Xi Yazhou nodded. The mayor was actually on board. But he deliberately didn't say anything. Hearing that Cao Qing had a Shandong accent, he asked again, "Are you from Shandong?"
"Yes!" Cao Qing probably didn't expect that such a high-level officer would ask about his situation - in the Ming Dynasty, the leader in front of him was at least a general soldier, "Little... I, I was in Dengzhou Town in the Ming Dynasty
I joined the army and won the Song Dynasty the year before last."
"Not bad, I became a second lieutenant in just over a year." Xi Yazhou knew that to be a squadron leader of the National Army in Foshan, he must be a top student in military training.
"It's all cultivated by the chief!" Cao Qing stood at attention.
Cao Qing followed Huang Ande to Lingao and entered the factory after coming out of the purification camp. He had no skills and was not a person who didn't like to learn. Although he barely got a C-level diploma, he couldn't learn the skills at all. In the end, he had to work in
Work as a laborer in the factory.
He, a son of a military family, was used to being a soldier and was not used to working as a worker, so he joined the army as a soldier. He served as a soldier for one year. When the Guangdong and Guangxi strategy came and the army expanded, he joined the army as a one-year soldier.
I went to sergeant training class and became a corporal.
Later, he was transferred to the National Army during the expansion of the National Army. After the assault training, he was awarded the rank of Second Lieutenant of the National Army with the rank of corporal of the regular army and became the squadron leader of the Foshan Squadron.
"How is the security situation here?" Xi Yazhou asked seemingly casually.
This vaguely means testing his ability. Since the mayor has not arrived yet, he, the squadron leader of the National Army, is the first leader of Foshan.
At present, neither Guangzhou City nor the lower counties and towns have established political organs. As a garrison, the National Army Squadron is responsible for multiple tasks of the government, police and garrison, and has considerable requirements for the capabilities of its chief officers.
Foshan is not a small place, but a planned logistics base. He cannot let an incompetent person command the garrison.
"Let's just say that the wharf and the town are pretty quiet. It won't be good outside the town." Cao Qing shook his head, "Our army has just arrived, and people in the surrounding area are unstable. Many rural gangsters took the opportunity to come out to commit robberies. There were still people there a few days ago.
They robbed ships at the pier. The people were very scared, and the shops only opened their doors for an hour or two every day."
"Are the workshops everywhere still open?" This is what Xi Yazhou is most concerned about.
"Report to Comrade Commander: The furnace for smelting copper and iron has not been turned off, but it has not been turned on for many days." Cao Qing said that the workshop owners are now hiding at home and do not go out easily, for fear of being attacked by the "Big Sky Er" from all over the country.
"They kidnapped people. The craftsmen had difficulty making a living because they had no work to do. Nowadays, major households raise funds to buy grain and supply it to the unemployed craftsmen on a daily basis, so there are no riots.
Xi Yazhou asked him a few more questions about the basic situation of the local area and the defense situation of the National Army in the area. He listened to what he said in a very orderly manner and felt quite satisfied.
"I didn't expect you, a Shandong native, to know the local situation quite well."
"Comrade Commander, there is a local Comrade Lin who is now serving as the town liaison officer. He has helped me a lot in my work here."
"Oh? Comrade Lin?" Xi Yazhou thought about the general "Leading Party". Naturalized citizens would not use "comrade" to address them - they can completely distinguish between internal and external relations. They would never use this symbol as "comrade"
The title "one of our own" can be casually added with the title "leading party".
Could it be an "underground party"? Xi Yazhou didn't know much about the work of the Foreign Intelligence Service, but he knew that they had an extensive intelligence network in Guangdong, especially in the Pearl River Delta region.
"Take me to meet him."
"He is in our headquarters. I will take you there right away."
Xi Yazhou took a look at the defense facilities here. Although Foshan Town is prosperous in commerce, it has no city wall and is only surrounded by a wooden fence. The town is surrounded by rivers. As long as there is no chaos, this defense is enough.
The place where the Octopus is parked is the wharf on the Fenjiang River in the north of the town. Originally, the first developed area in Foshan was the Zhaxia area in the south. However, after the Ming Dynasty, the river flowing through Zhaxia became increasingly narrow and shallow, with large ponds and even
As land became land, commercial activities were affected, so shops were gradually separated from workshops and gradually developed to the north. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, houses, shops, and commercial districts were built along the Fenjiang River and on the sandbank, which was still a "seaside" open space.
Completely moved to the north. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the area along the Fenjiang River in the north and its surrounding areas had become the most prosperous commercial area in Foshan, with docks lined up and shops lined up. Although the streets were deserted at this time, the people did not appear panicked, but rather
Everyone stretched their necks to watch the excitement.
After entering the town, not far away is the Huguang Guild Hall. The National Army headquarters is located here. Xi Yazhou saw that the door was heavily guarded and the layout was very orderly when he entered. He couldn't help but be secretly surprised. He didn't expect that a mere naturalized citizen corporal was there.
With such ability, he is really an incompetent person to be the captain of this National Army squadron.
The hall has been converted into a headquarters, and a large-scale map of Foshan hangs in it. Xi Yazhou sat down casually, and after a while, he saw a man in his thirties, wearing Mingren clothes, come in, respectfully
Bow to him:
"Lin Ming, a humble official, please see the military commander..."
This nondescript title made Xi Yazhou laugh. He stood up and stretched out his hand, saying, "Are you the liaison officer? Second Lieutenant Cao thinks very highly of you!"
"Serve the Senate and the people!" Lin Ming knew that this was the Australian "handshake ceremony", so he quickly extended his hand to shake it, and said the slogan fluently.
Since Lin Ming accompanied Thorpe to the Xijiang area for inspection, he has continued to do intelligence collection work in Foshan. The task given to him by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau is to collect local public sentiment and social conditions. How much awareness does Lin Ming have of the instruction text sent from the "center"?
Judging from the importance the Senate attaches to Foshan - but this is not too surprising. Foshan is one of the "four major settlements in the world" that can be compared with the major cities at that time, and the Senate's intentions for Guangdong are, to him,
It's no secret anymore.
He began to work busily for the Senate. One day in March, he received new instructions from the traffic officer as usual, but it was "the army has landed and be prepared to receive it." According to the instructions, Lin Ming
The underground turned to the ground, and he served as the deputy mayor of Foshan Town, officially working for the Senate. However, before the organization was established, he first acted publicly as the liaison officer of Foshan Town. It would be difficult to serve him without shaving his head for the time being.
This place is only more than fifty miles away from Guangzhou, so on the first day of landing, the advance detachment of the Fubo Army had already arrived by boat directly at Foshan Fort.
There is no Ming army garrison here. Although there are rural warriors training in the town and the four townships. However, the training of the rural warriors is to "protect the family."
The meeting came out to "protect the country". After a brief negotiation between the two sides, Foshan Fort opened the gate and surrendered. Lin Ming, a former Jin Yiwei Baihu, suddenly became the "deputy mayor".
"Since you are a local native and a cadre appointed by us, please show us around and introduce the local situation."
"Yes, yes, I am willing to serve you!" Lin Ming responded hurriedly.
The first place he led the way was naturally Lingying Temple, which is what the locals call the ancestral temple and ancestral hall. It is unknown when the ancestral temple was built, but it is generally believed to have been built during the Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, the people of the Central Plains
They moved south to Guangdong and settled here, forming a settlement.
"This temple was rebuilt in the fifth year of Hongwu, and it was rebuilt again during this period." Lin Ming said, "The temple worships Beidi God, the northern water god. Therefore, it is said that there were many floods in the local area during the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the local people
Invite Beidi to sit in Chancheng. Since then, there have been no floods in this area. Everyone comes to the ancestral temple to worship, hoping for good weather, peace and prosperity for the country and the people."
Although Lin Ming's ancestors were not natives of "Foshan Fort Baduli", he had moved here for hundreds of years, and he was very fond of this temple, which was regarded as the root of Foshan. Therefore, he initially tried to prevent the national army squadron from occupying this place as a building.
Team headquarters.
In front of the ancestral temple is the famous Lingying Archway. It stands majestically on the third floor and has three floors. A large number of brackets are used between the eaves and pillars. The cornices are stacked with green leaves and the clouds are flying. There is a plaque with the word "Imperial Edict" written vertically in the middle of the top floor of the front.
.The horizontal writing on the lower level: the two words "Holy Domain" and "Lingying". On the top top of the back, there is a vertical writing on the two words "Edict Sacrifice". The vermilion wooden structure sets off the large gilded characters. It is equipped with a green glazed tile cover, which makes the entire archway look more elegant.
It is dazzlingly brilliant, majestic and extremely solid in structure. This is the first time Xi Yazhou has seen such an archway building in Hainan and Guangdong.
Lin Ming said that this archway was built during the Jingtai period, because Emperor Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty granted the ancestral temple the title of Lingying Temple. Therefore, the construction of the archway was particularly particular.
In front of the archway is a pool called Jinxiang Pool. In the pool is a stone turtle and snake statue that symbolizes the Northern Emperor. Xi Yazhou saw some copper coins scattered on the stone sculptures, and there seemed to be some on the bottom of the pool as well. Apparently this custom of tossing coins has been around for a long time.
However, this also shows that the local prosperity and tranquility can lead to such a leisurely and leisurely atmosphere that can only be found in peacetime.
After the archway, there is the three gates. The architecture is very elegant. It is nine bays wide. There is a tile ridge of pottery figures over 1 meter high and 30 meters long at the top. There are gilded wood carvings under the eaves. In the middle is a red sandstone wall with three rows of tiles.
There is a round arched doorway with a depth of one meter, and there are stone steps below. The whole building is magnificent and majestic.
When the temple minister heard that the Australian high official had arrived, he hurriedly came out to greet him, invited him to offer incense in the temple, and then went to the clean room to sit down and "serve tea."
"I accept your offer, but I'm on official business so I can't bother you." Xi Yazhou was very polite.
After coming out of the temple, not far away, I saw another wooden and stone archway on the street. Although it was not as grand as the Lingying Archway, it still had a vertical plaque with "Imperial Edict" and the three characters "Zhongyi Township" written horizontally on the lower level. Lin
The inscription says that this was during the Zhengtong period, when the pirate Huang Xiaoyang gathered ten thousand people to attack the Foshan Fort. At that time, the wealthy Jin gentry in Foshan summoned local warriors to set up a fence to fight against Huang Xiaoyang, who was awarded the imperial title after his victory.