The Hanshan port area is under the direct management of the Privy Council, and the bustling towns outside the port area are subordinate to Qingsha County, Zhou Ning found a restaurant close to the port area and the open terrain, and did not call the officials of Qingsha County, but Li Kezai's previous evil feelings were slightly reduced, this person's mind is quite delicate, and he is not a pure flattering villain.

Then Zhou Ning's communication skills also made Li Kezai's classmates gradually change their impressions. He did not regard the four as insignificant followers, but treated them as sons and nephews. First mourn for the martyrs of the navy, and then ask for warmth and care about life issues. After the atmosphere of the banquet gradually warmed up, he threw away his identity as an elder, combined with the folk customs of Luzon, and threw out the unique local meat jokes from time to time, and the laughter gradually spread.

Tasting Luzon's unique sauce and seafood, and then listening to Zhou Ning talk about Pulin Wanguo Hualou, there was a hint of persuasion, Li Kezai condensed most of his heart defense, and turned the topic to what Jia Yifan said before. Zhou Ning was the governor of Luzon, and he should have a better understanding of the situation in Luzon, at least more comprehensively.

After roughly relaying the situation in Luzon described by Jia Yifan, to the surprise of Li Kezai and others, Zhou Ning paused for a moment, put down the wine glass, and the face that was smiling brightly before suddenly became solemn, overflowing with the bearing of a feudal official.

"Luzon...... It is indeed turbulent, if His Highness wants to hear it, Lao Zhou also happens to spit out bitter water, but His Highness must not spread it to the ears of others, let alone to hear it from the sky. ”

The opening remarks were in line with Jia Yifan's worries, Zhou Ning turned the wine glass in his hand, and his tone was also low.

"I'm afraid that His Highness's words came from those Luzon people on the docks, they can only see the three feet in front of them, but they can't take those words seriously."

"The Luzon problem is not between the Luzon company and the locals, people are greedy and insufficient, and the locals only think about their own profits, but they don't think that these profits are what the Luzon company deserves."

These words made Li Kezai and others secretly dissatisfied, as the governor, you have to maintain the Luzon company, and there must be some unsightly interests behind this.

Zhou Ning smiled slightly: "Your Highness and you, do you think that Old Zhou and I have a leg with the Luzon Company?" ”

The five young men were distraught. With a reluctant smile, Zhou Ning said disapprehantly: "The entire Luzon thinks so, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate also thinks so, but so far they have not been able to impeach me in this matter." When I took over as Governor two years ago. He also deliberately sold the shares of the Luzon company, and His Majesty's instructions to Lao Zhou I kept in mind, and being innocent is the biggest capital to do things. ”

did not continue to play on this topic, let alone swear to ensure his integrity, Zhou Ning returned to the topic: "Let's Yinghua emphasize the unity of righteousness and benefit, why should I maintain the Luzon Company." Because this benefit is what the Luzon company should have, it is a righteous benefit. What was the situation in Luzon back then? What is the situation now? In just over ten years, there have been earth-shaking changes, is it up to the Luzon people themselves? ”

"Today's Luzon people, seven or eight out of ten are moved from Fujian and Guangdong. Who paid for the boat when they moved here, and who took out the money? Well, the money has been paid back gradually in three or five years. But who built the roads, and who built the cities. And who supports all walks of life? The country is buried in the homeland, and all this silver is from the Luzon company. Let's put it this way, Luzon used to be a half-baked land. Without the Luzon Company's reclamation and water diversion, can it become a land of ointment and fertilizer? ”

"When the state sets up a company trusteeship, it treats the matter of reclamation and colonization as a commercial matter, otherwise where would it come from so much money to open up new land? The Luzon company planted trees in the front, and it had to enjoy the shade in the back. If this business turns out to be a loss-making business, who else wants to throw a lot of money overseas? ”

Zhou Ning concluded: "The people of Luzon have been making trouble and trying to turn Luzon into a separate province. If they were allowed to succeed and lose the profits of the Luzon Company, what would the colonization companies in Nanyang and even Nanzhou and Dongzhou think? They've worked hard. But he made a wedding dress for someone else, which is not reasonable. In order to appease these people, the Luzon Company's profits last year were greatly reduced, and the shareholders of the country, large and small, complained. ..., Li Kezai secretly said that the profit was a big loss, and he didn't know the company's financial reporting methods. Hui Niangniang once used a listed company as an example to explain how the arithmetic man used his hands and feet on numbers, but he did not break the law at all.

However, the principles adhered to in Zhou Ning's words, as well as the description of the impact of the Luzon problem, made Li Kezai have to nod, this matter really can't just listen to the Luzon people's statement, Jia Yifan was born in Luzon, of course, only for the Luzon people.

Zhou Ning's next words made Li Kezai even more surprised: "Luzon wants to build a province, and the happiest people are not the locals in Luzon, but the bureaucrats in the country. Your Highness also knows that the rule of officials has always been a big article, and His Majesty has put most of his efforts on this in the past two years. Fortunately, there are forces from all sides to contain it, and the bureaucracy does not dare to be too presumptuous. However, overseas, both the Metropolitan Procuratorate and public opinion are separated by a layer and cannot see the truth clearly, and most of the overseas people are immigrants, and their foundation is not strong, which is not enough to restrain the bureaucracy. "Overseas is a place of bureaucratic bliss. Now the ministry is gradually gaining momentum, what is the reason? It is to hold the power of distribution of overseas officials. Last year, the Metropolitan Procuratorate investigated and handled many cases of officials, one of whom was a Cao member, and a mere seven-grade Cao member, was able to accept bribes of tens of thousands of yuan, why? He is in charge of the acknowledgment of vacancies of overseas officials. When making a list of vacancies, he can report them or delay them by virtue of his authority, and there is a huge difference between the places where the vacancies are located. ”

Hearing this, Li Kezai frowned, this is different from what Jia Yifan said, and even his own impression. In the colonies, the colonial company was the big man, and the officials had to tie up with the colonial company. But in Zhou Ning's words, it seems that the official is the master of the colony.

Zhou Ning explained: "Let's talk about Luzon, Luzon's industrial and commercial affairs are under the management of the company, but industrial and commercial affairs have to rely on civil affairs, and it is difficult to promote them without the cooperation of officials." Therefore, the Luzon Company hired officials more to beg them to do their jobs well, rather than to oppress the Luzon people. ”

In this way, Li Kezai suddenly realized, no wonder the officials regard the colonial foreign appointments as fat and poor, there is no need to be corrupt, just human relations, and the colonial company can give enough sweetness.

He Yingfu, who was born as a civilian, said angrily: "The state sets a generous salary for officials, and scholars no longer read any false Taoist books, why is there such a thing?" Twenty years after the founding of the Yinghua Dynasty, am I about to catch up with the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? ”

Zheng Mingxiang hurriedly said: "When the water is clear, there are no fish, and the officials are not greedy for harming ......the people."

Zhou Ning is a super old fritter at the banquet, and he easily grabbed the topic and didn't let Li Kezai's four classmates quarrel with civilians and families. He sighed: "Lao Zhou said that he betrayed the old, His Royal Highness and all of you were born in this dynasty, but I have never seen what the old Qing officials were like. If it is in the old Qing Dynasty. His Royal Highness came to me Luzon as a prince, and Lao Zhou and I were able to gather hundreds of thousands of huge fortunes immediately to welcome His Highness, and take the opportunity to drop as much. It depends on how big Lao Zhou's own appetite is. And you will be surrounded by all kinds of officials, who will take the initiative to fill your purses, hoping to meet with His Highness and say personal favors. Where does all this money come from? Of course, it came from the people, but now ......"

Zhou Ning smiled: "Can I still do this now?" I'm afraid that as soon as Lao Zhou's words came out, the subordinate officials went straight to the patrol with the control letter, and tens of thousands of people could surround outside the governor's yamen in a moment. Denounce my old Zhou. And the country is ...... That's right, just like the way Your Highness and you look at me, I will be crazy when I am old Zhou! ”

He sighed: "No matter how strict the law is, there will always be something that cannot be taken care of, and the current greed of the officials is under the shade of this tree, not the darkness of the Manchu Qing Dynasty." ”

Li Kezai was really taught, but his mind turned back to the previous topic. began to wonder again, what did Zhou Ning mean by the turbulent undercurrent? ..., Zhou Ning said bluntly: "Accepting contacts is just a trivial matter. The undercurrent is in what the bureaucrats want, in the court! The Luzon people wanted to change the province, and the court also wanted to change the province. After the province is reformed, it is necessary to establish a county government according to local regulations, not only can the number of officials be increased by at least three times, but the financial power held by the company in the past can also be transferred to the hands of the court. In public and private, those civil officials in the court all want to kick out the company and eat the cake of Luzon. ”

He suppressed his voice: "Luzon turns the tube into a straight. Most of them were instigated by officials. The best way to do this is to push the locals against the Luzon company, and the bigger the trouble, the greater the company's losses in Luzon. In the end, for the stop loss, I had to lose Luzon. ”

"In the past few years, Luzon officials have been doing nothing, and as long as there is a dispute between the locals and the Luzon company, they have not done their duty to pacify, stabilize, and even add fuel to the fire."

Li Kezai is a little confused, aren't you the boss of the Luzon officials? Why do you still regard your own subordinates as the biggest cause of chaos in Luzon?

Zhou Ning shook his head and smiled: "Your Highness, I, the governor, is Your Majesty's hand, how can I only stand on one side?" My mission in Luzon was to supervise the officials to do their duty, to dissipate these undercurrents as much as possible, and to buy time for the final resolution of the Luzon problem. ”

The final solution?

Li Kezai suddenly felt that he was not too focused on the role of the navy and ignored the role of the prince, and it was difficult for him to come up with a solution.

Zhou Ning bowed his hand to a few people: "Your Highness and the navy officers and men are fighting bloodily, and they are also solving this problem. Luzon is going to be a province after all, but the interests of the shareholders must be ensured, so where can the compensation come from? His Majesty saw Tianzhu. Luzon is the land of the Chinese people, and the company does fair business, but Tianzhu is the land of foreigners, and it can be ...... You know, anyway, if you get Tianzhu, you will have great benefits. At that time, the Western company will expand its shares, accommodate the Luzon company, and make a profit in Tianzhu, which will be the best of both worlds. Li Kezai and the others pondered for a moment, and suddenly felt that what the navy and all the British and Chinese warriors fought for was really more than a false feats and glory, and the words "fighting for the country's interests" were extremely clear and profound in the Luzon incident.

Looking at his classmates who were flushed with pride, Li Kezai's mind sank again, the martial artists were fighting for the country's interests, but whether it was the court or civil officials, in short, the entire bureaucratic system, but in order to fight for their own interests, they did not hesitate to disturb Luzon. No wonder Old Man Duan often taught himself that if Yinghua is in trouble, the bureaucrats should be the culprits.

Zhou Ning laughed and said: "This matter has its own old Zhou, why should His Highness be careful......

The deep conversation between the banquet gave Li Kezai and his classmates a new understanding of Zhou Ning's impression, and when the banquet was over, Zhou Ning did not drag Li Kezai to Pulin for "training", which added another point to Li Kezai's good impression of him.

Since Zhou Ning was well aware of the situation in Luzon, and the main thing involved was the bureaucrats, and the bureaucratic leaders were Tang Youzeng and other old ministers, and he was not sure what kind of court dispute his words would cause, Li Kezai also dispelled the idea of telling his father about Luzon.

Unwilling to be too public, Li Kezai refused to send Zhou Ning directly onto the ship, and said goodbye outside the port area.

"Whew...... Finally settled this little ancestor, hoping that he could think twice, so as not to let His Majesty dig in Luzon. ”

Seeing Li Kezai and the others leave, Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief and muttered to himself in a low voice.

"Come on, call all the girls in Wanguolou, they should be hungry and thirsty!"

Returning to the previous restaurant, Zhou Ning beckoned, blonde, red, brown, black, and colorful beautiful shadows fluttered over, smiling and surrounding the governor. ..., "People can't be good-looking, and Governor Zhou is really worried about a country." ”

"Your Majesty does have a deep meaning in using him, we really think badly."

Entering the dock, the classmates were still discussing, and Li Kezai also secretly said that the world really can't be seen clearly with one eye, so pay more attention in the future.

"Isn't it over yet? It's been almost two hours. ”

Then they saw a group of people coming out of the water on the side of the contact boat, these were the boatmen, who were responsible for cleaning the bottom of the boat and carrying out the oysters, inspecting and repairing the hull. Civilian ships are only refurbished once every three to five months, while naval liaison ships have a higher maintenance level than warships, and they must be refurbished when they arrive at port. The liaison ship is only three or four hundred materials, and it doesn't take much time to ask such a question.

"The military master forgives the sins, the small ones are not manpowered......"

The boatman pleaded guilty in fear, and it could be seen that he was a man with little knowledge, and he was still very afraid of officials.

The shipwrights of Hanshan Port belong to the "official management of the military", which is equipped by the local Luzon Navy quota in order to ensure that the military port has the ability to maintain at any time. When the question continued, the foreman of the shipwright came up and only pleaded guilty, and did not say much.

It is related to the operation of the navy, Li Kezai is stubborn, and he must be asked to the end, the shipwright still dare not speak, Li Kezai pointed to Zheng Mingxiang next to him: "His uncle is Zheng Yong, Zheng Yong, you should know, right?" With him, he can help you with anything! ”

People in Hanshan Port can not know Hu Hanshan, but they can't not know Zheng Yong, as the main base of the Fubo Army, Zheng Yong, the commander-in-chief of the Fubo Army, has to come here to inspect both ends of the three days, and even the three-year-old child knows "Zheng Fubo".

The foreman also seemed to have found the object of his complaint, and kowtowed: "The small ones were supposed to be sixteen people in shifts, but the owner said it was too wasteful, so he took away four people, and the old boatmen were taken away, so they ......."

Li Kezai's forehead burst into bruises, so bold, dare to deduct the navy's quota? Who is this owner?

The foreman said sneeringly: "Small...... The little ones don't dare to say, yes, yes! The little one says! ”

He said a name, everyone shrugged their shoulders, Zheng Mingxiang was pointed out by Li Kezai as a bird, and he went into battle shirtless: "Say that his backstage, backer!" ”

The foreman said with a hint of despair: "Who else can there be?" If you don't climb to the governor-general, you can't do this in Luzon. ”

Li Kezai and the others were stunned, Zhou Ning!?

The foreman sighed, "Our owner is the governor's brother-in-law...... That's what the proprietor said. ”

After a moment's pause, he ordered the foreman to speed up, and the four of them escorted the iron-faced Li Ke onto the boat.

An Ping said: "When the water is clear, there are no fish...... It's just a trifle......"

Liu Zhi said angrily: "Little thing!? This is the sin of miscountry! Today, you can deduct the military quota for a few small money, and tomorrow you can sell the country for big money! ”

Li Kezai waved his hand to stop the argument, and his face eased: "This should just be Governor Zhou's lax discipline of his family, and the navy itself has not noticed it. ”

It's really just a small section, and everyone pressed their hearts, and they all said that there is really no innocent place in the world.

When I entered the official cabin, I was about to relax and wait for the ship to set sail, but there was already a person in the official cabin, and it seemed that I had been waiting for a long time.

This is a red-robed official, and when he saw Li Kezai, he knelt down with a puff, holding a scroll of documents high in both hands.

"He Jiting, the official of Qingsha County, sued Zhou Ning, the governor of Luzon, for forcibly occupying the people's daughters and covering the sky in vain!"

Li Kezai and his classmates were shocked again, their eyebrows were raised, and they didn't come back to their senses for a long time. (To be continued.)