Chapter 1586
Great Changes in Changhua
Chapter 1586 Great Changes in Changhua
"If you want to talk about the changes in Changhua County, it's really big!" As a native of Changhua County, Lao Gao, the coachman, naturally has the most personal experience of the changes in his hometown: "Since the second year of Chongzhen... bah, it was the third year of Haihan That's right, ever since the heads of state came to Changhua in the third year of Haihan, this place has changed!"
Although Haihan officials have always used the Western calendar year of the original time and space, and did not announce the first year of 1627 as the first year of the Haihan calendar, but after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the people spontaneously sent the travelers to Sanya. One year is the beginning of the Haihan Year, and the Changhua-Shilu construction project, which started in June 1629, is naturally remembered by the locals as the three years of Haihan.Xun Pengcheng understands this kind of folk chronology, but it is the first time for him to hear the local people in Changhua tell about the change process here.
Before the unification of Hainan Island, Haihan was eager to develop the small fishing port of Changhua. The main purpose was to seize the time to exploit the Shilu iron ore in the inland area of Changhua.Haihan invested a lot of manpower and capital in the early construction of the Changhua Freight Wharf and the railway transportation line from Changhua to Shilu, which greatly promoted the local infrastructure and economic development. In a short time it became one of the heartlands where the Executive Council industrialized.Even the county seat, which is only a few miles away from Changhua Fishing Port, quickly fell peacefully under this tide, and became a material transfer station on this large construction site.
With the continuous investment of a large amount of resources, Haihan opened the land passage from Changhua to Shilu in only one and a half years, and Changhua County has also become the biggest beneficiary in this process.Tens of thousands of new immigrants have completely changed the appearance of Changhua County. Originally, the livelihood of the people here was mainly fishing and planting. However, after Haihan intervened, a large number of smelting furnaces and metal processing workshops sprang up. The main working population has rapidly changed from agriculture to industry, and the entire social structure has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Under the rule of Haihan, the only place other than Sanya that has a long-distance steam freight railway is Changhua. The new social structure and transportation tools that surpass the times have rapidly changed the world outlook and values of the people here.For ordinary people, the arrival of the Haihan people has brought them a more stable life, higher income, richer material supplies, and most importantly, a better foreseeable future.What Daming can give, Haihan will only give more and better, and there are too many conditions that Daming can't give.
Changhua is not like the big places like Qiongzhou Fucheng and Danzhou. There are a large number of landlords who will rebel against foreign powers like Haihan because of their own interests. The large tracts of unowned land here are nothing to Haihan It is an excellent environment for building an industrial base, and there were few disputes over land ownership during the development of Changhua, and it is far from forming a situation that can confront Haihan.
The coachman Lao Gao’s family was farming for a living at the beginning, and the smelting workshop that Haihan wanted to build needed to occupy more than ten acres of his family’s land. The land was given to Haihan.Of course, if he didn't know how to praise him, he might not only be confiscated, but he wouldn't even get any compensation.At that time, he saw with his own eyes a few rogues in the village who were stubborn, and they were arrested by Haihan and sent to Shilu to mine. Since then, he has never seen a living person. It is said that they all died in the mine during the riots in the Shilu labor camp. superior.
There are not a few people like Lao Gao who hand over land and get money in the local area. After having this money in hand, many people gave up their past farmland livelihood and began to engage in the service industry under the guidance of Hai Han.Most of the operators in Changhua’s catering, accommodation, and transportation industries are from local backgrounds. Lao Gao’s car dealership was jointly run by seven families in the village who were related by marriage. Speaking of which, he is also one of the shareholders. .
As for the income, Lao Gao did not disclose the detailed figures to Xun Pengcheng. He only said that about half of the horse-drawn carriages running on the road from Changhua to Danzhou are currently operated by his horse-drawn carriage.
Hearing this, Xun Pengcheng couldn't help asking curiously: "If that's the case, why don't you be a good boss and come out to drive a car?"
Lao Gao raised his arms, and the whip lightly fell on the horse's buttocks, and said in his mouth: "I can't be idle, and I will go to Danzhou to see my daughter and son-in-law."
"Is the son-in-law a local from Danzhou?" Xun Pengcheng might settle there when he goes to Danzhou, so he pays great attention to all kinds of information. If Lao Gao's son-in-law is from Danzhou, maybe he can make friends with him in the future.
Lao Gao shook his head and said, "My hometown is Yacheng in the south. Danzhou, who followed the chief, is considered a small official now, but he has no real power."
Xun Pengcheng's eyes lit up, and he thought that small officials are more suitable to get acquainted with. With his own conditions, it is impossible to get to know local high-ranking officials as soon as he arrives in Danzhou. It may also be beneficial to living in Danzhou in the future.
So Xun Pengcheng took the initiative to ask: "I don't know which yamen your son-in-law worked for? When I was in Sanya, I knew many officials in the yamen. Maybe there will be friends who know each other."
Xun Pengcheng deliberately said that he has official contacts, which is also to arouse Lao Gao's interest. After all, Xun Pengcheng came from the "capital" and claimed to have official contacts. help.Xun Pengcheng estimated that Lao Gao would be very cooperative in introducing his son-in-law's situation after he said so.
But he never thought that Lao Gao did not follow his will, but waved his hands decisively and said: "Guest officer, don't inquire about this matter!"
Xun Pengcheng was taken aback and said, "Could it be that Weng and son-in-law are at odds?"
"That's not true. My son-in-law is still very filial. He even bought me a house in Danzhou City... It's just that I'm used to living in the countryside of Changhua, so I don't want to move into the city." He proudly showed off: "My son-in-law is still trying every means to beg me to go!"
Xun Pengcheng didn't quite understand it now. Since it wasn't about the relationship between Weng and his son-in-law, why didn't Lao Gao want outsiders to know about his son-in-law?After thinking about it, he still refused to give up, coughed dryly and said: "Actually, if your son-in-law is capable, he may have the opportunity to be transferred to Sanya to work in the future. Only when he arrives there can he really enter the officialdom."
Lao Gao sighed and said, "His errand is not so easy to transfer...Forget it, my son-in-law asked me not to mention his errand in front of outsiders, so the guest officer should stop talking about it."
Xun Pengcheng laughed and said, "Old Gao, since your son-in-law is an official in the yamen, what else is there to hide? As far as I know, there are so many yamen in Haihan Kingdom. If you really want to say that there is only one Security Department..."
When Xun Pengcheng said this, his voice suddenly became quieter, because he saw that Lao Gao's hand holding the horsewhip visibly shook, obviously he also knew what kind of existence the Ministry of Security was.If Lao Gao, the coachman, hadn't turned around under the hands of the Ministry of Security, then it probably had something to do with the current topic.
This Lao Gao was just a farmer in the past, but now he is just a coachman, doing menial jobs with no technical content, no matter how he looks at it, he doesn't seem to be able to have anything to do with a government office hidden in the dark like the Ministry of Security.The reason Xun Pengcheng could think of was that the yamen where Lao Gao's precious son-in-law lived was probably a prophecy by himself.
The two of them sat in front of each other in this carriage. After falling into silence, the atmosphere was a little awkward. Xun Pengcheng coughed dryly and said: "Old Gao, don't worry about it. I'll just ask casually. Since it's inconvenient, I won't say anything." .”
Lao Gao suddenly turned his head and asked: "The guest officer even knows about the Ministry of Security. Could it be that he also has friendship with the big shots in this yamen?"
"No friendship, no friendship! I'm just a commoner, how can I climb up to the adults of the Ministry of Security!" Xun Pengcheng quickly shook his hand to express that he had no intention of continuing the chat on this topic.What a shrewd person he is, when the other party asks, he has already guessed the general situation, and he dares to cause trouble for his upper body.
One of the most important reasons why Xun Pengcheng left Sanya was to avoid the Ministry of Security as much as possible. Even if his affairs have been cleared up, and he even got the endorsement of the Ministry of Security, he does not intend to continue to stay under the nose of the Ministry of Security. caught.Of course, the Ministry of Security didn't want to let him stay in Sanya to cause trouble, and wished to keep him as far away as possible.When Xun Pengcheng left Sanya by boat, the Ministry of Security sent someone to the pier to "send" him off.
After leaving Sanya, Xun Pengcheng thought that it was impossible to deal with the Ministry of Security anymore, so he felt very relaxed along the way, but he never thought that he hired a driver in Changhua, and it was very likely that he was the father-in-law of a certain uncle of the Ministry of Security. .Xun Pengcheng wanted to cry, but felt that what happened to him felt like he had just stepped out of the tiger's den and entered the wolf's den again.
Naturally, he didn't dare to discuss this topic further with Lao Gao, otherwise, if Lao Gao really begged him to help his son-in-law find a way, wouldn't he be able to turn around and go back to Sanya to find Xu Shiqi.Even if there were not so many things, Xun Pengcheng really didn't want to have any contact with the people from the Ministry of Security.As for Lao Gao's son-in-law, Xun Pengcheng just wanted to quickly bring this topic over, and completely erase this matter from his and Lao Gao's minds.
When Lao Gao wanted to continue talking, Xun Pengcheng took the initiative to change the topic: "Old Gao, I heard that the road to Danzhou is full of collective farms and plantations along the way, can you tell me about the situation here? ? If there is any familiar place, it would be best if you can take me to see it."
The purpose of Xun Pengcheng's trip was to inspect the situation of the plantation, and he had already explained his intention when he hired Lao Gao in Changhua, so it was not too abrupt to make a request at this time.
Lao Gao never expected that Xun Pengcheng would have so many devious thoughts in his heart, but he knew very well that the special yamen where his son-in-law lived was like a ghost in the hearts of ordinary people. Seeing that Xun Pengcheng didn't want to talk anymore, he couldn't force him to .The errand that he took this time included the cost of acting as a tour guide on the way, and Lao Gao couldn't refuse Xun Pengcheng's request.
"Then tell the guest officer about the situation here." Lao Gao raised his arm and pointed forward with his whip, and began to introduce the situation along the way to Xun Pengcheng.
From Changhua County, after crossing several mountains, it enters the coastal plain area on the west coast of Hainan Island.In the past, there were not many people living in this area, and there were only six or seven villages between Changhua and Danzhou. However, since Haihan introduced the plantation model here, plantations began to appear dotted In the area near the official road.There are a variety of tropical economic crops planted in the park, ranging from a few hundred acres to thousands of acres. The types with the largest planting area are oil, sugar, spices, hemp, grain, and fruits.
And the downstream deep processing industry produced by these plantations has also sprung up in Changhua and Danzhou like mushrooms after rain.Especially in Changhua, where the degree of industrialization is relatively higher, many workshops engaged in the deep processing of cash crops have begun to use more professional machinery and equipment to improve production efficiency, and their production capacity far exceeds the level of other countries at the same time.With Lao Gao’s insight and vision, he still can’t understand these cross-age advantages, but he can also realize how amazing the production technology brought by Haihan has improved productivity.
"Have you ever seen sugarcane squeezed? The larger sugar workshops in Changhua have already used steam engines. That guy is really powerful. He hardly stops all day long. If he had to replace it with mules and horses, he would probably be tired." It’s dead. And the stainless steel roller is much easier to use than the previous stone roller. It only needs to be squeezed once to squeeze out the juice... If there is anything bad, it is too expensive. I heard that a machine It costs several thousand, and coal has to be burned continuously, which is not a small expense..."
"This steam engine can not only extract sugar cane, but also extract oil. My brother's oil mill has already used it, and the oil produced in a day can last seven or eight days. He ordered another oil press last month, but it is said that Because there are too many buyers, it will take three months to get the goods..."
Lao Gao was very talkative, and talked about the plantation-related industries. Xun Pengcheng listened with great interest. He had actually seen more uses of steam engines than Lao Gao. Sugar and oil extraction was just an application of agricultural deep processing.But since so many people here have started to try to invest in buying steam engines to increase productivity, and have tasted the sweetness from it, it shows that the "technology" advocated by Haihan has also had a very significant impact on ordinary people.
Xun Pengcheng also knows that the income of deep processing of agricultural products is actually higher than that of plantations, but the problem is that the upstream and downstream industries involved in deep processing have many links that need to be connected, and there are more things to worry about. He wants to outsource all of them like plantations Getting out is almost impossible.Between earning more money and enjoying life, Xun Pengcheng decided to choose the latter.
(End of this chapter)
"If you want to talk about the changes in Changhua County, it's really big!" As a native of Changhua County, Lao Gao, the coachman, naturally has the most personal experience of the changes in his hometown: "Since the second year of Chongzhen... bah, it was the third year of Haihan That's right, ever since the heads of state came to Changhua in the third year of Haihan, this place has changed!"
Although Haihan officials have always used the Western calendar year of the original time and space, and did not announce the first year of 1627 as the first year of the Haihan calendar, but after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the people spontaneously sent the travelers to Sanya. One year is the beginning of the Haihan Year, and the Changhua-Shilu construction project, which started in June 1629, is naturally remembered by the locals as the three years of Haihan.Xun Pengcheng understands this kind of folk chronology, but it is the first time for him to hear the local people in Changhua tell about the change process here.
Before the unification of Hainan Island, Haihan was eager to develop the small fishing port of Changhua. The main purpose was to seize the time to exploit the Shilu iron ore in the inland area of Changhua.Haihan invested a lot of manpower and capital in the early construction of the Changhua Freight Wharf and the railway transportation line from Changhua to Shilu, which greatly promoted the local infrastructure and economic development. In a short time it became one of the heartlands where the Executive Council industrialized.Even the county seat, which is only a few miles away from Changhua Fishing Port, quickly fell peacefully under this tide, and became a material transfer station on this large construction site.
With the continuous investment of a large amount of resources, Haihan opened the land passage from Changhua to Shilu in only one and a half years, and Changhua County has also become the biggest beneficiary in this process.Tens of thousands of new immigrants have completely changed the appearance of Changhua County. Originally, the livelihood of the people here was mainly fishing and planting. However, after Haihan intervened, a large number of smelting furnaces and metal processing workshops sprang up. The main working population has rapidly changed from agriculture to industry, and the entire social structure has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Under the rule of Haihan, the only place other than Sanya that has a long-distance steam freight railway is Changhua. The new social structure and transportation tools that surpass the times have rapidly changed the world outlook and values of the people here.For ordinary people, the arrival of the Haihan people has brought them a more stable life, higher income, richer material supplies, and most importantly, a better foreseeable future.What Daming can give, Haihan will only give more and better, and there are too many conditions that Daming can't give.
Changhua is not like the big places like Qiongzhou Fucheng and Danzhou. There are a large number of landlords who will rebel against foreign powers like Haihan because of their own interests. The large tracts of unowned land here are nothing to Haihan It is an excellent environment for building an industrial base, and there were few disputes over land ownership during the development of Changhua, and it is far from forming a situation that can confront Haihan.
The coachman Lao Gao’s family was farming for a living at the beginning, and the smelting workshop that Haihan wanted to build needed to occupy more than ten acres of his family’s land. The land was given to Haihan.Of course, if he didn't know how to praise him, he might not only be confiscated, but he wouldn't even get any compensation.At that time, he saw with his own eyes a few rogues in the village who were stubborn, and they were arrested by Haihan and sent to Shilu to mine. Since then, he has never seen a living person. It is said that they all died in the mine during the riots in the Shilu labor camp. superior.
There are not a few people like Lao Gao who hand over land and get money in the local area. After having this money in hand, many people gave up their past farmland livelihood and began to engage in the service industry under the guidance of Hai Han.Most of the operators in Changhua’s catering, accommodation, and transportation industries are from local backgrounds. Lao Gao’s car dealership was jointly run by seven families in the village who were related by marriage. Speaking of which, he is also one of the shareholders. .
As for the income, Lao Gao did not disclose the detailed figures to Xun Pengcheng. He only said that about half of the horse-drawn carriages running on the road from Changhua to Danzhou are currently operated by his horse-drawn carriage.
Hearing this, Xun Pengcheng couldn't help asking curiously: "If that's the case, why don't you be a good boss and come out to drive a car?"
Lao Gao raised his arms, and the whip lightly fell on the horse's buttocks, and said in his mouth: "I can't be idle, and I will go to Danzhou to see my daughter and son-in-law."
"Is the son-in-law a local from Danzhou?" Xun Pengcheng might settle there when he goes to Danzhou, so he pays great attention to all kinds of information. If Lao Gao's son-in-law is from Danzhou, maybe he can make friends with him in the future.
Lao Gao shook his head and said, "My hometown is Yacheng in the south. Danzhou, who followed the chief, is considered a small official now, but he has no real power."
Xun Pengcheng's eyes lit up, and he thought that small officials are more suitable to get acquainted with. With his own conditions, it is impossible to get to know local high-ranking officials as soon as he arrives in Danzhou. It may also be beneficial to living in Danzhou in the future.
So Xun Pengcheng took the initiative to ask: "I don't know which yamen your son-in-law worked for? When I was in Sanya, I knew many officials in the yamen. Maybe there will be friends who know each other."
Xun Pengcheng deliberately said that he has official contacts, which is also to arouse Lao Gao's interest. After all, Xun Pengcheng came from the "capital" and claimed to have official contacts. help.Xun Pengcheng estimated that Lao Gao would be very cooperative in introducing his son-in-law's situation after he said so.
But he never thought that Lao Gao did not follow his will, but waved his hands decisively and said: "Guest officer, don't inquire about this matter!"
Xun Pengcheng was taken aback and said, "Could it be that Weng and son-in-law are at odds?"
"That's not true. My son-in-law is still very filial. He even bought me a house in Danzhou City... It's just that I'm used to living in the countryside of Changhua, so I don't want to move into the city." He proudly showed off: "My son-in-law is still trying every means to beg me to go!"
Xun Pengcheng didn't quite understand it now. Since it wasn't about the relationship between Weng and his son-in-law, why didn't Lao Gao want outsiders to know about his son-in-law?After thinking about it, he still refused to give up, coughed dryly and said: "Actually, if your son-in-law is capable, he may have the opportunity to be transferred to Sanya to work in the future. Only when he arrives there can he really enter the officialdom."
Lao Gao sighed and said, "His errand is not so easy to transfer...Forget it, my son-in-law asked me not to mention his errand in front of outsiders, so the guest officer should stop talking about it."
Xun Pengcheng laughed and said, "Old Gao, since your son-in-law is an official in the yamen, what else is there to hide? As far as I know, there are so many yamen in Haihan Kingdom. If you really want to say that there is only one Security Department..."
When Xun Pengcheng said this, his voice suddenly became quieter, because he saw that Lao Gao's hand holding the horsewhip visibly shook, obviously he also knew what kind of existence the Ministry of Security was.If Lao Gao, the coachman, hadn't turned around under the hands of the Ministry of Security, then it probably had something to do with the current topic.
This Lao Gao was just a farmer in the past, but now he is just a coachman, doing menial jobs with no technical content, no matter how he looks at it, he doesn't seem to be able to have anything to do with a government office hidden in the dark like the Ministry of Security.The reason Xun Pengcheng could think of was that the yamen where Lao Gao's precious son-in-law lived was probably a prophecy by himself.
The two of them sat in front of each other in this carriage. After falling into silence, the atmosphere was a little awkward. Xun Pengcheng coughed dryly and said: "Old Gao, don't worry about it. I'll just ask casually. Since it's inconvenient, I won't say anything." .”
Lao Gao suddenly turned his head and asked: "The guest officer even knows about the Ministry of Security. Could it be that he also has friendship with the big shots in this yamen?"
"No friendship, no friendship! I'm just a commoner, how can I climb up to the adults of the Ministry of Security!" Xun Pengcheng quickly shook his hand to express that he had no intention of continuing the chat on this topic.What a shrewd person he is, when the other party asks, he has already guessed the general situation, and he dares to cause trouble for his upper body.
One of the most important reasons why Xun Pengcheng left Sanya was to avoid the Ministry of Security as much as possible. Even if his affairs have been cleared up, and he even got the endorsement of the Ministry of Security, he does not intend to continue to stay under the nose of the Ministry of Security. caught.Of course, the Ministry of Security didn't want to let him stay in Sanya to cause trouble, and wished to keep him as far away as possible.When Xun Pengcheng left Sanya by boat, the Ministry of Security sent someone to the pier to "send" him off.
After leaving Sanya, Xun Pengcheng thought that it was impossible to deal with the Ministry of Security anymore, so he felt very relaxed along the way, but he never thought that he hired a driver in Changhua, and it was very likely that he was the father-in-law of a certain uncle of the Ministry of Security. .Xun Pengcheng wanted to cry, but felt that what happened to him felt like he had just stepped out of the tiger's den and entered the wolf's den again.
Naturally, he didn't dare to discuss this topic further with Lao Gao, otherwise, if Lao Gao really begged him to help his son-in-law find a way, wouldn't he be able to turn around and go back to Sanya to find Xu Shiqi.Even if there were not so many things, Xun Pengcheng really didn't want to have any contact with the people from the Ministry of Security.As for Lao Gao's son-in-law, Xun Pengcheng just wanted to quickly bring this topic over, and completely erase this matter from his and Lao Gao's minds.
When Lao Gao wanted to continue talking, Xun Pengcheng took the initiative to change the topic: "Old Gao, I heard that the road to Danzhou is full of collective farms and plantations along the way, can you tell me about the situation here? ? If there is any familiar place, it would be best if you can take me to see it."
The purpose of Xun Pengcheng's trip was to inspect the situation of the plantation, and he had already explained his intention when he hired Lao Gao in Changhua, so it was not too abrupt to make a request at this time.
Lao Gao never expected that Xun Pengcheng would have so many devious thoughts in his heart, but he knew very well that the special yamen where his son-in-law lived was like a ghost in the hearts of ordinary people. Seeing that Xun Pengcheng didn't want to talk anymore, he couldn't force him to .The errand that he took this time included the cost of acting as a tour guide on the way, and Lao Gao couldn't refuse Xun Pengcheng's request.
"Then tell the guest officer about the situation here." Lao Gao raised his arm and pointed forward with his whip, and began to introduce the situation along the way to Xun Pengcheng.
From Changhua County, after crossing several mountains, it enters the coastal plain area on the west coast of Hainan Island.In the past, there were not many people living in this area, and there were only six or seven villages between Changhua and Danzhou. However, since Haihan introduced the plantation model here, plantations began to appear dotted In the area near the official road.There are a variety of tropical economic crops planted in the park, ranging from a few hundred acres to thousands of acres. The types with the largest planting area are oil, sugar, spices, hemp, grain, and fruits.
And the downstream deep processing industry produced by these plantations has also sprung up in Changhua and Danzhou like mushrooms after rain.Especially in Changhua, where the degree of industrialization is relatively higher, many workshops engaged in the deep processing of cash crops have begun to use more professional machinery and equipment to improve production efficiency, and their production capacity far exceeds the level of other countries at the same time.With Lao Gao’s insight and vision, he still can’t understand these cross-age advantages, but he can also realize how amazing the production technology brought by Haihan has improved productivity.
"Have you ever seen sugarcane squeezed? The larger sugar workshops in Changhua have already used steam engines. That guy is really powerful. He hardly stops all day long. If he had to replace it with mules and horses, he would probably be tired." It’s dead. And the stainless steel roller is much easier to use than the previous stone roller. It only needs to be squeezed once to squeeze out the juice... If there is anything bad, it is too expensive. I heard that a machine It costs several thousand, and coal has to be burned continuously, which is not a small expense..."
"This steam engine can not only extract sugar cane, but also extract oil. My brother's oil mill has already used it, and the oil produced in a day can last seven or eight days. He ordered another oil press last month, but it is said that Because there are too many buyers, it will take three months to get the goods..."
Lao Gao was very talkative, and talked about the plantation-related industries. Xun Pengcheng listened with great interest. He had actually seen more uses of steam engines than Lao Gao. Sugar and oil extraction was just an application of agricultural deep processing.But since so many people here have started to try to invest in buying steam engines to increase productivity, and have tasted the sweetness from it, it shows that the "technology" advocated by Haihan has also had a very significant impact on ordinary people.
Xun Pengcheng also knows that the income of deep processing of agricultural products is actually higher than that of plantations, but the problem is that the upstream and downstream industries involved in deep processing have many links that need to be connected, and there are more things to worry about. He wants to outsource all of them like plantations Getting out is almost impossible.Between earning more money and enjoying life, Xun Pengcheng decided to choose the latter.
(End of this chapter)