Section 236 Changhua Fort

This place is Changhua Fort. Since the first voyage around the island, Changhua has been expanded several times as the first independent fortress stationed abroad. Expanded from a humble fortified bunker to a small coastal fort, a 24-pounder naval cannon on the fort controlled the sea port of Changhua.

Less than a kilometre outside the fort, on the coastal wasteland near the Changhua River, a large barren area was enclosed with wooden fences and thorny fast-growing plants, and rows of livestock sheds were built. This is the Changhua Pasture, the source of the main animal power and ròu grazing livestock currently used in Lingao.

The Council of Agriculture raises a large number of famous Changhua sheep on the seaside pastures here. Cattle are supplied by the local Li people. Wu Nanhai and Yang Guigui have visited Changhua Ranch many times to inspect and guide the work, and constantly expand the scale of the aquaculture industry. In particular, Yang Guigui used Changhua sheep as the female parent in the local area, and used frozen jīng seeds to breed high-quality sheep. The Committee of Agriculture also sows large quantities of high-quality pasture grass suitable for the local soil and climate.

Thanks to the efforts of the Committee of Agriculture, a large number of live sheep and cattle are now shipped to Lingao in Changhua every month.

Outside the Changhua pasture, a small regular market is formed, and Li people come here on the fifteenth day of every month to exchange various local products: cattle, cotton cloth, deer skin, kapok and saponaria beans in exchange for salt, small hardware, sugar and various daily groceries. At other times, Changhua Fort also sent mobile trade caravans to trade deep into the interior of Changhua.

A large number of groceries from Lingao have stabbed Li Min's consumption** - compared to the past when there was only one basket to carry and sell only some salt and hardware, and the price was that of a merchant who bought the dead and sold the dead, the Australians offered a wide variety of goods, high quality, and much cheaper.

Although Li Min does not store gold and silver, there are many local products in the mountains, as long as Huā strength, there are local products that Australians are willing to exchange. If it weren't for the reluctance of the Planning Institute to let Changhua's large and small deer species go extinct and limit the number of purchases per month, Li Min would have killed all the local deer long ago.

Of course, this jiāo easily destroyed the livelihoods of some local people, but the construction and operation of Changhua Fort required a lot of manpower, and these unemployed people were quickly hired by Changhua Fort. Although some people have resentment, no one has the courage to provoke the "thieves" with loaded guns and cannons.

In addition to bartering with the Li people, Li Haiping also hired a large number of local workers to mine quartz sand to supply the glass industry in Lingao in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Industry.

As more and more people were hired at Changhua Fort, Commander Li Haiping selected a number of Ding Zhuang from among the hired people and formed a "group training" of fifty people, armed with machetes and standard spears, to protect the safety of the pasture.

As for the local authorities, they turned a blind eye to the thieves' every move - and of course, even if they wanted to, they couldn't do anything about it. In Changhua, the Ming Dynasty's sense of presence is quite weak.

This peaceful situation was maintained until the Summer Awakening Campaign, when a company of marines and three 12-pounder mountain howitzers landed at Sanjiagang, and then quickly drove to the city of Changhua County under the leadership of the "leading party" organized by Changhuabao, the Changhuabao regimental training. As for the Qianhu Office outside the city, although Ding Zhuang in the military households was once concentrated to prepare for war, when the sailors launched the cannons, the soldiers of the guard post scattered and fled as soon as they released a cannon, Li Haiping commanded the sailors to take the Qianhu with a charge, and the rest of the people were all captured, and the casualties on both sides were zero.

The Han population in Changhua is very small, except for a few officers and landlords in the thousand households, there is no shili who can be called a gentry, because there are few villages, there are many Li districts, and there is no room for bandits to move. It is a typical example of a peaceful takeover.

Despite the occupation of the county seat, the local ruling body of the Senate has never entered the county seat of Changhua -- the original Changhua canon history of "caring for the seal of Changhua County" is still in the tattered county office. It's not that you want to deliberately maintain the name of the Ming Dynasty, but there are really no buildings in the entire Changhua County that the elders can look up to. Instead of staying in a county town with no infrastructure, it is better to stay in Changhua Fort, which has a much better environment.

A few months ago, a joint working group sent by Lingao to Changhua conducted a comprehensive census, registering household registration, surveying and mapping the terrain and towns, drawing up a land inventory, and arresting a number of people and killing a number of people. Take control of the local land, population and resources.

After a "purge", the Senate became the master of the entire Changhua County. More than 600 families and an equal number of hermits were all under the rule of the Senate. Be an ever-driven workforce.

Due to its small population, Changhua has almost no economy. Although it is rich in natural resources, it is currently unable to develop them. That is, there were not many military affairs and there were no civil affairs to manage, so it was Kong Lingyang who was sent to preside over the county administration and concurrently serve as the commander of Changhua Fort, Kong Lingyang was not an officer of the Fu Bō army, but an authentic agricultural technician working in the Committee of Agriculture, and his appointment as the commander of Changhua Fort illustrated the position of the Senate in this place.

Kong Lingyang is a member of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Committee of Agriculture. He and Yang Guigui are half of the same peers. He also came from a veterinarian and later worked in a breeding station. Although he is very good at everything from education to work experience, he also brought a full set of professional tools for the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station and a variety of eggs and improved varieties of jīng liquid for the crossing group, but after D Day, he has been assisting Yang Guibao in animal husbandry work in a very low-key manner in the Committee of Agriculture for a long time, and he is unwilling to show that he is too "professional", so as not to be fixed on the role of "Jishu personnel". Based on his personal experience in the old time and space, being a "jishu person" is far less fast than being an "administrator".

Yang Guigui now made a name for himself in the Senate, and he had to attend every enlarged meeting of the Executive Committee on agricultural issues, which was indeed a good thing, but in the end he would set himself up as the "chief veterinarian" -- and that was not his ambition.

A few months ago, he was sent to Changhua as the director of the county office and the commander of Changhua Fort, which made him feel that he had finally taken a solid first step in his career. Although the appointment was mainly due to his professional skills, the Planning Institute was now unable to carry out in-depth development of Changhua, and its positioning was to focus on agriculture and animal husbandry, with a small amount of natural resources to be gathered.

In this way, when choosing the director of the county office in Changhua, Kong Lingyang, who took the initiative to sign up, had agricultural and animal husbandry skills, and was not a key figure in the Committee of Agriculture and the Tiandihui, became the most suitable candidate, not to mention that he had also been a civil servant and had some understanding of administrative operations.

Of course, Changhua's status is not as good as that of the big county town in Qiongbei, which is managed by Liu Xiang and others, but there are more than 1,000 households in the county, a population of less than 10,000, a reinforced platoon of sailors, and a newly formed county garrison company of the National Army -- the original Changhuabao regimental training. Although it is claimed to be a company, there are only more than 50 people at the moment, and it needs to be further adjusted and strengthened.

Most of the soldiers of the national army garrison companies formed in the counties were recruited on the spot, and at present they are only needed for emergencies. When the situation in the counties is stable and a large number of immigrants arrive, the training director will adjust and rotate all the county garrison companies of the national army. According to the plan, in each company, some people serve locally, and some people serve in other places.

At this time, in the top hall of the main tower in the fortress, a small banquet was being held to welcome Major Wei Aiwen, Mu Min, Fang Jinghan and other people from the Political Office of the General Staff who had just arrived by boat.

On the table, more than a dozen dishes are steaming from local gardens, corrals and fishing boats, and the most conspicuous is a large plate full of roast lamb skewers, sprinkled with sesame seeds, cumin and chili peppers. Although it may be difficult to eat this dish in Changhua during the hot summer months, the climate will not affect the appetite of the elders who are severely lacking in ròu food and consume a lot of food.

There is no refrigeration or ice in the house, but it is close to the sea, on three floors, with open windows and a pleasant sea breeze. Coupled with a large number of cool drinks that were chilled in the well, several people were drenched in sweat and exclaimed

In addition to Mu Min, who ate a little less, Wei Aiwen and the others ate hasei nonsense, and after a while, the table was full of bamboo skewers and many bottles of kvass, rice and beer.

Kong Lingyang didn't eat much - there was an abundance of food here, and he was one of the very few patriarchs who had ròu to eat every day. Kong Lingyang is a fat man with square-rimmed glasses, wearing a cotton summer training uniform made by Lingao, wiping sweat with a máo towel while beckoning everyone to eat and drink.

"Lao Kong, your conditions here are really good." Wei Aiwen finally ate almost, he was shy and praised while picking his teeth.

"There, it's not a good ...... for the leaders of the Senate and the Executive Committee" Kong Lingyang avoided mentioning the names of President Wen and the Governor, so as not to have too distinct personal colors. It is imperative not to stand in line at will before the situation is clear, this is one of the lessons learned by Kong Lingyang's life as a civil servant for more than five years.

"Don't come to this trick." Wei Aiwen smiled hesitantly, "The building near the water gets the moon first, and we are not unreasonable people." He burped and asked the others, "Shall we talk about work now?" ”

Mu Min nodded: "I'm also full, just to talk about things." ”

Fang Jinghan and the others naturally didn't have any opinions-everyone ate fast and held on.

Kong Lingyang nodded again and again: "Good Zhaoren clean up the leftovers on the table and prepare tea and paper stationery." He guessed that most of the "people from the central government" who suddenly arrived this time were related to the affairs of the local Li nationality.

……