1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2628
In Zhu Zian's life, this was the first time he had seen an island city like Zhoushan based on ports and sea trade, so he couldn't help but feel very novel.And Tao Hongfang and the others probably could understand his feeling, so the next activity they arranged was to visit the various construction results on the island, which just happened to satisfy Zhu Zian's curiosity.

If Hangzhou is a representative of the prosperous cities during the Ming Dynasty, then Zhoushan, which has been governed by Haihan for more than 20 years, can be used to make a horizontal comparison with the current situation of Hangzhou.

The first obvious difference that Zhu Zian felt was the infrastructure. Compared with the slightly old Hangzhou city, the urban area of ​​Zhoushan showed a completely different style.

The folks described the urban construction of Hangzhou City at this time as "ten gates, three gates, one well, three mountains, six ridges and nine streets". It has always been a regional core city in history. System, water and land transportation are very developed, it can be said that it is one of the cities with the best infrastructure in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.Although Haihan has taken over Hangzhou and is preparing to build a new city, it basically retains the original style of the old city and has not carried out major demolition and reconstruction operations.

However, the planning of Zhoushan is completely different from the traditional city in Zhu Zian's perception. There are no tall towers and walls full of arrows. The urban area is naturally connected to the busy port area without any obvious defenses in the middle. Fortifications.

The road here is also smoother and wider than that in Hangzhou, and some of the main roads have even been hardened, which looks very advanced.Zhu Zian noticed that the land freight here mainly relies on large and small horse-drawn carriages, and the streets can be fully loaded with moving convoys.Thanks to the good traffic conditions, it also creates the convenience of transportation that Hangzhou does not have.

Of course, due to the unique geographical environment here, all transportation facilities are ultimately for shipping services, so the real top priority is still the related facilities of ports and terminals.Zhu Zian was deeply impressed by the ten-mile-long port area, the several-foot-high spreaders on the pier, the huge warehouse, and hundreds of port workers who were constantly busy.

The architectural style of the urban area is completely different from that of Hangzhou.If the architecture of Hangzhou is a collection of elegant and beautiful styles from the south of the Yangtze River, then Zhoushan can be called a hodgepodge of architectural styles of various civilizations in this era.

Here you can see not only traditional Chinese-style buildings with carved beams and painted buildings, but also Haihan square-style buildings with simple styles and clean lines. In addition, Japanese-style buildings full of Japanese style and Manuel style brought by the Portuguese The double-slope roofs and dormer windows that the Dutch love, these various architectural styles appear on both sides of the same street, making the city full of exotic customs.

"The foreigners on this island may number as many as 6000 during the peak trading season. Most of them are merchants and sailors, and Zhoushan Island can provide everything they need."

Ha Jianyi specially came to Zhoushan to inspect the navy and shipyard some time ago, and lived here for a while, so at this time, he is the one who knows the local situation best among the people, so it is his duty to act as a tour guide, and by the way, he also gives Zhu Zi Ann explained the situation on the island.

Zhu Zian asked curiously: "Just now, I heard from you that apart from countries such as North Korea, Japan, Ryukyu, and Annan, which are closer, there are many countries far away. It must be very profitable to trade here. Attract them to come here without fear of hardships?"

Ha Jianyi nodded and said: "Of course, the various commodities they trafficked back from our Haihan country will not worry about selling. It is not uncommon for them to earn three or four times the profit, and it is not uncommon for them to have ten or eight times the profit."

When it comes to this topic, it is Tao Hongfang's professional field. He continued: "Among the trades completed in Zhoushan every year, [-]% are transnational trades with foreign businessmen, so you can see that here There are many trading posts and shops run by foreign merchants. For them, this is a huge cornucopia, which can provide them with a steady stream of wealth."

Zhu Zi'an said: "In this way, the government must also get a lot of taxes from it?"

Tao Hongfang said: "Getting taxes is only one aspect. The social production driven by trade activities is what the government really values."

Zhu Zi'an heard a half-knowledge. He didn't quite understand what social production was, but he could vaguely understand what Tao Hongfang wanted to express. secondary effects.

This principle is not difficult to understand, but what Zhu Zian doesn't understand is that since so many foreign businessmen are willing to gather here to engage in transnational trade, why didn't such a scene appear during the Ming Dynasty?

Zhu Zian expressed his doubts, and Tao Hongfang continued to explain to him patiently: "During the reign of the Ming Dynasty, the control over maritime trade was very strict, so most of the cross-border trade can only be carried out by smuggling. In the future, the government will not be able to obtain actual benefits from it, and naturally it will not be possible for these trade activities to be lifted by the court."

Zhu Zian frowned and said, "Since it's profitable, why didn't the imperial court let go of the prohibition and develop cross-border trade?"

At this time, Ha Jianyi took up the conversation again: "The reason is very simple, because those people in the court do not have the ability to control the situation. They are worried that foreigners will harm the place like Japanese pirates, and they are also afraid that the rich sea merchants will develop strength Terrible private armed forces. The little tax collected by the government from cross-border trade seems to be far from balancing the resulting risks. Since it cannot be supervised, it is simply a one-size-fits-all ban, so that there will be less trouble up and down."

The words are hard to hear, but the truth is true. Since Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty believed that the foundation of the country lies in agriculture, and transnational maritime trade will only bring turmoil, so strict bans were issued to block coastal ports.It was not until the Longqing period that the imperial court began to gradually lift the ban, but still only opened a limited number of ports to engage in cross-border trade, and at the same time levied commercial taxes on trade activities.

This kind of strict restriction caused Ming to lose valuable development opportunities, while the Western countries at the same time took advantage of this stage to complete the global colonization and trade layout, and the utilization efficiency of the ocean greatly exceeded that of Ming.Until Zhu Zian came to Zhoushan Island, he still didn't understand why Haihan was able to manage the place so prosperously, and where did Daming lose.

(End of this chapter)