From Wang Zunde's order to notify Haihan to send troops, to the reversal of the shape, the militia army repelled the pirates and recovered the lost city on Qiongzhou Island, it was only half a month, but for Wang Zunde, who had been waiting for news, it was like sitting on pins and needles every day. If Qiongzhou Island was really captured by a group of pirates, even if it was only half of the island, Wang Zunde would not be able to shirk the responsibility he had to bear as the governor of Liangguang.

The fact that the militia was able to regain the lost territory in such a quick time undoubtedly exceeded Wang Zunde's expectations, and he originally only expected that the Haihan people would be able to assist in the defense of Fucheng until the mainland side had completed the mobilization of troops and rushed to reinforcements. However, the concentration of troops in the mainland region was not so smooth, as of two days ago, only seventy percent of the troops ordered by Wang Zunde to be mobilized were in place, the number of troops was less than 10,000, and only fifty percent of the supplies needed for the army were in place.

In such a state of preparation, Wang Zunde did not dare to order the army to go to Qiongzhou Island, the city over there had been lost, and the garrison had been dispersed.

Wang Zunde was so excited that he couldn't help but stand up and said, "First send someone to Qiongzhou Island to verify whether the results are true...... Wait, don't the Haihan people have the skill of transmitting information for thousands of miles? Let them notify the Qiongzhou government and quickly report the results of the battle!"

"Your Excellency......" Liu Qian said cautiously, "The Haihan people still have some suggestions, I hope your lord can adopt them." ”

"Let's say, but ask for an official position? After the results of the battle are counted, the official will be a letter to the court and ask for merit. I don't dare to say that if I seal a few thousand households, this official can still do it. Wang Zunde twisted his beard and said unhurriedly.

Qiongzhou Island was in such a mess, and the garrison did not know how many establishments were broken up, but after the war, there must have been generals in the army who wanted to take the blame. When the time comes, vacating a few thousand seats and settling the military leaders of the Haihan people is also a matter of cleanup. Anyway, there are not a few civilian armed forces that have been canonized at will on Qiongzhou Island in the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, and almost every big Li Miao cottage has a hereditary official position, and the imperial court will not lose a piece of meat if it gives a few more titles to the Haihan people -- maybe there will be an additional armed force that can be used.

Liu Qian had to remind again: "My lord, those Haihan people...... I have no interest in the official position of our dynasty. ”

"Hmm......" was reminded by Liu Qian, Wang Zunde also remembered that the Haihan people had refused the canonization of the Guangdong government a year ago, and if they planned to ask for an official to do it, they would have relented at that time, and they would not wait until this time.

Wang Zunde muttered: "Could it be that the cost of this war is too great, and they want to ask the imperial court for some compensation? If they have this idea, then they can take care of trade in the future." ”

The limit of what Wang Zunde can do is at most to reduce or reduce the various taxes that Haihan needs to pay to the government in the future, and give some economic subsidies in disguise. As for getting the government to take money from the official treasury and stick it to the civilian armed forces, it is certainly absolutely impossible.

Liu Qian hesitated and said: "In terms of money, in fact, the Haihan people are not particularly concerned, this time the Lord ordered to transfer troops in the province to raise materials, and the Haihan people also donated five thousand taels of silver." The humble officials believe that the Haihan people do not cut the door when they spend money, and their demands have nothing to do with money. ”

"Then what are they asking for?" Wang Zunde was also a little puzzled when he heard this, one does not want official positions, and the other does not want money, these Haihan people have always been known for their shrewdness, why did they suddenly change their ways?

Liu Qian responded: "The Haihan people said that although they had recaptured several cities in these days, because the bandits' strength was far superior to that of the militias, there were still many rogues fleeing in the countryside, and the garrisons in the counties of Qiongzhou had been dispersed, and it was difficult to do anything for a while. In addition, there are still a large number of wounded soldiers in the Haihan militia who need to be treated nearby, so the Haihan people can apply to be able to garrison troops in various cities that have suffered from banditry to deal with the aftermath. ”

Wang Zunde thought about it for a while, and felt that this was also a reasonable request, so he nodded and said: "This matter is feasible, but their garrison in each city shall not exceed two hundred, and the rest of the personnel can be stationed outside the city to avoid extraneous trouble." ”

Liu Qian responded, and continued: "The Haihan people also have a request, that is, to ask the lord to issue a notice in the name of the imperial court, so that the militia can have the authority to deal with the remnants of pirates and spies in the local area, and act as an agent for local government affairs. ”

"There are a lot of pirate spies?" Wang Zunde did not rush to show his attitude, but asked rhetorically first.

Liu Qian replied: "According to the Haihan people's summons, more than 200 people were arrested in Fucheng alone. If they hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid they would have been exploited by Neiying to open the city gate and let the thieves enter the city!

"Thieves are so rampant!" Wang Zunde couldn't help but sigh.

"Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai and other places of the government yamen are said to have been destroyed in the war, Danzhou Huang Zhizhou committed suicide when the city was broken, and Lingao, Chengmai and other places officials, also have been taken away by thieves, temporarily do not know their whereabouts. At present, the government and military affairs of these places are managed by the Haihan people. As for the specific situation of the official vacancies, it is estimated that it will take some time before detailed results can be reported. Liu Qian persuaded Wang Zunde step by step according to the rhetoric prepared for him by the Haihan people.

This time, when the Haihan people sent a report on the battle situation, they did not come empty-handed, Liu Qian added 2,000 taels of silver to the account of the Haihan Bank out of thin air, on the condition that he could persuade Wang Zunde to agree to some of the conditions that Haihan put forward next. Although Liu Qian had already noticed the unscrupulous attempt of the Haihan people to spend money to buy him as a lobbyist, he had already collected thousands of taels of silver in the front, and the Haihan people promised that there would be a lot of silver in the future, and Liu Qian really couldn't resist such a temptation.

What's more, the Haihan people also gave him a way back, if Wang Zunde was angry with him because of the previous incident in the future, Haihan would protect his whole family and go to Qiongzhou Island to accept the protection of Haihan.

Now there are a number of people in Guangdong who have accepted the protection of Haihan, and Liu Qian still has a number, and all of them are big families with heads and faces in the province. At the beginning, Panyu Lijiazhuang was besieged by the Liukou army, and even the officers and soldiers did not dare to send troops to rescue, and in the end, the Haihan people sent troops to relieve the siege, the reason is that the Li family has long been included in the protection of the Haihan. After that, the protection of the Haihan people was like a spell, attracting many insecure large families to join the Haihan trade network.

With both silver to take and a way back, Liu Qian really couldn't find a reason to reject the Haihan people. So he took the cash ticket and once again played the role of lobbyist.

Originally, Liu Qian thought that this kind of wording of the Haihan people might not be of much effect, but He Xi told him that the key to this was that the information held by the two sides was completely unequal. Now every Qiē on Qiongzhou Island is under the control of Haihan, and the only source of information that the Governor of Liangguang can get is Haihan's side. All official information channels between Qiongzhou Island and the mainland have been blocked by Haihan, and it will be at least a month or two before the non-governmental channels slowly spread the situation on Qiongzhou Island to the mainland, and this time is enough for Haihan to complete his plan.

In other words, the information that Wang Zunde can understand now is only what Haihan wants him to understand, and the decisions he can make with this information will be difficult to escape the direction that is favorable to Haihan, at best, it is only a different process that is favorable.

After Liu Qian said this, Wang Zunde was really anxious: "If there is no one in charge of government affairs in the local area, it is absolutely impossible, you quickly prepare the documents, and let the prefecture send personnel to the counties to deal with it temporarily, and Haihan can send someone to assist." In addition, let the Haihan people hurry up to count the casualties of officials, and then report to the imperial court as soon as possible, and deploy manpower to make up for the shortfall. ”

He Xi couldn't help but laugh out loud after reading the official document issued by the Governor's Palace: "This is much smoother than what we originally planned! Wang Zunde didn't have any suspicions at all, and was still urging us to hurry up!"

Marik, who was sitting next to him, responded: "Wang Zunde can't help it, this is probably the only thing he can do now." If he wants to know the truth, he must go to Qiongzhou Island to see it in person. If he really dares to go, then we will simply occupy Guangdong together!"

"If you occupy it, you can't govern it. He Xi shook his head with a smile and said: "In the area occupied this time, the county seat is equipped with a leading group of at least three people, and there are more than five people in the state city. In this breath, dozens of people were separated from the base camp, and it was just a Qiongzhou Island. If you want to occupy Guangdong, it is estimated that many places can only be handed over to the Ming people to take care of themselves, can the Executive Committee let go of this heart?"

"You have a point. Marik nodded and agreed with He Xi's opinion: "Although the naturalized cadres have also trained a lot now, most of them can only do things according to the rules, and there are still too few people who can stand alone. The last time I went back to Sanya for a meeting, I also discussed the issue of cadre reserve with Mr. Tao, and he believed that it would take at least two to three years to consolidate our rule on Qiongzhou Island and complete the reserve of grassroots naturalized cadres before we could continue to expand outward. ”

"It's good to be able to complete these steps in two or three years. He Xi calculated: "After the fight against Qiongbei, how to turn all the more than 200,000 people on the island into naturalized people is a headache for the executive committee." It's not difficult to say, but it's not easy to say, and it won't be able to complete this work in a short period of time. ”

"It's not our turn to have a headache for the time being, so let's get the matter at hand done first, and hurry up to send a telegram to the base camp to tell them the news. Marik got up and said, "At this time, I have to go out and let off steam." ”

Marico's so-called release is also part of the follow-up plan. With such a big incident happening on Qiongzhou Island, several prefectures and counties have been breached, local government offices have been destroyed, and a large number of officials have disappeared, and the Guangdong authorities will certainly not sit idly by and ignore this situation. When the situation calms down, Guangdong will definitely send a group of officials to Qiongzhou Island to fill the vacant posts. As for who to send, this will definitely have a very direct impact on Haihan's rule on Qiongzhou Island, so the Guangzhou Office will not sit idly by and miss the opportunity, but will take the initiative to attack, and Marico will ventilate and blow the wind to some selected large households, so that the officials behind them can start as soon as possible and seize the opportunity.

The people selected in advance by the Guangzhou Office are naturally vested interests closely related to the interests of Haihan, and even if these people get the order of the imperial court officials to fill the vacancies and go to Qiongzhou Island, it will be easier for Haihan to control them.

As He Xi expected, the base camp was not much easier after receiving the telegram sent back by the Guangzhou Office, and the Executive Committee held a two-night meeting to discuss the next strategy in the northern Qiongbei area.

In fact, the general direction has been determined long before the action, which is nothing more than to control the military and political power and gradually absorb the local people into the Haihan system. Of course, these works were already going on before the attack on Qiongbei, and now they are just making the means under the table public, so as to speed up the promotion of the Haihan system.

However, even if the big goals are the same, there will still be a lot of disagreements, such as whether the various cities in northern Qiongbei should maintain the existing social system, or immediately start to promote the Haihan system locally, in fact, there are still different opinions.

Those in favor believe that the iron should be struck while the iron is hot, and when the people's hearts are towards Haihan, we should do our best to complete the local political transition, so that the people can start to adapt to the social system of Haihan as soon as possible. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that an overly impatient approach would make the people feel uneasy, and might even provoke a popular uprising -- especially given the large number of landlords in northern Qiongbei, and that there would certainly be great pressure to implement the Haihan system of public ownership of land in the local area. Although the troops of the Haihan militia were based in the north, and it was easy to deal with the ordinary landlord forces, the Executive Committee was reluctant to carry out large-scale armed repression in areas where control had already been obtained.

Finally, after discussion, the promotion of the system in Qiongbei should be divided into two steps. First of all, the civil administration of Haihan was established in various cities to achieve actual control over the local area, and to eliminate those unstable people and forces who were obviously hostile to Haihan. The second step is to implement the social system, economic and financial system of Haihan in the local area. As for the land issue, which is of great concern to everyone, the Executive Committee did not consider it advisable to force it at once at present, at least until the rule of the Haihan in the northern part of Qiongbei was firmly established. In view of the actual situation that may arise in the transition of power, this buffer period has been tentatively set at six months.

The military's view of this was that this was a compromise on the part of the radical moderates in the Executive Committee, but the military, which is a natural member of the radicals, breathed a rare sigh of relief this time – a buffer period that should save them a lot of trouble.