Chapter 894 Southern Kingdom
After the ship entered the port, Qin Lang changed into a green shirt and quietly left from the other side, not going to meet the retainers and knights waiting at the pier.
"Everyone waited so hard, Saburo, you are not authentic." Zhang Chao led a group of elite soldiers and changed clothes with some reluctance. Qin Lang seemed to be in charge of a firm, and they pretended to be the guards of the firm.
"To be honest, I haven't been here for several years. The last time I came here was just a small fishing village. At that time, I made a hasty plan and returned to Beijing. The last time I passed by Zhennan Pass, I didn't have time to come here." Qin Lang walked on the pier, looking around at this vibrant trading port city, which was also his fiefdom.
In the past few years, Wu'an Prefecture has also been reporting the development of the fief on a regular basis, but those are all on paper after all, far less than what you can see with your own eyes.
"Taiping City can't run away. Isn't it the same after seeing everyone first?"
"I can't wait to see what changes here!"
The changes in Taiping City are indeed great. The dock area alone is astonishingly large. The ten-mile dock area is all located outside the city wall of Wu'an City.
I haven’t seen it for a few years, and the city walls of Wu’an Prefecture have also been built very tall, and special repairs have been made to the water gate and the canal Unicom pier. There are special canal boats navigating on it, orderly.
The city wall is majestic, but it is the outer city wall of Wu'an Prefecture. It also adopts a bastion-like city wall with polygonal polygons and corners. Although the corners of the city wall that are exposed on the tall city wall are not as good as the square city, they are not conducive to the spatial layout of the city. But it has unparalleled crossfire power, and there are no dead ends at all.
In the wharf area outside the city, you can also see many towering stone fortresses inside and outside Taiping City. They are all towers and blockhouses. They are not particularly large, but they are condescending, like giant guardians, always protecting them. With Wu'anzhou city.
"The tallest tower in the city should be the Bell and Drum Tower, right? The largest one by the pier outside the city should also serve as a lighthouse and guide?"
"Saburo is right, but these are not only the bell and drum towers and lighthouses, but also a powerful defense of the city itself. There are many ballistas on it. In the event of a war, it can accommodate many crossbowmen."
In this era, although Taiping City is actually nothing in the Central Plains, its population of 10,000 households is actually the population of a large county in the Central Plains. In terms of prosperity and excitement, it is much stronger, especially in this city. The planning of the city, coupled with this hideous defense system.
Of course, in the eyes of Qin Lang, a future traveler, this is actually a bit like a few film and television studios he has seen during his travels, and it is not even as big as that.
It feels a bit like a bigger tourist resort ancient village.
In later generations, cities with millions of people can be found everywhere. Any small county town has a population of more than 100,000, and some large villages have thousands of households. Not to mention high-rise buildings, one is taller than the other.
This Taiping City is really incomparable in this respect, but it has been almost ten years in the Tang Dynasty, and I have experienced a lot of travels. Except for the capitals of Chang'an, Luoyang, Taiyuan, Youzhou, Yangzhou, and Guangzhou, the cities of the Tang Dynasty are actually very backward, especially At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty when we had just recovered from the wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty, even the county towns usually had only one or two thousand permanent residents, and the city was very deserted.
A bustling city like Taiping City is really only found in this kind of industrial and commercial city with prosperous sea trade.
Qin Lang had the feeling of visiting an ancient film and television city. When he wandered around, he would not only care about the planning of the city's streets and squares, but also go to the shops and street stalls to buy something from time to time. It doesn't matter what, the main thing is to see the prices in the market and the service level of the merchants.
I bought a bunch of gadgets, and the soldiers carried a bunch of them. As a result, the vendors in the market thought they had come to a big customer. Everyone greeted them with smiles and enthusiasm, and the service was very thoughtful and enthusiastic. Merchandise is pretty good too.
Whether it is foreign trade goods or domestic sales goods mentioned by the merchants, they all have a characteristic, that is, they are very durable and full of materials, and there is absolutely no plan to scrap such things.
Of course, there is another feature, that is, there are many handmade products. All kinds of handmade products, from gold and silverware to jade jewelry, to bamboo and wood carvings, and even such as sewing needles and horseshoes, are basically handmade. of. Of course, there are also some well-known big-name firms, and the goods they sell are obviously mass-produced by large workshops, such as needlework, cloth and even wood and ironware.
The goods of these big companies are obviously more standardized and more sophisticated. Of course, the prices are indeed much higher, but many people still agree with these brands.
Shrewd merchants have also begun to take differentiated operations. Large firms have standardized small profits but quick turnover, seizing most of the market, and at the same time have a high brand reputation, while small workshops, although rough in production, are more affordable in terms of prices, even Can be customized production.
However, some handmade products, such as bamboo weaving, which should be very expensive in later generations, are sold very cheaply in Taiping City, so cheap that Qin Lang was surprised. But if you think about it carefully, you can understand that most of these products are handmade by farmers in their free time, using local materials, and after they are made, they are either sold to merchants, or directly brought to the city for sale. How much money and materials are converted into the cost, so it is cheap to sell.
"It feels like you can buy everything here, not less than Chang'an Dongxi Market!" Zhang Chao sighed while eating a few skewers of grilled squid.
After all, the coast is also an important sea trade port. Under the guidance of Qin Lang's comprehensive development of maritime trade in Lingnan, the iron smelting industry in Foshan Town has now taken shape, and the business of Hongji Coal Mine is becoming more and more prosperous. The shipbuilding industry in other places has also become popular. The new industries such as salt, iron, sugar, grain, cotton, ceramics, pearls, shipbuilding, and weaving have driven the development of the entire industrial chain.
Lingnan has a lot of gold, silver, copper and iron, and smelting, casting, and coin casting are also developing rapidly. With the policy support of the imperial court, it is difficult for this place to develop.
After shopping around, I went straight back to Dudu Mansion.
Anong saw Qin Lang wearing a green shirt, a little annoyed and amused, "Sanlang left us hanging on the pier for half a day, under such a strong sun, we almost peeled off from the sun, Sanlang is very interested in going to Weifu for a private visit!"
Qin Lang took out some novelty gadgets bought on the street, including jewelry and snacks, Anon laughed immediately, and the unhappiness was gone.
"Taiping City is developing very fast, beyond my expectations, much better than I imagined."
Anong gestured on her body with the pearl necklace that Qin Lang gave her, and said happily, "That's not all the plan left by Saburo before, we just manage it according to Saburo's wishes."
Taiping City's business is very developed, mainly due to openness and freedom. Anong, Qin Yong and others managed Wu'an Prefecture, and they did not directly control the merchants too strictly, but imitated the practice of Chang'an East and West Markets. However, on the other hand, they no longer run the square market completely, but the big market in the square city. In addition, street-facing shops are set up in the residential area and streets, and night markets and stall areas are planned on the street.
For merchants, it is also necessary for all walks of life to establish guilds, lead large merchants to serve as the leaders and directors of the guild, and form a council. Wu'an Prefecture only sends a supervisor to participate in management and supervision. More daily affairs, etc. Handled by the guild itself.
The government government only manages these big merchants, and manages a group of vendors through each firm. The hierarchy is clear and the responsibilities are clear, but it is in good order.
"We still have a few pillar industries in Wu'an Prefecture. Our sugar industry is now the center of the whole country, and cotton cloth has also begun to rise slowly. In addition, our shipbuilding, salt making, candles, and gold and silver processing are also developing well here. , In addition, our pottery and porcelain are also good, coupled with our location, we are an important supply port in the South China Sea trade, and relying on Jiaozhou, we have also obtained many development opportunities..."
Qin Lang waved his fan, "Are we still losing money?"
It is hard for outsiders to imagine that Wu'an Prefecture is so prosperous and lively. Qin Lang, the governor of Wu'an Prefecture, owns one-third of Wu'an Prefecture's tax revenue, but he still spends a lot of money in it every year. It lasts for several years. Never made a profit.
Qin Lang's own investment, combined with the investment of his vassals, and the investment of wealthy businessmen from various families and families in the Central Plains, the entire Wu'an Prefecture has invested more than 100 million yuan in the past few years.
With such a large amount of money, it really means that a Chang'an city has been built long ago.
But after all, Wu'an Prefecture is not just a dead city. What is more valuable here is the increasingly mature industrial and commercial system, which is the maturity of many industrial chains.
Such as sugar industry, such as cotton textile industry, etc.
The initial investment in these things is huge, but the later benefits will also be amazing.
Anyway, Qin Lang is also a relatively calm master. He dares to invest money without giving up money. He spends money in it every year. Every year, he spends more and more money every year. The profits are re-invested after changing hands, and most of the profits from other places are lost. It was smashed in.
"Our cotton planting area has increased a lot this year, because we have increased the purchase price of cotton and spent a lot of money organizing craftsmen to improve seed-removing weaving and other processes, so now the production of cotton cloth has increased greatly. But we have also increased several textile workshops this year, Many looms have been added, and many weaving girls have been recruited. In order to make up for the shortage of weaving girls, a large number of female slaves have been purchased to train them in weaving technology..."
"In addition, our whale oil candle factory has also been expanded, and then the whaling fleet has been expanded, and many new whaling ships have been added..."
Whaling, salt making, metallurgy, coinage, textiles, shipbuilding, sugar making, ceramics...Wu'an Prefecture is not satisfied with just doing trade supplies or entrepot trade, but is also rapidly advancing towards manufacturing and processing .
Just in this way, the money will be spent quickly.
"So I have to continue to invest money, and I still can't see the money coming back. Now you are in charge of Wu'an Prefecture's financial planning for me, just tell me how much funding gap there is right now, and I will find a way to make up for it!"
Foshan has iron, and Hongji has coal.
Taiping has sugar and cotton cloth, whale oil candles.
"Sanlang, there is plenty of food here in Annan, the most important thing is food, and the price of food is also cheap. In recent years, in the maritime trade, silk, tea and porcelain are the three most popular commodities, wine and paper are also hot sellers, I thought , the next step is to build a wine shop in Taiping Port. After all, our Qin family is also a well-known wine merchant in the Tang Dynasty, and our baijiu is unrivaled in the world. If people come here, we can build a big winery in Wu'an Prefecture, and then go directly to overseas sales, and we can also seize the wine market in Lingnan, why not do it?"
"The paper industry can also start deploying."
Qin Lang nodded straightly when he heard that, wine is indeed very popular among barbarians and sea merchants. In fact, not only barbarians, but also the southern barbarians in Lingnan also like wine.
Although the transportation of wine is inconvenient, it can’t stand the high profit of this thing. Hu merchants sell wine by whole ship and ship, making a lot of money, even if the risk is high, they are not afraid.
The Qin family has many wineries in the Central Plains, among which liquor is almost exclusively operated, but the export from the Central Plains is still a bit far away. If the wine is directly sold in Wu'an Prefecture, it will definitely reduce a lot of costs and increase a lot of profits. The most important thing is that Wu'an Prefecture is the headquarters of the Qin family, and the establishment of the winemaking industry here can boost the economy of Wu'an Prefecture by a lot.
(end of this chapter)