The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 324: If you want to sell Japan, sell Ryukyu first (ask for subscription and ticket)
Shanghai, Suzhou River, Suoyifur Pier.

A person named Luo Yaoguo, who had been the King of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for a long time, once again transformed himself into Luo Xueyan, the Governor-General of Shanghai and Minister of Commerce of Nanyang of the Qing Dynasty, the moment he stepped onto the dock.

This wharf was built by Sanxin Company headed by Xu Yuegui. It is located on the south bank of Suzhou River, close to the original British Concession and French Concession areas. In order to commemorate Luo Yaoguo's "descendance from the sky", it was named Suoyifur Wharf.

The area around the Suoyifur Wharf was originally all farmland. After Luo Xueyan took over the Shanghai Concession, it was bought out by the Governor-General's Office at prices ranging from fifty to one hundred and fifty taels.

The reason why the price of buying land fluctuated so much was, of course, because the land price in Shanghai had been rising since Luo Xueyan took over. In particular, the farmland near the original concession area, which was now included in the Shanghai New District, had doubled in just a few months!
Before Luo Xueyan came to power, the price was less than 50 taels per mu, but now it has risen to 150 taels per mu. However, 150 taels per mu is still cheap, so the military governor's office is still buying up the land on the south bank of Suzhou River. In order to make the acquired lands connected, Sister Yuegui even sent out the friendly Red Gang brothers to do ideological work on the local landlords.

The land purchased by the Governor's Office has now been developed into more than a dozen roads of varying sizes named after prefectures, states and counties in Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi.

The reason why these roads were named after the place names of Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi is that after the land in this area was leveled, it would be sold to the Wu Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then houses would be built and distributed to the officers and soldiers from Hunan and Guangdong and Guangxi under the Wu Palace.

This was the promise Luo Yaoguo made when he was reorganizing his army in Daozhou, and now the time has come to fulfill it.

All officers and soldiers from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hunan who were affiliated with the Wu Palace could be allocated residential plots of varying sizes or ready-made houses based on their official positions, military merits, and whether or not they had received land in Hunan.

Although it is impossible for the officers and soldiers under the Wu Wang Mansion to live in Shanghai for the time being, these land and houses can still be rented out by Sanxin Company, and they only need to collect money on a monthly basis.

Thanks to the "leniency" of the Prince of Wu's Palace, the big landlords and big businessmen from Suzhou, Songshan, Changzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Ningxia, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou are now continuously coming to Shanghai with their valuables!
Not to mention, there were still many Qing Dynasty officials or retired officials in the Suzhou and Lake areas. How could they dare to stay in their hometowns? How did the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom divide the land and fight against the local tyrants in Hunan? And what was their own status? How could they not have some idea of ​​it?

Even if ordinary industrial and commercial landlords can get away with it, these bureaucratic landlords should hurry up and "lucky themselves"!

Even the Yangzhou salt merchants who defected to Yang Xiuqing, the Dongting Mountain Gang and the Nanxun silk merchants who surrendered to Luo Yaoguo all had "one black heart and two preparations". While working for King Luo Wu, they sent part of their family members and property to Shanghai.

Therefore, these days, the real estate in Shanghai is in short supply! Whether it is for rent or for sale, there is no shortage of people who want it. Even the newly leveled white land can be rented out directly and let the tenants build their own houses.

The residential land allocated to the old brothers in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan under the jurisdiction of the Prince of Wu's Palace as a reward only accounted for a part of the land acquired by the Governor's Mansion in recent days. On the south bank of the Suzhou River, there are still more than a dozen roads and land along the river bank that can be used to build docks and warehouses, which have not been touched!

As for the north bank of Suzhou River, it was planned by Luo Yaoguo into an industrial park. Now a long street along the river has been built and named "Suzhou Road". A freight terminal named "Silk Factory Terminal" has also been built diagonally opposite the Suoyifur Terminal.

After stepping onto the Minoyiferry Wharf, Luo Yaoguo did not immediately greet the officials from the Governor's Office who came to greet him, but turned around and looked at the Silk Factory Wharf on the other side of the river.

There was also a string of open boats towed by a small steamer moored at the dock. Dock workers were unloading cargo. Large bags of goods were carried by coolies and continuously transported from the open boats to the warehouse next to the dock.

"What are in those bags?" Luo Yaoguo asked casually.

"General, those are silkworm cocoons."

A man in his early thirties, with a round face, slightly fat, of medium height, wearing a white silk robe and a melon-shaped hat, but without a braid on the back of his head, smiled and took over Luo Xueyan's question.

"Silkworm cocoons." Luo Xueyan looked back at him and said with a smile, "Xueyan, that's the raw material of the Shanghai Silk Factory, right?"

This man is also called "Xueyan", Hu Xueyan. He is the famous businessman Hu Xueyan in history. His name is Guangyong and his courtesy name is Xueyan. When Luo Yaoguo and Zuo Zongtang conspired to seize Huzhou, he was helping Wang Youling, the acting governor of Huzhou, to manage the Huzhou public treasury. He used the money in the public treasury to buy raw silk and then tried to transport it to Shanghai to sell it to foreigners.

After Zuo Zongtang arrived in Huzhou, Wang Youling, who was protecting him, was taken to Ningbo by Zuo Zongtang. Hu Xueyan was nominated by Luo Xueyan to go to Shanghai - the two Xueyans were together. However, Hu Xueyan did not get any official position from Luo Xueyan, but became the manager of the Shanghai Silk Factory founded by Luo Xueyan.

"General Xue is wise," Hu Guangyong replied with a smile, "According to General Xue's instructions, I have just received a batch of silk cocoons from Huzhou, hired dozens of silk reeling workers, and purchased a batch of silk reeling equipment. The factory building in Shanghai has just been built, and we can try to make silk soon." Luo Xueyan wanted to do machine reeling in Shanghai Silk Factory, but the co-twisting reeling machine is not available in Shanghai today, and engineers who can guide workers to use this reeling machine are not available in Shanghai. They have to go to France to buy it - the co-twisting reeling machine was invented by the French, and the technology of the French silk textile industry is the most advanced in the world today.

But it was unknown when the purchase of machinery and the hiring of engineers to China could be completed. Luo Xueyan asked Li Hongzhang and Wang Libin to do it, but they were unfamiliar with France and it was hard to say whether they could buy or hire them.

Therefore, Luo Xueyan decided to open the factory first, using hand-cranked wooden silk reeling machines for production, and perhaps invite a few foreign engineers to help improve the hand-cranked wooden machines. In addition, boilers and pipes to provide hot water for silk reeling can still be obtained in Shanghai.

Let’s make one that’s half Chinese and half foreign first!

"Okay, Xueyan, you work hard. I'll go take a look after the Shanghai Silk Factory officially opens." Luo Xueyan patted Hu Xueyan's shoulder, who had the same surname as him, and smiled and said, "Don't think about making a profit yet. You must first master the techniques of sericulture and silk reeling to make the best raw silk. As long as we have good products, when Wang Lanqing, Li Shaoquan and others buy French reeling machines, we can mass-produce them. By then, we will be making a lot of money. You will also have 5% of the shares!"

"Marshal Xue is right. It's from Guangyong Province."

Hu Xueyan naturally said yes.

After taking care of the affairs of the Shanghai Silk Factory, Luo Xueyan waved to Wu Jianzhang, who immediately came over.

"Daopu," Luo Xueyan said with a smile, "Let's go in the same car. And by the way, tell me how the foreigners are going to knock on the gate of Japan?"

Yu Garden, Shanghai.

The day after Luo Xueyan returned to Yu Garden, where the Shanghai Governor's Office was located, British Minister to China John Bowring, French Minister to China Bourboulenc, American Minister to China John Marsali, and Major General Matthew Perry, Commander of the United States East India Fleet, came to visit him together.

In fact, these people had wanted to find Luo Xueyan for some time, but the Shanghai governor was very busy and was always away from Shanghai, so they could only wait patiently, and it was not easy to get Luo Xueyan to come.

"General Luo, where have you been during this period? You are a local official in Shanghai, why don't you stay in Shanghai?"

The British Minister to China, Sir John Bowring, was also a straightforward man. As soon as he sat down in Dianchun Hall and even had a few sips of coffee, he started asking about Luo Xueyan's whereabouts.

Luo Xueyan smiled and said, "Mr. Minister, I am still the Minister of Nanyang in charge of the six ports of trade! Don't I have to inspect the ports of Nanyang?"

"Six?" French Minister Bourboulon was stunned. "Shouldn't it be five? How come there is one more?"

American Marsali also said: "Is the Qing emperor preparing to open a new port in the South Seas? Recently, the Beiyang side has opened four ports at once: Tianjin, Yantai, Busan, and Vladivostok."

"That's right. The imperial court is already preparing to open the Ryukyu Kingdom as a new trading port in Southeast Asia!"

"What? Ryukyu?" Wen Xian was stunned.

"Ryukyu is open!" Bulbulon frowned slightly, "We can go in anytime."

"Isn't Ryukyu a vassal state of Japan? How come it became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty?" Mashali raised the question.

"Lord Luo, what do you mean?" Perry, who had just led his fleet to visit Ryukyu, looked a little gloomy. "Don't you agree that our countries should sign a trade treaty with the Ryukyu Kingdom?"

(End of this chapter)