Lu Ming

Chapter 335 Opening of Port ([-])

Shanghai County already had an organizational system in the Yuan Dynasty.In the 14th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1277), the imperial court set up the Shibo Department in Shanghai Town, and the Yamen is located on today's Guangqi Road.At that time, the Shanghai Maritime Bureau was as famous as those in Guangzhou and other places, and it was one of the seven major customs offices in the country.

In the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the government's unpredictable maritime ban policy, the development of maritime trade and related science and technology in the entire country has regressed a lot.For products like Shibosi, after the opening and closing of Longqing, only the Guangzhou one remained, and the rest were all revoked by the government.
And Xiong Dao's mission this time, to a certain extent, is to "reopen the Shipping Department" and "rebuild the number one foreign trade port in China", which can be described as a long way to go.

When the boat arrived outside Shanghai County, it was already time to hold the lanterns.

Although in terms of planning, Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty was nothing more than a county seat.But in terms of prosperity, Shanghai County at the moment is full of lights inside and outside the city, stretching for five miles from east to west, with markets, inns, Buddhist palaces, restaurants, Jiasi, row upon row, just like a giant town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the Ming Dynasty version of "Ten Miles Foreign Market".

This kind of arrogant scene is not transferred by people's will.

No matter how passive the imperial court is in maritime trade, Shanghai's location advantage cannot be changed.As the midpoint of the coastline of mainland China, Shanghai has a superior geographical location. From here, whether you go north to Beijing and Tianjin, or go south to Fujian and Guangdong, or cross the sea to Ryukyu, Japan, the voyages are similar.

Even if Ming people only do domestic demand and sea trade, it is enough for Shanghai County to be developed and rich.Moreover, Shanghai County has never been a small fishing village. It has been a prosperous trading port since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the so-called "Southeast Zhuang County".

Xiong Dao's boat turned into the Huangpu River after passing Jinshanwei, and then went all the way down the river to the wharf area outside the Dadongmen of the county town, and slowly chose one of the many trestle bridges next to the official wharf to anchor. Lower sail.

After walking out of the ship building and facing the Bund, where every land is precious in future generations, he sighed, and Xiong Dao got off the boat with many servants.Illuminated by two kerosene lamps that are standard for wealthy families, Mr. Xiong stepped on the springboard and connected with the landlord who had already been waiting at the pier.

The landlord is about the same age as Xiong Dao, his surname is Luo, and his name is Luo Shizhi.This person has a well-proportioned figure, a lined face, and a warm and unaffected attitude. He can be regarded as a handsome old man.

Luo Shizhi has a reputation as a scholar and is a wealthy local businessman. He has been buying a large number of Xiongdao's goods for a long time, and he is regarded as Xiongdao's secondary dealer.

After meeting and saluting, Xiong Dao exchanged pleasantries with a few small businessmen beside Hou.These few people came here specially to carry the sedan chair after inquiring about this matter. You must know that Master Xiong is a very popular figure now, so please be courteous. A casual omission in business will be enough for small businessmen to eat.

After dealing with a bunch of favors on the wharf, Xiong Dao and Luo Shizhi turned around and got into the sedan chair, went to the east of the city, and entered the Luo family's private residence "Luo Yuan" three miles away from Guanxiang.

Since the Song Dynasty, as the imperial court’s selection mechanism has gradually changed to the imperial examination, the news of those aristocratic families who have been handed down for thousands of years and held bureaucratic positions in the Tang and Han Dynasties has gradually disappeared. .

The relatively fair imperial examination system allowed poor scholars to enter the official ranks. In the words of later generations, it "opened a channel for the lower classes to ascend".

However, under this system, the emerging scholar class in the Song and Ming dynasties could not monopolize social resources, so they "swirled up and down", and the history of the rise and fall of families such as "wealth does not last for three generations" has become a new social norm.

In other words, wealth such as fields and real estate, which are used to pass on the family, is often handed back and forth between the gentry.Because few families can serve as officials from generation to generation, the land and wealth obtained by the ancestors through official positions will gradually be unable to be guarded once the descendants lose the amulet.

And the "Luo Garden" that Xiong Dao came to today was purchased by the Luo family from a family of fallen officials last year.

Speaking of the Luo family, it can be regarded as another emerging family under the imperial examination system.

The Luo family is from Taicang.Luo Shizhi's uncle had served as a Minister of the Ministry of Industry during the Wanli period, and in this generation, Luo Shizhi's two brothers were officials in the Ministry of Industry and Honglu Temple, so the Luo family is now considered a prosperous family.

In this situation, the time to make a fortune is short, and only the two-family Luo family can still take care of each other, so Luo Shizhi, the second-family owner, also accidentally "examined" a scholar a few years ago before returning.

With the rank of scholar, it is enough for Luo Shizhi who stays behind: he is usually responsible for the business dealings between the two in Jiangnan.

Perhaps it is because the Luo family specializes in the Ministry of Industry and has profound family knowledge, so since Luo Shizhi saw the large-scale timber, 95# blue and red bricks, cement, glass and other building materials in Xiong Dao's hands in Hangzhou, he fell in love at first sight. Very early on, he paid a large sum of money to become a distributor of Xiong Dao.

Naturally, Luo Shizhi has the confidence to buy in large quantities: these materials, together with the craftsmen, were sent to the capital by him not long after.The elder brother who works as Yuanwailang in the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry is not a vegetarian either. After the test of building the wall in the back garden, as a technocrat, he saw the benefits of these building materials at a glance.

So the eldest brother immediately ordered people to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River: "All the money in the family will be used to buy goods."

So Luo Shizhi bought the qualification of "Secondary Wholesaler" of Rao Shizi from Xiongdao at a high price before everyone who was watching, and the license to sell a certain amount of building materials in the capital every year-now is the era of sellers, manufacturers not only Instead of urging dealers to complete sales tasks, they set an annual sales cap, for fear that dealers would sell too much and not be able to produce here.

After that, the Luo family brother quickly opened up the market for building materials in the capital: the free craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry + various construction techniques provided by the public, causing a wave of repairing cement roads and cement floors in the mansions of dignitaries and dignitaries. , cement walls, glass windows boom.

At the same time, the eldest brother of the Luo family also took this opportunity to get acquainted with many dignitaries, including the great eunuch in the palace. The palace also needs to be repaired at any time, so building materials will naturally be used.

In this way, the two brothers of the Luo family benefited by agreeing: the eldest brother made a lot of money and made friends with each other.And the second brother in Honglu Temple is said to be Qingshui Yamen, but relying on the resources provided by his family, he has been promoted to a level not long ago, which is considered to be the first to push up the level.

From this moment on, the Luo family has become Master Xiong's loyal allies: everything is false, and only interests can bind both parties to death.

This is also the reason why Xiong Dao chose to live in Luo's other courtyard when he came to Shanghai this time: everything is convenient for his own family.

(End of this chapter)