeast at full speed.The journey was smooth and smooth, and we arrived in the Yinggehai area that afternoon.Before dark, the "Flying Speed" had arrived at the estuary of the Ningyuan River outside Yazhou. According to the prior schedule, Tao Donglai had to go to the Zhuya Office on the return journey, and this was the first part of this inspection. The last leg of the journey.

At noon, Tom Wang used the radio to contact the Cliff Office and informed him of the possible arrival time. The "Flying Speed" had just arrived at the mouth of the Ningyuan River, when it saw a Cangshan ship of the Ming Army Navy coming out of the mouth of the river—Luo Shengdong Luoba, who loves to join in the fun, would never miss such an opportunity to flatter him at close range.

When Tom Wang was in contact with the Cliff Office today, Luo Shengdong happened to be drinking tea at the Cliff Office.After boarding the big ship of Shanghai Han, Luo Shengdong found that his future suddenly became brighter. Not only did he earn a lot of money, but his popularity in Yazhou City also skyrocketed.Many dignitaries knew that he had a good relationship with the Haihan people, so they asked Luo Shengdong to buy the Haihan products that are in high demand in the market. The more lucrative mainland regions sell it, but it has become a scarce product in Yazhou, which is close to Shengli Port. Not to mention the skyrocketing price, many things are in a state of price but no market.

Under such circumstances, if there is no special relationship, basically don't try to get Haihan's products.Even merchants such as "Furuifeng" and "Anfuhang" that have business dealings with Haihan have no solution to the current tight situation-it is useless to have money, and now the Haihan people can't afford it. What can I do if there is no supply of goods?
But Luo Shengdong is a little different. He is the kind of Ming Dynasty official who can be "winned" in the eyes of the executive committee. When necessary, the executive committee will give him some impetus from behind—for example, provide him with a small amount of money Haihan's merchandise allowed him to establish his own personal connections in Yazhou.

This kind of approach has achieved results very quickly. Now in the powerful circle of Yazhou City, Luo Bazong of Shuizhai is considered a little famous, and even Jinyiwei and Dongchang Fanzi who are stationed in Yazhou are now starting to Call him brother.There is no other reason, none of these privileged department personnel stationed in Yazhou would be willing to stay in such a remote area, but if they want to be transferred back to the mainland to enjoy the blessings, there are only two ways, one is to make meritorious service and receive awards, and the other is to bribe the boss.

The special nature of Yazhou as a place of exile greatly reduces the possibility of being rewarded for meritorious service.There are officials and prisoners exiled from all over the country everywhere here. Is it possible to find a crime to arrest these people and sentence them again?The consequence of doing so may only be reprimanded by the boss for being incompetent.Then the only way left is to bribe the boss, but Yazhou is poor and has no specialties. Could it be possible to send coconuts and homemade cloth to the bosses in Qiongzhou and Guangzhou?

However, since the appearance of the Haihan people, this situation has changed. The new products launched by the Haihan people are in short supply in the market, and these rare gadgets are perfect for gift giving.In the current situation where the Yazhou Commercial Bank is completely out of stock, the local Jinyiwei and Dongchang fanzi are all eyeing Luo Shengdong's way.

Of course, there were also some people with ulterior motives, who proposed to arrest Luo Shengdong and all the Haihan people, and directly swallow their goods in the name of confiscation, but those who came up with such a bad idea were quickly cleaned up internally.According to the current situation, the Haihan people have gathered thousands of people in Yulin. I am afraid that arresting people will never return.This kind of worry is not unfounded. The inspection department sent there two months ago, none of the entire team has returned to Yazhou during this period, except for being regularly led by the Shuizhai warship "inspecting Yulin". Except for the letter of acknowledgment of safety, these people seemed to disappear out of thin air.

Jin Yiwei and Dongchang are not all idiots, they just eat intelligence. Of course, they can more or less detect that there is a problem with the Haihan people, but so what?The Haihan people are just a group of businessmen. They didn't kill officials to rebel, they just sold some rare gadgets through various channels.It is said that the Haihan people still have a militia group of hundreds of people in Yulin, and no one wants to make troubles for the Haihan people. What are the benefits of Yado?
In addition to the two secret agencies, Luo Shengdong's prestige in the water village is also getting higher and higher.Ever since Luo Shengdong brought He Shenjiang the one-foot square mirror requested by his sixth aunt, He Shenjiang has almost treated Luo Shengdong as a confidant.And because of the deformed system of Yazhou Shuizhai, there is no defense under the ginseng, and the setting of Qianzong, Luo Shengdong, the general, has the taste of being under one person and above the whole village, and he doesn't even need any ginseng. With the warrant, the whole village's warships can be dispatched to sail.As for the group of people who worked with Luo Shengdong, after a few months of private salt business, all of them are now making a lot of money, which also brought him more followers.

Regarding the current situation, Luo Shengdong himself knows very well. He is very clear that all this is thanks to the Haihan people. If the Haihan people cut off his supply, then the power he has established in the Yazhou water village will soon be lost. If the tree falls and the monkeys disperse, the connections in Yazhou City will be cut off quickly, and the Haihan people will quickly help No. [-] Luo Shengdong to take his place—there are probably a lot of people who want to kick him out of the stage and replace him .

And every time he went to Shengli Port to see the speed of development there, Luo Shengdong would not have the idea of ​​confrontation at all.Luo Shengdong had been to Shengli Port half a month ago. At that time, he happened to see at least twenty or thirty Haihan artillery piled up on the pier, and boxes of matchlock guns were piled up like hills. And these Things are being carried and loaded into a lucky boat by laborers.Ren Liang, Luo Shengdong's immediate boss during the labor camp, explained to him very lightly that these arms were going to be sold to a certain country in Southeast Asia.Luo Shengdong is a smart man, of course he can understand Ren Liang's implication - since Haihan can sell these weapons to outsiders, he must already have stronger military power.Reminiscent of the contiguous forts that are being built on both sides of the Shengli Harbor Fjord, Luo Shengdong knows that the current military equipment of the Haihan people has far surpassed that of the local Ming army. Together, I am afraid that they will not be able to enter this harbor that was still in a deserted state half a year ago.

The only good thing is that, at least so far, the Haihan people don't seem to plan to attack Yazhou by force.If that day really comes, Luo Shengdong will be very hesitant whether he should be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, or should be wise to seek refuge with the invincible Haihan people.But no matter what, building a good relationship with the Haihan people now can always leave a way out for the future.Therefore, when Luo Shengdong was not on duty, he would go to the Cliff Office almost every day, and sometimes he would specially invite several local officials to go with him according to the instructions of the Cliff Office.

With reference to later national leaders, it is reasonable to say that Tao Donglai's whereabouts should be kept secret from the outside world, but after He Xi left, the vigilance of the people in the Cliff Office in terms of intelligence security has indeed dropped a lot.After receiving the telegram information, Qiu Yuan, who was in charge of receiving Luo Shengdong, did not shy away from the existence of him as an outsider, and began to order his servants to go shopping, cleaning, and preparing carriages and horses separately.

When Luo Shengdong asked, he heard that Tao Donglai was coming to Yazhou today, so he quickly asked Qiu Yuan for the task of welcoming him.Luo Shengdong has frequent contacts with Haihan, and he is very clear about Haihan's authority structure, and Tao Donglai is undoubtedly the core of the leadership of this group of Haihan people. It is probably better to have a good flattery than to have a girlfriend in the cliff office. moon.So Luo Shengdong invited Qiu Yuan together, went back to Shuizhai and ordered a Cangshan boat, and went to the mouth of Ningyuan River to wait for Tao Donglai's arrival.

After the two ships approached, everyone on the "Flying Speed" could clearly see Luo Shengdong and Qiu Yuan standing on the bow of the Cangshan ship and waving.Tao Donglai didn't think there was anything wrong with Luo Shengdong's welcome, so he and Wang Tom transferred to the Cangshan ship, while the "Flying Speed" was moored in the shallow water near the estuary of the Ningyuan River.

During the pleasantries, Tao Donglai also intentionally or unintentionally revealed the fruitful results of this trip - tens of thousands of taels of arms were sold, and in the near future, thousands of immigrants will arrive at Victory Port by boat.

After hearing this, Luo Shengdong also sighed: "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I have rarely sold such large-scale weapons to foreign countries. In addition, the foreign people are attached to them. Mr. Tao's actions this time are really a precedent in the history of this dynasty!"

Tao Donglai smiled and said, "Mr. Luo, we are not from the Ming Dynasty, and what we do is not for the sake of the Ming Dynasty."

Luo Shengdong replied in embarrassment: "Yes, yes, I made a slip of the tongue!"

This time Luo Shengdong didn't make a slip of the tongue on purpose, but a deliberate temptation.Although Tao Donglai revealed very little information, Luo Shengdong believed that what he said was true, because he happened to have seen the scene of Haihan's arms loading.Haihan now has various lucrative businesses, and has been continuously introducing immigrants to enrich the population of Shengli Port. Although Luo Shengdong is not a person on the intelligence front, he has actually already sensed a hint of danger very sensitively.Although Tao Donglai had stated his attitude more than once that Haihan would never be integrated into the Ming Dynasty, Luo Shengdong still wanted to make sure his attitude would change time and time again.But obviously, as Haihan's power grows day by day, their confidence becomes stronger, and Tao Donglai, as always, has no intention of surrendering to Daming at all.

Tao Donglai's statement made Luo Shengdong a little worried, because according to the current situation, the decline of Yazhou City and the rise of Shengli Port seem to be only a matter of time.In the past one or two months, many immigrants who had previously moved to Shengli Port returned home to visit their relatives, and using their own experience as an illustration, they drove more people to move to Shengli Port.Many people didn't even wait for the ships that regularly came to pick up migrants near Nanshan Town, but went directly to Victory Port by land.This is fundamentally different from the original immigration situation in Yazhou.

At the beginning, the immigrants recruited by the Resident Office in Yazhou were all poor people who had lost their land and had no skills to survive. In order to survive, they had to grasp the life-saving straw of Haihan.But recently, more and more people have been moved by hearing about the superior living conditions in Shengli Port, and began to move their families. The main family can live on by doing farm work.The departure of this group of people led to small-scale farmland abandonment outside Yazhou City, and the reduction in food production is bound to create a new batch of unemployed people after the recent autumn harvest.

In addition, the number of craftsmen in Yazhou City is also gradually decreasing. Only one of the original five blacksmith shops is still open.Others may not know it, but Luo Shengdong knows very well that these people basically went to Victory Port.The impact of this kind of migration of craftsmen on the local area is particularly obvious--the gate of Luo Shengdong's future father-in-law's house was broken for four days, and he searched all over the city but couldn't find a carpenter to repair it. In the end, he had no choice but to chase the duck On the shelf, Luo Shengdong called two shipwrights from the water village to repair it.

According to this development, within a year or two, Yazhou may only have an empty city left. Except for the prisoners in the various government offices and Yazhou prison, most of the others will move to Shengli, which is more lively and more convenient. Hong Kong settlement.And people who have this idea, including Luo Shengdong himself.He knew that the Haihan people had already planned a large business area in Shengli Port, and there were already merchants enclosing land there, planning to build commercial facilities.Taking advantage of the land price increase in Shengli Port, Luo Shengdong is also planning to buy a piece of land there. As for the specific business, you can look at it slowly, and let's talk about occupying the place first.

Of course, Luo Shengdong also knew that his worries were superfluous. This was supposed to be a matter for the lords of the prefecture and fellow prefects. As a little sailor, he didn't even have the slightest say in the local government.Since the adults are not in a hurry, why bother me, I'd better make a fortune with peace of mind first.So Luo Shengdong put aside his distracting thoughts, and turned to Tao Donglai to ask about the supply of several in-demand commodities recently.

The Cangshan boat went upstream at a very slow speed, and it took a full hour to finally arrive at the pier in the north of Yazhou City.Maliko, Mu Xiabo, and Feng Annan from the Cliff Office had been waiting on the shore for a long time, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, they set off on their way home. Tao Donglai also took this opportunity to experience a primitive human-powered sedan chair.Luo Shengdong knew that Tao Dong came to the cliff to do something important, and it would be inappropriate for him to force himself in on such an occasion, so he left immediately and led the team back to the water village.

After the group returned to the Cliff Office, Zhang Guang and Zhao Xiaoruo who stayed at home also came out to meet each other.Then a few errand servants from the office in the cliff came out to meet the head of Haihan whom they had met for the first time.

Naturally, the topics at the reception banquet would not leave the business negotiations in Vietnam this time, and the huge gains achieved during this trip made everyone in the cliff office also very happy.Maliko smiled and said: "Mr. Tao, if the immigration problem is solved this time, the pressure on our side will be much less. Although the number of immigrants in Yazhou has increased a lot recently, if it continues at this rate, I'm afraid In another half a year, there will be no one left in Yazhou who can move."

Tao Donglai shook his head and said: "Neither Yazhou nor Vietnam is our final solution to the source of immigrants. In the short term, we will focus on Hainan Island and surrounding areas. In the long run, we should focus on the mainland. Hainan The local population is limited, so there is no need to say more, but what is the biggest problem that Vietnamese immigrants will bring us, have you ever thought about it?"

Maliko tentatively replied: "Population ratio?"

"That's right." Tao Donglai nodded and said, "If we introduce [-] to [-] Vietnamese immigrants in the next year according to the current plan, this number will greatly exceed the local naturalized population. Although in our eyes It seems that the treatment of naturalized people will be treated equally, but ordinary people may not think so. We must consider in advance the impact and impact that a large number of migrants will have on the lives of local naturalized people, otherwise there may be problems in the future. A lot of problems that are difficult to solve. This kind of xenophobia is nothing new."

(End of this chapter)