Chapter 240 Ming people don’t understand foreign languages

A few high-level officials in Delaware, headed by Mitchell, were not very willing to accept Ming's conditions, but they did not have the courage to directly resist and oppose them.

Adams and Napoleon had already chosen to give up, and there was a high probability that they would not turn against the Ming Dynasty for the sake of the 40,000 people in Wilmington.

Neither did they have the courage to leave directly. The officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty would definitely do as they asked, confiscate most of their assets, and let themselves leave with one thousand Ming Dynasty silver coins.

That will make you fall into the ordinary middle class, or even become the bottom middle class.

The Ming Dynasty officials headed by Ruan Yuan did not communicate with them very much, but they chatted patiently with Stockton and other young people.

At the same time, more Ming and Yin soldiers got off the ship and left the dock in batches according to Mu Yongfu's order to receive and control the city hall, military camps, warehouses, bridges, and key intersections.

This is the de facto receiving town.

The top brass of Delaware, headed by Mitchell, watched groups of Ming soldiers running away with rifles on their backs, and immediately realized what they were going to do.

But several people looked at each other, stopped talking for a long time, and finally silently accepted the reality.

After all, this is just a small town with tens of thousands of people. No matter how powerful the local gangsters are, they don't have the courage to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Due to the simplicity, roughness and directness of the Ming Dynasty officials, what was supposed to be a simple greeting process on the dock directly turned into an actual handover process of city control.

The officials headed by Ruan Yuan waited on the dock for more than an hour, during which time they just talked and chatted.

Knowing that Mu Yongfu had received a report from his subordinates, he knew that his soldiers had completely taken control of this small town of 40,000 people.

Then he left a group of soldiers to continue guarding the port. He took a sentry soldier and accompanied Ruan Yuan and other officials to the Wilmington City Hall.

Delaware officials, businessmen, congressmen, representatives of the new nobility, and the visiting Governor of Maryland and his entourage also went to the city hall.

Maryland Governor Bowie stepped forward and proposed that both parties sign a handover declaration document.

The purpose of Bowie coming from Baltimore was to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty officials in handling the territorial transfer.

Before the Ming Dynasty's representatives arrived, Bowie had several thoughts of preserving part of Cecil.

But this idea is not as strong as that of Delaware's Mitchell.

Because the core area of ​​Maryland is no longer on the peninsula, but on the other side of the fjord in Baltimore.

Bowie's major assets were also in Baltimore.

The land of Cecil and the peninsula to the south will be handed over to Ming Dynasty, which will not affect his wealth and identity at all.

After Bowie witnessed the negotiation process between Ming Dynasty and Mitchell of Delaware, he decisively gave up these simple ideas that had not been proposed in his mind.

I decided to get the matter done quickly and return to Baltimore as quickly as possible.

Bowie took the initiative, and Mitchell, knowing that he could not escape, also stood up and expressed his willingness to sign the statement.

Ruan Yuan looked at the two governors and smiled:

"It doesn't matter to us originally. Since both of us want to sign, let's sign one..."

Ruan Yuan asked the clerk to draft a simple declaration document.

Delaware and Maryland relinquished all land on the Eastern Peninsula, including Cecil and New Castle counties.

Bowie and Mitchell signed as representatives.

Ruan Yuan nodded slightly, stood on the steps in the middle, and made another official announcement:

"From now on, Newcastle and Cecil counties and all the areas south of the Dongyi Peninsula belong to the territory of the Dongyi Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty.

"The title originally conferred by any country and the fiefdom in Dongyi Kingdom will not be recognized in the future.

"The titles in the United States and the United Kingdom will all belong to foreign titles from now on and will not have any special rights in the Dongyi Kingdom.

"The King's Palace of Dongyi has two Changshi Palaces on the left and right. The Changshi on the left is responsible for the counties in Changdao, and the Changshi on the right is responsible for the counties on the Dongyi Peninsula.

“Existing institutions and personnel in the counties on the peninsula are temporarily retained, and will be eliminated and promoted through assessment.

"The original Delaware state-level government, parliament, and court institutions have all been dissolved, and relevant personnel can participate in the official assessment of the Long History Mansion.

"Those who are proficient in the elegant dialect of the Ming Dynasty and can listen, read, and write in the elegant dialect of the Ming Dynasty will be given priority to be admitted as translators."

Listening to Ruan Yuanyi's stern announcement of the order, the expressions of the audience in the hall below varied.

Mitchell and other key personnel in Delaware state agencies all looked melancholy and sad.

From now on, Delaware is completely gone. For them, it's like finishing it off.

And it will be different from the past. If you want to be an official, you have to start from the grassroots level, and you cannot directly go to a high position.

Ordinary businessmen and elites who intend to become managers, especially young people, are beginning to look forward to it.

Representatives of Wilmington's county-level agencies breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that their positions were temporarily saved.

At this point, the handover ceremony of the territory of Dongyi Peninsula is officially completed.

Then Ruan Yuan stopped chatting with Bowie, Mitchell and others, and started working directly on site.

Receive all the information from the Delaware State Government, receive the basic information about the counties on the peninsula handed over by the Maryland State Representative, and compile it into the information about the Right Chief Shifu of Dongyi Kingdom.

Accept the functions and existing institutions and facilities of the Delaware state government, and use this as a basis to extend the scope of management to the entire peninsula, and establish the framework of the Dongyi Kingdom's Youchang Shifu.

The two long histories of the Dongyi Kingdom were actually two governors, and they were not the traditional governors of certain affairs in the Ming Dynasty, but similar to the colonial governors of modern Western times.

After Ruan Yuan set up the Chang Shi Mansion, he began to take over other counties on the peninsula.

This task is actually very simple to say the least.

Grassroots organizations in the United States are highly autonomous.

A group of immigrants from the Old World scattered and gathered into small settlements. A group of people discussed how to live their lives.

Almost all needs are solved by local people themselves, and any conflicts and problems are solved by themselves.

Public security issues also need to be resolved by the residents themselves. Most immigrants have firearms in their homes.

The settlements on these peninsulas are quite even, with one or two thousand people being enough to serve as a county government residence.

In a place with such a sparse and even population, there are certainly no particularly wealthy places or people.

If the Ming Dynasty did not engage in the strategy of giving up land but not people, and allowed these people to continue to live in the Ming Dynasty, then it would only need to send someone to inform them that the situation has changed.

Tell them that from now on they no longer belong to the United Kingdom or the United States, but from now on they will belong to the Dongyi Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty.

It is estimated that the vast majority of farmers will not have any opinions, and even those who do have no place to vent their opinions.

But if this task is difficult, it is actually very difficult.

It is necessary to implement the management system after the Ming Dynasty in the local area and establish a Ming-style grassroots official organization.

It is necessary to train enough grassroots officials and apply the laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty to rural areas.

It is necessary to establish a new Ming-style school, change the local education model and content, and at the same time promote the elegant language of the Ming Dynasty.

Even in remote areas of the Ming Dynasty, this would be a very complex civil affairs project.

What's more, there is still a language and cultural gap between ordinary people in the Dongyi Peninsula and the Ming Dynasty.

So both Ruan Yuan and Mu Yongfu know that the second goal is impossible to achieve in the short term.

So Ruan Yuan temporarily retained the original county-level managers.

However, the two of them are not prepared to just let it go completely, but are preparing for subsequent direct jurisdiction.

After Ruan Yuan and Mu Yongfu discussed it, they planned to arrange three officers in each county and about a hundred soldiers per sentry.

The officers are responsible for delivering and interpreting notices issued by the Ming Dynasty court and the Changshi Mansion, making statistics and recording the actual situation of grassroots villages and towns, and supervising and evaluating retained Taixi officials.

Soldiers protect and cooperate with officers, maintain local security and social order, take over and control local militia organizations, and maintain actual rule over the local area.

After eliminating possible resistance forces and integrating local militia organizations, the garrison in each county can be gradually reduced.

But to achieve this goal, each group of officers and soldiers must be equipped with a Thai-Spanish translator who understands the elegant dialect of the Ming Dynasty.

The common language of the main residents of the Dongyi Kingdom is English, while ordinary officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty basically do not understand foreign languages.

High-ranking officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty rarely used foreign languages ​​in their actual work and life.

Most foreigners with relatively high status can speak the elegant dialect of the Ming Dynasty, and the middle class are even more proud of knowing the elegant dialect of the Ming Dynasty.

The description of "a fluent and standard Ming Dynasty speaker" is a frequently used compliment by Thai and Western writers and media personnel.

There were no general foreign language classes in ordinary schools in the Ming Dynasty, because foreign languages ​​were not tested in middle school and university examinations, as well as in the imperial examinations.

Only schools that specialize in training translators have foreign language courses, and only those who work in Honglu Temple and Xichang have foreign language requirements.

Moreover, at this time, Britain was not the world's hegemon, and there was no United States to pick up the baton of British hegemony.

So now English has no obvious special status compared to French, Russian, Spanish, and Latin.

There are only a few people learning foreign languages, and even fewer people know English when broken down.

Nowadays, there is a special shortage of officials, and it is even more difficult to find people who can understand English.

When we were screening manpower before this operation, we actually specifically asked if there was anyone who knew English.

Among the officials who finally came to Dongyi Kingdom, less than ten of them could barely understand a few simple sentences in English.

As for those that can be used for communication and office work, there is no one left.
To be continued...