Lu Ming

Chapter 334 Xiong Dao's Mission

Yu Xianke stayed in Fuzhou until the end of the Lunar New Year before returning to Chaoshan.During this period, he has been in contact with many parties, trying to lobby a certain big man in the government.

However, the reality is cruel.The rapid reduction of the strategic position made the influence of Liuxiang Group much worse than before, so no bigwig was willing to jump out of the muddy water.And after Yu Xianke finally consumed all the property he brought with him in the decadent bureaucratic system, he could only return home wearily.

After going back to see the big shopkeeper to exchange the situation, both of them shook their heads again and again.Although the situation is now clearer than before, it is of no use: Liu Xiang cannot meet the interview request proposed by the two northern families, at least he will not consider it now.

"Forget it, I have no choice but to go south." Liu Xiang said dejectedly.

Yu Xianke could only nod his head in agreement at this moment: "This is the end of the matter, it's unknown if we go south to Guangzhou to raise money."

Liu Xiang sighed: "Oh, it's easier said than done."

Although the news from Guangdong sounds good: Guangzhou officials are still interested in recruiting Liu Xiang.But this matter has been mentioned in the previous article, Liu Xiang knows his own suffering - he does not have the territory and business channels needed for transformation.

Macau and Xiamen have already blocked the trade routes between the north and the south. Even if Liu Xiang changes his style like Zheng Zhilong, his merchant fleet will be detained if he cannot reach Fujian. There is no business to do.

In this way, even if the Guangzhou officialdom recruits him, Liu Xiang, who has no business and territory, will still embark on the old road of robbery sooner or later.After that, he turned against the Guangdong officialdom, his reputation value became negative, and then the government began to make up their minds to destroy him
The foreseeable future made Liu Xiang frown, but there was something even more disturbing happening: on the fifth day after Yu Xianke came back, two streamlined sailboats each equipped with 5 cannons sailed beyond Nan'ao Island. There was an exchange of fire between Beihe and the pirate cruiser, killing and injuring many pirates and walking away.

Nan'ao Island is located at the border between Fujian and Guangdong, the most important area.

As early as 1575 Wanli, the Ming court designated Nan'ao Island as a joint administration of two provinces, and established the only island general military mansion in the country: "Fujian Guangdong Nan'ao General Town Mansion" with Xiongzhenguan as the boundary.At the same time, the imperial court set up the "Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Xie Shou Zhangchao and other places specially stationed in Nan'ao", with a battalion of Fujian and Guangdong troops under it.

In the Qing Dynasty, the standard of the deputy commander-in-chief here was raised to the standard of the commander-in-chief, and the position became more and more important.

Now that the Kun people's gunboat has come to Nan'ao Island to provoke trouble, there is no doubt that the next step is to go south in a big way.

Although Kunren's actions seemed to be provoking the defense zone of the South Australian Deputy Commander, Liu Xiang did not dare to pin his hopes on the official.

So on March 1629, 3, the Liu Xiang Gang, who had been resting for a few months, began to pour out from the Chaoshan area in large numbers, and went straight to the most familiar and most affluent sea route in the south: the Pearl River Estuary.

The strong northern neighbor who got the news didn't do anything, but just watched his opponent go away coldly.

What Liu Xiang doesn't know is that after leaving this time, he will never return to the Chaoshan area where he started. The southern country will be the last stage for all Chinese pirates, and the script will be staged as scheduled.

After temporarily withdrawing his eyes from the warm southern country, the giant living in a corner turned his sights to the cold and humid Jiangnan.

"The waves are rushing, the waves are flowing, the waves are surging and the river will never stop"

The boatman in a homemade blouse, dressed as a fisherman, and wearing a straw hat is rowing hard while listening to the sound of a minor tune floating from the boat tower.Although he couldn't understand this kind of foreign tune with weird lyrics, the boatman still felt a little bit of bleak and melancholy from the singing.

It was Xiong Dao who sang.

The boat departs from Hangzhou and goes down the Qiantang River. When it arrives at Jinshanwei, it can turn north and enter the boundary of Songjiang Prefecture.Traveling through the dense water system of the Yangtze River Delta, it only takes [-] to [-] miles of water to get to Songjiang Fucheng by boat, and another [-] to [-] miles to the north is the pearl of later generations, today's little Shanghai County.

After singing a song on the beach, Xiong Dao, who had finished expressing his enthusiasm, was blown by the cold river wind, and his pride suddenly disappeared.He tightened the bamboo mouse skin robe around his body, glanced at the desolate cotton fields around the river, felt chills all over his body, and hurriedly turned around and rushed into the cabin.

Generally speaking, the cotton fields in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River can be sown in March and April. The famous Songjiang cotton in the Ming Dynasty relied on a large number of cotton fields in the north and south of the Yangtze River to provide raw materials.

This situation caused the Yangtze River Delta, which was originally a land of fish and rice, to become a pure commodity grain purchase area at the end of Ming Dynasty, grain farmers became cotton farmers and mulberry farmers, and the crops in the entire Susongchang area were transformed into cash crops.

However, in Songjiang Prefecture in 1629, cotton was not easy to grow: although it was already March in spring, the cold climate of the Little Ice Age led to late sowing of cotton fields in various places, so when Xiongdao looked at the past just now, the land on both sides of the river was still bleak. Not even a farmer in the field can be seen.

After getting into the cabin, Xiong Dao suddenly felt much warmer: the damned coldness in the Jiangnan area was extremely unaccustomed to him who was born in the north.Because the air humidity is relatively high, and the current temperature is only ten degrees above zero, no matter how thick the clothes are, the underwear always feels damp and cold all over.

After taking a deep breath, Xiong Dao quickly sat down on the chair and stretched out his hands to warm the fire.As a wealthy businessman, his travel cannot be simple: a luxurious flat-bottomed double-decker ship is sailing in the river at the moment. The ship is exquisitely crafted, with exquisite materials, and the interior decoration is luxurious and luxurious, which fully matches his identity.

And what Xiongdao is using to warm his hands at the moment is an iron briquette stove that is common in later generations.

When it comes to stoves, Hangzhou Station originally received the task of selling such stoves and briquettes this year.

Unexpectedly, after the year-end meeting, the above policy has changed: based on the local area, actively expand employment.

As a result, it is unrealistic to import finished stoves from Taiwan.Although the animal-powered machinery transported from the kiln area is all good things processed by machine tools, animal power is animal power, and low production efficiency is inevitable.

For example, the iron sheet used in the stove, the original goods in Taiwan are thin steel plates produced by steel factories, but what about the local products in Hangzhou?A thick iron sheet made by an animal-powered forging hammer.In this regard, whether it is appearance or durability, the original goods are completely fake.

But policy is policy and cannot be changed.So Xiong Dao could only open a workshop in Hangzhou, employing a large number of workers to produce counterfeit stoves and briquettes with animal-powered machinery.

In this way, the original explosive model can only be changed to slowly advancing.

Although it is explained that people immediately discovered the advantages of this kind of stove, such as material saving, convenience, and ability to store fire, but because the production capacity cannot keep up, there is no hope of dumping, and we can only support agents in various places to slowly distribute the goods. ——This is also one of the purposes of Xiongdao's trip.

What is placed in front of Xiong Dao now is an original stove.However, it is not briquettes in the hearth, but bamboo charcoal used by the wealthy class in the Ming Dynasty.This kind of bamboo charcoal is made of bamboo through simmering, without the smell of smoke and fire, and the price is very expensive.

While warming up the fire, watching the bamboo charcoal in the hearth burning slowly, Xiong Dao fell into deep thought.

He came to Songjiang mansion this time with an important mission.

With the continuous increase in the cargo throughput at Tangzhuang and the semi-public recruitment of refugees, the already overwhelmed Tangzhuang Wharf is now completely unable to support it.

You must know that the Qiantang River was not originally a place suitable for river-sea combined transport.The river estuary is not only shallow, but also has various tides, which greatly affect the entry and exit of deep-draft ships.

Under such circumstances, Hangzhou Station naturally turned its attention to Shanghai Bund in the north - there is no port location more suitable for "international trade" than Shanghai, which has been fully verified in later generations.

(End of this chapter)