Chapter 184 [Three-Party Conflict]
Jiang Lili's expression changed. "Fishermen? There was a conflict? Were there a lot of people on the other side?"
The other villagers in the room all looked nervous. Aside from the prisoners sent by the government, no outsiders had come to South Island for a long time. "Miss Jiang, let's go take a look together."
"Yes, yes, you have a lot of ideas, so you can help the village chief come up with a plan."
The children of the Yuanbao Gang also said: "Yes, it was the village chief who asked us to come here for help!"
Cangsha Ferry is located between Yeli Village and Jinyu Village.
At present, Dan'er County is sparsely populated, and Cangsha Ferry is divided between two villages. Now that outsiders have come, the village chief of Yeli Village will definitely go to take a look.
Jiang Lili put on her backpack and called out to the villagers and the little kids, "Let's go!"
A group of people walked through the coconut grove and hurried towards Cangsha Ferry. Now the coconut grove road that is the only way to Yeli Village has changed a lot. It is no longer the path that made passers-by tremble with fear.
Miss Jiang said that to get rich, one must first build roads, so she asked Master Xin to make a lot of useful tools for the villagers of Yeli Village to use.
With the wood saws and electric saws provided by Jiang Lili, the villagers have cut down the overgrown coconut trees and built a wide road in the coconut grove in the month since the new villagers arrived.
The felled coconut trees are used as lumber to make fences and road posts.
Miss Jiang said that after the road is completed, a kind of lantern called solar light bulb will be installed, which can provide light all night even without lighting a torch.
Now standing in this coconut-lined avenue, the villagers only feel that the scenery along this road is extremely beautiful and makes people feel comfortable and relaxed.
Under the shadows of the trees, Jiang Lili walked while asking the children about the information they had gathered: "How did the villagers come into conflict with outsiders?"
The little rascals responded in unison, "Boss Jiang, that bald village chief next door is here too. It seems he was the one who started this. You know, our village chief is a very honest man."
Master Liao is a little boy with a big brain. He has now gotten used to calling himself the leader of the Yuanbao Gang, which sounds very impressive at first glance.
In addition to giving Wen Xiaomei, who loves to lead troops and train people, the position of the left protector of the Yuanbao Gang, he also gave Jiang Lili the position of the elder of the Yuanbao Gang. At first, the children called Jiang Lili "Elder Jiang", but later Liao Dabao felt that the person was too old, so he asked them to change it to "Big Brother Jiang".
"Boss Jiang, we heard a while ago that those fishermen encountered a storm at sea and wanted to rest at Cangsha Ferry."
"The head of a nearby fishing village wanted to rob the fish on their fishing boats, but our head disagreed, and that's how the argument started."
Jiang Lili thought to herself, so that's how it is. The village chief of the nearby fishing village is no pushover, so she quickened her pace.
By the way, he sent a message to Master Liao, who was tutoring Xin Cheng at the county magistrate's house, asking Master Liao to wake up County Magistrate Hu and take charge of things.
As they approached the Cangsha Ferry, Jiang Lili saw three groups of people from afar. One group was the villagers from the forbidden fishing village, all of them holding machetes, axes and other weapons, looking ferocious and aggressive.
A group of fishermen who looked like outsiders from outside the area were nervously gripping their harpoons. Their panicked expressions revealed fatigue, and most of their clothes were wet.
The villagers of Yeli are very easy to recognize. They all have their hands in their pockets and look silly. They seem very kind and easy to talk to.
Bald Deng, the village chief of a nearby fishing village, was scolding Li Zhan, the village chief of Yeli Village: "If you ask me, your Yeli Village deserves its decline. You refused to take advantage of the opportunity that was delivered to your doorstep."
"They stopped by our territory, so what's wrong with collecting a toll?"
Village Chief Deng's son-in-law Yi Haisheng said coldly, "To put it bluntly, even if we kill them now and rob their boat, they won't have anywhere to complain. What's wrong with taking their boatload of fish?"
The Yi family, who lived near the fishing village, were descendants of the foreign fishermen who had come to Yeli Village to stay overnight a hundred years ago. They were very good at defrauding and scheming, and at this time they showed no mercy to this group of foreign fishermen.
Yi Haisheng said contemptuously: "Village Chief Li, are you still going to let them live here for free and eat and drink for free? That's really stupid."
There were two large fishing boats and three small fishing boats docked on the shore, and there were nearly 30 fishermen in total.
Hearing what Village Chief Deng and Yi Haisheng said, the fishermen became nervous and angry, and clenched their harpoons tightly.
They observed the expressions of the two villagers and saw that the two village heads were currently at odds with each other.
However, these people were already exhausted after escaping from the storm and had no strength to fight. They could only rely on the young village chief to persuade the robber Lao Deng.
The leading fishermen argued: "The Cangsha Ferry was built by the government and is managed by the government. It is not privately owned by you. Why are you charging money?"
Yi Haisheng said confidently, "Your fishing boat is so lightly parked at the ferry, and the fishy smell is blown to our village by the wind, ruining the air in our village. Shouldn't you charge for this?"
"Also, you're just stopping here, eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating on this shore, and our village still has to take care of you. It's only right that we collect some management fees!"
After hearing Yi Haisheng's remarks, Jiang Lili wanted to applaud him.
The bald village chief's eldest son-in-law has quite advanced ideas. He has learned how to collect sanitation fees and property management fees without any instruction. If this happened in modern times, he would be considered a village bully.
Li Zhan righteously persuaded him in the local dialect of the island: "Village Chief Deng, this is not the way to do business."
"If you do this, everyone will think that all of us South Islanders are bandits. Who will dare to come to our South Island and do business with us? We South Islanders have a bad reputation when we go out. How can we interact with people from other places?"
Village Chief Deng acted unreasonably: "No one comes to South Island anyway. I don't need to rely on this ferry to attract business."
"I have my own channels. I can collect money if I want. The ones who should be worried are your Yeli Village. You don't have large ships that can go to Lingnan and the North Bank to do business."
"But what does this have to do with our village?"
Village Chief Deng waved the hoe in his hand domineeringly: "Go!"
The fishermen clenched their harpoons, indignant, their impression of the islanders on the south shore plummeting. "Are there no laws for such banditry? What are you officials for?"
Jiang Lili secretly took out her pocket watch. At this time, Lord Hu was probably still taking a nap in the government office.
When Li Zhan saw Jiang Lili coming, he quickly asked Jiang Lili for advice: "Miss Jiang, I can't communicate with these foreign fishermen. Can you help me think of a solution?"
Li Zhan meant to ask these fishermen to find a way to order a big boat. Their Yeli Village had been isolated from the outside world for too long. Now the villagers had saved some money by living frugally and wanted to buy a boat together, go out to sea again, and do business with their neighbors.
So this time we want to treat these fishermen kindly.
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