Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1583

The midsummer sun was scorching the earth fiercely. Min Honggui, who had just returned to the mainland from Zhoushan County, was constantly wiping the oily sweat from his forehead.This ghost weather in Ningbo is really too hot!

Min Honggui had just resigned from his position as the acting magistrate of Zhoushan County, but this did not mean that he had lost power or something was wrong, but that he was in another position.Well, in fact, Jiang Zhiqing, the leader of the Southern Exploration Team, took a fancy to Min Honggui's ability to deal with complicated situations, because he was promoted to a new level and went to the newly occupied Xinchang County to serve as the county magistrate.

Min Honggui in Xinchang County has also heard of it. The former Shaoxing Prefecture was under the jurisdiction of the Qing court. It has a population of tens of thousands and a poor economy. There is nothing to say.However, although the local products are very general and the population is not very dense, the location of this county is very important. It not only has a river valley trail leading to Fenghua County, Ningbo Prefecture, but also has a mountain tunnel leading to Tiantai County, a place of Taoism. It is not an exaggeration to say that it extends in all directions.

Therefore, Xinchang County is actually a place that people on the east bank must want to occupy and then quickly.In the past, due to the conditions of the peace agreement reached with the Qing court and the local restrictions on the vassals (in principle, they are not allowed to expand their land on a large scale), the people on the east bank have no chance to take this place down.However, in recent years, with the deepening conflict between the East Bank and the Qing Dynasty in the Liaodong area, and a series of follow-up incidents caused by Wu Sangui's Zhengming, Jiang Zhiqing, the leader of the Southern Exploration Team, made up his mind to take Xinchang County down, and then used this As a bridgehead wedged into the south of Shaoxing Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty, peeping into its vast hinterland - this is not a joke. Since Shaoxing Prefecture and Ningbo Prefecture border on land, the number of Qing troops stationed in Shaoxing Prefecture is very large, but most of them are deployed in the northern plains For example, Yuyao County, which is connected to Yin County by a corridor, and Guanhaiwei, which borders the coast, etc.; in addition, in some coastal and river areas, the Qing army also deployed considerable troops, and built many forts and facilities to contain ships on the east coast. It was raided by land and sea on the east coast.But overall, the vast majority of the Qing army was deployed in the northern region, which was vulnerable to attacks from the east coast army, and of course it was richer and more densely populated.

Therefore, it is very difficult for the people on the east bank to gain a firm foothold in the northern part of Shaoxing Prefecture. The repeated see-saw in the Guanhaiwei area in these years can explain the problem. The Qing army will never let the troops on the east bank break into Ningshao. Western half of the plain.Therefore, Jiang Zhiqing planned to find another way this time, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of King Lu's troops launching in Jinhua Mansion, taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Qing army to break into the southern part of Shaoxing Mansion, where its military strength is relatively weak, and successfully seized Xinchang County. It was transformed into a forward position on the spot as a base for entering and leaving Shaoxing Mansion.

Jiang Zhiqing still attaches great importance to this place. Not only did he transfer the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army, which is more capable of fighting, there, but he also transferred Min Honggui, a civil affairs official whom he valued, and planned to seize local affairs there as well. , in order to better serve the local garrison forces.

Min Honggui had just received Jiang Zhiqing's lecture in the Yin county office today, and then led a group of officials selected from various counties, including the deputy county head, the head of the security team, and many top leaders of the bureaus, and even some township officials. I have sent a dozen or so, and I don't know if they can take office smoothly (the people from the east bank currently only control the county and its surrounding areas).

It is worth mentioning that a considerable proportion of these cadres collectively referred to as "civil servants" are selected locally.The selection method is not new to the Ming people, it is nothing more than an exam!And when it comes to the civil servant selection and examination system, I have to mention the civil servant system of the Southern Pioneering Team, that is, the classification of its civil servants can be roughly divided into high-level civil servants, ordinary civil servants, and soldiers (yes, you read that right, because it is Recruitment system, soldiers are also a special kind of civil servants), police, teachers and so on.

Among them, the monthly salary of qualified teachers is more than 8 yuan, which belongs to the high-income class; the salary of ordinary stationed police and patrol officers is much less, generally only two or three yuan; and journalist Jiang Zhiqing runs an official media in Ningbo. "Ningbo Weekly", so the employees of the newspaper also belong to the civil service system - the salary is higher, about 12 yuan; the employees of the Bank of Taiwan are probably the highest, because their company's profitability is super strong, so a full-time employee The salary is around 15 yuan.

From these figures, it can be seen that the wages of civil servants under the Southern Pioneering Team system are actually quite good, although they cannot compete with the Ming and Qing Dynasties who spend a lot of money (referring to high-ranking officials), black and black civil servants (no grade Compared with the income of small officials, yamen servants, etc.), it is significantly higher than that of ordinary people to ensure that elite talents can be recruited-the officials who followed Min Honggui to Xinchang County this time are naturally elites. Because most of them belong to the high-ranking civil servants mentioned above, their salaries range from 20 to 50 yuan according to their grades, which is definitely not a small amount. Even the salaries of some local officials cannot reach this level.

The improvement of the selection and appointment system of civil servants, the reform of the military system, and the establishment of the fiscal and taxation system all gradually marked the beginning of the normalization of the San Francisco in the Far East.From now on, more and more states and counties will end the state of military control, and then hand over the management of hastily formed local governments, and everything will be on the right track.

At this time, the sun had already passed the center, and a group of people rode horses to the outskirts of Xikou Town with difficulty, and then, under Min Honggui's call, went to a tea shed to drink tea, eat, and rest.Xikou Town is already very lively here. Although it is located in the suburbs, there are still mules, horses and carts on a third-class national road leading far away, which is obviously very busy.

Next to the tea shed is a barber shop, the business is very good, but most of the people who go to get a haircut are young people, less middle-aged people, and none of the elderly.It has been 20 years since the East Bank government ruled Ningbo Prefecture. Although the "haircut" campaign that was promoted throughout the territory did not end, the law still exists, but people are no longer forced to cut their hair.

As the new generation grew up, many local aborigines in Ningbo who were influenced by people from the east coast also began to cut their hair, which gave birth to the prosperity of barbershops. The income of barbers who cut men's hair and beards once skyrocketed to the level of high-ranking civil servants. There is almost no difference, and it is also a wonder.Today, among the population of more than one million in Ningbo, the elderly basically do not have their hair cut, and they still maintain the state of knotted and tied hair of the Ming people; The flat hair style of Chinese people in later generations; as for young people, the proportion of hair knots has been further reduced. A large number of people often shave their hair and trim their beards. The Qing people in Shaoxing Mansion next door are getting farther and farther away.

Min Honggui and a group of colleagues now naturally wear short hair, which is also a common feature of Ningbo civil servants and the military class, and the folk shaving habit is also naturally formed under the leadership of these people.This is much gentler and easier to accept than the Qing court's forced everyone to shave their heads, leaving only the hair in the center of the head.

Of course, young people are willing to shave their hair. In addition to the above-mentioned effective reasons, it is also indispensable for the effective governance of Ningbo Prefecture by the people on the east bank for 20 years.With the continuous deepening of foreign trade, a large amount of silver flowed into Ningbo Prefecture (nine counties, plus Xinde Xinchang is ten counties), the local economy was stimulated and began to develop gradually. The dividends have enabled Ningbo Mansion to achieve a considerable degree of development in the past 20 years, and the people have become the biggest beneficiaries.And since they have benefited, the various things promoted by the people on the east coast will be so attractive.

But even so, people who are used to shaving their hair, like to wear East Coast clothes, are willing to write simplified characters, and speak Mandarin are still mostly concentrated in Dinghaigang and Yin County, the two most prosperous and wealthy cities. As for other counties and vast rural areas However, the majority of conservative people still account for the majority, which shows the difficulty of changing customs. After spending a lot of money, a large number of cadres, and 20 years of hard work, the effect is still extremely limited. This makes the people on the east coast further understand the transformation China's difficulties!With their strength, even if all 200 million people from South America come here, it is estimated that within two generations, they will be assimilated by China's powerful traditional inertia, and finally everything will return to the original state.

"As an important transportation node, Xikou Town now has a very large population, and its industry and commerce are okay. Once upon a time, this was the front line of the see-saw battle between our army and the Qing army, but now it has become a prosperous town. This shows that , Destiny is indeed on the east coast of my country, so I can’t do anything for the Tartars.” Min Honggui picked up a plate of pastries brought by the store, and sighed while eating: “This time I’m going to Xinchang County, and I’m going to go abroad to repair military affairs. , practice hard work internally, and strive to build it into a bridgehead against the Qing army. The territory of our southern pioneer team has not expanded for many years, and Shaoxing Mansion is a ready-made breakthrough point. Now that we have Xinchang, can we not enter Shengxian County in the future? And now that we have captured Sheng County, can’t we go north and capture Shangyu, threatening the flanks of the main force of the Qing army that is confronting our army? At that time, we can launch operations with the cooperation of the navy, and the Qing army will be able to deal with it Quite passive. By then, Xikou Town will probably become a material production base in the rear, and the future is really bright..."

In fact, as Min Honggui said, after vigorous construction, Xikou Town now has a different appearance from other places. The most prominent feature is that there are many handicraftsmen here.From the perspective of Min Honggui and the others along the way, there are barrel hoops, iron smelting, forging, and leather making, all of which are available in 360 lines.In the future, if something happens ahead, the military supplies will naturally be shipped from the Dinghai Port area, but some other supplies can be entrusted to the local handicraftsmen in Xikou Town to produce.

Undoubtedly, handicraftsmen have always been a relatively wealthy group under the rule of the people on the east coast, so the entertainment industry for these handicraftsmen and businessmen has gradually developed in Xikou Town in recent years, especially some people who are obviously from the local What I have learned is quite popular with the locals.

For example, in Xikou Town, there is a circus troupe from Heishui. The troupe caught wild beasts such as bears, leopards, and boa constrictors from nowhere, and then exhibited them all day long, collecting entrance fees. They were very popular with the locals. welcome.Even recently, I heard that they are planning to spend money to buy some "rare birds and animals" that Ningbo people have never seen before, and then come to exhibit them in order to make profits.These people optimistically predict that their circuses should be able to make a lot of money in Xikou Town, where handicraft workers gather, Dinghai County, where business is extremely prosperous, and Yin County, where civil servants gather, because there is no shortage of people with spending power in these three places. .

For another example, someone spliced ​​a 60-meter-long slide with smooth wooden boards (there are baffles on both sides to protect the safety of users), which is called "Sliding Mountain" by the operator.This entertainment project is not only very popular with many children, but even many adults sometimes go to it, which is very surprising. At the same time, it can also be seen that the atmosphere of the industrial and commercial developed area is open.

Min Honggui has also read many books about the East Bank in recent years, and he regrets China's backwardness in his heart. At the same time, he also understands that if he wants to make progress, he must innovate the old traditions and culture, that is, he must set off a new wave of development at the cultural level. There must be something called "revolution" by the people of the East, otherwise nothing can be discussed.And if you want to innovate the culture, if you don't want to cause violent social turmoil and ideological confusion, you can only influence it through this subtle way.

Over the past 20 years, Ningbo Mansion has undoubtedly experienced this subtle change.Min Honggui, as an upper-middle-level cadre in Ningbo Prefecture, had the honor of attending a ball in Yin County.Most of the participants in the ball were local cadres from the east coast, and many of them were even students from Bingtuanbao. In addition, a small number of famous local cadres such as Min Honggui, Lu Fang, and Hu Chi were invited.In the so-called "Social Dance Party", Min Honggui really opened his eyes and quickly accepted this novel way of communication. ", but as an open-minded cadre, Lao Min didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and he vaguely hoped that the new things brought by the people from the east bank could quickly cleanse the already gradually ossified thinking and culture on the land of China, and make this area People on the land can "open their eyes and see the world".

After resting in the tea shed, the hottest period at noon was almost over. Min Honggui paid for the tea and cakes, and then called everyone to get on their horses and continue towards Xinchang County.Along the way, they encountered many logistics transportation teams returning from the front line. In addition to transporting some wounded and trophies back, these teams also brought back many Qing army prisoners by the way.Min Honggui looked at these dejected and silent green battalion soldiers, and sighed slightly. These people-maybe they will be dispatched to the tropical areas to cultivate wasteland, and it is not a good place to go there.

(End of this chapter)