Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 248 The air in Hongwu's Ming Dynasty smelled sweet

Changsha has been completely transformed.

The towering city walls still stand there, and the once slightly dilapidated Tonghu Gate is now packed with people.

It wasn't just because Lao Zhu returned to Changsha, but also because of the large number of warehouses newly built at the dock.

The dock used to be very short from north to south, but now it stretches as far as the eye can see.

Besides Tonghuo Gate, the four western city gates further south—Chaozong Gate, Derun Gate, and Linxiang Gate—which faced the Xiang River, were also connected together.

The four docks were lined with ships, warehouses were piled high, and many dockworkers were moving goods, creating a bustling scene.

The fleet stopped outside Tonghuo Gate, where Xu Da and Ji He came to greet them.

Ji He was dressed in high-end winter clothes, looking every bit the successful boss. He even had a mink coat around his neck in the dead of winter, making him look more like a Northeasterner than a Hunanese.

"Red Mulberry".

Zhu Yunfeng disembarked and rushed straight to Ji He, looking him up and down. "You ran off to the Northeast?"

"Haven't you seen how drastic the recent climate change is?"

Ji He pointed to the sky. In the dead of winter, Hunan was experiencing a blizzard. It was during the Little Ice Age. Starting in August or September, Beijing would experience a drop in temperature, followed by a blizzard.

Temperatures in Hunan have been dropping since October, and it's said that Guangdong and Hainan, which are usually spring-like all year round, are also covered in heavy snow.

"Damn, this Little Ice Age is really ridiculous. You can freeze to death if you're not careful."

Zhu Yunfeng couldn't help but curse, then asked, "What about the modern side?"

"It's even more lively over there."

Ji He pointed in the direction of the Prince Ji's mansion in the city.

"what?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked in bewilderment, "Is there a Little Ice Age over there too?"

"What a joke, it's getting colder and colder. Have you ever seen hail in Changsha in June or July?"

"Good heavens, I'm just fucking good heavens."

"And that's not all, the physical aspects are also quite exciting, it feels like Season 3 is about to start."

"That's not very realistic. They talk about fighting every year, but it's all just talk. They made a huge fuss a few years ago, but they didn't actually fire a shot."

Zhu Yunfeng pursed his lips, indicating his disbelief.

It's already 2031, and Zhu Yunfeng is 31 years old. Four or five years ago, the conflict was just a small-scale clash. It's not so easy for a full-blown war to break out.

Ji He said, "Look at the development of Changsha now. In the last six months, I've brought over a lot of daily necessities from there, which has almost revitalized the economy of the entire Hunan province. Do you know why?"

"why?"

"Because of continuous upgrading, the US is the largest market for daily necessities and small commodities. Now, countries around the world are putting up trade barriers, and a large number of small commodities have collapsed. We need to explore new blue oceans."

"Thinking about it this way, it seems pretty good. I feel like I have a bold idea."

Zhu Yunfeng's eyes darted around, and his gaze turned towards Changsha.

Thanks to Ji He's continuous supply of materials from the modern era, Changsha's development is quite impressive.

of course.

The architecture remains ancient, with simple and thick city walls, wide bluestone slabs, marble roads, wooden houses, and the docks outside the city are covered with water stains and moss growing on the bluestone slabs.

However, by looking inwards from the city gate, one can catch a glimpse of what's inside.

Shops lined both sides of Tonghuomen, their signs swaying in the wind. Even in the snowy winter, pedestrians came and went in droves, and the bustling atmosphere was undeniable.

It could even be said that after a year of governance, Changsha has surpassed Nanjing, Hangzhou, and even Beijing in terms of prosperity.

This is not nonsense.

Because Jihe brought in a large number of industrial products from modern times, while the efficiency of ancient handicraft manufacturing is well known; the output of a factory in one day could be equivalent to the output of the Hangzhou area in one year.

Therefore, under the huge influx of industrial products, Changsha has created a large number of jobs.

For example, dockworkers, local cargo carriers, shipping logistics companies, and cargo transshipment companies that sell these industrial products to Jiangnan.

Even if it were just the industrial production of their Yunfeng Group alone, it would be enough to feed Hunan province of the Ming Dynasty.

They even ate until they were stuffed.

Changsha's population has surged, and many industrial products are flowing to Nanjing, Zhejiang, and other places, affecting all aspects of the Ming Dynasty.

Normally, if an industrialized country dumps its goods on an agricultural country, it will inevitably severely impact the agricultural country's domestic handicraft manufacturing industry, leading to the bankruptcy of many handicraft manufacturers.

However, it happened to be the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the handicraft industry had already been reduced by more than half due to the war. After it had just recovered, there was an urgent shortage of daily necessities in the market.

The supplies that Jihe has been procuring over the past six months have been used to fill market gaps.

If dumping is stopped after a period of time and the handicraft industry is restored, the market supply will be restored, preventing modern goods from overwhelming the Ming Dynasty's handicraft industry.

Therefore, the current trade is actually positive; a prosperous market will also accelerate the development of handicraft manufacturing.

However, upon hearing Zhu Yunfeng's bold idea, Ji He asked in bewilderment, "What idea?"

"Aren't we waging a trade war?"

Zhu Yunfeng looked at Old Zhu and said, "Tell me, if our country goes all out and frantically ships goods to the Ming Dynasty world, reaping resources from so many worlds, can the Americans withstand it?"

"I was sweating bullets when I heard that, but didn't our ancestor say that he would only start communicating with the modern world in his later years? There are still more than ten years until the end of the Hongwu era."

Ji He and Zhu Yunfeng whispered to each other.

"Times have changed. The situation is serious now, and we must strike hard against the Americans. Hongwu has received so many gifts from the modern world, and it is time for him to give back."

"That's true. Businessmen should love their country. What's the use of so much money if the country is gone? Those capitalists are disgusting. Our country is currently facing the most serious problem of capital flight. They should all be hanged."

"There's no point in talking about these things. The most important thing is for the country to become strong. If we can surpass the United States and become the world's number one, we'll have to deal with all the capital that has fled the country sooner or later."

"That's true. But to be honest, with our tunnels and the limitations of the stone tablet, it's probably difficult to transport too much stuff at once. We can only manage about that much in a day."

"Little by little, it adds up. One day's amount is indeed small, but then it will take a month, a year. We are fighting a protracted war, and we just need to wear down the Americans."

Zhu Yunfeng said.

He had tested the limits of his stone tablet; the weight it could carry each time was actually quite large, capable of transporting up to ten tons.

However, it consumes a lot of power, and a large amount of transport will quickly run out of power. It also has many limitations, the most important being that it cannot be moved. If it is moved even slightly, it will fail. This means that if you want to transport large items, you have to level the house.

Hongwu's side also had to level the entire square outside the Qianqing Palace, and transporting several thousand tons would run out of power, requiring high-voltage charging, which was also quite slow.

In that case, transporting a few hundred thousand tons a month would be the limit.

Hundreds of thousands of tons may seem like a lot, but in 2024, my country's total steel exports amounted to 1.11 million tons, while crude oil imports exceeded 5 million tons.

This only includes steel and crude oil.

The remaining 21 major categories and over 10,000 subcategories of all import and export commodities, when added together, amount to at least several hundred billion tons, or even trillions of tons. The amount that Shibei can transport is only a few million tons per year. Compared to my country's total import and export volume of several hundred billion, or even trillions, it's not exactly comparable, but it's certainly a drop in the ocean.

It's possible that a single steel company under the Yunfeng Group could easily achieve this production scale.

Therefore, this is also a great challenge for the stone tablet.

Ji He thought for a moment and said, "If we only transport high-tech products, such as gold, rare earths, and oil, it should be profitable."

"Well, these are things we can't consider; they should be left to the government."

Zhu Yunfeng said.

What are you two whispering about?

Just then, Zhu Di, the young emperor, finished speaking with Xu Da and walked over together.

Zhu Di had long wanted to come here, after all, he was one of the members of the Iron Triangle.

Listening to Xu Da and Lao Zhu talking made him feel like he was in prison; his mind was already on Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He.

But since Xu Da was his father-in-law, he naturally had to prioritize basic courtesy.

The three boys reunited at this moment, looking at each other with excitement.

However, when asked by Lao Zhu, Zhu Yunfeng replied, "I'm thinking about fully integrating with modern standards."

"Yes, this is a big deal. Let's go into the city first and talk about it."

Seeing that there were many people around, Old Zhu waved his hand and then got into the carriage and went into the city.

After entering the city, I realized that Changsha has indeed changed a lot.

As the world's largest industrial nation, even a leading enterprise in Hunan with total assets of tens of billions of yuan had an extremely terrifying impact on ancient society.

The streets are lined with a wide variety of goods, many of which are small commodities produced by Yunfeng Group itself. They include a full range of daily necessities such as mirrors, combs, hair clips, and toys, and even nail clippers and ear picks.

There were also many other household items, including pots and pans, vinegar, oil, soy sauce and wine, as well as novel items that were almost impossible to see in ancient times, such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags and snacks.

In fact, after eight years of growth, Yunfeng Group has grown into a behemoth, involved in all aspects of the industry, and these things are all products of the group itself.

Many of their products were outperformed by other brands on the market, but they were exporters—exporting to the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu era. Naturally, they didn't have to compete with other brands for market share, and instead, they thrived, with their group growing larger and larger.

According to the company's financial report, Yunfeng Group currently has a total market value of over 800 billion yuan, annual revenue of approximately 300 billion yuan, and net profit of around 50 billion yuan.

It certainly can't compare to those behemoths worth trillions, but this is the scale of an unlisted company.

If it goes public, its market value will increase several times over.

It's not among the top listed companies in my country, but in Hunan it's considered a large enterprise, employing hundreds of thousands of people, with salaries and benefits far exceeding those of similar companies.

The influx of talented individuals is driving the company's rapid growth.

Even Zou Ting's educational background is among the lowest in the company's senior management, placing her on the same level as the company's CEO Zhu Yunfeng and Vice President Ji He.

After all, compared to those master's and doctoral graduates from Tsinghua, Peking University, or even Ivy League universities, Zou Ting, with a bachelor's degree from Sun Yat-sen University, Ji He, with a bachelor's degree from a second-tier university, and Zhu Yunfeng, with a bachelor's degree in arts, are really no different.

If we had continued to maintain trade relations with the Ming Dynasty, it would have certainly aroused suspicion within the company.

After all, the goods are gone, but the money has mysteriously increased, which is always strange.

However, the larger the company, the more responsibilities it had. In addition, the stone tablet could only carry a limited amount of goods, and the items it provided were all high-end gold products, so although trade with the Ming Dynasty continued, no one ever discovered it.

Ultimately, all of this was done by Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He. The rest of the company's senior executives were at the Changsha headquarters, and even Zou Ting had gone to Changsha. Only Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He remained in Lansha Town, which was too far from the headquarters, so no one noticed.

As for local governments, they pay enough taxes, even far more than they should, so they naturally give them more leeway in terms of inspections.

It's also for the sake of the company's development.

Therefore, to this day, Yunfeng Group is not only thriving, but external changes have not affected the Ming Dynasty.

Old Zhu was also very surprised to see how modern industry had changed ancient society.

He actually saw the changes in Nanjing during the Hongwu era.

However, Yunfeng Group was still small at the time, and the amount of goods delivered each time was small, so it changed year by year, just like ants moving house.

However, as Yunfeng Group grew in size, it transported more and more goods, and the pace of change accelerated.

In just one year, from last September to now, Changsha has undergone tremendous changes.

I wonder how much has changed in my own Hongwu Ming Dynasty this year.

The convoy drove through the bustling city and slowly made its way to the Prince Ji's Mansion.

The Prince Ji's Mansion has now been rebuilt.

However, Prince Ji and his family no longer live here; they have gone to Beijing and are now idle members of the imperial clan in the Imperial Clan Court.

Zhu Yuanzhang's current policy towards the imperial clan is very simple: all the former princes and dukes have been dismissed and sent to work in the Imperial Clan Court in Beijing, where they are given money to support them every month.

The remaining members of the imperial clan below the rank of Prince were given a settlement allowance and were allowed to make a living on their own, including participating in the imperial examinations, engaging in commerce, or farming.

Doing this actually has many hidden dangers.

For example, using their status as members of the imperial clan to gain advantages in business and agriculture, or using their status to bully and oppress others in officialdom.

There's not much we can do about it.

It's better than hundreds of thousands of members of the royal family becoming beggars.

If even 100,000 out of these 100,000 people work honestly and diligently to support their families, they will all have contributed to production.

So even though Old Zhu felt a little reluctant and still wanted to support them, under Zhu Yunfeng's persuasion, he naturally had to implement a policy where the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

At this time, the Prince Ji's mansion became a military stronghold. Passing through the palace road and halls, we arrived at the warehouse in the backyard where the stone tablet was stored.

The original buildings around the area have not been rebuilt; instead, they have been covered with a dense array of tents.

This was the garrison of Xu Da's Hongwu army, and also the location of the radio station.

To protect this place, Xu Da never even dared to leave Changsha.

Even when there were rebellions in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, he sent more than a dozen Hongwu soldiers to lead the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's surrendered troops, along with local troops from Hunan and Guangdong, to quell the unrest.

The once dilapidated warehouse has long been repaired, and soldiers are on duty around the clock.

Without hesitation, Old Zhu stepped into the warehouse and touched the stone tablet.

After two flashes.

Suddenly he appeared in the underground palace.

As the cold wind howled in from outside, Old Zhu felt a sense of comfort throughout his body.

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, even the air smelled so sweet.

(End of this chapter)