Chapter 334: Opening the Port (I)

Shanghai County had already been established as an administrative unit during the Yuan Dynasty. In the fourteenth year of the Zhiyuan era (1277), the imperial court set up a Maritime Trade Supervisorate in Shanghai Town, with its office located on what is now Guangqi Road. At that time, the Shanghai Maritime Trade Supervisorate was on par with those in Guangzhou and other places, ranking as one of the seven major customs houses in the entire country.

By the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the government's unpredictable maritime trade ban policies, the nation's sea trade and related technological development had instead regressed considerably. Institutions like the Maritime Trade Supervisorate, after the Longqing Switch, were reduced to only the one in Guangzhou, while all the rest were abolished by the authorities...

And Xiong Dao's mission this time, in a sense, was precisely to "reopen the Maritime Trade Supervisorate" and "rebuild the nation's premier foreign trade port"—a heavy responsibility and a long road ahead.

By the time the passenger boat reached the outskirts of Shanghai County, it was already the hour for lighting lamps.

Although in terms of planning, Ming Dynasty Shanghai was merely a county seat, in terms of its prosperity, Shanghai County at this moment was a sea of lights both inside and outside the city, stretching five li east and west through the Guanxiang suburbs. Markets, inns, Buddhist temples, wine houses, and merchant shops stood row upon row, presenting the very image of a great Jiangnan metropolis—it would be no exaggeration to call it a Ming Dynasty version of the "Ten-Li Foreign Quarter."

This clamorous splendor was not something that shifted with people's will.

No matter how passive the imperial court was regarding maritime trade, Shanghai's geographical advantage was immutable. As the midpoint of China's mainland coastline, Shanghai held a superior location. Departing from here, whether sailing north to Beijing-Tianjin, south to Fujian and Guangdong, or crossing the sea to Japan and the Ryukyu Islands, the voyage distances were all roughly the same.

Even if the Ming people only engaged in domestic maritime trade, it was enough to make Shanghai County developed and wealthy. Moreover, Shanghai County had never been a fishing village; since the Song and Yuan dynasties, it had always been a bustling trade port, a so-called "Great County of the Southeast."

After passing Jinshan Guard, Xiong Dao's passenger boat turned into the Huangpu River, then sailed all the way downriver, arriving at the pier district outside the Great East Gate of the county seat, where it slowly chose a jetty among the many by the Official Dock to drop anchor and lower its sails.

Stepping out of the deckhouse, he sighed once while facing the Bund that would be worth its weight in gold in later generations, then Xiong Dao led his numerous attendants off the boat. Illuminated on both sides by two kerosene lamps standard for wealthy households, Master Xiong crossed the gangplank and met the landlord who had long been waiting on the dock.

The landlord was about the same age as Xiong Dao, surnamed Luo, named Luo Shizhi. This man had a well-proportioned build, a defined face, and an enthusiastic yet unaffected manner—a dashing old handsome fellow, one might say.

Luo Shizhi held a Xiucai scholarly rank and was also a local wealthy merchant. He had long been purchasing Xiong Dao's goods in bulk, making him a second-tier distributor for Xiong Dao.

After exchanging greetings upon meeting, Xiong Dao also exchanged a few pleasantries with several merchants waiting to one side. These individuals had all made a special trip after getting wind of the matter to show their faces and flatter Master Xiong. One had to know that Master Xiong was now a blazingly sought-after figure; if they curried favor well, the slightest bit of business that trickled down would be enough for these merchants to live on.

After dealing with the heap of social obligations on the dock, Xiong Dao and Luo Shizhi turned around and got into sedan chairs. Amidst a clamorous entourage, they headed to the east of the city and entered the Luo family's private residence, "Luo Garden," located three li into the Guanxiang suburbs.

Since the Song Dynasty, as the court's mechanism for selecting talent gradually became the Imperial Examinations, those Tang and Han aristocratic clans that had lasted a thousand years and monopolized bureaucratic positions gradually faded into obscurity—"The swallows before the halls of Wang and Xie of old, now fly into the homes of common folk."

The relatively fair Imperial Examination system allowed scholars from humble families to enter officialdom, which, in the words of later generations, "opened a channel of upward mobility for the lower classes."

However, under this system, because the newly risen scholar-official class of the Song and Ming could not monopolize social resources, family histories of "rising and falling in a flash" and "wealth not lasting three generations" became a new social norm.

In other words, wealth meant for inheritance, such as land and real estate, often changed hands back and forth among the gentry. Because few families could produce officials generation after generation, once descendants lacked the protective talisman of the ancestors' official positions, the land and wealth gained through those positions gradually became impossible to hold onto.

And this "Luo Garden" that Xiong Dao now came to was acquired by the Luo Family last year from a declining official-gentry household.

Speaking of the Luo Family, they could be considered yet another newly risen family under the Imperial Examination system.

The Luo Family were natives of Taicang. Luo Shizhi's eldest uncle had served a term as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works during the Wanli era, and in this generation, two of Luo Shizhi's clan cousins held posts in the Ministry of Works and the Court of State Ceremonial, so the Luo Family was now at the height of its prosperity.

Under these circumstances, with a short history of rising to prominence and only two branches, the Luo family members still looked after each other fairly well. Thus, Luo Shizhi, the Family Head of the Second Branch, had also a few years prior, with a bit of effort, "examined" his way to a Xiucai degree.

Having attained the rank of Xiucai was sufficient for Luo Shizhi, who stayed behind to hold the fort: his daily responsibility was specifically managing the business dealings of both branches in Jiangnan.

Perhaps because the Luo Family specialized in matters related to the Ministry of Works and possessed profound family learning, ever since Luo Shizhi laid eyes on the large timber, # Blue-Red Bricks, cement, glass, and other such construction materials in Xiong Dao's possession in Hangzhou, he "fell in love at first sight" and very early on put out a large sum of silver to become Xiong Dao's distributor.

Luo Shizhi's bulk purchasing naturally had a solid foundation: before long, these materials, along with craftsmen, were sent by him to Beijing. His elder cousin there, serving as Vice Director in the Ministry of Works' Bureau of Construction, was no pushover either. After a test by building a wall in the back garden, as a technical official, he immediately saw the benefits of these construction materials.

Thereupon, the elder cousin promptly ordered men to ride at top speed straight to Jiangnan: "Take all the silver the family has and use it to buy stock."

Thus, ahead of all those still hesitating, Luo Shizhi bought from Xiong Dao at a high price some "second-tier wholesaler" qualification and a permit to sell a fixed quota of construction materials annually in Beijing—it was a seller's era now; the manufacturer not only didn't urge distributors to meet sales targets but instead set an annual sales cap, fearing that if distributors sold too much, production on this end couldn't keep up.

After this, the elder cousin of the Luo Family quickly opened up sales channels for the construction materials in Beijing: the Ministry of Works' free craftsmen combined with various construction techniques provided by the Transmigrators soon sparked a craze among the mansions of high officials and nobles for replacing and renovating with cement roads, cement floors, cement walls, and glass windows.

At the same time, the elder cousin of the Luo Family also took this opportunity to become acquainted with many influential figures, including the grand eunuchs within the palace... The imperial palace also required constant repairs and naturally would need construction materials.

In this way, the two Luo brothers coincidentally both reaped benefits: the elder cousin earned large sums of silver and made helpful connections. Meanwhile, the second cousin in the Court of State Ceremonial, though it was a poor and powerless office, relying on the resources provided by the family, had recently been promoted one rank, managing to at least elevate his official grade first.

From this moment on, the Luo Family became Master Xiong's loyal ally: everything else was illusory; only mutual benefit could bind both sides together unto death.

This was also precisely why Xiong Dao, on this trip to Shanghai, specifically stayed at the Luo Family's Bieyuan residence: among one's own people, everything was convenient.