Xinshun 1730

Chapter 881

Jiaolao Butu and the officers in the navy naturally understood that Liu Yu was "worried about having no excuse to engage in their trade competition".

Having said that, how can I not understand?
Immediately said: "Don't worry, the Duke, we will do it right away. If there is no, is it possible that we can'discover" entrainment in the goods under inspection?"

Liu Yu laughed loudly and said, "That's true. You should go and do these things first. I will interrogate those smugglers together with Lord Jiedushi. Go on your own."

"Yes."

After the three of them saluted, they withdrew.

The Guangdong Jiedu envoy led Liu Yu to the place where the prisoners were held. The petty official handed over the file. Liu Yu glanced at it and asked someone to bring the person with the most smuggled boxes first.

Not long after, a blood-stained person who needed to be dragged around was brought to Liu Yu.

Seeing that the man's wound was inflamed, Liu Yu was afraid that he would die before he could finish his question after kneeling for a while, so he showed kindness and asked someone to get a stool so that he didn't have to kneel down.

After asking himself a few words, Liu Yu asked: "The imperial court has long ordered that the sale of smuggled opium is not allowed. I saw that you were also a merchant and a figure in one party before, so you don't know?"

"I know that I committed the crime knowingly, and I also know that once the incident happens, the lightest sentence is hanging?"

The smuggler who had been beaten up several times was actually a tough guy. Hearing Liu Yu's question, he sneered and said, "If it is said that I sell opium, in truth, the Duke of the State is also somewhat responsible."

His official speech is acceptable, and his accent does not seem to be from Lingnan.

A few officials nearby yelled angrily, and were about to stop it, but Liu Yu stopped him, and couldn't help laughing: "This is novel. What does it have to do with me?"

The smuggler knew that he was going to die. Thinking of the heroic aura in the drama 18 years later, he responded, "Guangzhou Mansion has been a major trade center since the previous dynasty. How many people rely on it for the ships from various countries? If the Duke said a word, then We have moved the commercial offices of various countries to Songjiang Mansion, but have you thought about the compradors in our Guangdong Mansion, what should we do?"

"Compradors for foreigners, those who transship goods, those who distribute foreign goods, those who supply ships, those who sell fruits and vegetables at the port, porters who transport goods, and even brothels, taverns, and hotels, how many people just because of the king's statement that a store must In the case of Songjiang Mansion, there is no work?"

"As for this company and that company run by the imperial court, how do little people like us get their turn? First, the noble ministers of the Manchu Dynasty have the priority to buy shares, then the wealthy merchants from all over the country, and finally the retail merchants."

"When you get rich, don't you only allow state officials to set fires and not allow people to light lamps? Songjiang Mansion is becoming more and more prosperous, but Guangzhou Mansion is desolate and desolate. It is said that anyone can buy shares in a big business, but where is it our turn? When we know, it will be over long ago. .”

"In this case, I sell some opium to make some money, but I'm just a king or a loser. When the seas were banned in the previous dynasties, going to sea was also a serious crime. If you are guilty today, you will be innocent tomorrow. What's the difference between this and this? "

"I used to do some business with Westerners. If the government hadn't told them to move to Songjiang Mansion, how could I do this kind of business?"

Liu Yu just wanted to laugh when he heard this reason, and the local officials next to him turned pale with fright, thinking to himself, what would the court think if they heard this?
But Liu Yu himself was not angry at all, and these officials knew Liu Yu's attitude, so they were just panicked for a while, and dared not say anything.

In fact, Liu Yu chose Songjiang Mansion as Dashun's new overseas trade center. Apart from forcing the imperial court to raise a navy, the biggest reason was that the Yangtze River Basin was wider than the Pearl River Basin, and the location was just right to connect the north and the south.

In the original history, in modern times and at the beginning of modern opening up, Guangdong was given two chances to become a cultural center.

But practice has proved that the Pearl River Basin is still too small, and the material base determines the superstructure. Even in the 80s, when the material base of the Lingnan cultural circle was the strongest, it was only a flash in the pan after being equalized.

Now that Dashun has a navy, it can also guarantee the safety of rice. Guangzhou's advantages as a trade center are far inferior to Songjiang Prefecture in terms of various conditions.

The Yangtze River is bigger and wider than the Pearl River.

There are no particularly excellent goods near Guangzhou. Everyone knows in this era that [Guangzhou also produces silk, but if you use the local silk Cantonese satin and Cantonese yarn, it is dull and the color is not enough.Use Wu Si to gain brilliance]

That being the case, isn't it just taking off your pants and farting to transport the silk from Wu to Guangdong, and then weaving it here for export?

With the development of Songjiang Prefecture's trade in recent years, the demand for local raw silk is still insufficient, and the export of Guangzhou has been robbed by Songjiang Prefecture. Textiles alone will also be greatly affected.

Not to mention anything else.

Liu Yu then asked, "What business did you do before?"

The opium smuggler said: "Take the Dayuling trade route. Now the Dayuling trade route has been depressed. Before, Jiangxi porcelain had to go to Xijiang, and then pass Wuling to Guangzhou before exporting. Now Jiangxi porcelain does not go to Dayuling." Now, go directly north to the Yangtze River and go to Songjiang Mansion."

"A strong dragon doesn't overwhelm a local snake. I don't know many people there, and I don't have connections. How can I snatch the Wu people? Since the Duke opened Songjiang Mansion as a port, it has become more and more difficult."

"The Duke doesn't know, does he?"

Liu Yu nodded calmly and said, "Why don't I know?"

National policy changes often affect the livelihood of tens of thousands of people, not only in water transportation, but also in trade.

The Dayuling commercial road originated from the foundation built when the first emperor conquered Baiyue Lingnan.In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Jiuling completed the renovation.

It can be said that this trade route is similar to the Grand Canal.

However, the Grand Canal connects the north and the south of the Yangtze River.

The Dayuling trade road connects Lingnan and the two lakes.

Whether it is the Grand Canal or the Dayuling trade route, to some extent, they all play an important role in maintaining the unity of the country and preventing centrifugal forces.

But these years, with Liu Yu coming to power to preside over the foreign trade policy, he actually quietly and completely abolished the Dayuling trade route.

It's just that because it has nothing to do with the issue of grain rice, it is different from the waste of the Grand Canal. It did not immediately detonate many problems, nor did it cause much impact in the court.

But in fact, the impact is quite large, it should be said that it has affected the lives of several 10 people.

It's just that this is not the Grand Canal for transporting rice. The "millions of water workers" here are not very concerned by the imperial court.

In the beginning, Guangdong was short of rice, and even with a good harvest, it was only enough for half a year.

Therefore, rice from the Lianghu area took the Dayuling trade route all the way to Guangdong.

After Liu Yu came to power to preside over trade, he developed navigation skills, built a navy, and opened up shipping, so that Guangdong now eats Nanyang rice instead of Lianghu rice.

He inadvertently abolished the large rice trade in Dayuling.

As for the rest, let alone.

Raw silk, tea, rhubarb, porcelain, cotton cloth, etc. do not need to take the Dayuling trade route to Guangdong, but go to Songjiang Prefecture nearby or change direction.

Any one of these items will affect around 5 to [-] people.

Such as tea.

The processing center of Wuyi tea in the Boston Tea Party, which caused the North American independent event chain in history, is in Chong'an Xingcun, northern Fujian.

For Dashun, due to the Taiwan issue, the inertia of the times, and the fact that the Netherlands and other countries did not have direct flights before the Ostend tea incident, Macau was the most important tea transit point before direct flights to other countries, and countries did not have direct flights until 30 years ago. Due to factors such as direct flights and trade, Guangzhou has always been the export destination of tea.

Formed a historical inertia.

However, if you want to transport tea from northern Fujian to Guangzhou, you need to pack it in northern Fujian and transport it manually to Yunhekou Town in Shangrao, Jiangxi.

Then transport it from Yunhekou Town to Poyang Lake.

In fact, Poyang Lake is the tea center of Dashun.

In addition to Wuyi tea from Fujian, tea from the two lakes, Jiangxi and other places is also processed in the Poyang Lake area. In addition to Western European trade, there are also tea bricks required for domestic trade such as Mongolia Snow Mountain, and tea bricks required for Russian trade.And Western Europe doesn't just drink Wuyi tea, it has to be paired with other teas from the Lianghu area.

The processing center here has been working for many years, and it also has technical advantages. It is convenient to travel north and south, so this place has become a processing center.

Then, the tea that went to Western Europe was subcontracted in Poyang Lake, transferred to the Ganjiang River, crossed Nanchang, and went to Ganzhou.

After arriving in Ganzhou, go along the Zhangshui River to Dayu, take the dry road, pass the Dayuling commercial road by porters, go to Shaozhou, and then go to Guangzhou via Beijiang.

In the case of tea exported to Western Europe alone, more than [-] porters rely on it for food.

These 5 people must also support their families. After a little conversion, it is equivalent to the livelihood of at least 20 people.

With Liu Yu coming to power to preside over the trade, the trade center moved north to Songjiang Prefecture, and the tea transportation route naturally changed.

Under the leadership of Liu Yu, the Chamber of Commerce and the trading company took the lead in opening up a new commercial road in the form of a joint-stock system, building canals and roads, connecting northern Fujian and the Minjiang River, and directly reaching Fuzhou.

After loading from Fuzhou, go north to Songjiang Prefecture.

Of course, the imperial court will not pay the money, and it is impossible for merchants to engage in joint-stock infrastructure without anyone taking the lead.

However, this infrastructure investment is profitable.

Tea saves a huge shipping fee.

Dashun is also engaged in a semi-monopoly of foreign trade, and there is no case of involuntary export price cuts because of the reduction in freight costs. The saved freight costs alone are enough to recover the cost of the investment in two years.

Since you can go to Minjiang by canal and new commercial routes, who would choose to go so far to Guangzhou?

Just the transfer of the tea trade route has affected the livelihoods of 20 million people, men, women and children. How many people will be affected by the rest of the porcelain, raw silk and food?
Of course, this is not the reason why he can sell opium because of this.When Liu Yu heard him talk about the Dayuling trade route, the only feeling in his heart was that "they are all millions of water workers. After all, the water workers who are related to the rice in the capital are not the same as the water workers in the south of the Lingnan border." .

At least, the court didn't care much about it.

It may be that the imperial court made the final calculation and felt that if these people really revolted, it would actually save more money to suppress and kill them than to resettle them.

These words of the smuggler did not arouse Liu Yu's sympathy for him, but only made Liu Yu realize that the Lingnan issue should be arranged in advance.

The capital is in North China; the economic center of gravity is in Jiangnan.Even if the Grand Canal is abolished, North China and Jiangnan are closely linked.

What should be the positioning of the Lingnan region?Can we ensure the close connection between the North and the South?Without causing it to decline quickly?
Hong Kong is impossible in this era.

Do you want to use the power of the imperial court to regulate and intervene, and position Guangzhou as a "transit place for communication between the mainland and Nanyang, and a distribution center for Nanyang rice trade"?At the very least, accommodate some landless unemployed people to work.

In other words, keep the original plan unchanged, still pass all the important economic positions to Songjiang Prefecture through state intervention, including Nanyang rice distribution and grain futures trade, and still concentrate in Songjiang Prefecture to create a financial center and Industrial center status?

After thinking about the imperial court's attitude towards new things such as grain futures, and the emperor's mentality of raising pigs in the pigsty, Liu Yu hesitated for a while, but then became more determined.

I thought: The destiny of the people in Lingnan is to go to Nanyang spontaneously.If you are not in decline and poverty, how can you have the motivation to go to Nanyang spontaneously?

(End of this chapter)