When Liu Qian was in a dilemma, the official fleet departing from the Pearl River Wharf was going down the river. The first stop of this fleet, which was carrying more than a dozen officials, was the Lijiazhuang Wharf in Panyu County, Guangzhou Prefecture. According to the arrangement of the Haihan Office in Guangzhou, the fleet will meet the Haihan armed ships that have come to escort the ship in Lijiazhuang, and then continue the journey south.

For the vast majority of the passengers in this fleet, Haihan's surface armed forces have only heard of their names, and have not seen real people with their own eyes. Everyone knows that the warships of the Haihan are as capable of fighting as their militias, and even can deal with the enemies that the Daming Sailors have no way to handle, but few people know what kind of powerful weapon this Haihan people is.

There are more than 80 miles of waterway from the Pearl River Wharf to the Lijiazhuang Wharf, and it takes at least half a day to get there downstream, and if there is a delay on the way, maybe you will have to rest in the local area for the night.

Yan Mingjun is one of these curious people. He was originally a Fujian Juren during the Apocalypse, and it took him nearly ten years to reach the state governor of Luoding Prefecture from Qipin County, and this promotion speed is also considered to be above the average in the officialdom, although it is not as good as those colleagues with identity backgrounds, but there are not many peers who can compare with him. He was born in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, and now he is only in his early thirties, and many people are still dangling in the position of Qipin at this age, and he is already a fellow acquaintance of Zhili Prefecture.

However, there are good and bad places in this Luoding Prefecture, Mingshenzong Wanli promoted Lushui County to Zhili Prefecture in the fifth year of Wanli, the place is small and there is no economic foundation, and it is difficult for the incumbent officials to make any outstanding achievements. But because this is Zhili Prefecture, for the same position, the official rank is more than half a level, and the Zhizhou from the five grades is in Luoding Prefecture. Yan Mingjun is just a deputy position, he has been in Luoding Prefecture for two years, and he initially wanted to slowly finish his tenure and wait for the opportunity to be promoted, but fate is so wonderful, he didn't have much ambition for his career, but the opportunity appeared in front of him - Qiongzhou Island was attacked by pirates and vacated a large number of official positions, and his qualifications are just enough to meet the threshold of an alternate official.

After hearing the news, Yan Mingjun's mind also became active, if he could grasp this opportunity, it would not be impossible to move up a level, even if it was a transfer at the same level, at least this transfer could correct his position -- the deputy position of Zhili Prefecture should be a natural step up to the main post when he arrived in other states.

As for saying that Qiongzhou Island is relatively remote, that is not a big problem in Yan Mingjun's view, and when his term of office is over in a few years, won't he be able to transfer him back to the mainland to take up his post? Besides, the place on Qiongzhou Island is high and far away from the emperor, and it will not be subject to the jurisdiction of Zhaoqing Prefecture like in Luodingzhou, and Yan Mingjun thinks that he can also have the opportunity to really display his ruling talent and accumulate a little political capital for his future promotion.

Of course, regarding the Haihan people who have risen on Qiongzhou Island in recent years, Yan Mingjun is not as ignorant as he appeared in front of Liu Qian. You must know that although Luoding Prefecture has not yet set up a special office by Haihan, there are a lot of Haihan goods in the local market, and large businesses such as "Furuifeng" and "Golden Shield Escort", which have close cooperation with Haihan, also have business in the jurisdiction of Luoding Prefecture. In addition to doing business in Luodingzhou, these merchants who are backed by Haihan will also spread the culture of Haihan in various ways, even if Yan Mingjun has stayed in Luodingzhou in recent years and has not gone out, he generally knows some rumors about Haihan people.

It is a general consensus among the people that the Haihan people are rich, powerful, smart and bold, and from the position of a court official like Yan Mingjun, he has to add the evaluation of "restless" to the Haihan people.

When Haihan's tentacles first extended into Luodingzhou, they were also resisted by the local business community, but those who went against Haihan often couldn't hold out for long, either losing in the face of an unstoppable money offensive, or inexplicably dying or disappearing without a trace. Although the government also understands that these things are probably inseparable from the Haihan people, they often have no real evidence, and there is no way to attribute the crime to the specific target.

Of course, Haihan and their agents are not stupid, they usually check the government in advance, and Yan Mingjun himself has received a lot of silver, so he naturally turns a blind eye to this kind of thing, and rarely asks seriously. For these conflicts of interest among the people, the government's attitude is naturally that it is better to have more than one thing, and there is still money to get for one less thing, so why not do it?

After the chaos on Qiongzhou Island, the Haihan People's League temporarily took over the arrangements for the government affairs and defense of northern Qiongbei, and Yan Mingjun also heard about it early. He didn't think that the Haihan people would control the management of these areas at all, but thought that since the Haihan militia was stationed, the security of these places should be better guaranteed in the future. After a few tosses, he also took Liu Qian's line, and then spent nearly 3,000 taels of silver to open up the joints - which was almost all of his personal savings.

After Liu Qian received the money, he sent someone to reply to him after half a month, saying that the matter had been completed, and he just had to wait patiently for the official document to be transferred. Yan Mingjun waited left and right, and finally looked forward to the official document that transferred him to Qiongzhou Mansion to serve as the governor of Danzhou. It took a few days to pack up his belongings, take his wife and children, and a few servants, and rush all the way east from Luodingzhou to Guangzhou Mansion, where he stayed in the city of Guangzhou for two days, and only yesterday did he send his luggage to a merchant ship that he had entrusted to "Fu Ruifeng" to hire on his behalf.

In fact, the real ownership of this ship is the Haihan Shipping Department, but it is still borrowing the name of a private shipping company to run shipping. After the "Furuifeng" side reported the situation to the Guangzhou Office, Marik specially arranged a boat for this side, and the price was far more favorable than the same level of sea vessels on the market.

There were enough cabins on this 400-year-old ship, so Yan Mingjun also invited another alternate official to go with him. This person's name is Li Jin, and Yan Mingjun are fellow villagers in Fujian, but he is a military attaché, who used to be a thousand households in Nanxiang, Luoding Prefecture, and this time he also went to Danzhou to take over the post of local general.

When the two were officials in Luodingzhou, they had a little friendship because of their fellow villagers, and this time they went to Qiongzhou Island together, so they simply took the same boat. Li Jin is one year older than Yan Mingjun, but his wife died of illness in her early years and did not remarry, and she has no children under her knees.

After the fleet left the Pearl River Wharf, Yan Mingjun ordered someone to boil water to make tea, and then sat on the deck with Li Jin, drinking tea and chatting while watching the river scenery along the way.

"Brother Li can stand out from the many competitors this time, it's really gratifying!" Yan Mingjun said: "It is said that there are only two places for the generals this time, and Brother Li won one of them quietly, which really makes Yan admire." ”

Li Jin waved his hand and said: "Brother, you and I are not outsiders, and Li has nothing to hide from you, what is there to congratulate here, it's not silver to open the way, take money to do things! Let me tell you the truth, for this position of general, my family has smashed the pot and sold iron." If I can't grab it, I'll have to eat the fucking dirt for the next year!"

Yan Mingjun asked, "The position of a military general shouldn't be too expensive, right?"

Li Jin's eyes widened and he said: "It's almost four thousand taels of silver, and it's not expensive! How much silver do I only have a month for a thousand households? The savings since I put on this skin are basically all poured into it this time!"

"It's such a high price!" Yan Mingjun was also taken aback by what Li Jin said. If what he said is true, then Li Jin's purchase of this position as a staff general is more expensive than the price he paid for the position of governor, which is obviously somewhat unreasonable.

Yan Mingjun shook his head and said, "Either you didn't find the right person, or the person you found cheated you......! It's a bit high!"

Li Jin disagreed: "High? Compared with the price of civil officials, it may be higher." But the problem is that there is no other way to run for the official position this time, only Master Liu's line can be operated, he said that as much as he wants, and he doesn't bargain, he can only buy a peace of mind for a few thousand taels of silver!"

"Ah...... It turns out that you were also handled by Master Liu. Only then did Yan Mingjun know that Li Jin was following the same path as himself, but he still couldn't quite understand the price: "But why is the price of a military attache higher than that of a civilian official?"

"The situation on Qiongzhou Island is special. Li Jin explained: "I have asked someone for advice on this matter, and the garrison on Qiongzhou Island will receive filial piety from the Haihan people every year, called 'office expenses', which are paid on a monthly or annual basis, which is said to be more than the amount of empty salaries." There are also positions like generals for two or three thousand taels a year. Moreover, the Haihan people will also arrange some ways to make a fortune for the local garrison, such as reselling glassware, refined salt and other things produced by the Haihan, which is also very profitable. None of the officers who have been transferred back from Qiongzhou Island in the past two years are not fat, and all of them say that the Haihan people are generous. Brother Yan, you are a civil official, I don't know how rich the oil and water are here, if I hadn't been decisive enough to start quickly this time, most of this position would have been taken by others. ”

"I see...... Yan Mingjun is indeed the first time he has heard that there is such a thing happening on Qiongzhou Island, these Haihan people are so willing to spend money on Qiongzhou Island, and they don't know what kind of situation the local situation has become. In the past two years, as long as people have been to Yazhou, they are full of praise for Haihan's business in the local area, and it seems that the silver of Haihan people has indeed fattened the civil and military officials of the entire Qiongzhou Island.

Li Jin continued: "Not only that, a few days ago, a fellow villager from Fujian came to Luodingzhou to look for me, and according to him, the chief soldier of Fujian sends at least a group of officers every year to the Haihan people to learn various advanced tactics and weapon operation skills to deal with the pirates entrenched in Penghu and Dayuan. Moreover, Haihan also sent people to Fujian to assist them in training their troops. The garrison on the Liangguang side is relatively sluggish, and they don't know anything except cashiers. ”

Yan Mingjun smiled: "Brother Li, aren't you also planning to go to Qiongzhou Island to collect cash?"

Li Jin sighed: "Of course, the silver has to be collected, but I really want to see what kind of ability these Haihan people have, so that the Fujian general soldiers can find them for help." ”

"It's not just the Fujian General Army!" Speaking of this, Yan Mingjun also remembered some rumors he had heard: "I heard that in the first two years of the civil war in Annam, it was the Haihan people who sent their militia to cross the sea to participate in the war, which helped the small court in the north to quell the civil strife. According to the maritime merchants who returned from Annam, Hoi An, the largest port in the south of Annam, and Hue Province, the first male city, were all attacked by the Haihan militia. Even if the strength of the Annan country is weak, I think the combat power of the Haihan militia should be in the middle of the battle with my Ming army. ”

Li Jin shook his head and said: "It's not that I said frustrating words, I'm afraid the combat power of the Haihan militia is still above our army." I have heard that seventy percent of the Han militia in Nahai are musketeers and artillerymen, and there are very few shield and spearmen, which shows that their firearms are far more reliable than those used by our army. I heard that the Governor had bought a batch of artillery from Haihan half a year ago, and after the test firing, he was very pleased, and immediately ordered someone to transport it to the north. The place in Foshan is casting cannons every year, but I have never heard of a year when the cannons cast can make the governor so excited. ”

"If I can get this Haihan cannon casting technique...... Yan Mingjun shook his head halfway through his words: "The Haihan people are so shrewd in business, they will definitely not give such secret techniques to me Daming, if they sell the secret arts, how will they sell cannons to the Ming army in the future?"

"The Haihan people not only know how to make artillery guns, but also know how to train soldiers, and the most important thing is that they are still very good at making money, if these people can't think of rebelling that day, it will be really a big trouble!" Li Jin frowned and said: "After I go to Danzhou, if I can find out the shortcomings of the Haihan militia, I must report it to the imperial court to prevent changes in the future." ”

Yan Mingjun responded: "Brother Li is loyal, Yan admires it! It's just that Danzhou is already in the hands of the Haihan people at this time, and Brother Li still needs to be more careful in his actions." The Haihan people are not honest people, they are bold!"

"Thank you brother for reminding me. Li Jin said again: "I heard from the Haihan people surnamed Ma before, and they specially sent warships to escort them when they went south this time. ”

"Brother Li doesn't know that although there are also sailors stationed at the mouth of the Pearl River, their combat power is far inferior to that of the Haihan people, and after the accident of the sailors in Qiongzhou, the Guangdong sailors have not dared to go south to the vicinity of the Qiongzhou Strait recently. Master Liu also had no choice, so he contacted the Haihan people. Yan Mingjun had asked Liu Qian about this before, so he also knew more about the original committee.