Lu Ming

The matter was settled like this: Comrade Cao Pokong, who is courageous and ambitious, will lead the Fujian delegation to Beijing to participate in the general battle in the near future.

As for Guangdong... due to the bad relationship between Deputy General Cao and the top leader of the Guangdong army, there is nothing wrong with Guangdong this time. accompany.

After this is a series of preparatory work.Fortunately, there was nothing prepared in Fujian. After Xiong Wencan took out the silver, he allocated another 50 pro-army troops with full armor and horses to be called by Deputy General Cao.

And Zhang Dongdong returned those pro-military horses right away—it's not that there are no horses in Tianjin, and it would be brain-dead to transport the sea ships here for thousands of miles.

As for the 50 personal soldiers, he took them in after meeting the leader Qian Zong Chen Ce.

Chen Ce was a young general. When he was trapping and killing Zheng Zhilong, he shot and killed one of Zheng Zhilong's subordinates at the gate of the city.Chen Ce is skilled in archery and horse, and is proficient in martial arts. He is the eldest son of a hereditary family in Hebei.Since Chen Ce's father had an old friend with Xiong Wencan many years ago, after Lao Xiong became the governor, he came to ask for his eldest son to come over for his future.

And Xiong Wencan did not live up to his old friend's entrustment, and Chen Ce became the commander-in-chief of the field army at a young age.But this time Chen Ce was sent to Qin Wang, but it was not what Lao Xiong wanted: he was afraid that the young general, who was restless on weekdays, would run to the north with enthusiasm to poach the basket, so he originally sent someone else on this errand.

Later, the reason why the old bear changed his mind was that Chen Ce came to beg and beg, and the second was that the old bear considered that Chen Ce was from Hebei, he was familiar with the local customs and people, and he was a guide in the army of King Qin, where most of the southerners lived, so he went to the ruthless After admonishing the young general, he was finally sent over.

When fifty officers and soldiers and 20 taels of silver were on board, Zhang Dongdong bid farewell to Xiong Wencan and went straight back to Taiwan.

And Taiwan is frantically preparing for the war... Wrong, it is "stocking up".It seems that no one cares about how many Tartars Cao Zhongchen can kill when he goes there. Instead, industrial products from the kiln area are constantly being stuffed into the transport ships.

After finally waiting until the end of the month, the first batch of potbellied transport fleets sailed to Shanghai, the intermediate station.These transport ships are all 600-ton new lock ships, and they are all sail-type with power systems installed.

On the 5th day after the sailing fleet set off, on December 1629, 12, the huge battle fleet finally rushed out of the Taijiang River, started at full speed, and went straight to Shanghai.

The battle fleet this time included two Youguang-class gunboats and two Taijiang-class frigates.And what really makes the fleet called "huge" is the 1200-ton double-layer gunboat with iron ribs and wooden hulls that took ten months to complete: the Zhenman.

Chapter 393 The Thief's Den

Time goes back to the day when the cabinet finished the King's meeting.

The black-blue sea is rolling and undulating, and a gust of salty wind passes over the water, bringing a large area of ​​bleakness, making the winter beach lonely and silent.

Due to the relationship between latitude and temperature, it is rare to see transparent sea water on the sea surface of East Asia.The kind of beach that is so clear that you can see fish swimming underwater usually only appears in the tropics and the warm Mediterranean all year round.

So when the Han people living in the mainland stand on the seashore in the dim yellow, black and blue, and the stormy waves beat the shore, they will not have any poetic and lazy thoughts from the tropics. ...Cao Cao stood on the Jieshi back then and could shout out the famous phrase "cut with eternal ambition", but he must not have the consciousness of opening a resort hotel by the sea.

This kind of thinking mode cultivated by the environment is difficult to change—unless the ancient man standing by the sea is a time traveler.

Xiong Dao, who was wearing a leather robe, was standing on the reef at the moment, while looking at the dark and thick clouds in the distance, he was thinking about many light-hearted questions.For example: It's time to open a business, raise some sisters and children, and get back all the wages of these migrant workers.

Just behind Bear Road, an exquisite port industrial area is constantly expanding.

The six-meter-wide concrete port avenue with a white line drawn in the middle is parallel to the coast, and its left and right ends connect the industrial area, wharf area, storage area and commercial area in sequence. These are the core buildings of Shanghai Port.

The dock area consists of two stone piers and two wooden piers.The two long stone piers are prepared for large-tonnage sea-going ships, and the Port Department has spent a huge price for this.This included not only half a year and a large amount of rock, cement, and steel mesh, but also the hours of thousands of workers.

On the small railway tracks laid on the ground in the dock area, horse-drawn carriages or small cargo buckets propelled by manpower slide past from time to time.Follow the route of the railway tracks across Port Avenue to reach the storage area, which is separated by walls and gates.

Several rows of large warehouses painted with white ash and covered with red bricks stand neatly in the freight yard.These flat-roofed, rectangular warehouses with neat geometric lines are a bit weird to the eyes of the wise.In fact, in order to prevent fire, the warehouse group does not use any wood in its structure.In addition to the red bricks, the long-span roof was paved with reinforced concrete at a cost.

Guards in blue training uniforms, short-brimmed hats, and armed with rifles patrolled the warehouse area.These people, the lookout post on the roof of the warehouse, and two "domestic" lever fire trucks constitute the burglar alarm system in the warehouse area.

After crossing the storage area and going west along the half-narrowed concrete road, after walking for about a mile, you will find the commercial area in the original Zhangsutan weed field.

Since the time and focus are not on this aspect, the construction of the commercial district is currently the most lagging and sloppy.There is no paved ground here, but some ordinary buildings familiar to Ming people have been built on the three-fold land mixed with lime: wine shop and cart, mule and horse shop.

But a business district is a business district.From the moment the construction started, the hustle and bustle never stopped.A large number of people of all kinds swarmed in, bringing endless vitality and rich information. Businessmen from all over the world drove carts and rowed boats and gathered on this barren beach.No one cares about the quality of the accommodation environment, people only care about business opportunities.

So around Zhangsu Beach, some people quickly built shacks and thatched huts privately, providing shelter for some small businessmen and their buddies who could not live in the inn.Don't underestimate these shacks, just like the capsule apartments in later generations of Tokyo, the poor cannot afford to live in them.A large number of migrant workers who come to the port to carry labor are still crowded in Zuojia Village, which is farther away.

The construction of Shanghai Port instantly attracts the surrounding business activities.Like the Tangzhuang River Wharf in Hangzhou, which was about to burst, it was liberated overnight.

Whenever a fleet of ships sailing from the south docks at the Shanghai pier, it will cause waves in the business district.The spot and futures prices of various industrial products will fluctuate instantly, and merchants and brokers will start to act one after another, and a large number of explicit or covert transactions will begin to appear.

About one kilometer along the coast to the south of the dock area and the commercial area, there is always a puff of white smoke constantly coming out.

The place where the white smoke came out was the core building of the industrial zone: the boiler room.

The boiler not only provides clean hot water to the surrounding industrial areas, but also provides thermal energy, making it possible to process some industrial semi-finished products.

When it comes to the white smoke from the chimney, this 17th-century environmental protection measure is really not what everyone in the world would like to see. It is necessary to add some environmental protection dust removal equipment before the boiler chimney will emit white smoke, which will undoubtedly increase the construction cost.

However, considering the difficulty of Shanghai Port, the Port Authority finally installed dust removal equipment for this small boiler: the people say that the big house with billowing black smoke every day may burn some bones and dead babies inside. Something unknown like that?

While burning boilers, it is necessary to consider the local public opinion environment, which in itself reflects Xiongdao's weakness here.There is no need to consider the problem of white smoke and black smoke when passing through the boiler room in the kiln area.

Facts have proved that the reactionary gentry base camp in the south of the Yangtze River engaged in industrial construction, and the rebound was quite strong.

Ever since Xiong Dao was attacked by Xiong Dao and confiscated two contiguous pieces of land in Zhangsutan and Zuojia Village, until now, Xiong Dao has not been able to buy a contiguous piece of land.

In fact, in May of this year, not long after Xiong Dao withdrew to start construction, the Jiading county government sent word that there was such a "big threshold" that people were very dissatisfied with what Xiong Dao had done before, and at the same time, they were very dissatisfied with the county government's " "Working for a tiger", "helping a tyrant", "sit by and watch profiteers rob people's property" are also very angry.

In addition, there are more than one gentry who have made such a statement.So the county government went into hiding first. The political pressure was too great, and the county magistrate couldn't bear it on his small shoulders.

In this way, Master Yu Bende, who was really a minion for the tiger, could not move.He can no longer come forward or use the power of the county government to help Xiong Dao buy land, because the Yu family has already received a message: If you dare to do things indiscriminately, the secretary office of the county government will have to be replaced!

Under a series of overt or covert pressures, Xiong Dao, who had run into a wall everywhere, quickly found out the reason: many gentry were stimulated by his weird way of expropriating land.A family of merchants, even if there is a Lao Shizi military general behind them, dare to act so rampantly in the cultural and educational land of the south of the Yangtze River. Many gentry said that this cannot be tolerated.

So Xiong Dao immediately put on a tortoise posture.

Fortunately, the existing land acquisition is enough to start construction.However, because of the boycott, the construction direction of the port was immediately adjusted: fully build the wharf and storage area.As for the industrial zone that had been prioritized in the original plan, except for a few small workshops that used manual machinery to produce mahjong tiles, all other factories in the plan were suspended.

After adjusting the process, the workers built some ports and warehouses one after another after May, and then welcomed the merchant ships from the south.

From the moment the merchant ship arrived, Xiong Dao took a breath: the merchants and the agents behind them who had stood on the dry shore to watch the excitement would not watch the commercial route being cut off.

So someone and a certain port, who stopped their flags and drums, reached a dangerous balance with a group of gentry who were neither short of money nor accustomed to the success of villains, and they were all staring at each other coldly.

After more than half a year passed like this, the originally planned Shanghai Port is now relatively complete except for the wharf and storage areas, and the planned commercial and industrial areas have not been laid out at all. The industrial area that is billowing black smoke is an excuse for some people, and they do not want to build a commercial area into a New York where every inch of land is expensive, and welcome greedy eyes and actions.

……

Standing on the reef, facing the icy sea breeze in November, the slightly fat Xiong Dao couldn't help tightening the bamboo mouse skin robe around his body: "Oh, look at how miserable I am, the power of primitive capital is still too weak Ah, I don’t know if it’s been done neatly in my hometown.”

While Xiong Dao was lamenting to the sea, a graceful figure in training uniform ran over from a distance, waving a piece of paper in his raised hand: "Master, there is a telegram!"

"Huh?" Xiong Dao turned around from the rock when he heard the shout, and waited for his confidential concubine to jump onto the rock, then took the telegram draft from her—the telegram that Xiong Dao took over , It was the one that was sent to him after the cabinet held the king's meeting.

The next moment, when Xiong Dao read the telegram at a glance, he couldn't help putting his hands on his waist, and suddenly raised his head and laughed.

After laughing hard for a long time, Xiong Dao wiped away his tears.At this moment, he couldn't help but feel elated; he was standing on the reef, with one arm around the concubine's waist, the other pointing inland like a halberd finger, and sang a play in conjunction with it: "Look ahead, the black hole, It must be that thief's lair! Wait for me to catch up and kill him completely!"

... After finishing his maddening, Master Xiong gave up his work and hurried back to the only two-story building in the port: the Port Authority Building.

After returning, Xiong Dao first went to the telegraph room, dictated several telegrams and sent them out.After that, he summoned a group of management personnel from various action teams, security teams, commercial departments, and port departments.

After conveying his thoughts to these key personnel and holding a briefing, Xiong Dao stayed in the Port Authority building to send and receive telegrams that day.

After getting in touch with all parties, he boarded the Clippers the next day and went straight to Tangzhuang outside Hangzhou.

Today's Tangzhuang has returned to its original deserted appearance: all commercial activities have been moved to Shanghai Port, and this side is only responsible for sending some immigrant ships.

After arriving at Tangzhuang, Xiong Dao, the deputy station chief, immediately had a private conversation with Lu Cheng, the station chief of Hangzhou Station.While the two were planning, they also sent telegrams to the officials to discuss with all parties from time to time. After everything was planned, Xiong Dao returned to Shanghai Port by boat.

At the same time, a famous post was delivered to the door of a certain family's mansion.

Chapter 394 Generous

The Huangpu River, originating from Taihu Lake, is a landmark river well-known to people all over the country in later generations.The Huangpu River, shaped like a touch of jade, divides Shanghai into Puxi and Pudong. After accepting the Wusong River (Suzhou Creek) in the city center, it finally flows into the Yangtze River at Wusongkou.

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, the current Huangpu River channel was filled with Wusong River water.

Later, in the early Ming Dynasty, due to the silting of the Wusong River channel, water invaded the people year after year, so Xia Yuanji, the Minister of the household at that time, dredged the Great Huangpu River to join the Wusong River, and opened the Fanjiabang channel to Wusongkou, making the Huangpu River, which originally flowed across the sea, change. It has become the form of Gouyu in later generations, so there is a saying that "Huangpu seizes Song".

In this process, the original main stream Wusong River became a tributary of Huangpu River overnight, and the section of Wusong River flowing through Shanghai called Suzhou Creek merged into Huangpu River opposite the famous Lujiazui in later generations.

In fact, before the end of the Qing Dynasty, the official name of the Shanghai section of the Wusong River was not Suzhou Creek—because at that time a concession agreement was to be signed with foreigners, for the convenience of demarcation, the official name of Suzhou Creek was included in the treaty.

Time flies, and the sea has changed. Since the Huangpu River was dredged in the early Ming Dynasty, more than 260 years have passed without knowing it.

During this period, although the Huangpu River basin, including the Suzhou Creek, was dredged and repaired by the government from time to time, the symptoms of paralysis at the end of the feudal dynasty were still unavoidable.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the main channel of the Huangpu River was still navigable for large ships, its tributaries, including the Suzhou Creek, were seriously silted up.This situation, coupled with the off-season heavy rains during the Little Ice Age, caused frequent floods in the entire lower reaches of the Yangtze River Delta, and extensive damage to agricultural production.

……

On November 1629, 11, the third day after Xiongdao received the telegram.

A ferry boat departed from the ancient Yangjiadu Wharf in Pudong, crossed the Huangpu River in a straight line, and stopped at the wharf outside the Dadongmen of Shanghai County.

The county seat of Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty was located on the banks of the Huangpu River, obliquely facing Lujiazui on the opposite bank, and it was the most affluent and luxurious county seat in the entire Yangtze River Delta Plain.

Not to mention the crowded shops, bustling streets, and lined wharfs on all sides of the county seat, but only inside the county seat, there are no white men coming and going, and there are slaves everywhere—the county seat of Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty had the highest distribution density of wealthy families in the Yangtze River Delta. an area of ​​.

A small piece of the county and its surrounding Guanxiang area gathered a large number of wealthy gentry, and it was a well-deserved stronghold of reactionary literati.It is no exaggeration to say that there are rich and powerful slaves everywhere here, "a middle-of-the-road household will break down at every turn", in a place where a brick thrown here can hit the rich and powerful slaves of the gentry, it is really difficult for ordinary people to live.

After the ferry docked, a group of passengers of various colors came off the boat soon.

The last ones are the master and the servant.The middle-aged man at the head was wearing a squirrel fur robe, with a fat body and a professional smile on his round face all the time. He was Du Yaren, a well-known intermediary in Jiading.

After Du Yaren got out of the pier, he quickly picked a green woolen warm sedan from the row of taxis waiting for work on the side of the street. Go south.

Going south from the east gate of the county seat, there are densely packed boats docked along the river on the left, and shops and large houses on the right.The prosperity of the Guanxiang outside the city alone surpassed that of most counties in the Ming Dynasty.Wherever the sedan chair goes, there are many pedestrians, radiating and exchanging shares, and the peace that the Ming Dynasty enjoyed for more than 200 years can be seen here in Shanghai County.

The sedan chair didn't stop all the way, from the Great East Gate to the South Gate, and then continued until after passing the business district, a mansion compound gradually appeared in front of it.

Not long after, the sedan chair stopped in front of a big house.After getting off the sedan chair, Du Ya looked up at the two large doors with green paint, brass animal mouths, and gray tin rings, and then led his servants to the side door.

Naturally, there are gatekeepers at the partial gate.After the Duya man passed by, he first reported his name, and then he took out the broken silver and asked the porter to pass it on according to the rules. After a while, he was welcomed in.

Walking in the exquisite and beautiful corridors with carved beams and painted buildings, Du Yaren was still a little surprised by today's meeting: You must know that half a year ago, he was also the one who went to Songjiang Mansion, and he was also the one who planned to visit this mansion. The master, however, was quickly sent away by the steward, and he didn't even enter the door.

I don't want to think that after half a year has passed, the situation has improved a lot: when I posted yesterday, the host made an appointment to meet today without any trouble.It stands to reason that if you submit a post to make an appointment, it is usually considered polite for the host and guest to meet after three days.

While thinking, Du Yaren silently followed the porter and walked obediently. Not long after, he was led to a side hall to watch tea.

After drinking two sips of tea and eating a winter jujube in the fruit plate on the table, Du Yaren heard a series of footsteps coming from behind the screen.Later, surrounded by a servant girl and a servant, a middle-aged man in a thick robe turned out from behind the screen.

This person was about forty years old, with a long face, phoenix eyes, a long beard under his chin, fair skin, and gold and jade fragments hanging all over his body, he looked like a son of a wealthy family.

But Du Yaren hastily left his seat and got up to salute: "I have seen Master Xu."

"Old Du, you don't need to be polite, sit down and drink tea." The middle-aged man stretched out his arm with a smile at this moment, signaling Du Yaren to sit down.

……

Xu Jin and Xu Xiucai, the great-grandson of Xu Jie, the elder of the ancient pavilion, the brother of Xu Bengao, who is currently the commander of Jinyiwei, and the speaker of Xu's parents.

Xu Jin, Mr. Xu is the eldest son of the Xu family's generation. Now that the old man is old and frail, Xu Jin basically has the final say on the Xu family's official affairs.

Half a year ago, Du Yaren went to Xu Jin's old house in Songjiang to see Xu Jin, intending to talk about buying land, but was kicked out.

However, just yesterday, Du Yaren was somehow entrusted by Xiong Dao again to post a post at the Xu family's villa outside Shanghai County, intending to talk to Xu Jin about the purchase of the land again.As a result, the anxious Du Yaren followed Xiong Dao's instructions without any effort this time, and met Xu Jin and Master Xu in this villa.

After the two parties were seated, Mr. Xu, who had a very kind attitude, didn't see him, and opened his mouth with a smile and asked, "Old Du, you are a mediator. You are probably a lobbyist for the Zhuangzi in Jiading today, right?"

It is not surprising that Du Yaren spoke so directly to Master Xu.

First of all, if the Xu family was willing to meet him, they must have found out his details and intentions in advance. Otherwise, Xu Jin has a high status, how could he meet a man from the market so casually?

Secondly, for Du Yaren who often visits rich families, Xu Jin's behavior is normal: What can someone talk to a Yaren?Just say it directly.

"Hehe, Mr. Xu knows things like a god." Du Yaren had a professional smile on his face at this moment, and stretched out his thumb: "Old Du has the audacity to come to the mansion today to accept Qingguang, just to make this beautiful event come true. , to help the two masters connect, and everyone will benefit and earn together."

"Hmm..." Xu Jin nodded when she heard this, took a sip from the tea bowl, and then said: "I have heard about that Mr. Xiong for a long time. .”

"Don't dare." Du Yaren cupped his hands with a smile on his face at this moment: "Master Xiong likes to make friends, it's true."

"That's the case..." Xu Jin put down the tea bowl at this moment, and stretched out a hand with her head sideways.The next moment, the servant standing behind him took out a piece of yellowed paper from a black wooden box in his arms and handed it to his master.

After Xu Jin took the yellow paper, she handed it to the next Du Yaren: "Old Du, why don't you tell me, what benefits can this deed get from your master?"

Du Yaren took a look, and sure enough, this piece of paper is the general deed of Xujiazhuangzi, which is to the north of Zhangsutan, next to Shanghai Port.By this time, Du Yaren had already made up his mind: Today's big deal is bound to be a deal!

So Du Yaren, who was full of joy, raised his head and said with a smile: "To tell the truth, Master Xu, Master Xiong gave orders before Lao Du came. It is said that as long as Master Xu can reward this time, then the land on this contract will , not only are they all at the price of the top-grade paddy fields, but there is always a treasure that will be taken out to the Xu family to sell on behalf of Master Xiong afterwards... Hehe, Master Xu, this is a treasure of the crystal mirror class!"

When Du Yaren said this, his saliva was almost drooling—the crystal mirror in Mr. Xiong's hand could sell for hundreds of taels of silver for a piece of palm.

"Hahahaha!" After hearing this, Xu Jin couldn't help laughing.After laughing a few times, Master Xu stopped talking, reached out to pick up a box of high-end Ashima cigarettes on the coffee table, and took out one.

After the sound of "ding", the maidservant stretched out her tender white hand in time, and helped the master light a cigarette with a handful of rotten silver Zippo.

Skillfully, after taking a deep puff of smoke, Master Xu nodded to Du Yaren with a smile all over his face: "Master Xiong is really generous, a village can exchange the goods for that crystal mirror."

Du Yaren nodded repeatedly at this moment: "Hehe, it's also my master who sincerely wants to be friends with Master Xu, so he has such a big generosity!"

"Okay, okay! Great money! I like big money!" Xu Jin took another puff of cigarette at this moment, and then patted her thigh: "If that's the case, I'll give you the land deed!"

The next moment, I saw the young man standing behind Master Xu take two steps forward, and then gently put the black box in his hand on the tea table beside Du Yaren.

"Huh?" Du Yaren didn't understand the situation for a while, he looked at the yellow paper on the coffee table, then at the black box, and looked up at Xu Jin inexplicably.

"Aren't you looking around for the land deeds? It's all here." Master Xu still had a smile on his face at this time, and he leaned forward and stretched his arms, and gently opened the black wooden box.