Lu Ming

Mr. Crawley didn't put down the top hat he kept waving until the boat was out of sight of the pier.At this moment, he is full of longing, full of excitement and mixed feelings about his fantasy journey to the East.

In this silent dawn, Mr. Crawley left by boat, quietly like other trading ships that left on the monsoon, without taking away the clouds, but he did bring a lot of black tea.

The importance of this matter, even if all goes well, will not become apparent until several years later.So today, apart from the people from the Ministry of Commerce, not many people in the entire time-traveling force, and even in the bustling new district, including the aborigines, realize that the tea trade between the East and the West has already embarked on the historical track at this moment.

……

The moment the morning light came up, Mr. Crawley was gone.At the same time, the ancient oriental city also woke up to the sound of morning bells.

As the bells of "Boom ~ Boom ~" kept ringing, the gates of Guangzhou, this famous southern city, also opened.The natives, who had been waiting in the night for a long time, passed through the city gate one after another and rushed to their respective destinations.

Generally speaking, most of the first people to enter the city are fishmongers, vegetable vendors, butchers and other non-staple food suppliers.These small traders are quite hard. They have to prepare fresh fish and vegetables in the middle of the night, and then wait outside the city gate before dawn. Kaesong must deliver the products to customers as soon as possible.In this way, after the master in the mansion wakes up, he can drink fresh fish porridge.

Most of the people who go into the city are delivering goods, while those who go out of the city are delivering "labour".

The first batch of Guangzhou natives who came out of the city with oriental fish belly white, most of them wore coarse cloth short skirts with patches, bare calves, and carried sticks, ropes and other tools on their shoulders... Many of them simply had big bald heads, the so-called fashionable Wage earners are also.

The trendy wage earners rushed out of the South Gate of Guangzhou as soon as they arrived in Kaesong.

After leaving the Great South Gate, many migrant workers flocked to the ferry terminal immediately.There, there are already many boats waiting for guests.

In other words, I don't know when the pier outside the south gate began endless reconstruction and expansion projects.

Outside the south gate of Guangzhou City University today, it has long been a different place from a few years ago.In front of the city wall, the spacious and straight South Gate Avenue, the steady and thick concrete embankment, and the sorted wharves that seem to never be repaired make the viewers sigh.

Of course, the wage earners have no time to express their feelings about life. They have no poetry in their eyes now, only the big ferry.

The so-called big ferry is a steam thing made by the crossing crowd.It is wide and flat, slow in speed, and emits black smoke, a concept similar to that of later generations of tourist ferries.

The reason why wage earners rush to get on the big ferry is because the fare is cheap: there is a copper coin in the bottom deck, and children are free.

Undoubtedly, this obviously government-subsidized mode of transportation is another trick created by the crowd.

The routine is still very useful. After all, for the poor natives, one copper plate can be saved. So when the Great South Gate was opened, the bilge of the ferry was already full of wage earners.

The sweaty wage earners gathered together, and the smell in the bilge soon became unpleasant.Fortunately, everyone is a bitter person, and no one dislikes anyone.Those who are acquainted with each other will also take out a little tobacco residue or a crumpled cigarette from their pockets, and you will take a sip, and when you take two puffs, you will also set up a dragon gate.

For these wage earners, there are only a few topics of conversation: a new factory is about to break ground in a certain place, a new factory in a certain place is recruiting people, a certain person has applied for a house, and has moved his family, etc...

The latter topic is the hot topic of the moment.

The current policy of the new district is: all staff who work in the new district all the year round are eligible to apply for "affordable housing".After the application is successful, this house can be rented for a long time, and when you have money in the future, you can also buy the deed from the general.

Aborigines who have not been washed by the real estate tide of later generations are not sensitive to the future.On the contrary, the clean environment, low rent, and large red brick houses with glass windows are extremely attractive to the poor aborigines.

People who apply for a house for a while are like Jiang Zhiqing.However, production capacity is limited, and those who cannot apply can only take a ferry every morning to work in the new area.

After the bottom deck was filled with wage earners, the second group of passengers followed.It was late for this group of passengers to leave the city, because most of them were small traders, and their goods could only leave the city after paying the release money to the officers and soldiers at the gate of the city.

The small traders went out of the city, some with single-wheel carts, some with their shoulders, and each showed their skills to deliver the goods to the ferry deck.The next step is to wait for the conductor to come over to verify the volume of the cargo and buy the ticket, then they can sit on the deck and wait for the boat to sail.

Usually by this time, the sky has already brightened, and the steam system of the ferry has already begun to pressurize.However, the ferry leaves on the hour, so there is no rush... Besides, there are still passengers who haven't arrived yet.

With more and more people going out of the city, the last ones to take the ferry were naturally the gentlemen in the city.

After eating the raw fish porridge, the gentlemen stretched out their sedan chairs and stood on the concrete floor of the pier.

The gentlemen are dressed in a variety of clothes.There are those who wear traditional straight headdresses and gowns, and those who have long gowns and mandarin jackets with civilized swords in their hands; there are also many progressives with short hair, tulle top hats, and suits and trousers.

Of course, a lord is a lord, no matter what the lords wear, there will always be slaves around them.These servants had a fierce look on their faces, pushing and shoving those blind-eyed mud-legged people along the pier to make way for their masters.

It is naturally impossible for gentlemen to squeeze together with mud legs when they take the ferry.The gentleman bought the business class, which is the teahouse on the second floor of the ferry.Not only is it bright and beautiful, but it also has a small bar that sells beer, cigarettes, peanuts and other snacks.

As time went on, when the business class was also close to being full, the South Gate Ferry Terminal also reached the first busy time of the day.

At this time, the sun was rising, and a large number of people who wanted to go to the new district had already arrived at the pier.They failed to catch the cheap "bus", so they had to carpool and take a private boat.

The proprietress, who was wearing a floral double-breasted jacket, leaned half her body against the window, regardless of the complaints from the crowded passengers in the cabin, she still stretched out her white arm to attract the individual passengers on the pier: "Come on, let's go again!" The last one, the next one will open!"

Around the proprietress of the big-bellied Upon boat, there are also various "motor bikes" that shuttle around the pier like small fish.These small shuttle boats looked very much like wandering black fish, from time to time they got into the gaps in the middle of the big boats, "carried" away a few passengers, turned around and ran away.

"Woo~~~~~~"

With a long scream from the whistle, the sailor put away the pedals, black smoke came out from the stern, and with the rumbling sound, the big ferry sailed to the pier in the new area.

At this moment, the South Gate Wharf suddenly seemed to be alive.All kinds of ships of various sizes that were originally surrounding the pier also set sail one after another, following behind the big ferry, shaking their heads and tails, sailing to the place where the sun rises like a school of fish.

Chapter 614 Daytime in Guangzhou

On the broad river, a large group of private boats surround the pier-shaped ferry, like a school of fish swimming around Da'ao.

It took a full 40 minutes for this large school of fish with complex species to cross the wide and vast Jiangwan District in the [-]th century after starting from Guangzhou Nanmen Wharf, and slowly arrived at the new area wharf on the other side of the Pearl River.

Under the rising sun, the new district, which has brought infinite wealth and hope to the aborigines, exudes a faint golden light, which looks warm and full of vitality.When the school of fish came to the shore, they scattered in an instant and disappeared among the functional piers.

At this time of day, the new district has already woken up and started its daily operation.In fact, thanks to the development of lighting systems, factories and steam power, this industrial city has not slept as much as it has since.

Seeing a large number of ships entering the port, the dock workers who replaced the night shift workers were ready.The moment the ship docks is the beginning of the busy dock workers.They operate all kinds of lifting equipment, unload the ship's cargo as quickly as possible, and then transport the cargo to where it needs to go.

The first batch of goods to come with the ship, most of them are fresh food.There are not only pure natural organic farmyard manure vegetables grown by farmers, but also various kinds of rice, lotus root, melons and fruits, fungi and yams picked by mountain people, as well as freshwater fish and sea fish, etc.

Agricultural products are usually packed in bamboo baskets and sent to the wharf by simple equipment such as chain hoists.Due to the subsidy policy, the handling cost of agricultural products is very low.After all the goods on the boat are hoisted onto the four-wheel cart, the wrinkled farmers can abandon the boat and go ashore, pushing their own produce to the farmers' market.

The carts rented out at the wharf are standardized products, with bearings and perfectly round mechanism wooden wheels, which are very labor-saving to use.The farmer and his wife can easily push hundreds of kilograms of goods to the destination along the smooth "dragon dung" road.

Lined up along the south side of the pier in the new district are a series of large wholesale markets.There are not only farmers' trade, but also professional markets for building materials, labor services, seafood, etc.

After the farmer and his wife came to the farmer's market, they found a familiar wholesaler.These merchants are all financially strong, and they usually have fixed shops and warehouses in farmers' markets.

The next step is to weigh and settle accounts. The whole process is smooth and hassle-free at high speed. There is no harassment from hooligans or bullying from officials.In order to win over regular customers, wholesalers usually offer sufficient prices, not to mention short catties.So the farmer quickly got some banknotes and some shiny coins.

Nowadays, many indigenous people who often deal with the new area and even the entire crossing force no longer reject the "banknotes" with Cao Datou printed on them.Not to mention the exquisite printing of this banknote paper, you can also buy all kinds of goods in the new area, and you can also pay taxes at the same time.

In this way, the advantages of easy portability and anti-counterfeiting of banknotes are reflected.The promotion of new coins is a subtle effort, and there is no need to enforce it.With the development and growth of time and this power, money will naturally be accepted by followers.

After the farmer got the payment, he happily pushed the cart, bought some cheap large-grain salt on the spot, and then took his wife to the grocery market next door to make a big purchase—the farm products were cobbled together in the village, and the daily necessities purchased Go back and share it with everyone.

During this process, the farmers were not taxed by anyone.

Today's new district government still pays close attention to food security.As far as the sale of grain is concerned, the lowest tax rate is basically operated, and such small transactions are not taxed at all.The entire wholesale market, that is, the bulk grain trade, will charge some nominal fees.

You know, the time-traveling forces don't just care about the food and drink of the people under them in Guangzhou.Today, including Fujian and the Jiangnan construction area, the cross-travelers are "intervening" across the country, and they are also shipping grain to distant Tianjin and Guanglu Island for secret deployment. These actions require additional grain reserves.

In addition, in emerging industrial cities like the New District, a large number of working class popping up out of thin air need to eat "commodity food".

In this way, food security has become a sharp knife that is always hanging over the head.What's more, it is now the Little Ice Age, and the climate in various places has become colder, and traditional grain-producing areas like Guangdong have been affected by the low temperature.

In short, food is always the most responsive strategic issue until the tropical rice production areas in Vietnam and Thailand are well established.

……

Just as the farmers went to the grocery market to make big purchases, another "goods" that arrived in the same batch also found a buyer.

This cargo is people.

Since the current construction speed of the new area is far behind the influx of surrounding labor forces, just like later generations, there are now aboriginals who come to work every day by boat from nearby.

Most of these aborigines have bald or shaved hair, wearing blue or yellow thick cloth work clothes, and carrying various tools.Except for their short stature, at first glance, they are no different from the construction workers of later generations.

All the aborigines who are eligible to come to work belong to the registered workers, and these people have actually been brought under the control of the new district.Although the time travelers are not yet able to climb the camera technology tree, even if it is a black and white photo, the workers under these rule are still uniformly issued an identity plate with simple personal information on it, which can be regarded as the first generation of ID card.

The aborigines still cherish the "number plates" issued to them.Because of the number plate, even if they are doing work for Dashuai Cao, they can enjoy all kinds of advanced public services in the new area, such as kindergartens with free meals, public canteens and welfare housing.

Although the houses allocated to low-level migrant workers are not good, but no matter how bad they are, they are in accordance with the standards of the people who travel through. At least they are red brick dormitory buildings with public toilets and kitchens.Compared with the bamboo and straw houses these farmers usually live in, that is the difference between the sky and the ground.

Not to mention that these houses are almost free-for the indigenous people of the Ming Dynasty, a house where the whole family lives in first and then pays for it in installments over 20 years is really free.

In addition to these "old" workers who can be seen from the outside to carry out work in the new area, there are more or less newcomers who come with the boat every day.

Most of these newcomers wore tattered earthen cloth robes and carried a flowered cloth burden on their backs.Standing in the "modern" wharf area where various large machines dance, the newcomers are cowering, not knowing where to go.

At this time, the dock management wearing a big cap and red armbands appeared on the stage.After pulling the newcomers together with a short stick, the management will take them to the nearest check-in point.

The registration point is a temporary building made up of long sheds, and in each shed there is a teacher wearing glasses.

Next, the master will interrogate these newcomers in detail.This process usually takes a lot of time, because many farmers in Muna have communication difficulties.

After recording the newcomer's name (many people don't have a name), age (many people can't tell the detailed age), place of origin (many people can't express where the village is) and other identity information in as much detail as possible, the master will finally write to the newcomer with a hard pen. Newcomers get a hard paper temporary ID card.

After receiving their ID cards, these people will be taken to take a shower, shave their heads, check their bodies, hair and clothes, and become honorable people's laborers.

In this process, newcomers will be asked what skills they have.Most farmers are unskilled and end up on construction sites.Those with additional skills such as carpenters, shoemakers, and bamboo craftsmen will be assigned to corresponding workshops as apprentices.

……

Usually in the afternoon, the ships carrying the third batch of goods will also come to the wharf of the new area along the ubiquitous water system in Guangdong from surrounding areas.

The third shipment was mostly industrial raw materials.For example, the coal mines in Shaoguan, the iron mines in Yuanzhou, the limestone, cement and red bricks in Zengcheng, the thenardite in Jieyang, and so on.

After these heavy-duty ships arrive in the new area, they will enter a dedicated mining terminal.There are gas and steam-driven cranes here, and there are matching rail steam trains on the pier as a means of transportation.

Industrialized cities have an extremely strong ability to absorb resources from surrounding agricultural areas.Since Cao Zongbing came to Guangzhou, with this as the center point of radiation, the surrounding agricultural areas have become "resource supply places" without resistance.

Even Guangzhou, the provincial capital across the river, has sent a lot of blood to the new district—most of the low-level clerks in the new district are from Guangzhou, which has the highest literacy rate.

In addition, the wealthy people in Guangzhou have provided a lot of investment funds to the new district in recent years.Some of these funds have entered the high-end real estate industry, and some have entered the industry and service industries, which has strongly supported the construction of the new district.

In this way, with the continuous injection of human resources/industrial resources in the surrounding areas, the industrial pulse of the new district becomes stronger every day at dawn.

This trend is irreversible, and when industrialization has accumulated to a certain extent, there will be outbreaks: most of the steel mills and fertilizer plants that are currently under construction will be completed in the first half of 1633.At that time, the industrial production capacity of the entire traversing force will have a qualitative improvement.

However, as the saying goes: there are unpredictable things in the sky.

Just as the construction of the new district was in full swing, God really turned his face.

Since the end of October 1632, Fujian, Guangdong and other regions have experienced a wave of weird weather: the temperature in many places has dropped, significantly exceeding the same period in previous years.

In the past ten years or so, this situation has happened slowly, but the cooling rate has not been large, so most southerners don't feel it so obvious.

However, time passed to 1632, and for the first time, the climate of the Little Ice River, which ravaged the north, came to the south of Wuling, which is known as the four-year-like spring, with full of malice.

At that time, the temperature in the entire Guangdong area dropped sharply and the wind was fierce, which stunned the aborigines who did not know what cold was all year round.

Another month later, the big move came.Historical records: The Wusong River was frozen three feet, and Guangzhou suffered from blizzards year after year.

Yes, since November, there has been continuous heavy snowfall in most parts of Guangdong, and the production and life of the whole region have encountered a huge disaster.

Chapter 615 Night in Guangzhou

In the long winter night, the cold air is like a sword, and large flakes of snow are falling from the sky.Under the dim light of the street lamps, the snowflakes were no longer white at this moment, and disappeared into the depths of the dark night amidst the flickering.

The sound of rustling snowflakes did not disturb the humans separated by the wall.Through the large-format glass window, one can see that under the milky white LED desk lamp, a middle-aged man is concentrating on writing at his desk.

"The situation between the enemy and the enemy is complicated... have sufficient preparations against the cold... turn passive into active... take advantage of the favorable opportunity of extreme weather... mobilize elite troops to launch the Xijiang Campaign... open up the Guangdong-Guangxi passage... kill a batch and catch a batch...shock and awe Win over the landlord class along the way..."

The sound of "shuashua" notes kept flowing from the tip of the pen.As the middle-aged man worked hard to write, a murderous red-headed document was gradually completed on paper.Finally, when the nib of the pen wrote a series of department names that needed to be conveyed, this important document representing the will of the empire was declared complete.

"Huh..." He let out a deep breath, and Xia Xianze screwed on the cap of the Montblanc pen, reached out and threw the document into the basket, leaned his head back on the chair, and rubbed his forehead wearily.

After picking up the espresso on the table and taking a sip, he sighed: "After all, time is not forgiving." Xia Xianze, who had passed middle age, felt more and more clearly about the aging of his body at this moment.

I think back then when he received friends from the Land and Resources Bureau, it was a one-stop game of eating, drinking and playing. After he moved to many places to drink until dawn, he could accompany his friends from the Construction Bureau to fight in the rivers and lakes the next day... Play mahjong all night, lose money accurately throughout the whole process, and the job is over. In the early morning, he was in good spirits and had to go back to the company to preside over the work.

Today, he gets dizzy after working for more than 10 hours.If you work overtime to write documents like today, you will get tired earlier.Over time, not only the cranial neuralgia, but also the lumbar and cervical spine will protest.

But it won't work if you don't work overtime!

As the powerful prime minister of the empire, Xia Xianze had to deal with endless official affairs every day, and there were very few days when he could relax.

Especially in the recent period, due to the continuous cooling of Guangdong and the snowstorm that has not been seen in a thousand years, Xia Xianze's workload has also increased significantly.Not only did he have to direct various government departments to jointly fight the disaster, but he also took time to hold meetings with the cabinet to discuss contingency matters. It can be said that he was extremely busy.

In fact, for travelers with historical records, the blizzard weather in Guangdong was already expected.

For this reason, as early as the enclosure period, various government departments have successively made preparations.Today, the various materials used by the transmigration forces to resist the cold winter can be said to be sufficient, not only to meet the needs of the "ruled" people, but also to support other areas.

And this was why Xia Xianze was so busy.There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, and with the delivery of batches of relief supplies, Xia Xianze not only has to manipulate the propaganda department to occupy the high ground of public opinion, publicize the great truth of "Master Cao is unparalleled in righteousness", but also takes the opportunity to talk to everyone Local Ming officials colluded with each other to rob and consolidate the control power of the crossing forces at the grassroots level, and compete for the hearts of the people.

The above busy state is just daily life.On this basis, Xia Xianze also listened to reports from relevant departments to discuss and promote the implementation of the Xijiang Campaign.

The Xijiang River is the main waterway from Guangdong to Guangxi, and it is also a passage in the direction of Yunnan and Guizhou.In this era without high-speed rail and expressways, Xijiang actually assumed the main channel function of bulk logistics between Guangdong and Guangxi.

Like other waterways in this era, water transport on the Xijiang River also faced long-term constraints from natural disasters and man-made disasters: the undredged waterway was fast and dangerous, there were numerous gangs of water bandits along the way, and commercial travel was restricted in many ways.

Just in time, and this time the blizzard weather gave the traveler a chance: in the case of heavy snow, not to mention the disappearance of business travel, the traditional water bandit gangs will also be greatly restricted in their ability to move.

At this time, Cao's soldiers and horses, who have the advantages of reconnaissance, night combat, melee combat, and complete cold zone combat materials, can send troops to clean up the banks of the Xijiang River at a relatively small cost, and wipe out all kinds of immobile water bandits.

This opportunity to clean up Xijiang has been around for a long time. It was posted on the forum a few years ago.Later, not only the army had a plan, but the cabinet had already heard about it.So when the heavy snow fell, Xia Xianze immediately listened to the military's report and began to make plans to promote the matter.

Tonight, with the release of Xia Xianze's document, the Xijiang Campaign has entered the formal implementation stage.

……

As the coffee in his cup bottomed out, Xia Xianze's thoughts also returned to reality.He raised his wrist to look at his watch, and found that it was already 11 o'clock in the middle of the night before he knew it.The next moment, he got up and put on his woolen coat and top hat, then turned off the desk lamp, closed the door and went downstairs.