In the flower hall behind the Jinmen Daotai Yamen, the new Daotai prince Teng Zheng was talking to Jia Rong, the head of the Ning Mansion who took the initiative to visit.
"Master Wang, there is no need to doubt that shipping by sea is not a treasonous thing. There is no express prohibition on sea transportation in Daqian!"
Jia Rong smiled and said: "Besides, the scale was very small at the beginning. It was just a fleet organized by the Xue family to travel between the north and the south to do some material transshipment trade!"
"If the seaport here in Tianjin wants to develop quietly, how can it be possible within three to five years?"
Wang Ziteng nodded in approval, this was a reliable statement.
But he also had to figure out Jia Rong's true purpose, so he asked directly without hesitation.
"The purpose is very simple, just to make money, to make a lot of money!"
Seeing Wang Ziteng's puzzled expression, he said with a smile: "Don't think that the accumulation of Ning Rong's second house is so profound. If we only deal with Second Uncle Lian and Uncle Zhu, plus Uncle Zheng's promotion, there will naturally be no big problem!"
"But Ethnic Studies is constantly cultivating talents. Many talents have already entered the officialdom, and a lot of money is needed to pave the way!"
"I don't want the talents cultivated by ethnic studies to be too short-sighted and lose money just after they enter the officialdom!"
"Even if you want to make money, you have to establish a firm foothold in the officialdom and form linkages with other academic talents to build momentum before making money!"
"Right now, what Ning Rong and the four major families want is to make a big noise and let others know that we are up again!"
Jia Rong spoke in a straightforward manner, but Wang Ziteng's heart surged and he spoke excitedly.
"Aren't the coal mines in Jin Province enough?"
Of course, Wang Ziteng is not that easy to fool.
Because of the issue of briquettes, briquettes have basically replaced firewood as the main fuel in big cities in the north at this time. You can imagine how big the market is.
Ningfu, which owns a large coal mine in Jin Province, can be said to hold a golden mountain in its hands.
It can be said that in terms of money, Ning Mansion will have no problems in the future.
"Master Wang, if everything comes from the Ning Mansion, are the talents from the Jia family or the Ning Mansion?"
Jia Rong said very clearly and straightforwardly: "Besides, we will not allow such a thing to happen today!"
Just kidding, the potential of a family and the potential of the Ning family are completely different concepts, okay?
"How profitable shipping is, I think Mr. Wang knows it well!"
"I very much hope that all the four powerful families can earn enough money through shipping. At least they won't have to fall into a passive situation because of money matters in the future!"
Wang Ziteng remained silent, thinking about the authenticity of Jia Rong's words.
He is naturally quite familiar with shipping.
You must know that the ancestor of the Wang family, his grandfather, the first generation head of the Wang family, first started to manage the shipping department.
Managing the Shipping Department naturally involves dealing with many maritime merchants.
The sentence that describes the wealth of the Wang family is that the East China Sea lacked white jade beds, and the Dragon King came to find the King of Jinling. This was the period when the Wang family was most wealthy, that is, when it was managing the Shipping Department.
When Wang Ziteng was a child, he also witnessed the Wang family's most prosperous period.
The Wang family's wealth is entirely dependent on those powerful maritime merchants.
Just by occupying a certain share in the merchant fleet, the prince's palace became rich for a while, and its apparent wealth was even greater than that of Ning Rong and Ning Rong.
Unfortunately, the salary of managing the Shipping Department was too lucrative and was quickly taken away by the royal family.
Earl Wang of the Wang family received compensation and became a top official in the court. The power and wealth of the Wang family reached its peak.
All these are the benefits brought by sea transportation, and he naturally knows it well.
However, it is not easy to start shipping in Tianjin.
"You tried to get me to sit on the Jinmen Road platform for the sake of shipping?"
Wang Ziteng suddenly spoke and changed the topic.
"That's right!"
Jia Rong replied calmly: "I have my own plan. The vigorous development of Tianjin shipping is just the beginning, but it does not conflict with Mr. Wang's career!"
"Do you know that Tianjin has such a good maritime environment, why has maritime transportation not received much development and is even showing signs of being abandoned?"
Seeing that he spoke so straightforwardly, Wang Ziteng did not hide anything and asked directly.
This matter is very critical. If Jia Rong didn't understand the key, there would be no way he could fully support it.
As a veteran official with considerable abilities, I have to make clear some difficulties in advance.
In order to avoid having to shoulder the responsibility alone, Wang Ziteng finally got a chance to make a comeback, but he had no intention of being the scapegoat.
"Isn't it the work of Caoyun Yamen?"
Jia Rong sneered and said: "I really don't know. The imperial court spent a lot of money to maintain the operation of the Grand Canal. How could it easily shake the status of water transportation?"
"They just want to monopolize shipping interests. They want to get all the benefits that the canal can get!"
"Don't even look at it. How crowded are the canals?"
Jia Rong sneered repeatedly, what he said was true.
Jinmen is one of the joints of water transportation. Hundreds of ships come and go every day, and the dock cannot handle it at all.
A large number of ships can only wait to dock on the canal. The wasted resources and efficiency, when converted into silver, are at least a thousand taels or even ten thousand taels.
Even though the wharves of the cities and towns that the canal passes through are very busy, in Jia Rong's opinion, the waste is too serious.
Moreover, the benefits obtained by the people at the bottom are not much, which is completely inconsistent with the canal's strong driving effect on the urban economy along the way.
Of course, he would not say such a big and broad statement easily.
It is obviously more reliable to talk only about interests when talking to Wang Ziteng.
"Also, some forces don't want to see today, or the royal family has set their sights on shipping. They want to monopolize Daqian's shipping interests!"
"These guys have a lot of energy. They even extended their hands to Jinmen. They are really lawless!"
When these words came out, it was Wang Ziteng's turn to open his eyes wide with disbelief on his face.
"Brother Rong, do you know the secrets here?"
"I don't know, but since I want to start shipping in Tianjin, I naturally have to research the history here, and I found some very interesting things!"
Jia Rong sneered and said: "To put it bluntly, if these guys are willing to share the benefits of maritime trade with the government, the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty can at least last for more than a hundred years, and it is not impossible to even last longer like the Southern Song Dynasty!"
"It's a pity that they were too greedy. They blocked the biggest channel through which Nanming's small court could obtain external benefits and give themselves blood transfusions. As a result, they forced Nanming's small court to death, which is quite powerful..."
In other words, before the collapse of the former Ming Dynasty and the establishment of the Daqian Dynasty, there was a political power entrenched in the south, the Southern Ming Small Court.
After all, the Qianming Dynasty had ruled for so many years when it came to the Tumubao Incident.
In particular, the previous emperors were basically wise emperors, and their influence and foundation were quite deep.
The vassal kings in various places did not fail to work hard after the collapse of the former Ming Dynasty.
During this period, many vassal kings in the south of the Yangtze River united to establish the Nanming Small Court, which was the most influential political power.
Unfortunately, the small imperial court of Nanming only lasted for about sixty years before it completely collapsed due to internal and external troubles.
There is no need to mention foreign aggression. At that time, some people wanted to rebuild the Ming Dynasty, but naturally there were also careerists who were not happy. The small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty was the biggest target of many careerists at that time.
Originally, the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty still had a great chance. After all, the north had suffered a lot from the remnants of the Meng Yuan Dynasty, and it simply did not have enough strength to compete with the south.
Unfortunately, the internal worries of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty were even worse. There were many military leaders fighting among themselves. The most serious thing was the financial collapse and the inability to make ends meet. In the end, the entire regime fell apart.
It should be said that during the existence of the Nanming Small Court, the southeastern clans specializing in maritime trade were strong and had considerable say within the Nanming Small Court.
Originally, as a part of the small court of Nanming, and a quite powerful part, the large southeastern clans should contribute money and efforts to stabilize the situation of the small court of Nanming.
Unfortunately, the situation is exactly the opposite.
It seems ridiculous that the existence of the small court of Nanming was just to allow the wealthy families in the southeast to make more money.
At that time, there were many military leaders in the small imperial court of Nanming. If they wanted to gather military power and unify it, they needed a lot of money to buy and stabilize the situation.
There were also sensible people in the court, so they naturally wanted to imitate the Southern Song Dynasty in opening up sea trade and increase fiscal revenue through this move.
As a result, the big clans in the southeast simply refused to allow the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty to interfere in the maritime trade. It was as if the maritime trade in the southeast region was theirs, and they were quite domineering.
Even, in order to put an end to the little imperial court's misunderstandings, they not only tried their best to stop it in the court, but also caused quite serious Japanese rebellion in private.
The entire Nanming court only existed for about sixty years, but it took almost fifty years to fight against the Japanese pirates along the coast.
During this period, there were some famous anti-Japanese generals. Although their strength and performance were far inferior to those of Qi Jiguang in official history, their strength was still quite impressive.
However, after all, the area that the small court of Nanming could control was limited, and its fiscal revenue was getting worse every year. How could it withstand such long-term wars?
The same is true. Within two years after the Japanese rebellion on the southeast coast ended, the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty fell apart and was completely destroyed.
It can be said that the large southeastern clans that monopolized the maritime trade along the southeastern coast played a key role in this.
During the period of chaos, they were still able to firmly control the huge profits from maritime trade. They were always free and happy.
When Taizu of Daqian unified the world, if it were not the place where the price was raised, it would be Jinling, which had inextricable connections with the big clans in the southeast. In addition, there were large sums of money and food sponsorship from time to time on the way to the army.
The big clans in the southeast were liquidated.
The small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty learned from the past, and the imperial court of the Great Qian Dynasty naturally could not tolerate the existence of such a wealthy family from the southeast to continue to live freely.
Due to various reasons, although Taizu Daqian did not attack the southeastern clan, he also opened up maritime trade and interrupted the monopoly of the southeastern clan.
Otherwise, where did the Shipping Department managed by Wang Laolinggong, the ancestor of the Wang family, come from?
It's a pity that as time goes by, it seems that the strength of the southeastern clans has rapidly expanded and has begun to penetrate into the northern coastal areas.
When Jia Rong was investigating the situation in Jinmen, he accidentally learned about some of the tactics of the southeastern clan, and only then was he able to make an analysis that surprised Wang Ziteng.
"Since Brother Rong knows this, he also understands how difficult the Southeastern clan is!"
Wang Ziteng told the truth, shook his head and said, "I have no intention of directly conflicting with them. What about you, what do you think?"
"It's just north-south offshore transportation!"
Jia Rong sneered: "Why, they don't allow this?"
"Master Wang, to tell you the truth, I am doing this to prepare for a rainy day!"
“Preparing for a rainy day?”
"That's it. Of course, I can't guarantee whether it will actually be used!"
Jia Rong smiled and said: "But it is quite necessary to make some preparations in advance!"
"The Xue family has made preparations. Lord Wang, please don't let your allies down too much!"
Prince Teng felt depressed and looked at Jia Rong with a rather unkind look.
Finally, he shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "You are all ready, why are you still talking nonsense with me? Isn't it a waste of energy?"
"Since we are allies, we must take the lead in communicating!"
Jia Rong chuckled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Wang, you will know the beauty of doing this in the future!"
Nowadays, thinking about money is almost going crazy. If you can give him a clear way to make money, you can imagine how many benefits he can exchange for it.
In the story of the Red Mansion, people today are quite careless in order to make money, and even lose face.
As a result of the palace concubine's marriage proposal, several similar grand view gardens were planned to be built in a short period of time, and they were able to make a fortune just by selling building materials.
Even for the Grand View Garden project, excluding the money embezzled by servants, the cost of construction and interior decoration is almost a million taels.
The Lin family's wealth was completely wiped out.
No one knows how much money is made from buying and selling building materials and other interior decoration materials today.
After communicating with Wang Ziteng, he declined the invitation for dinner and left Jinmen directly to return to the capital.
To be honest, Wang Ziteng's performance made him quite satisfied. He is indeed a smart man and knows how to choose.
At this time, among the four major families in Jinling, the Jia family is the real eldest brother, the one who speaks effectively.
As long as the Jia family wants to accomplish something, the other three major families can only fully cooperate, and at most they only have some right to make suggestions, and they have no way of making decisions.
Of course, Jia Rong is very clever and will not easily make a big mistake and hand over the dominance of the four major families of Jinling to others.
As long as you understand this, there will be no surprises in Wang Ziteng's choice, and there will be no leeway except for obedient cooperation.
Otherwise, he is not the only one in the Wang family. If Jia Rong is really angered, he can be replaced by an obedient Wang family. It is not that difficult.
Jia Rong was also willing to take the initiative to visit him and explain the reasons in detail to him, which was quite a face. Wang Ziteng had to appreciate it. This is the reality of the matter...