Chapter 522 Lobbyist

It only took half a month from the time Wang Zunde ordered to inform Haihan to dispatch troops until the situation reversed and the militia army repelled the pirates and recovered the lost city on Qiongzhou Island. However, for Wang Zunde, who had been waiting hard for the news, every day was like sitting on pins and needles.

.If Qiongzhou Island is really captured by a group of pirates - even if it is only half of the island, Wang Zunde will not be able to shirk his responsibilities as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. When the time comes, it will be light to resign, and he may even be demoted and punished.

The militia's ability to regain lost ground in such a short period of time undoubtedly exceeded Wang Zunde's expectations. He originally only expected the Haihan people to assist in the defense of Fucheng until the mainland side completed the mobilization of troops and rushed to reinforce it. However,

The build-up of troops in the mainland was not so smooth. As of two days ago, only 70% of the troops ordered by Wang Zunde to be mobilized were in place. The number of troops was less than 10,000, and only 50% of the required army supplies were in place.

With such preparations, Wang Zunde would not dare to order the army to go to Qiongzhou Island. The city there has been lost and the garrison has been dispersed. If reinforcements from the mainland are accidentally included, it will be difficult to report to the court again.

Hiding the truth.

Wang Zunde was so excited that he couldn't help but stand up and said: "First send someone to Qiongzhou Island to verify whether the results of the battle are true... Wait a minute, don't the Haihan people have the ability to send messages across thousands of miles? Let them notify the Qiongzhou government and quickly tally the results and report them

!”

"Your Excellency..." Liu Qian said cautiously: "The Haihan people also have some suggestions, I hope your Excellency can adopt them."

"Tell me, but asking for an official position? After the results of the war are counted, I will write to the court and ask for credit. I dare not say it if it is too big. I can still do it by sealing a few thousand households." Wang Zunde twisted.

Beard, said unhurriedly.

Qiongzhou Island has been in such chaos that the garrison has been dispersed. However, in the post-war reckoning, there must be military generals who will take the blame. At that time, a few thousand households will be freed up to accommodate the military leaders of the Haihan people.

, is also a matter of cleanup. Anyway, there are not a few civilian armed forces who have been randomly conferred on Qiongzhou Island in the past two hundred years during the Ming Dynasty. Almost every larger Li-Miao village has hereditary official positions, and the court will grant a few more titles to them.

The Haihan people will not be missing a piece of meat - maybe they will have an additional armed force that can be utilized.

Liu Qian had to remind him again: "Sir, those Haihan people... are not interested in official positions in our dynasty."

"Well..." Being reminded by Liu Qian, Wang Zunde also remembered that the Haihan people had declined the canonization from the Guangdong government a year ago. If they had planned to ask for an official to do it, they would have relented at that time and would not wait until now.

when.

Wang Zunde pondered: "Is it because the cost of this battle is too high and they want to ask the court for some compensation? If they have this idea, they can take care of it in terms of trade in the future."

The most that Wang Zunde can do is to reduce the various taxes that Haihan needs to pay to the government in the future, and to provide some economic subsidies in disguise. As for letting the government take money from the official treasury to support the civilian armed forces

, that is definitely impossible.

Liu Qian hesitated and said: "In fact, the Haihan people don't care about money matters. This time, my lord ordered to mobilize troops and raise supplies in the province, and the Haihan people also donated 5,000 taels of silver. I think the Haihan people did not spend money." Don’t be stingy, their requests have nothing to do with money.”

"Then what do they want?" Wang Zunde was a little puzzled when he heard this. Firstly, they don't want an official position, and secondly, they don't want money. Aren't these Haihan people always known for their shrewdness, so why did they suddenly change their ways?

Liu Qian responded: "The Haihan people said that although they had recaptured several cities in these days, because the bandits were far more powerful than the militia, there were still many rogue bandits fleeing in the countryside, and the garrisons in Qiongzhou counties had been dispersed, so it was difficult to do anything for a while. .In addition, there are a large number of wounded soldiers in the Haihan Militia who need nearby medical treatment and recuperation, so the Haihan people applied to be able to garrison troops in various cities where banditry was encountered to deal with the aftermath."

Wang Zunde thought for a while and felt that this was a reasonable request, so he nodded and said: "This is feasible, but they cannot station more than 200 troops in each city. The remaining personnel can be stationed outside the city to avoid unnecessary complications."

Liu Qian responded and continued: "The Haihan people have another request, which is for your Excellency to issue a notice in the name of the imperial court so that the local militia can have the authority to deal with the remnants of pirates and spies, and to act as an agent for local government affairs."

"Are there many pirate spies?" Wang Zunde did not rush to express his attitude, but asked a question first.

Liu Qian replied: "According to reports from the Haihan people, more than 200 people were arrested in Fucheng alone. If they hadn't arrived in time, they might have taken advantage of the loophole and opened the city gate to let the thieves into the city!"

"The thieves are so rampant!" Wang Zunde couldn't help but sigh.

"It is said that the government offices in Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai and other places have been destroyed in the war. Huang Zhizhou of Danzhou committed suicide when the city was destroyed, and officials in Lingao, Chengmai and other places also died. They were all kidnapped by bandits and their whereabouts are currently unknown. The government and military affairs in these places are currently managed by the Haihan people. As for the specific official vacancies, it is estimated that it will take some time to report the detailed results." Liu Qian said according to The Haihan people prepared words for him and persuaded Wang Zunde step by step.

This time when the Haihan people sent a report on the war situation, they didn't come empty-handed. Liu Qian added two thousand taels of silver to Haihan's bank account out of thin air, on the condition that he persuade Wang Zunde to agree to what Haihan proposed next. Some conditions. Although Liu Qian had noticed the Haihan people's unscrupulous attempt to pay for him to be a lobbyist, he had already received thousands of taels of silver, and the Haihan people promised that there would be a lot of money in the future. Liu Qian really resisted. No such temptation.

What's more, the Haihan people also gave him a way out. If Wang Zunde was angry with him in the future because of what happened before, Haihan would save his whole family and go to Qiongzhou Island to accept Haihan's asylum.

Liu Qian can still count the number of people in Guangdong who have accepted Haihan's protection now, and they are all well-known and wealthy families in the province. And Haihan's protection is not just a lip service. At the beginning, Lijiazhuang in Panyu was besieged by the rogue bandits. , even the official army did not dare to send troops to rescue. In the end, the Haihan people sent troops to rescue the siege. The reason was that the Li family had long been included under the protection of Haihan. After that, the protection of the Haihan people was like a spell, attracting Many wealthy families who lacked a sense of security joined Haihan's trade network.

With both money to take and a way out, Liu Qian really couldn't find a reason to reject the Haihan people. So he accepted the money and acted as a lobbyist again.

Originally, Liu Qian thought that Haihan's wording might not have much effect, but He Xi told him that the key was that the information held by both parties was completely unequal. Now everything on Qiongzhou Island is under Haihan's control.

The only source of information available to the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is Haihan. All official information channels between Qiongzhou Island and the mainland have been blocked by Haihan. It will be necessary to wait until private channels slowly spread the situation on Qiongzhou Island to the mainland.

Here, it will be at least a month or two later, and this period of time is enough for Haihan to complete his plan.

In other words, the information that Wang Zunde can learn now is only what Haihan wants him to know, and the decision he can make based on this information will be difficult to escape from the direction that is beneficial to Haihan. At best, it is only beneficial.

The degree is just different.

After Liu Qian said this, Wang Zunde was indeed very anxious: "If there is no one in the local government to take charge of government affairs, it is absolutely impossible. You quickly draw up the documents and ask the city to send personnel to the counties to handle it temporarily. Haihan

Someone can be sent to assist. In addition, let the Haihan people quickly count the casualties of officials, so that they can quickly report to the court and allocate manpower to make up for the shortfall."

He Xi couldn't help laughing after reading the official document issued by the Governor's Mansion: "This is much smoother than what we originally planned! Wang Zunde didn't have any suspicion at all, and he was still urging us to get things done quickly!"

Malik, who was sitting next to him, responded: "Wang Zunde can't help it. This is probably the only thing he can do now. If he wants to know the truth, he has to go to Qiongzhou Island to see it in person. If he really dares to go, then we

Just take over Guangdong as well!"

"There is no way to govern it if it is occupied." He Xi smiled and shook his head and said: "In the area occupied this time, the county seat has a leadership team of at least three people, the prefecture city has more than five people, and Qiu Yuan brought a working group to the prefectural city.

It is said that he has overall control over the construction planning of the entire Qiongbei area. In this breath, dozens of people were separated from the base camp, and it was just a Qiongzhou Island. If Guangdong is to be occupied, it is estimated that many places can only be left to Mingren to take care of.

, can the executive committee let go of this?"

"What you said makes sense." Maliko nodded and agreed with He Xi's view: "Although we have trained a lot of naturalized civilian cadres, most of them can only act according to the rules, and there are still too few people who can stand alone.

Last time I went back to Sanya for a meeting, Mr. Tao and I also discussed this issue of cadre reserve. He believed that it would take at least two to three years to consolidate our rule on Qiongzhou Island and complete the reserve of grassroots naturalized cadres before we can continue.

Expand outward.”

"It's good to be able to complete these steps in two or three years." He Xi calculated: "After conquering Qiongbei, how to turn all the more than 200,000 people on the island into naturalized citizens will be a headache for the Executive Committee

It’s a matter of course. It’s difficult to say it’s difficult, but it’s not easy to say it’s simple either. It’s definitely not something that can be completed in a short time.”

"It's not our turn to have a headache for the time being. Let's take care of the things at hand first. Send a telegram to the base camp and tell them the news." Maliko stood up and said, "At this time, I also have to go out for some fun.

Already."

Malico's so-called release was also part of the follow-up plan. Such a big thing happened in Qiongzhou Island. Several states and counties were invaded, the local government was destroyed, and a large number of officials were missing. Guangdong officials will definitely not sit back and watch this situation.

When the situation calms down, Guangdong will definitely select a group of officials to fill the vacant positions on Qiongzhou Island. And who will be sent will definitely have a direct impact on Haihan's rule on Qiongzhou Island. Therefore, the Guangdong station will

The Office will not sit back and let the opportunity slip by, but will take the initiative. Malik will come forward to ventilate some selected large households, so that the officials behind them can take action early and seize the opportunity.

The people selected by the Guangdong Office in advance are naturally vested interests closely related to Haihan's interests. Even if these people are transferred to Qiongzhou Island to fill vacancies in the imperial staff, Haihan will not be able to control them if they want to.

It's easier.

And just as He Xi had expected, the base camp did not feel much relieved after receiving the telegram from the General Office of the People's Republic of China. Instead, the Executive Committee held meetings for two consecutive nights to discuss the next strategy in the Qiongbei area.

.

In fact, the general direction has been determined long before the operation, which is nothing more than to control the military and political power and gradually absorb the local people into the Haihan system. Of course, these tasks were already in progress before the attack on Qiongbei, and now they are just making the methods behind the scenes public.

ization to speed up the promotion of the Haihan system.

But even if the big goals are the same, there will still be a lot of differences. For example, whether the cities in Qiongbei should maintain the existing social system or immediately start promoting Haihan's system locally, there are still differences.

opinions exist.

Those in favor believe that we should strike while the iron is hot and complete the local power transfer as soon as possible while the people's hearts are turning towards Haihan, so that the people can begin to adapt to Haihan's social system as soon as possible. Opponents believe that too hasty operation methods will make the people feel

Uneasiness may even arouse civil unrest - especially considering that there are a large number of landlords in the Qiongbei area. If you rashly implement the Haihan public land ownership system there, you will definitely encounter great pressure. Although there are Haihan people

The regiment's troops were stationed in the north and could easily deal with ordinary landowners' armed forces, but the Executive Committee was unwilling to engage in large-scale armed suppression in the areas it had already gained control of.

After final discussion, the promotion of the system in Qiongbei still needs to be carried out in two steps. First, build Haihan's civil affairs management agencies in various cities to achieve actual control of the local area and eliminate those who are obviously hostile to Haihan.

Stabilize people and forces. The second step is to implement Haihan's social system, economic and financial system, etc. locally. As for the land issue that is of concern to everyone, the Executive Committee believes that it is not advisable to forcibly promote it immediately, at least until

After Haihan's rule in the Qiongbei region was stabilized, he made further plans. Considering the actual situation that may arise during the transfer of power, the buffer period was tentatively set to half a year.

The military's view of this is that this is a compromise between the radicals and the moderates in the Executive Committee. However, as a natural member of the radicals, the military breathed a rare sigh of relief this time - this buffer period should be able to

Save them a lot of trouble.
Chapter completed!