Chapter 297 Inspection of Guangzhou

The recent population exodus from Yazhou is not just the peasants and soldiers of the guard system. In fact, the entire working population of Yazhou has been showing an accelerating outflow in the past six months - the destination is naturally Shengheng Port, which has a huge labor shortage.

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In terms of productivity and material supply capabilities in this era, if a large influx of people enter a place, there will inevitably be a shortage of food and material supplies. But now food is no longer the main factor limiting the number of immigrants moving to Victory Port. Quite the opposite.

What is surprising is that the material supply situation received by the residents of Shengli Port area is much better than that of Yazhou. Especially in terms of food supply, due to the food rationing system adopted by the Executive Committee, the basic expenditure on food for naturalized residents is surprisingly low.

The food standard is much higher than when I lived in Yazhou.

Similar to this, there are other living costs, such as housing, medical care, education, etc. These projects uniformly arranged by the Executive Committee allow naturalized residents to save a lot of money and enjoy things that were unimaginable in the past.

It can be said that except for not getting their own land in their name, all other benefits are better than in the past. And land is not an unattainable thing. According to the policy promoted by the Haihan people, as long as

After obtaining the status of a naturalized citizen, you can work hard for a few years. When your labor level reaches a certain level, you can expect to obtain land with extremely low rent.

If you feel that the time is too long and you can’t wait, you can also directly sign up to join the Haihan Militia. Soldiers in the militia can retire and get land immediately after serving for a few years. This kind of treatment was unthinkable under the Ming Dynasty - Wei Suo

The soldiers and their fields have become the private property of the military leaders, but I have never heard of military leaders taking out the land and giving it to the soldiers below.

Starting from the second half of 1627, some selected "senior" naturalized people returned to Yazhou one after another to persuade relatives and friends to move to Victory Port. Under the testimony of these people, many people at the bottom of the society inside and outside Yazhou City began to

Active migration. So far, the residential population in Yazhou City has been reduced by nearly 40% compared with before the arrival of the Haihan people. There are mainly four types of residents who still stay here: First, people who eat from the government, including various yamen and local people.

The garrison, these are all accessories bound to Yazhou City; the second is the local gentry, these people basically will not move easily; the third is the small landowners who own land in the surrounding areas, I heard that the Haihan people

The border does not allow private land buying and selling, so these small landowners are naturally unwilling to give up their current living environment easily; the last category is a small number of self-cultivators, and the reasons for these people to stay are similar to the third category. They are basically concerned about the sea.

The Han people had great concerns about the way they dealt with land issues.

The consequence of the outflow of a large number of laborers is the gradual depression of Yazhou's market. The labor market outside the south gate has long been out of business. Now there is no need for Yahang to organize publicity. Residents who are willing to go to Shengli Port will naturally know that every month

On which days will there be free immigration ships to Victory Port? Since there is not much oil and water to be fished in the local area, Yaxing, which originally organized immigrants for the Yazhou Office, is no longer doing business in Yazhou, and its position has also been moved to Hainan.

Several towns on the north side of the island.

The Ningyuan River wharf in the north of the city is no longer as lively as it used to be. Due to the gradual prosperity of Victory Port, Yazhou City is no longer the dominant cargo distribution center in the south of Hainan Island. Many merchants have wisely chosen places with zero taxes.

Victory Port is the end point of goods. In addition to the burden of paying taxes, merchants who ship goods to Yazhou City will also face another trouble. It is difficult to find local labor. Even the unloading of goods is difficult.

It has become very troublesome. This problem will never occur in Victory Port. As long as the ship is loaded with the goods that the Haihan people need, the unloading process does not even cost a copper plate, and the labor costs are all paid by the Haihan people themselves.

bear.

As for the city of Yazhou, it is even more depressed. There are far fewer vendors and pedestrians than before. Some small shops have begun to close down. People with connections in other places have even begun to sell their properties in preparation for leaving this lifeless place.

At present, the main population import channel in Yazhou City is only the prisoners assigned here every year. But having said that, except for a small number of serious criminals and criminals in Yazhou Prison, most of the other prisoners

Most of them were also sent to Shengli Port to work for the Haihan people to make money. If the Ministry of Punishments sent people to inspect, basically no one from the top to the bottom of the relevant units in Yazhou Prison would be able to escape responsibility.

Under such a social environment, the Cliff Office has quietly occupied the local market for several major daily necessities. Haihan refined salt from Victory Port, as well as clean coal and rice from North Vietnam, are all in the market.

The extremely low prices quickly defeated competitors in the local market. Under the control of Chuanchuan Group, the prices of these daily necessities were only half of the past. Naturally, the acceptance of the local people was extremely high, and as a result, they had a strong interest in Haihan.

It has gained more favor. And when the supply of these basic living supplies is controlled by the Cross-Travel Group, there is actually not much suspense about the future direction of Yazhou City - the Yazhou Office only needs to make slight adjustments to the supply of these supplies.

, is enough to affect the social stability of Yazhou City.

However, for the Executive Committee, the concerns of local officials like Zhang Qianhu are indeed unnecessary. The Executive Committee will not issue an order to directly occupy Yazhou City in the short term - just as Zhang Qianhu thought, occupying

Xiayazhou City has no practical benefits for the Crossing Group. I am afraid that its more role is just to highlight the essence of the rebellion.

The development plan of Chuanchuan Group in the Sanya area is still based on Shengli Port and gradually expand outward. With the acceleration of labor input and the gradual increase in the flow of foreign maritime merchants, the Executive Committee believes that it is now possible to expand the new city area and Xingang District

The construction plan has been included in the agenda.

The so-called new urban area refers to the coastal plain area covered by the two river systems of Sanya River and Linchun River, which is also the urban area of ​​Sanya in another time and space. The two rivers meet offshore and then pass through a narrow

The estuary flows into the sea, and the inland harbor close to the estuary is an excellent natural harbor. As early as the beginning of the crossing, when the expedition team was sent to Yazhou for the first time, on-site inspections of this harbor had been carried out. Related

The construction plan has long been placed in the database of the Ministry of Construction, just waiting for the right time to implement it.

Now that Chuanchuan Group has sufficient labor force, it is a good time to get started quickly. The Ministry of Construction has once again proposed a plan to develop a new urban area. According to this development plan, future commercial and residential areas will gradually move from Shengli Port to the new city.

In the urban area, Victory Port will gradually transform into a military port, while the Tiandu area will exist as a pure industrial area.

Although such a plan may overlap with the current Shengli Port development plan, it is also a process that must be experienced in local construction, because Shengli Port is indeed not suitable for long-term use as a commercial and residential area - with Tian Du Industrial

During the construction process of the district, the Tiandu River water system has actually begun to experience mild pollution. The industrial zone is upstream and the residential area is downstream. This industrial layout surrounding the Tiandu Iron Mine will gradually show more serious negative impacts in the future.

, the executive committee does not want to wait until the Tiandu River turns into a Heishui River before starting to organize the relocation.

According to the plan of the Ministry of Construction, the new city will be built around Xingang District. In the first phase of the project alone, thousands of workers will be invested to renovate the Xingang Riverbanks and channels, and at the same time, the land transportation line from Victory Port to Xingang District will be opened.

In order to transport various materials from the base camp to the construction site. In terms of project volume, it is no less than when the passenger and freight comprehensive terminal was built in Victory Port last year. However, because the manpower situation has been greatly improved, it will no longer be the same as the labor force at that time.

Demand is so stretched.

In principle, this plan has been approved by the Executive Committee, but the time for its announcement has to be pushed back later - the first anniversary of the time travel will be in one month, and such a relatively large move,

At that time, it will be announced to the local people as an anniversary gift.

On March 3, two "Exploration-class" sailing ships were launched at the same time at the Victory Port Shipyard and began the final outfitting work. According to the shipyard's schedule, the two ships are expected to complete outfitting and sea trials before the anniversary.

, included in the newly established naval establishment. Although the third "Exploration-class" sailboat started at the same time is still on the slipway, it has also entered the preparation period before launching. It is expected to be launched within a week. If the shipyard

If your hands and feet are fast enough, it is not impossible for three "Exploration-class" ships to enter the fleet at the same time.

However, since the shipyard has focused its main energy on the construction of the "Exploration Class", the construction plan of the larger 500-ton sailboat has been affected to a certain extent. The Ministry of Shipping originally planned to complete the design plan before the end of January and

The keel was laid on the slipway, but in fact this work lasted until mid-February. When the two new ships were launched, the 500-ton ship was still in the stage of assembling the keel. It would be good if it could be completed in the first half of the year.

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On the morning after attending the launching ceremony on behalf of the Military and Police Department, Tao Donglai quietly left the Port of Victory on the "Lightning" fast sailing ship. The direction of his secret trip was Guangzhou, and the reason for this trip was

To keep it secret, the executive committee also took into account Tao Donglai's special status. If the news of Leader Haihan's visit to Guangzhou spreads, there is no guarantee that some people with ulterior motives will not have bad intentions.

Tao Dong came to Guangzhou this time for two main purposes. One is to conduct routine inspections of overseas units on behalf of the Executive Committee. Among the current overseas units, Heitu Port, Tushan Peninsula Stronghold, Cliff Office, Tao Donglai

They have all gone to inspect the work, except for the Guangdong Office. Secondly, the Executive Committee also needs to know the specific progress of the financial institution construction work currently carried out by the Guangdong Office - to put it bluntly, it represents the Executive Committee

I will go to the local area to check the accounts.

After Schneider returned to Shengli Port during the New Year to attend the work summary meeting, he brought a full 150,000 taels of silver and 2,000 taels of gold when he returned to Guangzhou as the start-up capital for the general deposit and redemption business of the Guangdong Office.

After the Guangdong Office handles this business, maritime merchants no longer need to bring cash to and from Shengli Port and Guangzhou. They only need to have a bank check issued by the "Haihan Development Bank" to go to the Guangdong Office or Guangzhou.

The currency exchange center in Victory Port directly exchanges the full amount of cash, and it is of high quality, so there is no need to worry about the issue of silver in the transaction.

With Schneider, a veteran financial fraudster, taking command in Guangzhou, the Executive Committee actually has nothing to worry about about possible system loopholes in operation. Schneider himself is an expert in this field, and he will definitely be better than the rest of the Executive Committee.

A more thorough consideration. The main purpose of Tao Donglai's visit this time was just to see the specific operation conditions and listen to the comments of local users.

The "Lightning" completed the more than 300-nautical-mile voyage from Victory Port to the Pearl River Estuary in just two days. However, because the "Lightning"'s appearance was too eye-catching, it was not suitable to appear outside Guangzhou, so it was stationed in Guangzhou.

The office also arranged a boat for Tao Donglai to transfer to the Pearl River Estuary early. It took another day and a half for Tao Donglai to finally arrive at the dock outside Guangzhou.

In order to avoid attracting the attention of idlers, the Guangdong Office did not go out to the pier to greet Tao Dong. Only He Xi took Zhang Shipiang's youngest son Zhang Qianzhi and hired a soft sedan to wait at the pier to receive Tao Dong.

After arriving, they briefly exchanged greetings and then arranged for Tao Dong to board the sedan and return to the Guangdong Office.

Of course, things were different in the General Office of the People's Republic of China. Schneider and others had already prepared a reception banquet. As soon as Tao Donglai entered the courtyard, he was led directly to the wine table.

Tao Donglai looked at the large table of food and wine and couldn't help but joked: "Your Jiefeng Banquet is beyond the standard! Don't forget that my mission is to check the corruption problem!"

"Mr. Tao, if you want to check, you have to eat enough to have the strength to check. Whether it exceeds the standard depends on whether you have eaten well. If you feel that this meal is not good, then we will not admit that it exceeds the standard anyway. Everyone said

Right?" He Xi put Tao Donglai on the throne without any explanation.

Naturally, Tao Donglai would not really care about how much money the meal at the Guangdong Office was worth. Due to the need to carry out various businesses, the Guangdong Office had always had considerable financial freedom, and its daily expenses of less than a thousand taels of silver were all.

There is no need to report to the base camp, you just need to keep good records in the income and expenditure accounts. Especially for the work He Xi is engaged in, many accounts are not suitable for disclosure, and the relevant records are even accessible to some employees of the Guangzhou Guangdong Office

No one has permission to access it.

At the dinner party, Tao Donglai did not take the initiative to mention work matters, and everyone returned home enjoying themselves at the wine table.

The next morning, Tao Donglaicai met with Schneider and He Xi in his study to learn about the current operation of the Guangdong Guangdong Office.

Schneider first handed a book to Tao Donglai: "This is the registration information of the merchants participating in the deposit and redemption business in Da Ming. As of the end of February, a total of seventeen merchants in Fuguang area have used our deposit and redemption business, with a minimum transaction amount of 1

Starting from one thousand taels, the highest single transaction amount was 75,000 taels, which was the business of 'Furuifeng' last month. The total transaction amount now exceeds the original principal we brought."

Tao Donglai nodded slightly while looking through the book.

Schneider continued: "According to the current transaction trend, the amount of cash input by the Guangdong Office is still far greater than the output. This is basically consistent with the import and export trade surplus we currently maintain. Now the Guangdong Office

There are still 228,000 taels of silver in deposits and nearly 4,000 taels of gold. Now we have expanded a courtyard outside the Guangdong Office and connected to the wall of the back room, which is specially used to handle external money transactions. Wait a moment

I'll take you over there to have a look."

Tao Donglai raised his head and said, "Have you encountered any difficulties in actual operation?"

"The main issue is credibility." Schneider said unabashedly: "Although our products have already gained a certain reputation in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, in the financial field, the credibility of our Haihan brand is obviously far from enough. Only

Only merchants who have direct trade dealings with us are willing to use the bank notes issued by us, and these merchants basically require the use of registered bank notes for safety reasons, so they are not liquid at all in the market."

"It doesn't matter. It takes a period of time to build credit and let customers develop habits. There is no need to rush into this. At least we have made a good start now. As long as the richest and most powerful people start

By using our services, it will not be too difficult to promote it to the society." Tao Donglai still gave encouragement and comfort to the problems mentioned by Schneider.

In this era when precious metals are the main currency in circulation, it is naturally very difficult to implement credit currency. This not only requires the support of a strong economic foundation, but also the gradual recognition of the public. The transformation of values ​​does not happen overnight.

It is impossible for the Guangdong Office in mainland China to copy the experience of Port Victory and directly abolish the circulation of precious metal currencies. At least from the starting point of general deposit and exchange, the choice made by the financial department headed by Schneider is extremely correct.

This is extremely practical for merchants traveling between the two places, and since these merchants have more contact with the Cross Travel Group, the "Haihan" brand has a relatively high degree of credibility in their minds.

As the number of people using Haihan's financial services grows larger, the relevant departments can begin to gradually launch bearer banknotes as credit currency for circulation in the market - of course, for a considerable period of time in the future, the circulation scope will only be

It's just in the circle of the upper class of society.

Banknotes are nothing new in China. There were officially issued banknotes in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Unfortunately, although the official had the vision to issue credit currency, they did not have the professionals to manage the currency. In the end, they were wasted due to random issuance of additional currency.

As a result, the value of paper bonds plummeted, and they had to be abolished by the government themselves. From Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, more than 800 years of efforts were made, but in the end they failed to form a complete financial system. And this historical development trajectory is exactly the same.

This is what Schneider and others are determined to change.
Chapter completed!