prosperous age

Around Songjiang Prefecture, which was later known as Shanghai, a suitable port location was found, enclosed and a city was built, and a brand new city was established based on the port's warehousing and urban service functions.

We can even follow the model of urban planning in later generations, taking into full consideration sanitation, environmental protection and infrastructure construction, and create a model for a new city in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Sijiucheng had renovated the city's sewage channels in accordance with Wei Guangde's previous requirements and had police officers frequently patrol the streets to punish unhygienic behavior, it can only maintain a superficial appearance now.

Except for the road from Yongdingmen to Zhengyangmen and then to Chaotianmen which is paved with stone slabs, most other roads are still dirt roads.

In addition, at that time, all vehicles and horses relied on animal power, and the streets were full of mules and horses, and even with bags hung on them, they still had feces and urine dripping from them.

It would be unbearable in later generations, but in this era, whether at home or abroad, the capital is still the best.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde began to consider other difficult problems that needed to be solved.

The land issue was actually the easiest for Wei Guangde to solve. He simply exchanged the original owned land for official land.

Civil engineering is the job of the Ministry of Works.

It was the Ministry of Works again. Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh that this government office, which was usually the least valued by the court, seemed to be the most important when a country's economy was developing rapidly.

The attitude of the Chinese imperial court towards the Ministry of Works was, apart from building mausoleums for the emperor, the rest was building palaces and river works.

By the way, the city of Beijing was also renovated in the early Ming Dynasty.

Following the previous conversation, Wei Guangde thought it through and continued: "It is impossible for the court to open multiple ports at the same time, but it is still possible to set up another one."

"That's fine, that's fine."

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, both Tan Lun and Jiang Zhi showed joy on their faces and kept talking.

"Why, you are also planning to invest in Haimao, and are you also planning to get a pilot?"

Wei Guangde was a smart man. He immediately thought of their abnormal behavior tonight, so he asked with a smile.

“Haha, Shandai, you were a big shot in Yuegang back then, intervening in Yuegang’s maritime trade when none of us were optimistic about it, and you’ve made a ton of money over the years.

Even though everyone looks disdainful when talking about your business, only they know what they really think in their hearts.”

Jiang Zhi laughed happily.

"Yes, to be honest, I regretted it a little after two years in Yuegang. I didn't listen to you and let my family go there and invest in a chamber of commerce there."

Tan Lun smiled bitterly and said, "After that, I heard about the benefits of maritime trade and realized that it was so lucrative. No wonder even merchants from Zhejiang and Guangdong went to Fujian to get a piece of the pie.

What a mistake, what a mistake. "

"Someone wants the boat guide now, so that's why you said that today?"

Wei Guangde continued to ask.

"Yes, many of my fellow villagers and some of my classmates also have this intention."

Jiang Zhi said.

Not many people have found Tan Lun. After all, they know that he has only been in the court for a few years. Moreover, he is old and most of the officials of his generation have retired.

However, the Tan family later engaged in business and naturally heard about the benefits of maritime trade.

Of course, in the beginning, the families of these officials were more interested in participating in the salt trade. After all, the wealth of the Ming Dynasty salt merchants had long been known throughout the world.

However, at this time in Jiangnan, the strength of maritime merchants has exploded in recent years, and they are already catching up with the salt merchants.

On the contrary, although the income of those handicraft merchants who opened workshops and looms also increased greatly, they were still not as much as those merchants.

They only make so much profit from selling their goods to those merchants, which is about the same as the profit they make from selling to other places in the country.

When maritime merchants get their goods and sell them abroad, the prices often skyrocket, and the profits are even greater than the hard-earned money they make.

"I see. If the imperial court opens the port and issues ship permits, many families will scramble for them."

Wei Guangde said lightly.

Hearing this, Tan Lun and Jiang Zhi both nodded slightly and did not deny it.

"This, I will definitely have to think about it carefully later, let's not talk about this for now."

Thinking about the difficulties he might face this time, Wei Guangde couldn't help but feel a little worried.

It is impossible to issue ship permits without limits. Although each ship permit means a good income for the court every year, it would not be good if there were too many of them as their value could not be reflected.

Moreover, both the Ming Dynasty's production capacity and the West's digestion capacity are questionable, so unrestrained and large-scale expansion of foreign trade is not advisable.

The scarcity of Ming Dynasty products allows them to be sold at a better price.

"Ministry of Industry, if we invest enough money, can we build a small city within a year?"

Wei Guangde suddenly changed the subject and looked at Jiang Zhi and asked.

"fortification?"

Jiang Zhi was stunned when he heard this, and asked in a low voice: "But we want to build a city in the Liaoxi Corridor?

If it is there, it will be completed quickly by conscripting corvée from the interior, but it will not be difficult if there is enough money and food.'

Although Jiang Zhi had said before that there was a shortage of laborers, that was under the premise that the court could only provide a small amount of money and grain. As Wei Guangde said, if there was enough money to invest, that was of course another matter.

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, although most of the population were farmers, there were only so many fields, and there was actually a problem of structural surplus labor due to uneven distribution.

Some bitter and cold places have insufficient population and a lot of land is wasted, while inside the Great Wall, especially in the south, there are countless refugees who have lost their land and other means of livelihood and have to wander and beg everywhere.

“Not Liaoxi.”

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "What I mean is to build a city in Songjiang Prefecture, at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and establish an open port like Yuegang. In addition to building a port, storage and residence must also be considered.

It is close to the sea, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang suffer from floods from time to time, so I need to think carefully before building this new city.

The city's drainage and sanitation must be taken into consideration, and this new city should be built into a sample and model of the Ming Dynasty, so as to exert influence on all prefectures and counties.

Including the capital, we should also refer to this new city in the future."

Wei Guangde explained his considerations and said at the end, "Although Zhejiang's handicraft industry is also very developed, it is too close to Yuegang after all. If a new open port is established in Zhejiang, it will easily cause dissatisfaction among northern provinces.

The port is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which will not only allow inland goods to enter the port conveniently through the Yangtze River waterway, but also allow northern goods to be transported through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. I think it is more appropriate to choose a place near Songjiang Prefecture to open it.

As for the land for city construction, government land will naturally be directly expropriated. If it is private land, it will be replaced with the next level government land nearby.

The cities, ports and storage lands all belong to the imperial court and the inner court. The specific proportions will be discussed with Feng Bao later. Merchants can build houses on the leased land, but they must pay annual rent.

In this way, the imperial court and the inner court can earn an additional amount of silver money every year. In addition to the ship guides and customs duties brought by the opening of the port, as well as the convenience brought by the location, it should not be difficult to collect two or three million taels of silver every year in the future."

"Shandai, do you mean that all the land in the new city is owned by the imperial court, and the rent is shared with the inner court?"

Tan Lun's heart moved, and he couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, the court only received customs duties and silver for ship tolls in Yuegang, but the sea merchants made more money, especially the original landlords, who made a lot of money by renting out land and houses. I thought about it, this time, this part of the profit should belong to the court.

If those people are unwilling to exchange their land, then we will move to another place that meets the conditions for building a city.

The imperial court must have sufficient annual revenue to maintain itself. It is not acceptable for the imperial court to issue an order but still not receive the benefits.

Opening ports is beneficial to the people themselves, and we cannot let them take all the benefits.

For businessmen, if business is good, they can rent a place to do business. If business is not good, they can cancel the lease and leave, and the loss is not big.

We cannot allow them to enter the market earlier, take over places and shops, and make money by collecting rent even if they do not do business. This will not be conducive to the introduction of new merchants.

This new city is going to undergo major changes, to allow for the flow of merchants, and to find ways to attract merchants to settle in.

Then, through the mouths of merchants, the style of the new city will be promoted to prefectures and counties across the country."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he looked at Tan Lun and Jiang Zhi and said, "Perhaps you also thought that you would go there and buy some land deeds while you know the news early, and then wait to collect rent and make money.

But I cannot promise you this time. All profits must go to the court. Merchants still have to make money through business. "

At this point, Wei Guangde couldn't help but lower his voice and said: "Although the land in the new city is not for sale to the public, Songjiang Prefecture is so big that there are many good places.

I think as this new city develops, the surrounding areas will also be affected.

Whether it is Huating, Shanghai, or even Qingpu, the prices of houses and land in Songjiang Prefecture will not be cheap, so there is still a lot of room for development.

Even the land and housing prices in the neighboring Suzhou and Jiading prefectures will rise as a result.”

Wei Guangde would certainly not lie to them. Suzhou is right next to them. As the saying goes, "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." The economy of this entire area has always been the focus of China. Now the imperial court also collects a lot of taxes from here, which shows how wealthy the people are.

The establishment of a new port city in Songjiang Prefecture after the lifting of the maritime ban will only further stimulate the development of nearby industries.

This location was excellent not only in later generations, but also in the Ming Dynasty, an era when transportation relied entirely on water power.

Of course, if it is not about opening up maritime trade but domestic trade, Nanjing will undoubtedly be the best hub.

With the convenience of the Yangtze River waterway and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, large quantities of goods can be transported quickly to various places.

The main city of Shanghai in later generations was actually the area from the Shanghai County urban area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture to Huating County of the prefecture. The most economically developed area actually belonged more to Huating.

However, the most economically developed area in Shanghai in the new century, Pudong, belongs to Shanghai County, not Huating County.

As for Qingpu County at this time, let’s forget it.

Anyway, Wei Guangde planned to send his family to Shanghai and Huating to purchase land and shops. Although the new city did not allow outsiders to interfere, he would try to gain as much benefit as possible from the surrounding areas.

If we take a lead in this regard, the future development of the surrounding areas will definitely not be bad.

As for if this issue fails to pass in the cabinet and the palace, Wei Guangde is not worried. He will never lose money if he buys property in that place.

Since Wei Guangde said so, Tan Lun and Jiang Zhi naturally knew what to do.

At this time, the three people had actually made up their minds to collect money from their homes and buy a property.

"Keep this a secret for now. Let me plan for two days. When the time is right, I will discuss it with Shuda and Shuanglin before spreading the news."

Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows at the two of them, and he naturally understood what they meant.

At least we have to leave some time for them. The Wei family is wealthy and powerful, so they can quickly transfer money to Songjiang Prefecture, but the Tan family and the Jiang family probably don't have such strong strength.

Three to five thousand taels of silver might be easily taken out, but what could one do with this little bit of silver?

Perhaps Lord Xu would help them out as colleagues and trade some assets to them, but he would certainly not be able to meet their demands.

This time, the Wei family will definitely spend a large sum of money to purchase assets, and the other two families will probably also sell off their belongings to raise money.

"By the way, having said so much, what happened tonight"

After finishing talking about the important things, Wei Guangde finally remembered the purpose of looking for Jiang Zhi today.

"The Songliao Canal cannot be seen on the map. The Ministry of Works has to send people to inspect it on the spot and measure the terrain between the two rivers before it can be decided."

Jiang Zhi understood Wei Guangde's meaning immediately and responded immediately.

"Then the Ministry of Industry should arrange to send someone over as soon as possible to take a general look."

Wei Guangde nodded and said.

"Winter is coming soon. I'm afraid it's too late to make arrangements. We can only send someone to investigate in detail next year."

Jiang Zhi replied that some things really cannot be done in a hurry, and they must be done when spring comes and flowers bloom.

“That’s fine, too.

The canal issue will be put off until next year, when the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works have negotiated it. Currently, the main focus is on the war in the Liaoxi Corridor.

After the war is over, I will discuss with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs about opening another city to make up for the losses in this war."

Wei Guangde smiled immediately.

"Well, I guess the Prime Minister will be worried about this year's finances by then, so it's the right time to discuss this matter."

Tan Lun smiled.

After chatting for a while, Wei Guangde sent the two away before returning to the back hall to talk about the matter with his wife.

"Master, according to what you said, Songjiang Prefecture will be prosperous in the future, right?"

After hearing this, Xu Jianglan's eyes lit up and said.

"Of course, so we will arrange for people to buy property in Songjiang Prefecture as soon as possible, mainly in the area from Shanghai County to Huating County.

I guess it might be easier to buy property in Shanghai County, as there are many wealthy families in Huating County. But we can also ask Lord Xu to lend a hand and help us make some connections. Anyway, we should try to buy property in both places."

"I will arrange this tomorrow, but my brother still has the Duke Dingguo Mansion."

Although Xu Jianglan knew the pros and cons, she was still thinking about her relatives. If the Wei family didn't inform her in advance when they bought the property, she would lose face in the future.

"First arrange for someone from your family to go over there. Wait half a month and then give a subtle reminder. However, you must make it clear that this matter must be kept very secret and absolutely no one can spread it. Otherwise, your husband will be in trouble."

Wei Guangde thought about it before saying.

"Why don't people get involved in the New City, and all the benefits go to the imperial court?"

At this time, Xu Jianglan thought of what Wei Guangde said, that all the land in the port and the new city belonged to the court, and rent was collected every year, and she couldn't help but have some ideas about that place.

“The state treasury is insufficient, so we court officials must put state affairs first and find ways to supplement state treasury instead of just thinking about ourselves.

There is a country before there is a family. The Xu and Wei families have been blessed by the country for generations, not ordinary people. Only when the country is good can our two families be better. " (End of this chapter)