Luo Shengdong made his fortune by smuggling salt, and in recent years, he has purchased real estate in Sanya, Haikou, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and other places so that he can live when he goes to the local office. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThese houses are also equipped with housekeepers and servants, transfer Steward Wang to Guangzhou, and then change the local Steward Li to Sanya, this is probably the most appropriate way for Luo Shengdong to think of to deal with it. Zhou Hengxing forgot about this matter in the future, but if he wanted to come and ask about it one day, Luo Shengdong had already dealt with it, and at least he could explain something.

Luo Shengdong was tired all the way, and he was a little tired after dealing with these things, so after letting Steward Wang retreat, he couldn't help but fall asleep after looking at the accounts for a while, and went back to the room and slept until dawn.

However, early in the morning, a messenger came from Shengli Castle, asking him to report to the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the morning, and Ning Qi would take time to meet him. Luo Shengdong couldn't even take care of breakfast now, so he hurriedly asked his subordinates to boil water, preparing to hurry up and change clothes and go out. Now is not as old as a few years ago, and it is not easy for Luo Shengdong to meet the big names of the Executive Committee, so he has to report the schedule first, and wait for the big names to have free schedules. Moreover, the establishment of the Haihan Dynasty is imminent, and in the future, these big names will be like kings, and it will be even more difficult to get the opportunity to meet them.

This time, he was able to take the opportunity of official business to meet with the big figures of the executive committee, Luo Shengdong naturally cherished it very much, and even when he was soaking in the bathtub, he was thinking about how to communicate with Ning Qi later. In addition to official business, he naturally has some personal plans, and wants to take this opportunity to get Ning Qi's guidance.

Luo Shengdong hurriedly packed up, and his subordinates had already hired a sedan chair to wait outside the door. Luo Shengdong walked to the door, and when he saw Steward Wang following behind him inch by inch, he thought for a while and said, "Don't go with me today, leave this place early as I told you last night." ”

Steward Wang didn't say anything more after hearing this, knelt down tremblingly and kowtowed, and then ordered the two servants to follow Luo Shengdong out.

When Luo Shengdong rushed outside the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he hadn't gone to work yet, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. It's okay for him to come early and wait a little longer, if he comes late, it would be a sin to let Ning Qi wait for him.

Luo Shengdong waited outside for more than half an hour, and finally someone came out to inform him to go in. Luo Shengdong entered the office and saw that Ning Qi was writing at the desk, so he didn't dare to make a sound, and stood by the door honestly waiting. After waiting for a long time, Ning Qi stopped what he was doing and beckoned him: "General Luo is here! Sit and sit, what are you doing standing, sit down and say!"

Luo Shengdong sat down on the chair in response, but he only sat on half of his buttocks, and said humbly: "Shicai came down to see that Chief Ning was busy, so he didn't dare to make a noise to disturb." ”

Ning Qi ordered someone to serve Luo Shengdong hot tea, and then cut to the chase: "I have already read the secret letter you sent yesterday, and things are doing well." However, there are some details that need to be asked of you, so I would like to invite you to come and meet you today. ”

Luo Shengdong said: "This is a matter within the next division, and we should do our best to complete it." ”

Ning Qi was quite satisfied with Luo Shengdong's humble attitude, nodded and asked, "When I went to Zhaoqing to interview Master Xiong this time, did he mention to you the content of the letter?"

Luo Shengdong didn't know what he meant, but he still replied honestly: "Lord Xiong said that day, all the adults in Haihan don't want to see the rebellion in Lingnan again, which is a good thing, but I still hope that you can handle the founding of the country carefully, and don't get into trouble with Daming and hurt the peace that has always been there." ”

Ning Qi groaned: "What does Lord Xiong mean, how do you understand it?"

Luo Shengdong hurriedly responded: "With limited knowledge, how dare you discuss military affairs!"

"It's okay, you just say it according to your train of thought, and it's okay to say it wrong. Ning Qi persuaded: "You are originally a member of the Ming officialdom, and you have met with Lord Xiong more than once, and you know more about him than we do, so asking you how you feel is also to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings in the middle." ”

Luo Shengdong saw that Ning Qi's attitude did not seem to be fake, so he replied thoughtfully: "I think that what Lord Xiong means should be to hope that after the establishment of the Haihan Dynasty, he should not rush to over-publicize it to the outside world, especially the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, which should be slowed down." ”

Ning Qi nodded and said, "From Lord Xiong's point of view, this matter may make him feel embarrassed. ”

If Haihan wants to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it will be completely impossible to hide the matter of occupying Qiongzhou Island, and the foreign strategy of the Ming Dynasty has always been to fight for every inch of land - although whether it can be defeated is another matter, but it is obviously impossible to make the Ming Dynasty cut such a large piece of land out silently.

Xiong Wencan has lived in Lingnan for a long time, so he naturally knows the strength of Haihan better, and he also knows that it is difficult to recapture this Qiongzhou Island from Haihan by force, and it is impossible to prevent Haihan from founding a country. To be reasonable, it is impossible to hide this kind of thing from the imperial court, and the news will still reach the palace in the capital sooner or later. With Emperor Chongzhen's style of doing things, it is unlikely that he will accept that a foreign race occupies his own territory to establish a regime, and once he learns of this, in addition to holding the Liangguang government responsible, most of them will try to use force to solve the problem.

Of course, this is a situation that Xiong Wencan does not want to see, but fortunately, Haihan has been operating in Liangguang for many years, and the officialdom has basically penetrated up and down, and it is unlikely that Haihan's occupation of Qiongzhou Island for the founding of the country will be reflected through official channels. After all, the capital is thousands of miles away, and it is difficult to know the specific events that took place on Qiongzhou Island, and it is unlikely that local officials will be investigated based on some unconfirmed folk rumors. If the local authorities really want to be held responsible, there are not a few officials in the prefectures and cities in the Liangguang region who are afraid that they will be charged with the crime of beheading, and they may be wronged if they kill all of them, but if they kill half of them, they will definitely miss the net, and this pressure will also force the officials in the Liangguang region to join forces to resist the pressure from the imperial court.

Of course, it is not enough to rely on Xiong Wencan's strength in this matter, but Haihan has to take the initiative to cooperate, the most important point is that Haihan should not be too high-profile, and take the initiative to send someone to the capital to apply for the establishment of diplomatic relations with Daming, in that case, even if Xiong Wencan covers the sky with one hand in Liangguang, it will not be able to withstand Haihan's own demon. But Xiong Wencan couldn't say it too clearly in the letter, so as not to fall into the handle, so the letter was full of polite words, but there was not much substance, and Ning Qi could only send Luo Shengdong to ask for clarification after reading the letter. Fortunately, Luo Shengdong didn't know the content of the letter, otherwise he would probably feel that his hard work of carefully escorting the secret letter back along the way was not worth it.

Ning Qi continued: "The matter of the founding of the country is already on the bow and has to be issued, this matter can no longer be discussed, and I don't think Lord Xiong has expressed any objections to this. But the relationship with Daming still needs to be considered. ”

Luo Shengdong was shocked and said: "Chief, you need to think twice about this matter! If the imperial court knows about the situation in the south, I am afraid that it will be difficult to be good, and it will only increase the number of souls in vain, and it is not a good thing for Haihan!"

Although Luo Shengdong no longer cares about his official position in the Ming Dynasty, he doesn't want to see a war between the Ming Dynasty and Haihan, the reason is very simple, let alone the outbreak of war, even if the two sides announce the breakdown of relations, it will probably be difficult for his private salt business to continue. When the time comes, Luo Shengdong loses the function of a salt merchant, and Luo Shengdong is very worried about whether he can still find a personal errand on Haihan's side, after all, Haihan is now more and more inclined to use the personnel he has cultivated, and it is difficult for those who are from Ming officials to gain the trust of the executive committee.

An official like him, Luo Shengdong, who does not have much advanced culture and is not good at leading troops to fight, seems unlikely to have any other way out except for using his official position to run errands for Haihan as a smuggler. Therefore, from a personal standpoint, Luo Shengdong very much agrees with Xiong Wencan's approach, and strives to block the influence of the founding of the Haihan Dynasty among the people as much as possible, and not rise to the level of the imperial court.

Ning Qi said: "Don't worry, listen to me first." Haihan and Daming get along well, and we have no idea of invading Daming, but as a country, we still hope to be recognized by Daming. I also understand what Lord Xiong is worried about, but as for the sovereignty of Qiongzhou Island, I think we can properly resolve it with the Ming Dynasty through consultation, and I believe that the imperial court will definitely have some demands, which Haihan can meet in exchange. ”

After listening to this, Luo Shengdong didn't quite understand what Ning Qi meant, he actually didn't like these officials' rhetoric of going around in circles, Xiong Wencan and Ning Qi were like this, and they didn't say what they wanted to say directly, they always had to express it in a roundabout way, which made him very troubled. He didn't dare to guess this kind of thing, and if there was a misunderstanding, it would be asking for trouble.

Ning Qi looked at him with a confused face, knowing that what he said was probably not understood by the other party, so he asked him in a different way: "Do you know the situation in Daming in the past two years?"

Luo Shengdong responded: "The various newspapers published here in Sanya have never been a single issue, and they have all been read carefully. Daming in the past two years...... It is true that there are many internal and external troubles, and the imperial court is also very difficult to deal with. In fact, he still had a sentence that he didn't say - if it weren't for Da Ming's own care, how could he easily let Haihan develop so without resistance in the south.

In 1633, the peasant army in Hebei, Henan, Sichuan provinces everywhere in chaos, the Ming government and garrisons were busy encircling and intercepting these rebellious troops, including Fuguang and many provinces mobilized troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression, but the effect was not ideal. At the same time, Houjin captured Lushun, the last stronghold of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, outside the Guan, and the generals who led the troops for Houjin were Kong Youde and others who had defected to the northeast from Denglai to cross the sea.

At the beginning of 1634, the peasant army captured Kuizhou, Sichuan, and after being blocked by the army led by Tusi Qin Liangyu, it returned to Shaanxi from Yangpingguan, a pass between Sichuan and Shaanxi. The troops led by Zhang Xianzhong entered Hannan from Henan and Shangluoxi and joined the peasant army returning from Sichuan, so that the official army's extermination operation once again lost its effect. In the coming April, a large-scale famine is about to break out in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, which have not rained for more than half a year, and it will be another great chaos that the government cannot contain. The increasingly powerful Houjin army will not be idle in this year, and in the second half of the year, it will invade the Xuanfu and Datong regions many times, making the Ming Dynasty's forces in the north even more stretched.

For the peasant army that was in turmoil at home and the Houjin who were eyeing it abroad, Daming did not find a thorough solution, so he could only see the tricks and be exhausted. Under such circumstances, the Guangdong officialdom headed by Xiong Wencan dared to try to conceal the current situation of Qiongzhou Island and Haihan, because these officials also knew very well that the imperial court could not pay too much attention to the south at present, and even if they knew that Haihan had some irregular actions here, it would be difficult to take effective measures.

Regarding the international and domestic situation faced by Daming, there will be irregular reports in several print media published in Sanya. These press releases are basically from Haihan's database, adapted from historical records. Although the fate of many people in Fuguang and Guangzhou has changed because of the emergence of the Haihan, the impact on the mainland and the north is not obvious, and history is still developing along the original trajectory, so these press releases adapted from historical facts can basically hit seven or eight points, and the timeliness is much higher than that of the imperial court's palace newspaper.

Although Luo Shengdong does not have much culture, but there is still political sensitivity, all the official print media in Sanya, he has set one, the most concerned is the domestic news of the Ming Dynasty and the various new policies launched by Haihan, and Haihan's press releases often comment on the wars that occurred in the Ming Dynasty, and the angle is of course to criticize, so as to highlight the stability and wealth under the rule of Haihan. Therefore, Luo Shengdong also has a relatively clear understanding of the situation in the Ming Dynasty in the past two years.

Ning Qi nodded and continued: "The current situation in Daming is like a house on fire everywhere, it is difficult to extinguish the fire with only one's own strength, and someone has to help hand down the basin to extinguish the fire. ”

Luo Shengdong came back to his senses now: "What does Chief Ning mean...... Haihan provided ...... to the Ming Military aid?"

Ning Qi smiled and replied, "Do you think this is feasible?"

Luo Shengdong is actually no stranger to Haihan's military assistance to the Ming Dynasty, from Haihan sending troops to Panyu County, Guangzhou to suppress bandits, and later assisting the Fujian military against Shibazhi, the number and scale of Haihan's military aid to Daming have been increasing year by year. And even most of Haihan's existing territory was taken from the Ming Dynasty under this high-sounding excuse. I think that when Haihan sent troops into Qiongbei, it was under the slogan of suppressing bandits - of course, what was the origin of the pirates who suddenly invaded Qiongbei and were like a bamboo, in fact, Luo Shengdong still had some points in his heart.