Lu Ming

Page 231

"Huh? It really is Master Ding."

Naturally, Bai Juren has met Ding Liqiu. When he went to Guangzhou to bid, Ding Liqiu was the host of the bidding meeting: "This is for inspection, follow me!"

Before he finished speaking, Master Bai hurriedly walked down the slope, facing the crowd in front of him with Ding Liqiu as the core.

Chapter 532 Before the Merchants Fair

"Mayor, here is the shareholder of the cement factory, the local 'progressive' gentry Bai Shenming, next to him is Wu..."

A young man with black and thin skin, wearing a plain cotton jacket with straight-leg pants, a cowhide briefcase under his arm, and a secretary's haircut in [-], gave an introduction to the visitor in a low voice in Ding Liqiu's ear.

Ding Liqiu nodded slightly when he heard this, and interrupted the young man's words: "I don't need to introduce the one behind, I know him, shopkeeper Wu, a friendly person."

Speaking of this, Ding Liqiu put on a professional and friendly smile on his face, and stepped forward to meet him with outstretched hands.

Bai Juren, who was also full of smiles, hurried over, walked through the crowd, and stretched out his hands to shake Ding Liqiu clumsily and uncomfortably: "Oh, mayor Ding is here, the students are far away. !"

The word "city" dates back to the Qin and Han Dynasties before the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It mainly refers to commercial markets, square markets, and rural market areas, etc., without administrative attributes. The Ming Dynasty is similar to the administrative unit of the city. It is "fu".

For the city to be truly a specific administrative region, it will have to wait until the Ming Dynasty after the Revolution of [-].In the ninth year of the Republic of China, the local self-government movement flourished. Chen Jiongming, a senior official in Guangdong, wanted to make Guangzhou a city not under the jurisdiction of the old administrative divisions, so he entrusted Sun Ke to draft relevant regulations and organize a modern municipal system.

So Sun Ke wrote the "Interim Regulations of Guangzhou City", which was approved by the provincial government in February of the tenth year of the Republic of China (1921).This is the first time in our country that the municipality has been used as the administrative unit to formulate regulations, which is beyond the scope of local self-government.

Time and space turn, and when we come to the plane of Time Travelers, perhaps it is a hidden induction. The first city-level administrative district in the Ming Dynasty in the true modern sense was also set up in Guangzhou by Travelers, across the river from the old city.And Ding Liqiu, the first "mayor" of the special zone, also brought a huge shock to the people of Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning, seeing people expropriating land outside the city, Ming people who had access to some inside information at that time, the most daring imagination was nothing more than a big market, which was in line with Ming people's perception of "city".

However, today, as the modernized new district rises from the ground at the speed of the natives, the title of "mayor", which was spread for some reason and even seemed a bit teasing in the eyes of the wise, has become a real one. , no less than the authoritative title of the prefect of Guangzhou.

Although Ding Liqiu is fundamentally just a low-level private "counselor" of the General Military Mansion, but now, from the gentry to the officials, no one who knows the inside story dares to take advantage of Mayor Ding.Even Master Hong Yunzhenghong of the genuine Guangzhou Futai would treat Ding Liqiu with equal courtesy in private.

"Haha, Bai Xiaolian is polite, I just came to the cement factory to see the progress of the construction. How about it, are the local elders satisfied with the construction?"

"Satisfied, satisfied! Dagong does not disturb the people, but also gives poor people a chance to make money. Mayor Ding is doing a good deed!"

"Hehe, Bai Xiaolian is profoundly knowledgeable, he should know the truth that water can carry a boat. The world is in turmoil now, we as courtiers, spending some money and food to stabilize the hearts of the people can be regarded as doing some practical things for the court."

"Small words and big righteousness, small words and big righteousness."

At this moment, Bai Juren had an admiring look on his face.He, who is well-educated and well-read in history books, nodded repeatedly after hearing these indistinguishable words of loyalty and treachery, as if he hadn't realized that the other party was a traitor at all.

In this way, Shareholder Bai joined Mayor Ding's team, and the two sides inspected various construction sites in the wasteland that were under intense construction.

Later, accompanied by other local "elders" who came after hearing the news, Mayor Ding also had lunch with everyone.During the lunch, Mayor Ding announced an important news to these local leading parties: At the beginning of next month, there will be a Nanyang Business Promotion Fair in Guangdong New Area, and you are welcome to attend it.

……

Although the plan to travel across the South China Sea cannot be officially launched yet, the preliminary preparations, including the pioneering army, are already slowly underway.Among them, the organized participation of Ming investors in the plan was originally an important part.

It is impossible to travel through the crowds and bring a bunch of poor ghosts to Nanyang to develop. There is a lack of an important link/class: investors.

As mentioned earlier, the current economy of the Ming Dynasty is stagflation.On the one hand, the lower class was displaced due to lack of food, and on the other hand, the landlord class buried precious metals in the cellar of their homes, which felt a bit like an economic crisis in later generations.

Therefore, the crossing crowd not only needs to attract a large number of low-level people to the vast new world to find food and land, but also guides the landlord class of the Ming Dynasty to invest in the new world as much as possible, loosening the stagnant water that has frozen... No need to hire people to dig holes and fill them again In fact, the public only needs to create a strong and fair investment environment, and then teach these ancient capitalists how to invest and make profits.

This was also mixed with the impetus from the pioneering army headquarters, the cabinet and the parliament, so Ding Liqiu started to deal with this matter after the current work was over for a while.After meeting the local rich owners in the Zengcheng area today, he revealed the information about the opening of the Merchants Association.

This news undoubtedly aroused the interest of everyone present.Now that these people have already invested money in the comprehensive project of the cement plant and got into the car, they have already relied on it. Naturally, they are not opposed to the new way to make a fortune, but are very interested in it.

Mayor Ding also made it very clear here: "Perhaps you gentlemen who bought shares in the cement factory meant to be close to my General Cao. We all understand this, and the General also knows it. However, the way to buy land in Nanyang is not for our Ming gentry. Ancestral handicrafts... handed down the family property... four seasons farming... the production of the general underwriting..."

Under Ding Liqiu's diligent introduction, the participating gentry quickly understood the meaning of the so-called "Going to Nanyang": Isn't this the same as everyone going to the countryside to buy a farm, but the farm is a little farther away. In Nanyang, in addition, it is different from Daming. , Nanyang's property undoubtedly rested on General Cao.

After thinking about this point, Bai Juren, who had a quick mind and dared to place a bet, was the first to express his opinion at the dinner table: General Cao intends to expand the territory, and Bai Shen stated that he must help one or two!This time, no matter how big or small, he wants to set up a plantation to plant some rice laborers!

The other rich locals who had reacted also expressed their intention to get involved.It's a joke, everyone in the cement factory can't figure out the way, but to open a farm, the Ming Dynasty, whether it is a rich man or a gentry, is an expert...brought out of his bones.

Seeing the lively atmosphere, Mayor Ding stretched out his hand and patted Master Bai's shoulder affectionately: "It doesn't have to be rice planting either. Come here, make some coffee and cocoa from the Dutch, and then Bring the album here, and I will invite the old men to enjoy the paintings."

The next moment, after Master Bai took a sip of the slightly bitter coffee, before he had time to complain, he was again attracted by a beautiful picture album in front of him: "Master Bai, this kind of big tree is called a rubber tree. The output, the General Mansion bought it at a high price."

Chapter 533 Reception

On March 1631, 3, Baietan Hotel in Guangzhou New District.

With smooth marble walls and ceiling lights, in the hotel lobby filled with decoration ideas of later generations, Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" is playing softly, and guests are sitting on sofas in twos and threes waiting for registration.

The newly opened White Swan Hotel faces north and is located at the big crossroad facing Bai'etan in the new district, far away from the later White Swan Hotel.

In the current building complex in the new district, it seems that all the planning government departments have their own plots, but most of these plots are still green and landscaped, and the ones that can really be used for offices are simple buildings with one or two floors facing the street.In addition to the prime minister's official residence, the parliament hall and the supermarket version of the palace, the White Swan Hotel is the most complete hotel... However, this is just a three-story ordinary matchbox square building, even a skirt of the white swan for later generations. Buildings can't compare.

It can be seen from this that the Baietan Hotel still has a high priority in the eyes of the people who travel through. After all, it is the facade of the new district, and it is a hotel designated by the government to receive people from all walks of life.

Bai Shen and Bai Juren were sitting on the big soft and elastic leather sofa with shopkeeper Wu at the moment, looking around at the decorations in the hotel lobby.

"It looks simple and simple, but it is actually extravagant. There is a set of principles in it, and I am afraid it is a pattern brought from outside the region."

Master Bai, who was wearing a sapphire blue satin soft robe, leaned back on the sofa, blinked his eyes, folded his hands on his belly, and kept looking around at this lobby he had never seen before.

Master Bai didn't know that what he said unintentionally was exactly the correct answer.

Since it is a signboard, the lobby of the Baietan Hotel naturally uses the concept of future generations.

First of all, from the perspective of the architectural pattern, the reinforced concrete structure and the transparent lobby with a ceiling height of 5 meters amazed people.Because in this era, no matter what kind of hall, even the imperial palace, it is supported by log pillars. This kind of spacious hall that is common in later generations has indeed never been seen.This is the reason why many guests look up at the ceiling from time to time today: people can't figure out why the ceiling hasn't fallen down yet.

When it comes to the ceiling, there is a large chandelier hanging upside down above the head, with handmade iron branches and tendrils as bones, inlaid with layers of natural crystal lampstands, emitting bright electric light, which is even more surprising to Ming.Many first-timers, even rich men in Guangzhou, can't finish watching them looking up like country people with their necks up.

Fortunately, Master Bai was not included.

Master Bai has been to Chikan once across the sea. He has seen the electric chandelier and the glazed night scene on both sides of the Taijiang River, so today he was slightly surprised by the size of the chandelier, but he was not timid in other aspects.

What fascinated him were the floors and walls in the lobby.

Pale yellow, the light can be seen, the beautiful stone slabs on which you can really see your own reflection, just like being cut by a knife, are paved under your feet. When Mr. Bai first entered the door, he couldn't walk very smoothly.

There is also the warm red slate on the wall, which is noble and atmospheric, and can also reflect the silhouette of people, which immediately sets off the grade of the entire hotel lobby, so that Ming people who are newcomers can feel the extraordinaryness of this place at the first time.

Before that, due to the backwardness of the basic industry, the cement and the standard Yizhou-made green and red bricks that have gradually become familiar to people in the past two years are almost the ceiling of Ming people's understanding of new building materials.The people who have been committed to supplementing the basics will naturally not make a fuss about some upgrading projects, such as high-end decorative stones.

The stone tiles that Master Bai saw on the walls and floors of the lobby today were actually temporary processed emergency products.

Fujian produces high-quality granite, marble and other stone materials.What is pasted on the wall of the hotel today is a natural royal red wall called "Taiwan Red".I don't know why later generations call this high-grade stone produced in Fujian Taiwan Red, but today it is worthy of the name here: these products are all from the kiln base.

Of course, since there is no production line in this area, the batch of stones specially used for Baietan Hotel are all temporarily processed in the kiln area.This kind of situation will inevitably lead to a waste of labor and materials, but fortunately, raw materials are not valuable in this era, and workers are not valuable, so after wasting a large number of high-quality raw materials mined by local stone factories in Fujian and Taiwan, the craftsmen in the kiln area are finally crossing Under the guidance of the public, this batch of decorative wall and floor tiles was cut and polished by semi-manual.

In fact, Master Bai did not know that the floor and wall tiles that he loved and saw business opportunities from them had already been included in the subsidiary investment plan of the cement factory, and he himself was one of the shareholders of the cement factory.

……

After sitting in the lobby for about half an hour, a young man in a red double-breasted vest came over, smiled and bent down and said to Bai Juren: "Hello, this is Mr. Bai who came from Zengcheng to participate in the Nanyang Merchants Association." Sorry to keep you waiting, the reception desk is free now, please follow me."

Hearing this, Master Bai hurriedly got up, took shopkeeper Wu and a servant, and followed the four of them to the reception desk to register.

After the registration was completed, the four of Master Bai and his party opened two rooms. After receiving the room card and key, they were taken to his guest room by the doorman.

After lighting up the standard kerosene lamp in the guest room, the doorman smiled and introduced the operation of various facilities to the guests, and then left after receiving a tip from Master Bai.

All in all, apart from the extravagant appearance, the Baietan Hotel is not comparable to the business hotels on both sides of the Taijiang River in other aspects.Because there is no electricity in the rooms, also, the hot water is not available 24 hours as the pipes and boiler are not fully finished.

The supporting power plant in the new area is still far away. The hotel provides lobby chandelier lighting, which is actually a simple donkey power generation system, which can only be used for lobby lighting. Kerosene lamps are still used in the guest rooms.

However, compared to other hotels in this era, this clean, luxurious and high-end Baietan Hotel opened by Transit is already a paradise, and the rest are small details, so don't worry about it.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Master Bai went to the restaurant to enjoy a luxurious buffet of three taels of silver per person (with conference subsidies).After that, the participants went to the exotic bar on the second floor to drink white wine and listen to piano and violin performances.In the end, Master Bai returned to his room, took a hot bath, and fell asleep peacefully under the care of the servants.

Early the next morning, in the big conference room of the hotel, Master Bai sat with other wealthy men from Fujian and Guangdong who were interested in investing in Nanyang, chatting with each other while waiting for the main lord to appear.

Not long after, surrounded by a large number of entourages in plain clothes, Mayor Ding Liqiu Ding first appeared on the stage.Behind him was Wang Bo, the commander of the Pioneering Army, who was wearing a neat olive green military uniform and also brought a large number of adjutant staff to the scene.

Chapter 534 Courses

Ding Liqiu was the first to walk up to the podium in the conference room alone.When he turned around, he was facing nearly a hundred well-known and rich men in the audience.The black crowd had already stood up collectively at this moment, bowing their hands to him.Seeing this scene, Ding Liqiu immediately smiled all over his face, stretched out his arms and pressed down: "All honored guests, please take a seat, we will not be formal today!"

He had a lot of dealings, and knew that the people who traveled across the country were indeed simple and polite gentlemen, so he sat back after hearing this.

The Ming people sitting here are basically the group of "enlightened people" who have dealt with the most people from all over Guangdong at this stage.Among them, like Bai Juren, there are about forty or fifty people who have bet heavily on the time-traveling people, accounting for half of the total number.The rest of the people who still maintain a wait-and-see attitude are all friendly people on the list, otherwise they would not be sitting here today.

Although compared with the vast number of traditional landlords in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, this kind of people can only be said to be a drop in the bucket at the moment, but this time through the public, they are confident that those who eat crabs will become successful, so as to set up an imitation for the Ming people. Objects, the power of role models is infinite.

"Although I answered the post from the General's Mansion, it is extremely rare for the honored guests to come here from all over the world without hesitation. Today, we are gathered together happily. I am here, Lao Ding, to welcome you all on behalf of General Cao!"

After a few words on the scene, Ding Liqiu waved his hand, and two attendants stepped forward and pulled the velvet curtain behind him. The next moment, a large "Nanyang Geographical Map" appeared on the wall.

After seeing this huge and incomparably detailed map occupying one wall, most of the people off the court belonged to the elites of the Ming Dynasty who had read the history books. It's getting a little weird.

In ancient times, fine geographical maps of mountains and rivers were undoubtedly top secrets, so today Ming people will be surprised when they see this Nanyang map at first glance, even if it is not the territory of Ming Dynasty.

"Let's talk about something besides the topic first." Ding Liqiu turned his body at this time, stretched out his arm and swipe on the map, then turned around and supported the desk in front of him with both hands, doing a lecture: "Since ancient times, we have governed the land of China. In a chaotic cycle, you can never get rid of the word 'sleepy'".

"According to the traditional way of thinking, the number of acres of land in the world is fixed. Regardless of whether the land under the names of the lords pays taxes or not, the total number is so large, and Daming's territory is so large, it is impossible to change the land of a province. "

"Then came the peace period, when the population became more and more prosperous. After more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, the good days of one household farming [-] acres of land are gone. The tenants under the lords, whether they pay taxes or not, are now one household. There are only three to five acres of land to plant, right?"

When Ding Liqiu said this, he showed a "you understand" smile.

This "Mayor Ding" speaks boldly and clearly pointed out the problem of Hido Hidden.However, the crux of the problem is not here. The gentlemen in the audience will naturally understand when they hear this: unless there is a war, the population of the people in the world will definitely increase, but the total number of fields is fixed.

"Now that the chaos of the Ming Dynasty has emerged, the north is full of wars, and the imperial court is mobilizing soldiers and horses to suppress it. Although the south is better, there are also hungry beggars and bandits everywhere. Don't you see it on weekdays?"

When Ding Liqiu said this, he stretched out a finger: "A tile-roofed house is considered spacious for one person, and comfortable for two people, so what about five people, ten people, and a hundred people? Daming has already accommodated 50 people now! "

Staring at the audience with piercing eyes: "The so-called cycle of chaos in the past dynasties is just a word 'sleepy'. To put it bluntly, it is waiting to die."

Hearing Ding Liqiu unceremoniously revealing the nature of the chaos, the smart people present not only secretly marveled at how bold this guy spoke, but also understood what Mayor Ding meant.There's no way, what Mayor Ding said is too plain, there's no way I can't understand it.

"There is a good saying, there are eight hundred owners of the land in the millennium, the land is the owner and the guest is the guest. All the lords who come today are rich people. When that day comes, everyone will be in danger, and it will be difficult to save their lives. "

After waiting quietly for a while, Ding Liqiu finally showed a smile again after the people in the audience tasted it: "There is one and only one way to solve the problem——Nanyang Tuozhang."

Having said that, Mayor Ding picked up a long pointer, smiled and stretched out his hand to draw a circle on the big map.

Following Mayor Ding's gesture, the spirits of the gentlemen in the audience were shaken: we finally got to the point.

Before Ding Liqiu said so much eloquently, be it alarmist or good words, the wise masters naturally know that this is all about finding a legal basis for today's conference theme. To put it bluntly, it is to learn from others.

It’s just that the gentlemen didn’t expect that this fake official surnamed Ding is really bold. In order to go to Nanyang to buy some Zhuangzi, he even got involved in the rise and fall of the world... As expected of a pirate, he was born as a sea merchant, and he has no law in his eyes , dare to say anything.

Fortunately, Ding Liqiu finally got to the point, and now everyone is interested.

"Nanyang has thousands of miles of fertile soil, the climate is warm and hot, and rice is harvested three times in one season."

"Nanyang is full of rare minerals, big trees in the mountains, and countless fish in the sea. You can find them everywhere."

"Nanyang is full of natives. They have no language and no system. They are lazy and cunning. They only know how to pick wild fruits for food. They ignore the fertile soil and waste everything. They should be punished."

"Nanyang is the place of destiny for my Chinese characters to escape from the barriers. If the children of that generation hold gold, if we don't take it, who else should we treat?"

……

A standard MLM course started in Mr. Ding's wild and passionate speech.

In the next half day, Ding Liqiu gave the participants a general introduction to the geography and products of Nanyang, as well as the distribution of various forces in Nanyang.Among them, Ding Liqiu focused on introducing the target islands that are currently being explored by the public.

During the class that afternoon, Teacher Ding began to settle accounts.From the initial investment of a plantation, to the steps of immigration, fighting, pioneering, planting, etc. during this period, Mr. Ding listed all the expenses and risks during the period in detail for the reference of the participants.

Of course, the most important of these is the income.Leaving aside some gentlemen who want to leave a way out for the family in Outland, large sums of income are the core driving force behind all these actions.

The afternoon class was very interesting. Participants not only tasted various coffee, cocoa, coconut and other special products suitable for large-scale planting in Southeast Asia, but also saw oil palm, the world's largest oil-extracting plant in later generations.

Oil palm, a plant native to Africa, was planted on a large scale in South Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia in later generations. It can be said that the whole body is a treasure.

And in order to enhance the investment confidence of the participants, this time, the people who traveled through it can be regarded as spending a lot of money.On the same day, under the crowd's onlookers, Mr. Ding personally pressed 50 oil palm seeds with a special small rolling mill, and then weighed the oil yield.

The so-called capital is because the 50 oil palm fruits are "imported".At this point in time, people across the world can already drink the coffee brought to Asia by the colonists, but the oil palm fruit has not yet spread.

For dinner that day, Bai Juren and the others ate dishes fried with palm oil.

Chapter 535 Big Satellite

Compared with ordinary soybean oil and rapeseed oil, if palm oil is directly fried, the taste will be poor.This oil has a high melting point and is more suitable for frying dishes.In later generations, although China imported a large amount of palm oil, it was rarely used for direct cooking and was used for indirect processing.The most suitable place for palm oil to play is KFC's fried chicken legs, as well as various fried instant noodles, including cream products in cake shops.

The Ming guests who were at the Baietan Hotel that day also felt this gap for themselves.

The guests not only tried a few mouthfuls of fried vegetables with palm oil, but also watched the production process of fried chicken legs and fried rice noodles.

After that, Mayor Ding presented the grand blueprint for the development of Nanyang commercial plants in detail at the tea party in the evening.

After the party, the guests left in twos and threes.Faced with the huge amount of information received today, the guests now need to analyze the pros and cons. It can be said that everyone has thoughts.

Bai Juren is no exception.After he returned to the guest room, he specially asked the servant to make a cup of bitter coffee.After frowning and tasting two mouthfuls, Bai Juren sat quietly on the cement balcony unique to the new building, looking at the White Swan Lake under the moonlight in front of him, and even the scattered lights in the direction of the old city of Guangzhou in the distance, falling into deep thought.