A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 999 Wu’s Star-pulling Technique

Pearl River Estuary,
Hong Kong Island Harbor, with blue sky, white clouds and clear water, is a busy scene with commercial ships and fishing boats entering and leaving the port.

Two hundred miles away from Guangzhou City, a fleet is getting ready to go.

At the Causeway Bay Shipyard, the latest batch of seagoing ships has been completed.

"This batch of ships are built using the latest staggered armor method, using fish scale-like overlapping. This method can make the hull plates more tightly connected, have high overall strength, and are less likely to leak."

The chief craftsman of the shipyard made the introduction himself.

A man with dark skin who looked like a Kunlun tribe asked, "These ships should all use watertight cabins, right?"

"That's natural. Watertight cabins are not a new technology for us,"

"Our ships can carry up to 10,000 stones, and can carry thousands of people on a long voyage at a time. Moreover, we not only build ships, but also provide supporting talents. Not only are there navigation compasses on board, but they are also equipped with specialized personnel who are skilled in Those who observe the sun, moon and stars are responsible for navigation and astronomical positioning.
Even our secret techniques can combine these to greatly improve the accuracy of determining ship position and heading,"

The Kunlun man was surprised, "But the Star-pulling Technique?"

"Can we accept this batch of ships now?" Tang Fengxiao asked.

When necessary, these ships will not only travel between Guangzhou Xiangdao and Luzon in the future, but also serve as coastal and inland river combat missions in Luzon.

The nose tip is long, the beam arch is small, and the deck ridge is not high. It has a solid structure and good seaworthiness and endurance.

But he also has another requirement, which is that the speed of these boats cannot be too slow like the Fu boats. These boats must be fast if they have good endurance.

"In terms of speed, the fortune ships built by Ludao and the treasure ships built by us on Xiangdao are not as good as the improved sand ships," the chief craftsman told Tang Lingxiao. "The sand ships have a flat bottom and can sit on the beach without fear of running aground. They are also stable and safe in wind and waves. , especially when the wind direction is different, the bottom draft is shallow and is less affected by the tide.

The requirement is that it is seaworthy in both shallow and deep seas, and has good load-carrying performance.

Moreover, it has many masts and sails and is very fast. It can sail directly to Tianzhu and Dashi. "

From the navigation compass to the star-pulling board, to the star-pulling technique, these were all researched and developed by Wu Huaiyu and appeared hundreds of years ahead of schedule.

His reputation and influence in Guangzhou is not small, and there are rumors that he has the support of Duke Wu behind him.

Star-pulling is a set of navigation positioning and navigation technology developed by the Wu family by combining astronomical observation, navigation technology and compass.
This is one of Wu's secrets that has invested countless money and human resources and cost a huge amount of money.

However, the chief craftsman breathed a sigh of relief when he thought about the identity of this dark-skinned Tang Yuanwai.

The ships ordered by Tang Fengxiao were a new batch of ships. Compared with the Fuzhou ships at Ludao Port, which were built on the basis of Fuzhou ships and had broad heads and high sterns, the new ships built by Xiangdao Shipbuilding were It is an improvement on the traditional Lingnan ship type.

"I have already received a batch of Fuchuan built by Ludao. They are designed with double rudders and can move forward and retreat freely in both shallow and deep seas. The hull is wide and strong, and they are first-class in carrying people and cargo, but the speed is slightly slower."

Star-pulling, the full name of Wu's Star-pulling Technique, is performed through a special star-pulling board. The largest star-pulling board is a twelve-finger board, and the smallest is a one-finger board. When using it, hold the center of one end of the star-pulling board with your left hand and extend your arm. Look directly at the starry sky, make the board surface perpendicular to the sea level, and observe the height of the stars from the sea level.

The sand ship can sail with the current and against the wind, and even against the wind and against the water.

This Tang Yuanwai is a well-known wealthy businessman in the world today. He even has the status of an official in the imperial court. His official position is not high, but he still has the status of an imperial businessman.

The chief craftsman was also a little surprised, "I didn't expect that Mr. Tang also knew how to pull stars."

Compared with another kind of sand boat that is more suitable for traveling in the north and inland rivers, Tang Fengxiao's main requirement for this batch of Guangzhou boats ordered from Xiangdao is the route from Paoxiang Island to Luzon.

"Yes, it can be received at any time. All the necessary configurations are complete, including the basic crew. It can leave the port today."

The Causeway Bay Shipyard in Xiangdao is one of the main shipyards of the Wu family in Lingnan. The shipyard has a strategic partnership with several technical schools of the Wu family in shipbuilding, navigation, and trade. The schools will send students for internships.

A large merchant who supplied goods to the royal family.

Of course Tang Fengxiao also knew this. He came here not only to receive these treasure ships built by Baoxiang Island, but also to recruit a group of shipbuilding craftsmen.
The chief shopkeeper of the shipyard was a little surprised when he saw the autographed letter from Wu Huaiyu that Tang Fengxiao took out, but he still nodded, "I will listen to Alang's arrangements."

"What kind of ship does Mr. Tang need to build?" asked the shopkeeper.

"Sand ship."

Tang Fengxiao, nicknamed Kunlun Slave, was one of Wu Huaiyu's eight white gloves. The biggest difference between him and the shipyard shopkeeper and other members of the Wu family on the outside was that Tang Fengxiao and the others were all wealthy businessmen on the outside. The industry does not belong to the Wu family, at most it can be regarded as a cooperative relationship.
In fact, they are secretly controlled by Wu Huaiyu.

This time Tang Fengxiao not only ordered ships from Ludao, Xiangdao and other shipyards, but also recruited shipbuilding craftsmen everywhere. These people he dug were all to be sent to Luzon.

Luzon will soon establish its first shipyard. It will not be a tinkering shipyard, but a large-scale shipyard capable of building truly large ships.

In Wu Huaiyu's plan, the Wu family established enough strongholds in Luzon to open up the situation through trade. The next step was to build a series of workshops there.
From shipbuilding to brick-making to mining and iron-making, from farming to textiles,
We can't just engage in trade and reselling, we must also have our own handicraft manufacturing industry. Even in the short term, building shipyards, ironworks, textile factories, etc. in Luzon will definitely not be cost-effective in the early stage, but it must be done.

Luzon is the private territory of the Wu family, not a colony purely used to suck blood.

In order to control the colonies, there is a very key policy, which is to restrict the colonies to a single economy, or even become a pure raw material production and supply place. In this way, they have to depend on the mother country. Otherwise, once blocked, the colonies will not be able to maintain normal people's livelihood. Can't even keep it up.

So that you can't even produce a needle,

It was impossible for Wu Huaiyu to let Luzon take this path. He had to improve his industry so that he could be self-sufficient even if he was blocked by the Central Plains.

Luzon is an island in the South China Sea. The Wu family's strongholds in Luzon are now established along the coast. Whether Luzon is communicating with the Central Plains or with the island and the archipelago, it is inseparable from ships.

The shipyard has become a key development project in the next stage.

Fortunately, the Wu family entered the shipbuilding and related industries very early on. Not only did they reserve a large number of skilled craftsmen, they had also established a number of related technical schools, recruiting students and training industrial technical workers on their own.

Now the Luzon Shipyard selects people directly from the Central Plains.

It can even be said that Luzon Shipyard is not very short of people now. There are too many people to choose from. What Luzon is short of is relatively reliable talents, the kind who can meet the conditions and are willing to immigrate to Luzon and never come back. people.

"Can the owner please show me the roster of employees in the venue?"

"Okay, you can choose whoever you want, but I will let you go if you like."

Tang Fengxiao wanted to select not those with the best skills or the youngest, but those who best met the immigration requirements. Therefore, his first choice was those who were orphans raised by the Wu family, or some poor young workers who were recruited and recruited by the Wu family.
Such people are more willing to go to Luzon and stay there.

Not many meet these conditions;

But Tang Fengxiao prioritized these and wanted to interview them in person.
The recruitment of workers by Luzon Shipyard this time is an internal recruitment. Tang Fengxiao and others are responsible for inspecting and recruiting people from various shipyards. The treatment is still very good.
"Can I ask which shipyard you are recruiting for? It should be a new shipyard, right?" the owner asked. "It is indeed a new shipyard, and it will not be small." Tang Fengxiao raised his head and looked at the shipyard owner who was less than fifty. "Zhang Zhang, the new shipyard is newly built. It is the time to employ people. I don't know. Mr. Zhang, do you want to go there and try it?”

"I?"

"Well, I know that Zhang Zhang is also an old man from the Wu family. He has served the Wu family for more than ten years and is very loyal. The rewards given by the Wu family are not low."

Lao Zhang nodded, "Yes, I was born a fisherman. Later I joined the merchant ship and became a clerk. When I met Duke Wu, I was just a clerk on a merchant ship with a meager salary."

Now he is the owner of the Xiangdao Shipbuilding Yard and is already the senior shopkeeper of the Wu family.

"After the Xiangdao Shipyard was established, it has developed well in the past few years under the leadership of Zhang Zhang. However, although Xiangdao is the focus of the Wu family's business, shipbuilding is not the focus of Xiangdao.
If Mr. Zhang wants to retire, this would be a good place."

Pension unit? Zhang Zhang shook his head. He was only forty-nine this year, and it was still too early to talk about retirement.

"Yes, it's too early for Mr. Zhang to retire at his age. Go to the new shipyard. Ten years of hard work and another ten years of hard work.

You can also save a large amount of pension money, and even buy a good job for your children and grandchildren. "

Lao Zhang asked, "Where is the new shipyard?"

Tang Fengxiao didn't hide it either. He originally came here to recruit people this time, and Lao Zhang was on the list.

"Luzon."

Lao Zhang was a little surprised, but not too surprised. Most of the ships entering and leaving Luzon in the past two years passed through Xiang Island. He was the director of the shipyard, so of course he could know some of the situation.

He knows that the Wu family is very careful in running Luzon secretly, and he also roughly knows where Luzon is and what the current situation is.
A relatively wild island,

Tang Fengxiao directly offered Lao Zhang the conditions that made him excited, a generous settlement allowance, and then the position of the owner of the new shipyard. The salary was also very generous, and after passing there, he would directly have the top position in the shipyard, too. Dividends are paid every four years, and he is given a lot of money as the owner of the stock.

If the shipyard can really develop as Tang Fengxiao said, then he will not only have a stable and generous salary as a shipyard owner, but also an even more generous dividend from the underlying stock.

In addition to these,
The Wu family will also give him and his family a thousand acres of land. If Lao Zhang can buy a farm there, buy some slaves and some cattle and horses, he will become a landlord.

Even though the land there is not valuable now, Lao Zhang feels that this thousand acres of land has potential.

"The conditions are pretty good, right?"

Lao Zhang nodded after hearing this. This is not only good, it is simply great.

"You also know that the Wu family has always treated its own people well,"

"However, there is an additional condition for going to Luzon. If you accept the errand of the owner of the Luzon Shipyard, Mr. Zhang, then the generous conditions offered to you will be true. There is only one thing. Mr. Zhang, you must bring it with you. My family and children moved to Luzon together and settled down there.”

This condition made Lao Zhang a little hesitant.

He has worked for the Wu family for ten years, and now he has reached the level of a senior shopkeeper. His income is already good, and his family's life is not bad.

If you think that this new job will require your whole family to move overseas, this really makes people hesitate.

Tang Fengxiao continued, "As long as Mr. Zhang and your family settle in Luzon, in addition to the salary, stock, one thousand acres of land, and settlement expenses promised to you,
The land of your past family members can also be divided further, with male males receiving 100 acres and females receiving 50 acres. Middle men under the age of 21 and older than 16 are also granted 50 acres of land. "

These words shocked Lao Zhang again.

Men and women are born yellow at birth, small at four years old, middle at sixteen, young at twenty-one and one at sixty, and old at sixty.

In the early days of the Republic of China, land equalization was implemented, but the Central Plains had long been left without land.

Although Lao Zhang is still relatively prosperous now and has even saved up money to buy some land, he bought it all by himself.

How much land can be allocated to the Wu family in Luzon?
He felt that the one thousand acres of land given to him by the Wu family for his level as a shipyard owner was a lot, but after all, Luzon was a wild island overseas, so the land was certainly not valuable.

But no matter how valuable it is, it is impossible to grant land like this.

"You are a special craftsman talent specially introduced by Luzon. Of course, your family also enjoys some preferential treatment.

When other people immigrated there, according to Dingzhong, one household can be granted a maximum of 200 acres of land, and the Yongye and Kou subdivision fields are 28%, and the Kou subdivision fields must be returned after death.
But for specially introduced senior craftsmen and other talents like you, the upper limit of land grant increases according to the corresponding level, and the proportion of land allocated to Yongye and Kou is 37.
In the future, after the death of a person, the land allocated by the family can be given priority to men and women in the household who meet the qualifications for land grant.

Lao Zhang asked, "Are there so many fields to be granted?"

"You can rest assured. The most indispensable thing in Luzon is land. Of course, if there are more immigrants in the future, the land will definitely not be divided so much. It's first come, first served. Don't miss the opportunity. If you lose it, you will never come back." Tang Feng Filial piety.

Lao Zhang very much agrees with this. The land equalization system in the Tang Dynasty was only divided in one wave in the early years of the country.

Lao Zhang quickly calculated in his mind that after his family passed over, they would be able to get one thousand acres directly. Then the family could further divide the land according to the male and female. The male and female would get 50 acres, and the middle male would get 50 acres. mu. Even if the elder, younger, and middle daughter are not granted land, his wife, four sons, Ding Nan, and two grandsons are all over sixteen, and they can all be granted 550 acres.
Thirty percent of the Yongye farmland has 165 acres.

I'm not afraid of the limit of 200 acres of land granted to one household. We can divide households. When our four sons are adults, we can separate the three eldest sons to start their own business. The couple can just follow the younger son.
If one household becomes four, the upper limit of land grant will be 800 acres.

Lao Zhang calculated shrewdly.

Tang Fengxiao saw this in his eyes, but would not say anything. What Luzon lacked now was people, not the indigenous barbarians on Luzon Island, but immigrants who moved from the Central Plains, especially Han immigrants.

Granting land to everyone is the most powerful move.

As for where the earth comes from, this Wu family is not worried at all.

This time when Wu Gong takes Sanlang to Luzon, he will officially announce to all the indigenous people on Luzon Island and other islands that Wu Sanlang is the hereditary governor of Luzon and the Marquis of Luzon, canonized by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
The Wu Guild required all tribes in Luzon to be loyal to the Luzon Marquis granted by the emperor, and the Luzon Islands became the hereditary fiefdom of the Wu family.
From now on, all the tribes in Luzon must pay tribute and taxes to the governor's office and obey the orders of the Marquis of Luzon.

This is an inevitable step.

Under the whole world, could it be the king's land.

Since the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty granted Luzon to the Wu family, these lands will naturally become the property of the Wu family.
If the tribes obey the will and know the current affairs, they will be outstanding.

If you disobey orders and edicts,

Then the war will begin.

(End of this chapter)