Chapter 504 Qiongzhou Fucheng

All joking aside, the work that needs to be done must still be done. As a representative sent by the military, Wang Tom is not only responsible for inspecting sea conditions, waterways, ports, etc. along the way, but also making professional military assessments of the target areas and making relevant recommendations.

Provide action suggestions for possible military means. In other words, even if the army was ultimately responsible for conquering Danzhou by force, the preparatory work for the inspection would still have to be completed by Wang Tom.

Even though there is internal competition between the navy and the army, and the opponents are as weak as chickens, but the military orders are as strong as mountains, Wang Tom will not treat the reconnaissance mission as a child's play, and will still operate according to strict operational procedures. A group of people entered Danzhou

In the city, after a simple meal at the garrison office, Wang Tom took a few people with him, and asked Zhang Xin to send two reliable naturalized citizens to lead the way, and went out to check the city defense situation. And He Xi went to visit with Zhang Xin

Some leading figures in local officialdom and cultural circles.

That night, the two groups returned to the garrison office to summarize the information collected during the day.

"The situation of the city defense is basically consistent with our expectations and the information previously reported by the garrison office. The garrison here can only be said to be slightly stronger than Yacheng, but it will not cause big trouble to the militia." Wang Tom said at the table.

He spread out a hand-drawn map and explained to the two of them: "The Danzhou garrison has a total of four lookout posts along the Danzhou Bay. This is also the official's only early warning method in areas outside the city. This is easy for us to solve.

But if we advance into the city after seizing the city gate, it will be a little troublesome."

"Is it because of the buildings in the city?" He Xi looked at the hand-drawn map and found that in addition to the two main roads in the east and west, and the north and south, this small city had many winding alleys.

"It's not just a matter of architecture." Wang Tom shook his head and said, "I walked around the city a few times today and noticed that there are too many academies in the city, at least a dozen! If the defenders resist,

If we are forced to attack with heavy firepower, the academy will definitely be affected."

"The overall situation is the most important thing during the war. When I was in Hue City, I heard that you used artillery fire to forcibly tear out a road." He Xi joked.

"The situation in Hue was different at that time! Everyone in that city can be regarded as enemies, and they are not Han people, so we don't need to feel bad about how many people die. After Danzhou City is captured, they will all be ours, not to mention the scholars in this place.

If it affects the reputation of Haihan, it will be a big deal." Wang Tom explained. He is not a mother-in-law person, but when he went out today and saw the entire street of academies and many scholars, he also

I still have doubts about the previous idea of ​​pushing back by force.

"In a war, people always die..." He Xi said something that felt wrong: "Which one of us is from the military? I came here to investigate the possibility of peacefully conquering Danzhou. Why do I feel like I am now the one who belongs to the military?"

The main war faction?"

"Then let's talk about your gains first." Wang Tom also stopped talking at the right time.

"In a word, they are all guys who are greedy for money!" He Xi's expression was very disdainful: "I met several deans of academies and heard that I am a cadre who came from Sanya. Most of them are busy.

Ask me if there are any new sponsorship projects for the cultural circles in Danzhou this year."

"Oh? Then how did you reply?" Wang Tom asked with interest.

"I'm not Ning Qi, so how can I set up flags for him outside?" He Xi shook his head and said, "I can't get involved in the affairs of their cultural and educational system."

At that time, He Xi really wanted to think about holding an "I Love Haihan" essay contest this year. At worst, I would personally use the money to hand out the prizes, but I thought about how this thing might stimulate the local literati's self-esteem and patriotism.

Enthusiasm, the effect was counterproductive, and in the end I gave up this unrealistic idea.

"What's the attitude of the people in the government?" Wang Tom thought that what He Xi said made sense, so he turned to ask about the official situation.

"None of them came forward directly. They were all the aides of the faction, masters and the like." When talking about this topic, the expression on He Xi's face became a little gloomy: "It seems that the past two years have really made these local officials more and more interested.

The older you get, the more things are said, the more money you say, the more you open your mouth! You don’t have to worry about taking the money and not spending it!"

Zhang Xin responded at this time: "Mr. He, the funds used to bribe local officials every year have been approved by the Executive Committee."

He Xi waved her hands and said: "I am not saying this to blame the Danzhou Office for not getting things done. The Security Department also has ledgers for the money spent in Danzhou officialdom. Don't worry too much. Danzhou is here

The officials who serve as assistants are more arrogant than the officials in Guangzhou. When we take Danzhou, I really want to see what these people will look like!"

"If you want money rather than your life, then we have to negotiate!" Wang Tom, however, was not as resentful as He Xi: "Since we want money, we can negotiate the price of everything and let them surrender to Kaicheng then.

Maybe we can talk about it."

Hearing this, He Xi's face relaxed a little: "It's probably a bit difficult to surrender directly to the city. After all, these officials still need a reputation. But if possible, let them give up resistance, or just pretend to do it when the time comes.

Surrender, that is possible."

He Xi and Wang Tom only stayed in Danzhou for two days, then returned to the seaside, boarded a ship and left the port, continuing north, bypassing the northwest corner of Hainan Island, then turning east and sailing directly to Qiongzhou Fucheng. Although there are still coastal areas along this coast

Gao and Chengmai counties, but according to the information they have, the city defenses in these two counties can only be described as rudimentary, which is not enough to hinder Haihan's plan, so He Xi and Wang Tom decided to go straight to the topic.

, and went directly to Qiongzhou Fucheng.

Qiongzhou Fucheng was built in the fifth year of Kaibao in the Northern Song Dynasty. It has a history of more than 600 years. It was from that time that the administrative seat of Qiongzhou Island was changed from Yazhou to this new city. However, it was not until the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty that Qiongzhou City was built.

, Sun An, the Minister of War, led his troops to Qiongzhou Island, and Qiongzhou was upgraded to a prefecture. This prefectural city would rule the entire island.

In order to meet the status of a government seat, the city once again underwent expansion projects, and the construction period lasted nine years. After completion, the city wall of Qiongzhou Fucheng reached 1,253 feet, with a height of 2.7 feet and a thickness of 2.8 feet.

There are 1843 battlements built on it, and there are three city gates in the southeast and west, namely Chaoyang Gate, Jingnan Gate and Hue Gate. Although there is no city gate in the north, there is a sea-viewing tower built on the city wall to assist defense. To Hongwu

In the 17th year, Hainan Guard Commander Sang Zhao led another expansion project and built an earth city with a circumference of 380 feet as a sub-city outside the west gate. This basically announced that the city building project of Qiongzhou City had come to an end.

There is a moat outside the city, and foreign ships can sail from the waterway of the Nandu River to the city.

Qiongzhou Fucheng is the largest city on Qiongzhou Island. In terms of city defense facilities alone, Qiongzhou Fucheng is much stronger than the Danzhou they inspected previously. After all, this place is the political and military center of the entire Qiongzhou Island, and the strength of the defense is It is definitely much stricter than other small border towns.

When they arrived at the capital of Qiongzhou, the two of them no longer behaved as arrogantly as in Danzhou. After listening to the briefings from the staff in the Fucheng office, the two of them each spent a few days in the city to conduct on-site inspections.

The situation in Qiongzhou Fucheng is much more complicated than that of the cities Haihan had previously infiltrated, mainly because the population here is much larger than other places on the island. The population in the city plus the surrounding areas is almost the same as the other cities on the island combined. The total population. He Xi had been here two years ago, but this time he returned to his old place, and he could still feel that this city had undergone some significant changes.

You can see a lot of daily necessities made by Haihan on the market, from high-end glass mirrors to cheap soaps and matches. As long as they are sold in Sanya, you can find basically everything here - of course the price is at least one or two times higher than in Sanya. That's twice as bad. When the public saw him dressed in a Chinese attire, they no longer watched as curiously as they did two years ago. Occasionally, one or two children would come over to follow him, but they would soon be scolded and dragged away by their parents: " What are you looking at? Have you never seen Mr. Haihan?"

Encountering such a situation, He Xi was a bit dumbfounded. There were actually only two or three travelers in the Haihan office in Fucheng, but there were more than 30 people under the office, and these people were basically naturalized citizens. , many of them were determined to follow Haihan and chose to show their loyalty by shaving their heads and dressing up. As long as they entered the Haihan system for a little longer, their temperament and mental outlook would naturally match those of Ming Dynasty. There are differences among ordinary people, and these people can't tell which are real Haihan people and which are just naturalized people. But to them, Haihan people are nothing new and they can be seen on the streets almost every day. There are only a few, so there is absolutely no need to watch around.

Haihan has not opened any retail stores in Fucheng. This is also a very significant feature of Haihan's commercial system at this stage of its external operation - most of the products are sold through dealers and agents to establish sales channels, so that Businessmen in the Ming Dynasty were able to get a share of Haihan's industrialized production methods. The existence of these Ming agents also cleared the last obstacle for Haihan products to enter the Ming market. They could even become executive members under certain conditions. Will have a usable force in hand.

For example, although the official staff of the office in Fucheng is less than forty, the entire Fucheng of Qiongzhou accepts Haihan's employment, runs errands for Haihan, and has direct stakeholders, at least two to three thousand people. These people are in The proportion of the tens of thousands of people in Fucheng may seem small, but what cannot be ignored are the hidden indirect related parties behind them.

For example, the local distribution rights of Haihan Private Salt are in the hands of the brother-in-law of the Hainan Guard Commander. This business can bring an income of at least 5,000 taels of silver to his family every year; and the local distribution rights of Haihan Glass Stationery The person who sells the sales channel is the nephew of the prefect. This business can really be said to be making money while staying at home. There are at least a dozen other related households like this, covering almost all the Haihans. These vested interests do not resent the local operation of the Haihan business system in Fucheng. On the contrary, they look forward to the regular launch of new products in Sanya so that their stores can have new hype. point.

There are not many stores operated by Haihan itself, the core of which is Haihan Bank. As the main sales market on Qiongzhou Island, the Ministry of Finance also opened a branch in Qiongzhou Fucheng. In the early days, it was mainly used to settle bills between Sanya and Qiongzhou Fucheng.

Payment for goods is convenient for those maritime merchants who specialize in going back and forth between the two places. However, with the gradual expansion of the scope of banking business, the current business of banks is not limited to settling payments for merchants. Bank notes with fixed face values ​​have begun to be printed.

gradually circulated in the market.

The fixed-amount banknotes currently issued by Haihan Bank in Qiongzhou Fucheng are the same as those issued locally by the Guangzhou branch. They are divided into three denominations: ten, fifty, and one hundred. They are anonymous and cannot be reported as lost. They can be exchanged at Haihan Bank at any time.

Equivalent cash. This type of small-denomination banknote has been generally praised by the business community after its introduction. Even those who were initially suspicious were invited to the underground vault of the bank to see what was stored there after their identity was verified.

After receiving 100,000 taels of treasury silver, most of the original doubts were dispelled. According to data provided by Haihan Bank, the proportion of Qiongzhou business circles using Haihan banknotes as a means of payment has reached nearly 50%.

However, the government was not at all wary of Haihan Bank's practice of quietly controlling the lifeline of the local economy - for officials, it was a waste of money to leave the money collected through various channels outside the city.

It is far better to have the Haihan militiamen guarding the bank with live ammunition than to dig a big hole in their back garden and bury it in the ground, and then worry about it every night. Anyway, when you need money, just send a message to the Haihan people.

Just hand the bank check to them, and the bank's bank car will transport the full amount of cash to the designated place for delivery within half an hour.

After more than two years of operation, the relevant departments have been able to skillfully use business channels to pave the way for other penetration work. Combining the promotion of politics, culture, economics and trade and other fields, this entire set of operation systems can have an impact.

, is much stronger than a simple trade relationship. Haihan’s lifestyle, values, cultural concepts, etc., have been continuously penetrating into the lives of every resident in Fucheng through this system.

The only problem is probably that it is a little far away from Sanya, so it is unlikely that Haihan could be quickly assimilated by Haihan in just two or three years like Yacheng, and then bypass the local government and achieve de facto annexation. In fact, Haihan is in

The entire expansion trend on Hainan Island also shows differences in the degree of progress with changes in geographical distance. The closer the distance, the higher the degree of Haihan's control. The further the distance, the more limited Haihan's local influence.

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Chapter completed!