In the fourteenth year of Yongle's reign, it was a summer when a young man built an island at the mouth of the Pearl River.
Xiangjiang Island is just a small island, not even as big as Zhoushan Island.
However, its geographical location and development prospects are very huge.
Zhu Zhanzhen went to Xiangjiang once in modern times. At that time, he had just finished his high school entrance examination and his parents took him on a trip.
It was the first time for a child from a small mountain town to see an international metropolis, with its tall buildings, busy traffic, roads and bridges in Hong Kong movies, and Sir in TVB dramas, all of which made him feel more novel.
Modern Xiangjiang Island is one of the world's most famous international metropolises, with a busy port and a superior economic status.
It's a pity that now it's just a desolate small fishing village. It's so desolate and barren that you can see it all at a glance.
When the fishermen in the fishing village saw the sudden arrival of the big boat, they took out their swords and some were agricultural equipment.
I thought it was pirates and Japanese pirates coming, but after seeing the Ming Dynasty flag floating in the ocean, I put down my weapons.
The village elder of Xiangjiang Village is named Liu Nan. He is a 50-year-old extremely haggard old man who has been damaged by the sea breeze. He is thin and looks skinny, but the way he just resisted the hoe and wanted to fight the Japanese pirates shows that he still has strength.
In the fleet, there was an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs, Liu Shifang, who was originally from Guangzhou Prefecture, so he stepped forward to talk to the village elder Liu Nan.
After going back and forth, it turns out that we are still from the same family, and our ancestors are all from Chaozhou.
Liu Nan stepped forward and saluted Zhu Zhanzhen: "The old man in the fishing village has never seen such a big battle, so I hope your highness will not be surprised."
"Do you recognize the Ming Dynasty military flag?"
"I recognize it. There is a military flag of the Ming Dynasty in the Kowloon Water Village on the other side. I have seen it many times."
"Kowloon Water Village?"
Seeing that Zhu Zhanyi was a little puzzled, Liu Shifang stepped forward and explained: "Your Highness, the coastal defense facilities in the Shuizhai area cannot reach the scale of a guard station. Many of them are not regular military households, and many are fishermen and farmers. Local
People with a strong sense of clan can easily form small-scale water villages, so the Guangzhou government gives them certain authority and stipulates that they must protect local residents."
This kind of special place is a combination of local customs and folk customs. Kowloon Water Village Zhu Zhanyi doesn't know about it, but Kowloon City Walled City is famous, and this water village will later develop into Kowloon City Walled City.
Without the Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong films would have half as much inspiration.
Xiangjiang Village is a good port. Zhu Zhanzhen called Zhang San: "Zhang San, where are the people from the shipyard?"
Several craftsmen from the shipyard followed, and Zhu Zhanyi got on the big ship again. He pointed to the land about two kilometers away from the other side of Hong Kong Island and said, "I think a port can be built there on the other side."
The craftsmen were shocked: "Your Highness, how did you see it?"
"That place looks really good, but we can only confirm it after an on-site inspection."
The craftsmen all expressed their approval of Zhu Zhanzhen.
How do you know? Could those who come back in the future not know?
In the future, Victoria Harbor will be called Pearl River Junwang Port.
There is no reason why our ports should have foreign names on them.
"Let's do this. When we get to Guangzhou, I will order a port to be built here, and you will bring people over."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Everyone still doesn't understand why Zhu Zhanzhen is so determined to develop Xiangjiang Island.
The gateway port of the maritime age has a superior geographical location. Even if it does not develop deliberately, its geographical location determines that it will develop naturally.
Moreover, compared with the current Xiangjiang Island, there are few local indigenous people. Calculated, this fishing village only has sixty or seventy households if it is full. There are some small villages in other places, but only a hundred or so households. It is easy to resettle and plan.
If the port is built in Guangzhou, it will be a headache just to divide the interests with local officials and local clans. It is not possible to offend all these people at once.
Zhu Zhanzhen's consideration was very simple. It was a good natural port with nothing to worry about. In the future, high-rise buildings would be built on this flat ground, thousands of sails would be able to cross it, and thousands of ships would be fighting for its passage.
It can be expected that because there will only be one port in the first batch of sea bans, it will inevitably trigger competition from various places. Guangzhou has a long coastline, and there are not just one or two places that can be used as ports.
The first port must have the right time, place and people. It is equivalent to running a unique business. Isn't it a bloody affair in the officialdom?
Of course, Zhu Zhancheng had his own way to deal with them.
"The port needs soldiers, and a large number of soldiers, to protect the port's shipping, and also to combat smuggling and leakage, Yang Song."
"My subordinate is here."
"When you get to Guangzhou and become the vassal, I will give you a team of two thousand people to build a garrison on Xiangjiang Island and also manage the Kowloon Water Village. Are you confident that you can do it well?"
"I will live up to His Highness's expectations."
The people in Xiangjiang Village watched this group of dignitaries pointing and drawing in this place, and they didn't know what they were here for, so they started talking about it.
"Village elder, who are these people?"
"Tsk, tsk, your eyes have been opened today. This is the current grandson of the Fifth Emperor. This is the only time in my life that I have seen a descendant of the royal family."
"Emperor's grandson, go quickly and bring your daughter. What if the emperor's grandson takes a fancy to her?"
"You don't even look at what your daughter looks like, and you still want to be liked by others."
"What's the matter? It's better than you, a widow, just thinking about seducing men, bah."
…
The noisy villagers were all watching, and the Kowloon Water Village on the other side also sent people over. Because they saw the Ming Dynasty military flag, the Kowloon Water Village came to see what was going on, and they were afraid that it was pirates and Japanese pirates.
The man who was sent over was dumbfounded when he saw the steam warship in front of him. What kind of iron wall was this? The ten cannons lined up on both sides were powerful enough.
"I wonder which tribe you belong to?" the man said with a military salute.
"Pearl River County Prince's Mansion."
"Prince of Pearl River County? Never heard of it."
"The news will come out in a few days. I think your military salute should be that of a member of the military."
"I'm at Kowloon Water Village, Xiaoqi Mabu."
People in the military could still recognize that the other party was of a much higher rank than him.
"You go back first. The Prince of Zhujiang County controls the military strength in Guangzhou. You will all be his soldiers in the future."
The man returned angrily and was dismissed by the soldiers at the outer perimeter. Each of these forbidden soldiers had a higher rank than him. He didn't even see the face of the Prince of Pearl River.
Zhu Zhanyang decided on this place with a stroke of his pen today. The civil and military officials still felt that something was not right and they had to at least discuss it with the local officials. So when they boarded the ship again to rest, many people came to advise Zhu Zhanyang.
Among them is Chen Youshan.
As one of the two people appointed by Zhu Zhanyi, Chen Youshan came out to advise Zhu Zhanyi at this time. The reason was the same, that is, he had to respect, at least superficially, the officials and powerful people in Guangzhou.
Wai means that he is afraid that Zhu Zhanchen will offend others.
In the officialdom, it's easy to have friends, but it's hard to offend everyone.
As a civil servant with no foundation, he knows the hardships of the officialdom and is the most cautious.
But he forgot that Zhu Zhanzhen was different from him. He was deliberately domineering even if he was not domineering at first. He just happened to take a look at the officialdom of Guangzhou Prefecture to see which ones were obedient and which ones were disobedient, which ones were able to get things done and which ones were not.
Those who hold official positions and do nothing.
Against all opinions, Zhu Zhanzhen did not intend to listen to their advice, but looked to the other side of the sea.
There is Omen.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
It’s good if you know where Xiangjiang and Omen are. In order to avoid being banned, you know