Lu Ming

After putting down the bowl, Niu Yuanwai took out a silk handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe his mouth, then coughed, and then continued: "There is another one. The dozen or so gangsters are not good people, they are all Deng Hu's buddies. In order to prevent future troubles, this trip will be dismissed together."

Catcher Cao shook his head when he heard the words: "It's difficult. Just now, a nest of thieves was killed, and now Deng Hu is arrested, and more than a dozen people will be attacked in one go. The elder is afraid that he will suspend the lawsuit. I can't use my strength here. .”

……

In order to put powder on their faces in ancient times, the imperial court often did some very tricky actions.For example, the emperor played amnesty, released the death row criminals, and then boasted a wave of so-called benevolent monarchs, prosperity and peace-Li Shimin is a master of it.

This habit has a long history, corresponding to the following states and counties, the incidence rate of a place can even affect the future of county officials.In order to whitewash the peace, even during the busy farming season, they have to put a banner to stop the release of the report, and the government will not accept other cases except the murder case.

This ostrich-like act of suspending lawsuits is essentially a way of deceiving one's ears and stealing one's bell... The government tries to do nothing in filing a case, which is a very funny way of governing.

This is what Cao Butou said just now.Recently, there have been a lot of cases in the county. For the county magistrate, a group of thieves had just been betrayed not long ago, and Deng Hu's murder case happened again. Probably the master is not happy about it.

"Well, it's not the way to force it." Niu Yuanwai agreed with Cao Butou's statement.However, he rolled his eyes immediately, and quickly thought of a countermeasure: "If the sufferer hears that the enemy's family has been brought to justice, they will go to the county government to cry and make noise, the elder will not ignore the passion of the people, will he?"

"Haha." Catcher Cao laughed, with a look of fun on his face: "If you act like this, then the elder loves the people like a son, and will definitely punish the criminals severely."

"Those gangsters do all sorts of evil in their daily lives, and there are quite a few enemies." Niu Yuanwai said here, and his thoughts on petitioning in the 17th century became more and more clear: "I will arrange people to do such things as agitating the poor. You will do it tomorrow." Go look through the file and bring the name, address, and case of the sufferer."

"This is easy to do."

"Well, there is no need for a heavy sentence, as long as these people stay in prison for a year or two, and when the limelight passes, they will die slowly."

"Excellent greetings from outsiders!"

In the dark night, the fate of Deng Hu and his gang was decided in this way.It seems that a certain force did not intervene in the whole process, and everything is the natural evolution of the indigenous people.

As time goes by in the future, some people's actions in this conflict will probably be known to some interested people... But by that time, time has changed, and it doesn't matter anymore.

Three days later, the county government held a court session again.The magistrate of Lai County sentenced Deng Hu to behead of the prison on the spot for homicide when the witnesses and witnesses were all in evidence. Tiger.

On the same day, the county magistrate had no choice but to hold his nose because he could not bear the crying and harassment of many sufferers at the gate of the yamen. Deng Hu and his subordinates were also convicted and rushed into prison.

So far, the tragedy caused by a single business has come to an end - Deng Hu's criminal gang has paid a heavy price, the main personnel have been wiped out in one fell swoop, and the rest of the miscellaneous things have been scattered away, and the most prosperous business in the county has closed down overnight. Shut up and cease to exist.

……

The demise of Deng's business is no longer important news to Xiong Dao, who manages everything day by day.The strength gap between the two sides is too big, as long as the agents trained by the cross-traveling crowd are of an average level, then there must be no suspense in how they fight.

So when his subordinates came to report Deng Hu's ending to Xiong Dao, Xiong Dao, who was accompanying the guests at the port, probably listened to it, and then forgot about it.

Today's guest is Feng Guanjie who came all the way from Taiwan.

Feng Guanjie had been staying in Miaosu before, and his task was simple to say: to build the Miaosu Oilfield.However, it is not easy to do.Various residential and storage areas, the construction of oil wells, and the most troublesome mountain roads and cableways all cost him a lot of energy.

When the Japanese were in Miaosu, they used a cableway system similar to mine carts to transport crude oil.And after Feng Guanjie investigated the local terrain, he had no choice but to choose the cableway system like the Japanese. It is not cost-effective to repair hardened roads in mountainous areas, because after a few years to get through Nanyang, the seedlings will be abandoned, so the stone path + cableway The system fits instead.

So Feng Guanjie, who used the banner of "I donate oil for the motherland", was put on Miao Suxiu Earth.

Chapter 358 Opening the Port (24)

The mosquitoes, savages and mountain roads in the Miaosu mountain area made Feng Guanjie want to die in a short time.There is nothing else here except the primeval forest, and the feeling of being far away from civilized society makes him want to escape from this place all the time.

God bless, finally one day I heard that the construction of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone has started.So Feng Guanjie went back to say hello without saying a word, and rushed to the front line - he would be in a hurry with anyone who dared to mention the word Miaosu again. It had been more than half a year, and it was time to change shifts.

He brought a few apprentices to Hangzhou first, and then Feng Guanjie took a riverboat to Xiongdao.

Knowing that the surname Feng is coming, Xiong Dao dare not neglect.This person has already specified his position in the telegram: the chief designer of the free trade zone, responsible for the overall design and planning of the port area, the industrial area along the river, and the living area.

That's why Xiong Dao brought Feng Guanjie to Zhang Sutan for inspection today.

Now it is the month of May when the weather starts to be hot.In previous years, Zhangsu Beach was already covered with waist-deep thatch in this season, which became the best cover for thieves to commit crimes.

Today's Zhang Sutan has changed a lot.Zhangsu Beach, located at the intersection of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River Estuary, has a superior geographical location and is less difficult to demolish. It was the first free trade core area identified as a dock area.

So the first batch of construction workers came to Zhangsu Beach and started construction.The main force of this group of people was the land-lost tenants spun off from Zuojia Village. Later, a large number of refugees and beggars from the surrounding areas were added to the construction team, resulting in an increase of the number to more than [-].

……

Large-scale projects in the Jiangnan area have an advantage that other places do not have: food.

Engineering in the 17th century was hard work.In many places, if thousands of strong laborers are gathered at once, it will become a big trouble for future generations to transfer food that has no concept at all.

This is equivalent to gathering an army with a huge appetite near the county seat. However, in poorer areas, the stocks will soon be out of supply, and grain and grass need to be transported from nearby areas.The cost of this kind of transportation is very high. In the northern region, it is not bad to transport ten vehicles to five vehicles.

When crossing the country was engaged in projects in Fujian, it suffered from this kind of hardship.It is difficult to transport food in mountainous areas, and Fujian itself is a food-deficient province, so the engineering headquarters, which was inexperienced at the beginning, stumbled a few times in this regard.

In the Jiangnan area, there is no such problem.First of all, the inland water network extending in all directions ensures the timely and low-cost delivery of supplies.

Secondly, although the grain fields have been replaced by a large number of cotton fields, since Hangzhou is the water transportation terminal, there is no shortage of grain in the Jiangnan area-the grain of the southern provinces will be concentrated here.

In the Ming Dynasty, in order to maintain the 400 million dan grains on the surface, the cost of the entire water transportation system was getting higher and higher.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the so-called quota of 400 million tons was no longer enough.The central government, local governments, gentry, subordinate staff, and officials big and small who eat food transported by water, these forces have the same aspirations, and they have inserted tubes in the main artery of the country to suck blood.

So the current situation is: on the surface, the amount of grain is still 400 million dan, but after the actual collected grain has been scrambled by various national taxes, bad regulations and consumption increases, the amount has been pushed up to the level of [-] million dan.

So for the cross-travelers, this situation is actually a good thing: because food can be purchased in a centralized manner.

After the officials and gentry expropriated extra days of grain, they definitely did not use the steamed rice from their families. These grains would eventually be sold to merchants for cash, completing the cycle of wealth accumulation.

So now if a certain force offers silver and various rare commodities in exchange for food, it will really be beneficial.When I was in Hangzhou at the beginning, this place was still sneaky; after General Cao called for security, Taiwan began to unscrupulously ship a shipload of industrial products to Hangzhou.

After the industrial products were exchanged for silver on the spot, boatloads of food and people were brought back to Taiwan—the Ming Dynasty had countless "currency" that could be used to compensate for the trade deficit: population.

The consequences of a strong consumer popping up out of thin air are: from the second half of 1628, the price of grain in the Jiangnan area slowly began to rise; by the beginning of 1629, when the crops were not available, the price of brown rice had been pushed up to a tael of silver a load .

This kind of change, which had never happened before in history, led to the production of more refugees in price-increasing areas.But the good thing is that after the initial difficulties, these extra refugees and bankrupts are being transported away in a steady stream.

In the future, as the large granaries of 4000 square kilometers in Tainan are successively reclaimed, a few years later, the grains released by industrial means can be used in turn to support the population collection operations of the Ming Dynasty.

The story goes back to Zhangsu Beach: Due to the sufficient food supply, the infrastructure construction here quickly gathered a construction scale of 2000 people.

With this scale, it is also thanks to the tireless infrastructure construction of the people who have traveled through time.Now a large number of experienced construction workers have been trained, such as the simple work of organizing the folks in the early stage of construction, setting up the construction site, and leveling the land, no longer need to be presided over by the crossing crowd.

This is how export to domestic sales came about.After these foremen and technicians went to Taiwan to learn their skills, they were sent back to the Ming Dynasty this time to take on important responsibilities.The difference from the past is that they no longer have long hair. In order to avoid shocking people, they had to shave their heads and pretend to be monks.

……

The original Zhangsu Beach Wharf has been burned down.Now after the preliminary renovation in the early stage, the river channel has also been filled and connected with the Hexin Island.

On the original site of Hexin Island, a traditional wooden pile trestle bridge is extending to the river, and a large number of workers are like ants, busy around the unbuilt trestle bridge.

Accompanied by Xiong Dao, Feng Guanjie took a tour of the still rather rudimentary dock area.With a rough idea in mind, he started work the next day.

The first thing Lao Feng did was to take his apprentices to survey and map the surrounding area.This kind of work basically doesn't need him to intervene now. The young people can already use the total station and other instruments proficiently, and run around against the tripod.

After getting the detailed data of the surrounding land, Feng Guanjie moved into the landlord's house in Zuojia Village, and began to draw the design drawings one by one.

Right now, since all the projects are concentrated around Zhangsu Beach, his design task is relatively easy: level the river bank along the river, harden the road surface in the wharf area, and build a few trestle bridges, a few warehouses, and a few square houses. ... Of course, there is the most important road.

As for the industrial zone, that will have to wait.Right now, both Xiong Dao himself and the cabinet of the senior officials have concerns about opening a factory in the south of the Yangtze River that emits black smoke. It seems that the time is not yet ripe.

But Feng Guanjie still planned out the industrial zone.A large area of ​​regular factories is unrealistic, but a small amount of steam machinery used to power the docks is still no problem.

In addition, if a large factory cannot be built, "smoke-free industries" such as the handmade paper workshop promised to Yu Bende, the planned match workshop, and the mahjong workshop can also be opened in advance.

"Let's do it bit by bit." Feng Guanjie led his apprentices and spent almost half a month drawing out all the blueprints of the first phase of the project he planned.

The entire first phase of the project covers a fairly large area, almost three square kilometers, and the location is in the area of ​​Gaoqiao Port in later generations.

After lying on a big table and looking at Feng Guanjie's general design, Xiong Dao didn't express any opinions: he knew nothing about architectural design, and he couldn't say anything.

However, the next moment, Xiong Dao pointed to a place in the upper left corner of the design drawing: "Is there no rush to build this land?"

Feng Guanjie leaned on his arm, glanced at the map, touched his stubble, thought for a while before saying: "This is the planned cement gravity dock area. In the future, warships will be parked and heavy equipment will be unloaded. To build For this, the cofferdam must be built first, and there is no construction machinery here, so the construction period will be very long.”

When Feng Guanjie said this, he showed a "you know" look in his eyes: "Even if I start working tomorrow, I won't be able to repair it in half a year, let alone I can't do it tomorrow."

Xiong Dao felt dizzy when he heard this: "This piece of land hasn't been bought yet."

"Then hurry up and buy it. This land extends to the west. You will have to buy it sooner or later."

...Xiong Dao understood what Feng Guanjie meant.

The Huangpu River is a waterway from south to north in the area of ​​Wusongkou where it enters the Yangtze River; the river surface of Wusongkou here presents an "S" shape.In the planning of the country, the upper half of the "S" shape, that is, the area of ​​nearly [-] square kilometers east of Wusongkou and west of Gaoqiao Town, will be the territory of the future "National China".

In other words, this peninsula-shaped land will gradually clear away all the aborigines and become an administrative area similar to a "concession".Then, on the day when the Ming Dynasty fell, a large number of troops mobilized would quickly set off from this source of war and capture all parts of the south of the Yangtze River.

Feng Guanjie just said "the land extending to the west" refers to the land west of the Gaoqiao River—these land plots are the core areas that must be obtained in the above-mentioned long-term plan, so Xiongdao should not There is hesitation in this regard.

"The problem is that he has a lot of background in this piece of land!" Xiong Dao shook his head helplessly at this time: "I have done a lot of things recently, and it is already very eye-catching. This piece of land is the manor of Dashen's family. I really don't want to Just go make trouble..."

"How to deal with the natives is your business, I don't care."

Feng Guanjie laughed gloatingly: "The only thing I can offer you now is professional advice: it's best to get this piece of land as soon as possible. As soon as the trestle is repaired, some construction machinery will arrive, and construction will start there."

"If it doesn't work, I'll change the drawing, but I'll remind you friendly: Stretching the head is a knife, and shrinking the head is also a knife, and it will be taken down sooner or later."

Xiong Daochang sighed: "Oh... I understand what you mean. But the situation is very tense now, and I need to think about it. Let's talk about it after I finish communicating with my hometown."

That piece of land is the chief assistant of the former cabinet, grand master, posthumous name Wenzhen, Zhuangzi of Xu Zisheng's family of Xu Jie...

Chapter 359 Opening the Port (25)

As Xiong Dao expected, the temptation about the Xu family's Zhuangzi was immediately called back: the Yaren sent to Huating County to communicate did not even meet the owner's face, and was ridiculed by the manager. , rushed out.

Xiong Dao was fully prepared for this result.

Although Xu Jie was the chief assistant of the Jiajing Dynasty, he has been dead for 40 years. However, the Xu family has hairpin tassels in the past dynasties, and there are many people who have become officials. I also want to go to the tiger's mouth to extract my teeth... so it's normal for some people to run into trouble.

Xu Jie's younger brother, Xu Zhi, was an official to the Ministry of Criminal Justice in Nanjing. His eldest son, Xu Fan, was an official at Taichang Temple, and his two second sons were all officials at Shang Baoqing.

...Without such a prominent family, the Xu family would not dare to allow their children to roam around the countryside and buy land property.At that time, Xu's family occupied an area of ​​24 mu, and his children and slaves committed crimes, resulting in a mountain of lawsuits against him, which eventually led to Hai Rui.

Although the above-mentioned things happened decades ago, and the Xu family has also restrained itself a bit, but because there have been people who have become officials in the past dynasties, the Xu family is still a super threshold.

Xu Jie's eldest grandson, Xu Yuanchun, was a Jinshi in the second year of Wanli, and an official to Taichang Temple.

But now, Xu Jie's great-grandson Xu Bengao has made a fortune again.

Back in the reign of Tianqi, Xu Bengao was just a thousand households of royal guards.However, this king played the basic skills of the family of eunuchs to see the political wind: when most officials, including Yuan Chonghuan and his like, were vying to build Wei Zhongxian's ancestral hall, Xu Bengao was dismissed because he refused to build the ancestral hall.

Not long after that, brother Chongzhen came to power, Eunuch Wei fell, and Xu Bengao was reappointed overnight. He was favored by the emperor as an anti-Wei fighter, and he was promoted repeatedly. Finally, he was promoted to Zuodudu...

So, facing such a prominent and top-notch family, Xiong Dao is now a mouse puller, unable to speak.

……

First of all, the strategy of "driving tigers and devouring wolves" that Xiong Dao had been using before did not work at all in the Xu family.

Whether it is the gentry he knows, or the magistrate of the county government, including the small official Yu Bende, they are all useless now.Because the Xu family is not one of those rich peasants in the countryside, this family can make the gentry turn against each other at any time, the county magistrate will be dismissed from office, and the petty officials will lose their lives.

So if Xiong Dao really wants to have trouble with the Xu family, the civil servants he relied on before will not only not help him, but will probably turn around and deal with him: on the one hand, he is a gentry with deep roots and a natural network of connections class, and on the other side is the grassroots spokesperson who recruited the giant gangsters...

If these two forces that are not used to each other are confronted, the county magistrate will not risk offending the entire gentry class and being labeled a "gentleman thief" to collude with Xiong Dao even if he is beaten to death. No benefit is possible.In fact, any normal Ming bureaucrat would not be stupid in this kind of thing, and Xiong Dao's ability to fight for a situation where the two do not help each other is considered a high incense.

As a result, more than half of the methods Xiong Dao used before have failed, including using Yu Shuban's official cover to do things, which is definitely impossible now-the county magistrate will remove Yu Shuban immediately, With the support of the Xu family behind them, the Yu family would not even dare to fart.

Among Xiong Dao's remaining methods, the sharp economic methods in the past are no longer effective.Because there are no middle class such as small landlords and rich peasants in the Xu family's village, all the farmers are tenants of the Xu family, and the land deeds are all in the hands of the Xu family... The previous high price to seduce the other party's civil strife can't be used.

As for buying land from the Xu family at a high price... For a top gentry like the Xu family, land is not only a source of wealth, but also represents political power.

It's the same reason as the nouveau riche insisting on buying the house where Jack Ma lives. How much is enough?No matter how much money you bring, Ma Ali may not be able to sell it, right?Even if they agreed to sell it, how much would Xiongdao have to pay?double?three times?five times?

If the price is really that high, from now on, Xiongdao will never want to buy land from the surrounding area again, because everyone will raise the price: since they meet Kaizi, they will not kill him for nothing.

……

After discovering that all the obvious means were not working, Xiong Dao could only consider rolling up his sleeves and doing it himself, or in other words, using the power of the Jiangnan Station to give the Xu family some "means".

However, after he thought about it carefully, he found that it was still wrong: no matter what the method was, it would eventually lead to an uncontrollable ending.

The main force of the Xu family is in the capital, and a group of scholars from the family are staying at Huating. The Zhuangzi blocking the wharf area is just one of the countless lands around the Xu family.

In other words, even if Xiong Dao sent people to assassinate two of them, burn Zhuangzi down, or drive away and kill all the tenants, the land would still not be available—the Xu family could completely leave the land idle and not sell it even if killed .

Another thing to consider is that the Xu family is not a soft persimmon.Once the other party notices that someone is making small moves, then Xiong Dao is likely to face a prison sentence-yes, it is the legendary "Take my film to the county government and get the surname Xiong" This is the most unpretentious means necessary for a gentleman.

The simplest, most common, and most effective.

This kind of drama of taking old movies to the Yamen to sue people, catch people, and give them away has been performed every day for thousands of years.However, behind this simple post, it represents the entire feudal system and wants to destroy this operating law-the British did it after they fought two Opium Wars and burned the Old Summer Palace.

So what about Xiongdao now?He has neither a fleet nor an army to burn Chongzhen's garden.So don't look at his imposing manner, in fact he is quite lacking in confidence: because from the legal point of view, he is still a grassroots.

To deal with grassroots, only one film of the master is enough.So as long as the Xu family mobilizes the prefectural and county yamen, as simple as sending a few tolerance officers to summon Xiong Dao for interrogation, things will get out of control in an instant.

Xiong Dao would definitely not take the risk of going to the court, it is his territory, and Deng Hu's example is not far behind.At this time, it is difficult to handle: how many tolerances were slaughtered?Or dodge?

Evasion is ineffective, because people who come here can arrest other people wantonly at the construction site and in the house, so in the end, there will be blood...violent resistance to the law.However, this is tantamount to killing officials and rebelling, and the next time it will be the garrison.

Most importantly, what's the point of doing this?He Xiong Dao came here to open the port, not to run away after practicing marksmanship.

……