Chapter 994 Official attitude

Luo Shengdong made his fortune by smuggling and transporting salt. In recent years, he has purchased properties in Sanya, Haikou, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and other places so that he can live there when he goes to work there. These houses are all equipped with housekeepers and servants.

Transferring Steward Wang to Guangzhou, and then replacing the local Steward Li with Sanya, is probably the most appropriate way Luo Shengdong can think of. Zhou Hengxing will just forget about it in the future, but what if one day?

He wanted to ask about the matter again, but Luo Shengdong had already dealt with it and could at least give an explanation.

Luo Shengdong was tired from traveling all the way and was a little tired after dealing with these things. After asking Butler Wang to leave, he looked through the accounts for a while and then he couldn't hold back his sleep. He went back to his room and slept until dawn.

But early in the morning, a messenger came from Fort Victory, asking him to report to the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the morning, and Ning Qi would take time to meet with him. Luo Shengdong didn't even bother to eat breakfast, and quickly asked his servants to boil water.

, prepare to seize the time to shower and change clothes and go out. Now, no more than a few years ago, it is very difficult for Luo Shengdong to meet these big shots on the Executive Committee. He also has to report the schedule first and wait for the big shots to be free in their schedules.

That's all. Moreover, the founding of the Haihan Kingdom is imminent. From now on, these important figures will have the same status as kings. It will be even more difficult to get the opportunity to meet them.

Luo Shengdong naturally cherished this opportunity to meet with the big shots of the Executive Committee on official business. Even when he was soaking in the bathtub, he was thinking about how to communicate with Ning Qi later. In addition to official business, he

Naturally, I also have some personal plans, and I want to take this opportunity to get Ning Qi's advice.

Luo Shengdong hurriedly packed up. His servants had already hired a sedan and were waiting outside the door. Luo Shengdong walked to the door and turned his head to see Butler Wang following closely behind him. He thought for a moment and said: "Today

Please don’t follow me, and leave here as early as I told you last night.”

Butler Wang didn't say anything after hearing this. He knelt down tremblingly and kowtowed, and then ordered his two servants to follow Luo Shengdong out.

When Luo Shengdong rushed outside the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there was no work here yet, so he could take a breath. It would be fine if he came earlier and waited a little longer. If he came late and asked Ning Qi to wait for him, that would be

Sinned.

Luo Shengdong waited outside for more than half an hour, and finally someone came out and told him to come in. Luo Shengdong entered the office and saw Ning Qi working hard at his desk, so he didn't dare to say anything and just stood by the door waiting.

After waiting for a long time, Ning Qi stopped what he was doing and greeted him: "General Luo is here! Sit down, sit down, why are you standing? Sit down and talk!"

Luo Shengdong responded and sat down on the chair, but he only sat on half of his buttocks. He said humbly: "I came in just now and saw that Chief Ning was busy, so I didn't dare to disturb him."

Ning Qi ordered someone to serve hot tea to Luo Shengdong, and then got to the point: "I have read the secret letter you sent yesterday, and things went well. However, I still need to ask you about some details, so today I will ask you

Come and meet me."

Luo Shengdong said: "This is a matter that falls within the scope of my duties. You should try your best to complete it."

Ning Qi was quite satisfied with Luo Shengdong's humble attitude. He nodded and asked, "When I went to Zhaoqing to interview Mr. Xiong this time, did he mention the contents of the letter to you?"

Luo Shengdong didn't know what he meant, but he still answered honestly: "Master Xiong said that day that all the masters in Haihan do not want to see another war in Lingnan. This is a good thing, but I still hope that you can be cautious about the founding of the country.

Deal with it and don't get into trouble with the Ming Dynasty and hurt the harmony that has always been there."

Ning Qi pondered: "How do you understand what Master Xiong means?"

Luo Shengdong responded hurriedly: "I have limited knowledge, how dare I discuss military and national affairs!"

"It doesn't matter, just talk according to your own ideas. It's okay if you say something wrong." Ning Qi advised: "You are originally a member of the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. You have met Master Xiong more than once, and you know more about him than we do.

, asking you how you feel is also to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

Luo Shengdong saw that Ning Qi's attitude did not seem to be hypocritical, so he replied thoughtfully: "I think what Mr. Xiong meant is that after the founding of Haihan, he would not rush to over-promote it to the outside world, especially the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty.

This matter should be slowed down."

Ning Qi nodded and said: "From Master Xiong's perspective, this matter may make him feel embarrassed."

If Haihan wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he would not be able to hide the occupation of Qiongzhou Island from the court. The Ming Dynasty's foreign policy has always been to fight for every inch of territory - although whether it can be defeated is another matter.

However, it is obviously impossible for Ming Dynasty to cut off such a large piece of land without saying a word.

Xiong Wencan, who has lived in Lingnan for a long time, naturally knows Haihan's strength relatively well. He also knows that it is difficult to take back Qiongzhou Island from Haihan by force, let alone prevent Haihan from establishing a country. The only way is to acquiesce in Haihan's actions.

But if you don't report it to the court, you can delay it for as long as you want. Logically speaking, it's impossible to hide this kind of thing from the court. Sooner or later, the news will reach the palace in the capital. With Emperor Chongzhen's style of dealing with things, it is unlikely that he will accept it from outside.

When foreigners take over their own land and establish political power, once they learn of this, in addition to holding the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi accountable, they will probably try to use force to solve the problem.

This is of course a situation Xiong Wencan doesn't want to see. Fortunately, Haihan has been operating in Guangdong and Guangxi for many years, and the officialdom has basically penetrated up and down. The matter of Haihan occupying Qiongzhou Island and establishing the country is unlikely to be reflected through official channels. If

If the official circles of Guangdong and Guangxi can unite, it is still possible to handle the matter. After all, the capital is thousands of miles away, so it is difficult to know the specific events that happened on Qiongzhou Island, and it is impossible to rely on some unconfirmed rumors.

Local officials will be investigated and prosecuted based on folk rumors. If local responsibilities really need to be investigated, officials in the major cities in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions are afraid that there will be many people accused of beheading. Killing all of them may be unjust, but killing half of them will definitely slip through the crackdown.

Such pressure will also force officials in Guangdong and Guangxi to unite to resist pressure from the imperial court.

Of course, Xiong Wencan’s efforts alone are not enough for this matter. Haihan still needs to take the initiative to cooperate. The most important thing is that Haihan should not be too high-profile and take the initiative to send people to the capital to apply for establishing diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty. In that case, even if Xiong Wencan is in Guangdong and Guangxi,

Covering the sky with one hand can't stop Haihan from acting like a monster. But Xiong Wencan can't speak too clearly in the letter to avoid being exposed, so the letter is full of polite words without much substance. After reading the letter, Ning Qi

All we could do was send Luo Shengdong back to ask for more information. Fortunately, Luo Shengdong didn't know the content of the letter, otherwise he would probably have felt that the hard work of carefully escorting the secret letter back was not worth it.

Ning Qi continued: "The founding of the country is already on the string and has to be taken action. There is no need to discuss this matter again. I don't think Mr. Xiong has expressed any objection to this. But the relationship with Ming Dynasty needs to be considered again.

.”

Luo Shengdong was surprised and said: "Chief, you need to think twice about this matter! If the imperial court knows about the situation in the south, it will be difficult to do anything good. It will only increase the loss of lives, which is not a good thing for Haihan!"

Although Luo Shengdong no longer cares about his official position in the Ming Dynasty, he does not want to see a war begin between the Ming Dynasty and Haihan. The reason is very simple. Let alone the outbreak of war, even if the two sides announce the breakdown of their relationship, his private salt business will probably

It would be difficult to maintain it. When the time comes that he loses his role as a salt merchant, Luo Shengdong is worried about whether he can still find other jobs in Haihan. After all, Haihan's employees are increasingly inclined to use the personnel they have trained.

It is difficult for people who were Ming officials to gain the trust of the Executive Committee.

An official like Luo Shengdong, who does not have much advanced culture and is not good at leading troops in war, seems unlikely to have any other good way out besides using his official position to run errands for Haihan and become a smuggler.

After engaging in this private salt trade, is it possible that he will go to Nanyang to become a human trafficker in the future? Therefore, from a personal standpoint, Luo Shengdong strongly agrees with Xiong Wencan’s approach, and strives to block the impact of the founding of Haihan among the people as much as possible, and to prevent it from rising.

to the court level.

Ning Qi said: "Don't be anxious, listen to what I have to say first. Haihan and Ming Dynasty get along well, and we have no idea of ​​invading Ming Dynasty, but as a country, we still hope to be recognized by Ming Dynasty. I also understand Mr. Xiong

What are we worried about, but regarding the issue of sovereignty over Qiongzhou Island, I think we can properly resolve it with the Ming Dynasty through consultation. I believe that the court will definitely have some demands that Haihan can satisfy in exchange."

After hearing this, Luo Shengdong didn't quite understand what Ning Qi meant. He actually didn't like the roundabout rhetoric of these officials. Both Xiong Wencan and Ning Qi were like this. They didn't say what they wanted to say directly, but always had to beat around the bush.

It was very troublesome for him to express it. He didn't dare to guess at such words. If there was any misunderstanding, he would be asking for trouble.

Ning Qi looked at his confused look and knew that what he said was probably not understood by the other party, so he asked him in a different way: "Do you know the situation in Ming Dynasty in the past two years?"

Luo Shengdong responded: "I have never missed an issue of the various newspapers published in Sanya. I have read them all carefully. In the past two years of the Ming Dynasty... it is true that there were many internal and external troubles, and it was very difficult for the court to deal with them." He

In fact, there is still one sentence that he has not said - if the Ming Dynasty had not taken care of itself, how could it have been so easy for Haihan to develop in the south without any resistance.

In 1633, peasant armies were causing chaos in Hebei, Henan, and Sichuan provinces. Governments and garrisons in various parts of the Ming Dynasty were busy chasing and interdicting these rebels. Many provinces, including Fuguang, mobilized troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression, but the results were not ideal.

During the same period, Hou Jin captured Lushun, Ming's last stronghold in Liaodong, outside the Pass. The generals leading troops for Hou Jin were Kong Youde and others who had previously crossed the sea from Denglai and defected to the Northeast.

At the beginning of 1634, the peasant army captured Kuizhou, Sichuan. After being blocked by the chieftain Qin Liangyu's army, they fought their way back to Shaanxi from Yangping Pass, a pass between Sichuan and Shaanxi. Zhang Xianzhong led his troops from Henan and Shangluo West out of Wuguan and entered

Hannan joined the peasant army returning from Sichuan, making the official army's killing operations useless again. In the coming April, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, which have not had rain for more than half a year, are about to experience large-scale famine.

, there will be another chaos that the government cannot contain. The increasingly powerful Hou Jin Army will not be idle during this year. In the second half of the year, it will invade the Xuanfu and Datong areas many times, leaving the Ming Dynasty in the north.

The military strength is even more stretched.

Ming Dynasty did not find a complete solution to the peasant army revolting at home and the Hou Jin from abroad. It could only resort to tricks and try to make ends meet. Under such circumstances, the Guangdong officialdom headed by Xiong Wencan dared to be bold.

Trying to conceal the current situation of Qiongzhou Island and Haihan, because these officials also know very well that the court currently has no way to pay too much attention to the south. Even if it knows that Haihan has some irregular actions here, it is difficult to take effective measures.

.

Regarding the international and domestic situation faced by the Ming Dynasty, there will be irregular reports in several paper media published in Sanya. These press releases are basically from the Haihan database and adapted from historical records. Although there are many in Fujian and Guangzhou

People's destiny has been changed because of the emergence of Haihan, but the impact on the mainland and the north is not obvious. History is still developing along its original trajectory, so these press releases adapted from historical facts can basically win.

Seventy-eight points, and the timeliness is much higher than the imperial newspaper.

Although Luo Shengdong is not highly educated, he still has some political sensitivity. He has subscribed to all the official print media in Sanya. What he pays most attention to is the domestic news of the Ming Dynasty and the various publications launched by Haihan.

The New Deal, and Haihan's press releases often commented on the wars that took place in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, the angle was mostly critical, so as to highlight the stability and prosperity under Haihan's rule. Therefore, Luo Shengdong also has some opinions on the situation in the Ming Dynasty in the past two years.

Have a clearer understanding and understanding.

Ning Qi nodded and continued: "The current situation in Ming Dynasty is like a house on fire. It is difficult to put out the fire by just relying on your own strength. Someone has to help pass the water basin to put out the fire."

Luo Shengdong came to his senses now: "What Chief Ning means is... Haihan provides... military assistance to Ming Dynasty?"

Ning Qi smiled and responded: "Do you think this is feasible?"

Regarding Haihan's military assistance to the Ming Dynasty, Luo Shengdong is actually not unfamiliar with it. From Haihan sending troops to Panyu County, Guangzhou to suppress bandits, to later assisting the Fujian military against Shibazhi, the number of times Haihan provided military assistance to the Ming Dynasty

And the scale has been increasing year by year. And even most of Haihan's existing territory was taken from the Ming Dynasty using this high-sounding excuse. I think when Haihan sent troops into Qiongbei, it was with the intention of suppressing

The slogan of the bandits - of course, Luo Shengdong still had some idea of ​​the origins of the pirates who suddenly invaded Qiongbei and became overwhelming.
Chapter completed!