Lu Ming

Chapter 336 Opening of Port ([-])
Xiong Dao's business trip this time is not small: shopkeeper, accountant, clerk, bodyguard, internal guard, servant, there are more than 40 people in just these.In fact, this person is only the vanguard for this mission.

You must know that Master Xiong is here to open a port.Not to mention the construction of a large-scale new-style dock area, with the urgency of the traversers, there must be commercial and residential areas that accompany it. To put it bluntly, it is a small special zone.

Shanghai Beach, Adventurer’s Paradise, trams, arcades, Xianshi Company, and Wing On Company don’t make the “retro” Nanjing Road that is often seen in TV dramas, so is it still called Shanghai Beach?
So not only did he bring a lot of natives this time, but when things got a little better, some traversers would come here on business trips—I don't understand the planning and construction of these bear roads, and they need to send people from other departments.

Master Xiong's team rested in Luo Yuan that night.Luo Shizhi not only set aside half of the garden for the guests to rest, but also planned to provide the boss with a few servant girls.

However, this was declined.

With the passage of time, the internal structure of the crossing country has been continuously improved, so many of the former wild roads have become more and more formalized now.

People like Xiong Dao and the others, who joined the intelligence system at will, got professional supplementary lessons from the deputy director Ma Yue one after another, making up for their missing parts.

And the close people around him, including the inner guards and servants, have now been replaced by regular employees trained by the intelligence agency at the Xingang training base.These people are not only responsible for protecting Xiong Dao's safety, but also responsible for daily spies such as sending reports, investigating, and secretly assassinating.

So Master Xiong going out now is equivalent to an intelligence team going out, carrying all kinds of secrets with him, and it is impossible to accept the maid sent by the Luo family.

After a brief rest that night, from the next day, Mr. Xiong didn't do his business, and first entered a round of social time.

Reception banquet, music banquet, tea party, casual talk, secret talk, interview with someone who came to the door with a gift, and went to someone's house with a gift to ask for an audience. The whole round of social activities took Xiong Dao for several days .

This is a must.There are a lot of wealthy businessmen in Shanghai County, and many of them have dealt with Mr. Xiong.Now that someone wants to perform something here, he naturally needs to find out the situation first and say hello to all the gods.

After a round of intensive social activities, Xiong Dao freed his hands to start doing business.

The first step is site survey.The maps of later generations are different from those of 400 years ago. The word vicissitudes of life is a good explanation of the changes in Shanghai: about one-fifth of the coastal land on Google was still the sea in the Ming Dynasty, such as Pudong International Airport, Nanhui New Town and so on. At present, all the places are the kingdom of fish and turtles.

Xiong Dao first spent a few days walking along the water network near the coastline, and then the boat he took was wandering around Gaoqiao Town.

Gaoqiao Town is 30 miles northeast of Shanghai County. In the early Tang Dynasty, it was just a small island in the mouth of the Yangtze River. As time went by, the small island gradually became one with the mainland. It belonged to Jiading County in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no such thing as Waigaoqiao, only Gaoqiao Town, which was not far from the coastline and located at the estuary of the Yangtze River.In the northwest of Gaoqiao Town is the place where the Huangpu River exits the sea: Wusongkou.

According to the strategic plan handed down by the officials, the future port area must be transported by river and sea—it is an established strategy to go up the Yangtze River to the interior of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Gaoqiao Town has become the key location for Xiongdao's exploration.This place is just adjacent to the mouth of the Yangtze River and the mouth of the Huangpu River. Once the port is built, it will not only be able to moor ships and drink horses on the Yangtze River, but also use the water transport capacity of the Huangpu River to communicate with the water transport trade in the entire Jiangnan area. It is a good "Golden Triangle" area .

So Xiong Dao took people to investigate the surrounding area carefully.Not only estimated the land area to be purchased, but also took digital photos, entered the general topography of Takahashi in the 17th century into the electronic map, and then brought the U disk back to the senior staff.

During the days of waiting for the reply, Xiong Dao was not idle: the first step of the Long March has just been completed, and there are still many troubles to follow.

What gave him the most headache was the next land acquisition.

You know, once the construction of the new district starts, everyone will know that the surrounding land will increase in price. Don't underestimate the commercial sense of the ancients, especially in places like Jiangnan.

Therefore, in order to avoid troubles in the future, and to avoid the 17th-century nail households, Xiong Dao must buy as much land as possible from the beginning, quietly enter the village, and shoot without guns.

After all, to a certain extent, Xiongdao’s funds can be said to be inexhaustible, and it is not a loss-making business to buy land in Shanghai, so buying as much as you can is the kingly way.

In fact, the nail-biting households asking for sky-high prices are not the most difficult to deal with. After all, this is also a commercial activity. Xiong, who comes from a real estate powerhouse, has experience in demolition and relocation across the ages.

What Xiong Dao is most afraid of are those who simply don't sell the land - such as the gentry who are not short of money, and the self-cultivating farmers who regard those few acres of land as their lifeblood.

After some rough planning, Master Xiong went back to Luo Yuan, and the next step was the copywriting work.

According to the preliminary plan, at least one square kilometer of land is required for the initial port, cargo yard, residential, and commercial areas to be deployed.

The plots of the 17th century were not the same as those of later generations.There are not only woods, wetlands, streams and rivers, lakes, barren beaches, reed ponds, but also farmland, mulberry gardens, villages, private ports and so on.In conclusion, the terrain is complex and so is land ownership.

Xiong Dao's job now is to work with his shopkeepers to mark the promising plots on the map first.Which one is a barren beach and which one is a cotton field? After counting these, the next step can be targeted.

That night, facing the large map hanging on the wall, Mr. Xiong, holding a kerosene lamp, couldn't help but frown more and more: the road ahead is hard!It is no loss that the cultivated land in the south of the Yangtze River has been developed for hundreds of years. Within one square kilometer he is optimistic about, except for some natural rivers, lakes and forest beaches, the land with owners on the map exceeds 70%!

This means that Xiong Dao must spend more energy and mobilize more resources to complete the task
"Hey, let's take it step by step." Xiong Dao had already made up his mind at this time, planning to talk about the protracted war.

Early the next morning, Mr. Xiong took the shopkeeper, the tent, and a senior local dentist introduced by Luo Shizhi to Jiading County.

The ancient counties were very large. Although Jiading in later generations was only one of the 16 districts in Shanghai, in this era, large areas including Baoshan, Putuo, Yangpu, Hongkou, Jing’an and Pudong were actually under the jurisdiction of Jiading County.

Entering the circular Jiading County, Master Xiong and his party abandoned the boat and boarded the sedan chair, and arrived at the county government office in a short while.Today is not the announcement day, so when Mr. Xiong's film and gift list were handed in, it didn't take long before he was received by the county magistrate.

Of course, being quickly received by the county magistrate was not because Xiong Dao, a white man, was handsome, but because he was under the banner of the Luo family. Well, don't forget that there is also a gift list.

The county magistrate is over 30 years old and has a strange surname. His name is Lai Fangwei.

Lai Fangwei was ranked 5th in the Tianqi 60-year palace examination, and he just came to the county last year to take office.As the top three and Jinshi, it is naturally not his turn to go to the Imperial Academy, so it is certain that he will be released.In history, this person served successively as the county magistrate of Houguan in Fujian, the county magistrate of Jiading in Jiangsu, and Wailang, a member of the Ministry of Officials.

After seeing the county magistrate in the flower hall in the backyard, Xiong Dao hurriedly put on a smiling face, showing his true self as a businessman, and praised the unmasked Lai Daxian magistrate, and established friendship.

The county magistrate who came here didn't think much of himself, and he smiled and cooperated with Master Xiong to brag.A good official voice does not mean that he is unsophisticated. The county magistrate likes this kind of businessman who asks for door-to-door work: as long as it is not a major crime, he can help with ordinary small favors, and it will not damage the official reputation. It's polite and acceptable, why not do it?Being a county magistrate costs a lot!
After chatting for a few words, Xiong Dao saw that the atmosphere was getting better, so he explained the purpose of his visit: he wanted to check the information on the red and white deeds in the house frame library.

Hufang is the department in the county government that is in charge of taxation, land, and tax collection.So if someone wants to check the land information of the county, it is right to find a house.

When Lai County Magistrate heard this, he couldn't help laughing: "It's easy, Master Xiong is going to find the clerk Yu."

So Xiong Dao easily won the approval of the county magistrate.

Of course, Xiong Dao knew in his heart that this was only the first hurdle, and the real difficulty was still in the house, so the county magistrate agreed lightly.

Theoretically speaking, in fact, the people have the right to read the materials of the county government.But this theory is divorced from reality: who would dare to go to the county government to find trouble for ordinary grassroots?Even if you go, can the clerk of the household house honestly let you see the deed?
Therefore, it is not difficult for those who meet, but not for those who are difficult.It is very easy for the big gentry to know something about the situation, but it is not for ordinary civilians.

The clerk in charge of household housing in Jiading County is called Yu Bende.

People who can get into this position in the wealthy Jiangnan County, according to later generations, are all hidden rich people with someone above them.Subalterns like Yu Bende are the ones who really hold the power of a county; the magistrates of the county take turns, and the subordinates inherit their father's business from their sons, and they can accumulate a huge family business in a few generations.

So after Xiong Dao met Yu Bende, even though the other party's attitude seemed respectful, he still got up and dealt with it carefully.

And Yu Bende was also on guard: he wasn't afraid that Mr. Xiong would look up the information to buy the land, he was afraid that after taking out the file, the other party would find some flaws in it to stab him and it would be a bad thing.

You must know that smearing files, modifying files, and giving fake files to Shangguan are the most commonly used methods by subordinate officials.Sometimes it is for private interests, sometimes it is to give Shangguan a bad impression. In short, if he is not sure about the book office, Xiong Dao will definitely not be able to find the information he wants today.

At this time, the local toothmen brought by Xiongdao came in handy.

Dental is an effective communication channel.Everyone is an acquaintance who has a meal in real estate. After some communication, Yu Bende finally let go of his guard.Of course, the large amount of money promised by Xiong Dao is the decisive factor for Yu Bende to show a smile and actively cooperate.

(End of this chapter)