1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3928

Dai Yingda said in a deep voice, "Although the conditions offered by Commander Shi on behalf of the government are not bad, and he is willing to arrange some official positions for us as compensation, the number of positions is ultimately limited and is not enough for the seven families to distribute, which makes it difficult to reassure people's hearts!"

Ji Qing chimed in, "Cheng Rong, you've been in the army for years, so you might not be aware of this. The sons of our families who run businesses in various prefectures and counties have several times more positions than the government provides. Even if these people are sent home, they can't just sit idle. We old men will have to take care of their livelihoods from now on!"

The heads of various production, supply, and sales links of the Yangzhou Salt Merchants Group were, of course, descendants of the seven major families. Management positions at each node of the sales network, in particular, comprised the majority of these individuals.

The salt merchants' main operating area basically covered dozens of prefectures and hundreds of counties in the entire East China Sea region. They set up offices in each prefecture and county to be responsible for local salt industry operations. There were several hundred management positions at various levels in these offices alone.

The number of official positions offered by Shi Diwen on behalf of the government could not possibly cover all the positions. A large number of the sons of the seven major families would inevitably be dismissed and replaced by personnel arranged by the government.

The seven major families certainly had enough wealth to continue supporting these descendants, but living off their wealth was never the style of the Huizhou salt merchants. Moreover, this was a period of rapid expansion for the empire, and as beneficiaries who had pledged allegiance to Haihan, how could they sit idly by and watch themselves be excluded in the future?

Most of the salt merchants' sons who were laid off were in their prime and had some practical management experience. They needed to be given something to do in order to make up for the resources that the seven families had invested in training them over the years.

Dai Chengrong pondered and said, "The Donghai region's officialdom doesn't have that many positions for the time being... But we can try to get some positions in Jiangxi. Since it's a newly incorporated region, there should be quite a few vacancies. We need to transfer people from the country to take up these positions. It might be like a few years ago, when the government publicly recruited a batch of clerks."

The situation that Dai Chengrong mentioned regarding the government's open recruitment of officials refers to the fact that after the Second Sino-Ming War, the Donghai region quickly recruited and appointed a group of low-level officials in order to govern newly occupied areas such as Yingtian Prefecture.

Of course, these people were not recruited entirely from the general public; the vast majority of them had participated in the imperial examinations and possessed a certain level of cultural literacy.

Nowadays, those who have not received education through the Haihan cultural and educational system will find it very difficult to stand out in the imperial examinations, let alone enter officialdom and rise through the ranks.

Fortunately, from the moment the Yangzhou salt merchants joined Haihan, they had already taken the initiative to send people to receive Haihan's education and training. Dai Chengrong himself was one of the successful examples.

The sons of salt merchants who were assigned to management positions in various business organizations had all received relevant education and training, and participating in the imperial examinations was an essential part of their education.

However, those who excelled in the imperial examinations and successfully entered officialdom were still extremely rare among the sons of salt merchants. The vast majority of them, after participating in the Haihan imperial examinations, still followed their families' arrangements and took positions in their family's salt business.

Dai Yingda said, "We have considered sending people to work in Jiangxi. However, the competition in Jiangxi is equally fierce. As I mentioned before, all the parties that have sent troops to Jiangxi to fight this time hope to get a share of the pie after the war. So our opponents are not only within the East China Sea region, but also competitors from Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian."

Upon hearing this, Dai Chengrong frowned slightly. He had previously participated in the post-war governance of the newly occupied territories and knew that what Dai Yingda said was indeed true.

If the Donghai region were to take over Jiangxi, it would indeed solve the problem of where many of the salt merchants' children would go. However, if we also include Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, there probably wouldn't be enough positions for officials in the local government. Dai Chengrong pondered for a moment and said, "Since the road to Jiangxi is difficult, I suggest that you uncles consider other directions."

Someone asked, "Cheng Rong, what about arranging for the laid-off personnel to join the army?"

Dai Chengrong smiled wryly, "Join the army? Then we'll have to arrange for them to spend at least two or three years at a military academy to learn basic military skills. We can arrange that for the younger ones, but the older ones definitely won't be able to endure it."

Dai Chengrong's implication was that this approach was unlikely to solve the predicament that the sons of salt merchants would soon face.

Not many of the sons of salt merchants joined the army, because this group had no foundation in the Haihan Army. The difficulties and obstacles they would face on this path were naturally far greater than those of being a salt merchant from a prominent family.

Dai Chengrong understood perfectly well the other party's purpose in bringing this up: they hoped he could use his power to promote newcomers and recruit more sons of salt merchants to serve in the military.

But he himself was well aware that even with the support of the salt merchants' group, it had taken him nearly twenty years to rise to his current position. And the protection and assistance he could offer to those who came after him were far from sufficient to help them achieve rapid promotions.

Dai Chengrong didn't want to refuse too bluntly, so he offered an alternative: "The regions with the greatest demand for talent these days are overseas colonies. The farther away a place is from the mainland, the greater the demand for talent. Besides becoming civil servants, it's common for them to be exceptionally recruited by the garrison troops."

"I suggest that you uncles send your children overseas to try your luck. Many overseas colonies would be happy to accept people like this who are cultured, good at business, and have trade channels. It would be much easier for them to get a position than in China."

Yangzhou salt merchants did attempt this before, but expanding into overseas colonies required much greater initial investment than in China. Moreover, they lacked reliable connections in those colonies. Running a near-monopoly like the salt industry was not as smooth as it was in the East China Sea region.

Therefore, the salt merchants mostly targeted regions such as Japan, Ryukyu, and Taiwan, which were relatively close to the East China Sea region, and could leverage the influence of the East China Sea region to gain some advantages in those areas.

However, the suggestions that Dai Chengrong made at this time were clearly not referring to these neighboring areas.

Dai Yingda asked, "Cheng Rong, do you mean to use personnel mobility as a condition for cooperation with the special operations division?"

Dai Chengrong thought to himself that no one knows a son better than his father, and nodded, saying, "As far as I know, the areas under the jurisdiction of the special operations division have always lacked civilian staff. This is because they are far from the mainland, and many officials are unwilling to go to foreign lands to take up their posts. Secondly, the special operations division is a special case, with military and political affairs integrated, so civilian officials do not get much authority."

Dai Yingda said, "Although there are disadvantages, it is a special operations division after all. Accepting recruitment to serve as a civilian official in its jurisdiction must have some unique advantages and benefits, right?"