The pragmatic life of Annan's "Top Emperor" Gao was anything but comfortable. Since his term of office as the censor of Guangxi had less than five months left, his time in Annan was even more tense.
He estimated that he could stay in Annan for another two months at most, and he would have to return to Guangxi no matter what the last time - he still had to do his job as a patrol inspector, but he couldn't ignore it.
Although the Guangxi side now adheres to the principle of "the inspectors are always running around" and urgently dispatched some procuratorate personnel to Shenglong, some official documents that require the approval and ruling of the inspectors are also sent directly to Shenglong without saying a word. Long sent, but after all, Annan has been "independent" for so many years, and the post road system built in the Yongle period has long since disappeared. Most of these official documents now go to Qinzhou and into the sea, and then are sent to Gao Pangshi's hands via the Red River. It is more troublesome and not too difficult. Safety.
It's easy to understand, but why is it not safe?
Readers with good memories may still remember that when Gao Jing's fleet set out for the southern expedition, Gao Jing had a conversation with Boss Hu and Boss Li on the Xinzheng, and they mentioned the piracy problem near Halong Bay.
With the real power of the Mo family being replaced by the Jinghua Group, the Anbang Xuanfu Division is now the territory actually controlled by Huang Zhiting, while south of the Gang River is the Haiyang Xuanfu Division, which is directly controlled by Gao Jinghua.
As a result, the pirates whose home base is located in Halong Bay, just north of the mouth of the Gang River, cannot sit still.
It turned out that they had a "tacit understanding" with the local officials of the Mo Dynasty: Because the hydrology and geography of Halong Bay are very complicated, there are so many islands, and the Mo family's navy has to maintain pressure on the Zheng family, so there is no time to go there. Fight with these pirates and let them build a pirate paradise here.
But Jinghua is different. Because of its high pragmatic attitude, Jinghua's consistent attitude towards pirates is extremely clear: "Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish" - you can surrender if you want, but I will strictly purge and adapt it. Basically, it is still I can give you a way to survive; but if you want to continue to dominate our Jinghua waterway, you must first ask me whether Jinghua's cannons and giant ships agree!
The pirates of Annam are definitely not as powerful as the pirates of the Ming Dynasty. They are brave enough to dare to attack Spain, which spans all over the world. However, they still have a certain confidence near Halong Bay - the geographical advantage of this place is too obvious. , the big ship and the big cannon got in, not only was it inconvenient to maneuver, but it was also easy to be stunned.
You know, this place will be called one of the "New Seven Natural Wonders of the World" in later generations. In this sea area of only about 1,500 square kilometers, there are more than 3,000 rock islands and earth islands. It is not just a place to crawl around. Old pirates who have been fighting for many years basically cannot get out once they enter.
As for the pirates here, as long as they attack slightly east from Halong Bay, they can cut off the waterway from Qinzhou to Haiphong or the mouth of the Red River, and even block the waterway from Guangzhou.
This was so disgusting that Gao Jingshi felt like something was stuck in his throat and had already ordered Gao Jing to find a way to solve this trouble.
However, Gao Pragmatic also knew that he had to think of a solution. As a profit-making business group, Jinghua could not engage in "at all costs" fleet operations. That would be a sign of death.
Therefore, if Gao Jing was not more than 90% sure, he would probably rather not move than move blindly, otherwise he would not be able to keep his position if the losses were too great.
The pirates in Halong Bay were like a stick in the throat, which made Gao Pingshi very unhappy, but he soon received good news from another place. Compared with the tangle in Halong Bay, that place was as satisfying as "pulling out a thorn".
The joint fleets of Jinghua and Maritime Merchant in the private port of Quanzhou defeated an alliance of more than ten pirates near the Fujian Sea in one fell swoop!
Gao Sitang, the director of the private port, clearly reported the victory. In this battle, the Quanzhou Combined Fleet destroyed and captured 132 pirate ships, 4,267 pirates, 1,493 women, and 1,000 young and old. Three hundred and seventy-five people, killing pirates is useless!
On its own side, a total of thirty-nine ships were lost, including five of Jinghua's standard armed transport ships.
Gao Sitang euphemistically suggested that he should subsidize the losses of the maritime merchants in Fujian Province as appropriate. After all, they suffered heavy losses because they followed Jinghua's real swords and guns to fight against pirates.
Of course, discretionary subsidies can be considered, and must even be seriously considered, because this is a matter of "status in the world." If you follow Jinghua to go out to fight with pirates, and after the fight, Jinghua ignores you, this kind of thing only requires If it happens once, it will probably dissipate people's hearts immediately?
If people's hearts are broken, it will be difficult to lead the team. If similar things happen again in the future, if Jinghua wants to drag people out to kill people together, they will only agree if they are stupid! Even if you dare not leave due to the power of Jinghua, you will inevitably procrastinate when it comes to fighting, hide when you can, or even run away before the battle, and the impact will be bad.
However, when it comes to subsidies, Gao Wushi doesn't dare to spend large sums of money now, because there are so many more things that need to spend money now, and he has to consider the issue of "cash flow", so in the end he gave provided a "cash subsidy of half the discount of the lost ship", plus a series of preferential policies.
These preferential policies include "interest-free loans for building new ships", "priority for Jinghua Shipyard to start construction", "priority in the selection of high-quality wood in Guangxi at cost price", "three-year exemption from port tax at Quanzhou Port", etc.
Of course, the exemption from port tax is linked to the loss of ships. For example, if a boss sails three ships with the Beijing fleet and loses one, that is the privilege of owning one ship to be exempted from port tax for three years. Not all of the boss's ships will be exempted from port tax. Exempted from tax.
However, at the same time, this exemption does not start to be calculated until the new ship is completed and put into service.
As for some other discounts, such as the right of first refusal for various goods of Jinghua Group, etc., I will not list them one by one.
All in all, although being pragmatic only subsidizes half of the ship loss costs, the actual value of these discounts to maritime merchants is higher, and being pragmatic can also avoid spending too much cash at one time. It can be considered a win-win.
What made Gao Pragmatic even more satisfied with this battle was not only that he almost wiped out the Minhai area, which had never been peaceful, but that Gao Sitang obtained sweet potatoes and corn in the pirates' lair.
This credit alone is worth all the losses!
After receiving the good news, Gao Pragmatic saw this sentence and stood up suddenly, patted the table and praised loudly: "Good, good, good! Gao Sitang deserves a reward, a big reward!"
Then he wrote a personal reply, first praising Gao Sitang, the Quanzhou fleet and the Quanzhou maritime merchants, and then once again emphasizing that the seeds of these two crops must be properly kept and planted in a suitable location immediately.
Gao Pragmatic also took the trouble to explain to Gao Sitang, such as trial planting methods, must be divided into various methods, never use the same method to plant, not only to avoid planting all at once, but also to see what kind of planting methods are different according to different planting methods. Which method is most suitable, etc.
In the end, although Gao Sitang himself was embarrassed to say it, Gao Pragmatic was very "on the road" and changed Gao Sitang's name to "Gao Qi" in the letter, and said that he would report it internally to Jinghua.
In addition, Gao Pragmatic also ordered Gao Sitang—well, it’s time to call him Gao Qi now—to immediately arrange a ship to send a batch to Annan.
It’s hard to say whether the promotion of these things in Daming will be fast or not, but the promotion in Annan will definitely be fast, because Annan has the final say with his high pragmatism!
If there is any regret about being pragmatic this time, it is probably that potatoes are not one of the three high-yielding crops. This is indeed a pity, because although Gao's practical agricultural knowledge is far behind compared to other aspects, he remembers one thing very clearly: Tsarist Russia once vigorously promoted potato cultivation, and there was even a very common The punishment was to distribute Siberian potatoes.
It can be seen that potatoes must be a cold-resistant and high-yielding crop, and the most serious damage caused by the Little Ice Age of the Ming Dynasty was in the north. This thing is needed now!
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I forgot to mention several chapters... I continue to ask for subscriptions and various votes~
