For the same pay, the work done is familiar and much easier than that of laborers, and these servants are naturally happy. As for monitoring the daily speech and even daily behavior of Lord Zhizhou for Haihan, in their opinion, there is not much moral baggage. The sense of existence of these servants has always been dependent on the powerful, and if they do not have shelter, they are no different from ordinary people - just as they used to work on the construction site.

Now in Danzhou, who is the person who controls the general trend, ordinary people may not be as clear as those who have served in the public like them. The entire ruling institution of the Ming Dynasty in Danzhou had been purged by the pirate army, and after the arrival of the Haihan people, they did not try to restore the original model at all, but directly introduced the Haihan-style ruling system - a new organization headed by the management committee. And it was no longer the three classes of officials who assisted the management committee in exercising its ruling power, but the Haihan police and the militia group. It is no exaggeration to say that the local influence of the Ming Dynasty is now more than an order of magnitude worse than that of Haihan. Even if the imperial court sent a member of the Wupin to Danzhou, it would do nothing to change the situation here, and even if the new Lord Yan was capable, it would be impossible to fight against the rich and powerful Haihan on his own.

"Follow the Haihan people to eat", this sentence has not only become the consensus of the local people, but also have the same experience among them. Although the rules of the Haihan people are strict and numerous, the remuneration and corresponding guarantees are indeed better than the level of the Ming Dynasty.

The most important thing is that what the Haihan people are doing now is something that the Ming government is unable to complete, or has not conceived at all, and the Haihan people are realizing these ideas little by little in an orderly manner, from the perspective of the middle and lower classes of the society, the Haihan government's governance and management ability is obviously much stronger than that of the local government of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with Daming, Haihan is more reliable, and the local people have a clearer understanding from last year's banditry.

After a few months, the imperial court did not send a single tael of silver to the relief, nor did it send a single soldier or soldier to restore the social order here in Danzhou, and in the end only waited for two commanders of the light poles, one man and one military, to rebuild Danzhou or to meet the situation? Even if no one would talk about this kind of thing publicly, the people would naturally have an opinion on such a situation in their hearts. Compared with what the Haihan people have been doing in Danzhou, which is better and which is worse, as long as the people are not blind, they can tell the difference.

After Yan Mingjun had breakfast, he changed into his official uniform and came to the front yard again, and saw that the officials were carrying in the tables, plaques and other things that were originally used in the Danzhou Prefecture Ya Hall. The courtyard prepared by Haihan was originally used by the East Factory, and there was also a small public hall, but when it was necessary to stuff all these things into the state government hall, the place seemed a little cramped.

Seeing this, Yan Mingjun could only laugh at himself: "That's fine, otherwise the place will be big, and the few of you will look empty standing in the public court." ”

Although the office space is arranged, it is ironic that there is no official business that Yan Mingjun needs to handle at the moment. At present, the military and political affairs within the jurisdiction of Danzhou are managed and coordinated by the Danzhou Provisional Management Committee, and Yan Mingjun wants to have something to do at hand, so he can only wait for the management committee to transfer the official business that needs to be handled to him. Of course, based on the attitude he expressed at the reception banquet yesterday, the management committee will definitely not take the initiative to fulfill his wish in a short period of time.

Yan Mingjun himself is not an idle person, otherwise he would not have tossed up and down to ask for an alternate official position thousands of miles away. After sitting in the temporary yamen for a long time, Yan Mingjun simply went back to the backyard to change into civilian clothes, and then let the officials disperse to rest, but only stopped the leader He Qi.

"He Qi, are you familiar with the local people?" Yan Mingjun planned to go out to Weifu for a private visit, but he still had to have someone familiar with him to do this, and in his opinion, only He Qi had a little credibility around him for the time being.

He Qi responded: "Back to the adult, the villain is the Danzhou people, if the adult wants to go out to visit the people, the villain is willing to be an entourage." ”

"That's very good. Yan Mingjun nodded and said, "You go and change your outfit and go out for a walk with the official." ”

He Qi also changed into civilian clothes, and then the two of them walked out of the temporary yamen. As for how to deal with the various demands put forward by the new officials, the relevant departments of Haihan have conducted simple training for He Qi in advance. Similar to the behavior of Weifu's private visit, Haihan's order to He Qi was to go with him, as long as the personnel were arranged to monitor him closely. Of course, since Yan Mingjun will point to his head, He Qi does not plan to let others earn this overtime pay.

Danzhou, as the cultural center of Qiongzhou Island, is still quite lively in the city. The damage caused by last year's war in the city was actually quite limited, mainly concentrated in the official district north of the city. However, He Qi took Yan Mingjun to the business and cultural districts in the south of the city, which not only did not leave any traces of war, but because of the strong intervention of Haihan Commerce and Trade after the war, the market here became more lively and prosperous than before the war.

Yan Mingjun casually entered a few shops on the side of the road, and easily noticed that at least half of the items sold in these shops were made by Haihan, and these items were obviously much cheaper than similar goods produced by Daming, and the price was also lower than the similar Haihan goods that Yan Mingjun had seen in Luodingzhou. Of course, this reason is very simple, after all, the cost of transporting goods from Sanya to Danzhou is two completely different concepts from transporting goods to the inland of Guangdong.

However, these commodities, which are extremely competitive in the inland of Guangdong, are sold at a lower price here, so you can imagine how high their market share is. After Yan Mingjun turned a few shops, he found that daily necessities such as rice, salt, and coal seemed to have been monopolized by Haihan goods. He is not a foolish person who only knows how to make a profit, after all, he is an official who has experience in local governance, and he still has a certain sensitivity to such a monopoly operation.

Putting aside the complicated principles of the economy, if Qiongzhou Island gradually breaks away from its dependence on the mainland in terms of material supply, then how can the imperial court control this overseas enclave? It is obviously impossible to rely on military means, and this is already the situation in northern Qiongzhou, not to mention the old nest of the Haihan people in southern Qiongnan. It is not practical to rely on the people's hearts, there are tens of thousands of Li and Miao people on this island who are close to the Ming Dynasty, and now from the situation in Danzhou, the people's hearts seem to be gradually deviating from the Ming side, and the Haihan people are all kinds of "tricks" to attract a lot of supporters. The rest of the means can only be a simple administrative order, but Yan Mingjun's own experience has shown that this method has been ineffective locally, and he is now completely hollowed out, and there is no means to resist at all.

After leaving the store, Yan Mingjun asked He Qi: "This official heard that there is also an official salt farm in Danzhou, why is the salt on the market all marked as produced by Haihan?"

He Qi responded: "Lord Huiyan, the local salt factory has ceased production two years ago, and since then, the local traders have only sold the refined salt produced by Haihan. ”

"The local salt farm can't be operated because the price is not as good as this Haihan salt?" Yan Mingjun is also a smart person, and combined with what he saw just now, he reasoned the correct answer.

He Qi said: "My lord Mingjian, this Haihan salt is nearly thirty percent cheaper than local salt, and it is much finer, and local salt merchants naturally choose cheap purchases." After a long time, the salt farmers in the local salt works lost their income, so they naturally refused to continue their work. The Haihan made another offer, hired all these salt farmers, and sent them to work in their own salt works. ”

Yan Mingjun said: "The salt class is far away in Guangzhou, and it must be impossible to control the Haihan people from trafficking illicit salt on Qiongzhou Island. But the Haihan people set the price of salt so low, so how can they feed so many salt farmers?"

He Qi said in his heart that the Haihan people were not only trafficking illicit salt on Qiongzhou Island, but even in Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Gaozhou on the other side of the strait, the people in most places were eating Haihan salt. Besides, the salt transport team of the Haihan people is all armed escort, and the shipping on the island is even openly smuggled under the banner of the Daming Sailor, so what can the salt department do to them even if they come?

"Hui Yan, although the villain has not been to the salt field of the Haihan people, but I heard that their salt works are built quite large, the salt is not the stone trough used in the local salt place, all are large pools of several zhang square, and the labor required for the salt making method is much less than the traditional salt making method, and the salt produced is ten times better than the Ming salt household, which is low in price but still has a huge profit. He Xi slandered his belly, but he still answered Yan Mingjun's question as he knew.

"And the same is true of rice, pig iron, and coal?" Yan Mingjun continued.

He Qi responded: "Your Excellency's expectations are not bad. ”

Although Yan Mingjun had already expected it, he was inevitably a little frustrated when he heard He Qi's answer. These commodities needed for people's livelihood are all controlled by the Haihan, and if the Ming Dynasty wants to regain the control of the local area, it is not a simple administrative or military means to solve it. Otherwise, even if Danzhou is taken back, there is not enough supply of living materials in the local area, and there will be chaos among the people.

Yan Mingjun shook his head, he was not interested in visiting the shops anymore, turned around and walked to a teahouse, intending to take a rest. Xiao Er saw that Yan Mingjun was not dressed like a civilian, and he brought his entourage, so he recruited the two of them to go up to the second floor. Yan Mingjun didn't have any severance, so he let He Qi also sit down.

The seats were separated by screens, and after Xiao Er finished serving hot tea and pastries, Yan Mingjun heard that the people at the table next door were talking about the appointment of the new official, and he immediately pricked up his ears.

I heard one of them say: "This time, the imperial court has sent two new adults to Danzhou to take up their posts, and it seems that the imperial court still has no intention of losing this place." ”

Another slightly rougher voice responded: "What the imperial court plans is not the point now, and the future situation in Danzhou depends on the meaning of the Haihan people." ”

The man from before asked, "Brother Zheng, do you have any inside information?"

The man known as Brother Zheng said: "Yesterday, my father also went to the reception banquet of the two new adults, and when he came back, he briefly talked about the situation at that time. In the future, Danzhou will probably be decided by the Ming Dynasty. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"The two adults who came to Danzhou to take over this time, one did not bring any money, and the other did not bring troops, and when they arrived here, they wanted to take over the power from the hands of the Haihan people, what would you do if you were a Haihan people? Director Zhang of the management committee was not polite at all, and refused the request of the new Yan on the spot. Of the three tables present, none of them stood up to speak for the new Zhizhou. My father said that if it weren't for Lord Yan to give in immediately, Director Zhang would have turned his face with him on the spot. In that case, I'm afraid that it will be two or three months before the next governor will be sent over. ”

This statement was immediately agreed by others: "Brother Zheng is reasonable, I think that the previous Danzhou Tongzhi Xue was unwilling to cooperate with the Haihan Management Committee, and said that he would bring the leader elected by Haihan himself to justice, and he disappeared from Danzhou City within a few days." The Haihan people said that he colluded with pirates and fled without permission, but I didn't believe it. ”

"Be cautious! Under the rule of Haihan, how can this kind of thing be said casually!" Someone immediately stopped this unabashed big mouth next to him.

The table was talking, but Yan Mingjun was in a cold sweat when he heard it on the screen. This Haihan people's lawless Cheng dù in Danzhou has exceeded his imagination, fortunately he didn't say anything to death on that occasion yesterday, otherwise it would probably not be the official who came to work early this morning, but the Haihan militia who came to arrest him, right?

Yan Mingjun held back his unhappiness and continued to listen, almost all of the things talked about at the table next door were local current affairs, but more than half of them were related to the Haihan people, but he knew a lot of things from this.

Yan Mingjun listened for about half an hour, and then determined the identity of the people at the table next door, almost all of them were the second generation of local officials and the second generation of rich, and most of these people were in awe of Haihan's attitude, and they were also disgusted, but Cheng Dù was not strong. This is also because there are various entanglements of interests between their families and Haihan, and it is difficult to say the pros and cons of Qing Haihan's arrival for them.

But these people are very consistent in one of the things, that is, they must not offend the Haihan people lightly, because whether it is themselves or the family background behind them, they must act according to the faces of the Haihan people. Their family interests are also closely related to Haihan. In this regard, the influence of the Ming Dynasty once again lagged far behind that of the Haihan.

Later, the topic of these people slowly deviated to the trivial matters of life, Yan Mingjun was not interested in listening to it anymore, and asked He Qi to settle the account, and the two walked out of the teahouse and slowly walked towards the south gate. didn't go far before someone shouted from behind: "Brother Yan!"

Yan Mingjun turned around and saw Li Jinzheng, who was also dressed in civilian clothes, striding over: "I also said that I would go to you for dinner, but your family said that you came out, so I was easy to find!"

Yan Mingjun said: "What is Brother Li looking for me?"

"Go over there and have a look. Li Jin pointed to the guide door: "I have inquired, the military camp of the Danzhou garrison was under the south gate in the past, and I happened to have nothing to do." ”