Li Mu sighed and continued: "There are currently two major ports in the Tang Dynasty, Guangzhou Port and Yangzhou Port. Guangzhou Port is for external use and Yangzhou Port is for domestic sales. However, I think these two ports alone are far from enough. Therefore, I have already
I would like to ask Your Majesty to allow the establishment of two more ports."
Two more ports!
Everyone's eyes lit up! They all understood what this meant and how much benefit a port could bring? That was an astronomical figure.
In fact, building a port does not require much investment. As long as there are people, there is nothing that cannot be done. However, the amount of construction of a port is very large. If it were not a national action, privately building a port would be taboo. No emperor would do it.
Allowing a huge private port to appear without its own permission.
Someone couldn't help but ask: "Master Hou, I don't know the locations of the two newly built ports..."
Li Mu smiled faintly, pointed at the bamboo in his hand, and said: "Here!"
"Master Hou, this is not Lin Yi..."
"Yes, it is Linyi, but under my sworn brother's conquest, Linyi has long been returned to my territory of the Tang Dynasty." Li Mu slid the bamboo up a little and said: "This is Jiaozhou, and the port is located in Jiaozhou, but
Jiaozhou, together with Linyi, will become a trading area of Datang."
Although the people present have never heard of the meaning of trade zone, they don’t need Li Mu to explain. The bamboo in Li Mu’s hand continued to slide upward: “Through Lingling and Guiyang’s bridge road, Jiaozhou not only has a sea route to Fujian and Guangzhou, but also a sea route to Fujian and Guangzhou.
The land route can also cross the Nanling Mountains and go north. In the next three years, the imperial court will increase investment in this land route and build an overland road. Once completed, the throughput of this section of the road will be tripled."
Everyone's eyes followed the sliding of the bamboo in Li Mu's hand, and they were calculating rapidly in their minds.
What is the most important thing about a port? Is the transportation convenient?
The convenient transportation here not only refers to whether the water depth here is suitable as a safe haven, but more importantly, whether the goods transported to the port can be quickly distributed.
Yangzhou Port has become the largest domestic port because of its rapid distribution.
Everyone knows about Jiaozhou. As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were ships traveling in Jiaozhou. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Jiaozhou's port was already very prosperous. Most of the Nanyang countries that paid tribute to and from the Central Plains transited in Jiaozhou. Historical records indicate that this place
There are treasures and wonders from all over the world, don't take this as the first priority. Hidden in the mountains, there are dazzling array of things to see, and business and exhibitions are connected from far away. We lose to Nanzhou. Although it is not as good as Guangzhou Port, it is still very good.
But why didn't the big families in the Central Plains operate in Jiaozhou? The reason is very simple. Jiaozhou is adjacent to Linyi. During the chaos in the late Sui Dynasty, Jiaozhou was eroded by Linyi. It was in turmoil and merchants were chasing profits. It was an unstable environment.
It's impossible to operate.
But now that the imperial court has used the power of thunder to pacify Jiaozhou and Linyi and incorporate them into the territory of the Tang Dynasty. It also wants to develop this area into a trade area, so the situation is different.
Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty's soldiers are invincible. None of the Southeast Asian countries can shake it. If the imperial court is really willing to run it, the prosperity of Jiaozhou will be just around the corner. But the question is, what is there in Jiaozhou that is worthy of the imperial court's investment?
What if it was a bad check written by Li Mu, wouldn't everyone just buy in?
Everyone looked at each other, and Gu Sizhi asked: "Master Hou, please forgive me for being shallow. The investment in building the port is huge, Jiaozhou is in a remote area, and the court is not well-off now. How can it be willing to invest such huge manpower and material resources? This..."
I mean, you are not lying to me!
Li Mu was not surprised that someone would ask such a question, but he would not tell Gu Sizhi that the imperial court did not intend to invest money, but wanted nothing. He smiled faintly and said: "The imperial court will invest such a huge financial and material resources
Of course, there are reasons why the court must do this. There are too many reasons to disclose them, but there is one thing that you all know, so I might as well mention it. Next to Linyi, there is Zhenla Country, and there is a kind of rice in Zhenla Country.
It can reach three or four crops a year, and once the Jiaozhou Port is built, rice from the Zhenla Kingdom will be continuously imported into the Tang Dynasty. Do you understand now?"
"So that's it!" Everyone suddenly realized!
Food is the foundation of the country. If the food crisis can be solved, it is not uneconomical to invest any amount of money. Although the matter of Zhenla rice is little known in the Tang Dynasty, for those who often deal with the sea, they have actually long ago
You know, it’s just maritime trade. Who doesn’t choose expensive shipping? Transporting rice is obviously not suitable.
But if there is a port, the situation is different. It can be transported through bridges in Lingling and Guiyang, or it can be transported to Guangzhou Port first and then transported. Because the cost is reduced, there is no loss in transporting rice.
What's more, if there is a famine, money will be worthless. Food is the hardest currency. At that time, no matter how high the cost of transportation is, you still have to transport it when it's time.
Everyone accepted Li Mu's statement, and all doubts were eliminated. They thought about it again in their minds. First of all, the current situation of Yangzhou Port is probably a state where more than ten companies divide their powers and manage it jointly. A piece of meat pie is eaten by twelve families.
, no matter how big the meat pie is, each family can only eat a limited amount.
If you give up the meat patty in your mouth, you can exchange it for a bigger meat patty in the future. It is obviously more suitable. Moreover, with this exchange, the family can go out instead of staying in Jiangnan, which is far away from the political center.
A knife cuts flesh, facing a gradually lonely situation.
What's more, there is a vague expectation that when the Tang Dynasty declines, they will become independent in Linyi, Jiaozhou... Of course, this is all for later, and it is absolutely unthinkable now.
Comparatively speaking, this choice may not necessarily bring higher benefits than cement plants and iron mines, but relatively speaking, it is more free. It can be regarded as a better choice. However, everyone still did not draw conclusions easily. They decided to wait.
Li Mu finished speaking.
"The second port is set up here." Li Mu clicked the bamboo in his hand on the map. Everyone looked over and saw that it was not far below Yangzhou and was under the jurisdiction of Kuaiji. It was called Juzhang County in the Sui Dynasty and was changed to Ming Dynasty in the early Tang Dynasty.
Prefecture. In fact, it was Ningbo in later generations.
This choice made everyone even more confused. Because with the Yangzhou Port, it seems a bit redundant to set up another port at such a close distance.
"Do you think it is a bit redundant to set up Mingzhou Port after Yangzhou Port?"
Everyone looked at each other and said in unison: "Please ask the Marquis to clarify my doubts."
"It seems so, but it's not!" Li Mu pointed to the location of Yangzhou and said: "Although Yangzhou Port is good, it has a drawback. If you want to reach Yangzhou, you must enter through this estuary. With the current port throughput
For the time being, it’s not a big problem, but if the throughput increases in the future, it will cause congestion.”
"In addition, the location of Yangzhou Port indicates that it is an internal distribution port, while Mingzhou Port is mainly for external use."