1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 522 The Lobbyist
It took only half a month from Wang Zunde's order to notify Haihan to send troops, to the reversal of the situation, when the militia army repelled the pirates and regained the lost city on Qiongzhou Island. .If Qiongzhou Island was really captured by a group of pirates—even if it was only half of the island, Wang Zunde would not be able to shirk his responsibilities as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Resignation would be light at that time, and he might be demoted and punished.

The militia's ability to recover the lost ground in such a short period of time has undoubtedly exceeded Wang Zunde's expectations. He had only hoped that the Haihan people would be able to help defend the city until the mainland's troops were mobilized and rushed to reinforce them.However, the build-up of troops in the mainland area was not so smooth. As of two days ago, only [-]% of the troops ordered by Wang Zunde were in place, with less than [-] troops, and only [-]% of the required military supplies were in place.

In such a state of preparation, Wang Zunde did not dare to order the army to go to Qiongzhou Island. The city over there has been lost and the garrison has been dispersed. Hid the truth.

Wang Zunde was so excited that he couldn't help but stood up and said, "Send someone to Qiongzhou Island to verify whether the results of the battle are true... Wait a minute, don't the Haihan people have the ability to send messages across thousands of miles? Let them notify the Qiongzhou government and quickly report the results of the battle. !"

"My lord..." Liu Qian said cautiously: "The Haihan people also have some suggestions, I hope you can adopt them."

"Let's talk, but do you want an official position? After the results of the battle are counted, I will write a letter to the court to ask for credit for it. I dare not say it when I am too big. I can still do it if I seal a few thousand households." Wang Zunde twisted Beard, said unhurriedly.

Qiongzhou Island was in such a mess, and the garrison did not know how many establishments were broken up, but after the war, there must be a lieutenant general who wanted to take the blame for the liquidation.At that time, it is also a matter of cleaning up to vacate the seats of a few thousand households and settle the military leaders of the Haihan people.Anyway, there are not a few civilian armed forces that have been randomly canonized on Qiongzhou Island in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years. Almost every large Li Miao village has hereditary official positions. A few more titles granted by the imperial court to the Haihan people will not lose a piece of meat—— Maybe there will be an additional armed force that can be used.

Liu Qian had to remind again: "My lord, those Haihan people... have no interest in the official position of our court."

"Well..." Reminded by Liu Qian, Wang Zunde also remembered that the Haihan people had declined the canonization of the Guangdong government a year ago. If they planned to ask for an official to do it, they would have let go at that time, and they would not wait until now. when.

Wang Zunde pondered: "Could it be that the cost of this battle is too high, and they want to ask the court for some compensation? If they have this idea, they can take care of it in terms of trade in the future."

The limit that Wang Zunde can do is at best to allow Haihan to reduce or exempt the various taxes that Haihan needs to pay to the government in the future, and give some economic subsidies in disguise.As for letting the government take money from the government treasury to subsidize civilian armed forces, that is definitely impossible.

Liu Qian hesitated and said: "In terms of money, the Haihan people are not particularly fussy. This time, the adults ordered the deployment of troops in the province to raise supplies, and the Haihan people also donated 5000 taels of silver. The humble official thinks that the Haihan people spend money. They are stingy, and what they are asking for has nothing to do with money."

"Then what exactly are they asking for?" Wang Zunde was also a little puzzled when he heard this. First, he didn't want an official position, and second, he didn't want money. These Haihan people have always been known for their shrewdness, so why did they suddenly change their ways?
Liu Qian replied: "The people of Haihan said that although several cities have been recaptured these days, because the bandit forces are far superior to the militia, many bandits have fled in the countryside, and the garrisons in Qiongzhou's counties have been dispersed, so it is difficult to do anything for a while. In addition, there are still a large number of wounded soldiers in the Haihan militia who need nearby medical treatment, so the Haihan people applied to be able to garrison troops in various cities that suffered bandit disasters to deal with the aftermath."

Wang Zunde thought for a while, and felt that this was a reasonable request, so he nodded and said, "This is feasible, but they must not have more than 200 troops in each city, and the rest of them can be stationed outside the city to avoid complications."

Liu Qian responded, and continued: "The Haihan people have another request, which is to ask the adults to issue a notice in the name of the court, so that the militia can have the authority to deal with the remnants of pirates and spies in the local area, and act as an agent for local government affairs."

"Are there many pirate spies?" Wang Zunde did not express his attitude in a hurry, but asked a question first.

Liu Qian replied: "According to the reports of the Haihan people, more than [-] people were arrested within the Fucheng alone. If they hadn't arrived in time, I am afraid that the internal response would take advantage of the loophole and open the city gate to let the bandits enter the city!"

"Thieves are so rampant!" Wang Zunde couldn't help sighing.

"It is said that the official yamen in Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai and other places have been destroyed in the flames of war. Huang Zhizhou in Danzhou committed suicide when the city was destroyed, and the officials in Lingao, Chengmai and other places also died. They were all taken away by thieves, and their whereabouts are unknown for the time being. The government and military affairs in these places are currently managed by Haihan people. As for the specific shortage of officials, it may take some time to report the detailed results." Liu Qian according to The Haihan people prepared the speech for him, persuading Wang Zunde step by step.

This time when the Haihan people sent the report on the battle situation, they did not come empty-handed. Liu Qian added 2000 taels of silver to the account of Haihan Bank out of thin air. condition.Although Liu Qian has already noticed the unscrupulous attempt of the Haihan people to spend money to buy him as a lobbyist, he has already collected thousands of taels of silver, and the Haihan people promised that there will be a lot of silver in the future. Liu Qian really can't resist this lure.

What's more, the Haihan people gave him a way out. If Wang Zunde blamed him for the previous incident, Haihan would save his whole family and go to Qiongzhou Island to accept Haihan's protection.

Liu Qian still has a lot of people in Guangdong who have accepted Haihan's asylum, and they are all big and respectable families in the province.And Haihan's asylum is not just talking about it. At the beginning, the Lijiazhuang in Panyu was besieged by the bandits, and even the officers and soldiers did not dare to send troops to rescue them. In the end, the Haihan people sent troops to rescue the siege. The reason was that the Li family had long been included in the sea Under the protection of Han.After that, the protection of the Haihan people was like a spell, attracting many insecure wealthy families to join Haihan's trade network.

With money to take and a way out, Liu Qian really couldn't find a reason to reject the Haihan people.So he took the cash and once again acted as a lobbyist.

Originally, Liu Qian thought that the words of the Haihan people might not have much effect, but He Xi told him that the key to this was that the information held by the two parties was completely unequal.Now everything in Qiongzhou Island is under Haihan's control, and the only source of information that the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi can get is Haihan's side.All official information channels between Qiongzhou Island and the mainland have been blocked by Haihan. It will be at least a month or two before private channels slowly spread the situation on Qiongzhou Island to the mainland. It was enough for Hai Han to complete his plan.

In other words, the information that Wang Zunde can understand now is only what Haihan wants him to understand, and the decisions he can make based on this information will hardly escape the direction that is beneficial to Haihan, at best it is beneficial to varying degrees.

After Liu Qian said this, Wang Zunde was really anxious: "If no one is in charge of government affairs in the local area, it is absolutely impossible. You quickly draw up the documents and ask Fucheng to send people to the counties to handle them temporarily. Haihan You can send someone to help. In addition, let the Haihan people quickly count the casualties of officials, so that they can report to the court quickly and deploy manpower to make up for the shortage."

He Xi couldn't help laughing after reading the official document issued by the Governor's Mansion: "This is much smoother than what we planned at the beginning! Wang Zunde didn't have any suspicions at all, and was still urging us to hurry up!"

Maliko, who was sitting next to him, replied: "Wang Zunde can't do anything, this is probably the only thing he can do now. If he wants to know the truth, he must go to Qiongzhou Island to see it himself. If he really dares to go, then we Just take Guangdong together!"

"There is no way to manage it if it is occupied." He Xi smiled and shook his head and said: "In the area occupied this time, a leading team of at least three people will be assigned in the county seat, and there will be more than five people in the prefecture city. It is said that he is in charge of the construction planning of the entire Qiongbei area. In this breath, dozens of people have been separated from the base camp, and it is just a Qiongzhou Island. If you want to occupy Guangdong, it is estimated that many places can only be handed over to the Ming people. , can the executive committee let go of this concern?"

"What you said makes sense." Maliko nodded and agreed with He Xi's opinion: "Although a lot of naturalized civilian cadres have been trained, most of them can only follow the rules, and there are still too few people who can stand alone. The last time I went back to Sanya for a meeting, Mr. Tao and I also discussed the issue of cadre reserve. He thought it would take at least two to three years to consolidate our rule in Qiongzhou Island and complete the reserve of grassroots naturalized cadres before we can continue Expand outward."

"It's not bad if you can complete these steps in two or three years." He Xi calculated: "After defeating Qiongbei, how to turn all the more than 20 people on the island into naturalized citizens is a headache for the executive committee. It’s a matter. It’s not difficult to say, but it’s not easy to say that it’s easy, and it’s definitely not going to be done in a short time.”

"It's not our turn to have a headache for the time being, so let's do the things at hand first, and send a telegram to the base camp to tell them the news." Maliko got up and said, "At this time, I have to go out to let the wind go. gone."

Maliko's so-called release is also part of the follow-up plan.Such a big incident happened on Qiongzhou Island, several counties were breached, local government offices were destroyed, and a large number of officials disappeared. Guangdong officials will certainly not sit idly by.When the situation calms down, Guangdong will definitely send a group of officials to Qiongzhou Island to fill the vacancies.As for which people to send, this will definitely have a direct impact on Haihan's rule in Qiongzhou Island, so the Guangzhou Office will not sit idly by and miss the opportunity, but will take the initiative, and Maliko will ventilate to some selected big households The wind blows, so that the officials behind them can start early and seize the opportunity.

The people selected by the Guangzhou Office in advance are naturally those with vested interests who are closely related to Haihan's interests. Even if these people are transferred to Qiongzhou Island to take up positions on Qiongzhou Island by the imperial staff department, Haihan will control them if they want to control them. It's easier.

And just as He Xi expected, after receiving the telegram from the Guangzhou Office, the base camp did not relax much. Instead, the executive committee held two consecutive meetings for two nights to discuss the next strategy in the Qiongbei area. .

In fact, the general direction has been determined long before the action. It is nothing more than to control the military and political power and gradually absorb the local people into the Haihan system.Of course, these tasks were already going on before the attack on Qiongbei, and now they are just making public the methods under the table to speed up the promotion of the Haihan system.

But even if the big goals are the same, there will still be a lot of differences. For example, whether the cities in Qiongbei will maintain the existing social system, or immediately start to promote the Haihan system in the local area. In fact, there are still differences. opinions exist.

Those in favor believe that it is time to strike while the iron is hot, and complete the local regime transfer as soon as possible while the people's hearts are turning towards Haihan, so that the people can start to adapt to Haihan's social system earlier.Opponents, on the other hand, believe that an overly impatient operation method will make the people feel uneasy, and may even provoke a civil uprising—especially considering that there are a large number of landlords in the Qiongbei area, and the public land ownership system of Haihan is rashly implemented in the local area. , will definitely encounter a lot of pressure.Although the troops of the Haihan militia are stationed in the north, it is easy to deal with the armed forces of ordinary landlords, but the executive committee is not willing to carry out large-scale armed suppression in the areas that have already gained control.

Finally, after discussion, the promotion of the system in Qiongbei still needs to be divided into two steps.First, build Haihan's civil affairs management agencies in various cities to achieve actual control over the local area, and eliminate those unstable people and forces who have obvious hostility to Haihan.The second step is to implement Haihan's social system, financial system, etc. locally.As for the land issue that everyone is very concerned about, the Executive Committee believes that it is not advisable to force it to be promoted immediately, at least until Haihan's rule in the Qiongbei area is stabilized before making any plans.Taking into account the actual situation that may arise during the transfer of power, this buffer period is tentatively set at half a year.

The military’s view on this is that this is a compromise between the radicals and the moderates in the executive committee, but the military, as a natural member of the radicals, breathed a rare sigh of relief this time—this buffer period should be able to Save them a lot of trouble.

(End of this chapter)