With the fading sound of cicadas, the days in Guangzhou are still flowing day after day; It's just that the wounds and scars left by the successive battles in the cities and markets do not fade so easily.

Although the poor and unemployed of the city have been hired by workers instead of revival, the blood-stained streets have been cleaned, the ruins have been demolished, and the water sources and ditches have been re-dredged, and the separation zones and defense zones have been established; But during the day, you can still see every family wearing filial piety in the market, and there is no lack of crying at night.

The turmoil in these two days and one night alone has caused almost one-tenth of the population of the three cities outside Guangzhou, and it is still the part that has quite assets; Not to mention the wealth and fortunes that have been reduced to ashes in the midst of looting, destruction and fire.

The only thing that is more fortunate is that the port market and the wharf, which are the gathering places of foreign business travelers, have not been affected in any way, and can still continue to maintain most of their functions and functions. In this way, at least the fresh source of outward economic replenishment and the most basic circulating hematopoietic capacity in the future can be maintained.

As an inevitable means to appease and win people's hearts in the future, Zhou Huai'an also abolished the name of the left-behind division again, and gradually added those expropriation and urging departments with many names; Only the most basic three items of Ding (poll tax), household (tax) and city money (business administration fee) are retained;

In any case, Guangzhou, as one of the few treaty ports and major maritime trade ports in the south, mainly concentrated in the commission and deed (transaction tax) of imported goods, as well as the bulk import and export and overseas trade activities that he personally organized and participated in.

The only exception was that under the Rebels, those who kept slaves and slaves were also heavily taxed; The higher the amount, the higher the starting point of the levy. This is also a kind of medium- and long-term policy of boiling frogs in disguise to release and compete for these hidden human resources;

Of course, in order to make these "frogs" with fat brains, they still have a certain fluke mentality and will not be reasonable to rebound; Zhou Huai'an made another opening in it; For the time being, the objects of taxation and confiscation were limited to the native Tang people or the descendants of naturalized people. As for those foreign slaves, it is natural that there is no such limit, and the more the better.

This also forced these "big frogs" to try to find a way out, and find a way to get more sources of foreign slaves, so as to gradually replace and replace those local Tang people who had been reduced to lowly status.

Except for some of the freed native slaves and maids who were still attached to their master's family and changed to hired workers, the rest could easily become potential new labor resources and military service bases for the rebel regime as long as they accepted the help and resettlement of the rebel army.

At least as a modern pseudo-nationalist who has been disgusted by "first-class foreigners, second-class officials, third-class young people, and fourth-class Hans", Zhou Huai'an does not have so much leisure and heart to care, those foreigners who cannot create a trace of value for themselves under their rule.

No matter how many they die, they are making room for the people of the Han family; It would be better if we could continue to create more value of labor under the whip and the stick.

Although there have been several suspicious clues and similar reports in the follow-up rewards and pursuits, Meng Kai, who is the former envoy of Guangfu, is still missing. However, what Zhou Huai'an feared most did not happen; At least the takeover and reorganization of the local government did not encounter great difficulties, and no one jumped out to raise their arms in his name, wanting to counterattack Guangfu and set things right.

However, in Fuzhou, Tengzhou, and Gongzhou, where there have been monk changes, there are several people closely related to the bald donkey, etc., who colluded with the local Tu Shanyi, and took the opportunity to occupy the county seat and close the door to claim to be assassinated, regimental training envoys, and suppression and strangulation; Then under the strange soldiers of Chai Ping's galloping in, it became a passing head along the way, and finally sent back a fresh head hanging at the city gate of Guangzhou.

At least in the run-up to the autumn harvest, much of the Pearl River basin has returned to calm and order. In this way, even if there is a possibility of a poor harvest in late autumn and winter today, as long as additional manpower and fertilizer are in place in time, the expected reduction in production can be controlled within two or three percent of the acceptable amount.

After all, with the land, household registration and products of the fourteen states in Lingdong, it was a bit reluctant for Zhou Huai'an's expectations to support 50,000 soldiers who were out of production; Because what he wants is a disciplined and well-trained elite who can advance and retreat freely on the battlefield, and who can withstand a considerable degree of defeat and unfavorable situations;

Instead of the traditional peasant army, with a small number of clan surnames and township parties to form elite and dare to fight veterans, to coerce the vast majority of homeless people to starve and use as cannon fodder, as long as they eat a few full meals, they dare to pull the rogue one-time army on the battlefield. or the officials and soldiers are like deducting the deficit and eating the salary, and most of the soldiers at the bottom are usually poor and miserable; And when they were to be used, they relied on looting and looting in wartime as a means of boosting and maintaining morale.

In this case, the normal supply of equipment and food must be completely kept up and effectively guaranteed, and the cumulative consumption of specific heads is a bit too large; Fortunately, there is still Annam, a newly developed grain producing area, and the potential of fishing and salt drying in coastal areas can be tapped. (The coastal fisheries of Guangdong and the fishing grounds of the Beibu Gulf, two of the four major fishing grounds in China in later generations, happened to be distributed in the sphere of influence of Lingnan Province.)

It is supplemented by a number of inland factories and mines, as well as revenues from the trading activities of several ports in the coastal areas; Now these things that he had managed were rightfully under his sole control; Presumably, after reducing those superfluous skills and costs, the next performance and potential may be further improved and explored.

During this period, it was Li Hanping, the secret envoy of the imperial court, who sent an unexpected surprise gift package to the door, which also gave Zhou Huai'an sufficient ammunition for later liquidation, at least there was an assassin who was still on the run but was not caught. So give him a good house arrest, and slowly squeeze out the corresponding value.

At least with such living evidence as him, Zhou Huai'an can concoct and manipulate Lin Yan well, and continue to blackmail him into standing on his own unified position.

Two new episodes popped up during this period;

First of all, Chen Yan, who occupied Fuzhou after claiming to be a regimental training envoy and stayed, actually sent people from the sea to inquire about it, and carried half a shipload of expensive goods as a congratulatory gift; Obviously, Zhou Huai'an, who had just completed the feat of defeating Shangguan with the "following grams", as a careerist and fellow traveler like himself.

This also made him pinch his nose and take it down with some tears and laughter; Although the other party did not take this opportunity to spy on the reality and attitude and position of the Cantonese government, why should he fool the wrong in the past; At least in the short term, he needs a relatively harmless proximity and the value of Fuzhou's location as an important transit point for the north.

A few days after the other party's return, Dong Ruo, an envoy from Dong Chang, the commander of Hangzhou and Shijing Town, openly expressed the hope that trade with Guangzhou could be mutually beneficial by sea; For example, rice and silk were exchanged for Lingnan iron products and incense, etc.

Compared with Chen Yan, who is not well-known and relatively poor among the people, Dong Chang, the Hangzhou Metropolitan Detention Division, is much bigger.

In the history known to Zhou Huai'an, he started as a local tyrant and participated in the suppression of the rebellion of Wang Ying, the defender of Wolf Mountain in western Zhejiang. It was also one of the only three who dared to be the emperor at the end of the Tang Dynasty before Huangchao and Qin Zongquan.

Of course, he is now only a Hangzhou Metropolitan and Shijing Town General, with eight soldiers and horses under his command (namely Shijingdu in Lin'an County, Qingping in Yuhang County, Yuqian County in Qiandu, Yanguan County Yanguandu, Wu'an in Xincheng County, Tangshan County in Tangshan County, Fuchun in Fuyang County, and Longquan in Longquan County); Even Liu Yao, the observer of eastern Zhejiang, who was the head of the imperial court, had to rely on him a lot.

In fact, although his official character is not high, he occupies one of the two Zhejiang, the hinterland of eastern Zhejiang, the richest land of fish and rice - Hangzhou/Lin'an County, the most elite part of the Hangjiahu Plain; Similarly, there are benefits of fish and salt sea trade, and it is a large city with a large population; So this time, after getting the news of the change in Guangfu through the sea route, he simply sent someone over to negotiate with the jade anti-thief forces.

According to Zhou Huai'an's sense of briefly receiving the other party's visitor, although the specific words are polite, they are also more pragmatic and profit-seeking; However, this envoy Dong Ruo had a lawlessness in his speech, and he was unruly in not taking the court seriously.

However, for Zhou Huai'an, in fact, he was more famous in later generations as a subordinate general under him, surnamed Qian Ming, with beautiful characters, and later generations called Qian Poliu the first king of Wuyue, who also stepped on Dong Chang's head to ascend the throne, and the only king surname in the five dynasties and ten kingdoms who was good at the beginning and the end existed.

It's just that this person is still inconspicuous at this time, and his reputation is not good, so even if Zhou Huai'an knows about him, he will not have the opportunity to start and explore for a while. However, Zhou Huai'an still praised this gentleman through Jiu Yanghe, which can be regarded as burying some mines for him in advance.

In addition, on the basis of generally agreeing to provide convenience for the two parties to communicate with each other, he also added a small additional condition; It is hoped that Dong Chang's forces, who are local super tyrants and local snakes in eastern Zhejiang, can find someone in the local area for themselves as an addition to this "secret" trade.

At this time, a familiar sound of announcement sounded outside.

"I've seen the general."

"See the King's Envoy."

"Ask the military lord how he is doing."

But as his old partner of the righteous army, Wang Pan came over; Zhou Huai'an couldn't help but get up to greet him. I saw that Wang Pan, who was still in good spirits, was carried in on a hitch, sat on a soft couch with support, and then brought a drink to relieve the heat and fatigue, and only after a few sips of bitter drinking, he opened his voice.

"Finally sent them away."

(End of chapter)