It turned out to be Li Shengan, a small white-collar worker in a logistics company, holding his briefcase and walking on the street. A few days ago www.biquge.info he was also very busy, he was assigned to enter the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Commerce and the International Trade Company were busy with trade work with New Spain, the Ministry of Commerce conducted many demonstrations and plans, selected the right goods and ships to sail, although not a leader, but Li Shengan also worked hard for a while.

The fleet left Los Angeles and sailed south, and Li Sheng'an was also idle all of a sudden, the Ministry of Commerce was mainly engaged in trade, and now where is there so much business to do, that is, occasionally some Indians, with furs, pearls or prey, come to the market set up in Los Angeles to exchange goods. Li Sheng'an is now one of the managers in this market.

In fact, this market was not set up by the government at the beginning, some immigrants got off the boat, and entered a normal life, although there were basically official controls in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but everyone always had such and such needs, so slowly some people spontaneously set up stalls in an open space, and took out everything they didn't need to sell, and there was no general equivalent, so they called out what they needed.

In fact, the limited market transactions are also conducive to the development of the current colony, so Zhao Daling simply made a decision to set up a market in this place, and there are special public officials of the Ministry of Commerce to manage it, so that people can trade here freely.

Later, several Chumash people who served in the Indian Cavalry also came to this market to trade, and the nature of trade was ingrained in their veins, and they had never seen such a large market, which made the Chumash people feel very excited. So they put the booty of their wars and the handicrafts they brought out from the tribe to sell in the market, and some even exchanged their knick-knacks for their own knick-knacks.

Of course, in this kind of exchange, most of the people who suffer are Chumash people, they do not know the value of the other party's goods, and often they can see it, so they exchange it with others, and often there is such a thing as ten pearls in exchange for a nail clipper, or a fine fur in exchange for a glass. But even so, they enjoyed it. Soon, Indians of other nationalities also came to the market to exchange, and some Indian tribes also came to send "caravans" to exchange their own tribe's goods.

As a result of the boom in the market, some of the first businesses established in Los Angeles also found a place to sell their products. The company, which has been renamed the No. 1 National Wood Processing Factory, employs more than 100 carpenters, many of whom are skilled craftsmen. The factory was originally established to assist the construction team in building housing in Los Angeles and to provide the necessary furniture for the immigrants.

But in fact, people's demand for wood products is still very large, and the official allocation is wooden beds, wooden tables, wooden benches and other things. Naturally, these carpenters need to be paid for such private orders, and the carpentry factory does not prohibit them from doing so. It's just that because there is no currency, this kind of activity is more difficult to carry out.

After the Indians came to this market, they were also very interested in the exquisite tables and chairs made by the Tang carpenters, and gradually the Indians came to exchange their own things for wooden products. Many of the carpenters were thieves, and generally asked the Indians for prey in exchange to increase their own meat.

Li Shengan came to the market and yawned, the job of managing the market is not complicated, because they do not collect business tax from the vendors now, at most they regulate everyone's stalls, plus deal with some disputes. As a civil servant of the Ministry of Commerce, Li Shengan does not have his own uniform, that is, a red armband, which makes him feel like an aunt in the neighborhood committee.

Although civil servants in the Ministry of Commerce are not responsible for collecting taxes, they are all officials, and the Chinese have a strong official-oriented mentality, and many traders who come to the market to trade are accustomed to giving Li Shengan and his colleagues a little thing.

Some colleagues will accept it, but Li Shengan will not accept it, because he thinks it is like a bribe. He had heard that the Cabinet had recently been enacting various regulations, among which the Civil Service Law was particularly serious in dealing with bribery and bribery, and he was not short of those gadgets, and it was not worth cutting off his future for this.

Today's market was disturbed, and there was a lot of noise, as if a group of people had gathered in front, and Li Shengan separated the crowd and walked to the front to see. Surrounded by several Indians, a thin Indian man who looked to be in his thirties, sat on the ground, and in front of him were several baskets, in which stood a few Indian children.

"What's going on?" Li asked his colleague in front of him.

The colleague was also sweating profusely, and said: "Big trouble, this guy is from a tribe in Yokuz on the back, their tribe was attacked by another tribe of Yokuz, the food was robbed, and everyone lost their livelihood, so this guy brought several of his children to our Los Angeles, and actually wanted to sell the children for food." ”

Li Shengan was also shocked, he looked at several children, the youngest was only three or four years old, and the eldest was only eight or nine years old, looking at everyone with dark eyes, looking very scared.

At this time, a somewhat bloated middle-aged woman shouted: "I can't sell it in the end, our lord is not in good health, and he is just short of price girls to take care of." ”

Li Sheng'an's colleague stood in the middle and said, "You can't sell it, at least wait for our people to ask what it means." ”

The middle-aged woman was very impatient and said: "Why is your government still so lenient, people voluntarily sell their children and daughters, no one persecutes them, and your government doesn't have any rules that say that human trafficking is not allowed, why can't you sell it?" ”

The middle-aged woman apparently came from a large family, and such a large family was considered to be more advantageous in the colony. First of all, it is possible that they were very rich before they crossed over, and they carried a lot of property, and the government did not snatch the property from private hands, and only the necessary materials would be collected. In addition, after the big family goes ashore to live, they will often be assigned a separate place to live, and they will not live in a unified dormitory like Li Shengan, who is single. A larger population also allocates more resources, which makes some large families of the Republic of China actually have financial resources that ordinary single people do not have.

The crowd was bustling, not only the middle-aged woman wanted to buy a child, but other people were also a little moved. Some may also want to help the maids, while others have no children and want to buy children to take care of. Although these children are Indians who do not understand the language, the Indians are also more similar to the Tang people in appearance, and there is no conflict between them.

Indian men who wanted to buy children were arguing with several civil servants of the Ministry of Commerce, and Indian men who did not understand what was going on sat on the ground in horror, and the children were crying in the baskets, and the scene was chaotic.

At this time, a cold female voice suddenly said, "Don't sell it." ”

I don't know if it has a special magic, everyone stopped arguing, and then looked at the girl who made the sound.

"Ye Qiuyi!" Li Sheng'an's little heart beat uncompromisingly.

There are not many women in the colony points, and even fewer young and beautiful women. Obviously, Ye Qiuyi is one of the best, with outstanding appearance and talent. At this time, Ye Qiuyi was already working in the Supreme Court and was a judicial officer, and her father Ye Baozheng had been promoted to become a member of the cabinet, which made everyone look up to him.

Ye Qiuyi was dressed in a court uniform, looking less weak Qianqian and Wenxiu, but more capable and heroic, she took out a piece of paper from her briefcase, and said: "This is a regulation just made by the cabinet and the Supreme People's Court, any act of buying and selling human beings is illegal in the territory of the Tang Republic, and before the promulgation of the law, the handling measures promulgated by the cabinet and the Supreme Court shall prevail." ”

The middle-aged woman also came to the proud door, what is the identity of Ye Qiuyi, the way of nature, she didn't dare to make a mistake in front of her, but she still argued: "I said Miss Ye, this law is dead, it's really unkind." You have stipulated that you are not allowed to buy and sell people, but this man is about to starve to death, and his children will starve to death, and if you do this, four or five people will starve to death. ”

At this time, a handsome and slender young man came out behind Ye Qiuyi, wearing a Mao suit, looking very handsome. "The Cabinet has decided that Indians who are in difficulty in their lives can apply to our authorities for jobs and get food and other goods necessary for their lives, and that underage Indian children can attend boarding schools in Los Angeles to live and study," the young man said. ”

Li Sheng'an looked at this pair of beautiful people like golden boys and girls, and was very jealous in his heart. This young man is dressed decently in a tunic suit, but in fact, he was a Ming Dynasty public with a bun before. This person's name is Chang Yu, and he is still a son of a noble in the Ming Dynasty, but he loves adventure by nature, so he joined Zheng He's fleet, but he didn't expect to cross in the end. Chang Yu reads a lot, is good at martial arts, and has strong learning ability and adaptability, so he soon became an official of the Propaganda Department of Culture and Education. Li Shengan also heard that this Chang Yu admired Ye Qiuyi very much, and wrote poems to her.

As soon as the middle-aged woman saw that the official had made such a decision, she had nothing to say, and the crowd dispersed in a huff, and an Indian hunter brought by Chang Yu said a few words to the thin man who sold the children, and took him and the children away.

Li Sheng'an plucked up his courage and asked Ye Qiuyi: "Comrade Ye, as far as I know, there are not a few tribes in California that have suffered from a food crisis recently, and more and more Indians will definitely come to Los Angeles to beg for a living after that, has the cabinet decided to accept them?" But we don't have enough food. ”

Ye Qiuyi glanced at the civil servant of the Ministry of Commerce and said, "There is always a way to deal with food, and if Datang wants to gain a foothold in this land, it must absorb the Indians here to become a part of us." Overall, it's a good thing to be able to take this opportunity to bring some tribes in. ”

After speaking, Ye Qiuyi walked away, and Li Shengan looked at her back and couldn't help but feel a sigh of relief.