1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 336 Tom Wang's Real Purpose
Li Jifeng's mind exploded in an instant, Lijiazhuang is the front door that rejects tigers, and the back door enters wolves. The bandits outside the village have not been completely repelled, and the Haihan militia that came to fight the fire have their own ideas.The most irritating thing is that the Haihan militia begged others to come by themselves.

Is there a secret bank in Lijiazhuang?Of course there is, and the scale is not small. As Wang Tom said, part of the wealth earned by the Li family from running "Furuifeng" is stored in Guangzhou City for the daily operation of "Furuifeng", and the other part is It was transported back to Lijiazhuang, and stored in the secret bank of the village. As for the specific amount, even Li Jifeng himself did not make a detailed statistics and inventory, because the silver stored in the bank is not just his income after he took charge of the family. , the earliest can even be traced back to the heritage of the ancestors of the Li family a hundred years ago.

Due to the long history, many of the silver boxes that were put in earlier were decayed, and it was not convenient to carry them. Moreover, it was too much movement to move out all the hoards in the silver vault for inventory, and Li Jifeng didn't want to easily reveal his family background.In addition, the business of "Furuifeng" has been doing smoothly in the past year, almost only in and out, and a large amount of cash is constantly enriching the secret bank of Lijiazhuang.At the beginning of this month, the Li family father and son were still discussing whether to expand the size of the bank, because at the current rate of income, the secret bank of the Li family village would be filled up within the year.

Although it can't be called a mountain of gold and silver for the time being, the hoards here are already astronomical for ordinary people.The reason why Li Jifeng was willing to spend money to hire the Haihan militia to cross the sea to help in the war was also because there were too many treasures stored here, which could not be lost.

Li Jifeng was worried that he would offend Wang Tom, so he didn't dare to deny his speculation directly, and he was worried that if he admitted it would lead to Wang Tom's further oppression, he didn't want to admit the wealth of the Li family village, so he had to answer vaguely: "Captain Wang is really I like to joke, there is no such thing as a treasury... But this time, I have also prepared a little gift for the officers, everyone, please don't hold it back!"

Li Jifeng winked, and when someone brought up several wooden trays, each tray contained ten ingots of glittering gold ingots, which looked very attractive.

Seeing this, Tom Wang was stunned for a moment, waved his hands and said, "Boss Li, there is no need for this. The military expenses for our mobilization of militias this time will naturally be settled with you by the Guangzhou Office. As for individuals, there is no need to pay. You should put away this gold."

Li Jifeng said anxiously: "Captain Wang, is it too little? This is just a little thank you to all the officers for their hard work across the sea. After this battle, I will give you another reward!"

Tom Wang stared at Li Jifeng, and suddenly laughed: "Boss Li, you don't think we're planning on Li's house, do you?"

Li Jifeng was taken aback, and quickly denied it: "No, no, I don't have such a ridiculous idea."

Tom Wang smiled and said, "The fact that I mentioned money to you is not implying that you will take advantage of it. I won't be able to use your gold and silver treasures when I take them back to Victory Harbor..."

"There are also bank notes issued by 'Haihan Bank' over here..."

"Listen to me first!" Tom Wang interrupted Li Jifeng, who was eager to express his heart, and said, "How much money does your Li family have? Your safety, not here to grab your money, do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I naturally understand the kindness of the executive committee." Li Jifeng responded repeatedly.

"The bandits who came to Lijiazhuang to make trouble this time, we will naturally help you fight back. But..." Wang Tom emphasized: "This will not completely solve the problem of your Lijiazhuang being coveted by others. After we leave, we will say later There may be other bandits attacking Lijiazhuang. Even if we are willing to come to the rescue, it is hard to say whether we can arrive in time next time. If the sea conditions are bad or there are other reasons, then how safe is Lijiazhuang? Isn't it in jeopardy?"

"What does Captain Wang mean?" Li Jifeng hesitated a little now. Judging from the meaning of Wang Tom's words, it seemed that he didn't simply want to squeeze a fortune from Lijiazhuang.

"If you want to protect the personal and property safety of the people of Lijiazhuang, I think the defense function of Lijiazhuang should be further strengthened, and a normalized defense force must be maintained." After Tom Wang finished speaking, he saw the Li family and his son with a dazed expression. Quickly explained: "It is to have armed personnel stationed here for a long time!"

Li Jifeng said: "But the Li family's militia has been incorporated into the 'Golden Shield Security' now, and the number of people in this village is limited, how can we train more militias?"

Tom Wang pointed to himself and said, "You don't have soldiers, but we have soldiers! We can station a certain number of militiamen to come to Lijiazhuang, so that you don't have to go all the way to rescue soldiers every time something happens."

"But this banditry doesn't happen all the time. The banditry around Guangzhou has been going on for several years. This is the first time that Lijiazhuang has been harassed by bandits. Your garrison is here. The cost will not be worth the loss!" Li Jifeng didn't dare to refuse Wang Tom's proposal can only go around in circles trying to find some objective reasons for the other party to give up this plan.The Haihan militia eats well, dresses well, and lives well. It costs more to raise such a group of uncles than to support our own militia. What's more, our own militia can still work to make money to subsidize expenses. If the Haihan militia is stationed in Lijiazhuang Who dares to order them to do things?Thank God for not subsidizing military expenditures.

Wang Tom said: "The banditry in Guangdong has been going on for several years, and there are many victims, right? I remember that when I went to Guangzhou last time, I saw groups of ordinary people fleeing to Guangzhou outside the city gate."

"That's really quite a lot. In Qingyuan, Conghua, Zengcheng, Longmen and other counties in the north, as well as some counties in Huizhou Prefecture, Shaozhou Prefecture, and Zhaoqing Prefecture, there are disaster victims who fled to Guangzhou to make a living. These places were hit by natural disasters first, and then Whenever there is a man-made disaster, the government can't control it, so it's hard to think about it!" Speaking of this topic, Li Jifeng couldn't help but sighed again and again.

In fact, in recent years, the surrounding areas of Guangzhou Prefecture have been hit by disasters, and Lijiazhuang has also encountered two droughts, resulting in poor harvests.If it weren't for the rich financial resources of the Li family, who purchased a large amount of grain on their own to ensure the local supply, the Li family village might have been in chaos long ago.So far, there are still many long-term workers in the village who owe Li Jifeng rent for at least one or two years and have not been able to repay it.However, Li Jifeng has now focused his attention on the cooperation projects with the Haihan people. He doesn't pay much attention to the land rent of Lijiazhuang. Make a call.

"With so many refugees flooding into Guangzhou, they will not be able to find food for a while. If they only eat relief food, the government will not be able to pay for so many mouths. Rather than letting these people become beggars and die by the side of the road, it is better Let them go to Qiongzhou Island to open up wasteland, and use their labor force to exchange for a chance of survival. Boss Li, what do you think?" Tom Wang changed the topic from the defense of Lijiazhuang to immigration.

Li Jifeng didn't care too much, since Wang Tom asked, he answered honestly: "Actually, the philanthropy opened in Guangzhou has been sending people to Qiongzhou, and all the affairs are handled by your office in Guangzhou." In charge, Captain Wang will know as soon as he asks."

"Too few, too slow, and too inefficient." Wang Tom shook his head and said, "When I was young, I only transported 10,000 people a month. What can I do with such a small number of people transported to Qiongzhou Island? 'Qiong Lianfa' is in Yazhou With [-]+ acres of land encircled, Boss Li can also calculate how many immigrants are needed to reclaim so much land.”

"After all, the government pays close attention to the migration of the people. If it makes a big move, it will inevitably attract attention. Captain Wang forgive me!" Li Jifeng was also very helpless about this.In fact, Haihan Shantang's admission of immigrants has always been handled by the Guangzhou Office, and the Haihan people should be very clear about the difficulties involved.If large-scale immigration was organized outside Guangzhou, it would not take two or three days before they would be targeted by several secret service offices in the city, and maybe even the ships carrying immigrants on the Pearl River Wharf would be detained.

"You're right. There are too many people staring at Guangzhou, so it's inconvenient to organize immigration." Tom Wang affirmed what Li Jifeng said, and then stated his real purpose: "But if all the refugees It should not be so much trouble to organize to come to Panyu to board the ship."

Li Jifeng said in astonishment: "What do you mean...to turn Lijiazhuang into a place where immigrants gather?"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "This place is very close to the Pearl River Estuary, the waterway is smooth, and sea ships can come in. There are no government agencies nearby, so you don't have to worry about people from the government interfering in local affairs. And there is such a big Zhuangzi, It is also relatively easy to expand some temporary residences. As for security, Boss Li doesn’t need to worry about it. Did I just say that we will send militias to station here, and by the way, we can help maintain local security and order.”

When Li Jifeng heard this, he knew it already, and he secretly slandered that you did not do it by accident, he had already made a comprehensive plan a long time ago, and it will be carried out in Lijiazhuang after the gangsters are beaten away.

Li Jifeng's predictions were roughly correct. The plan Wang Tom mentioned was not his own personal idea, but an action plan that had been passed by the Executive Committee. It's just that several high-ranking officials had no time to go out to participate in this military operation. Action, so this persuasion work can only be reluctantly handed over to Tom Wang to complete.And Wang Tom's verbal ability is indeed far behind Tao Donglai and other famous mouthpieces. He wanted to express his purpose in a more tactful way, but he almost got Li Jifeng's heart disease out after going around two circles.

At present, the main source of immigrants in the Sanya area has gradually changed from the Han people in Ming Dynasty to the North Vietnamese immigrants who account for a considerable proportion. The scale of 2000 to [-] people per month.Although most of the North Vietnamese immigrants are proficient in the vernacular of Guangdong and Guangxi, there is no major obstacle in communication, but the Executive Committee believes that in the long run, it is still necessary to make the structure of the naturalized population mainly Ming people to ensure the stability of the entire population structure.

However, the introduction of immigrants in the mainland has not improved much. The reason is that the civil affairs department believes that the institutions in Guangzhou have no way to recruit and organize immigration transportation on a large scale locally because of safety considerations. Take the route of emphasizing quality over quantity, and mainly introduce skilled workers, down-and-out literati and carefree orphans.As for the solution, the easiest thing to do at present is to find a place with convenient transportation not too far from Guangzhou City, and build a special resettlement and transfer base.

The executive committee’s idea for this transfer point is that it can not only undertake the task of collecting refugees from the vicinity of Guangzhou, but also echo the two strongholds of the Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou City and Dawanshan Island at the mouth of the Pearl River, forming a transportation hub with the Pearl River as its transportation hub. The prototype of the Haihan area of ​​influence of the bond.While the executive committee was discussing this issue, they happened to receive a request for help from the Guangzhou Office. After comparing the location of Lijiazhuang and the surrounding environment, the executive committee all thought that Lijiazhuang could be regarded as a pretty good place. s Choice.

The location of Lijiazhuang is only 200 or [-] miles away from Guangzhou City. The distance is very suitable for the needs of the immigration transfer station. It is not only outside the monitoring range of Guangzhou City, but also not too far away from Guangzhou City. It is necessary for immigrants to travel long distances. achieve.And here is the waterway of the tributary of the Pearl River. Sea ships can dock directly, and the conditions for water transportation are not bad. Although the width of the waterway is limited, it cannot be developed as a large-scale commercial port, but there are a few ships with a displacement of about [-] tons. There is no difficulty in transporting immigrants by sea boats.

Of course, the most important point is that this area is currently under the control of the partner Li's family, and the Li family just needs the time-traveling group.Establishing an immigrant resettlement and transfer base in the area controlled by the Li family is definitely much less difficult than other unsupported places.Moreover, with the identity of the Li family, a wealthy businessman in Guangzhou, there is a more reasonable excuse for organizing refugees from the vicinity of Guangzhou to go to Panyu. The number of long-term labor and farm labor is not small.

The Executive Committee believes that it is difficult to find such a reasonable opportunity to send troops to the local area to take over the military control. Although it is a bit hasty and there are still many omissions in the establishment of immigration stations, the Executive Committee still decides to seize the opportunity to put this intention to carry out.As for the possible resistance from the Li family, the Executive Committee has also expected it, but everyone believes that doing this will ultimately do more good than harm for the Li family. As long as Li Jifeng doesn't get confused, he should choose to cooperate The executive committee implements the plan.

"Boss Li, our plan can effectively relieve the flood of refugees in Guangzhou City, so that these people who have left their homes can have a chance to survive, and reduce the possibility of them joining bandits and bandits in order to make a living, which is also a good thing for the country and the people. Besides, after a large number of refugees moved to the surrounding area of ​​Lijiazhuang, the population here has increased, and the bandits who dare to take advantage of Lijiazhuang naturally dare not come again easily. As for the resettlement and living expenses of the immigrants, this does not need to be borne by Lijiazhuang. There is a special organization to be responsible." After telling the real purpose, Tom Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief, and when he persuaded Li Jifeng again, his words were much smoother.

Li Jifeng coughed dryly and said: "According to what Captain Wang said just now, your militia group will be stationed here. I dare to ask, who will have the final say in this Lijiazhuang from now on?"

This problem is one of the things that Li Jifeng is most worried about at present. Although Wang Tom has stated that he will not take advantage of the Li family's money, if the Haihan militia enters Li's village and takes over all local affairs, then wouldn't the Li family's old and young Have they all become subjects of the Haihan people?Although Haihan people are famous for their good governance of civil affairs, Li Jifeng does not intend to let the whole family join Haihan's naturalized people.

Wang Tom replied: "Then let me explain our principles on this matter to Boss Li. First of all, the distribution of property in Lijiazhuang and the resettlement of Li clan members are all internal affairs of your Li family. We will never Intervene; secondly, the land that belongs to the Li family in this area will continue to belong to you. As for the area designated for the construction of the immigration station, we can negotiate the cost of it; finally, the immigration station's management authority over civil affairs is limited to The immigrants recruited do not include the residents of Lijiazhuang."

Li Jifeng then asked: "Then how does the Li Family Village cooperate with you?"

"Provide labor, allocate land, and cooperate with us in the pre-construction work of the immigration station. Of course, we will also settle the wages of the personnel involved in the construction according to the market price, and will not let the common people contribute in vain." The conditions proposed by Tom Wang are very simple, simple Even Li Jifeng felt a little unbelievable—the Haihan people made such a big circle, and finally put forward these two conditions, which is too easy to pass, right?
In Li Jifeng's opinion, land planning, construction, and construction of immigration stations are not a big deal. Besides, the Haihan people have clearly stated that they will pay for it, so there is no loss for Li Jiazhuang.Allocating two to three hundred acres of land to the Haihan people by the Shawan waterway is enough to accommodate thousands of immigrants, but the local land price is definitely not as good as Shengli Harbor, and Li Jifeng is not very good at opening his mouth to report large numbers to the Haihan people. Already thinking about simply reporting a symbolic amount, it can be regarded as a favor to the Haihan people, after all, they have also done Li Jiazhuang a big favor this time.

As for whether the Haihan people are really easy to deal with, Tom Wang knows better than anyone else.The establishment of this immigration station here is basically a nail stuck in the Pearl River. Unless it is under the siege of the Ming Dynasty's army, it is unlikely that this nail will be pulled out in the future.And the military can also take this opportunity to let the executive committee pass a resolution to further increase military power in the Guangzhou area, laying the foundation for future mainland strategies.With this stronghold echoing with Dawanshan Island off the Pearl River Estuary, one inside and one outside, it will be much easier to control the Pearl River waterway in the future.And the strategic significance of this is not something that a Ming businessman like Li Jifeng can see through now.

(End of this chapter)