Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 120 The Emperor of Dongfan

"I...became the emperor of Dongfan?" Wu Lang was stunned and asked, "How is this possible?"

"How is it impossible?" Lin Hai said with a smile, "I can lead an army to Dongfan and force everyone to recognize you as the emperor of Dongfan. If anyone is unwilling to surrender to you, my army will immediately make him the emperor. Undead.”

Wu Lang heard this and said: "But what's the use of asking everyone to verbally admit that I am the emperor of Dongfan? I am still the same person."

Lin Haidao: "You can establish your ruling institution. First you need to establish your tax system. I think you can use tribute. Our Ming Dynasty also did this thousands of years ago..."

"Secondly, you have to use taxes to support an army of your own. After all, you can't always rely on my help. If there are villages that resist taxes, you have to use the army to punish them."

"As more and more villages surrender to you, the more taxes you can receive, which in turn can support more troops to help you conquer more villages..."

Wu Lang was lost in thought for a while, and after a while he asked: "Did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty become emperor in this way?"

"Are you talking about the current emperor?" Lin Hai shook his head and said, "No, no, he relied on inheriting the taxation agencies and the army left by his father, the previous emperor."

He continued: "Wulang, if you become the emperor of Dongfan, your son can inherit your throne in the future. Your relatives, or all the people in the Shabari Society and the Jinbaoli Society can become nobles .”

Wu Lang didn't quite understand the meaning of the word noble. He then asked: "But what good does this do to me? The more taxes I receive, the more troops I need to support, so what do I get? ?”

"The tax revenue you can receive will be far more than the amount needed to support the army. You can use the excess deer skin, sulfur and gold sand to come to me in exchange for everything you want, including fresh clothes and delicacies from the Ming Dynasty. There’s good wine.”

"Even as long as you give me enough deer skins, I can build a big house for you, as majestic as the vassal government office just now."

Lin Hai was good at tempting, and these days he provided Wu Lang with delicious food and drinks.

As the saying goes, "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality." He didn't believe that Wulang could still get used to the life he had in Dongfan after living like a rich man in the Ming Dynasty for a month.

Sure enough, Wu Lang was very moved when he heard this. He thought for a while and said: "Shopkeeper Lin, what good will it do to you to help me become the Emperor of Dongfan? In order to get more deerskin, sulfur and gold sand from me?" ?”

"This is just one of my purposes. If it were just for this, I wouldn't need to put so much thought into it."

Lin Hai said and added: "I need more land in Dongfan. The land given to me by Shabari Society is too small. I need an emperor whose rule spans the entire Tamsui River and Keelung River basins, and then these two Give me all the flat land around the river."

Wu Lang was a little confused: "Why do you want so much land?"

"That land is so wasteful in your hands. You have also seen it in Ming Dynasty these days. We Ming people only need a few acres of paddy fields to feed a family of five, but you need a large mountainous area to feed one person."

"I will take many people from the Ming Dynasty to Dongfan to cultivate paddy fields there and grow a lot of food. This will be the main commodity I use to trade with you. It will be much cheaper than steel knives and iron clothes."

Wu Lang hesitated when he heard this and said: "Then my people will no longer have to farm, but only need to hunt deer, dig sulfur, and pan for gold sand?"

"Yes, this is what you are best at, and what I am best at is farming." Lin Hai replied with a smile.

In fact, he will also control the sulfur mines and gold mines in his own hands in the future, but by then Wulang can provide him with a new commodity - slaves.

But it was still too early, and there was no need for him to tell Wu Lang so much for the time being.

Wu Lang frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly said: "It sounds like I am not an emperor, but an official under Shopkeeper Lin. Just like the person who sewed clothes for the Ming Emperor, I am responsible for Lin's clothes." The shop owner hunts deer, digs for sulfur, and pans for gold sand.”

Lin Hai was startled when he heard this. He was a little surprised by the acumen of this Dongfan native, but it would be better if he could recognize this problem early, otherwise there would be many twists and turns in the future.

"You are right to think so. With the cheap food I provide, no one of your people will be willing to farm soon. Your food and weapons are all supplied by me. Your fate actually depends on it. In my hand..."

"Of course, I won't cut that thing off your lower body with a knife. On the other hand, if you want to get more concubines in Dongpan, and then castrate all the men who serve you and your concubines, you can only do it in In a moment of thought..."

"Shopkeeper Lin, you don't have to tempt me with these words anymore. I completely agree with your arrangement for me. In fact, when we first met, my fate was already in your hands, wasn't it?"

Wu Lang said, "If I don't agree, you will find someone else in Dongfan, just like if the Shabari Society didn't agree to give you land, you would cooperate with the Baliza Society."

"You are very smart. I like to deal with smart people." Lin Hai is very satisfied with Wu Lang's thinking ability. It seems that this candidate is really good so far.

Although the Dongfan natives have little knowledge, it does not mean they have low IQ.In fact, even if people from the Paleolithic Age tens of thousands of years ago brought a baby into modern society, the chances of him being admitted to a prestigious university would be no different from those of modern people.

Lin Hai then added: "Don't worry, if our cooperation goes smoothly, I will not treat you badly. I once said in Tamsui that you are my friend, and this sentence is still valid."

"Thank you. I believe our cooperation will go smoothly. All my actions will follow the instructions of Shopkeeper Lin." Wu Lang continued, "So... when do you plan to send me back to Dongfan?"

"It's coming soon, probably only about a month."

Wu Lang nodded to Lin Hai, and then said to Lun First: "Brother, I want to learn the language of the Ming Dynasty, can you teach me?"

That night, Lin Hai and others stayed outside Wulin Gate in the northwest of Hangzhou City, which is the city gate closest to the Broken Bridge on the West Lake.During the Song Dynasty, there was a notebook dedicated to describing the scenery of Lin'an called "Old Wulin Stories", which can be called the Southern Song Dynasty version of "Tokyo Menghua Lu".

In fact, in ancient times, city walls were not the boundaries of a city.

There are often only administrative centers within the city walls, while the commercial center is likely to be located outside the city walls, so it is not uncommon for the city walls to be more prosperous than the city walls, especially in large and medium-sized cities.

For example, the Changmen in the direction of Huqiu from Suzhou City is a place that Cao Xueqin calls "the first and second-class rich and romantic in the world of mortals."From outside Changmen to Fengqiao, which is ten miles away, there are bustling commercial streets with tens of thousands of shops. Therefore, Fengqiao in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is no longer the "Jiang Feng Fishing Fire vs. Chou Mian" written by the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji. "The scene of killing people."

The same is true for the city of Hangzhou. There is a local folk song that describes the prosperity of Hangzhou’s ten gates:

There are fish baskets outside the Wulin Gate, silk baskets outside the Genshan Gate, horses running outside the Fengshan Gate, salt baskets outside the Qingtai Gate, vegetable baskets outside the Wangjiang Gate, wine jars outside the Houchao Gate, and firewood baskets outside the Qingbo Gate. There are rowing boats outside the Yongjin Gate, incense baskets outside the Qiantang Gate, and dung baskets outside the Qingchun Gate.

The first one here is Wulin Gate, not only because Wulin Gate is the main passage from Hangzhou City to West Lake, but more importantly, because this gate leads to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the economic artery of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Eight miles outside Wulin Gate, there is Beixin Pass, which was the southernmost of the seven major Chao Passes on the Grand Canal in the Ming Dynasty.

Among these canal checkpoints, only Beixinguan and Linqing Customs levy both customs duties based on the size of the ship and commercial taxes based on the value of the goods. This alone shows the status of Beixinguan among the seven major canal checkpoints.

Taking the data from the fifth year of Tianqi as an example, the customs duties on banknotes paid to the central government by Beixinguan were as high as 8 taels. The combined tariffs of Fujian Yuegang and Guangdong Macau, the two legal ports of Ming Dynasty’s overseas trade, were only this amount. It can be seen from this that A huge number of ships pass through Beishinguan every year.

Because of its prosperity, the Beiguan Night Market was formed under Beixinguan in the Ming Dynasty.This was probably the largest and busiest night market in the entire Ming Dynasty, extending from outside Wulin Gate to the foot of Beixinguan Pass. It was even better than Changmen Night Market in Suzhou and Qinhuai Night Market in Nanjing.

As early as the Song Dynasty, the night markets in Hangzhou did not end until the third or fourth watch. The following record is recorded in "Meng Liang Lu" written by Wu Zimu in the Southern Song Dynasty: "On Hangzhou Street, business continues day and night, and there are three or four drums at night, and the number of tourists begins to thin. The five drums and bells are ringing, and the morning market sellers are opening their shops again."

The Beiguan Night Market in the Ming Dynasty was much larger than those in Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty, so it was open all night long.

It was already midnight when Lin Hai and others stayed outside Wulin Gate. Seeing that the lights outside the inn were still bright as day, they suddenly became interested in going to the night market for a walk.

Except for Ruan Mei, the others had never seen such a bustling night market, so they all happily followed him to the streets.

Six grown men swaggered around shopping in the middle of the night. The night market was full of goods, crowded with people, and there were many jugglers performing. It was a scene of bustling people and loud cheers everywhere.

Just like the fragrant market we encountered yesterday, there were an endless number of young girls and young wives in the Beiguan Night Market. Many young people took the opportunity to walk through it, pretending to be casual and brushing against each other...

Waizui looked at him with hot eyes and looked eager to try, but Feng Yidao stopped him and whispered: "Master Lin is here, don't do anything wrong, don't let him look down on us."

Waizui had to give up, but his lustful eyes couldn't stop looking around. It's a pity that it's cold in winter, and the women in the night market are all wrapped up tightly...

"How come these Zhejiang people are more afraid of the cold than me, a Guangxi guy? I think it's quite hot tonight." Waizui said to Feng Yidao.

"I'll cut off your smelly root with a knife, and you won't be hot anymore." Feng Yidao shut up Waizui with just one sentence. The latter thought of his knife brother's swift and unparalleled knife skills, and suddenly felt his crotch A cold wind blew through.

Lin Hai walked at the front of the team, followed by Ruan Mei. What he cared about most was the goods sold in the night market.

The Beiguan Night Market is different from the night markets in Hangzhou during the Song Dynasty that mainly served the princes and nobles. The service targets here are mainly tourists from the West Lake and merchants. Therefore, the goods in the night market are mainly cheap goods. This is quite different from the night markets of later generations. To be close.

Ruan Mei introduced beside Lin Hai: "Here you can buy almost all the specialties from all over Zhejiang, such as tea from Shaoxing, wine from Jinhua, seafood from Ningbo, silk from Huzhou, silk from Jiaxing, celadon from Chuzhou, etc. , of course, most of the goods are local goods from Hangzhou. All industries in Hangzhou are prosperous, and there is nothing in the world that local craftsmen cannot make."

Lin Hai nodded when he heard the words. Although Ruan Meizhi's words were a bit exaggerated, they were basically the truth.

Hangzhou is located at the strategic point of water and land in Zhejiang. The so-called victory in the southeast means that if you control this place, you will strangle the throat of the whole Zhejiang. The reason why the ancients chose to build a city here is because of Hangzhou’s military geography and goods in Zhejiang and even the entire southeast. It is a hub in circulation, so it goes without saying that goods from all over Zhejiang are gathered here.

As for the handicraft industry in Hangzhou, it was second to none in the Ming Dynasty, second only to Suzhou.It is precisely because Suzhou and Hangzhou were the largest commercial and handicraft centers in the Ming Dynasty that there is a saying that "there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below".

Lin Hai is very interested in the handicraft industry in Jiangnan, because the overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty was actually somewhat deformed. In short, the trade surplus was ridiculously large. It is not an exaggeration to use a silver black hole to describe China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Take raw silk as an example. The Ming Dynasty was originally the most developed country in the silk industry in the world, but the largest export of goods was raw silk, rather than deeply processed satin. This was actually not the optimal model.

Low-value-added raw materials should be imported from overseas and then turned into high-value-added products for sale at home and abroad. In this way, not only can money be circulated, but also a large amount of land resources can be saved.

This problem is relatively complex, and it is difficult to completely solve it by economic means alone. However, Lin Hai feels that it can be improved through economic means first. On the one hand, it can expand its own financial resources, and on the other hand, it can also make efforts to completely solve this problem administratively in the future. Good foreshadowing.

After completely solving this problem, Jiangnan has stepped into the threshold of industrialization with one foot, and the rest is a matter of technology and ideology.

The latter problem is even more difficult to solve. It is much more difficult to put your own thoughts into other people's heads than to put other people's money into your own pocket.

As a time traveler with a strong sense of mission, the journey ahead is destined to be long and difficult.

Lin Hai was walking and thinking, but suddenly a thunder interrupted his thoughts. When he turned around, he found a pockmarked man performing ventriloquist on the street.

This pockmarked man was tall, but extremely ugly, with a dark face covered with scars and acne marks.But his ventriloquism was quite good, and he imitated the sound of thunder very vividly. There were many people watching around him, and from time to time some people cheered loudly.

The ugly-faced pockmark continued to perform with great emotion: "Marshal Yue looked at the confession, raised his head to the sky and roared twice: The sky is clear! The sky is clear!"

When Lin Hai heard this, he realized that what Mazi was performing was not ventriloquism, but storytelling.It sounded like what he was talking about was Feng Bo Pavilion. I don't know if the thunder just now meant a bolt from the blue, or if it was to express God's dissatisfaction with Yue Fei's injustice.

Talking about Yue in Hangzhou is quite appropriate. After all, Yue Fei was killed in Hangzhou, and the tomb of King Yue is at the foot of Qixia Ridge next to the West Lake.

At this time, Na Mazi's performance had come to an end, and the group bowed to the audience: "We are here today, and we will still be here tomorrow." Liu Jingting stepped down and bowed. The rich people in the audience cheered for the money, and the poor cheered for the individual. …”

　Thanks to Jiang Yu Jiang Yu for the reward of 1500 taels of grain silver.Lao Zhu came down from the stage and bowed. All the judges, those who have money, will support you with money, and those who have no money will support you with personal support...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)