Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1958 Commercial Group ([-])

"There is no path in the secluded place, and there is shade in the couch among the pines. The autumn mountains are wide, and the cold water penetrates deep into the clouds. The barren grass is like a monk, and the setting sun passes by the heart of a visitor. I walk under the stars and moon, and I rest on a stone for long chant."

On August 1686, 8, Li Nan, who had just returned to Wuchang from Hankou Town in Jiangbei, wrote the above poem in his study with splashes of ink.This poem describes the Huilong Temple in Hankou, which is originally named Saikou Temple. It is said that Emperor Jiajing of the former Ming Dynasty set out from Zhongxiang to Beijing and changed its name when the emperor passed by. It can be regarded as some history.

It's just that the fate of Huilong Temple is not very good. In the early years when the world was peaceful, Hankou had not yet developed. Hankou was covered with tidal flats and reed wetlands, and the people were few. The life of the monks in Huilong Temple was also extremely miserable.It can be seen from the poem that this temple is located in the forest deep in the tidal flat, very remote and desolate, without even a door, and is full of pine trees and weeds.Later, after Hankou slowly recovered, the world was not very peaceful. As a famous commercial port, Hankou was repeatedly attacked by war and suffered a lot of losses. The life of the monks was even more difficult.

In the current situation where Shun and Qing Hubei are confronting each other, Hankou in Jiangbei has changed hands several times. Although it is currently controlled by Shun Guo, it has become a military fortress and serves as a barrier for Wuchang City.There are soldiers, masters, muskets, and cannons in Hankou Town at this time, but there are no merchants, craftsmen, money houses, and various shops. The ground, Hankou Town almost fell down at an alarming speed.

Li Nanxian visited the territory of Qing State a few days ago.Although this person is of Shunguo nationality, and his house is located in Puqi County, Wuchang Prefecture (now Chibi City), but he went to the Qing Dynasty as a comprador on the east coast and was permitted by the Qing government, so the road was unimpeded, not only in the Qing Dynasty. Officials often entertain and visit, and even he and his entourage can live in the post house. This kind of treatment is really rare.

Li Nanxian mainly inspected the three prefectures of Anlu (that is, Chengtian Mansion in the Ming Dynasty), De'an, and Xiangyang to learn about the local customs and products, and to see if there is any possibility of further trade.You must know that the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and the east coast has been greatly eased. The three pioneering teams of the South, Denglai, and Manchuria have successively signed peace agreements with them, and then opened their respective borders to start mutually beneficial trade.

Generally speaking, this kind of trade is mainly concentrated in the south, that is, people from the east coast of Ningshao area trade with Qing merchants and people in neighboring Hangzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing and other prefectures.In the Denglai area, since the western half of Laizhou prefecture mainly grows food, vegetables, and fruits, the special products are relatively limited. At best, there are some seafood, building materials and other commodities in Terengganu prefecture that can be dumped in the Qing Dynasty due to cost factors. .The rest are mainly entrepot trade, that is, reselling Nanyang special products, Heishui special products, Korean and Japanese special products, but the scale is not very large, far from the scale in Ningbo in the south.

Therefore, the people on the east bank intend to start trade in other places to make up for the shortage in Denglai.No, after negotiation between the two parties, the Qing government agreed to open some ports along the Yangtze River, opening them to all countries including the east coast, in order to increase fiscal revenue. After all, there are many places where the Qing government spends money now.

Although Hubei has experienced many wars, its foundation is there after all, so in terms of trading specialty products, it is still quite impressive.For example, Shatou City, a treaty port identified by the Qing Dynasty this time, is located in the east of Jingzhou City (i.e. Jiangling County). The speculation in Jingzhou City has also moved here, which shows how much attention is paid.

Li Nanxian saw a large amount of rice, Sichuan salt, wood, dried fruit, medicinal materials and other various handmade products in the market in Shatou Town.This surprised him very much, because Shashi is located at the wrong place between Qing and Shun forces, and Jiangling County next door has changed hands three times in the past few decades. Then set up warships (which were later destroyed) and add forts here, as an important military town to defend the west of Anlu Mansion.

Such a town located on the front line and facing heavy military pressure, can actually see some color in the market, which really makes him feel a little strange. Could it be that the economic activities here are so active that they are not afraid of war anymore? ?However, regardless of whether Shatou City is really not afraid of war or not, in short, after the Eastern and Qing countries confirmed that it is a port of mutual trade, the threat of war here will indeed be greatly reduced-just think about it. Hundreds of expatriates from the east coast lived in the city, and after a large amount of goods from Ningbo had been piled up, which general of the Shun Kingdom dared to storm the city?Aren't you afraid of accidentally hurting the expatriates on the east coast and causing diplomatic disputes?He can't bear this responsibility!

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty identified Shatou City as an exchange port, which is actually quite ghostly. Strictly speaking, there is a hint of kidnapping people from the east coast to make shields.However, the conditions in Shatou City itself are really good, and the people on the east coast don't care much about this aspect. Everything is business.

As a big comprador on the East Coast, Li Nanxian is naturally not an ignorant person.In fact, before going to Shatou City and Anlu, Xiangyang, and De'an prefectures for investigation, he focused on consulting relevant ancient books and materials, and learned that Shatou City has been a commercial center since ancient times—— During the Spring and Autumn Period, Shashi came to the throne of Chu State Ying It is the outer port and market place of the capital; in the poems of the Tang Dynasty, there is already a chant of "Jiangguan connects with Shashi, and Long boats are moored by the water"; There are thousands of boats, and the canopy lights are shining in the evening, and the light is always like daytime"; at the end of Ming Dynasty, Shashi once reached its peak. "Shashi was at its peak at the end of Ming Dynasty. The prosperity in Jiayu is even lower than that of today's capital and Gusu."

From the above descriptions, it can be seen that Shashi has indeed been a very prosperous trading port since ancient times. Therefore, even though it suffered a large-scale military disaster during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the successive wars between Shun and Qing made it worse, but After all, the foundation is still there, and there is still some energy left, so it is not surprising that Li Nan found that the business here is still a bit prosperous when he went to investigate.

After Li Nanxian finished his inspection in Shashi, he immediately wrote a report, sent it to Madang Fortress by fast boat, and handed it over to the East Coast Navy stationed there to bring it back to Ningbo.In his report, he praised the port conditions in Shashi, and believed that this place, which is located at the hub of the Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake and controls the transportation throat of the Jianghan Plain water network, must be "controlled as soon as possible". The inland river fleet secluded it as a demilitarized zone, so that it can enjoy trade profits, which is a sure-fire business.

This report has not yet been sent to Yin County for review by Captain Liu Houfei.However, it is foreseeable that Liu Houfei will be very interested in this, because after the opening of Shashi, the people on the east coast can purchase a large amount of goods there, and at the same time dump the competitive industrial products produced by the four Far Eastern provinces to obtain huge profits. .At the same time, Li Nanxian himself seems to be able to profit from it-not to buy goods, but to set up a shipping company.

In fact, Li Nanxian has been negotiating with Shunguo businessmen and officials in the two lakes for the past year to see if he can set up a shipping company specializing in the route from Wuchang to Yilingzhou. Now he basically has some ideas: Li Nanxian himself Invested 20 taels of silver, accounting for 40% of the shares. Some businessmen in Wuchang and Yuezhou jointly invested 5 taels and some ships (all Chinese-style sailboats, small tonnage), accounting for 30% of the shares. The general also holds a part of the shares, and as an official umbrella, they jointly established the Dafa Yonghang Shipping Company, which specializes in river transportation between Wuchang and Yiling.

Li Nanxian is a big comprador who has lived in Ningbo for many years, even the importance of shipping.Even for people like them, controlling the shipping business is as important as controlling the source of the goods.Just imagine, if Li is controlling the industrial output in the Yangloudong area, and then the shipping company he runs controls the route from Hankou to Songjiang, then he is not the only one who has the final say on the tea business?When it comes to that, the tea farmers and tea merchants in Yangloudong can only be slaughtered by him, and the businessmen at home and abroad in Songjiang, Ningbo and other places can only hold their noses to buy the tea delivered by him at a high price. How profitable is this? , It seems that there is no need to say more, just thinking about it makes me feel terrible.

Of course, Li Nan first had self-knowledge, knowing that he could not control the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which was forbidden by the people on the east coast, and he would only get involved when he was out of his mind.In fact, he aimed at the Han-Yi line (Wuchang/Hankou-Yiling) and some adjacent inland waterway shipping businesses that the people on the east coast have not yet touched. To put it bluntly, it is between the two major trading cities of Wuchang and Shatou Toss items back and forth to make a profit.The skin of the East Coast comprador on his body can give him enough protection, and the local officials of both the Shun Kingdom and the Qing Kingdom will not embarrass the fleet under his name too much, which has laid a good foundation for profitability.

Li Nanxian plans to take the time to go to Ningbo next month.While a shipment of tea arrives for delivery, visit some old connections, old friends, and see if it's possible to procure some ships from the East Coasters.He is aiming at the small river steamers eliminated by the people on the east coast—classic ships like 72-ton small river steamers, which can be assembled and manufactured by Heishui Shipyard—see if he can be lucky enough to buy a few of them and transport them like that It is much more convenient to pick up people and goods.And this, in fact, is what Shunguo officials mean. They also want to use Li Nan to test some people on the east coast first, to see if there is any possibility of lifting the ban on sensitive things such as ships.Although it seems unlikely, how would you know if you don't try?

"The Yangtze River is also a golden waterway. The riverbed is deep enough, the water is abundant, there is no worry about freezing, it is connected to other water networks, and it is convenient for sea transportation; the population on both sides of the river is large, the agriculture is developed, it contains huge economic potential, and the types of goods are also large. There are many, and the transportation volume is huge. The history of trade is quite long, there are many commercial channels, and the production and sales are booming, even in the war years." After putting down the brush in his hand, Li Nan washed his hands in the copper basin first, and then sat down on the tea table Before, he picked up a cup of fragrant tea, took a sip leisurely, and said to himself: "Prince (Li Siming, son of Li Laiheng, Hubei Jiedu envoy) is after me, and wants to form a steamship fleet?" , Can this be afforded by Dashun? What a mess! But then again, if there is such a fleet of steamships on the Yangtze River and the Hanshui River, it will be very easy to communicate with Xinde in central Sichuan. , and the transportation of troops, food, and machinery will also become very fast, and the speed of goods circulation in various places will also be greatly accelerated. The benefits of this are too great. To be honest, compared to the more expensive In terms of things, ships seem to be more important to today's Dashun Kingdom. The Yangtze River, Han River, Xiang River, and Gan River, look, what a developed water system, Shatou City, Wuchang, Liujiage, Wujiaxue, Which of the important commercial towns such as Laohekou and Yilingzhou did not rely on shipping to develop? Where two lakes, rivers and lakes intersect, ships are more useful."

Thinking of this, it is easier for Li Nanxian to understand that Dashun Crown Prince Li Siming has been trying to obtain the steam engine of the people on the east bank for these years. This is all forced!If the people on the east coast were willing to sell the steamship to Dashun, why would they do this!Speaking of it, Dongchao didn't regard Dashun as one of his own, and was on the defensive in everything, and wanted to use them as weapons to fight against the Manqing. It would be strange if Dashun didn't have any ideas!Finally, everyone is still on the same page now, so I won't mention some minor grievances. Looking forward, the Manchus are the enemy.

"The establishment of Dafa Yong Shipping Company will be faster." After drinking the fragrant tea, Li Nan first twitched his beard lightly, thinking: "Use the local wooden ships if they are usable, and use them from the east coast if they are unusable. Well, it would be even better if we could hire some shipbuilders with a lot of money from the people on the east coast, but those people don’t exist in Ningbo, and they are mostly found in Heishui and other places. If you want to find them, you need to turn a few turns. Please entrust a lot of people. That’s all, this matter is beneficial for thousands of years, no matter how difficult it is, you have to ask, and if there are some people who know a little bit about marine steam engines, they will make a lot of money.”

Thinking of this, Li Nanxian was also a little excited.Although he is a comprador of people from the east coast, he is also patriotic and has a deep affection for his hometown. Naturally, he hopes to see Dashun build ships one day.In that case, the Yangtze River and the Han River will become a thoroughfare, the speed of goods circulation across the country will be greatly accelerated, and commerce will be unprecedentedly prosperous. This will undoubtedly greatly increase the strength and influence of their merchant group, and this is not exactly what Li Nanxian and others Is it what you have been pursuing for a long time?

(End of this chapter)