"You ......" The fat officer pointed at the Haihan officer, so angry that he didn't know how to refute it.

The Haihan officer continued to say expressionlessly: "It's okay if you don't want to be inspected, we will send you back to Guangzhou by boat immediately." ”

"You Diao Min, aren't you afraid of the court's punishment!" the fat official still shouted fiercely and refused to admit defeat.

The officer's face became gloomy: "My lord, I don't think you have figured out the current shape of Qiongzhou Island. If you want to spend your term on the island in peace, it's best to keep your mouth shut first, and beware of the misfortune that comes out of your mouth!"

After the warning, the officer ordered the soldiers on standby: "Search this ship carefully, and do not let go of anything suspicious! If anyone obstructs it, it will be treated as a private pirate!"

The episode was not too controversial, and after receiving a stern admonition, the official who tried to make trouble quickly shut down. Because he also remembered that before he set off from Guangzhou, Liu Qian had warned them not to clash with the people of the Haihan militia after arriving in Qiongzhou, because few of these militiamen were Han Chinese, and they did not have much awe for the imperial court, let alone what the laws of the Ming Dynasty were. After the Qiongzhou Rebellion, the imperial court no longer had much actual control power in the local area, and once it clashed with these militias, the situation could not be controlled. And with the temperament of the Haihan people, they will probably choose to protect their shortcomings, rather than maintaining the dignity of the court.

After completing the checks and registration formalities required by the Haihans, the officials were finally allowed to land. All the officials were assembled, and then a Haihan man walked up to a simple wooden platform made of cargo boxes and addressed them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Qiongzhou. I am Qiu Yuan, the head of affairs in the northern part of Qiongbei appointed by the Haihan Executive Committee, and I am responsible for coordinating the restoration of order and the reconstruction of the management institutions in the entire Qiongbei region after the war before your arrival. I hope that after you take office, you will cooperate with our arrangements and work with us to restore social order in the northern part of Qiongzhou and calm the people. ”

Qiu Yuan paused, and then said: "The lord who took over from the Qiongzhou Mansion City, please go to the yamen with our guide staff to go through the handover procedures later." If you take over in other states or counties, you can choose to take up the post by land or sea, and someone will register for you later, and we will take care of the itinerary on the way. If you have any questions, please ask the reception staff around you. ”

After Qiu Yuan finished his brief speech, he left on his own, leaving behind a group of Ming officials who looked at each other. They originally thought that even if there was no welcome ceremony, at least the reception banquet should be arranged, after all, when they stopped at Lijiazhuang and Wanshan Port on the way, the local Haihan person in charge also arranged a simple banquet to greet them, which actually canceled such a little preferential treatment on the ground, and this gap made the officials feel a little unacceptable for a while.

"It's going to be a bad time in the future!" Yan Mingjun stood at the back of the crowd and sighed in a low voice.

Li Jin next to him heard it clearly, and asked sideways, "Why did Brother Yan say this?"

"When they were in Lijiazhuang and Wanshan Port, the Haihan people had to take into account the eyes of others, but when they arrived in Qiongzhou Mansion, they had nothing to worry about. Yan Mingjun smiled bitterly and said, "In other words, they don't need to take special care of our feelings anymore. ”

"We are officials of the Ming Dynasty, and they don't dare to do anything to us. Although Li Jin also somewhat agreed with Yan Mingjun's opinion, he still bit his mouth and refused to let go.

"Da Ming...... I'm afraid that in the eyes and hearts of these people, there is no place for Da Ming for a long time!" Yan Mingjun was irritable for a while, but he still didn't say this, for fear of being listened to by others.

Soon, a staff member came to lead the way and took away several officials who were going to take over the official positions in Fucheng. The rest of the people have to register one by one and arrange their next trip.

The only officials who took over in Danzhou this time were Yan Mingjun and Li Jin, and the person in charge of registering them was a half-grown man with a dark complexion, who looked like he was about sixteen or seventeen. Yan Mingjun asked curiously, "Are you a Li person or a Miao person?"

The young man stopped the pen in his hand, looked up at Yan Mingjun, and replied coldly: "I am a Haihan from Annan!"

"It turned out to be an immigrant from Annam. Yan Mingjun nodded and said, "This official sees that your character is well written, but the Haihan people taught it?"

The boy replied, "Exactly." ”

"But you have a lot of problems with this word, lack of strokes, many words are not even the right structure......" Yan Mingjun raised his background, this knowledge is naturally not bad, and at a glance, he found that there were many problems with the words written by this young man.

"This is Haihan script, easy to learn, easy to recognize and easy to write, and Haihan's schools are all learning this new script. The young man saw that Yan Mingjun was polite, so he patiently explained to him.

When Yan Mingjun heard this, his face became gloomy again: "Then the local students don't plan to take the imperial examination of the imperial court in the future?"

The young man responded: "What is the use of the imperial examination of the imperial court?"

"If you win the imperial examination, you can become a big official!" Li Jin next to him couldn't listen to it, and couldn't help but interject.

"Just like the two adults?" The young man looked at the two of them, and there was a smile on the corner of his mouth: "It doesn't matter if the big officials don't do it, I'm still happier to follow the leaders." ”

Li Jin's face also sank: "Are you looking down on us?"

The boy shook his head and said, "That's not true. Anyway, when the two of them go to the local area, they also want to work for the executive committee, so why should they be so clear? The official of the Ming Dynasty is just an identity, and it is of little use to me. ”

"Serving the Executive Committee?" Yan Mingjun noticed this sentence: "We are officials of the imperial court, how can we serve for this Haihan Executive Committee!"

The young man waved his hand and said, "I won't argue with the two of you about this issue, you will naturally understand it when you arrive in Danzhou." This is the letter of introduction and itinerary of the two, the two chose to take the boat over, you can go to the dock with the letter of introduction to take the shuttle boat we arranged, set off in the afternoon, and arrive at Danzhou Baimajing Wharf tomorrow morning. As for the luggage of the two of you and your entourage, someone will deliver it to the ship for you later. When you arrive in the area, you will be greeted by a special person. ”

Yan Mingjun took the two inked documents handed over by the young man, and saw that the seal stamped at the place where the payment was made was not the Qiongzhou Mansion, but the circular seal of the "Qiongzhou Mansion Provisional Management Committee", and there was an inexplicable five-pointed star pattern in the middle of the seal. The seal was apparently stamped on a blank paperwork first, and the teenager simply filled in their names and destinations on the stamped paperwork.

"Boat?" Yan Mingjun frowned and said, "Can't we prepare another boat for us?"

The young man responded: "The boat is arranged for free, and the two of you can hire a boat by yourself, but recently because of the crackdown on piracy, the Qiongzhou Strait is closed to navigation, and there are very few ships that can be allowed to go to sea, if you want to hire a boat, this trip will probably cost a hundred taels of silver......

"Forget it, what about taking the land route?" Li Jin interrupted without waiting for him to finish. A hundred taels of silver is not a small amount for him, although he also received two big red envelopes before and after when he came to take office, but he was not able to get back his investment in buying this position, and now of course he wants to save it.

The young man shook his head and said: "There are more than two hundred miles from Fucheng to Danzhou, and you can only go there by yourself. ”

"Just hire a few wagons for us. Yan Mingjun said: "The land route will not be banned, so it won't cost much to take this trip, right?"

"It's not a matter of money, the two adults probably also saw that Haikou Port is being renovated and dredging the sediment accumulated in the port berths. In addition, a new port is still being built ten miles west of here, not to mention the carriages near Fucheng, and even the cattle have all been requisitioned to pull carts on these two construction sites, and even if the two adults are willing to pay a high price, they will not be able to hire a car at the moment. The young man patiently explained: "The two adults can rest assured, this ship is also a regular ship registered under the name of our Haihan Shipping Department, although it is not as good as a special passenger ship, but it is not enough to let the two sleep in the cargo hold." After taking this letter of introduction, the person in charge of the ship will naturally arrange a qiē for the two and the entourage. ”

When the two left the registration office, they were still a little confused. But there was one thing they all realized, and that was that Haihan's control over the northern region of Qiongbei had exceeded their expectations before they came here. If the boy hadn't lied, the Haihan people would not only have been able to requisition cattle, horses, and cattle near Fucheng and organize the construction of large-scale projects here, but they would have also taken all the shipping industry along the northern coastline under their own management.

The two took their families with them, and according to the instructions on the letter of introduction, they found Pier No. 3 where the shuttle ship docked. Li Jin shouted from afar: "It's that ship!"

On the side of a lucky ship hangs a large wooden sign more than three feet long, on which are written in ink the words "Fucheng - Danzhou", and on the side of the ship below the wooden sign is the ship's ship number "Qionghai No. 27", which is as correct as the note on the letter of introduction.

After checking the letters of introduction, the captain of the ship let them aboard the ship, arranged the only four cabins on the ship, and soon had their luggage delivered to the ship. Yan Mingjun took a look at the air and talked with the boss of the boat, only to know that he was originally a victim of the disaster in Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture two years ago, and happened to meet the Haihan people who were in charge of food and housing to recruit immigrants, so he brought his family to Qiongzhou. Because he was a fisherman before, he was also assigned to work at sea after he came, but he stopped fishing, but ran the sea.

Yan Mingjun asked: "It is said that the Haihan people have a big situation in Yazhou, what kind of situation is it, can you tell this official?"

The boat boss replied: "The villain is stupid, he hasn't been to many places, and he can't describe it, but Sanya is indeed a good place, and it is much more prosperous than this city." Ordinary people live and work in peace and contentment, there is no need to worry about any natural disasters**, as long as there is an executive committee, there is no problem that cannot be solved. ”

"There is no government in the local area?" Li Jin immediately interjected and asked as soon as he heard this.

"Yes, the yamen in Yacheng are still there, and there are also inspection departments and sailor offices here in Sanya, but they don't take care of things anymore, just to make a show to the outside world. The boat boss smiled and said, "The two adults came to Qiongzhou to be officials, but they are blessed!"

Yan Mingjun asked puzzledly, "How do you say this?"

"As an official in Qiongzhou, you don't have to do anything, the executive committee can govern the local area in an orderly manner, and you don't need to worry about it...... "The boat boss said nonchalantly.

When both of them heard this, their hearts sank. There is no doubt that in some places on Qiongzhou Island, the functions of the government have been completely hollowed out by the Haihan people, and it is not the Ming government that governs locally, but the Haihan Executive Committee, which came later. However, it is difficult for the local government to have a good response to this change, whether it is economic, military or governance, the Haihan people seem to be much stronger. Moreover, as soon as their usual method of opening the way with silver tickets was used, how many officials could withstand this temptation? At least the two of them were not able to resist it, and both of them accepted the silver sent by the Haihan people in Guangzhou.

"The two adults don't have to think that there is anything wrong with this, the villain is happy to see those adults in Cliff City. The imperial court's salary is a lot of money, and Haihan will also pay them special expenses, and they don't have to worry about local government affairs, I don't know how easy it is!" The boat boss sighed: "A few adults have also bought real estate in Sanya and moved from Yacheng to Sanya to settle down, how comfortable and comfortable this life is!"

"You don't feel ...... It's not the government but the executive committee that manages the place, is there anything wrong with this?" Yan Mingjun still couldn't help but want to make sure again.

"What's wrong?" the boat boss sneered: "When the government was in power, no one took care of the disaster in the area, and the villain mortgaged the family's house and fishing boats to exchange for enough food for the family to live for a month. The life-saving food was all eaten, but the government still had no tricks, so they had to flee for survival. Since the villain hit Haihan's place, he has not had a day of lack of food and clothing, and the chiefs have also given him a place to live, so that the children can go to school for free, do you say that the government can give the villain such a life?"

"But the Haihan people are not ......orthodox after all," Yan Mingjun was about to persuade a few words, but the boat boss shook his head and interrupted him: "Orthodoxy, the villain doesn't understand, and he doesn't need to understand, the villain only knows, follow the leaders of the Haihan to do things, have no worries about food and clothing, have a stable income, and live better day by day, this is better than the orthodoxy with a hungry stomach, right?"

"You are heresy!" Yan Mingjun also felt that he didn't know how to refute him, so he had to forcibly classify him.

Chuanlao Dao: "It doesn't matter what adults think, whether it's good or not, we people naturally have rods and scales in their hearts." ”