Chapter 1276 Official travel

But Liu Shang also understands that the current situation in Guangdong and Guangxi can no longer be changed by killing or replacing a group of local officials. Haihan has penetrated deeply into the coastal areas of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the local officials have inextricably linked interests with them.

It is impossible to cut through the mess quickly and end the relationship between the two parties. If you look at this document, you will know that a lot of the information in it can be successfully collected with the tacit consent of the local government. To say that no one in the government knew anything about it, it must be

It's unjustifiable.

Even if the imperial court now issues a sea ban, it probably won't prevent local officials from Guangdong and Guangxi from joining forces with Haihan to seek profits. After all, the mountains in Lingnan are high and the emperor is far away. How far the decrees issued by the capital can be implemented here depends entirely on the place.

Officials' operations, and the Guangdong and Guangxi officials have already thrown away the entire Qiongzhou, so there is no possibility of confronting Haihan again. The feasibility of relying on imperial decrees to prevent Haihan's expansion in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions probably only exists in theory.

Liu Shang knew that he could not change the situation by himself, so he could only sigh and continue to read the content behind the information.

The content that follows is basically some guiding opinions from Haihan officials to sea trade operators, such as which products have the best sales in Daming, what their prices are, where the demand is the greatest, etc. This information is very important to operators.

, its value is no different than real gold and silver.

After Liu Shang browsed through it, he had a deeper understanding of the methods of Haihan officials. If the previous impression of Haihan was based on the surface, then this information produced by Haihan officials is very thought-provoking.

The rapid rise of this country in just a few years cannot be achieved by luck. Those Haihan people from across the ocean have made detailed plans for the development of the country and run the country in every detail. This kind of

Diligence is the main reason for Haihan's rapid growth.

But why is it that what such a group of rulers with maritime merchant backgrounds can do is so difficult for the Ming Dynasty to achieve? Liu Shang is aware of this problem, but still has difficulty in deducing a reasonable answer due to the limitations of his vision and knowledge. Of course, even if he

I have vaguely thought about the differences in the political systems of the two countries, and will never continue to think in this direction. After all, it would be disrespectful to the imperial power to delve deeper into this issue.

Yu Xiaobao asked him to digest this information as soon as possible, and even better to memorize the content. This is not an easy task. The content involves a lot of place names and data. It is really difficult to memorize this information. Yu Xiaobao asked him to digest this information as soon as possible.

It may be a test for Xiaobao to make such a request, but Liu Shang does not dare to be careless. Fortunately, he has an excellent memory and keeps it in mind while reading. After reading it twice, he has memorized most of the content. Same.

When people in the cabin talked to him, he just said a few words casually and focused on this information.

By the time Liu Shang realized he had remembered it, he noticed that the sky outside the porthole had darkened and he was beginning to feel a little hungry. When he asked others, he realized that the ship had arrived in Yacheng County and was sailing into the mouth of the Ningyuan River. It was very early today.

Maybe rest here for a night.

In the past, Yacheng, where the seat of Yazhou in the Ming Dynasty was located, is no longer the political and economic center of Yazhou. In fact, except for Sanya and Haikou City in Qiongbei due to political needs, there are still a small number of official establishments of the Ming Dynasty. Hainan

The local government offices of the Ming Dynasty in other parts of the island have been abolished and replaced by new administrative divisions after the Haihan rule.

In the new division, the original state governance was cancelled, and the county governance was basically retained. However, all county governments were changed to the management committee system with Haihan characteristics, and a number of county-level units were added in Qiongzhong Mountain District and Qiongxi Coast.

Municipal administrative units are only set up in the capital Sanya, Haikou City in Qiongbei and Danzhou City.

Yacheng County is one of the few administrative districts that has been "downgraded" in this wave of restructuring. It was originally the center of Yazhou, but now it is only a county-level unit. This is of course closely related to the rapid rise of Sanya. The two places are not far apart.

At Baili, Yacheng was naturally not qualified to be on an equal footing with the capital of Haihan Kingdom, so it had no choice but to be reduced to a county.

However, because it is not far from Sanya, Yacheng County has also benefited a lot from the development process of Sanya. In addition, the historical accumulation here is not bad, so we compare Yacheng County among the counties in Hainan Island.

The level of construction in all aspects is almost among the best. Nowadays, the areas with relatively developed agricultural development in the south of Qiongzhou Island, in addition to the banks of the two rivers in Sanya, are the banks of the Ningyuan River in Yacheng County. In terms of foreign investment alone

The total area of ​​various cash crop plantations developed here has exceeded 10,000 acres, and the local agricultural and forestry deep processing industry driven by this has also greatly improved the overall economic level of Yacheng County. If compared with the Ming Dynasty,

, that’s really like the sky and the earth.

Liu Shang heard from other people in his party that the port where the ship was docking was where the Yacheng Water Village used to be. However, when he looked out the porthole, he saw no trace of the atmosphere of the military camp remaining. Even the original water village

The gate of the village and the plaque hanging above it have long been demolished. Now it is a port mainly for freight. Passenger ships coming and going here transport local agricultural and forestry products and deep-processed high-end commodities to other places. Some of them

Goods for export will be shipped to nearby Sanya for final fine packaging, so that their export value will at least double or triple.

"The main raw materials for Sanya special brew are produced here." An official from the Ministry of Agriculture who was traveling with him told Liu Shang some news that surprised him.

"So Sanya Special Brew is not produced in Sanya, but in Yacheng?" Liu Shang asked with some confusion: "Then why was it not named Yacheng Special Brew in the first place?"

The official explained: "You didn't understand, I'm talking about the origin of raw materials. Some of the low-end products of Sanya special brew are indeed produced here, but the high-end products that can be sold at affordable prices are still produced in Sanya."

The sugarcane planting area in Yacheng County reaches thousands of acres, accounting for almost half of the sugarcane production in Qiongnan. In addition to being used to make sugar, the other biggest function of these sugarcanes is to produce Sanya special brew using sugarcane molasses as raw material.

. However, because Haihan’s glass production workshops are almost all concentrated in Sanya, the filling and packaging of high-end wine are also completed in Sanya. The wine produced here is relatively low-end and is basically made of

Storage and transportation of pottery jars.

Liu Shang had just arrived and did not understand the division of labor in these industries. He suddenly realized it after listening to the explanations from professionals. Naturally, he had known about Sanya Special Wine for a long time. He had tasted its unique flavor before coming to Haihan. It can be said that it is different from grain wine.

, but it’s not something extraordinary. But Haihan’s commercial packaging capabilities are indeed impressive, with a variety of exquisite glass bottle gift boxes, covering products at multiple price points from high to low, plus many products that have received benefits.

The literati advocated hard, and the catering industry spared no effort to promote it in order to obtain rebates, making this kind of wine a popular trend among the middle and upper classes of society. In recent years, the sales volume in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty is quite good, and it can be brought to Haihan every year

Considerable profits.

The popularity of such a product with an obvious Haihan label in the market depends largely on Haihan's strong business operation capabilities, which can package products that are not particularly outstanding in quality into fragrances that people are eager to consume.

Momo, Liu Shang is still very convinced of Haihan's ability. Before Liu Shang came to Sanya, he had come into contact with a lot of Haihan products. The overall feeling was that Haihan could always manage to sell goods worth one tael for two.

The price is three times or even higher, and it can also make buyers flock to it and willingly pay for it. In terms of business operations and sales skills, Haihan is really far better than his counterparts in the business world of Ming Dynasty.

After docking at the dock, the sailor came to the cabin to inform everyone that they could disembark and rest. After Liu Shang walked along the gangplank to the shore, he happened to see a cargo ship parked next to him loading jars of wine. At a glance, the amount stacked on the dock was terrifying.

There are thousands of jars. The air of the entire dock seems to be filled with the aroma of wine, which inevitably makes the alcohol bug in everyone's stomach start to stir up. Some people who are good at drinking are already discussing whether they can get the ban to drink tonight.

Serve a few drinks.

What was different from Liu Shang's expectation was that this group of people did not go to the county town for accommodation after disembarking. Instead, they planned to stay at an inn near the dock for one night and wait until tomorrow to go to the county town. Yu Xiaobao made some changes to this arrangement after disembarking.

He explained: "It's getting late today. We have already missed the meal when we went to the county seat. Then there will be entertainment there. It is estimated that we will not be able to eat dinner until bedtime. It is better to rest here for the night. Tomorrow

It’s the same thing if you leave early.”

Liu Shang asked in a low voice to the person next to him: "Isn't the management committee here coming to pick up Director Yu?"

The man next to him glanced at Liu Shangdao as if he were a fool: "I'm afraid you don't know that the head of the Yacheng County Management Committee is the chief. Coming here to pick him up not only messes up the etiquette of superiors and subordinates, but Director Yu doesn't dare to accept it! Tomorrow

Entering the city early in the morning is the only way to distinguish between superiors and inferiors and to be polite."

Only then did Liu Shang understand that Yu Xiaobao did not arrange to enter the city overnight because he was actually afraid of disturbing the chief's rest time. Although he was already a high-ranking official, his status was still unconditionally inferior to the so-called authentic chief Haihan.

, even if it was like an inspection like an imperial envoy, the local ruling chief would not dare to come out to meet him.

However, Liu Shang observed the expressions of Yu Xiaobao and Zhang Qianzhi, and they seemed to take this as a matter of course, without showing any signs of grievance or dissatisfaction. It seems that the Haihan people have a very high status in their minds, and this kind of obedience has long become a matter of course.

rules of conduct.

Coincidentally, the two inns next to the pier did not have enough vacancies due to too many merchants coming to transport wine recently, so they coordinated for a while before arranging for everyone to stay. For this reason, Yu Xiaobao and Zhang Qianzhi also gave up their orders.

In the human world, they live in the same room. However, these two people don't mind this at all. When they went to Guangzhou on business, they were roommates who lived together and have long been accustomed to each other's existence.

Everyone arranged their accommodation and shared two tables in one of the inns to prepare for dinner. After Yu Xiaobao sat down and ordered the food, he said to everyone: "Except for the new Mr. Liu, this is probably not the first time that everyone has come out to do business.

, you should know the rules. In this catering fee, you can be reimbursed for food and drinks, but you cannot be reimbursed for wine."

Everyone immediately understood what Yu Xiaobao meant. They were not allowed to drink alcohol at will during official duties. This was originally a rule for duty officers. Although it could be loosened or tightened, there was nothing wrong with Yu Xiaobao's request. No one said anything about drinking at that moment.

.

However, Yu Xiaobao paused and continued: "Although public expenses cannot be reimbursed, it is still okay for me to treat you to two drinks privately!"

Everyone was smiling happily and couldn't stop praising Yu Xiaobao for his generosity and straightforwardness. Of course Liu Shang could understand that this was Yu Xiaobao's little trick to win people's hearts, but at Yu Xiaobao's age, he could have such mental tricks.

This shows that he has rich experience in officialdom.

Yu Xiaobao's income is not low, so he naturally doesn't care about the small amount of money to buy wine. However, he is not a drinker in the first place, and he will not indulge his subordinates in drinking and getting drunk, so he only ordered two bottles of wine in a symbolic way and divided them among everyone.

On average, everyone only drank one or two taels per person, so they would not cause trouble by drinking too much. Zhang Qianzhi stopped drinking as soon as he touched his lips and didn't drink much at all.

Liu Shang didn't have so many scruples. He knew that the more natural he behaved, the less likely he would arouse suspicion from others. In addition, he used his brain frequently during the day and needed to drink two glasses of wine to relieve his fatigue, so he immediately talked to these people.

I drank comfortably from cup to cup.

After dinner, Yu Xiaobao asked everyone to go back to their rooms to rest. They were not allowed to go out privately at night. They would get up early tomorrow and go to Yacheng to handle official business.

Liu Shang slept deeply that night. He slept until morning before being woken up by his companions. When he got up, he saw that it was already dark. After washing and having breakfast, Yu Xiaobao counted the number of people and ordered to set off.

The sailboat they were traveling on stopped at the pier, where they would transfer to another mode of transportation to go to Yacheng on the upper reaches of the Ningyuan River.

This is a small inland river sailboat for both passenger and cargo use. It is propelled by a paddle wheel driven by a steam engine and can reach a speed of about eight knots. In the middle of the hull is a black steam engine, and a three-meter-high chimney replaces the original main mast.

, there is a paddle wheel with a diameter of more than two meters on the outside of the ship on both sides, and there is a mast on the front and rear of the ship, which can use the wind to increase the speed during travel.

After Liu Shang got on the ship, he saw some sailors shoveling coal into the boiler, so he was still a little confused. It wasn't until the steam engine on the ship suddenly started, and then drove the paddle wheel to rotate through the mechanical connecting rod, pushing the ship forward, that he suddenly

Realize how this thing works.

"If this thing were moved to land and turned into a wheel by hitting the water, wouldn't it be the train?" Liu Shang couldn't help but sigh: "It turns out that this thing can not only be used on land, but can also be used in shipping!"
Chapter completed!