Xi Yazhou nodded. The mayor was actually on board. But he deliberately didn't say it. Hearing that Cao Qing had a Shandong accent, he asked again, "Are you from Shandong?"
"Yes!" Cao Qing probably didn't expect that such a high-level officer would ask about his situation - in the Ming Dynasty, the leader in front of him was at least a general soldier, "Young...I, I was in Dengzhou Town in the Ming Dynasty Join the army and win the Song Dynasty the year before last."
"Not bad, I became a second lieutenant in just over a year." Xi Yazhou knew that to be a squadron leader of the National Army in Foshan, he must be a top student in military training.
"It's all cultivated by the chief!" Cao Qing stood at attention.
Cao Qing followed Huang Ande to Lingao and entered the factory after coming out of the purification camp. He had no skills and was not a person who didn't like to learn. Although he barely got a C-level diploma, he couldn't learn the skills at all. In the end, he had to work in Work as a laborer in the factory.
He was a son of a military family who was used to being a soldier and was not used to working as a worker, so he joined the army as a soldier. He served as a soldier for one year. When the Guangdong and Guangxi strategy came and the army expanded, he joined the army as a one-year soldier. Sergeant training class, became a corporal.
Later, he was transferred to the National Army during the expansion of the National Army. After the assault training, he was awarded the rank of Second Lieutenant of the National Army with the rank of corporal of the regular army and became the squadron leader of the Foshan Squadron.
"How is the security situation here?" Xi Yazhou asked seemingly casually.
This vaguely means testing his ability. Since the mayor has not arrived yet, he, the squadron leader of the National Army, is the first leader of Foshan.
At present, neither Guangzhou City nor the lower counties and towns have established political organs. As a garrison, the National Army Squadron is responsible for multiple tasks of the government, police and garrison, and has considerable requirements for the capabilities of its chief officers.
Foshan is not a small place, but a planned logistics base. He cannot let an incompetent person command the garrison.
"Let's just say that the wharf and the town are pretty quiet. It's not good outside the town." Cao Qing shook his head, "Our army has just arrived, and the people around us are unstable. Many rural gangsters took the opportunity to come out to commit robberies. There were still people a few days ago. Robbery of ships at the dock. The people are very scared, and the shops only open their doors for an hour or two every day during the day."
"Are the workshops everywhere still open?" This is what Xi Yazhou is most concerned about.
"Report to Comrade Commander: The furnace for smelting copper and iron has not been turned off, but it has not been turned on for many days." Cao Qing said that the workshop owners are now hiding at home and do not go out easily, for fear of being attacked by the "Big Sky Er" from all over the country. "They kidnapped the money. Craftsmen have difficulty making a living because they have no work to do. Nowadays, major households raise funds to buy grain and supply it to unemployed craftsmen on a daily basis, so there are no riots.
Xi Yazhou asked him a few more questions about the basic situation of the local area and the local defense situation of the National Army. After hearing what he said in a very orderly manner, he felt quite satisfied.
"I didn't expect you, a Shandong native, to know the local situation quite well."
"Comrade Commander, there is a local Comrade Lin who is now serving as the town liaison officer. He has helped me a lot in my work here."
"Oh? Comrade Lin?" Xi Yazhou thought about the general "Leading Party". Naturalized citizens would not call them "comrade" - they could completely distinguish between internal and external relations. This kind of title that symbolizes "one's own people" will never be casually added to the title of "the party leading the way."
Could it be an "underground party"? Xi Yazhou didn't know much about the work of the Foreign Intelligence Service, but he knew that they had an extensive intelligence network in Guangdong, especially in the Pearl River Delta region.
"Take me to meet him."
"He is in our headquarters. I will take you there right now."
Xi Yazhou took a look at the defense facilities here. Although Foshan Town is prosperous in commerce, it has no city wall and is only surrounded by a wooden fence. The town is surrounded by rivers. If there is no chaos, this defense is enough.
The place where the Octopus is parked is the dock on the Fenjiang River in the north of the town. Originally, the first developed area in Foshan was the Zhaxia area in the south. However, after the Ming Dynasty, the river flowing through Zhaxia became increasingly narrow and shallow, and the large ponds even turned into land. Commercial activities were affected, and shops were gradually separated from workshops. , gradually developing towards the north. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, houses and shops were built along the Fenjiang River and on the sandbanks, which was still a "seaside" open space, and the commercial area was completely moved to the north. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the area along the Fenjiang River in the north and its surrounding areas had become the most prosperous commercial area in Foshan, with docks lined up and shops lined up. Although the streets were deserted at this time, the people did not appear panicked. Instead, they stretched their necks one by one to watch the excitement.
After entering the town, not far away is the Huguang Guild Hall. The National Army headquarters is located here. Xi Yazhou could not help but be secretly surprised when he saw that the door was heavily guarded and the layout was very orderly when he entered. He never expected that a mere naturalized corporal could have such abilities. He is really unworthy of being the captain of this National Army squadron.
The hall has been converted into a headquarters, and a large-scale map of Foshan hangs in it. Xi Yazhou sat down casually. After a while, he saw a man in his thirties wearing Mingren clothes come in and bowed to him respectfully:
"Lin Ming, a humble official, meets the military commander..."
This nondescript title made Xi Yazhou laugh. He stood up and stretched out his hand, saying, "Are you the liaison officer? Second Lieutenant Cao thinks very highly of you!"
"Serve the Senate and the people!" Lin Ming knew that this was the Australian "handshake ceremony", so he quickly extended his hand to shake it, and said a slogan fluently.
Since Lin Ming accompanied Thorpe to the Xijiang area for inspection, he has continued to do intelligence collection work in Foshan. The task given to him by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau is to collect local public sentiment and social conditions. From the instruction text sent from the "center", Lin Ming was somewhat aware of the importance the Senate attached to Foshan - but this was not too surprising. Foshan was one of the "four major settlements in the world" that could be compared with the major cities at that time. One, and the Senate's intentions towards Guangdong are no longer a secret to him.
He then started working busily for the Senate. One day in March, he received new instructions from the traffic officer as usual, but it was "the army is landing and be ready to receive it." Following the instructions, Lin Ming moved from underground to above ground and served as the deputy mayor of Foshan Town, officially working for the Senate. However, before the organization was established, he first acted publicly as the liaison officer of Foshan Town. He would not be able to accept it without shaving his head for the time being.
This place is only more than fifty miles away from Guangzhou, so on the first day of landing, the advance detachment of Fubo Army had already arrived by boat directly at Foshan Fort.
There is no Ming army garrison here, although there are rural warrior regiments training in the town and four villages. However, the training of the Xiangyong regiment is to "protect the family". The Australians have made no mistakes in the autumn. Naturally, the powerful families who actually control the Xiangyong will not come out to "protect the country". After a brief negotiation between the two sides, Foshan Fort opened its gates and surrendered. Lin Ming, a former Jinyiwei Baihu, suddenly became the "deputy mayor".
"Since you are a local native and a cadre appointed by us, please lead us around and introduce the local situation."
"Yes, yes, I am willing to serve you!" Lin Ming responded hurriedly.
The first place he led the way was naturally Lingying Temple, which is what the locals call the ancestral temple and ancestral hall. It is unknown when the ancestral temple was built, but it is generally believed to have been built during the Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, the people from the Central Plains moved south to Guangdong and settled here. A settlement was formed.
"This temple was rebuilt in the fifth year of Hongwu, and it was rebuilt again during this period." Lin Ming said, "The temple worships Beidi God, the northern water god. Therefore, it is said that there were many floods in the local area during the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the local people Invite Beidi to sit in Chancheng. Since then, there have been no floods in this area. Everyone comes to the ancestral temple to worship and seek good weather, peace and prosperity for the country and the people."
Although Lin Ming's ancestors were not a native of "Foshan Fort Baduli", he had lived here for hundreds of years, and he also had a lot of affection for this temple, which was regarded as the root of Foshan. Therefore, from the beginning, they tried to prevent the National Army squadron from occupying this place as a team headquarters.
In front of the ancestral temple is the famous Lingying Archway. It stands majestically on the third floor and has three floors. There are a large number of brackets between the eaves and pillars, and the cornices are stacked with green and elegant clouds. In the middle of the top floor of the front, there is a vertical plaque with the words "Imperial Edict" written vertically. The horizontal script on the lower level reads the words "Holy Domain" and "Lingying". On the top of the back, there is a plaque with the word "Edict Sacrifice" written on it. The vermilion wooden structure is set against the gilded characters. Coupled with a green glazed tile cover, the entire archway looks brilliant. It has a majestic appearance and extremely strong structure. This is the first time Xi Yazhou has seen such an archway building in Hainan and Guangdong.
Lin Ming said that this archway was built during the Jingtai period, because Emperor Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty granted the ancestral temple the title of Lingying Temple. Therefore, the construction and construction of the archway are particularly particular.
In front of the archway is a pool called Jinxiang Pool. In the pool there is a stone turtle and snake statue symbolizing Beidi. Xi Yazhou saw some copper coins scattered on the stone sculptures, and there seemed to be some on the bottom of the pool as well. Apparently, this custom of tossing coins has been around for a long time.
However, this also shows that the local prosperity and tranquility can lead to such leisure and ease that can only be found in peacetime.
After the archway, there are three gates with very elegant architecture. It is nine bays wide, with a 1-meter-high and 30-meter-long pottery tile ridge at the top. There are gilded wood carvings under the eaves. In the middle is a red sandstone wall with three round arches of one meter in depth. The bottom is The stone masonry is upgraded, and the whole building is magnificent and majestic.
When the temple minister heard that the Australian high official had arrived, he hurriedly came out to greet him, invited him to offer incense in the temple, and then went to the clean room to sit and "serve tea".
"I accept your offer, but I'm on official business, so I can't bother you." Xi Yazhou was very polite.
After coming out of the temple, not far away, I saw another wooden and stone archway on the street. Although it was not as grand as the Lingying Archway, it still had a vertical plaque with "Imperial Edict" and the three characters "Zhongyi Township" written horizontally on the lower floor. Lin Ming said that this was during the Zhengtong period, when the pirate Huang Xiaoyang gathered ten thousand people to attack Foshan Fort. At that time, the wealthy Jin gentry in Foshan summoned local warriors and set up fences to resist Huang Xiaoyang's imperial title after his victory.
