Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2136
"I heard that since Master Han broke through the Datang Gorge, boats and business travelers can travel here."

Although He Dongli is not ignorant of Australians, it is rare for this "overseas barbarian" to think of Han Yong's deeds after hearing only one sentence-this happened 150 years ago!Even in Wuzhou, not to mention the common people, even ordinary scholars, many people don't know the word "Han Yong", let alone Dateng Gorge.

"Although Mr. Han broke the Datang Gorge, Xu local Yaodong still collects taxes from the merchant ships passing through the Gorge. Since then, the Datang Gorge can be used for business travel."

"Is Yaoqing still peaceful now?"

He Dongli shook his head slightly: "Although Mr. Han has flattened Yao twice, in fact, the ground in Guangdong and Guangxi has never been flat—but it's not a climate!"

In the mountains of the Guijiang River and Xijiang River around Wuzhou, there are Yao and Tong villages everywhere. Although most of them are appointed by native officials and chieftains, most of them actually "disobey the king's transformation" and various riots come and go. Even Han Yong and Wang Shouren A competent minister can only govern for decades of peace, and troubles will arise after a long time.The so-called Yaotong riots are nothing new to the old land of Wuzhou like He Dongli.

Xie Erren was silent. He saw the collapsed urn outside the Dezheng Gate and the incomplete battlements, parapets and towers on the city wall, and his heart was heavy—the artillery fire was too fierce back then!When will this be fixed!
The height of the city wall is about eight meters - this height is quite acceptable.Xie Youren stretched his neck out of the female wall to look below, and felt that as long as the city wall was repaired, safety would still be guaranteed.

He Dongli saw that he was concerned about the city defense, so he told him that there were 560 nine buildings in the city wall, and 36 small shops, where the police guarded the sergeant.However, only Dezhengmen has the Wengcheng.

"Zhao Fengtian!"

His secretary immediately followed, with a small notebook and pen in his hand-this is Xie Erren's favorite tune, sending "instructions" anytime and anywhere.

"After returning, instruct the aftermath bureau to prioritize manpower and material resources on repairing the city walls and city defense facilities!"

"Yes, Chief." Zhao Fengfeng quickly wrote it down.

Coming down from the city wall, Xie Erren was led by He Dongli and patrolled the city.The business here is indeed prosperous. According to He Dongli, there are eleven squares in the city alone.To the east of Fuyamen is Fudong City, which is the most prosperous of the two Fangshi.Walking all the way, there are many shops on the street, but there are not many pedestrians, but most of the shops have opened, and the road fences are also being repaired.Xie Erren looked at the scene along the way. Although there was a fire in the city, the damage was not too great—it was just that the house was too unsafe. He secretly complained: Most of the houses and shops are either wooden structures or The bamboo fence is painted with yellow mud.If there are any fire prevention measures, the best ones are just clam shells inlaid with river mussels.Except for government offices, temples and a few large shops and mansions, there are almost no masonry buildings to be seen.

If Xiong Wencan's fire is really set off by him, it will be a sea of ​​flames!Xie Youren secretly snapped his tongue.

Even if you don't go into the store, just judging from the signs and the goods on display, the commodity economy here has a considerable scale, there are many types of commodities, and various industries gather.Xie Youren was born as a reporter, so he has considerable observation ability on the business environment of a place.

"I didn't expect the commercial market in Wuzhou to be so prosperous." Xie Erren has seen many county capitals. To be honest, apart from Lingao under the Senate and the newly restored Guangzhou and Foshan towns, no matter Hainan or Guangdong , no town can compare with Wuzhou.

Seeing this, Xie Erren's originally gloomy mind became active again - there is a lot to do in this place!Indeed, with risk comes opportunity.As long as I can hold this Wuzhou city firmly and manage it slowly, I dare not say that the second and third children in Guangdong Province will always be ranked first.What's more, here is an important business window for Guangxi and the mainland.

He looked up and saw the confluence of three rivers near Wuzhou City, surrounded by mountains in the distance. .

"It really is the thoroughfare where three rivers converge and two provinces!" Xie Erren praised.This beautiful and magnificent mountain and river belongs to our Senate now!Thinking of this, there was a surge of excitement in his chest.

In the Ming Dynasty, Wuzhou was already an important commercial city in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions economically.Since ancient times, Wuzhou has been a large inland port in the Lingnan area, with obvious geographical advantages.It can go back to Nanning, Liuzhou, and Guilin along the river, go far to the southwest, go down to the Pearl River Delta, and go straight to Guangzhou and Macau.This enables Wuzhou Port to function as both an inland port and a coastal port.In the Qin Dynasty, the Lingqu Canal was opened to connect the Yangtze River and the Pearl River system. "Water flows from the north to the south, and boats from the north cross the mountains", which began to establish the important position of Wuzhou Port in Lingnan.In the Han Dynasty, Wuzhou Port gradually developed into a water transportation hub between Guangdong and Guangxi.Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been wooden sailboats in Wuzhou Port leading to the coast of Guangdong.Since then, a large number of businessmen from Guangdong have traveled up the river to Wuzhou for trade.Although it is located in the inland mountains at the junction of Guangdong and Guangxi, it has the convenience of coastal ports.Many "foreign goods" are not uncommon in Wuzhou, and "Australian goods" are very common.

Xie Erren took over this kind of land - to be honest, if Wuzhou was not located in the "front line", with his ability and experience, it would have been impossible for him to come to Wuzhou to be the mayor.

"What the master said is true." He Dongli glanced at the Australian, and the words "make contributions" were written all over his face.It's just that although Wuzhou is good, whether it can stand firm depends on everyone's ability.

He Dongli has no particular tendency: Daming treats him well, and the Australians have no enmity with him. If you want to say which one is more promising, as long as you are not blind, it is not difficult for anyone who has been to Qiongzhou Mansion to answer.But Qiongzhou Prefecture is only a small place, and it is really capable to govern the whole of Guangdong.Especially in Wuzhou at the moment, the internal and external environment is very complicated. It is really hard to say how capable this Australian elder Xie is.

"This mansion has been a thoroughfare between Guangdong and Guangxi since ancient times, where boats and vehicles gather, goods are piled up, and hundreds of workers gather." He Dongli said, "It's really a good place! It's just that there was a big war not long ago, which hurt our vitality! Please take a look, sir..." He pointed out the city with his finger.

Outside the city, there used to be market wharves on both banks of the Guijiang and Xijiang rivers, but most of them were destroyed due to the flames of war.Everywhere you look, you can see ruins.On the coastal shoals, sunken ship wrecks and messy timber can be seen everywhere
"The surface of this river was originally a 'floating market'. Except for the boats from Danhu, merchant ships from all over the world gathered here, and there were merchants who used bamboo and wood as rows to build and sell shops on it. During the Taiping Festival, the continuous wooden rafts here are moored along the river, which is very spectacular. During the daytime and the small boats shuttle, the lights are continuous at night, the voices are full of people, and the hawking is endless. Outsiders think it is a wonder when they come here." He Dongli said , It is regrettable in words.

"Where are these wooden rafts?" Xie Youren was a little puzzled: I didn't see anything when I came here.

"Everyone who could run ran away, and the wooden rafts that couldn't run away also transported all the goods. The rest, defending the city and attacking the city a few days ago, burned it all up."

"What a pity!" Xie Erren shook his head, "We need to restore it as soon as possible!"

He Dongli was not so optimistic-Australians have always valued business, and he believed that what Master Xie said came from his heart.However, the surrounding areas of Wuzhou are in turmoil right now: Xiong Du's troops are close at hand, and now I heard from merchants that Yaodong in Xijiang is unstable.It is not bad that the chief can keep the four areas of Wuzhou safe.

Go all the way along the city wall until you reach the "Three Presidents' Mansion" in the east of the city.

Looking from the city wall, the three general mansions are extremely large, with four large courtyards covering an area of ​​tens of acres.He Dongli said that these three general offices were established by Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty in accordance with Han Yong's suggestion during the Chenghua period.They are the Governor's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi, the General Military Mansion, and the General Town Mansion.

The architectural layout is centered on the Governor's Mansion, which is the highest point in the city on the northeastern Tufu.A huge group of government buildings has been formed, which are used for the living, office and meeting of the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi, the general soldiers and the eunuchs of the general town.

"There are still eunuchs in Wuzhou?" Xie Erren knew from the history lecture that the origin of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was in Wuzhou, but he did not expect that the guarding eunuchs were also stationed here.

"In the past, it was indeed stationed here. Later, the governor's mansion was moved to Zhaoqing, and there were no longer guards here. However, during the Wanli period, the tax supervisor came again."

Xie Youren followed He Dongli to the gate of the Governor's Mansion.On both sides of the gate, on the left is the Kaifu Monument, and on the right is the Inscription Monument.There is also a memorial archway built in front of the gate. The south archway says: "Restraining the two vassals";It is magnificent, but since the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi moved to Zhaoqing, the Three Generals’ Mansions have actually lost their function and have been vacant for many years. The buildings are inevitably dilapidated, and because they are close to the east city wall, they are even closer to Yangmingmen.It was severely damaged by artillery fire during the battle.The roof and walls have signs of being pierced and collapsed.

There are still a few yamen guards here, all of whom seem to have no energy.Seeing the "Master Australia" coming, he hurriedly stood up to greet him.

The old scribe who came with him said: "Open the gates everywhere, and invite the chief to inspect!"

Xie Erren followed the clerk into the governor's office. Because Xiong Wencan was stationed here not long ago, the interior has been repaired to some extent. It is not as bleak as it looks from the outside, but judging from the small trees and weeds on the roof, The time of desertion here is not short.

In front of the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, there is a couplet saying: "Wuzhou is the capital of Wuzhou, and Baiyue is the general rule."
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Next update: Volume 341 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)