Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1182 Shen Tingyang

Shen Tingyang came into the sight of the Great Library and Zhao Yingong very early, not only because he was a celebrity in the late Ming Dynasty, but more importantly because of his background of the Shachuan Gang.

Shen Tingyang's personal information is very little, but since he was a student of the Imperial College, and he was able to fund the construction of sand ships for shipping by himself, and he was able to immediately produce a hundred large ships when the Ming Dynasty fell, it all shows that the Shen family is a rich and wealthy shipping family—you know His big ships cost at least one or two thousand taels of silver in the late Ming Dynasty.In the first year of Hongguang, he wrote to the court that he owned 2000 sea-going ships that could carry 200 soldiers, and the total assets of these water-based ships alone amounted to 10,000+ taels of silver.In addition, it is impossible for the Shen family to only have these ships, and there must be many smaller ships.In addition, according to the general style of wealthy merchants in the late Ming Dynasty, they would generally purchase a large amount of land, open shops...and operate various industries.All in all, the Shen family's total assets are at least 50 taels.

Shen Tingyang's family is not an ordinary big businessman. Shen Tingyang used to have an old relationship with Hong Chengchou. After he was captured, Hong Chengchou tried to save his life.This shows that Shen's background is not too low, and the Shen family is not an ordinary wealthy businessman, and it is very likely that they have contacts with high-ranking officials in the court.

This kind of businessman with a deep official background and a lot of money and ships is an excellent agent to support Zheng Zhilong.

The problem is, he has to convince this master Shen to cooperate with him.In this regard, he won the favor of Zhang Pu by relying on his contacts with Fushe, especially the strategy of grain and sea transportation that he boasted at the beginning, and he has already become well-known among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.Zhao Xianggong from Wanbi Bookstore in Hangzhou spread his comments on his knowledge of "manipulating the world and applying it to practical use"—adding to his bookstore's "Australian style" and many novel gadgets and books, it has become a hot spot among scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. .So he asked someone to express his hope that before he could visit Shen Tingyang, he was confident enough that the other party would not shut him down.

It seems that no matter which time and space you are in, if you want to do big things, you have to be well-known, otherwise, even if you have shocking stunts, people will probably just treat you as a lunatic-Bole is not easy to find.

If it hadn't been for the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Colonial Trade to set up such a bookstore for him and let him "raise and look after him", he would really have no need to think about doing a career in Jiangnan.

Zhao Yingong has been thinking about how to persuade Shen Tingyang along the way.Judging from historical records, Shen Tingyang is quite capable of doing things, and he has made great achievements in shipping: he has technology and is willing to take risks.He was born in 1594, and now he is in his prime in his forties. He is at the peak of a man's physical strength and energy, and he should have the idea of ​​doing something big.

Zhao Yingong knew that it might not be possible to directly persuade Shen Tingyang to join in the Japanese trade-after all, the incident was too big, and it was like a gamble to the people at that time.So he decided to put forward Shen Tingyang's own suggestion in history: changing the water transport to the sea a few years in advance.

Shen Tingyang was able to make this proposal to the imperial court, obviously after many years of consideration and planning-so it can be successful once.If you bring it up yourself, the other party will definitely respond positively.Moreover, Zhang Pu also had a great interest in changing water transportation to the sea. As a scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, it was difficult for Shen Tingyang not to be influenced by Zhang Pu.

As long as it can be done once, Shen Tingyang's trust in himself will increase.The possibility of passing the proposal to go to Japan next is very high.

Zhao Yingong thought all the way, the sedan chair had gradually approached Chongming County.

Chongming Island has a very short history of setting up a government office. It was only in the Yuan Dynasty that the state city was built in Yaoliusha and the state was established.This is the first time Chongming Island has established a government office.Later, because Yao Liusha continued to collapse southward, the government moved northward twice for reconstruction.In the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Chongming was reduced to a county, and the government moved from Yao Liusha to Sansha and Pingyangsha successively.In the 16th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the administrative office of the Chongming area was finally moved to Changsha City, which was later the seat of Chongming County.

In this time and space, Chongming County is under the jurisdiction of Suzhou Prefecture, so Shen Tingyang was included in the Suzhou Five Hundred Sages Temple after his death.He is from Xinhe Township, Chongming County, and his residence is not in the county seat.However, Zhao Yingong has already received a message from the other party that he has asked his servant to meet him in another courtyard in Guanxiang, the county seat.

Due to the geographical environment of Chongming Island, the shipbuilding and shipping industries are very developed.Especially the Yangtze River and coastal shipping industry.In ancient times, Chongming had a well-developed shipbuilding industry and water transportation. The sand boats in Chongming, which are suitable for sailing in the shallows and dark sands, originated from Chongming and became famous all over the country.Along the way, many shipyards can be seen beside the pier outside the county seat, and sand ships under construction stand on wooden frames on the tidal flats.There are also many masts on the coastal pier, and many large and small sand ships are moored.

Zhao Yingong knew that sand boats have a flat bottom, which is especially suitable for waterways with many shoals and dark sand along the coast of China and in big rivers.Moreover, it is not afraid of being grounded, and has strong adaptability to docks and waterways. Moreover, because of the flat bottom of the ship, large effective volume of the warehouse, and heavy load, it is a very economical and applicable coastal cargo ship.At the same time, it has certain long-distance navigation capabilities.

Shanghai is the main construction site and shipping port for sand ships.In the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 200 sandships in Shanghai Port, with an annual throughput of [-] million tons.After the Opium War, the British demanded that Shanghai be included as an open port, not simply because of its geographical conditions.

Zhao Yingong conducted a survey of Shanghai's shipping industry in advance: Although the Shachuan Gang in the late Ming Dynasty was not as large as the Qing Dynasty, it still had thousands of ships.These sandships sail along the coast between Tianjin and Shanghai every year.Transport large quantities of civilian cargo.

Shen Ting and Yang's family run the sand ship shipping business themselves, and it is not a difficult problem for him to change grain from grain to sea.The Shen family had always hoped to be able to undertake the imperial court's grain shipping business, recreating the glorious scene when Zhu Qing presided over the grain transport to the north in the Yuan Dynasty.

Thinking about it all the way, the sedan chair has already been carried into the sedan chair hall of the Shen family's other courtyard, and the handrail is pulled out when the sedan chair is dropped.Zhao Yingong slowly got out of the sedan chair with a smile on his face.

The person who greeted him was a young man in his twenties—probably Shen Tingyang's nephew, wearing a green shirt of a student, with a respectful attitude and thoughtful words.Welcoming him all the way into the main hall.

Shen Tingyang was already waiting in the hall.This Mr. Shen was a student of the Imperial College, and many of the Imperial College students in the late Ming Dynasty were from benevolent or donated backgrounds, and they were nothing more than to assume the status of a scholar.Zhao Yingong reckoned that Master Shen was in a similar situation - it was not easy for a big family like the Shen family to get a prison student.

This Mr. Shen is about 37 or [-] years old. He is handsome, dark-skinned, and has a solid figure--at first glance, he looks like a weather-beaten person, not a frail scholar who reads in the study all day long.Judging by his appearance, he probably has also been out in the sea and ran a boat.

Seeing that his demeanor was heroic, his gestures were full of chivalry, and his Chongming dialect was not loud, but crisp and clear, Zhao Yingong couldn't help feeling more confident about this visit.

Here Shen Tingyang is also looking at Mr. Zhao - he has long admired his name: Not only is Wanbi Villa famous, but I also heard that he is quite regarded by Zhang Pu: Shen Tingyang is not a member of Fushe, but Zhang Pu is equivalent to Jiangnan. The leader of scholars.Those who can be valued by Zhang Pu, he will naturally follow suit.What's more, it is said that the relationship between Master Zhao and Xu Shanghai is also extraordinary.Jiangnan Shilin even rumored that Sun Yuanhua, the son and daughter of Xu Ge's elder son, was able to escape this time, and it was also due to the running of Mr. Zhao.

Adding all these factors together, it is true that Shen Tingyang is looking forward to Zhao Yingong's visit-this Master Zhao came to visit on his own initiative, what is his intention?
No matter what his intentions are, Shen Tingyang is still very interested in being able to make friends with such a person.

After seeing the ceremony, the two of them were divided into guests and hosts, and some people brought tea.Everyone inevitably came first with a set of polite remarks such as "I have admired your name for a long time".Only then did the conversation gradually turn to the topic.

Zhao Yingong changed the topic to the malpractice of grain transportation when he visited Zhang Pu not long ago, and then brought up the topic of "abolishing the grain and transforming the sea"—telling Shen Tingyang exactly what he discussed with Zhang Pu. Under his ingenious organization of discourse, it became "the hero sees the same thing" instead of his suggestion.

Sure enough, this topic immediately scratched Shen Tingyang's itch.Just as Zhao Yingong guessed, Shen Tingyang has always had a strong interest in grain shipping.He has been paying attention to the important task of the court, water transportation.He hopes to follow the example of his local predecessor Zhu Qing in the Yuan Dynasty, and transport Nanliang to the capital by sea, thereby saving a large amount of water transportation costs-Shen Tingyang is well aware of the current financial dilemma of the imperial court, and it is extremely important for the emperor to avoid the cost of maintaining canals and Caoding Attractive.

Zhu Qing, his fellow villager, set out to transport grain from Liujiagang, Taicang, using sand ships built in Shanghai.In the first year, 300 shi of grain were transported, and at the highest point, the annual grain transportation reached [-] million shi, and the loss was so small that it was almost negligible.Not to mention spending endless manpower and material resources on dredging and repairing canals, and maintaining a large and inefficient team of tank ships and tank troops.

His considerations in this way not only contain political ambitions, but also practical interests.The Shen family is the largest sand boat gang in the Yangtze River Estuary. If they can get grain and change the sea, this huge income from water feet will be attractive enough.

In the past few years, Shen Tingyang has been studying Zhu Qing's sea transportation route, trying to figure out a fast and safe route: after all, water transportation is a major matter of the imperial court, and it cannot be sloppy.

But after all, he came from a businessman's family, and his mind is very flexible. As soon as he heard it, he understood that this remark was a joke: This Mr. Zhao came here to meet him, so he used this brain!
This Mr. Zhao is really good!Shen Tingyang is a "Xiamen".I know that this matter is very difficult, but the more difficult it is, the more interested I am in the challenge.

(End of this chapter)