"I heard that since Mr. Han conquered Dateng Gorge, this place has been open to merchants and travelers."
Although He Dongli didn't know anything about Australians, it was commendable that this "overseas barbarian" could think of Han Yong's deeds after just one sentence - this happened a hundred and fifty years ago! Even in Wuzhou itself, regardless of the common people, even ordinary scholars, when it comes to the word "Han Yong", many people don't know it, let alone Dadeng Gorge.
"Although Mr. Han destroyed the Dadeng Gorge, he still allowed the local Yaodong to collect taxes on merchant ships passing through the gorge. From then on, the Dadeng Gorge can be opened for business travel."
"Is Yao Qing still peaceful today?"
He Dongli shook his head slightly: "Although Mr. Han was defeated twice, the ground in Guangdong and Guangxi has never been peaceful - but it didn't become a climate!"
In the mountains around Wuzhou in the Guijiang and Xijiang river basins, there are Yao and Tong villages everywhere. Although most of them are appointed by local officials and chieftains, in fact most of them "disobey the king's rule", and various riots occur one after another. Even people like Han Yong and Wang Shouren Even if capable ministers come to govern, they can only achieve peace for a few decades. After a while, there will be trouble again. The so-called Yao Tong riot is nothing new to old people like He Dongli in Wuzhou.
Xie Erren was silent. He saw the collapsed urn city outside Dezheng Gate and the incomplete battlements, parapets and towers on the city wall. His heart was heavy - the artillery fire must have been too fierce back then! How long will this take to be repaired?
The height of the city wall is about eight meters - this height is considered quite good. Xie Erren stretched his neck out of the female wall and looked down. He felt that as long as the wall was repaired, safety would be guaranteed.
He Dongli saw that he was concerned about the city's defense, so he told him that there were 569 clusters of buildings on the city wall, and 36 huts, where the police and sergeants were housed. However, Wengcheng is only located in Dezheng Gate.
"Zhao Toyota!"
His secretary immediately followed him, holding a small notebook and pen in his hand - this was Xie Erren's favorite tune, issuing "instructions" anytime and anywhere.
"After I return, instruct the aftermath bureau to prioritize manpower and material resources on repairing the city walls and city defense facilities!"
"Yes, chief." Zhao Toyota quickly wrote it down.
Coming down from the city wall, Xie Erren led the way through He Dongli and patrolled the city. The business here is indeed prosperous. According to He Dongli, there are eleven markets in the city alone. To the east of Fu Yamen is Fudong City, one of the two most prosperous cities. As we walked along, we saw many shops on the streets, but there were not many pedestrians. However, many of the shops were open and the road barriers were being repaired. Xie Erren looked at the scene along the way. Although there was a fire in the city, the damage was not too great - but the houses were too unsafe. He secretly complained in his heart: Most of the houses and shops are either made of wooden structures or The bamboo fence is painted with yellow mud. If there are any fire prevention measures, the best ones are just clam shells inlaid with river mussels. Except for the government offices, temples and a few large shops and houses, there are almost no masonry buildings.
If Xiong Wencan's fire was really set off by him, it would be a sea of fire! Xie Erren secretly chuckled.
Even without entering the store, judging from the signboards and merchandise on display, you can tell that the commodity economy here is of considerable scale, with a wide variety of merchandise and various industries gathered together. Xie Erren was born as a journalist and has considerable observation ability about the business environment of a place.
"I didn't expect Wuzhou's commercial market to be so prosperous." Xie Erren has seen many counties and cities. To be honest, except for Lingao under the rule of the Senate and the newly restored Guangzhou and Foshan towns, whether in Hainan or Guangdong and Guangxi, , no town can rival Wuzhou.
Seeing this, Xie Erren's originally gloomy mentality became active again - this place has a lot to offer! Sure enough, risks are accompanied by opportunities. As long as I can firmly hold on to Wuzhou City and manage it slowly, I dare not say that the second or third child in Guangdong Province will always be ranked first. What's more, this is an important commercial window for Guangxi and the mainland.
He looked up and saw the confluence of three rivers near Wuzhou City, surrounded by mountains in the distance, "near the Tea Mountain, next to the Guishui River, and surrounded by the river." It is known as "the ratio of Lingnan's appearance to victory" - this praise is indeed not a boast. .
"It is truly the thoroughfare between two provinces where three rivers converge!" Xie Erren praised. This beautiful and magnificent mountains and rivers now belong to our Senate! Thinking of this, he felt excited in his chest.
In the Ming Dynasty, Wuzhou was already an economically important commercial city in Guangdong and Guangxi. Since ancient times, Wuzhou has been a major inland port in the Lingnan region, with obvious location advantages. It can be traced along the river to Nanning, Liuzhou, and Guilin, to the southwest, down to the Pearl River Delta, and directly to Guangzhou and Macau. This enables Wuzhou Port to function as both an inland river port and a coastal port. In the Qin Dynasty, the Lingqu Canal was opened to connect the Yangtze River and Pearl River water systems. "Water from the north flows to the south, and boats from the north cross the mountains." This began to establish the important position of Wuzhou Port in Lingnan. During the Han Dynasty, Wuzhou Port gradually developed into a water transportation hub for Guangdong and Guangxi. Since the Tang Dynasty, wooden sailing ships have been available from Wuzhou Port to the coast of Guangdong. After that, a large number of businessmen from Guangdong went up the river to trade in Wuzhou. Although it is located in the inland mountains at the junction of Guangdong and Guangxi, it has the convenience of a coastal port. Many "foreign goods" are not uncommon in Wuzhou, and "Australian goods" are even more common.
Xie Erren took over such a piece of land - to be honest, if Wuzhou was not located on the "front line", with his ability and resume, it would have been impossible for him to come to Wuzhou to become the mayor.
"That's what the master said." He Dongli glanced at the Australian, his face was filled with the words "make contributions". It's just that although Wuzhou is good, whether it can hold its own depends on everyone's ability.
He Dongli has no special tendency: the Ming Dynasty treated him well, and the Australians had no enmity with him. As for which one has more prospects, anyone who has been to Qiongzhou Prefecture can easily answer it as long as he is not blind. But Qiongzhou Prefecture is just a small place. It is necessary to manage the entire Guangdong well. This is the real ability. Especially in Wuzhou right now, the internal and external environment is very complicated. It's hard to say how capable this Australian solution veteran is.
"This mansion has been the thoroughfare between Guangdong and Guangxi since ancient times. It is home to boats and cars, goods are abundant, and hundreds of industries are gathered together." He Dongli said, "It is really a good place! It's just that there was a war not long ago, which hurt our vitality! Master, please take a look..." He pointed outside the city.
Outside the city, there used to be markets and docks on both sides of the Guijiang and Xijiang rivers, but most of them were destroyed due to the war. Everywhere you look you can see broken walls and ruins. Along the shoals along the coast, wreckage of sunken ships and messy timber can be seen everywhere.
"This river was originally a 'floating market'. In addition to Danhu's boats, merchant ships coming from all over the place gathered here, and merchants lined up bamboo and wood to build shops on it and sell shops. In peacetime, the wooden rafts here are parked along the river, which is a spectacular sight. During the day, when the boats are passing by, the lights are on at night, and there are a lot of people and hawkers. Outsiders think it is a strange sight when they come here." He Dongli said , full of regret in his words.
"Where are these raft merchant ships?" Xie Erren was a little puzzled: I didn't see anything when I came here.
"Everything that could run ran away, and the wooden rafts that couldn't run also carried away all the goods. The remaining ones were used to defend the city and attack the city in the past few days, and they were all burned down."
"What a pity!" Xie Erren shook his head and said, "We need to restore it as soon as possible!"
He Dongli is not so optimistic - Australians have always valued business, and he believes that what Mr. Xie said is from the bottom of his heart. However, the surrounding areas of Wuzhou are currently in chaos: Governor Xiong's troops are very close at hand, and now business travelers have heard that Yaodong in Xijiang is unstable. If this chief can ensure the safety of all areas of Wuzhou, it will be considered good.
Walk all the way along the city wall until you reach the "Three General Palaces" in the east of the city.
Viewed from the city wall, these three general palaces are extremely large, with a total of four large courtyards covering an area of dozens of acres. He Dongli said that these three general mansions were established by Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty in accordance with Han Yong's suggestions. They are the Governor-General's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi, the General Military Mansion, and the General Town Mansion.
The architectural layout is centered on the Governor's Mansion, which is on the northeastern mound of the city and is the highest point in the city. The General Military Mansion is on the right of the Governor's Mansion, the General Town Mansion is on the left of the Governor's Mansion, and the meeting halls of the three governments are in front of the Governor's Mansion. A huge cluster of government buildings has been formed, which are used for the living, working, and discussion of affairs by the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, the chief soldier, and the eunuch of the chief town.
"There are still eunuchs in Wuzhou?" Xie Erren knew from the history lecture that the origin of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was in Wuzhou, but he did not expect that the guarding eunuchs were also stationed here.
"It was true that he was stationed here in the past. Later, the governor's palace was moved to Zhaoqing, and there were no longer any ministers guarding the place. However, the tax supervisor came again during the Wanli period."
Xie Erren followed He Dongli to the gate of the Governor's Mansion. On both sides of the gate, on the left is the Kaifu stele and on the right is the inscription stele. An archway was also built in front of the gate. The south arch said: "Control the two feudal lords"; the east arch said: "Linghai purges the Qing Dynasty"; the west arch said: "The people and things are safe". It is quite grand, but since the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi moved to Zhaoqing, the third general mansion has actually lost its function and has been vacant for many years. The building is inevitably dilapidated. In addition, because it is close to the east city wall, it is very close to Yangmingmen. It was seriously damaged by artillery fire during the battle. There are signs of damage to the roof and walls.
There are a few government servants guarding the place, but they all look unmotivated. When I saw the "Australian Master" coming, I quickly stood up to greet him.
The old scribe who came with him said: "Open the doors everywhere and ask the chief to inspect!"
Xie Erren followed the clerk into the Governor's Yamen. Because Xiong Wencan had been stationed here not long ago, the interior had been somewhat renovated and repaired. It was not as desolate as it looked from the outside. However, judging from the small trees and weeds on the roof, This place has been abandoned for a long time.
There is a couplet in front of the main hall of the Governor's Mansion that reads: "Open Wuzhou and control hundreds of Guangdong." It is quite ironic to reflect that when the city was destroyed a few days ago, everyone in the Governor's Mansion fled for their lives in a hurry, and the rebels took advantage of the fire and looted the place.
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Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 341
