Volume 1 Chapter 392: Mutual Appreciation
Therefore, a silver ingot of fifty taels could often be used as sixty or even seventy taels, and was quite valuable.
Even though these officials hold high positions, few of them actually live a good life. Although this is a coastal city, the trade routes are blocked and the sea is dangerous. People have done little exploration of the sea, and apart from a large amount of seafood, there is not much to gain.
In fact, Tianjin Province is not rich, especially Jieshi City. Because there are many rocks in the land, there is very little land that can be used for farming. The people's food mostly comes from seafood and fish.
If it were not for Weihaiwei Governor Gan Ce who unified this area, killed many officials who oppressed the people, and formed a well-trained army to go out to sea frequently, Tianjin Province would probably be a wasteland now, with the people living in poverty, and would have become what the court called a remote and impoverished place.
Gan Ce was said to have a million naval forces under his command, but in fact many of them were ordinary people from Jieshi City. They needed to make a living, and in order to support their families, they had to go out to sea to fish, otherwise they would starve to death.
This is one of the reasons why Gan Ce was willing to submit to the imperial court. His strength only appeared bright and brilliant on the surface, but in reality he was very weak.
He himself thought clearly that the people in his territory could no longer live like this, and the only way was to rely on the imperial court.
The imperial court has money, food, and a large amount of daily necessities, etc., while their Jin Province is poor, but has inexhaustible seafood. If they can sell all the seafood inland and sell it to the entire Dayun Empire like they did before the chaos, then Jin Province will definitely become the richest province in the Dayun Empire in the shortest time.
People's lives will get better and everyone will become prosperous.
If they had continued to oppose the imperial court, these common people would not even be able to live the life they have now, but would have to suffer the pain of war. The men in their families might also have died in the war, and the family would have lost its pillar and completely collapsed.
As their admiral, Gan Ce could not make a decision to go against the already powerful imperial court, simply because behind him... he had too many concerns and responsibilities.
However, the imperial court was unaware of the poverty and plight of the Canghai area. What they had before them was an army of one million, which gave Gan Ce the capital to negotiate with the imperial court and gain more benefits for the people.
Fortunately, he met a wise leader. Emperor Xiang Yun not only met all his requirements, but also provided him with a large amount of supplies. He also spent money and effort to help him develop his maritime career and build powerful ironclad artillery warships.
All these made Gan Ce very happy. The only thing that had not yet been confirmed was the selection of the new admiral of Weihai.
This is a crucial point. As the governor of Weihai who controls all civil and military officials in the Canghai area, if he is a corrupt official who exploits the people, then no matter how much help the court gives to the Canghai area, the people will not benefit, and their lives may even become worse.
Therefore, Gan Ce has always been very concerned about the selection of the new Weihai admiral. After receiving the emperor's edict, he originally planned to assist the new Weihai admiral well. However, this person saw the other person's power and domineering before he saw it. How could he not be angry?
Especially after he fell out with Li Nezha, Gan Ce even had the idea of sidelining Li Nezha and taking charge of the Weihai area again. After all, no matter how strong the imperial court was, the price could not be the happiness of the common people.
In the two months since he left the capital, he and Li Nezha have been fighting wits and courage, tripping each other up, and both of them have been tortured by each other until they are covered with bruises and humiliated, all in an attempt to make the other submit and fight for the right to speak in the future, one for the common people in his territory, the other for the task assigned to him by the emperor Xiang Yun.
The two fought openly and secretly, and the one who was injured the most was Li Nezha, and the one who suffered the most and had the worst situation was Gan Ce. Although he had many soldiers under his command, none of them could compare to the ten people in the Anbu.
After these two months, Li Nezha and Gan Ce became good friends and even wanted to bring Lu Feng in. Unfortunately, Lu Feng refused, saying that the Anbu would never form cliques and would only serve its master.
This actually made the two men stand in awe, and they felt a little afraid of the Anbu in their hearts, and their respect for Emperor Xiang Yun deepened.
The friendship between Li Nezha and Gan Ce was not because one of them gave in, but because Gan Ce discovered that although the new Weihai admiral Li Nezha was a little arrogant, he was able to distinguish between public and private affairs and acted in moderation.
No matter how fierce the fight between the two was, Li Nezha did not attack any soldier, but always targeted General Gan, and never threatened his life. It was really a lesson and punishment.
Gan Ce also discovered that Li Nezha did not have much of the airs of an official. He did not bully men or women in the city. Instead, he was very kind and often gave extra silver to the people when they bought things. When others thanked him, he said they wanted to thank the current emperor, who gave the world such a good life.
This alone made Gan Ce look at him with new eyes. How could someone who could do such a thing be such a wicked person?
Since he is a good person, why should he keep dwelling on these grudges and ruin the happy life of the people in the Canghai area?
In addition, Gan Ce and Li Nezha have been fighting each other for the past few days, but no one has died in the fight. Instead, they have developed a friendship with each other, admired each other's methods, and felt a sense of mutual respect.
In this way, the two reconciled, called each other brothers, and everyone was happy.
Gan Ce was willing to help him with all his strength, and Li Nezha was naturally happy. This was his original purpose. In order to reassure Gan Ce, he said, "In fact, I have no interest in managing the people in the Canghai area, but at least they must respect me as the governor and respect the court. It is impossible for the people to only know their superiors and not the court. This is absolutely unacceptable.
If the officials under my command can follow the lead of the court, as long as you can govern the people well and make them live in peace and prosperity, the court will not have so much energy to touch your official hats;
This admiral will not be too involved. After all, the main task assigned to me by His Majesty is to go out to sea to explore islands and vigorously develop the maritime industry. As long as there are no problems, everything else will be fine."
Having spoken frankly like this, Gan Ce understood very well in his heart that if he guaranteed on the spot that he was there, all the civil and military officials would be able to be stabilized and not cause trouble, and would actively cooperate with his work. However, the degree of loyalty of each official to him as the admiral was something that Li Nezha would need to resolve on his own.
That's why we are seeing this scene today.
There are only two things in this world that can win people's hearts the fastest: money and power. The officials in the Canghai area are all very powerful, and it would not matter if they were promoted to a higher level. But money is a different story.
They were officials in poor places, and under Gan Ce's rule, they could not exploit the people. So they could only live on their salaries, but that was not much money, not enough to cover the living expenses of their family.
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