Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1579 Xiguan ([-])

During the day, the Xiguan Wharf is crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder.Guangzhou City, which was not massacred by Geng Jimao, Shang Kexi, etc., has a population of more than 15 conservatively. If people living in the suburbs or surrounding villages are counted, the population of Guangzhou City is no less than 10. There are so many people (these people generally serve the urban residents of Guangzhou and mainly grow food, melons, fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products), it can be regarded as a densely populated place.

In fact, on the side of the people on the east coast, a plan was made to evacuate the large population, property, and cultural relics in the two counties of Guangzhou (that is, the two counties of Nanhai and Panyu, each accounting for half of Guangzhou City).That is to say, once Li Chengdong's power in Guangdong is about to collapse and is irretrievable, the people on the east bank will not be merciless, and will directly dispatch a large army to land in the Xiguan area outside Guangzhou, and then break through Guangzhou city as quickly as possible and sweep all around.They optimistically predicted that at that time, Li Chengdong's situation was over, people in Guangzhou were panicked, and there was basically no organized resistance, so they could do whatever they wanted, and the harvest should be huge.

As Liang Xiangjian's secretary, Huang Hanhua is naturally aware of the existence of this plan, and also supports it. After all, after so many droughts, locust plagues, and earthquakes, the Far East San Francisco's ability to accommodate immigrants has been greatly enhanced.There are more than 20 people in the city of Guangzhou, and several 10 people in the surrounding areas. It is not impossible to support them all being kidnapped. We have a North Korean cash machine and an agricultural base in Denglai. It's not that we can't get a little food.

However, this is only a plan after all.Before the order in Guangdong collapsed, when Li Chengdong was still sitting firmly in the city of Guangzhou, and when the business was still going on as usual, the people on the east bank still had to put on a friendly face and coexist peacefully with them.And, if possible, they should try their best to support the rule of Li Chengdong Group in the elite area of ​​Guangdong, so as not to make others cheaper.

The place where Huang Hanhua and others are located at this time is probably located in the Pantang area of ​​Xiguan, Guangzhou in later generations. In recent years, many houses have been connected here to form a commercial street (just like the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou in later generations), and most of them are local businessmen. Built counters, warehouses and the like.The layout of these houses is relatively neat and uniform, which is probably because the government has also participated in it (Li Chengdong will not let go of the opportunity to collect a large amount of taxes). Next to the commercial street is the famous Renwei Temple. Built during the reign of Emperor You of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is dedicated to Emperor Zhenwu of the North—people on the east bank of this Taoist temple often donate money and burn incense. Because it was built during the Northern Song Dynasty, people on the east bank have always claimed to be descendants of the Song Dynasty, and the temple is dedicated to Emperor Zhenwu also has a very respected status in the new Taoist system on the east coast, so it is quite normal to come to worship.

"Some textile factories have gradually sprung up in Xiguan, specializing in the production of all kinds of cotton cloth, brocade, silk, etc. Some of the shops of these brands have good quality products, and we purchase a considerable number of them every year. The domestic market for brocade and silk The market demand for such high-end brocades is still very strong, but our machines are unable to weave such exquisite patterns and patterns. Therefore, the popularity of the brocade market in Ming Dynasty is unimaginable to you and me. I brought you to meet the owners of some factories, and we will cooperate for a long time in the future, so we must meet and chat." Shao Shuguang, who was wearing a black tunic suit, turned to Huang Hanhua as he walked and said, "There are also some processing industries here in Xiguan. The workshop is also the focus of our annual procurement. Especially when the tea production in the counties of Ningbo Prefecture is sluggish, we must pay more attention to this area. Some of the tea assets in Guangdong flow in from Jiangxi and Fujian. The quality is still acceptable. Before the output of Ningbo Fu tea returns to normal, we must rely heavily on imported tea from Guangdong, otherwise the domestic market will be completely occupied by the Dutch and British."

The handicraft workshops and commercial firms mentioned by Shao Shuguang have all developed rapidly in recent years.Because of the steady acquisition of Haizhu Island Commercial Station all the year round, it has given birth to the increasingly prosperous foreign trade in Guangzhou City, coupled with the military strength of the people on the east coast and the deterrent force against Li Chengdong, the actual ruler of Guangdong, no one dares to make their purchases. Triple, this undoubtedly formed a political shelter for these businessmen, so this series of firms and factories soon sprang up outside the West Pass of Guangzhou, just like the Thirteen Banks in the later Qing Dynasty that specialized in overseas trade—as for It is easy to understand why commercial firms and factories are concentrated in Xiguan, because Guangzhou is surrounded by mountains to the north, terraces to the east, and the Pearl River to the south. Only the fertile and flat Pearl River alluvial plain to the west can be used for farming and It is possible to set up factories, businesses and other places, and the price is low, which naturally attracts people to come here and gradually make it prosperous. Although it is still a little far from the old city of Guangzhou, it is still quite good.

It can be said that the Qing government controlled the Suzhou and Songjiang areas, and made the local textile industry base that was originally the number one in the country gradually decline. Now the most developed industrial and commercial places in mainland China are still transferred to the Guangzhou area.Merchants in Guangzhou and Huizhou, relying on foreign trade, exported a large amount of textiles, tea, raw silk, porcelain, medicinal materials and other special products to foreign countries, but they did not import many things, so they accumulated a lot of profits.

It's a pity that at present, it seems that these profits generated by industry and commerce have not been reinvested by their controllers, nor have they been circulated on the market and formed a "price revolution" like the British society. After Spain mined American silver, It caused a large amount of precious metals to flow into the UK, solved the currency shortage that had plagued the country for many years, and caused an overall rise in prices, known as the "price revolution", which greatly promoted the development of capitalism—but most of them precipitated It turned into the private deposits of merchants and factory owners, and completely withdrew from the circulation market, which is quite lamentable.

The reason for this is probably because businessmen generally feel that expanding production will incur losses.After all, the number of purchases by people on the east coast is generally fixed (at least the growth rate is not high), coupled with civil wars, the market is relatively closed, local protectionism prevails, and their products may not be able to be sold to other provinces smoothly, so Few are willing to reinvest profits, instead allowing them to settle into a pile of "useless metal".

"The scenery around Xiguan is beautiful, and it is called 'a bay of spring water and green scenery, and the scene of red lychees on both sides of the strait', so now people are starting to come to buy land and houses. Look over there, those are called ' The Xiguan Mansion's house was built by merchants engaged in commerce or textiles, and most of the people we will visit later live in that area." Shao Shuguang casually pointed to a residential area in the distance ahead, and looked at Huang Hanhua He smiled and said: "They are all a bunch of rich local tyrants, and they have quite a lot of energy in the officialdom and business circles. Building a good relationship with them is of great benefit to our work. But there is no need to please these people too much. , because there is no need, we officials on the east coast have to have a certain aura, and even Li Chengdong dare not offend us, for fear of what these businessmen will do, saying that breaking the sky is just a tool for our Bank of Taiwan to make money."

The two chatted and laughed, and surrounded by a large group of guards, they came to the temporary purchase station set up by the Dong'an people on the shore.The temporary purchase station, as the name suggests, sorts, counts and packs the collected materials, and then rents Danmin fishing boats or small cargo ships in the Xiguan area to barge them in batches to the Dashang Station on Haizhu Island. Generally speaking, they need to transfer them every day , so it is called a temporary acquisition station.

The architectural style of the purchase station is a typical combination of Chinese and Western styles, that is, the combination of Baroque style and Chinese-style eaves. It is unique in Xiguan, and it has always been very conspicuous.And in the purchasing station at this time, Li Chengdong's confidant general, Nanming Xintai Marquis Hao Shangjiu had already been waiting for a long time.

Hao Shangjiu came here this time, but he was ordered by Li Chengdong to come to this temporary purchase station to deliver a batch of ordnance with the people from the east coast. Now that the situation is tense, the ordnance is naturally the lifeblood of a warlord, so he Hao Shangjiu was sent over to check to make sure everything was safe, and by the way, he was also asked to collude with people from the east bank to see if he could buy some more good things--at this point, money is no longer of much use, for the warlords It is said that the army and weapons are always the most important. If there is no gold, silver and jewelry, you can grab it, but if the army is gone, it will be completely over.

It is said that following Wu Sangui's actions in the southwest, the people on the east bank became nervous and increased their assistance to Li Chengdong's troops in the Nanming Dynasty, and immediately opened the material warehouse in Ningbo, took out many long-stored ordnance, and sold them at a low price. them.These include 32 20-c-type flintlock rifles, [-] imitation Suer-style matchlock guns, [-] new and old artillery pieces (even old artillery pieces generally have a lifespan of more than [-] rounds, which is longer than the new ones made by the Ming Dynasty. gun life is longer), [-] pieces of leather armor, [-] suits of armor, [-] carburized iron spearheads, [-] strong bows, [-] sabers, in addition to matching projectiles, gunpowder, arrows, and bandages The goods and other things are very complete, and the price is very conscientious, and accepting Li Chengdong's request to pay with tea, raw silk, porcelain and grain is regarded as standard mixed assistance.

It is worth mentioning that many of the above materials are now produced in the Far East.For example, gunpowder and shells are produced by Yangma Island Workshop, leather armor, strong bows, and arrows are produced on Jeju Island, and even carburized iron spearheads are processed by the industrial base in Heishui County—Sakhalin Coal It is rich in resources, and it is the place where the people on the east bank first settled down. Many small workshops have been built in Heishui and Dabo, and there are some wind, water and steam equipment that have been eliminated locally. The production capacity is quite good. Listen It is said that the local area also intends to introduce a machine-made saber production line and a plate armor forging production line from the local area, and began to gradually improve its industrial strength.

Huang Hanhua vaguely heard about this when he was with Liang Xiangjian. It is said that the mainland finally agreed after a long dispute, but strictly restricted these workshops and production lines from leaving Sakhalin Island to prevent the technology from spreading outward.Because after Denglai, Ningbo and other places exchanged business with the Qing Dynasty, there have been many practical agricultural production technologies, livestock breeding technologies, scientific and cultural knowledge (mostly newspapers, books, magazines, etc. brought from the local area), institutional management Models and other things flowed into the territory of the Qing Dynasty.Therefore, the local executive committee is worried that the large-scale flow of such industrial production technology into China will cause some uncontrollable impacts, which can be seen from their consistent refusal to build railways in Shandong.

With so many materials arriving in Guangzhou, Li Chengdong, who is old and strong, naturally attaches great importance to it, so he immediately sent his confidant generals to approach him. Before leaving, he even told Hao Shangjiu very clearly that if possible, he would hire some soldiers from the east bank In the army, help them train some new-style troops—Li Chengdong, who has fought for half his life, now feels more and more that the old-style troops may find it difficult to gain a foothold in this era. What else can Li Chengdong, a small separatist force, say to improve his combat power?Not to mention the establishment of an elite team like Li Laiheng's "Silver Gun Effective Jiejun", at least it must be able to compete with the first-class green battalion in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, right?

People on the east bank were very happy with Li Chengdong's request, because it was an excellent opportunity to mix sand and cultivate pro-East factions. They immediately transferred them from intelligence agencies (intelligence officials dispatched abroad generally have systematically studied military affairs) and the army. Dozens of reliable people were then sent to Li Chengdong's army to help him form a new army - Shao Shuguang mentioned to Huang Hanhua before that the new army has about 6000 people and is currently stationed in the Lianzhou area. Restructuring and suppressing bandits at the same time, in order to quickly improve combat effectiveness and deal with changes that may occur in the future.

After this series of actions, the relationship between Li Chengdong and the people on the east coast became very close.Although this guy is still doing business with the Dutch, British, and Portuguese, his attitude towards the east coast has improved. This is probably due to the situation. In this Far East land, he can turn the tide and help him Mr. Li's is the Dongchao family.

"Xin Taihou, it's early!" After seeing Hao Shangjiu from a distance at the door, Shao Shuguang laughed, stepped forward to shake his hand with East Coast etiquette, and said, "Well, everything is satisfactory. Right? Last time I said that there are so many things, I won’t deceive you.”

"Mr. Shao, all the subordinates have checked everything. They are very good, and the number is about the same. This time, Duke Hui also accepts your favor. Thank you very much." Hao Shangjiu cupped his hands, with a decent expression He said sincerely: "Liuqian Erlang, the new army in Lianzhou, can finally change his clothes now, and the second son also asked me to convey my thanks to Mr. Shao."

"Hehe, easy to talk, easy to talk. Don't stick to the door, go in and talk, it's hot enough today. Let's go in and drink herbal tea while talking about things. I still have a lot of puzzles to ask about the battle situation I mentioned last time. .” Shao Shuguang said.

(End of this chapter)