A group of Europeans stood on the deck and all exclaimed.
The Haining Tower, which is more than 60 meters high, is also built on the top of Zhe Mountain, with a vertical height of more than 300 meters from the sea. When everyone stands on the deck and looks out, it is like seeing the stars in the night sky, emitting bright light.
light.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty envoy team only had one sealing boat and more than ten sea ships left, and the other ships returned to their respective naval stations.
The fleet gradually entered the port. The southern coast of Haining County was densely packed with large and small ships. The Fengzhou boat Wang Chong was riding was too big to find a suitable berth to dock.
After revealing their identities, officials from the Municipal Shipping Department rushed over and directed the merchant ships to quickly make room for Feng Zhou.
Alfonso's eyes widened and he said in shock: "This...is this China's seaport? I thought Guangzhou Port was already very prosperous, but I didn't expect Hangzhou Port to be even more unbelievable."
Prince Henry smiled and said: "China is invincible. There are more ships anchored here than in the whole of Europe."
Alfonso actually forgot to argue with Henry and said to himself: "Yes, invincible. Spain must not go to war with China."
Today, Ming Dynasty has four major ports, namely Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Fuzhou.
Hangzhou Port relied on silk, tea, cotton, paper and other commodities from the south of the Yangtze River to become the well-deserved largest port in the Ming Dynasty.
Relying on tea, porcelain and other commodities from Lingnan and Jiangxi, Guangzhou Port became the second largest port in the Ming Dynasty. It exported the most porcelain and also engaged in arms smuggling. There were many illegal arsenals in Foshan Town, and maritime merchants and pirates could even buy them in Guangzhou.
to new artillery.
Tianjin Port mainly relies on the textile industry, exporting large quantities of cotton to North Korea and Japan. At the same time, goods needed by Beizhili are often shipped to Tianjin for unloading. Every year, a large amount of gold, silver, and copper ingots are shipped from Tianjin to Beijing.
The trading objects of Fuzhou Port are mainly Ryukyu, Luzon, Spice Islands and Shimadzu of Japan. Merchant ships returning from Yinzhou also landed in Fuzhou.
In addition to these four major ports, there are many secondary ports, such as Ningbo, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, Dengzhou, Laizhou, Lushun, Haizhou, etc. By the way, there are also Yongan, Thanhhua, and Hue in Cochin.
, Champa, Huaying, etc. Among them, the number of ships coming and going from Champa is second only to the four major ports.
After struggling for half a night, the shipping company finally made room for Feng Zhou.
Early the next morning, officials, crew members and European students landed happily to have fun.
"I like it here, it's as prosperous as Guangzhou." Prince Henry smiled all the way, just like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden and feeling strange about everything she saw at the pier.
Catherine said: "There are so many Chinese people that the number of people at the Hangzhou dock may be equal to the entire Florence."
Prince Henry wondered: "Is there no Black Death here?"
Catherine said: "Perhaps, Chinese doctors can treat the Black Death."
Even though the Qiantang Waterway has been vigorously renovated, sedimentation continues to accumulate at the mouth of the sea, often causing ships to run aground accidentally.
In order to prevent the occurrence of strandings, almost all of Hangzhou's seaport berths have been moved to Haining County. The old port built by Wang Yuan is of course still in use, but it only berths river vessels.
That is, goods from all over the country are transported by canal, Qiantang River or land route to the old port for warehouse storage. Then they are transported to the new port of Haining County for shipment to the sea through port porters. As a result, Haining County magistrates have become popular, and they have no personal connections or outstanding political achievements.
I want to be sent to Haining to be the county magistrate.
Wang Chong and his entourage came to a dock restaurant to improve the food, but they heard several merchants discussing it.
"Have you heard? Shanghai County is also going to open a port!"
"Really? If Shanghai opens a port, the goods from South Zhili will go directly to the sea from Shanghai. Hangzhou will be in dire straits in the future!"
"Not only South Zhili, but even Huzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang Province, goods must go to Shanghai. There are also goods from Sichuan and Huguang, which go directly down the Yangtze River to Shanghai. How can they have to go to Hangzhou all the time?"
"Is this news accurate? Hangzhou Port is the political achievement of Prime Minister Wang. Once Shanghai County opens to the port, won't it be a slap in Prime Minister Wang's face?"
"Is the Prime Minister someone who cares about merit?"
"That's right, we have to make preparations early."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Wang Chong was stunned at first, then smiled and shook his head.
The opening of Shanghai County as a port has been discussed for ten years, and now it seems that the dust has finally settled.
There are two factors that prevent Shanghai from opening a port: first, once Shanghai County is listed for business, it will take away at least half of Hangzhou's supply of goods, and Hangzhou Port is one of Wang Yuan's important achievements; second, the cabinet under Wang Yuan's administration
There are a large number of Zhejiang people in Helibu and Liubu. Of course, these people want to prevent Shanghai from opening up a port.
Xia Yan and other officials from the Southern Zhili Province, together with officials from Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang Huzhou Prefecture, continuously petitioned the imperial court to build a port in Shanghai. It was also driven by interests. As long as Shanghai opened a port, the goods from these places would be greatly expanded.
This reduces transportation costs and time, and Jiangxi porcelain no longer has to travel across mountains and rivers to Guangdong.
As a result, officials from Guangdong also stood up to oppose, and joined forces with officials from Zhejiang to jointly oppose the "Shanghai Opening as a Port" memorial.
In order to carry out the reform smoothly, Wang Yuan tried his best to ease the conflicts within the reformists, which resulted in Shanghai County being unable to open the sea. Now there is no need to suppress it. First, the reform is on the right track, and second, Shanghai has become the largest smuggling center in Jiangnan.
base!
The seat of Shanghai County in the Ming Dynasty was probably located at Shiliupu in downtown Shanghai.
Like Hangzhou, the land was reclaimed from lakes, rivers, and ponds, resulting in severe siltation. The rivers were rerouted several times, and new land was constantly formed - Shanghai Pudong Airport. At this time, it was also on the sea. The airport
The area to the south is mostly sea.
However, during the Zhu Di period, water control resulted in the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Huangpu River. The Huangpu River had become an excellent waterway, and Shanghai became increasingly prosperous during the Hongzhi period.
Under the leadership of Wang Yuan, the cabinet has made a decision:
First, Shanghai County allowed the opening of a port and the construction of a seaport in Baoshan Yiyi.
Second, all coastal guard posts in the Ming Dynasty were abolished and all military households were converted into civilian households. The coastal guard posts were simply used to prevent pirates and Japanese pirates, but they had long since lost their due role. Of course, they were used to guard the salt fields.
The guard post was not abolished by Wang Yuan this time.
When Wang Chong left Hangzhou by boat, the cabinet decree finally arrived, and the commander of the Zhejiang capital was so angry that he wanted to curse his mother.
Just because Zhejiang is an area hardest hit by Japanese pirates, a large number of coastal guard stations have been set up for more than a hundred years. After the imperial court issued a document, Zhejiang directly abolished 28 thousand-household stations. I don’t know how much oil and water the Zhejiang capital commander lost.
As for the hereditary military attaches who were dismissed, the imperial court directly spent money to buy out their official positions.
Are you dissatisfied?
Haha, Jiangnan has been at peace for a long time, and the military officers are all useless. How dare they stage a mutiny like in the border town? There are really some fierce people, but they can't get excited and make trouble, because Wang Yuan still has room for these fierce people to participate in martial arts.
By the way, the Dengzhou Guards in Shandong were also abolished.
Qi Jiguang, who was only eight years old, no longer had to be constrained by his status as a military household. He had studied the Four Books and Five Classics since he was a child. After his father was bought out of his military position, he was encouraging his sons to take the imperial examination and become civil servants. Marshal Qi might be able to become a feudal official.
Hangzhou.
A large number of poor old military households who were converted into civilian households brought their families and families to Haining Port, hoping to immigrate to Southeast Asia.
Their fields had long been occupied by military officers. Even if Wang Yuan did not dismantle the garrison, a large number of military households would flee every year. Because they could not survive, they could only work as sailors or go to Nanyang to make money. Now that there are no restrictions on military status, instantly
The whole family went out and finally no longer had to be trapped in their hometown waiting to die!
This phenomenon occurs not only in Hangzhou, but also in the entire coastal areas.
The military households along the coast had no land to farm. They used to work as serfs for the officers and struggled to survive by receiving rations. After they became civilian households, they didn't even have rations. They either worked as tenant farmers or went to work in the cities, while those who traveled to Nanyang
become a priority.
These coastal military households are not inland people with little information. Every year they hear about so-and-so getting rich overseas.
Wang Ce, Wang Fang, Tianzhu Cotton Association, various maritime merchants, and Yinzhou colonial leaders immediately heard the news and sent ships to recruit immigrants.
Yinzhou offers the most generous offer. Ordinary immigrants will be allocated 100 acres of land each, and those who can read and write will be allocated 300 acres of land. Anyway, as long as you go to Yinzhou, you will be a landlord. Of course, you have to clear the wasteland and cultivate it yourself, and you will not need it within ten years.
Pay taxes.
The prices offered by Nanyang are the most rubbish, and some even only recruit workers. However, because they are relatively close, more immigrants go to Nanyang.
Wang Ce's price in Luzon was thirty acres of land per person. The government would distribute seeds for free and rent cattle for free, and the immigrants would only have to work hard to open up wasteland.
This wave of coastal immigrants has caused a huge sensation in various places, and even ordinary farmers are eager to try it. Especially in southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong and other provinces, due to the implementation of the One Whip Law, landlords have passed on taxes to tenants.
, making the lives of tenants even more difficult.
Now, the tenant farmers are attracted by the immigrant military households, and they are also rushing to sign up to go to sea.
In coastal areas, there was a shortage of tenants, and landlords suddenly found that they could not recruit all the tenants. Especially in areas close to big ports, there were already a large number of landless farmers who went to work in the city or on the docks. Now there is a sudden wave of immigrants, which has further caused the shortage of tenants.
Extremely lacking.
In desperation, the landlords could only reduce the land rent, at least to the level before the one-whip method.
At the same time, the landowners and gentry united to put pressure on local officials. Local officials had no choice but to go to the court and request that farmers be prohibited from going to sea, otherwise no one would cultivate the coastal areas.
There were so many people in the imperial court who responded to this matter. Even Mao Ji said to Wang Yuan: "Farming is the foundation of the country. Farmers along the coast are all chasing profits by sea. If things go on like this, desertion will become more and more serious. I am afraid that the country will not have enough food and food shortages will occur everywhere."
"
Wang Yuan said with a smile: "If it weren't for excessive exploitation by the wealthy gentry, how could anyone leave their homeland and go to seek life in overseas barbarian lands?"
According to later historical statistics, during the seventh, eighth, and ninth years of Shaofeng, at least more than 500,000 coastal people immigrated. Most of them went to Nanyang, a small number went to India, and even fewer went to Yinzhou. It is said in history that