Water Margin people

Chapter 1442 Fengshan Port

"Wang Zhihe received the order!"

Zhu Wu took the imperial edict signed by Sun Lei and sealed with the imperial seal and shouted to Wang Zhihe.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Wang Zhihe kowtowed deeply and shouted loudly, then excitedly took the imperial edict in both hands.

"Your Majesty, Fengshan Harbor has been cleaned up. Your Majesty can go and have a look at any time!"

Wang Zhihe looked at Sun Lei and said respectfully.

"Well, let's go ashore and take a look!"

Sun Lei nodded and said, since we are already at Ryukyu Island, how can we not go up and take a look?

Ruan Xiaoqi immediately led two ships into Fengshan Harbor. Since the emperor was going ashore and Fengshan Harbor had just been incorporated into the territory and was full of natives, the entire port should be under the control of the guards.

Wang Zhihe also went ashore with Ruan Xiaoqi. As soon as he arrived ashore, he called all the family guards over and asked everyone in the port to obey the Qi army.

Ruan Xiaoqi was not polite either. He gathered all the people in the port together. These people made a living at the port. Most of them were doing small businesses or working as laborers. They had never seen such a well-equipped army before. They were so scared that their faces turned pale. If the army roared, they would probably run away.

Seeing the people under his rule in such a state, Wang Zhihe was afraid that the emperor would be dissatisfied, so he immediately took out the imperial edict and announced that Takao Port would be renamed Fengshan Port. It would be the territory of Qi from then on, and all the people there would become citizens of Qi.

The people then understood what had happened. As refugees from Fujian and Liangzhe, they knew very well what it meant to submit to the Central Plains dynasty.

Immediately, some prestigious elders came to Wang Zhihe.

"Wang, I asked you to manage Takao Port, not to sell it. Why did we come here? It's to avoid corrupt officials and heavy taxes. Although it's a bit hard here, we enjoy it. How can you take us back?"

A white-haired old man, leaning on a bent cane, spoke angrily.

"Uncle Zhou, I am not selling you out, but I am leading you to a brighter future. The Emperor of Qi is wise and powerful, and you should have heard about it. With such an emperor, how can we live a hard life?"

Wang Zhihe looked at Uncle Zhou and said, Dagou Port had no formal management before. It was the result of several large clans gathering together. He was the head of the Wang family, and the Zhou family was second only to their Wang family.

"Wang Zhihe, you are talking nicely. I think I have bribed you by appointing you as a county magistrate!"

"You have forgotten your ancestors' teachings!"

"You, the Wang family, are not qualified to manage Takao Port!"

A group of young people from the Zhou family started to make a fuss. They had never been convinced by Wang Zhihe's management of the port, and now that they had an excuse, they were eager to pull Wang Zhihe down.

"What's wrong? Magistrate Wang, can't you handle it? How about I help you manage it?"

Ruan Xiaoqi came over with his men at this time, playing with a sharp knife in his hand. The soldiers behind him were fully armed and murderous, just waiting for Ruan Xiaoqi's order.

"General Ruan, calm down. I will persuade them!"

When Wang Zhihe saw Ruan Xiaoqi and his men coming, he immediately stepped forward to explain.

Ruan Xiaoqi glanced coldly at the gathered people. To put it nicely, they were a group of barbarians, and to put it bluntly, they were cowardly rats.

After seeing Ruan Xiaoqi and the others off with a smile, Wang Zhihe came before the tribesmen.

"Uncle Zhou, you can see that the army coming is Qi. Look at that fleet. Can we contend with it?"

Wang Zhihe looked at everyone in the Zhou family and said.

"When we left, we said that we would rather die in glory than live in disgrace!"

Uncle Zhou said firmly.

"Old Zhou, your temper hasn't changed at all! You've lived for most of your life, if you want to die, go ahead and die. Do you want to take these young people with you?"

Several old men with gray hair came over and looked at Grandpa Zhou and said, these are the elders of various tribes in Dagou Port, including the Wang family. "You are a bunch of spineless people!"

Uncle Zhou pointed at the group of old people and shouted that he knew there was no hope as soon as these people appeared. These people almost represented the entire Takao Port.

"The hatred of your parents and brothers belongs to the Song Dynasty. What does it have to do with Qi?"

An old man looked at Uncle Zhou and said that Uncle Zhou fled to Takao Port from Fujian Road. His parents and brothers were killed by corrupt officials of the Song Dynasty, so the Zhou family hated the other side of the coast.

The young members of the Zhou family did not dare to speak at this time. The arrival of the Qi army just now frightened them so much that their legs went weak. Looking at the huge ships on the sea, their thoughts of resistance had faded a lot.

"I know you don't accept me. You thought I was not qualified to manage Takao Port before, and I am not qualified to manage Fengshan Port now. But you should have heard a saying, the whole world belongs to the king. When His Majesty's fleet arrives, you should be aware of it!"

Wang Zhihe looked at everyone and said in a deep voice that Uncle Zhou opposed it because he had a grudge, but the others did not have that kind of deep blood feud, and they came here today just for profit.

Everyone was speechless after hearing what Wang Zhihe said. Although they all disagreed with Wang Zhihe, they knew in their hearts that they were no match for him.

On the ship.

Sun Lei listened to the soldiers' report.

"It seems that not all of them are honest people!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, the people on this island are all people who have fled their homeland. How many of them are truly honest? I guess most of them have secret deals with pirates."

Zhu Wu said.

"You said how I should appease people when I arrive on the island?"

Sun Lei nodded and asked.

"Either kill them to scare them, or lure them with benefits."

Zhu Wu said.

"It would be a bit bad to start killing people right after we get here. After all, Wang Zhihe is respectful enough. If we kill people like this, he will be left alone. It will be difficult for us to carry out our work on the island in the future."

Sun Lei shook his head. Ryukyu Island is now a barren and desolate place with a small population. It is extremely poor and has almost no industry to speak of. Many people even live as savages in the mountains. If they start killing people as soon as they arrive, it would be difficult to communicate in the future.

"The only option is bribery!"

Zhu Wu nodded and said that if they wanted to successfully make Ryukyu Island submit, Huairou would be the best choice.

"Don't you have a lot of cloth? Take it all out, I'll go and win people's hearts."

Sun Lei looked at Shi Qian and spoke. He suddenly remembered a joke. During the Age of Discovery, when a fleet discovered a new continent, the first thing they would do was give T-shirts to the naked natives.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Shi Qian immediately led people to the cabin to move the cotton cloth.

At this time, Fengshan Port had been carefully arranged by Wang Zhihe.

“Hang up all the lanterns!”

Wang Zhihe rummaged through the boxes and cabinets for a long time and finally found that Dagou Port was too poor and it was impossible to decorate it. Fortunately, in order to facilitate unloading at night, many lanterns were prepared. When they were all hung up, the atmosphere was still created.

"I told you to dress smarter, why are you still like this?"

Wang Zhihe felt a little annoyed as he looked at the row of young men standing upright. Their clothes were shabby and had many patches on them, which made him look uncomfortable no matter how he looked at them.

"Brother Wang, these are all clean and good clothes!"

A group of people said helplessly that Ryukyu was a poor place and they could not be self-sufficient in cloth, so it was good enough to have a complete set of clothes.