"Steward Sun, now the entire land of Songhu has been concentrated under the guard of Zheng Liangzuo, Xu Pu and the others, and all of these people have borrowed a large amount of debt from foreign countries, ranging from hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to many.
He even borrowed a million taels of silver."
In a separate courtyard in Songhu County, Sun Xin was listening to reports from his subordinates.
Hearing this, Sun Xin finally showed a smile on his face.
"It seems it's time to close the net. They have gathered the land for us, which has saved us a lot of trouble. You are really smart~"
"A simple move can make these people obediently sell their land to us willingly."
"No, they will rush to sell it to us when the time comes."
"Send this letter back to the capital immediately and tell the young master that the net can be closed."
"Yes~"
After doing this, Sun Xin also walked out of the courtyard and came to the outside of Songhu County. He looked at the Huangpu River and then at the paddy fields of the Huangpu River. In his eyes, he seemed to see that in the next few years, here
Tall buildings were built on the ground, turning it into a prosperous city comparable to Tianjin.
A few days later, above Songhua Tower.
"Bang~"
"How could this be possible? Instead of opening the port here in Songhu, we chose to go to Nanjing."
“How can Nanjing compare with our Songhu?”
Zheng Liangzuo looked in disbelief at the latest Ming Dynasty Morning Post sent back from Beijing and Tianjin. The Ming Dynasty Morning Post published the memorial of Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet.
Liu Jian believed that although Songhu had a good geographical location, it did not have a certain foundation. As an open port in the south, the imperial court needed a lot of investment.
But Nanjing is different. It has a good foundation. The seven voyages of the Three Treasure Eunuchs to the West also started from Nanjing.
Nanjing was also the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty, and there was even a whole team of people here in Nanjing. When the ports in the south were opened, Nanjing should be chosen, not Songhu, which was still a land of paddy fields.
Liu Jian is the chief minister of the cabinet, and his words still carry considerable weight. Now the court is divided into two factions over this matter.
Among them, civil servants led by Liu Jian and Xie Qian believed that Nanjing should be opened up. Nanjing's geographical location is not bad and its foundation is quite strong, so it is very suitable.
However, Zhang Mao, Zhu Fu and other military generals and nobles believed that Songhu should be opened up. Although Songhu's foundation was worse than Nanjing's, its geographical location was much superior.
Moreover, Songhu and Tianjin have many similar places without a foundation, which also means that planning and construction can be better carried out, so it is more appropriate to open up Songhu.
Both sides have their own reasons. One side supports Nanjing and the other side supports Songhu. But one thing is certain, that is, there will definitely be a new open port in the south.
"Liu Jian is really dim-sighted. He is from Henan. How does he know the importance of external ports? Geographical location is the key."
"Although Nanjing has a foundation, there is no way to build large-scale docks and ports here in Nanjing. Unlike Songhu, which is close to the sea and has the Huangpu River, we can build more ports and docks."
"He actually spoke nonsense. He has never been to Songhu, our country, and he actually said that Nanjing is better than our Songhu."
"It's simply mediocre and mediocre, which is ruining the country~"
Xu Pu also shouted angrily.
If the open port in the south is really chosen in Nanjing instead of Songhu, the land they have hoarded will become worthless.
When they thought of this, everyone present couldn't help but their eyes darkened. Everyone had borrowed a lot of foreign debt to farm. One of the important reasons why those banks, big families, and big businessmen were willing to lend money to them was also
I took a fancy to the geographical location of Songhu.
This place really has the conditions to become the second Tianjin.
However, if Songhu cannot become an open port in the south, then the land in their hands will be worthless, and the foreign debt borrowed will be enough to crush them.
"Master, master, it's not good, it's not good~"
At this time, someone hurriedly ran over. Before the person went upstairs, the sound had already been heard.
"It fell, it fell~"
“The price of our land in Songhu has dropped~”
"What? Fell?"
As soon as they heard this voice, everyone present fell into a trance, and then rushed downstairs as if they were desperate.
"Quick~quick~"
"Sell all the fields in our hands immediately, sell them all~"
Xu Pu was the first to react and immediately gave instructions to his servants as soon as he got downstairs.
"Immediately help me contact those Yankees and sell all the fields in my hands to them."
Zheng Liangzuo's reaction was not slow and he quickly asked his servants to go find those Yankees to find a successor.
However, the two of them are smart, and the others are not slow either. At this time, everyone is like a sober gambler, and they immediately understand their crisis clearly.
Here in Songhu County, a large amount of land soon began to be put up for sale, and within a short period of time, these local landowners, gentry, and big families in Songhu began to sell off their land crazily.
Just one morning.
Yesterday, land could be sold for more than 600 taels per acre, but it suddenly fell to only more than 300 taels per acre. The key is that at this moment, no one has taken over, and there are more people.
The land in Songhu is constantly being sold.
The Yankees who used to be seen everywhere holding signs asking to buy land seemed to have disappeared overnight and were never seen again. There were people selling land everywhere.
Your family sells an acre of land for 300 taels of silver, while I sell an acre of land for 290 taels of silver.
One moment it was four hundred taels of silver per acre, and the next moment it was reduced to three hundred taels of silver per acre.
It took almost a few months to rise, but when it fell, it didn't even take half a day.
No one is buying fields anymore.
At the same time, all kinds of bad news also followed.
Nanjing will replace Songhu as the southern port open to the outside world. At the same time, the imperial court intends to open a port in Guangzhou.
Duke Wei of Nanjing, the Six Ministers of Nanjing and others jointly submitted a letter requesting that Nanjing be opened as a foreign port.
Then there was news that Tianjin Shipyard was planning to build a southern shipyard in Nanjing. It was said that Songhu had no foundation and was not suitable for building a shipyard.
There is also news that the local landowners, gentry, and big families in Songhu are preventing northerners from coming to Songhu to open factories and workshops, so now the factory owners and workshop owners in the north don’t think much about Songhu, but more
Consider Nanjing.
Bad news comes one after another, adding insult to injury, constantly hitting the land prices in Songhu, and also hitting the big landowners, big gentry, and big families in Songhu.
By the afternoon of that day, the price of one acre of land was more than 300 taels of silver in the morning, but now it had dropped to more than 100 taels of silver per acre.
At the same time, bad news came. The Yankees who had been staying in Songhu were preparing to buy land in Nanjing.
And as the news spread, local banks, wealthy families, big businessmen, etc. in the south of the Yangtze River also sent people to Songhu. They found Zheng Liangzuo, Xu Pu and other local landowners and gentry in Songhu, asking them to now
Then he returned the money to them.
In the past, I was willing to borrow money because I saw the value of Songhu.
But now that I think about it, it suddenly feels too crazy.
How can Songhu be compared with Nanjing?
How could it be possible to win over Nanjing?
Nanjing is the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty. There are a large number of dignitaries, big families, big landowners, and big businessmen here in Nanjing. There are only three or two big cats and kittens here in Songhu.
Nanjing could influence the court of the Ming Dynasty and impress the decision-making of the Ming Dynasty. Can these people in Songhu do so?
In addition, even if Songhu really becomes an open port, can it really be compared with Tianjin in a short time?
To be able to have the current situation here in Tianjin, no one knows how much money has been poured in. Is there anyone here in Songhu who is willing to spend money to get in?
After thinking carefully about this, everyone will become more rational.
Therefore, the gentry who originally lent money to the local landlords in Songhu became anxious. They were even more anxious than the local people and sent people to collect the debts one after another.
The next day, land prices in Songhu continued to plummet, falling directly below the mark of one hundred taels of silver.
Desperate landowners and gentry were all forced into desperation.
The banks, landlords, and gentry who lent them money are all real local gangsters here in Jiangnan. Compared with them, these local gangsters in Songhu can only be regarded as earthworms.
Their money was borrowed at usurious rates, and the land in their hands was plummeting. One can imagine how miserable these people's lives were.
They are selling the land in their hands like crazy, regardless of the price. As long as someone is willing to buy it, they will sell it.
One is cheaper than the other.
At this time, everyone could no longer care about so much, and they were all frantically looking for a new home, looking for the original Yankees who were looking for land everywhere.
But it is said that the Yankees went to Nanjing for inspection. Because of this news, the price of land in Nanjing also began to rise.
By the afternoon of the next day, the land here in Songhu had plummeted to the price of cabbage, and no one cared about the price of a few taels of silver per acre.
In just two days, the house price in Songhu fell from the sky-high price of more than 600 taels of silver per acre to just a few taels of silver per acre. The speed was incredible and unbelievable.
But it's not over yet.
As more and more debt collectors came to Songhu, the local landowners, gentry, and families in Songhu began to have hard times.
They frantically raised money and frantically sold everything they could.
They need money, otherwise they may not even have a place to die, and even their families will be implicated. When the time comes, men will be slaves and women will be prostitutes. This will be the case for generations. That would be truly terrifying.