1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 992 Return to Sanya Port

On March 1634, 3, No. 26 Wharf of Sanya Port.This wharf has eight trestle bridges, 32 berths of different sizes, and can accommodate sailboats with a maximum displacement of about [-] tons. It is one of the main passenger wharves in Sanya Port.Foreign ships entering and leaving Sanya Port are usually arranged to berth at this pier. Recently, due to the upcoming Haihan event, ships from various countries have been arriving at the port every day, and the No. [-] pier has gradually become extremely busy.

Although there are not as many laborers and port personnel here as there are on the cargo terminal, there are quite a few people engaged in the service industry. Whenever a passenger ship calls at the port, people will gather near the trestle bridge, holding various signs, large and small, to foreign visitors. Loudly solicit business: "Old-fashioned hotel, clean and comfortable, free hot water all day, only one yuan per night!" "Procurement agency, sea and land transfer, local guide, honest management!" "All kinds of Haihan specialties, the price is the lowest in Sanya! ""High-salary recruitment, those who have skills are preferred, naturalization in half a year at the fastest!" "Rent and buy a house, free house viewing, complete high school and low grades, commission only after signing the house deed!"

"Li Dou, look at this scene, doesn't it look like the time when we used to chase after stars at concerts?" Chen Yixin, who had just disembarked from the boat, joked to his friend Li Dou who came back from the same boat: "It's like shouting hoarsely to the little girl." Idols have the same name!"

Li Dou rolled his eyes and replied: "Why don't I remember this? I have never done such a stupid thing!"

Chen Yixin laughed, and didn't continue to expose the shortcoming.He and Li Dou were still high school graduates when they came to this time and space, and now, six or seven years later, they are already representatives of the young and strong officials among the traversers, each holding the power of life and death in their hands.Those past events before time travel, when I think about it now, it really seems like a lifetime away.

"It's been a long time since we've been here, but this place still has a lot of changes!" Chen Yixin sighed, "When we left here, the construction of Pier No. [-] had just started. Look now, I heard that the upper reaches of the Linchun River are under construction. It's Pier Ten."

Li Dou replied: "You have been fighting outside, so I don't know how much trade throughput Sanya has. Let me tell you, every month, there are at least forty or fifty cargo ships coming to Sanya from Penghu and Kaohsiung. There are so many ships. Think about how many ports between Daming and Sanya are open to trade and navigation, how many ships will enter and leave the two ports of Sanya every month?"

Chen Yixin said with emotion: "To be honest, before I came here, I thought that I would have to wait until I was 30 years old to see a decent Sanya, but the construction speed is much faster than I expected. According to this progress, when you and I retire By then, this place should really become a bustling big city!"

"Should be able to see it!" Speaking of this topic, Li Dou also had a longing expression on his face.When they participated in the time-traveling operation, they were at the age when they liked fantasy the most, and they were full of various hopes for their future life. They had many ideas about what a powerful country with their own participation in the rule would look like.And in the years after time travel, some of these ideas are being realized step by step.

The two returned to Sanya at this time, the purpose is for this founding ceremony.Chen Yixin is the representative of the military and political institutions stationed in Zhoushan, while Li Dou is the representative of Hong Kong Island.This is the first time that the two friends have met since they parted ways in Penghu in 1632. Chen Yixin stopped at Hong Kong on his way to the south, and took Lidou back on the same boat.In the past two years, Li Dou stayed in Penghu and never moved, while Chen Yixin's experience was much richer.

Chen Yixin was first transferred to Penghu in 1632 and served as Qian Tiandun's deputy. At the beginning of 1633, Chen Yixin led his army to Taipei and successively captured two armed strongholds in Tamsui River Chicken Coop, which were originally controlled by the Spaniards.After taking down Taipei without stopping, he followed the troops commanded by Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen and went north to Zhejiang to attack Zhoushan.In July, Chen Yixin led the team to go to sea again, went north to Japan's Kyushu Island and the southern part of the Korean peninsula and made a big circle, collecting a lot of valuable information.In the past year, Chen Yixin's achievements have greatly surpassed those of his friends. If there is no accident, he will definitely receive public recognition and awards from the Executive Committee and the Military Commission during the founding ceremony.

Of course, Li Dou is not bad at all. He is currently the head of the Kaohsiung Port Management Committee. As a local official in charge, he still holds quite a lot of real power.Moreover, Haihan's development plan on Taiwan Island in the past two years is quite huge, many things have to be handled by Li Dou, and his future career prospects are also very good.It's just that officials like Lidou who are engaged in administrative work often have to rely on the accumulation of political experience to get promoted. It is unrealistic for soldiers to rely on military exploits to be promoted again and again in a short period of time.

Haihan sent representatives from almost all overseas colonies to participate in this celebration. They have been arriving in Hong Kong one after another since mid-March. Zhoushan Dinghai Port, where Chen Yixin lives, is the farthest colony of Haihan in the north. I set off from Zhoushan at the beginning of the month, but encountered bad weather twice in the Fujian Strait and the Pearl River Estuary, and had to stop at the shore for a few days. Fortunately, I hurried back to Sanya before the ceremony, and I did not miss the business .

Of course, with identities like Chen Yixin and Li Dou, they definitely don't need to stay in these outside hotels. There are already special people waiting on the pier. After they landed, someone brought a carriage and took them directly to Victory Fort.However, these two people brought quite a lot of luggage, and it took a while to carry them.In fact, they used to have an apartment under their name on the side of Victory Harbor, but it was empty all the year round, and it was just a warehouse for personal belongings.This time, the executive committee specially arranged a place for the officials who rushed back to participate in the celebration from all over the country to live in the expanded guest house, and there were people ordering tea and water there. The conditions were definitely much better than going back to live in a single apartment.Besides, they will not live in Sanya permanently. After the celebration is over and business is done, they will definitely go north and return to their own place. There is no need to clean out the apartment and live there for a few days.

Seeing the scene of the two huddling together, the idlers on the pier naturally knew that this was the arrival of a big man, and they didn't need to be greeted by the guards with live ammunition, so they quickly made way to the side, so that the carriage that the chief was riding in could leave the pier .The group of porters who were squatting next to them waiting for customers were even more envious. Most of them are new immigrants who have not yet been naturalized in Hong Kong. Physical work.

However, the job of bearers is not easy, and they also face competition. The wages for carrying a sedan chair are actually similar to the fare of a carriage, and it is even cheaper for short distances, but the speed and comfort are far inferior to those of a carriage. They can pick up ten jobs a day, but The bearer doesn't have such good physical strength.Moreover, riding in a horse-drawn carriage is more ostentatious, and guests with a bit of money tend to choose a horse-drawn carriage first, rather than a bumpy human-powered sedan chair.

Recently, there are also new two-wheeled rickshaws, which have also taken away a lot of business from the bearers.This kind of rickshaw can carry two people and simple luggage, but only one person can pull it. Although the speed is not as fast as a horse-drawn cart, it is still much faster than a sedan chair carried by two people.After saving a certain amount of savings, some bearers will also buy a rickshaw to change careers. After all, two people have to share the bill to lift the sedan chair, but the rickshaw is paid by one person, and the income level is still higher than that of the bearers.

Fortunately, because the rickshaw has a semi-open hood, the privacy is poor, and the railway station is not far from the port. There is actually a lot of soot in the air. In this regard, it is still not as good as the sedan chair, but it is in the city of Shengli Port. There are more sides.The cost of the new four-wheeled carriages is relatively high, and most of them are used by the government. There are not many folks used for passenger transportation, and it has not had a big impact on the livelihood of the bearers for the time being.When the carriages are too busy, sedan chairs are also an acceptable alternative tool. For example, the number of passenger ships arriving in Hong Kong has increased greatly in recent days, and all four-wheeled carriages have been requisitioned by the government to pick up distinguished guests. Therefore, the business of bearers is still not bad.

Although the naturalized cadres who arrived on the same boat as Chen Yixin and Li Dou were not high enough to take a special carriage, they could still afford to hire a sedan chair or a rickshaw. There was only a four-person sedan chair parked beside it, and when someone came to ask, a man in black at the side bowed and said, "Sorry, this sedan chair has already been hired, and my master will use it soon."

Seeing the flow of people slowly dissipating, the bearer squatting next to him became a little impatient: "Housekeeper Wang, when will your master arrive? I have been waiting for more than an hour...how about you let us pick him up first?" A business trip to the train station? It won’t be long before you come back, and it won’t delay your pick-up, what do you think?”

"Don't you panic, can the sailing schedule be exact?" The middle-aged man called Steward Wang scolded, "Didn't you agree to take your sedan chair for a long time? You're itching to see him pick up the business." Stay well and don’t think about it, what is the status of my master, you little people who have not yet been naturalized, be careful, if you offend his old man, you don’t want to make a living in this place!"

Steward Wang's reprimand was indeed effective, and the bearers immediately fell silent and did not dare to answer.Among them, the longest time in Sanya was only one and a half months. Two of them were new immigrants who had just come out of the quarantine observation period.But having said that, Steward Wang did pay enough for their big sedan chair, so naturally they wouldn't allow them to leave temporarily to pick up other deals.

"Which master is so powerful?" Suddenly a voice sounded, and then a group of people turned out from behind a pile of goods next to it.

As soon as the leader showed his face, Steward Wang recognized it, and almost knelt down on the spot when his legs softened: "Chief Zhou, the villain just said it casually, don't take it seriously... the villain is just trying to scare these sedan chairs. Husband, there is no other meaning!"

The person who made Butler Wang turn his attitude 180 degrees was Zhou Hengxing, the director of the Sanya Port Management Committee. Although his position is still the director, he has the final say on all matters large and small in the Sanya Port. In fact, he is more senior than the heads of most overseas colonies, and there are no people who come and go here all the year round who don't know him.

Zhou Hengxing happened to be passing through this place on inspection today, and just now outside the port, they ran into the carriage that Chen Yixin and Li Dou were riding in, and they stopped the carriage to exchange greetings with Zhou Hengxing.After seeing off the two juniors, Zhou Hengxing happened to hear the steward Wang scolding the bearers.The other party recognized him, but he didn't know which family's servant this person was, but hearing the other party's tone of voice just now, he should probably be a person with some family background.

"Who is your master?" Zhou Hengxing repeated again. He didn't really want to teach Butler Wang a lesson, but was purely curious.

But Wang Steward heard it in his ears, and the taste was different. At that moment, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and when he was about to confess to Zhou Hengxing again, he saw a sailboat slowly entering the port and approaching here He quickly said: "Sir, it's my master's boat that has arrived."

This sailboat is actually the same as the boat that Chen Yixin and his party took. It is an exploration-class multi-purpose ship. The sail and mast size are slightly smaller, obviously a civilian version.Zhou Hengxing could clearly see that the flag hanging on the mast had the word "Luo" written in black on a white background.

"So it's Luo Shengdong!" Zhou Hengxing smiled, waved his hand at Butler Wang and said, "Okay, old acquaintance, no need to introduce."

As the first official of the Ming Dynasty to join Haihan, Luo Shengdong seized the opportunity to change his destiny, and became the object of Haihan's support from a prisoner.If it wasn't for him not having no intention of working hard in his official career, he might be able to rely on Haihan's support to rise all the way like Xu Xinsu from Fujian.But even if he hadn't handled his own job at all in the past few years, and even the Yacheng water village had been disbanded early, his official position was still promoted from the leader of the frontier water village to the chief soldier of Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Of course, this is just a vacant position without actual military power, and Luo Shengdong has long since stopped relying on court salaries for a living.His other identity now is the largest salt merchant in Guangdong and Guangxi, and also the general agent of Haihan Salt Industry in Guangdong and Guangxi. He personally sells millions of catties of salt every year, and earns from this. The profits he got made him no longer interested in being an official and leading the army.

With the expansion of the business scale year by year, Luo Shengdong's scope of activities has long been limited to Hainan Island. In fact, he may spend a little more time in the mainland now. Haihan is completely in control, so naturally he will not be allowed to sell salt here, so Luo Shengdong's main market has been transferred to the mainland, and he spends less time in Hainan Island.But for such a major event as the founding of Haihan, he must come back to witness it with his own eyes.

(End of this chapter)