Chapter 1074: Special Envoy of Dayu County Preparatory
Fang Pinglu, the governor of Ryukyu Prefecture, was not surprised at all by the results achieved by the navy in the waters west of Fuso!
It has been so long since he came to Ryukyu Prefecture, a place far away from the mainland, and Fang Pinglu has gradually changed his previous thoughts. In the past, he came here only out of desperation, because he chose to make money here.
Get some credit and go back to your homeland.
Before he came here, he thought this place must be a place where nothing matters, but after arriving here, he realized that although this place was a bit small, life would not be inconvenient.
Of course, it is impossible to see the prosperity of Jiangnan.
Because Ryukyu has always been an important transit point for maritime trade between China and Fuso. It was like this before, and it is like this now, and it is even more important. A large number of merchant ships pass through Ryukyu, bringing not only a variety of goods to this place,
goods, and also brought huge financial income to this small Ryukyu government.
Those sailors who have been wandering at sea for a long time, after arriving at the port of Naha in Ryukyu, the first thing they do is to get drunk and have sex. Sailors these days are really high-income groups, and they are also typical of those who drink today and get drunk today.
, the money is spent very generously.
This is because being a sailor is very dangerous. No one knows that they will accidentally die in a storm or be attacked by pirates that day, so they usually indulge themselves outside.
When there is demand, there is naturally supply. In this way, consumption is generated, and with consumption, taxes can naturally be collected from it.
In addition to the consumer market, as an important transit point for trade between Datang and Fuso, many merchants directly choose to complete transactions here. Fuso merchants transport goods to Ryukyu, and then purchase Chinese goods here before shipping them.
Back in Fuso, the Chinese merchants are similar. They transport a large amount of Chinese goods from China, sell them here to merchants who specialize in the Fuso route, and then purchase Japanese goods and return to China.
As a result, the bulk goods transactions that occur in Ryukyu Prefecture are very large, and naturally more taxes can be collected from them.
Relying on the prosperity brought by maritime trade, Ryukyu Prefecture received a fiscal revenue of up to 150,000 taels in the seven years of Xuanping. This fiscal revenue was extremely backward for an agricultural development, and fishery development was not very good, so it could only
This is already very difficult for a region that relies on sea trade.
After all, Ryukyu Mansion can only be regarded as a transit station strictly speaking, and other commercial developments are relatively backward.
However, even so, Fang Pinglu was very satisfied.
In addition to good tax revenue, Fang Pinglu, the ruler of the Ryukyu Kingdom, has always maintained a high-pressure situation and did not let the old and young people of the Ryukyu Kingdom cause any trouble.
For this reason, in the eighth year of Xuanping, he received a commendation document from the Ministry of Personnel, saying that he was loyal to the emperor in Ryukyu Prefecture and led the work of Ryukyu Prefecture outstandingly and effectively.
It was a relatively high comment given during the evaluation.
Not to mention the four words before it: Loyal to your Majesty!
The Tang Dynasty was a monarchical empire, the emperor was everything, and loyalty to the emperor was the highest evaluation of a minister.
Therefore, his experience in serving in the Ryukyu Prefecture can be regarded as a top choice. When the three-year term is up, he will most likely be sent back to the country. After returning to the country, he will definitely be promoted, and he should also be assigned to
Serve in more important positions.
But even so, Fang Pinglu was still not satisfied!
Governing Ryukyu Mansion, even if it is to manage Ryukyu Mansion in an orderly manner, can only be regarded as an ordinary job. At that time, he came to Ryukyu Mansion with ambitions. He was not satisfied with ordinary achievements. He wanted more.
!
Otherwise, he would not have been pushing the Ryukyu Squadron of the Navy to go to Fuso to suppress the bandits in the past few months, and even the occupation of the Osumi Islands was his suggestion.
Before the departure of the Ryukyu Squadron, in the name of the governor of Ryukyu Prefecture, he had a very precise negotiation with Feng Qirong of the Navy. During the meeting, Fang Pinglu, on behalf of the Ryukyu Prefecture Yamen, proposed that pirate attacks were serious and he hoped that the navy
The eradication of pirates also proposed that the Osumi Islands should be brought under the jurisdiction of the Ryukyu Prefecture. While expanding the territory of the empire, it would also enable better maritime trade with Fuso.
So when Fang Pinglu received the communication and returned to Ryukyu Prefecture by express ship, he reported that the Ryukyu Squadron had captured Tanegashima and Yakushima in the Osumi Islands, and asked the Ryukyu Prefecture Yamen to send relevant officials to Tanegashima to establish preliminary administrative arrangements.
After the institution.
Fang Pinglu was not surprised at all, and he called over a dozen officials who had been prepared for a long time, and asked them to follow the communication speedboat to Tanegashima Island immediately to establish the Yamen of Osumi County, Ryukyu Prefecture, an overseas territory directly under the Tang Empire.
mechanism.
Of course, Fang Pinglu did not have the authority to directly bring the Osumi Islands under the jurisdiction of his Ryukyu Prefecture, nor did he have the authority to send his officials to establish Osumi Prefecture institutions. This power was in the hands of the local cabinet bosses.
But this does not prevent him from doing so in advance, because as the prefect of an overseas territory, he has more privileges than the local prefects. Among the many privileges, there is a very special power, which is to 'judge in advance'
,Report afterwards'.
Basically, except for the two major powers of military affairs and finance, he basically has other powers.
So when he sent people to the Osumi Islands, he also began to write a memorial. The main content was to report on the Osumi Islands, saying that the islands had been occupied by pirates for many years. In order to ensure the normal maritime trade, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty decisively
They resolutely defeated the pirates and occupied the area. In order to facilitate future maritime trade, they specifically requested the establishment of Osumi County under Ryukyu Prefecture, with Tanegashima as the county government, and the establishment of administrative teams at all levels of Osumi County Yamen.
At the same time, he also reported that because the matter was urgent, he had appointed more than ten officials to Osumi County to inspect and prepare for the establishment of the county.
Therefore, strictly speaking, the more than ten officials Fang Pinglu sent to the Osumi Islands were not officials at all levels such as the magistrate or county magistrate of the Osumi Islands, but were preparing for the establishment of Osumi County in the name of special envoys, deputy envoys, etc.
matter official.
Xia Wuyan, who was sent to the Osumi Islands by Fang Pinglu as the 'Osumi County Preparatory Special Envoy', was somewhat interesting. This person was not a traditional civil servant, but a soldier, well, an army soldier!
Xia Wuyan previously served in the Sixth Infantry Division of the Army. He served successively as an infantry team officer, infantry battalion commander, and a serious major. However, he suffered a lot of injuries in a battle and recovered from his injuries.
Later, he would often be awakened by nightmares of fighting. Well, in modern psychology terms, he was suffering from war syndrome.
Under this situation, he simply took the initiative to apply for the retirement major, and was then assigned to the Ryukyu Mansion as the director of a sixth-grade department.
The army and navy have always been sworn enemies. In order to prevent the navy from messing around in the Osumi Islands, he selected Xia Wuyan, an official with an army background, as the special envoy for preparations.
Even though Xia Wuyan has retired from active service, Fang Pinglu knows that these veterans have a very strong sense of belonging to the army. When they were in active service, these army officers were not interested in the navy. Even after they retired, they still hated the navy.
people!
With Xia Wuyan here, he doesn't have to worry about the navy turning Osumi County into a private reserve.
The principle of separation of military and political affairs in the empire must be maintained, and the military should not be allowed to interfere in even the slightest local affairs. This is the common understanding of almost all civilian officials.
As the army becomes larger and larger, the generals become more and more arrogant. In fact, many cabinet officials are worried that these generals will eventually interfere in the court, or even interfere in the political situation of the empire. If this causes some turmoil,
It was a huge disaster for the entire empire.
Under this general policy, the cabinet also closely follows the pace of the military. Once the army conquers a place, they will immediately send officials to take over it, and will never give the military any time or opportunity to rule by military rule.
The same is true for Osumi Prefecture, Ryukyu Prefecture.
However, considering that Osumi Prefecture is far away from the mainland, let alone the Ryukyu Islands, in order to avoid trouble, he simply hired a retired army officer to serve as a special envoy to avoid interference between local officials and the navy.
combine together.
Fang Pinglu naturally has some persecution fantasies when he thinks like this. Feng Qirong has no intention of creating private land for the navy. Feng Qirong is a rear admiral and he is not very young. He wants to go further. It is best to get one.
Where is the title?
For this reason, people are obsessed with conquering the entire Fuso Coast, and even going to Kyushu Island, so how can they care about a poor place like Osumi County?
Making great achievements is the most noble goal of local imperial soldiers!
Well, to put it nicely, it is for His Majesty, for the Empire, and for the common people, but to put it more realistically, they just want to go one step further, obtain a title, and become one of the top people in the Empire.
Meritorious service, promotion, and knighthood are the dreams of all soldiers. Once successful, it means that a new powerful family will appear among the top elites of the empire.
In contrast, they are too lazy to scheming with the civil servants in the cabinet!
But what do the military generals think? The civil servants in the cabinet don't know. They are just taking precautions as always. If they don't take precautions now, will they have to wait until the military really interferes in government affairs in the future?
Then it will be too late!
The ship Xia Wuyan was on was not big, but it was extremely fast because it was a communication ship specially built by the navy for communication and transporting important people!
These communication ships may only have a dozen tons in small ones and a hundred tons in large ones, but they all have the same characteristic, which is the use of a clipper bow, a slender hull, an extremely deep draft, and when the sails are fully deployed,
, huge area!
All these designs are for speed!
In a tailwind situation, this kind of communication ship can easily reach a speed of twelve knots. In extreme cases, it can even reach a speed of fourteen knots!
In an era when the speed of most ships is still five knots or even lower, this speed is absolutely explosive!
However, this kind of communication ship is fast, but its other performance is basically not good, the cargo capacity is very small, and the ride is definitely uncomfortable.
Therefore, when Xia Wuyan stepped off the communication ship and onto the pier of Tanegashima, his face was so pale that there was no trace of blood. He was even unsteady and needed help from others to stand firm!