After the mineral road leading to the dock from Shilu Iron Mine was completed, Wang Quan and Chen Xinyuan took the Jinyiwei to Qiongzhou Prefecture City.

Wang Quan and Chen Xinyuan brought a group of Jinyiwei to the gate of Qiongzhou Prefecture City. The prefect Zhao Youheng had been waiting at the gate of the prefecture for a long time with a group of local gentry.

"Two thousand households, the officials have been waiting for a long time again. Please invite them from the two thousand households!" Zhao prefect said.

On the way to the Fucheng, Wang Quan asked: "The Marquis wants to open a steel factory, antel factory and a gunpowder factory here. I wonder how Zhao Fuyi's land acquisition work is here?"

Zhao Youheng replied: "If you go back to Wang Qianhu, Xiaguan has completed the land acquisition on the seaside around the city. As long as Qianhu gives an order, construction can be started."

Wang Quan asked again: "When Chen Fuyi encountered any resistance when he acquired the land here?"

Zhao Youheng replied with a smile: "Since the marquis is going to acquire land, how dare the local gentry say no? What's more, the marquis will give money to the land. It is said that the gentry and people who were expropriated can still take the silver to the marquis' shares. If there are such good things, the officials and people will naturally support the marquis."

In fact, the land by the sea is not good. Apart from a large mangrove forest, there is not much arable land, only a little thin field. Those barren land cannot collect much land rent in the hands of the gentry. Now the imperial court collects land at a high price to build factories, and those who are expropriated can also gain the priority of investing in the factory.

After receiving this news, the gentry sold the barren seaside land in their hands to the government. Therefore, the prefect Chen's acquisition of land around Qiongzhou Prefecture did not have any resistance.

However, next, Zhao Youheng said something: "Although the gentry and the people actively support the Marquis, there are always a group of unlucky people who are dissatisfied with the Marquis' desire to build a wharf. The subordinates dare not suppress the unlucky people. You and the Jinyiwei have to come forward for this matter."

Through conversations with the prefect Chen, Wang Quan realized that the resistance came from the Danhu family by the sea.

The chanhu is a group of families living on the boats by the sea all year round, who regard the boat as their home and engage in fishing. Because their home is on the boat, in order to avoid typhoons, the chanhu's ships are moored in the bay to hide from the wind and save lives.

Now Zhao Peng is going to build a dock in the bay by the sea. Once the large freight terminal is completed, it means that these gangsters will be driven out of the safe haven where they rely on for their lives.

"All the poor people, how can we suppress the Jinyiwei easily? My brothers and two of us will report this matter to the Marquis and ask the Marquis to decide." Wang Quan replied.

The place where Wang Quan and Chen Xinyuan and others were arranged to live and eat was not in the prefect's office, but in the home of a local gentry. Regarding this matter, Zhao Youheng said with a guilty look on his face: "The two thousand households, the prefect's office is very simple. I'm afraid that they have treated two thousand households misfortune, and they also asked two thousand households to temporarily live in Zhang Yuanwai's home."

There was an unwritten rule in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, that those who are officials never build yamen. No matter how broken or old it is, they are considered invisible. Because the imperial court does not allocate funds to repair the yamen. To repair the yamen, officials must pay for the money. If they want to maintain the yamen, they must pay for the money they own. If they are officials thousands of miles away, they will make money and let those who are officials pay for the yamen to their own pockets? It is impossible to think about it.

Want to build a yamen without spending money? Then, you must report to your superiors to request that you allocate special funds from the normal annual tax revenue. However, the potential danger of doing so is to give the superiors an impression of "expenditure" and reduce the country's sacred fiscal revenue, which in turn affects the assessment of political achievements.

Of course, special taxes can also be imposed locally, and the result of this will be an enemy of local gentlemen and rich people. These gentlemen and rich people are keen on building Wenchang Temple and Kuixing Tower locally to protect local cultural fortunes and allow their children to enter the bureaucratic class. Building yamen has no practical benefits for gentlemen and rich people. Offending gentlemen and rich people, the "public opinion" manipulated by local gentlemen is very unfavorable to local officials and affects the officials' career.

Even in the wealthy land in Jiangnan, the yamen are all broken and dirty, let alone places like Qiongzhou where birds do not shit. The Qiongzhou government office is so dilapidated.

Wouldn't it be negligent to let the two Jinyiwei officials who were ordered by the above to live in such a dilapidated government office? Moreover, there are almost no foreign officials and imperial envoys passing by in Qiongzhou, and there are not even decent inns, that is, there are no inns run by the government. Therefore, Zhao Youheng chose to arrange the two Jinyiweis to live in the gentry's homes.

Mr. Zhang respectfully welcomed Wang Quan and Chen Xinyuan into his home: "Two masters from thousands of households are invited, and the humble house is very vulgar. I hope the two masters don't want to dislike each other."

When I walked into Zhang Yuanwai's house, I saw that this was a five-entrance mansion with a garden courtyard. If such a mansion was in Jiangnan and Yangzhou and Huai'an, it might not be a big deal. It was a very common mansion in Jiangnan. But this is Qiongzhou. Since ancient times, this has been a place for exiled prisoners, and those who come here to serve as officials are all unsatisfactory people in the officialdom.

But in this poor place where birds do not shit, there is still such a luxurious mansion, which shows that Mr. Zhang is one of the top rich people in the local area.

Seeing Wang Quan's suspicious look, Zhang Yuanwai didn't wait for Wang Quan to ask, he first explained his old foundation that he had reserved: "Qiongzhou has poor land, few Han people in the local area, and many Yi people, which is a barren land. It's just that my ancestors are engaged in maritime business for generations, so he has some family background."

The maritime merchants back then were actually pirates. Speaking of which, Zhang Yuanwai was actually a pirate. When Shibazhi crossed the southeast coast, Zhang Yuanwai's father was a small leader in Shibazhi Pirate Group, which could be regarded as accumulating some wealth. Later, the internal division of Shibazhi Group broke up, and Zheng Zhilong defected to the court and wiped out Liu Xiang with the help of the court.

Zhang Yuanwai's father was originally Liu Xiang's old subordinate. When Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the court, Zhang Yuanwai's father washed his hands when he saw that the situation was not good. Later, he reported to the government, causing the officers and soldiers to find several dens of Liu Xiang. Originally, Liu Xiang would not let Zhang Yuanwai's father go, but later after Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch, he fought with the Ming Navy to Guangdong and wiped out Liu Xiang.

After Liu Xiang was destroyed, as a traitor to Liu Xiang's group, the Zhang family was naturally arranged by the government to the sparsely populated Qiongzhou.

When Zhang Yuanwai's father was a pirate and a maritime businessman, he saved a lot of money, but in Qiongzhou he lived a good life without worries about food and clothing.

"So Zhang Yuanwai is from a maritime businessman!" Wang Quan said respectfully, "Our Marquis attaches great importance to maritime businessman. I wonder if Mr. Zhang is interested in cooperating with our maritime businessman?"

Zhang Yuanwai was overjoyed: "If the Caomin can be appreciated by the Marquis, he is naturally willing to do his best for the Marquis!"

"Okay, I will write a letter to the Marquis about the situation in Qiongzhou. Please wait for the good news by Mr. Zhang." Wang Quan said with a smile.

In the Zhang family's house, Wang Quan and Chen Xinyuan were warmly treated by Zhang Yuanwai. At dinner that night, Zhang Yuanwai's maids and servants served the two distinguished guests with a table full of delicacies, mainly seafood, and a few delicacies.
Chapter completed!