Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 447 Development of Overseas States (I)
"All the property of Duke Yansheng's mansion was confiscated. After compensating the victims, the rest was nationalized and arranged for the people to cultivate the land. All the personnel of the Northern Sect were detained and examined in detail. Those found guilty were punished with pardons, and those found innocent were released and given ten mu of land to live on. The Southern Sect moved to Qufu, abolished the title of Duke Yansheng, and established a new 'Great Sage and Teacher Worship Officer'. This official rank is the third rank. In addition to the fixed salary and related benefits, the court also granted 10,000 mu of land as a maintenance land for the Worship Officer. Worship officers are lifelong. Unless they have committed treasonous words and deeds, or are too old or sick to perform their duties, they will not be replaced. The new Worship Officer will be jointly assessed by the Ministry of Rites, the Censorate and the current Worship Officer when necessary, and all descendants of Confucius can take the exam. The first place in the assessment will be the next Worship Officer... and so on , to ensure that the incense in front of the saint's statue will never end..."
In October 1620, in Nanyang, at the Singapore prefectural government office, Li Jia, Peng Xiaodong, Du Youning, Qu Shisi, Huang Zunsu and five others sat together to discuss state affairs. Before the formal meeting, they first discussed the recent major events in the country.
"Hahaha, it seems that the emperor is still the emperor we are familiar with. He does things decisively. Alas, I wonder if the corrupt scholars in the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the country will be heartbroken or even commit suicide to show their determination."
"Hehe, what are you talking about, Brother Boyun? Since they are corrupt scholars, aren't they always yelling loudly, but are at a loss when it comes to doing things? I guess they will cry for sure, but after crying they will still do what they have to do. Committing suicide? I don't think they have the courage to hold a knife!"
Of the five main officials of the State of Singapore, the first three were Fangshan’s classmates, and the last two were members of the Donglin Party: Strictly speaking, there is no Donglin Party now. However, as two people who were deeply involved with Donglin Academy in the early years, they still have the Donglin label to a certain extent.
So, it has been almost two years since the five of them formed a team together in December 1618, and the relationship between them is far from harmonious.
"Academic Governor, you have to talk to the students in the state school about this matter. In short, there is nothing wrong with Confucius, but his descendants are not good. Just because his ancestors are saints, his descendants can't ignore the law and do things that hurt the world. Through this incident, it is also a reminder to the students in my state school. I know that there are many students in the state school, who are the children of martyrs when we conquered Siam a few years ago. They lack the discipline of their fathers, and they are not in my Ming Dynasty. Therefore, some students are extremely naughty and have caused a lot of trouble to the native yamen runners working in the state office. Therefore, taking advantage of this incident, Academic Governor, you must strengthen the management of students in the state school. The court dares to deal with the children of saints, and I, the governor, dare to deal with the children of martyrs as well!"
"Yes, I will obey your order." As the academician of Singapore, Huang Zunsu actually didn't like Zhu Youdong. As someone who had studied at Donglin Academy in his early years, believed in the theory of "the correspondence between heaven and man", and believed that the king should rule by doing nothing, it would be strange for him to like a great ruler like Zhu Youdong.
In the past two years, he has also tried to smuggle private ideas into the state schools in Singapore. But what is frustrating is that most of the students in the state schools are children of local garrisons and martyrs. The parents of these people are absolute supporters of the emperor, and their children are also loyal to the emperor. He just carefully said that the emperor should listen to the opinions of knowledgeable people below, and then he was reported.
After this setback, he became more cautious: as the school administrator, he no longer directly intervened in the school teaching - in fact, the school's textbooks were all determined by Zhu Youdong, and teachers could only teach strictly according to the textbooks. All he could do was to observe quietly from the side to see if there were any talented students who were worthy of his "teaching all his knowledge".
In addition to temporarily forbearing, he, as the education commissioner, also had other headaches. The most distressing thing was that the students in the state school were basically the children of soldiers. These soldiers who could not read a single word attached great importance to the studies of their children, but they were very casual in the education outside of homework. There was no such thing as the politeness of scholars from all over the country when he was studying in his hometown in Zhejiang. The most hateful thing was that some children of martyrs, due to the lack of discipline, had some bad habits, most of which liked gambling, and the older ones even threw their pensions into brothels.
Although the imperial court's policy on the compensation of martyrs' families was generous, in addition to tax exemption and exemption of tuition and miscellaneous fees, it was only two silver dollars per month for the children until they reached adulthood. How could this little money be spent on those places of entertainment? Then the older children who had no money would do all kinds of evil things. The less serious ones would cheat or pretend to be pitiful in front of their father's former comrades. The worst ones would simply gather into gangs and attack and rob the nearby natives!
All these things really gave Huang Zunsu, the academician, and Li Jia, the governor of a state, a headache. The former felt that it was insulting, while the latter saw that Singapore was a place where business was concentrated. If the public security was poor, what would happen if merchants stopped coming?
But it would be very troublesome to deal with it: in ancient and modern times, when an army still has fighting power, it is almost instinctive to protect its own people. So Li Jia and Huang Zunsu's treatment of these degenerate children was actually resisted by Du Youning, who was also Fangshan's classmate...
Therefore, dealing with the Northern clan children and ending the title of Duke Yansheng caused different reactions in different places. For the newly established overseas state, Singapore, which had almost no historical baggage, instead used this as a weapon to improve the school environment and public security in the state.
After using the topic to elaborate, Li Jia cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, let's officially start this month's state affairs meeting. First, please let Brother Ziqin report on the fishery dispute between our state and Zhou Kingdom last month."
"Okay, everyone. In March this year, the state organized the remnant soldiers and Han Chinese who settled in Singapore to establish the Singapore Fishery Company. In addition to supplying the local market, the fish obtained were also transported to the Ming Dynasty for sale after dehydration and pickling. In the past six months, this company has successfully solved the livelihood problems of more than 1,300 remnant soldiers and Han Chinese, and paid an average of nearly 2,000 silver dollars in local taxes to the state government every month. Two months ago, the state fishery company encountered the Zhou Kingdom's fishing fleet in the waters near Chumphon Prefecture north of Johor. The two sides had a dispute because of chasing the same school of fish, which escalated to a fight with harpoons. In the end, one person died and six were injured on our side. Seven people died on the Zhou side, and almost everyone else was injured... uh, the people who died on the Zhou side were all Thais.
After this incident, the Crown Prince of Zhou personally went to the Central and Southern Governor's Office in Bangkok to submit a complaint, saying that he wanted to give an explanation to his people... I also went to Bangkok in person to attend the trial. The trial ended last month. Governor Xiong meant that both parties should compensate each other for the losses, and ordered Zhou to strengthen the Chinese language learning of the people to avoid further misunderstandings at sea. At the same time, Governor Xiong also instructed the officials in charge of fisheries in the Governor's Office to preliminarily divide the scope of fishing grounds in each state and vassal state. And it is recommended that all places carry out artificial breeding of seafood in coastal areas. "
"Haha, since when did the bear governor, who is always so resolute and can't tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes, start to act as a peacemaker?"
The speaker was Qu Shixi, the supervisory official of Singapore State. After he said this, everyone shook their heads helplessly.
There is no doubt that the other side lost seven people. If there is mutual compensation, Singapore will definitely pay more, but the Governor's Office also requires Zhouguo to strengthen the learning of Chinese among the people. In short, both sides will be punished.
Hearing Qu Shisi talking about Xiong Tingbi's change, Li Jia also shook his head: The advantage of being an official in Nanyang is that there are few connections with local gentry and not many burdens. The disadvantage is that there are too many forces in this place: local natives, vassal kings, five overseas states, and European whites , Indians and even Arabs doing business nearby. It is really not an easy task to handle all these relationships. Not to mention Xiong Tingbi, even Li Jia, isn't he gradually becoming less tempered now?
"Forget it, let's not talk about Governor Xiong. Does anyone have any objection to this verdict? If not, just accept it. The state government will pay for the compensation, and we will also have to send people to the families of the dead and injured fishermen to express our condolences."
"The governor's arrangement is reasonable, and we have no objection."
"Okay, let's move on to the next item, the land leasing situation last month."
