1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 196 Guangzhou City

Regarding the trade relationship between "Fu Ruifeng" and the pirate gang, the executive committee has no special scruples about it.In fact, when formulating the arms export policy, the executive committee had already listed the pirate gang as an important sales target, and the emergence of "Fu Ruifeng" just solved the most difficult sales channel problem for the Time Travel Group.

In the southeast coast at the end of Ming Dynasty, the most powerful armed force was not the army of the Ming Dynasty, but pirate gangs of all sizes.The situation in Guangdong is a little better. The Ming army in Fujian has rarely won against the Zheng Zhilong pirate group in the past two years, and it has been defeated again and again.But fortunately, with the great backing of the Ming Empire behind them, the ability of the officers and soldiers to withstand failure is still far greater than that of the pirates. Although they have been defeated repeatedly, they can still continue to fight.As for the pirates, if they lose just once, they may go bankrupt, so they are more willing to spend money to upgrade their armed forces to ensure an advantage in the fight, and even pay thousands of taels of silver to the Spaniards and the Dutch. Buy heavy artillery.

In terms of economic strength, the Pirate Group certainly couldn't compare with the vast Ming Empire, but to the executive committee, customers who were willing to spend money were good customers.The war in the Northeast of the Ming Empire has been tense in recent years, and more than half of the annual military expenditure is spent outside the customs, and there is not much expenditure that can be used to update the weapons of the southern army. It may be very popular in Fujian.

Comparing the two sides, it is obvious that there is a greater possibility of reaching a deal with the pirate group in the near future, and the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers will be beaten hard by then, so they will naturally have the idea of ​​buying guns. It's not too late to talk about a deal.

After entering the Pearl River, the number of boats on the river obviously increased, and the more they went upstream, the denser they became. When we arrived near Humen, we could already see [-] boats traveling in groups.

"These ships are going to Manila to do business with the Frangji people." Li Nai introduced: "Because of the long distance, the merchant ships travel together so that they can have a support at sea."

"It will take about ten days from Guangzhou to Manila?" He Xi asked with some uncertainty.

"With the wind and the water, we can arrive in ten days." Li Nai nodded and confirmed his guess: "However, the situation in the South China Sea is unpredictable, so it is not bad to arrive in Manila within fifteen days or so."

After hearing this, Schneider was thinking about how to attract Guangdong maritime merchants and gradually shift their trading location to Victory Port.

The fleet traveled upstream along the Pearl River, and after traveling for more than half a day, they finally entered the urban area of ​​Guangzhou in later generations.

Schneider pointed to a deserted beach on the south bank of the Pearl River and said, "If I remember correctly, that should be where the Canton Tower is. I used to visit the Pearl River in Guangzhou, and there were bridges on this river one after another. The south of the Pearl River is almost all wasteland, it's like a dream."

He Xi responded: "Your ability to recognize the direction is pretty good. I also remember that the sandbar here is a tourist park. Unfortunately, I arrived in Guangzhou too late to join the big troops, so I didn't have time to take a good look at Guangzhou at that time."

After going forward for a while, the two of them were able to see the southern city wall of Guangzhou City on board.After several days of rough seas, they finally arrived at their destination smoothly.Both of them were refreshed and began to carefully look at the situation on the shore. In the future, this city will become a stage for them to display their respective abilities.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the city of Guangzhou was divided into three areas: Zicheng, Xicheng and Dongcheng. Each of the three cities was surrounded by a city. The West Lake was separated from Zicheng and the West City, and Wenxi was separated from Dongcheng. The traffic was very inconvenient.In the third year of Hongwu, presided over by Zhou Zheng, the governor of Guangdong Province, part of the old city walls were demolished, the Haochi between the three cities was filled, and the transformation of the three cities into one was completed.In the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Liangzu, Marquis of Yongjia, expanded a section of the city wall to the north, and built the Zhenhai Tower at the north gate of the city—that is, the place where Ning Qi was taken by Tao Donglai and others to verify the wormhole when he joined the crossing team.

In the late Ming Dynasty, Guangzhou City continued to expand southward. According to the description in "Guangzhou Xinzhuzicheng Ji", the scale of the new city expanded during the Jiajing period alone was "120 feet long, 780 feet and [-] feet high, and [-] feet per week. [-] six zhang, eight gates." The east city wall is on the line of Yuexiu South Road in later generations, the south city wall is close to the Pearl River, the west city wall is next to Xihao, and the north city wall leans against Yuexiu Mountain. The area is about six square kilometers, basically it is the later generations The central urban area of ​​Guangzhou.

At this time, Li Nai also came to them and began to introduce the situation on the shore to them.A wharf several miles long was built along the Pearl River outside the southern city wall, and this is the area where Guangdong's maritime merchants are most concentrated.Official offices related to economic exchanges, such as Wuyang Post, Taxation Department, Approval Office, and Shibo Lifting Department, are also concentrated here.

A big firm like "Furuifeng" has a special berthing area on the wharf.The boatmen threw out the cables, and the laborers on the shore slowly pulled the boat to the shore.After the boat stopped, the boatmen hurriedly lifted out the springboard and placed it between the side of the boat and the river bank.Li Nai raised his hand and said, "You two, please get off the boat!"

Both of them revisited their old places, but when they set foot on this land again, their emotions were very complicated.When I came here last time, I was surrounded by high-rise buildings, noisy traffic, and crowded people, but now everything in front of me seems to be more like a set in a historical movie, incredible but extremely real.

"Does it look like you're making a movie?" He Xi lowered her voice and asked Schneider beside her.

Schneider nodded and responded in a low voice: "The professional quality of the extras is very high!"

A young man with a face vaguely similar to Li Nai, with a short beard on his chin, greeted him from a distance, "Third brother!"

Li Nai quickly stepped forward to pay respects, and then introduced to Schneider and He Xi: "This is my brother Li Po. These two are Haihan guests from Shengli Port, Mr. Schneider, Mr. He Xi, and Mr. He."

A few people first said a few polite words of "admiration for a long time", and Li Po asked curiously: "Both of you are well-known scholars?"

Schneider smiled and waved his hands and said, "It's not that we have fame. We Haihan respectfully call everyone who has culture and status Mr., even if they are in business."

Li Po suddenly said: "So that's the case. The two gentlemen must have been exhausted from the journey, and they must be a little tired. I have already prepared a place to rest, please come here!"

Li Po had already prepared a few soft sedan chairs, and Schneider and He Xi got on the sedan chairs as soon as they came. .

Regarding the issue of residence, the two sides had already discussed it when they were in Victory Port.Li Nai also mentioned that he could directly live in Li's house, but Schneider politely declined this proposal directly - there are many tasks of the Guangzhou Office that should not be disclosed, and living in Li's house must be very inconvenient.

Schneider hopes that everything will go according to the normal process, first find a hotel with a better environment to live in, and then choose a suitable yard in Guangzhou City to buy directly as the resident of the Guangzhou Office.At that time, Li Nai patted his chest and said that this matter could be handled by "Furuifeng", which would absolutely guarantee good quality, low price and good environment.

Li Nai's words are not bragging, "Furuifeng" has a lot of properties in Guangzhou, there are seven or eight houses alone, and some of them have been vacant all the time, specially used to house businessmen from afar.So although Li Po didn't know beforehand that there would be people from Haihan returning to Guangzhou with Li Nai, he immediately said that he had arranged accommodation for the two of them.

As for the situation of Li Nai's family, the time travel group doesn't know much about it. We only know that Li Nai has two older half-brothers who have been doing business with his father, and have not taken Li Nai's school exams. The road to fame.According to the analysis of the executive committee, there should be a problem of inheritance rights among these brothers, and the attitude of the Guangzhou Office in this matter must be a little more cautious.

The two sat in the rickety sedan chair, as if they had returned to the sea, and felt dizzy again for a moment.Fortunately, it didn't take long for the sedan chair to stop, and the handyman who carried the sedan chair opened the curtain to ask them to get off the sedan chair.

"This yard is not bad! It's bigger than the one in the Zhuya Office." After visiting the house that Li Po temporarily prepared for them, He Xi praised with satisfaction: "The furniture and living facilities are also very complete. The pier by the Pearl River is not too far away.”

"It's good for you two to be satisfied. Please feel free to stay here. All the utensils here will be provided by Xiao Xing. Later, I will send a few servants to serve you two." Li Po said enthusiastically.

Schneider didn't reject his offer, and he wasn't in a hurry to ask him about the rent or buy it directly. He planned to live for a few days to get familiar with the environment first.The city of Guangzhou is neither big nor small. It is more appropriate to locate the Guangzhou Office. This needs to be carefully considered after on-site inspections.

While talking, their luggage was also sent to the place, and seven or eight large nanmu boxes were carried directly into the bedroom according to the instructions of the two.Li Po saw that things were almost the same, so he took Li Nai to bid farewell to the two, and agreed to invite the two to the house later.

After the two brothers of the Li family left, only Shi He and a guard servant were left in the yard.Schneider got up and stretched, "Okay, let's get down to business."

The two first took out the radio and battery, tied the outdoor antenna to a tree in the courtyard, and sent a signal to the base camp that they had arrived safely.The base camp has obviously been waiting for news from them, and they got a reply soon, asking them to put safety first and contact them regularly.

After the two received the news, they turned off the radio station and packed up their things. Before the current residence was confirmed, they did not plan to set up the radio station and power generation system immediately.Although smart people definitely don't understand the functions of these gadgets, it might cause unnecessary trouble.

(End of this chapter)