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Text Chapter 236 The Great Shanghai Plan

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    "Building a city? Your Highness, you you are not joking, are you?" Magistrate Xie's face was filled with disbelief. You must know that building a city is no joke. Financial resources, material resources and manpower are all indispensable, and even if  All three are available, but they must also have the approval of the court, otherwise even the prince will not have the power to build a new city.

    "Liu Lang, there are many ports along the Yangtze River, and not far to the south are Taizhou and Wenzhou. They are both famous seaports. Is it necessary to build another port here in Huating?" Although Li Ke is not very familiar with the political affairs here in Suzhou  Although he was concerned, he still had a very clear understanding of the general geographical situation around him. In his opinion, the surrounding ports were all ready-made, and there was no need to spend a lot of effort to build another one.

    After hearing this, Li Min smiled and said: "Third brother, you don't know something. Although there are many ports along the Yangtze River, they are only river ports. In the past, both sea and river transportation used flat-bottomed boats, so the impact was not too big, but  Now on the sea, all the new pointed-bottomed ships are running, and the ships are getting bigger and bigger. As a result, many sea-going ships cannot berth in river ports. In addition, the goods concentrated in the ports on the Yangtze River want to go to sea.  Sea-going ships must also be replaced, and this also requires a large seaport, so no matter what aspect, it is necessary to build a new port!¡±

    When Li Min said this, he paused and continued: "As for why the new city should be built in Huating, there are two main reasons. The first is that this is the estuary of the Yangtze River. Ships along the Yangtze River arrive here and there is no need to take risks.  Entering the sea, just transfer the goods directly to the sea ship. The second reason is also a geographical factor. In addition to the east side of Huating is the Great Ocean. The other three sides are prosperous land of fish and rice, and it is the main silk producing area of ??the Tang Dynasty.  The port is built here to facilitate the distribution of surrounding goods. If the goods are transported further south to Taizhou or Wenzhou, the cost of the goods will inevitably increase. Therefore, in the long run, it is absolutely necessary to build a port city here!"

    Li Min's words made Li Ke and Xie County Magistrate present nod their heads. Li Yun and Li Zhen did not care about the reason for building the city.  What they are thinking about is what kind of benefits they can get from this new city after it is completed?

    "Liu Lang, in that case. Then let's build a new city, but this is not an easy task. What are you going to do?" Li Ke was also aroused at this time. This is his fiefdom. If it can really be done  To build a very large port, not to mention other things, his achievements will definitely be written down by the historians along with the city, and it will not be just a prince's name.

    "Haha, building a city is indeed a troublesome thing, but you only need to do it step by step. But it is not too difficult. First of all, there is no need to worry about Father. After I return to Chang'an, I will explain the reasons for this matter clearly. He is sure  I will agree. In addition, Xie County Magistrate, you local officials should also help organize manpower. First, build a dock here for large ships to dock. As for the financial and material resources required, I have asked Dengzhou to prepare them and will send them soon.  Come, so for organizing manpower, Magistrate Xie wants to inform Zheng Biejia in Suzhou to prepare quickly. To avoid wasting time!" Li Min said with confidence.  The reason why he stopped in Dengzhou for several days was mainly to arrange this matter.

    Li Min is the governor of Suzhou. Since he has already agreed, Magistrate Xie should naturally follow suit. However, when Magistrate Xie heard that he was asked to organize manpower, his face showed embarrassment. He hesitated for a while and finally said: "  Your Highness, can you postpone the manpower organization for a while? Because now is the spring planting season, and coupled with the spring famine, many people don't even have enough to eat. If they are transferred to be civilian laborers, there may be trouble.  Problem?"

    According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, all people must perform corvee work, that is, work for the country for free. Generally speaking, it will not exceed twenty days per year. This is called regular service. However, this number of days is not fixed. Whenever there are many government affairs, the court will  The number of days of corvee service can be increased at any time, which is called sentry service. However, the total number of regular service and sentry service generally does not exceed fifty days, and sentry service is considered additional labor and can be offset against taxes.  If Li Min wants to build a wharf, he must let the surrounding people come to work in the name of doing corvee work. However, it is the busy spring season, and the general government will not let people do corvee work at this time, mainly because it is worried about delaying the farming season.  .

    Unexpectedly, when Li Min heard this, he laughed and said: "Xie County Magistrate misunderstood. I asked you to prepare manpower. In fact, I mainly want to help you. The sericulture industry will be in a sluggish state in the past two years.  There are so many sericulture farmers in Suzhou and nearby areas. It is really difficult to support a family by raising sericulture. Therefore, when building the dock, I plan to recruit workers. Those who work can receive a reward. Although it is not much, as long as they are willing to work,  It¡¯s no problem to feed a family of several people. But you need to hire some dock construction professionals to make plans in this area to avoid having to rebuild it again in the future!¡±

    Hearing Li Min's words, Magistrate Xie's eyes lit up. It was indeed the work of His Highness King Qi.This not only solved the manpower problem of dock construction, but also solved the food problem of silkworm farmers near Suzhou.  However, this cost is a bit high, and only Li Min, who is rich and wealthy, can probably afford it.

    But Li Min¡¯s money was not in vain, and building a port city cannot be built with just one dock. This is just the initial foundation.  Next, Li Min proposed to open a shipyard and a food processing factory here in Huating, and also recruit fishermen, and set up a fishing team according to Dengzhou. All of this required help from the magistrate Xie in terms of land and manpower.

    Magistrate Xie is not a fool. He knows that if this new city is built, then Huating will definitely prosper and the people's lives will definitely be better. At least they will no longer have to worry about famine.  In addition, when the tide rises, all boats will be lifted. He is not just the magistrate of Huating. Even if it can become a big port like Wenzhou, maybe Huating can be promoted from a county to a state. With this political achievement, his career will definitely be bright.  .

    Just thinking of the above, Magistrate Xie couldn't help but feel hot in his heart. This new city is not only related to the lives of the local people, but also related to his own future. Therefore, both publicly and privately, he must do his best to help build the new city.  Precisely because of this, he naturally agreed to all the conditions proposed by Li Min.  Besides, there is Li Ke next to him. He is the governor of Suzhou and the immediate boss of Xie County Magistrate. Now Li Ke also agrees to build the new city, so even if there is any problem, he cannot be blamed. He only needs to  Just follow Li Min's instructions.

    After the construction of the city was agreed upon, Magistrate Xie asked Li Ke and Li Min to decide on the name of the new city. This was an extremely important matter in the eyes of the ancients.  As a result, not only did Li Ke start thinking about the name of the new city with great interest, but Li Yun and Li Zhen also came to join in the fun. After all, it would be a very glorious thing if the new city was named after the name they thought of.

    In this regard, Li Min acted very domineeringly. With a wave of his hand, he directly copied the name of Shanghai in later generations. It was said that this name would not appear until the Song Dynasty, but he ended up being several hundred years ahead of schedule.  Regarding the name Shanghai, Li Ke and the others were not convinced at first, but Li Min came up with his trump card. Because he had provided the funds to build the dock, he naturally had priority in naming it. Now the name was finally decided, and Li Min  Yin also directly named the plan to develop the new city the "Greater Shanghai Plan."  He hoped that the prosperous Shanghai in future generations would one day be born in his own hands.

    For such an important matter as building a new city, Li Ke burst out with great enthusiasm. He discussed with Li Min that he should not go to Liuqiu at all, but stay here in Suzhou to supervise the progress of the project. If there were any problems, he would just  solved.  Magistrate Xie naturally supported this proposal with both hands. After all, it would be easier to do anything with the prince behind him.

    However, Li Min disagreed. He told Li Ke that building a city does not happen overnight. It takes a long time to build a dock. After the dock is completed, Li Min can invest and build factories here, and then slowly attract popularity. Only when the popularity becomes  When enough, urban planning can officially begin.  During this period, it is estimated that just a few years of accumulation will not be enough, so it is useless for Li Ke to stay here now. It is better to go to Liuqiu as planned.

    Li Ke thought about it and felt that it was right, so he no longer persisted. He wrote a letter to Zheng Biejia in Suzhou, explaining Li Min's plan for the Great Shanghai clearly, and handed it to Xie County Magistrate for him to help deliver it.  Leave Old Man Sun's shop, board the ship and continue south.

    However, just a few days after Li Min and the others left Huating, the fleet was overtaken by a speedboat that came from Dengzhou to report a message. The messenger was sent by Lu Hong, and the message Li Min had been prepared for was that  Silla and Baekje finally started fighting.

    The incident happened a few days after Li Min and the others left Dengzhou. The Queen of Silla gave birth early. Baekje, which had already prepared at the border, immediately raised troops. Prince Buyeo Chang personally led the troops and pointed directly at the hinterland of Silla.  Silla was caught off guard at first, and dozens of cities were captured one after another.  However, it is worth mentioning that from the perspective of the Tang Dynasty, the cities of Silla and Baekje were actually small villages with dozens of households called a city, which sounded shabby.

    Although Silla suffered a defeat at the beginning, it was stronger than Baekje after all. Therefore, after exchanging space for time, General Jin Huanxin organized his troops to start a counterattack. To say that Jin Huanxin was still somewhat capable, in this unfavorable situation  Although Baekje was still able to block Baekje's offensive, and even won several battles, Baekje's morale was dampened for a while, and it did not dare to attack easily again, and the battlefield suddenly became a stalemate.

    The war between Silla and Baekje has begun, and the current state is exactly what Li Min wants to see. However, among the intelligence brought by the messenger, there is a piece of news that makes Li Min frown. Although  This news didn't mean anything, but it gave him an extremely unpleasant feeling.Feeling.
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