Wei Ping continued: "After the leaders of Haihan settled in Yulin, the people of Yazhou also benefited a lot. In the past, who would have wanted to move to the ends of the earth to settle down in exile? Speaking of Sanya now, who doesn't know that this is one of the best places on Qiongzhou Island? Brother Li can inquire everywhere, but there are still people who are too poor to afford to eat within a radius of dozens of miles?

Li Qingyang was silent, he is not the kind of aristocrat who does not know the suffering of the people, the life that ordinary people want is nothing more than to be fed, clothed and warm, and do not need to fight, he still understands this truth. The Haihan people have obviously done quite well in this regard, and have already gained considerable prestige among the people, and probably a considerable part of the local people have only the executive committee in their hearts, and there is no such thing as the imperial court.

After coming out of the Inspection Division, Lin Nan took Li Qingyang to the naval division's station. It is said that the sailor is stationed, but in fact, the sailor does not even have a real warship in Victory Harbor. Now, if Haihan has any major foreign military action, it will definitely not work if he wants to borrow troops from Yacheng Water Village to watch his family like he did in the previous two years. The original few warships in Yacheng Water Village have all been converted into cargo ships, and the sailors have also turned into sailors and crews, trafficking the Haihan salt produced in Shengli Port and Tielu Port to all ports on the island for the salt dealer Luo Shengdong.

Li Qingyang followed Lin Nan into the courtyard of the sailor's station, and was startled by what he saw in front of him. It was not as solemn as in the barracks, but rather like a market, and a large crowd of people gathered in the courtyard in front of the hall were talking loudly. If it weren't for the people who maintained order in the courtyard wearing the uniforms of the Ming Army, Li Qingyang would really think that he had gone to the wrong place and entered a certain chamber of commerce.

Lin Nan called a soldier over and asked, "Where is General Luo?"

The soldier glanced at the bronze security badge on Lin Nan's chest, and replied respectfully: "This chief, wait a minute, the villain will go and inform Lord Luo." ”

After a while, Luo Shengdong came out of the house, but the group of people in the courtyard saw him appear and immediately rushed up. Luo Shengdong stretched out his hand to cut these people apart, and said loudly: "Don't squeeze! Whoever squeezes and waits will have no share!"

As soon as these words came out, it really had an immediate effect, allowing him to pass through the crowd smoothly and come to Lin Nan: "Master Lin, you are a busy person, but you have nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Palace, I don't know if it is a private matter or an official business when you come here today?"

Lin Nan said with a smile: "I'll bring this Mr. Li over to recognize the road, it's official business!"

Luo Shengdong looked at Li Qingyang for a moment, hugged his fists and said: "Luo Shengdong, the general of the Yacheng Water Division, has seen Mr. Li!"

Li Qingyang hurriedly returned the salute with his fists, Luo Shengdong is the highest-ranking Ming official he has seen since he came to Sanya, and this courtesy is still indispensable.

Luo Shengdong said: "It's a big day outside, please follow me to the house to talk." ”

Luo Shengdong took the two of them to the front hall, and Li Qingyang was shocked to find that although it was the layout of the yamen hall, what he did had nothing to do with the White Tiger Festival Hall in the army. There were several tables on the left and right of the hall, and behind each table sat a bookkeeper, who was calculating something with an abacus.

Luo Shengdong asked people to bring two chairs over, added them behind the desk, and then invited the two to sit down. Li Qingyang saw that this position was a little sensitive, so he hurriedly excused himself, Luo Shengdong smiled and said: "It's okay, just sit down, we don't do business here, we only talk about business!"

Seeing that Lin Nan also nodded, Li Qingyang sat down. Luo Shengdong pointed to the crackling people in the hall: "They are now calculating the sales of last month's salt, and after settling the accounts, they will start to issue the next month's salt quota." The group of people waiting in the courtyard outside were the traffickers from various states and counties on Qiongzhou Island who had come to get salt. ”

"Illegal salt?" Li Qingyang immediately reacted and asked Luo Shengdong. The sale of salt in Daming can only be done by obtaining a written certificate issued by the Salt Division, and the salt merchant can then use this thing to go to the salt field to obtain the corresponding quota of salt. And this process has nothing to do with the Daming Water Master, let alone the fact that the Water Master Yamen will lead the salt sales. However, Li Qingyang had heard of the sailors on the southeast coast who were engaged in illicit salt trafficking by virtue of their own transportation capacity, but he didn't expect that the sailors here in Yazhou would be so unscrupulous in participating in the sale of illicit salt, and they directly organized the sale in the court.

Luo Shengdong shook his head and said: "For the imperial court, it is indeed private salt, but for the people of Qiongzhou Island, the salt sold here is official salt!"

Li Qingyang asked puzzledly: "An official is an official, and a private is private, why are there two sayings?"

"There is only Haihan's salt farm on Qiongzhou Island that is producing salt now, and this is the only one, where can you buy it if you don't buy it here? The officials and gentlemen in Qiongzhou Mansion City also eat salt here, but no one dares to mention banning Haihan's salt, do you say this is private salt or official salt?" Luo Shengdong replied proudly.

With the commissioning of Yingge Haiyan Farm, Haihan's salt production capacity has far exceeded the consumption needs of more than 200,000 people on Qiongzhou Island, and the Danzhou Salt Farm in the north of Qiongzhou Island has long been defeated by Haihan's low-price dumping of salt, and the salt source of the entire Qiongzhou Island has been concentrated in Haihan's hands. Although it is in the nature of illicit salt, it can already be sold openly on the market, and the government has no intention of banning it - of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that most of the distributors in the states and counties have official backgrounds.

The business of private salt has never been played by a few private salt dealers, which must involve the interests of many people, Li Qingyang was born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it is a place where salt merchants gather, and he also knows all kinds of tricks in the salt business, so Li Qingyang has already understood Luo Shengdong's statement as soon as he heard it. However, Li Qingyang was still a little dissatisfied with the fact that the Haihan people actually controlled the salt trade on Qiongzhou Island: "The local official salt supply is insufficient, so there are no salt merchants who sell it from the mainland?"

As soon as these words came out, Luo Shengdong and Lin Nan couldn't help laughing, Li Qingyang didn't know what he said wrong, so he could only watch them blankly and finish laughing.

"Mr. Li, I won't tell you the truth, nearly half of the official salt on the market in Guangdong is actually sold by Haihan. Luo Shengdong pointed to the people standing in the patio outside: "Among those people, there are many salt merchants from the mainland, do you think they will transport the salt back to the mainland first, and then bring it back to Qiongzhou Island to sell it again?"

"Then why don't they buy salt in Sanya and sell it nearby?" asked Li Qingyang.

Luo Shengdong gave a thumbs up and pointed at himself: "Lao Tzu is responsible for the salt on Qiongzhou Island, and no one else is allowed to sell salt on Qiongzhou Island without permission! The salt they buy here can only be shipped back to the mainland to sell!"

Haihan's current salt production system is mainly composed of three major salt farms plus a salt company responsible for unified sales, in order to save manpower and transportation capacity, there are many regional agents like Luo Shengdong under the salt company. Of course, among all the agents, Luo Shengdong is a special one, because he "came from the dragon" early, so the territory under his jurisdiction is almost the largest among all agents. In order to be able to take care of the business in the north of Qiongzhou Island, Luo Shengdong specially bought two replacement 400-material seagoing ships from the Ministry of Shipping this year, and has already placed an order with the Ministry of Shipping, ordering two "exploration-class" merchant ships that will only be delivered early next year.

Originally, the quota distribution for these mainland salt merchants was not Luo Shengdong's business, but recently the office of the salt company was moved out of Shenglibao, but it had not had time to complete the interior decoration and could not work for the time being, so the water division yamen temporarily acted as part of the functions of the salt company, and gathered the mainland agents who came to Sanya to buy salt in this courtyard to wait for the quota to be issued.

Luo Shengdong felt that it didn't matter, anyway, the Navy Master Yamen had nothing to do now, and even such things as patrolling at sea had already been done by the Haihan Navy.

Soon a subordinate came to report that the accounts had been settled and that the quota could be distributed. Luo Shengdong nodded and said: "Then let's start to get it, your salt company will settle the accounts by yourself, and I won't be responsible for the business trip!"

These things of cleaning up the accounts and issuing salt vouchers were all carried out by the staff of the salt company, and Luo Shengdong did not directly intervene, that is, he set up an office space to help maintain order.

Next, someone stood at the door and began to call according to the region: "Yong'an Office...... Lemin ...... Haikang Law Firm ...... ...... of the Haian Institute Tips, call the name to go into the house to go through the formalities!"

When Li Qingyang heard this, this area was actually divided according to the establishment of the Wei Institute, and he didn't want to know that these so-called salt merchants probably had some official background. If he was familiar with the coast of Guangdong, he would be able to tell that the places he had just called were all within the territory of Leizhou Prefecture.

These salt merchants, who had previously deposited the money for the purchase of salt into the designated account of the Haihan Bank, now took the bank receipts and went here to collect the salt receipts, and then went to the three major salt factories to transport the salt themselves.

In fact, in terms of the process alone, the salt company's sale of salt is almost the same as the method adopted by the Daming Salt Division, which is to pay the money first and then receive the salt. I must say that there is any difference, that is, the salt company will not directly contact the cash, and the possibility of the handling personnel playing favoritism and committing fraud and enriching their own pockets will be eliminated in a certain process.

When Li Qingyang saw the public court of the water master yamen, he actually blatantly began to sell illicit salt, and he felt ridiculous for a while. But he also knew very well how amazing the benefits involved in this business were, he had seen the wealth of the Huaiyang salt merchants, and the area covered by the Haihan private salt had at least a population of hundreds of thousands, and its profits must have been considerable.

Li Qingyang couldn't help but glance at Luo Shengdong again, he had seen many eunuchs and eunuchs go to work as salt merchants before, but he rolled up his sleeves for the officials and went into battle in person, and he was also a general and military attaché, which really broke his past cognition.

Luo Shengdong seemed to feel Li Qingyang's gaze, and took the initiative to speak: "If Mr. Li has anything unclear, just ask, I won't hide what I can say." ”

Unlike Wei Ping, Luo Shengdong had already been notified two days ago and asked him to "cooperate" with the Ministry of Security's persuasion work. Luo Shengdong himself came from the surrender faction, but he didn't understand the doorway in the middle, so he patted his chest and agreed immediately.

Li Qingyang opened his mouth and asked: "General Luo Shen will focus all his energy on this private salt business, dare to ask how the local coastal defense is?"

Luo Shengdong smiled and said: "How about coastal defense? I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, since the beginning of the Wanli period, it has been almost 20 years now, and Yacheng Shuizhai has never received any appropriation from the Ministry of War except for the annual salary! The latest warship in the Shuizhai was built in the 17th year of Wanli, and it has been almost 40 years now! Do you dare to go to sea to patrol with this kind of broken ship that is about to fall apart? At present, the coastal defense on the southern side of Qiongzhou Island is all under the responsibility of the Haihan militia group, and the people have money, ships, guns, and cannons, and can protect the port and fight pirates, so what else is there to say? What is wrong with us people who are idle and have nothing to do, so we simply come out to help the executive committee sell salt, run errands, and make a little money, and everyone gets along in harmony?

Li Qingyang was also speechless for a while after listening to it. The fact that the Daming Water Master stationed in Yacheng was so poor was indeed something he had never thought of beforehand. Of course, such a sailor will not have the confidence to confront the Haihan people who are wealthy and have strong ships and guns, and the Haihan people do not seem to have any intention of letting the Daming sailors disappear completely, and they actually divided a part of the private salt business to let these soldiers run errands. As Luo Shengdong said, the two sides have chosen to compromise in the face of interests and miraculously achieved harmony.

Of course, poverty is already a thing of the past, and now this Luo Shen General is one of the most famous wealthy businessmen in the local area. Since hugging Haihan's thigh, Luo Shengdong has hardly worried about money anymore. When Sanya New Town first launched the garden house, Luo Shengdong was also one of the first customers to place orders. And the fleet of the former Yacheng Water Village has now slowly become Luo Shengdong's private fleet. If it weren't for the fact that the Executive Committee still needed him to continue to hold the title of general, he would probably have taken off this skin a long time ago, quit the army and concentrate on being a smuggler of salt.

Luo Shengdong saw that Li Qingyang was silent, so he continued: "You don't have to feel discouraged, the leaders of Haihan have never said that they want to work against the Ming Dynasty, and the Executive Committee has governed this place well, aren't the people of the Ming Dynasty who benefit the most?"

Li Qingyang said in his heart that he didn't know if these people still regarded Daming as their belonging, at least as far as the situation was seen so far, the local people didn't seem to care much about whether this place belonged to Daming or Haihan.

"I guess you have a lot of things you can't figure out right now, but it's actually normal, and the people who came here are similar to you. Luo Shengdong said with a smile: "If you stay in this place for a few more days, you will naturally understand that it is good here." ”