235th Festival Annual Reception

"Your telegram." A naturalized civilian cadre from the confidential communications room of the General Office sent a locked clip to Wu De's desk - this is the way telegrams and documents above "confidential" are circulated among the executive committee, people's commissars, and ministers, who have a special key.

Ude opened the clip and took out the telegram. The telegram was stamped with a top-secret stamp, and the generator was from Sanya. Among the three veterans who are currently staying in Sanya, he is the person in charge of civil affairs.

He reported on Telegram that the first batch of Southeast Asian slaves had arrived. A total of 254 people have been disembarked. In good physical condition. All of them are young males, with no children or the elderly.

The Englishman really brought the slaves in the allotted time. Wu De thought. The use of Southeast Asian slaves was the established policy of the Senate, both in terms of labor and in terms of future strategic planning. Even if Quark was unable to do so, the Executive Committee had prepared a plan for other foreign businessmen to take on this role.

He stamped his name on the list of breaches below the telegram. Lock the clip and return it to the confidential staff to take it away. He opened a folder on his desk labeled "Labor," which contained weekly statistics on "disposable labor," organized by age, gender, region, and industry...... Summarize them one by one. Overall, the addition of 254 laborers to the Sanya region, where 4,761 people have been transported and 3,850 are still alive, is not a large number, but the number of slaves will greatly reduce the mortality rate of naturalized workers with basic training - the most dangerous and heavy work will be carried out by slaves. After tasting the sweetness of this time, Quark will bring in an endless stream of slaves. Fully meet the local demand and consumption of labor.

Of course, the demand for labor is endless. With the retreat of He Rubin, the entire Hainan Island will be under their control. The Planning House estimates that the population under the control of the Senate will swell to 40~600,000 people. However, in order to fully mobilize, a series of tasks must be done: suppressing bandits, gathering villages and dividing households, and taking stock of the population. The most optimistic estimate is that it was not until the beginning of 1632 that the population of Qiongzhou could be fully and effectively utilized. In contrast, the status of indentured slaves was immigrated and the slaves bought for convenience.

In addition to slaves, the Executive Committee was also looking for ways to expand the source of the population. The displaced people in Guangdong and Fujian have been almost collected. Once again, the Executive Committee turned to the Great Library for help - preparing to find an opportunity in the uninterrupted natural disasters of the late Ming Dynasty.

Wu De thought: The idea is good, but the premise is that they have enough capacity, and Liu Xiang, who doesn't know where to hide at the moment...... There are a lot of jishu details to be worked out.

While he was thinking, his private secretary, Hatsuyu, came in and sent a red invitation.

"Who's going to get an invitation?" Wude asked curiously. The only thing that could bring the invitation to his table was the happy event of the patriarch himself -- Yun Suji's invitation to marry Liu Meilan, the niece and granddaughter of Liu Youren, the owner of Liujiazhai, had already been sent yesterday. Wu De was still worried for a while: Do you want to wrap a red envelope? Later, I decided to buy a kind of gift.

Chu Yu said: "It's from Commissioner Wu." ”

"Commissioner Wu?" Wu Deleng realized for a moment that he was talking about Wu Nanhai. Wu Nanhai wants to get married? He immediately remembered the women on the farmstead.

"It's Chu Qing......" Chu Yu's voice was a little resentful - they were from the same background, and seeing the former sisters become the wives of the patriarchs, their hearts were inevitably sour.

"Oh, oh, it's her." Wude nodded. Said noncommittally.

The New Year's Day reception in 1631 was held as scheduled under the management of Fang Fei and Zheng Shangjie. In addition to the indispensable duty personnel, most of the senators attended the annual reception held at Lingaojiao Park. In addition to the veterans, the local "collaborators" of Lingao were also invited, most of whom were members of the county advisory bureau and directors of the Dongmen City Business Association: Lin Quanan, Liu Youren, Zhang Youfu, and Li Sunqian...... Even a small landlord like Fu Fuji, who was not qualified enough, was also invited because he was a "typical" example of the Heaven and Earth Society.

The remnants of the Ming official government in Lingao: Wu Ya, the county Cheng, Sun Ruiwu, the inspector Fu Bai, and the county school admonition Wang Ci, including Wu Mingjin, the main hall of Lingao County, who was completely reduced to a puppet, all received invitations. Of course, Wang Zhaomin, who contributed the most to the elders, was among the invites.

In addition to this group of representatives of the local people, whom Du Wen called "ghosts, ghosts, snakes, and gods," there were also representatives of the naturalized people: outstanding elements selected from among the soldiers, cadres, workers, members, and students -- Liu Muzhou was preparing to carry out a trick such as "selecting model workers" after the year. Of course, once he wants to be a model worker, the 38 Red Banner bearer is probably not exempt from vulgarity -- otherwise Du Wen will not let him go.

The indigenous people invited were considered a great honour. After the defeat of the official army through the group, Shili then expanded to the entire Qiongzhou, so that the people, regardless of high and low, already had a premonition of "changing the sky". Whether it is the upper or lower strata of society, there are a large number of people who are eager to get on the ship of the Australians in this changing situation, and earn a fortune for themselves and their families. As a result, almost all invitees accepted the invitation. Even Wu Mingjin, who has always held "no drop or leave" and preached that he was non-violent and non-cooperative, came in a sedan chair with a smile on his face.

The reception began at 5 p.m. on December 31, and Mu Min personally came to the venue to arrange the security work. Because there were so many indigenous people in attendance, even though they were all "activists" or considered "reliable" figures in the security assessment, Mu Min knew that this was not absolute insurance - there was nothing wrong with the security work.

At that time, more than 400 veterans and about 100 elites under the "order" of the crossers will gather in Lingaojiao Park, and in the event of a casualty accident, it will bring huge losses to the entire business.

Mu Min, as the veteran in charge of the direct responsibility and the person in charge of the protection of the Green Zone, coordinated with various departments on the security work of the annual reception at the internal security meeting. Worked out the defense of Jihua. The first cordon outside Lingaojiao Park was in charge of the 2nd Company of Li Yayang's Lingao Garrison Battalion; The police team of the Bopu Police Station and the Policing Training Course at Parkview Green is responsible for maintaining order and identifying people around the two entrances and exits of the park.

In the park, the Bopu detachment of the special investigation team is responsible for guarding and controlling all the commanding heights at the same time. zuihou, which is cordoned off by the staff of the General Directorate of Political Protection. On the sea, the Navy's spy boats formed three cordons. All boats and people are prohibited from entering within 1 nautical mile of the park's shoreline.

In addition to safety precautions, the reception also needs to be protected against fire and accidents - there are gas lamps and barbecue grills...... Mu Min specially explored the terrain and was anxious for a few meetings, so he arranged the venue, placed the dining table, the location of the barbecue grill, and the evacuation route...... Even how much extra lighting to add was discussed one by one.

Now everything is in place, just waiting for the guests to arrive. Lingaojiao Park is lit up with lights, and gas lamps are shining. The Feiyun moored at the pier is covered with colorful lights. The loudspeaker constantly played "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon" and "Spring Festival Overture", creating a lively and cheerful atmosphere.

Guests in twos and threes, some on foot, some in sedan chairs, and some on bicycles, came to the square in front of Lingaojiao Park - this is already a second-level security area, and no one can enter without an invitation. Liu Youren happily sat in a sedan chair and came to the front of the square - the head of Xun finally agreed to the marriage with Liu Meilan, this matter that had been hanging for almost a year was a foregone conclusion, and the relationship between the Liu family and the patriarch could not be the same. He twisted his beard and looked happily at the bamboo-made gate. This "park" of Rausch was originally accessible only to the senators, shrouded in a layer of mystery. The fact that I was able to go in and see the reception was exciting.

There was a whistle in the square, and several policemen were running around with whistles, directing the sedan chairs of each family to enter the "sedan seat" in order and arrange them in a neat and orderly manner. The sedan chair driver is taken by a special person to rest in a temporary rest shed. Liu Youren knows the rules of Australians, and the only person who enters the venue is the invitee himself, and he is not allowed to bring servants. At that moment, the servants brought with him were sent to rest. I took the invitation and went to the gate.

Just walked a few steps, but saw a middle-aged gentleman coming out of a two-person sedan chair, and looked at it, who was not Wu Mingjin? He has been idle for a long time, and he has eaten and drunk well, and he has gained a little weight. He wears a cloud scarf on his head and a Huluo robe. He looks like a scholar from a middle-class family.

Liu Youren immediately went up to make a salute -- Wu Mingjin's Daming County Commander was already an empty position, and he didn't need to be too polite.

Wu Mingjin was very polite, he had already heard that the man wanted to take his niece and granddaughter as a concubine, and he was quite contemptuous of the landlord of this bun, but he did not show it on his face at all -- this kind of "expensive" man could not afford to offend.

"Are the old parents also here for the reception?"

"Exactly," Wu Mingjin nodded, "At the end of the year, there is nothing to do, and the right is used for recreation." ”

The so-called end of the year, this is according to the "Great Song Calendar", that is, the Gregorian calendar, to be used in parallel at the same time "Ming Calendar", there must be two months for the New Year, but under the drive of the patriarchs, the use of the Gregorian calendar has become a trend, and gradually changed everyone's habits.

As he was talking, a taxi wearing a Lan shirt came next to him, and when he saw Wu Mingjin there, he immediately made a big salute, which caused the people passing by around him to look sideways.

"Why are you here too?" The person who came was the county school and taught Wang Ci. He came by himself, his head was covered with sweat, and a Lan shirt was quite neat, but it exuded the smell of sweat from old clothes.