1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 562
With the same pay, the work they do is familiar and much easier than working as a laborer. These government servants are naturally happy to relax.As for monitoring the daily speech and even the daily behavior of the magistrate for Haihan, this matter does not have much moral burden in their view.The sense of existence of these yamen servants has always been attached to the strong. If there is no shelter, then they are no different from ordinary people-just like they did hard work on the construction site before.

Now in Danzhou who is in control of the general situation, ordinary people may not be able to see clearly like them who used to work in the government.The entire ruling organization of Daming in Danzhou has been cleaned by the pirate army. After the Haihan people came, they did not try to restore the original model at all, but directly introduced the Haihan people-style ruling system-a new organization headed by the management committee.And those who assisted the management committee in exercising the ruling power were no longer the three classes of government servants, but the Haihan police and the militia.It is no exaggeration to say that Daming's local influence is now more than an order of magnitude worse than that of Haihan.Even if the imperial court sent a fifth-rank official to Danzhou, it would not help to change the situation here. No matter how capable the new Lord Yan was, he would not be able to fight against the rich and powerful Haihan by himself.

"Follow the Haihan people to have food to eat", this sentence has not only become the consensus of the local people, but also the people in the Gongmen have the same experience.Although the Haihan people have strict and many rules, the rewards and corresponding guarantees are indeed better than Daming's level.

The most important thing is that what the Haihan people are doing now is something that the Ming government is unable to accomplish, or has never conceived at all, and the Haihan people are realizing these ideas bit by bit in an orderly manner. From the perspective of the government, Haihan's governance and management capabilities are obviously much stronger than that of Daming's local government.As for Haihan and Daming, who is more reliable? The local people have already gained a clearer understanding from the banditry disaster last year.

After a few months, the imperial court did not send out one or two taels of silver in relief, nor did it send a single soldier to restore social order in Danzhou. In the end, only two polished commanders, one civil and one military, came to rebuild Danzhou. Is it still for the occasion?Even if no one will talk about this kind of thing publicly, the public will naturally have an opinion on such a situation in their hearts.Compared with what the Haihan people have been doing in Danzhou, the people can tell which is good and which is bad as long as they are not blind.

After Yan Mingjun had breakfast, he changed into his official uniform and came to the front yard to see that the yamen servants were bringing in table cases, plaques and other things that were originally used in the lobby of the Danzhou yamen.The courtyard prepared by Haihan was originally used by the East Factory, and there was a small court, but if all the things like the state government hall were packed in, the place seemed a bit cramped.

Seeing this, Yan Mingjun could only laugh at himself: "That's fine, otherwise the place will be too big, and the courtroom will look empty even when you stand in the courtroom."

Although the office space has been arranged, it is quite ironic that there is no official business for Yan Mingjun to deal with right now.At present, the military and political affairs in Danzhou's jurisdiction are managed and coordinated by the Danzhou Provisional Management Committee. If Mr. Yan Ming wants to have something to do, he can only wait for the management committee to transfer the official affairs that need to be handled to him.Of course, based on the attitude he showed at the welcome reception yesterday, the management committee will definitely not take the initiative to fulfill his wish in a short time.

Yan Mingjun himself is not a person who lives at leisure, otherwise he would not have toiled up and down to find an alternate official position thousands of miles away.Not long after sitting in the temporary yamen, Yan Mingjun simply went back to the backyard to change into casual clothes, and then let the yamen servants disperse to rest, but only stopped the leader He Qi.

"He Qi, are you familiar with the local people?" Yan Mingjun intends to go out for a private visit, but he still needs to be accompanied by someone who knows the way, and in his opinion, He Qi is the only one around for the time being. A little bit more believable.

He Qi replied: "Back to the lord, the villain is from Danzhou. If the lord wants to go out to visit the people, the villain is willing to be a follower."

"That's very good." Yan Mingjun nodded and said, "You go and change your clothes and go out with me for a walk."

He Qi also changed into casual clothes, and then the two left the temporary yamen.Regarding how to respond to the various demands put forward by the new officials, the relevant departments of Haihan provided simple training to He Qi in advance.For behaviors such as private visits on microservices, Haihan's order to He Qi is to let him go, as long as he arranges for personal monitoring.Of course, since Yan Mingjun points the point at himself, He Qi does not intend to let others earn this overtime pay.

As the cultural center of Qiongzhou Island, Danzhou is quite lively.The damage caused by the war last year in the city was actually quite limited, and it was mainly concentrated in the government office area in the north of the city.However, He Qi took Yan Mingjun to the commercial and cultural districts in the south of the city. Not only did there not leave any traces of war here, but it was because of the strong intervention of Haihan Commercial and Trade after the war that the market here has changed. It was more lively and prosperous than before the war.

Yan Mingjun walked into a few shops on the side of the road at random, and easily noticed that at least half of the items sold in these shops were produced by Haihan, and these items were obviously much cheaper than similar products produced by Daming. The same Haihan products that Yan Mingjun saw in Luoding Prefecture back then were also quite a bit lower.Of course, the reason is very simple. After all, the cost of transporting goods from Sanya to Danzhou is completely different from the cost of transporting goods to inland Guangdong.

However, these products, which are extremely price-competitive in inland Guangdong, are sold at a lower price here, so one can imagine how high their market share is.After visiting a few shops, Yan Mingjun found that the necessities of life, such as rice, salt, and coal, seemed to have been monopolized by Haihan goods.He is not just a fool who only knows how to get cheap. After all, he is an official with experience in local governance. He is still sensitive to such monopoly operations.

Leaving aside the complex principles of economics, if Qiongzhou Island gradually loses its dependence on the mainland in terms of material supply, how can the imperial court control this overseas enclave?It is obviously impossible to rely on military means. Qiongbei is already in such a situation, not to mention that Qiongnan is the old nest of Haihan people.It is not practical to rely on popular opinion. There were tens of thousands of Li and Miao people on this island who were at odds with Daming. Now judging from the situation in Danzhou, the popular opinion seems to be gradually drifting away from Ming. All kinds of "tricks" have attracted many fans.The remaining means can only be simple administrative orders. However, Yan Mingjun's own experience has shown that this method has failed locally. Now he is completely excluded, and he has no means of resistance.

After leaving the shop, Yan Mingjun asked He Qi: "I heard that there is also an official salt field in Danzhou. Why are all the salts on the market marked as produced by Haihan?"

He Qi replied: "Lord Hui Yan, the local salt farms have ceased production two years ago, and after that, the local merchants only sell refined salt produced by Haihan."

"The local salt farm can't continue to operate because the price is not as good as this Haihan salt?" Yan Mingjun is also considered a smart person, and combined with what he saw just now, he deduced the correct answer.

He Qi said: "My lord, this Haihan salt is nearly [-]% cheaper than local salt, and it is much finer. Naturally, local salt merchants choose cheap ones to purchase. Over time, the salt households in the local salt farms lost their income, and naturally They refused to continue working. The Haihan people paid another price to hire all these salt farmers and send them to work in their own salt farms.”

Yan Mingjun said: "The salt department is far away in Guangzhou, so it must be impossible for the Haihan people to traffic illegal salt on Qiongzhou Island. However, the Haihan people set the price of salt so low, so how can they support so many salt households?"

He Qi thought that the Haihan people were not only selling illegal salt in Qiongzhou Island, even in Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Gaozhou across the strait, people in most places were eating Haihan salt.Besides, the Haihan people's salt transportation teams are all armed escorts, and the sea transportation on this island is even openly smuggled under the banner of the Daming Navy. So what can the salt class lifter do to them even if they come?

"My lord Huiyan, although I have never been to the saltworks of the Haihan people, I heard that their saltworks are quite large. The salt troughs are not the stone troughs used by the local saltworks. They are all large ponds with a square meter. The salt method requires much less labor than the traditional salt-making method, and the salt produced is ten times better than that of Ming Dynasty salt households, so the price is low but there are still huge profits." He answered Yan Mingjun's question according to his own knowledge.

"Then the rice, pig iron, and coal are all the same?" Yan Mingjun continued to ask.

He Qi replied: "My lord expected it."

Although Yan Mingjun had expected it, he was still somewhat frustrated when he heard He Qi's answer.These commodities needed for people's livelihood are all controlled by Haihan. If Da Ming wants to regain control of the local area, it will not be solved by simple administrative or military means.Otherwise, even if Danzhou is taken back, there will be no sufficient supply of living materials in the local area, and there will be chaos among the people.

Yan Mingjun shook his head, not interested in shopping anymore, turned around and walked to a teahouse, intending to take a rest.Xiaoer saw that Yan Mingjun was not dressed like a commoner, and he was accompanied by an entourage, so he invited the two of them to the private seat on the second floor.Yan Mingjun didn't have any airs, so He Qi also sat down.

The private seats were separated by screens, after Xiaoer finished serving hot tea and cakes, Yan Mingjun heard the people at the next table talking about the appointment of the new official, and he immediately pricked up his ears.

Then I heard one of them say: "This time the imperial court has sent two new adults to Danzhou to take up their posts. It seems that the imperial court still has no plan to abandon this place."

Another louder voice replied: "What the imperial court plans is not the point now. How the situation in Danzhou will be in the future depends on the wishes of the Haihan people."

The person asked earlier: "Brother Zheng, do you have any inside information?"

The person called Brother Zheng said: "Yesterday my father also went to the reception banquet of the two new arrivals. After he came back, he briefly talked about the situation at that time. From now on, Da Ming will probably not be the master of Danzhou."

"how do I say this?"

"The two adults who came to Danzhou to take over this time did not bring money or soldiers. When they arrived here, they wanted to take over the power from the Haihan people. What would you do if you were Haihan people? The Management Committee Director Zhang was not polite at all, and rejected the request of the new Mr. Yan on the spot. Among the three tables present, none of them stood up to speak for the new Zhizhou. My father said that if Mr. Yan hadn't immediately succumbed, maybe Director Zhang will turn against him on the spot. If that happens, I'm afraid it will take two or three months before the next Zhizhou will be sent over."

This kind of statement was immediately agreed by others: "Brother Zheng is right. I think the former Danzhou Tongzhi Master Xue just refused to cooperate with the Haihan Management Committee, and even said that Haihan should be elected by himself. The leader was brought to justice, but he disappeared from Danzhou City within a few days. The Haihan people said that he was colluding with pirates and fled without permission. I don’t believe it.”

"Speak carefully! Under Hai Han's rule, how can such words be said casually!" Immediately, someone stood by and stopped the unrestrained big mouth.

The conversation at the table was heated up, but Yan Mingjun on the side of the screen was in a cold sweat.The degree of lawlessness of the Haihan people in Danzhou has exceeded his imagination. Fortunately, he didn't say anything to death on that occasion yesterday, otherwise the person who came to the door early this morning probably wasn't the yamen servant who resumed work, but Haihan who came to arrest him Militia?
Yan Mingjun suppressed his unhappiness, and continued to listen. The table next door talked about local current affairs, but more than half of them were related to Haihan people, and he learned a lot of things from this.

After listening for about half an hour, Yan Mingjun confirmed the identities of the people at the next table. Almost all of them were the second-generation officials and rich second-generation locals. Most of these people were in awe of Hai Han's attitude, and there were also disgusts, but the degree was not strong.This is also because there are various conflicts of interest between their families and Haihan, it is difficult to tell the pros and cons of Haihan's arrival for them.

But these people are very consistent on one thing, that is, they must not offend the Haihan people easily, because no matter whether it is themselves or the family background behind them, they must act according to the face of the Haihan people.Their family interests are also closely related to Haihan.In this aspect, Daming's influence was once again far behind Haihan.

Later, the topics of these people gradually deviated from trivial matters in life, and Yan Mingjun lost interest in listening to it any longer, and asked He Qi to settle the bill, and the two left the teahouse and walked slowly towards the south gate.Not far away, someone shouted from behind: "Brother Yan!"

Yan Mingjun turned his head and saw Li Jinzheng, who was also in casual clothes, striding forward: "I said to find you for dinner, but your family said you came out, so I can find it easier!"

Jun Ming said: "Brother Li, why are you looking for me?"

"Go over there and have a look." Li Jin pointed to the guide gate: "I have inquired about it. The barracks of the Danzhou garrison used to be under the south gate. I just have nothing to do to take a look."

(End of this chapter)