Surrounded by everyone, Zhang Ping took an ox cart to Jinjiang County. The county town was very close to the dock, only two miles away. The ox cart moved very slowly, and Zhang Ping happened to observe the situation on the dock.
The dock was very lively, full of workers and piled goods, and oxen carts carrying goods to the warehouse.
The warehouse area is only a few hundred steps away from the pier. It covers a large area and is mainly composed of three parts. One part is the official warehouse, which takes up half of the area. There are twenty or thirty large warehouses of various types, surrounded by fences and private buildings next to them.
There are hundreds of warehouses, large and small. The size, appearance and color of the houses are not uniform, and they appear messy. The floors are not very clean, and garbage can be seen everywhere.
But the official warehouse seemed very quiet, there was no shipping or unloading, and there were no workers. The door was locked, but the private warehouse was extremely busy, with large and small oxcarts flowing continuously, and it seemed full of vitality.
On the other side of the private warehouse is the commercial area, with restaurants, inns, and brothels in abundance, and business is booming. Many crew members just docked and went straight to the brothels.
"That's the official warehouse!"
Zhang Ping asked, pointing to the warehouse area surrounded by camp fences in the distance.
Zhao Xin nodded, "Yes, it's the official warehouse!"
"Why is it so deserted and the door is locked?" Zhang Ping asked with a frown.
"You don't know that Quanzhou is rich in three kinds of materials, one is tea cakes, one is porcelain, and one is cotton. The warehouse also stores these three things. About every three months or so, the imperial ship will arrive to transport the materials.
Go, so it is usually put into the warehouse sporadically, and then taken out of the warehouse once every three months."
"What does it mean to go out of the library and sell it to the court?" Zhang Ping asked.
"No, it counts as Quanzhou's tax. We use these three materials to pay the tax, not food and money."
Zhang Ping nodded, "Won't the extra supplies be traded?"
Zhao Xinxin laughed and said: "There won't be any extra supplies. The imperial court will transport as many as they have. We don't dare to hide them secretly. Once discovered by the imperial court, we will be dismissed from our posts."
Zhang Ping said calmly: "After I came, the rules were broken. Quanzhou no longer needs to hand over any materials to the court. Our government wants to do trade and establish an official trading house. Not only sells Quanzhou's specialties, but also goes to Nanyang for overseas trade. In this regard
I have experience, and I will make arrangements after I understand the situation."
Zhao Xin quickly agreed. At this time, the county magistrate Luo Fangzhen asked cautiously: "Just now, the envoy said that he had three missions in Quanzhou, but he only mentioned two. I wonder what the other one is?"
Zhang Ping smiled and said: "You are all Quanzhou officials. There is a big island across the sea, you know!"
Everyone nodded, and Luo Fang said calmly: "The envoy is talking about the big island of Ryukyu, where the natives live. Every once in a while, they come by boat to sell dried fish, and then buy some daily necessities back home. They get along well with each other.
, the locals do not discriminate against them. Sometimes fishermen go directly to the island to buy their seafood, mainly precious shells and sea pearls, and sell them back to mainland businessmen, where they can make a lot of money."
"Can language communicate?"
Luo Fangzhen smiled and said: "I couldn't understand their language at first, but after getting along for decades, they slowly learned it. Now they don't even speak our own dialect, and they have begun to change it."
If you speak our Quanzhou dialect, there will be no problem in communication."
"Isn't the Quanzhou dialect Chinese?" Zhang Ping asked in confusion.
Luo Fangzhen shook his head, "Originally there were not many Han people here. Later, during the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of northern Han people fled and settled here. The government classified them as guests. Over the past few hundred years, after the fusion of Chinese and local dialects,
, formed the Quanzhou dialect, which is a bit like Chinese, but not the same. For example, the humble position means that I am a Hakka. I speak Hakka at home and Chinese Mandarin in the government!"
Luo Fangzhen said a few words in Hakka, and Zhang Ping laughed, "It's a bit like ancient proverbs!"
"That's right, it's the pronunciation of the Jiangnan area during the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then mixed with some local dialect pronunciation to form the current Hakka language. Zhang Shijun can use translation at the beginning, and he will understand it once he gets used to it."
Zhang Ping thought of an important question, "Are there any Hakkas on Ryukyu Island?"
"Yes! There are at least a dozen fishing villages where you don't have to pay taxes to the government. We all acquiesce."
While they were talking, several ox carts entered the county town. After all, the county town is the capital of the state and is not small. The circumference of the city is at least thirty miles. There are hundreds of thousands of people living there and the business is very prosperous.
The attire of pedestrians on the road is similar to that of the Central Plains. It is difficult to tell who is Han, who is Hakka, and who is local native. Their skin is generally darker. Regardless of men, women, old or young, they all like to wear a bamboo hat, mainly to protect themselves from the sun.
When he arrived at the state government, Zhang Ping asked Sima Lin Jingnan to arrange for his five hundred soldiers to live in the military camp. There were also three hundred state soldiers in Quanzhou. They were all local sons and were mainly responsible for guarding the city gates and maintaining public order. Of course, they could not compete with the five hundred soldiers Zhang Ping brought.
Compared to elite soldiers.
In the prefectural government office, Chief Shi Zhao Xin held a small installation ceremony for Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping received the governor's seal and officially became the first Quanzhou governor appointed by the Qi Palace.
In the next one or two months, Zhang Ping mainly focused on getting familiar with the situation in Quanzhou, setting up a trading company, recruiting guides and sailors, and preparing for his first overseas trade.
Chang'an Chongrenfang, since the imperial court moved to Luoyang, many Jinzou courtyards have become empty. At the same time, they have been replaced by Longyou, Hexi, Shuofang, Bashu, Guannei and other states, becoming the Jinzou courtyards of various states under the jurisdiction of the Qi Palace.
Of course, it cannot be called Jinzouyuan. The name Jinzouyuan is a bit arrogant. Instead, it is called Government Affairs Liaison Yuan, or Liaison Yuan for short, which is actually the same thing.
As the saying goes, the iron camp and the flowing soldiers will not move when entering the memorial hall, but the owners inside are constantly changing.
The Hanlin Restaurant near Jinzouyuan has also quietly changed its owner. The new shopkeeper is Chen Si'an, who is from Yuancheng County, Hebei Province. Yes, his other identity is the director of the Weibo Jiedu Mansion's Chang'an Intelligence Station, led by Tian Chengsi's eldest son.
Wei Tong.
A very secret organization, even Wei Jizhong didn't know of its existence.
Chen Si'an is not here to collect confidential information about Chang'an. He is now mainly collecting public information, such as population, prices, major events, people's recognition of King Qi, etc. Therefore, opening a restaurant is the best way to start chatting among the drinkers.
You can get a lot of information.
That afternoon, several soldiers walked in outside the restaurant. Chen Sian immediately recognized their uniforms as internal guard soldiers, and he suddenly became nervous.
The head brigade commander knocked on the cupboard and asked, "Who is the shopkeeper?"
Chen Sian came over quickly and said, "Young man, Chen Sian, is the shopkeeper of our store."
"Where's your proprietor?"
“The proprietor is in Luoyang!”
The brigade commander nodded and said, "You are new here, right?"
"Exactly!"
The brigade commander asked coldly: "When you are new to opening a store, you need to register with the internal security department. Have you done it?"
"This restaurant is rented and is not our property. We don't know that we have to go to the internal security department to register."
As he spoke, Chen Sian quietly handed the brigade commander a few pieces of silver, about three taels, "We are new here and don't know anything about it, please forgive me, military master!"
The brigade commander's face softened, and he nodded and said: "According to the internal security order, all newly opened shops in Chang'an must go to the internal security office for registration. They must clearly state where they are from, the background of the proprietor, what they do for a living, how many clerks there are, etc.
Wait, it’s very simple. This is a rule, not against you. I’m here to remind you to hurry up and register. It must be completed before dark tomorrow.”
"Thank you, Master Jun, for reminding me, I will go and register it today!"
The brigade commander reminded again: "The internal guard office is in Yongjiafang. You can see it as soon as you enter the gate."
"Thank you! Thank you!"
The brigade commander waved his hand and left with a few of his men.
Chen Sian was secretly surprised. How could these internal guards know that he was a newcomer? Could it be that a drunkard reported it?