1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 552 Soft Nails

The man made a bow and said: "This is Li Jiang, the clerk of the local port administration office. Before the two adults disembark, you need to check the personnel on board according to the registration list."

"What does this mean?" Li Jin frowned and said, "Don't you suspect that there are some unidentified people on this boat?"

Li Jiang responded neither humble nor overbearing: "The rules of the Lijiazhuang Wharf are like this, I just follow the rules. If the two adults don't want to trouble you, then it's okay if you don't do it, but the people on this ship will not be allowed to go ashore."

Li Jin became angry at once: "You are a commoner, how can you have the guts to dictate to the court officials! What right do you have to prohibit us from taking action!"

But Li Jiang was unmoved, and still said calmly: "My lord, it's no use no matter how loud you shout at me. This rule is not set by me, and I have no ability to change the rules here. If you are right If you are dissatisfied with this, you can order the boat to turn around and leave here, the other side of the river is not the territory of Lijiazhuang, and there is no need to abide by these rules."

"You bastard..." Hearing these words, Li Jin felt even more fueled on the fire, and as soon as he rolled up his sleeves, he planned to teach this disrespectful guy a lesson.

Yan Mingjun quickly reached out to stop Li Jin, and said to Li Jiang: "If you talk about rules, this Lijiazhuang is a territory of the Ming Dynasty, and it should abide by the rules set by the Ming court. Are your private rules in Lijiazhuang bigger than the court? "

Li Jiang glanced at Yan Mingjun, and his tone suddenly became cold: "In the first year of Chongzhen, Lijiazhuang was besieged by thousands of bandits. At that time, the village sent people to ask for help from the Guangzhou government, but the adults seem to have forgotten that this place is the territory of the Ming Dynasty. There was no intention of sending troops to rescue them at all. At that time, no one told the people here what was going on with the Ming court!"

This Li Jiang was originally from Lijiazhuang. When Lijiazhuang was besieged by bandits, he was also one of the witnesses, and he was very impressed with this period of history.And Lijiazhuang is also an area with a high degree of Haihan's control. Many people in Lijiazhuang chose to join Haihan's native place after that battle, in order to get Haihan's people in time if they encounter bandits again one day. Rescue of the regiment.Li Jiang was also one of them. Immediately after his naturalization, he got a job arrangement, and he was specially responsible for the negotiation of foreign civilian ships and merchant ships.

"You..." Yan Mingjun was also choked by Li Jiang's words for a moment, unable to refute.The bandits in the first year of Chongzhen, the bandits and bandits roaming around made a mess of the security situation in Guangdong and Guangxi during that time, and Lijiazhuang was not the only place that encountered bandits.However, Panyu County is very close to Guangzhou City. After receiving the request for help from the local area, the defenders stood still and watched Lijiazhuang be besieged by bandits. This is unreasonable anyway.

The behavior of the Guangzhou garrison has also been remembered by the people in Panyu County, especially Lijiazhuang. In the end, if the Haihan militia did not come to reinforce it, it is really hard to say whether Lijiazhuang would be broken by the bandits.And the resentment of being isolated and helpless at the beginning, the people naturally remembered it on the heads of the government and the court.

Yan Mingjun is a scholar after all, and he is not as impulsive as Li Jin, so he quickly calmed down and asked, holding back his unhappiness, "Then how long will it take you?"

"My lords, please call out all the people on board. After checking the list, your lords can land." Li Jiang replied.

Before Li Jin could explain, several people came up from the springboard on the bank, all in gray cloth shorts, holding five-foot-long firecrackers in their hands, staring at Yan and Li. .The protest that Li Jin brought to his mouth immediately turned into saliva and swallowed it back into his stomach.Before he got on the boat, he had been warned by Liu Qian that he should not clash with the militia members when he arrived at the land where the Haihan people ruled, because most of the soldiers in the militia came from the Limiao mountain people and the Annan ethnic group, and many people only knew Haihan. The executive committee, I don't know if there is an imperial court, if there is any unpleasantness with the militia, it would not be worthwhile to be directly ruthless by these stupid militiamen.

In desperation, Yan Mingjun could only ask people to call out all the people on board and assemble on the deck so that Li Jiang could check it as soon as possible.

In fact, Li Jiang's actions were indeed instructed by his superiors, and he was not usually checked so strictly.What's more, this ship was originally owned by the Ministry of Shipping, and the crew and sailors were all naturalized citizens. If there was anything abnormal on board, these crew members would have jumped out and exposed it.The Lijiazhuang Port Management Office arranged such a link mainly to give these alternate officials a note of Ma Wei and their vigor.

Li Jiang's counting of the number of people went through the process symbolically, and it was completed in a moment.After Li Jiang nodded his head, he bowed to Yan Mingjun and Li Jin and said, "Thank you two adults for your cooperation, you can go ashore now. But please try to stay within the range of activities we have designated to ensure the safety of adults and family members." Personal safety."

"Hey, the range of activities has been delineated!" Li Jin responded angrily and amusedly: "I don't know how big the range of activities is, can it accommodate me to make a few somersaults?"

Li Jiang said without changing his face: "After the two adults arrive at the pier, as long as they don't go out of the place separated by the red line on the ground. As for whether they can do somersaults, this adult will have a good time after landing!"

Before Li Jin had another attack, Li Jiang withdrew by himself.Yan Mingjun smiled wryly and said: "Brother Li, this Li family village is known as the No. [-] village in the Pearl River. I don't know about other things. At least it seems that this has the most rules."

The title of the so-called "Pearl River's No. [-] Village" has only slowly emerged in Guangzhou in the past one or two years.Lijiazhuang has carried out in-depth cooperation with Haihan since the bandit rebellion in the first year of Chongzhen. Not only did they build facilities such as immigration transfer sites, large comprehensive docks, and Lijiazhuang military training bases, but the local social management system is also gradually integrating with Haihan. The areas under Han rule tended to be consistent.For example, most of the regulations and measures formulated by the Lijiazhuang Port Administration Office copied the contents of Shengli Port and Sanya Port.And Haihan's successful experience in the operation of the port terminal also made the very small number of opposition parties in Lijiazhuang unable to make a strong voice at all.

With Haihan's support, the resident population of Lijiazhuang has doubled in just two years.In addition to the number of people who migrated to the place of operation, more and more migrants came to settle near Lijiazhuang and worked directly or indirectly for the Haihan people.Even the local people in Lijiazhuang, like Li Jiang, chose to work for Haihan.

Due to the special location of Lijiazhuang in the Pearl River Basin, the wharf here has quickly become one of the cargo distribution centers on the Pearl River.In order to avoid being exploited by the city shipping department at the Guangzhou City Wharf, many ships that trafficked goods from other places to Guangdong chose to unload at Lijiazhuang, and then transported the goods to Guangzhou and other places.As a result, Lijiazhuang's economy was quickly boosted, and its prosperity even surpassed that of Panyu County. In addition, the public security here is also excellent, so it was dubbed the title of "Pearl River's No. [-] Village" by the people.

The two went down from the gangplank to the shore, and saw that the first few boats that landed first were still disembarking one after another, so they knew what Li Jiang said was true. The people on board can go ashore only after the inspection by the port agency.

It was the first time for Li Jin to step on this kind of cement floor, and he couldn't help rubbing his feet on the ground, and finally squatted down to touch the ground, and then he praised: "This Haihan cement The material is so flat, and each piece is two feet square, and I don’t know how the Haihan people paved such a large area.”

Yan Mingjun laughed dumbly and said: "Brother Li, this cement is not cut stone bricks, but it is really like mud. You can see that the pieces on the ground are actually traces of wooden strips used to frame the road. After limiting the area in this way, it is also convenient for construction during paving, and can make the road surface more even."

Li Jin suddenly realized: "So that's the case, but I'm ignorant and shameless."

Yan Mingjun said: "The Haihan people mastered all kinds of strange skills and tricks, and there are many things that I have never seen before. Brother Li, don't mind. I heard that there is another kind in Yazhou that does not need animal power. It can run by boiling water. If there is a chance, you and I should go and see the strange black iron cart that looks like a horse, and can drag a load of ten thousand catties."

Li Jin sighed: "These Haihan people have so many mysterious techniques in their hands, and they have endless gold and silver as their backing. It's no wonder they can inspire the people and work for them."

"You two are wrong. This is not a secret technique. The Haihan people call it 'science'. It is difficult for others to understand, but they just don't understand the reason." Suddenly someone interrupted from the side, and the two looked sideways. Jian is a young man in a blue satin Shou character gown.

Yan Mingjun saw how he was dressed, the hat on his waist and head was inlaid with a piece of jade, he knew that this person must be of high status, and he had never seen this person before, so he took the initiative to greet him: "I haven't asked this brother, who is he? "

"Don't dare, I'm Li Nai, who is a native of the country. Your lords are polite!" The young man who spoke to the two officials was Li Nai, the third son of Li Family Village.

Yan Mingjun saw that Li Nai was polite and polite, and he should not be an ordinary rich man, so he chatted for a few more words, and finally found out that Li Nai was one of the headed family members of the Li family village, and he was also from a family background. In the same year, it can be regarded as a predestined relationship.

After exchanging greetings, Yan Mingjun took the initiative to ask: "Since you and I are of the same age, we should be commensurate with each other. I just heard what Brother Chuanrong said just now, and it seems that I am very familiar with Haihan's situation?"

Li Nai replied: "Then I'm being disrespectful. Since brother Jun Gu asked, I'll tell you about the relationship between Haihan and Lijiazhuang."

Li Nai started talking about how the Haihan people first arrived in Yulin, how they got a foothold in the local area, how they followed up with the trade line of "Furuifeng", and how the two sides started to cooperate.Talking about the experience of going to Shengli Port for the first time, Li Nai also had a lot of emotions: "At that time, I just thought that these overseas visitors were quite business-minded, but I never thought that they could develop into today's situation in just a few years. But In terms of their abilities, even if they achieve ten times or a hundred times more, it is just around the corner.”

It was the first time that Yan Mingjun and Li Jin had heard people talk about their various experiences in the Haihan settlement in such detail, and they were all engrossed in listening.The three of them stopped talking until a servant came to invite them to the dinner.

Yan Mingjun said: "Brother Chuanrong, if it's convenient, can I bother you after the banquet?"

"Brother Jun Gu, you're welcome. I'll invite you two next time. I'll rest in the Zhuangzi tonight, and I'll set off with the fleet tomorrow." Li Nai also likes to socialize with people, and it's rare that there are people today. He is so happy to hear him promote Haihan culture, and he also wants to talk more about it.

The reception banquet prepared for this group of alternate officials was also arranged by the Guangzhou Office. During the banquet, Sha Xi, the local interim supervisor, also came forward to meet with the officials.However, Sha Xi has no plans to get close to these officials, because he knows very well that these officials will be emptied after they arrive in Hainan Island, and they will have no real power to exercise. Is there any dangerous person with a more radical attitude among the people, so that Hainan Island can prepare early.

In addition to the banquet, Sha Xi also arranged a place for these officials to spend the night - a local guest house specially used to receive people from the base camp.There are more than 20 rooms in total, all of which are fully occupied.But in the second half of the banquet, when the registration of residents began, Sha Xi received a report that Yan Mingjun and Li Jin were not planning to live in the guest house, but were invited to stay overnight in Li's house in Lijiazhuang.

Sha Xi found an excuse to leave the banquet hall and had Li Nai called out.Li Nai also understood why Sha Xi was looking for him, so he took the initiative to say: "Director Sha, Mr. Yan and this servant are in the same year, and we have some friendship. We talked about it just now, and it seems to be a good idea. Therefore, I took the initiative to invite them to be guests in the Zhuangzi. Although Mr. Li is a martial artist, he is not unreasonable, and I think that if the measures are right, these two people can win over."

Sha Xi laughed dumbly and said, "Well, you Li Nai, you have taken the initiative to take over the work that should have been done by the security department! I will say hello to Mr. He later, and I will simply recruit you into the security department as a special agent. Guests are invited!"

Li Nai didn't shy away from it, and said with a smile: "If Mr. He wanted to pull me into the group, he would have spoken long ago, so there is no need for Director Laosha to recommend it. I don't have much to do, I just think these two people get along well, and I want to give it a try." Can it change their perception of Hai Han?"

Sha Xi nodded and said, "Since you have such thoughts, I won't stop you. But you understand our policies. You should know what to say and what not to say."

Li Nai responded with a bow: "Director Sha, don't worry, there will be news tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)