Chapter 296 Yazhou Guard Army

The social changes in the Victory Port area are not limited to the local area. With the gradual acceleration of the construction process, the influence of "Haihan" has gradually spread to surrounding areas, especially Yazhou, which is only a hundred miles away from Victory Port.

The effects of this influence are increasingly beginning to change the living environment of local people.

Qiu Yuankai opened the door, stood at the door and stretched greatly. When he saw Zhang Guangzheng leading the two wealthy brothers to do radio gymnastics, he couldn't help laughing and said: "You are in good spirits, and you have not forgotten to exercise."

"I have nothing to do, so I can only pass the time by exercising. Now I know why the prisoners in American TV dramas practice fitness during their free time. This is just for leisure!" Zhang Guang complained, patting the two brothers.

The leader said: "Go to the kitchen and bring out breakfast!"

"Where's Lao Ma?" Qiu Yuan looked around and saw Malik, so he asked casually.

Zhang Guang responded casually: "Today it's Lao Ma's turn to go on patrol, have you forgotten?"

"These leisurely days...have been so confusing." Qiu Yuan shook his head and laughed at himself.

The Cliff Office has not had much to do recently. After He Xi, Mu Xiabai, and Feng Anan left one after another, there are only four staff left in the Cliff Office. The daily inspection of Yazhou City Defense was originally undertaken by the Military and Police Department.

The situation task was taken over by Malike and Qiu Yuan, but the frequency was changed from once every two days in the past to once a week now. This is not because they are lazy and unwilling to run, but in fact this job has become more and more frequent.

It has no practical significance - at least half of the guards stationed in Yazhou have deserted in recent months. More than half of those who escaped have quietly entered the Shengli Port area through various channels and become members of the Executive Committee.

Hired laborers. Some left early and even obtained the status of naturalized citizens. Even among the current Haihan Militia, there are also deserters from the former Ming Guard system.

As for Zhang Guang and Zhao Xiaoruo, they are in charge and maintain the daily affairs of the Cliff Office. For now, there is not much to do. It is just to settle the immigration fees with the dental office every month. The yamen or individuals who should burn incense regularly

, so he sent his servants to run errands to deliver gifts. Yesterday, Zhao Xiaoruo took a boat back to Victory Port to participate in the welfare housing lottery. By the way, he met friends who had been separated for a long time. He was expected to stay for a day or two before coming back.

Just after breakfast, a guest came to the door, and his background was not small. It was Zhang Qianhu from Hainan Wei Yazhou Office. His rank was two levels higher than Luo Shengdong, and he was a fifth-rank imperial official. This

Zhang Qianhu can be regarded as a native of Hainan. It is said that the last three generations have served as guards in Hainan. His generation has finally become prosperous, and his career has reached the level of Qianhu. However, Zhang Qianhu is also old.

When it comes to retirement, if nothing unexpected happens, He Shen, the current magistrate of Yazhou, Tongzhi, and Shuizhai will retire and return home within the same year.

Qiu Yuan had met Zhang Qianhu several times at the wine table before, so he was no stranger to him. He welcomed him into the living room and asked Dafu to make tea, and then asked about Zhang Qianhu's purpose.

Zhang Qianhu was a rough man and had no intention of going around in circles. He directly stated his intention: "Recently, many soldiers in our Yazhou have fled the military camp. It is reported that these people are heading towards Victory Port. I wonder what Boss Qiu has to say?

"

Qiu Yuan said in astonishment: "Explanation? I don't have any explanation. What does this have to do with our Cliff Office? Mr. Zhang, we have had contact with you, but we have no contact with your soldiers, and we have no interest in bribery."

Those little soldiers under your command, let them escape quietly."

What Qiu Yuan said is indeed the truth. This was not intentional at all by the Yazhou Garrison Office, but purely a spontaneous action of these guards. There is no other reason. These soldiers are just asking for a bite of food. Like Yazhou

In a remote place, you can't expect to get any subsidies from the Ministry of War. Even Yazhou Shuizhai, a regular frontier army, is still using old-fashioned weapons from the Wanli period, let alone the half-military and half-peasant Weisuo Army.

.Whether it is military rations or military salaries, most of them have to be solved by themselves. However, Yazhou, a remote place where prisoners are exiled, has a relatively low social and economic development. Coupled with the deductions from military leaders, the life of the lower-class soldiers has always been extremely difficult.

The hardship is not even comparable to that of some homesteaders.

The emergence of Victory Port gave these people new hope. From various channels, they learned about the various preferential treatments given to ordinary workers by the Haihan people - of course, the information they learned was all propaganda deliberately arranged by the relevant departments.

It was just a means. Some brave people gave up their status as guardsmen and moved to Victory Harbor resolutely. When the rumored various treatments were gradually confirmed, more and more guardsmen chose to leave quietly.

Yazhou, went to live in Shengli Port. Some people even moved their families, including their wives, children, and children.

At first, this situation did not attract the attention of the military leaders. After all, to make a fortune in the guard system, you have to live on empty pay and drink the blood of soldiers. A little more empty space is not necessarily a bad thing. But soon this situation became more and more serious, and every month

The number of people who disappeared began to rise rapidly from five or six to double digits. In January 1628, the number of people who fled was even close to a hundred. This was no small matter for the Yazhou Guard Army, which had a serious shortage of vacancies and a total strength of less than 1,000 people.

If things continue to develop at this rate, I'm afraid that before the end of the year, there will be only a few polished commanders left in the entire Guard Army.

At this point, the military leaders of the Guard Army would naturally no longer sit idly by and ignore the deserters, and the whereabouts of the deserters was not a secret. Soon, General Qian of the Guard Army went to the Cliff Office to "raise troops to investigate".

Mr. Zhang Qian sighed and said: "Boss Qiu, now it is not a question of who allowed them to escape, and I have no intention of blaming you Haihan people, but now that the matter has come to this, there must be a solution, right?"

Qiu Yuan blinked and said, "What solution does Mr. Zhang want to solve?"

"Of course these deserters need to be recovered one by one and severely punished!" Zhang Qianhu said through gritted teeth.

"Then you can go directly to Shengli Port to arrest people. There is no need to come to our place to waste time." Qiu Yuan would not accept his argument and immediately pushed back firmly.

"This...that's not what you said..." Zhang Qianhu probably didn't expect Qiu Yuan's attitude to be so tough, and for a moment he didn't know how to explain it.

The reason why the Guardsmen did not go directly to Victory Port to catch deserters was because they knew they could not afford to offend the Haihan people. The Haihan militia had sharp guns and powerful combat capabilities. This was no secret in the Yazhou area.

, the military leaders have no intention of taking the initiative to deliver food. Besides, people like Zhang Qianhu usually get various benefits from being stationed in the cliff, so it seems a bit unreasonable to break up directly.

Qiu Yuan sighed and said: "Master Zhang, you also know that our stall in Victory Port is very large. There are not one thousand but eight hundred immigrants arriving in Victory Port every month. It is impossible to check their identities one by one.

How do we know if there are any deserters from Yazhou sneaking in? Do you think this is the truth?"

"Yes, yes..." Zhang Qianhu responded repeatedly.

"If you have sufficient evidence to prove that someone is a deserter from the Ming Dynasty, you can go to Victory Port to arrest him at any time, and we will not stop him. Is my attitude cooperative enough?" Qiu Yuan continued to ask.

"Yes, yes... but it seems very inconvenient for us to catch him..." Zhang Qianhu said while controlling Qiu Yuan's expression.

"The problem is that we don't know who the deserter is, so we can't catch him, right?" Qiu Yuan continued to shirk responsibility.

"But this..." Mr. Zhang Qian was still about to argue a few words, when he heard a voice coming from the yard: "Mr. Zhang, you are here so early. Do you have any good news to share with us?"

"It's Boss Ma who's back? It just so happens that I have a problem and I need to ask your help for help!" Mr. Zhang Qian has also dealt with Malike and knows that this is the real owner of the Yazhou Office. The Haihan people are in Yazhou.

Boss Ma has the final say in all matters. Seeing Malik striding in, Mr. Zhang Qian suddenly felt like a savior had arrived.

After Malico entered the room and sat down, he listened to Mr. Zhang Qian's story again. He then closed his eyes and meditated for a moment before speaking: "Mr. Zhang, what is your real purpose? You want to catch those who have escaped.

?Or do you want to prevent others from escaping?"

Mr. Zhang Qian was not confused and immediately responded: "Of course it is best to have both!"

"I'm afraid it will be difficult!" Maliko shook his head and said, "I also know a little bit about the situation of the guardsmen. These soldiers usually don't even have enough to eat, but now they know that there are other places where they can live a good life.

, how can you not run away? If Mr. Zhang wants to prevent others from escaping, I think the most direct and effective way is to improve their treatment, let them have enough food and clothing, and enough military pay, so naturally they will not have other thoughts.

As for arresting people, I agree with Qiu Yuan, Mr. Zhang can lead his own troops to Victory Port and try it."

There was a smile on Malico's lips when he said this, and his intention was very obvious - you can arrest someone if you want to, but whether you can or not is another matter.

Mr. Zhang Qian secretly scolded Maliko for being unkind. If I could go directly to Shengli Port to arrest people, why not come to the Yazhou Office to talk about it? If I take these soldiers from Yazhou to make trouble in Shengli Port, there will probably be only one outcome.

They were all imprisoned by the Haihan people. It is said that Wei Ping, the brother-in-law of Tongzhi's family, was imprisoned by the Haihan people in the first few months when he went to Yazhou to work as an inspector. The first thing he did when he was released was to go back to Yazhou to persuade

His brother-in-law supports Shuizhai Luo Shengdong's father-in-law to be the next governor of the state, and Luo Shengdong is already well-known in Yazhou as the "Haihan Party". Wei Ping's behavior clearly means that he has been surrendered by the Haihan people's methods.

, Mr. Zhang Qian was not prepared to experience the methods of the Haihan people himself.

Mr. Zhang Qian thought for a while, and had to change his perspective and continue complaining: "Boss Ma, Boss Qiu, it's time for me to step down and hand over my post this year. If there are too many deserters, the vacancies in the army will not be filled.

How can we hand over the matter to the next General Manager Qian at that time? If the matter gets serious by then, and let Commander Wei know about it, won’t this trouble eventually be traced to you? You don’t want to cause trouble because of these small things, right?”

Maliko thought for a while and said: "Mr. Zhang, do I think so? The problem now is not how many deserters have appeared in the Yazhou Guard Army, nor whether these deserters can be captured. The remaining people will

You won’t continue to run away, but there are too many vacancies in the Yazhou Guard Army, so that you will not be able to deliver your duties when the time comes?”

Mr. Zhang Qian coughed dryly and said: "Although Boss Ma's views are biased, they are still fundamental. I do have this concern."

Maliko smiled and said: "If that's all, then the problem is actually easy to solve."

"Boss Ma, please speak!" Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang Qian immediately became energetic.

"At that time, our Haihan Militia will make up for whatever shortage you have here. If we really don't have any troops, we can put them on top of our Haihan Militia. Yazhou's establishment of 1,120 people is correct, right? Well, it should be

It’s not a big problem!”

Mr. Zhang Qian's eyes were as wide as bull's eyes: "Boss Ma, what are you talking about? Replacing the guardsmen with the Haihan militia? You can't do it. Isn't this nonsense!"

"Mr. Zhang, please don't object in a hurry. Let me analyze it slowly for you." Maliko responded calmly: "In terms of military capacity, discipline and combat effectiveness, our Haihan Militia should be superior to the Guard Army. What about you?

You shouldn’t deny it, right?”

Zhang Qianzong nodded helplessly. This is not a matter of superiority and inferiority, but a huge difference in strength. The "Exploration" went to Yazhou for training during its trial, and Zhang Qianzong saw with his own eyes the Haihan militia in Ningyuan River.

Rehearsing the scene of river landing - of course, this kind of military exercise must be carried out under the banner of coordinated exercise with Yazhou Water Village.

At that time, the Haihan Militia's all-musketeer configuration and orderly combat command left a deep impression on President Zhang Qian. Moreover, the number of artillery equipped in the army was enough to impress an old military leader like Zhang Qian.

Astonishing. There are only a few old and rusty Folan cannons in the entire Yazhou City, but the Haihan people have all black and shiny self-produced cannons. Even the ships have arranged several cannons frantically. From that time on,

Mr. Zhang Qian understood very well why the Shuizhai led by Luo Shengdong fell to the side of the Haihan people.

Maliko continued slowly: "Since the formation of the Haihan Militia, we have never asked for a single copper from the Yazhou government. From weapons to military pay, from building the garrison to daily consumption, we all paid for it ourselves."

We, the Haihan Militia, come to replace the Guard Army. We don’t need you, Mr. Zhang, to pay from your pocket. We will bear all the expenses ourselves. Isn’t this sincere enough?”

"Having said that, the command of the Haihan Militia is not in the hands of our guards. How can I easily hand over this important task of city defense to outsiders?" Zhang Qianhu obviously still could not accept Maliko's suggestion. He pretended to be someone else.

It's a small matter, but if something went wrong in the city's defense and security because of this, the lives of his whole family would be in danger.

The rumor that the Haihan people with strong military strength would raise a rebel flag to attack Yazhou and establish their own country was not unheard of in Yazhou. Similar rumors had already appeared when the Yazhou Garrison Office started to organize immigrants from Yazhou. And with the arrival of Haihan

As the Han forces gradually consolidated in Victory Port, the frequency of such rumors also gradually increased. A while ago, the Haihan militia set off from Victory Port for an expedition to Vietnam. After the news reached Yazhou, it became the story that the Haihan militia sent troops to attack Yazhou.

, it also caused a small-scale chaos in Yazhou City for a while. Fortunately, the preparation work of the Yazhou Resident Office was relatively complete, and it was communicated to various yamen early. Officials like Zhang Qianhu had already received the Yazhou Resident Office.

They were notified in advance, so it didn't cause a big mess.

As for whether the Haihan people will rebel and attack Yazhou, seven out of ten local officials in Yazhou do not believe it. The reason is very simple. The Haihan people are not short of money, and can even be said to be richer than the Ming people in Yazhou.

Much richer. In the past, rebellions were mostly done because people were forced to raise the flag because of the pressure of life, or because the generals in the army already had military power. But the Haihan people are all rich men who are good at maritime trade. Where is the motive for rebellion? Besides,
To be continued...