Dominate the Country

Guangzhou Port Area.

As the most famous and resounding foreign trade city in China in the past one or two hundred years, Guangzhou is still prosperous. The Thirteen Factories have disappeared, but the Guangzhou merchants with greater freedom have never been depressed, but have shown more vigorous vitality.

It still maintains the title of China's largest port.

Although the trade volume of Shanghai Port is rising sharply, it will take time to surpass Guangzhou, which has a profound foundation.

The annual active population in Guangzhou's port area is more than 100,000, and the resident population is also 20,000 to 30,000. A large part of them are the Portuguese in Macau at that time. Those Portuguese who turned to the West at the crossroads of choice, some of them left China, but most of them stayed in China and quickly spread from the Pearl River Delta to Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai and other places.

Because these Portuguese in Macau can speak some Chinese, or the official language of Guangdong, and many people can also speak Portuguese, even Latin, etc., being a translator in various ports is the most suitable profession for them.

The largest gathering place for these Portuguese is the port area of ​​Guangzhou.

Some Chinese people say that leaving one's hometown is a bad idea, and so do Westerners? Their "home" for hundreds of years is gone in Macau. Although Macau was originally under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government and had many rules and regulations, in fact, as long as there was money to pave the way, life was still very comfortable. So I don't know how many Portuguese in Macau regarded it as their home.

But now everything is over. Their home is gone, but compared with Shanghai and Ningbo, which are hundreds or thousands of miles away, more Portuguese who stay in China are still willing to settle their homes in Guangzhou. They can work in places hundreds or thousands of miles away, but their homes are still mostly settled in Guangzhou.

Therefore, the residential area of ​​Guangzhou Port is also the best-selling one among the many port areas built at the same time.

As time goes by, more and more Western merchant ships come to China, and more and more countries participate. For example, in the northeastern European region driven by Sweden, Denmark has already launched. Another obvious example is that the ratio of the number of British merchant ships to the total number of merchant ships coming to China has always maintained a relatively stable value.

And you know, the British, who rely on India, have seen a continuous increase in the number of Chinese merchant ships in the past two years.

And that night in Yangzhou, Robert also proposed to Chen Ming a suggestion to open the port of Singapore. He said that with its unique and superior geographical location, once it is opened, it will become an important hub for connecting the East-West sea trade. This was the only person among all the Chinese and foreign people who gave Chen Ming advice that day.

As soon as Robert said this, it immediately attracted the attention of many people. Chen Han seized Sulu and Singapore, and even infiltrated half of Borneo, but it has been silent and has not caused major changes in the "order" of the South Seas. The loss of face by the Spanish and the Dutch is purely asking for trouble.

For China's actions, Western countries generally believe that China's civil war has not yet subsided and its national strength has yet to be restored. When the civil war ends and it recuperates for a few years, it will inevitably face the big piece of South Sea. The British suddenly jumped out and set their sights on Singapore. What was their intention? But when Robert said this, it really made many people's eyes light up.

Chen Ming did not deny it. He would never forget the 19th century when the British were strong in his previous life. Although there were challenges from the French at the beginning, the Russians in the middle, and the Germans at the end, it cannot be denied that the 100 years belonged to John Bull! And the starting point for the British to enter the East was in Singapore.

"Do they want to make the water in Nanyang more muddy, draw more attention to Nanyang, and let more forces get involved?" Perhaps other people would only see business opportunities and praise Robert's outstanding vision. But Chen Ming always felt that it was the ambition of the British.

Singapore's geographical location is indeed superior, but in the short term Chen Ming prefers to use it as a military port until he swallows up the entire Nanyang. Then it will be a good time to light up Singapore.

But no matter what has changed in Nanyang in the past two years, since Chen Han fully opened up trade with the West, it is an indisputable fact that more and more Western sailors have gathered in major trading ports in China. The quarantine area in the port area was initially so crowded that one person could not fit in one room, but later on, one room could only hold three or four people. The area of ​​the quarantine area was constantly expanding.

Every summer, this place would be packed with people.

Any foreign merchant sailor, captain, etc. who came to China had to be isolated here for fifteen days before they could move freely again. During this period, they naturally could not see outsiders, and even most of the time they could only move around in the room, and they had to take a shower every day with that strange smell of water, so all internal and external communications could only be made through letters, and there were large packages of letters going back and forth every day.

Some people say that the post office in the quarantine area is the busiest post office in the entire China, which is absolutely true.

"One to two." Johnson, whose beard was shaved to the point of being completely gone, knew that no one could take it, because a king had already been played, and he remembered clearly that there were no four bombs left. Among the pairs, two twos were the biggest.

"Three fives with a seven, a pair of queens. I won this round again, haha..."

A frustrated voice sounded in the room, "Omer, you big fool, why don't you play a single one?" Cecil threw down the cards in his hand in frustration, and then threw a silver dime to Johnson on the opposite side.

These sailors who were isolated by "restraint" had no freedom to go out, and the only thing they could do was to gamble in the room.

In addition to the sieve, poker is also a traditional gambling tool in the West. This thing has been circulated in the Western world for hundreds of years. It is said that it originated from the leaf cards in the Southern Song Dynasty. It's just that it has developed into two completely different modes now, such as Whist in the UK. And the number of cards is also different. Even the French cards with the largest number have less a pair of kings compared to the current Chinese poker.

Chen Ming doesn't know how to play Chinese cards of this era, that is, leaf games. The poker he made is just purely from his previous life. And for sailors with generally low cultural standards, if you ask them to play Whist or bridge, it will be too troublesome for them. It's the Chinese way of playing that is easy to understand, and isn't the card a gambling tool in China?

It was time for lunch. Only one of the four people in the room went out, and soon, this person returned to the room with a large lunch box and a newspaper.

Mashed potatoes, bread slices, thick broth, salted fish, and a piece of pineapple per person.

Sailors need to pay a silver dollar for food, and then each person can get three meals a day. If you want to eat something else, you can buy it with silver. This isolation system has been cursed by countless Westerners since it was implemented, and many people even think that it is an insult to their personality, but it should be implemented as it should be.

The large lunch box is enough to hold food for four people. Grenville glanced at the three roommates who continued to struggle, took out a portion and ate it, and spread out the newspaper at the same time. This newspaper is the only foreign newspaper in the port area, and now there is only one Western newspaper in China, with three investors, namely Britain, France and Portugal.

This is a hodgepodge of newspapers, which contain Latin, English, French and Portuguese. Grenville couldn't read Latin, French, or Portuguese, so he skipped the first edition. Then Grenville's body froze. "Oh my God, the company's stock is going to rise again." Grenville jumped up excitedly. The Chinese opened the Yangtze River inland port. If the news spread to the West, the stocks of the East India Company in Europe would soar. What's more fortunate is that he also held a small amount of stocks.

In the past two years, with the continuous surge of the Chinese trade boom, the stocks of the East India Company have always performed well in the London market. Now that the good news has come, it will inevitably stimulate countless people's greater expectations for the company. When he returns to London, the price of the stock will inevitably be higher.

Grenville's shouting finally woke up the obsessed Johnson, Cecil, and Omire.

Looking at Grenville who was jumping around in the room happily, the three looked at each other, but their curiosity was instantly raised. When they saw the news in the newspaper, Cecil, who made money like Grenville, couldn't control his excitement and shouted excitedly. But Johnson and Omer, who had no stocks, especially Omer, who had just sold the stocks before going out to sea, had envious looks on their faces.

Today's Guangzhou Port District is destined to be lively.

There was a wolves howling in the quarantine area, but it was nothing compared to the Western merchants outside who were overjoyed.

Especially the Western residential areas and Western restaurants in the port area, decorated with lights and colors, making many Chinese people dizzy and confused. Is this a festival?

Two flowers bloomed, each showing its own branch. Let's not talk about the foreigners singing and dancing over there. Not long after Chen Ming returned to Nanjing, a personnel change quietly began. First, some positions in the tax department were vacant, and many positions in the Construction Bureau, the Industry and Commerce Bureau, the Grain Bureau, etc. had to be moved, and the top leader of Nanjing City also had to move. This personnel change did not involve the top positions, but it was also a department with great power, especially the Nanjing Shuntian Prefecture Yin, which was the top priority. Chen Ming had two candidates, one was Yue Wenhai from Shanghai, and the other was Xiao Lou, the prefect of Jiujiang.

"If there is something, report it early, if there is nothing, leave the court."

With the familiar shouts of Chen Han's important officials, a new court meeting began again.

Chen Ming was no longer standing below. There was another seat next to Chen Hui's throne, and Chen Hui did not go to court. This was the first court meeting after Chen Ming returned to Nanjing, and it was also the first court meeting he personally presided over.

"I have a report." Cai Xin, the current head of the Ministry of Personnel, stood up. This is an old man in his seventies. He became a Jinshi in the first year of Qianlong and was selected as a Hanlin Shujishi. After the disbandment, he was appointed as an editor of the Hanlin Academy. Then his official career was smooth and smooth. When Cai Xin asked to return home to take care of his mother in the 22nd year of Qianlong, he was already the Minister of Personnel and in charge of the affairs of the Imperial College.

Cai Xin returned home for ten years. It was not until the 32nd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign that he was appointed by Emperor Qianlong as the concurrent Minister of War and Minister of Fujian Tuanlian. Chen Jie was supposed to be his student. However, Cai Xin's behavior in office was a bit like standing in the toilet without taking a shit. He stayed in Fuzhou on the pretext of recuperating from illness. As a result, he was removed from the post of Minister of Tuanlian after less than a year. After the Fu Han Army entered Fuzhou, Chen Jie was forced to go south. Cai Xin, who was "recuperating" in the Shaolin Temple in Putian, turned into a member of the Fu Han Army. In the following years, he was promoted step by step and now he has reached the position of Minister of Personnel.

Chen Han's position as Minister of Personnel was a bit fake, because the personnel power above the prefecture was mostly in the hands of the Chen family father and son. Their Ministry of Personnel could only manage small officials below the county level, and most of the time they could only come up with a list of candidates. Now Cai Xin was going to report the list of candidates for the Nanjing Shuntian Prefecture.

Chen Ming knew who those two names were, because they were both selected by him. Yue Wenhai and Xiao Lou!

"Yesterday, Wu Xizeng, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, submitted his resignation. Although I was reluctant, I had to approve it out of pity for his old age and frailty. However, Shuntian Prefecture is the best place in the country, and it cannot be without a person in charge. I wonder who you think is the best of these two?"

Wu Xizeng is one of Chen Hui's old team members. He is the same as Ren Meng, Zhang Chi, Zheng Hongyu, and Wei Xiuzhi. When Chen Ming was canonized as the prince, it was all Wu Xizeng who took care of it. But this Wu Xizeng made the same mistake as Chen Hui. He was greedy for women and his health was greatly damaged. He is two years younger than Chen Hui, and his health is much worse than Chen Hui.

Before Chen Ming returned to Nanjing, Chen Hui sat on the top. Even if Wu Xizeng was just sitting there, no one dared to criticize him publicly. But now the old and the new have taken over, and the power has been transferred. Wu Xizeng left very consciously without any loss of face.

After hearing Chen Ming's words, there was a brief silence below, and many ministers immediately realized that this was an opportunity. Shuntian Prefecture Yin, this is not the Shuntian Prefecture Yin in Beijing of the Qing Dynasty. The seat in the Nanjing government office is very powerful. Moreover, Chen Han's official position is different from that of the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. The position of Shuntian Prefecture Yin can be on par with the governor of a province.

Originally, the ministers and nobles below thought that Chen Ming would make decisions arbitrarily.

There are two candidates, Xiao Lou and Yue Wenhai. Many people even think that Yue Wenhai will have a greater chance because he has a good son-in-law. But now it seems that this is not the case. Many important officials in the hall realized that this matter might not be so simple, but for these people, these are not important. What matters is who takes over.

The senior officials of each group turned their eyes to their respective leaders, and their close friends also exchanged glances with each other secretly. Chen Ming, who sat high up, looked down at the important officials, and no one knew what he was thinking in his mind.

Chen Cong quietly looked at his nephew, and he couldn't guess what he meant psychologically. After the list of the Ministry of Personnel was freshly released, he didn't say a good word to Yue Wenhai in front of Chen Ming, but felt that there was almost no problem with Yue Wenhai sitting in this position. This is not a question of who is better in ability and qualifications between Yue Wenhai and Xiao Lou. To be fair, the two have their own strengths and it is difficult to say who is better or worse. But in the case of equal strength, who has a deeper background, the position must go to Yue Wenhai. But now things don't seem to be developing like this, and he consciously told him that his eldest nephew is making a small calculation that he didn't know. He winked at the ministers who were qualified to attend the court and were attached to him, and told them to be patient and not to act rashly.

Compared with the uneasiness of Chen Cong's group, some people who had dirty or bad relations with Chen Cong were secretly excited. The prince did not give the position to Yue Wenhai arbitrarily, but brought it to the table for discussion. What does this mean? Does this mean that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has some opinions about Chen Cong, his second uncle? Or did Yue Wenhai offend the Crown Prince severely in Lushan in the early days?

But no matter what, this is an unexpected surprise. These senior officials were very excited. Their eyes fell on Chen Gang at this time. Since Chen Gang failed to return to his clan that time, he had a big rift with Chen Cong. When Chen Cong stood up for the new Confucianism several times, the rift turned into a conflict.

"I have a report." Chen Gang stood up as expected, and then denied Yue Wenhai. "Although Shanghai is higher than the prefect, Yue Wenhai has made contributions for many years of hard work, but the land is small and the population is small..." What came out of his mouth were empty words, and he smoothly pressed the gradually prosperous trade in Shanghai on the smell of money.