1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 979 A Different Danzhou
Compared with other prefectures and counties on Hainan Island, Danzhou has been the focus of attention of the military and security departments since then because of such a disgraceful "conviction".Even the routine anti-enemy and anti-special drills in the Qiongbei area every year have always been carried out in Danzhou.However, Haihan has been in a period of rapid growth in the past few years, and the public can naturally feel that the environment they live in is constantly changing in a good direction. Due to the diluted population structure of naturalized people, the vast majority of Han people have gradually accepted their identity changes.

Under the rule of Danzhou, the proportion of naturalized people accounts for about [-]% of the registered population, while the proportion of naturalized Han people has reached as high as [-]%. , unwilling to go out of the mountains to register any "household registration" in Danzhou City.For this kind of people, the civil affairs department is not reluctant. Most of the young and strong people in Li Miao Village have left the mountains and come to the outside world to serve Haihan.In just a few years, when these Li and Miao young and strong have settled down outside the mountains and have their next generation, the influence of traditional ethnic differences will naturally be gradually eliminated.

At present, Zhang Xin is still in charge of the power in Danzhou. During his stay in Danzhou, he married two wives and had a pair of children. Last year, the executive committee asked him whether he should be transferred back to Sanya.As a result, after Zhang Xin consulted his family members, he decided to stay in Danzhou for a while, and then consider the arrangement of job transfer after his younger daughter, who was not in good health, recovered a bit.

Escorted by two exploration-class sailboats, the Speedy sailed slowly into Danzhou Bay and docked at Baimajing Wharf.Just like the previous stops of this inspection trip, the pier has already been separated by Haihan soldiers with live ammunition, and the local gentry and the public who came here to greet the nobleman were blocked from this cordon.

After Zhang Xin greeted Ning Qi and his party, he introduced the local administrative staff to him.Because Danzhou has learned from the past, Haihan's governance here is no longer in the model of an office like Yacheng, but has truly taken over the local administration in an all-round way.Although Daming’s yamen in Danzhou still exists, it has ceased its daily operation and is no longer open to the outside world. In fact, it has become a historical relic.On the other hand, Haihan has set up more comprehensive institutions in Danzhou. There are corresponding departments in charge of administration, civil affairs, trade and finance, culture, education and health, and military security. There are as many as seven or eight people.

After introducing these people, Zhang Xin asked the guards to bring a few representatives of the local gentry from outside the isolation zone to introduce them to Ning Qi.Ning Qi himself is the chief official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so of course he also understands the necessity of establishing good relations with the upper class people in these places, so he greeted them very patiently with a smile.

Among these people are rich local businessmen, celebrities in the cultural circle, famous elders in the local area, and retired officials of Ming Dynasty.Most of them have already learned about Haihan's plan to establish a state through various news channels. This time, they also inquired with Zhang Xin in advance.They are all people who plan to stay under Haihan's rule for a long time, so they naturally want to seize this opportunity to curry favor with the big shots from Sanya.

Seeing this posture, Fan Diemen knew that the next event today would probably be a customary welcome banquet.Although he really wanted to reject this event directly, he felt that it was a pity to give up an opportunity to contact the local people. After all, one of the purposes of this round-the-island inspection was to contact the people under Haihan's rule in order to collect the first first-hand information.And these people are obviously local dignitaries, and the information obtained from them must be of greater value than the information that the lower Riba people can provide.

Sure enough, after exchanging pleasantries with the local gentry, Zhang Xin mentioned the arrangements for the reception banquet, saying that the banquet had been set up in the city, and the place was the Nanhai restaurant where Haihan set up a bureau to arrest the local rebellious party Huang Zixing and others.Seeing that Fan Dimen had no objection to this arrangement, Ning Qi agreed to Zhang Xin's arrangement.

Nanhai Restaurant is a well-established restaurant with one of the best grades and scale in Danzhou. After the arrest operation was carried out here, the business of the restaurant has not been negatively affected, but has become more prosperous because of it.The owner of the store also specially asked someone to write an "Ode to Catching Thieves" and carved it into a plate, which was hung on the wall of the shop on the ground floor to praise Haihan's achievements in pacifying the place.Although there are obvious traces of flattery in doing so, the effect is indeed good. After a few years, it has become a special cultural landscape in Danzhou City.And Zhang Xin is naturally happy to see the success of this kind of praise, although he also knows that the owner's purpose of doing this is to flatter and hype, but it is indeed beneficial and harmless to the consolidation of Haihan's local rule and his personal reputation, so Just turned a blind eye to it.

Many carriages shared by the crowd stopped outside Nanhai Restaurant one after another. The owner, shopkeeper, several waiters and cooks of the restaurant who had been notified in advance all lined up outside the restaurant to greet them respectfully. .Several teams of black-clothed police officers have deployed control inside and outside the restaurant in advance, and even cleared out a safe area on the street. The security work is very thorough.

In order to cater to the tastes of the upper-class people in Haihan, the cooks in this Nanhai restaurant are specially sent to Sanya to receive culinary training. The cooking level is still quite high. Chefs are on par.Zhang Xin arranged the welcome banquet here, in addition to safety considerations, he also took a fancy to the strength of the restaurant itself.

Of course, the cost of this meal does not need to be paid by Zhang Xin personally or by the official organization. The accompanying guests here have already paid for the meal in advance, and it can be regarded as using this to buy this meal with the senior chief executive from Sanya. Opportunity, in terms of per capita cost, this deal is actually quite a bargain.

As for why Chief Ning brought a foreign envoy with him when he went on tour, everyone felt that it was nothing serious. They presumably wanted to use this to show their strength to the red-haired people, just like the former resident office in Dan often sent local famous people out of their own pockets. Like people with influence going to Sanya for investigation and study, as long as those who have been there for a period of time, they will no longer question Haihan's strength.

Although Fan Dimen couldn't understand Chinese, but fortunately Ning Qi translated for him sentence by sentence, so he could roughly understand what everyone was talking about during the banquet.Of course, during this period, people kept getting up to toast, but Fan Diemen has learned how to deal with it after training during this period of time - he saw that Ning Qi was toasting his subordinates, and he would raise his glass and touch his lips even after drinking a round , Then he did the same thing.With this drinking method, even if you drink for a whole day, you will not get drunk.

After Zhang Xin's naturalized cadres walked around, it was the turn of the local folk representatives. The first person to toast was Yan Mingjun, the magistrate of Danzhou who was still in office.However, after the Danzhou assassination three years ago, Yan Mingjun wisely chose to hand over the power in his hands, and enjoy a carefree life with peace of mind.In addition to the salary of the imperial court, Haihan also gives him a large amount of "office allowance" every year, and all he needs to do is to praise Haihan in the official documents submitted regularly, and vigorously promote Haihan. Han's local contribution.

Of course, Haihan built bridges and paved roads locally, revitalized commerce, and advocated culture and education. These are indeed real deeds, not fabricated nonsense, so Yan Mingjun does not need to exaggerate Haihan’s presence in Danzhou in official documents All you need to do is to maintain an objective attitude and record the truth.

Yan Mingjun also knew that if his actions in Danzhou were known by the court, he would inevitably be punished for dereliction of duty, so after he took refuge in Haihan, he brought his family from Luodingzhou, Guangdong to Danzhou one after another, and lived here with peace of mind. Edge settled.Yan Mingjun thought very clearly that if the imperial court pursued the responsibility and punished him, then he would have to completely betray Daming.However, Haihan's approach in this regard is still relatively kind, and will provide necessary shelters for all officials of the Ming Dynasty who take refuge in them. Haihan officials provide jobs to make ends meet.

For example, Yan Mingjun’s current main job is as a special advisor to the Danzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, in addition to his idle position as Danzhou magistrate.Yan Mingjun was fond of poetry and poetry, and this job that only needed to deal with the literati circle was simply an enjoyment for him. Although he lost the prestige of a local official, the corresponding pressure was also relieved.At least Yan Mingjun doesn't have to worry that when Haihan really wants to rebel one day, he will pull himself out as a magistrate and cut him down to sacrifice to heaven.

Yan Mingjun only heard about the news that Haihan was about to establish a state after years. However, unlike most people who were uneasy after hearing the news, Yan Mingjun felt relieved when the dust settled.As a former fifth-rank court official, Yan Mingjun must have a much higher perspective on Haihan than ordinary people, so the changes in the situation he felt are more profound and comprehensive.

When Yan Mingjun was threatened by Haihan in Danzhou and had to submit to save his life, he thought that Haihan was just a group of bandits trying to cause trouble, but as time went by, he gradually discovered that these overseas visitors really wanted This Qiongzhou Island is governed as a country, and its ability to govern the country is not bad. Almost all fields are developing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, especially the investment in infrastructure, culture and education, which far exceeds Ming dynasty.

Although Haihan also adopted some violent means to deal with the rebels, most of the time, he was gradually gaining the trust and support of the people with relatively gentle means. These comprehensive measures of kindness and power allowed Haihan to subdue the rebels in just a few years. The hearts of the local people.As the proportion of naturalized citizens is getting higher and higher, Yan Mingjun also knows that the possibility of Qiongzhou Island returning to Daming's hands is getting smaller and smaller. This place has actually escaped from Daming's control, and the final step is to look at the sea. When did Han declare the founding of the country?

At this time last year, Yan Mingjun felt that the time was ripe, but the Haihan army sent Fujian to attack Taiwan Island, and then went north to Zhejiang to attack Zhoushan. The matter was delayed until this year.Haihan announced the founding of the country, and Yan Mingjun died completely, and then returned to Daming's mind, planning to become a rich man in Danzhou with peace of mind.

"Master Yan, I need you to take care of the recent official affairs." Ning Qi saw that Yan Mingjun came to toast, and he was very polite to him at the moment.

Yan Mingjun hurriedly said modestly: "From now on, the chief should never mention the word "Master" again. I have not been an official in Haihan, so how dare I pretend to be an adult!"

Seeing that he was knowledgeable and interesting, Ning Qi also liked him a little more, so he immediately said: "Master Yan, you are welcome. After we found our country, we will organize local people to set up supervisory agencies to assist local officials in governing the jurisdiction. People like Master Yan have experience in politics. People who have done so will definitely help us a lot in the future.”

Knowing Ning Qi's identity, Yan Mingjun immediately took his words as a statement from the executive committee, and quickly thanked him: "I am afraid that I will be ashamed of the trust of the executive committee!"

Ning Qi smiled and said: "We have all seen Master Yan's performance in recent years. We have already made a conclusion on whether or not to appoint him and how to appoint him. The future development of Danzhou does require Yan There is no need to humbly refuse when people of insight like your lord join in and work together.”

Ning Qi's words made Yan Mingjun, who had already given up his official career, see a glimmer of hope again. Although Ning Qi's tone should not be directly appointed as an official, at least he has some right to speak. Consultant" is much stronger.If a civil servant like him does not have outstanding qualifications in governing, it will be difficult for him to be appointed by Haihan. In this regard, he will suffer a lot compared to a military officer.Li Jin, the general of Danzhou who took office with him at the beginning, was quickly recruited by the Haihan military after he defected to Haihan. Now he is an officer with a formal establishment in the Haihan militia army. Yan Mingjun is coming soon.

If he can get a chance to return to the officialdom, Yan Mingjun is still willing to try his best. Although it seems that it is not in harmony with his status as the Zhizhou Zhizhou where he is still serving, but it is the beginning of Haihan's founding of the country, and this time he is in Haihan. , that can be regarded as the founding hero. In the future, the next generation of the Yan family will seek wealth and honor, and this is also one of the capitals that can be used.Of course, as for whether the capital is thin or thick, whether it is enough or not, it depends on whether Yan Mingjun can seize the opportunity to climb up.

(End of this chapter)