Next, Tang Menglong introduced the population situation of Sanya in detail. Sanya currently has a registered population of more than 50,000, and there are more than 10,000 slave laborers without household registration. The total population totals nearly 70,000. There are also thousands of military and short-term dispatched personnel who cannot be counted in the population.
This number impressed Xu Yanliang very deeply. Not counting Guangzhou, Lingao, the "first city" of the Senate, had a population of less than 200,000.
The current population is mainly concentrated in Hexi District, Tiandu District and Jinling District. Among them, Jinling District is the most common. This area has a lot of flat land and sufficient water supply. Most of the farmers who come to Sanya live in this area. Most of the several farms in the local area are set up locally. The second gathering area is Tiandu. The third one is Hexi District.
After this introduction, the conversation lasted until the evening. Tang Menglong was the host that night, and the two drank and talked happily. Under the influence of alcohol, Xu Yanliang revealed some of Nanyang Company's "ambitions" in the future, and Tang Menglong also promised that he would "definitely support it." Both sides dispersed when their excitement was exhausted.
The next day, Tang Menglong said that he would take him to Hexi District. Xu Yanliang declined - today he was going to meet the staff of the Southeast Asia Company's Sanya Trading Station. It was inconvenient to have Tang Menglong around, so he was asked to arrange a guide. Tang Menglong arranged for a secretary from the municipal government to lead the way.
This secretary is young. He just graduated from the administrative class at Fangcaodi last year and was assigned to Sanya. As soon as Xu Yanliang came out of the city hall, he was waiting at the steps with two Venus Zeros and four guards on bicycles.
Seeing him coming out, he immediately stood at attention and nodded:
"Yuan Fei, secretary of the General Office of the Sanya Municipal Government, reports to you!"
There are not many departments in the Sanya Municipal Government, and the number of cadres is very small. This so-called secretary is just a "handy boy" who does all kinds of work.
"How old are you?" Xu Yanliang couldn't help laughing as he looked at the rather immature boy in front of him, wearing an unsuitable cadre uniform.
"Report to the chief, seventeen years old!"
"You are so young and you haven't studied much for a few years?"
"Report to the chief..."
"Stop talking about this and answer the question directly!"
"Yes! The veteran teacher said that I am a 'rotten wood that cannot be carved'. It is better to join the work as soon as possible. At least I can work for a few more years."
"You can't carve out rotten wood and even arranged to work as a secretary in Sanya. Come on, tell me who this ingenious leader is."
"Yes, it's Elder Yang Xinwu."
"It's him." Xu Yanliang almost laughed again. But he held back, "Can you ride a bicycle?"
"of course!"
"Then tell this old rickshaw to go back and we can ride there!"
"Yes, Chief!"
A group of people rode bicycles along Yuanlaoyuan Road, following yesterday's route, and continued riding forward when they arrived at the pier. This area is a narrow north-south strip on the west bank of the Sanya River and east of the coast. It is planned to be the business center and life center of Sanya City.
Not far from the pier is the commercial station area. In the 17th century, commerce and freight were not completely separated. Most merchants engaged in trade used people and goods to travel together. Therefore, various countries have buildings such as "commercial stations" or "commercial halls" in port cities.
A business station is roughly based on a country, a region or a company, integrating accommodation, negotiation and inventory, as well as currency exchange, remittance and other functions. Business stations generally adopt fully enclosed management, on the one hand to ensure the personal and property safety of merchants, and on the other hand, to facilitate local government management and taxation. From the earliest "Steel Merchant Station" of the Hanseatic League in London to the Yiguan of the "Thirteenth Industry" in Guangzhou, they are all similar institutions. In the early days, such trading stations also served as consuls.
Because Sanya was positioned as an "international trade city", land was specially set aside near the dock to set up commercial stations. However, because the trade here is not prosperous, so far, only the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company and the Portuguese have set up trading stations here.
When Xu Yanliang came to the shopping station area, he felt that it was deserted. There were only a few small buildings and supporting warehouses in the huge open space. A few flags were flying listlessly.
"That house is the Southeast Asia Company's business station." Yuan Fei pointed to the house in the distance while riding his bicycle.
The Southeast Asian company's business station is located near its dedicated pier. It looked equally deserted. The open-air storage area of the dock is clean. There isn't even a broken box, only seagulls flying up and down looking for food. The bulky steam crane and supporting boiler are cold? Not even a spark is visible. There are more than a dozen merchant ships moored next to the trestle. Not only have the sails been furled, but some ships have even had their masts taken down. There were no sailors on the ship, only two guards stood guard beside the trestle, bored. It looks like a winter break.
"Is this place so deserted on weekdays?" Xu Yanliang asked, becoming increasingly frustrated as he looked at it.
"It's winter now, and it will be lively when the wind turns next spring." Yuan Fei said.
Xu Yanliang stopped the car, looked around the pier, and asked, "What kind of ships are coming here?"
"Mainly British ships. Dutch ships too. Portuguese ships come only rarely."
"It's rare to have a business station here?"
"Not many ships come. But this trading station is quite busy. Local merchants often communicate with the Portuguese here."
"Oh, then why?"
"I don't know." Yuan Fei said.
Xu Yanliang became suspicious: he was not surprised that Portuguese ships rarely came - they could go directly to Macau to do business, and there was no need to go to Sanya for a roundabout trip. But since there were very few ships, why did the Portuguese set up a trading station locally? And many local businessmen are so-called "leather companies"? Why do they often interact with Portuguese businessmen?
Since ancient times, there must be some kind of interest connection behind these abnormal behaviors.
Yuan Fei was about to lead him there when Xu Yanliang said, "Take me for a walk in Hexi first. Finally, we'll go to the business station."
Since we are going to use this place as a long-term base, it is better to get a clear picture of the situation when we first arrive.
The motorcade passed the dock area and headed north along the north-south Xintiandi Avenue. The markets here are much more prosperous than those in Hedong District, and the city's fireworks are much heavier. The shops on both sides are two-story "arcades" in the style of "Old Guangzhou" and "Old Haikou" - very practical in a hot and rainy place like Sanya. .
He got interested and immediately got out of the car and said, "Let's go over and have a look!"
Naturally, Yuan Fei couldn't spoil his interest. He immediately led the way, accompanied by four guards, patrolling along the street.
The road construction standards here are generally the same as those on Senate Street. The sidewalks are paved with local stones, and the large and small arcades with different heights are also built with stones and red bricks. Not only are they well-constructed, but they are also very sophisticated in building design and appearance, even better than Bairen City. One chip. Xu Yanliang even noticed the gas lights here. Compared with the plain and simple geometric iron lamp holders in Lingao, the gas lamps here have complicated and gorgeous patterns.
The Senate really had high hopes for this place. Xu Yanliang sighed in his heart. Now that the Senate's attention is focused on the mainland, the original "pearl" of Sanya seems a bit dim.
How can we make it shine? Xu Yanliang couldn't help but fell into deep thought again.
He wandered under the arcade, browsing the shops. Judging from the signboard, this place can be regarded as a 360-line store with all the necessary supplies. The store has sufficient inventory. However, he noticed that most of the stores here are commercial brands that sell food, daily necessities and other consumer goods and catering. In other words, Their customers are mainly locals. The capital will probably not be too large.
It stands to reason that since this is a foreign trade port, there will be a considerable number of brands engaged in overseas trade. For example, shops selling imported spices, textiles, handicrafts, etc. - this is very common in Guangzhou. But after walking a few hundred meters here, he didn't see a few. It can be seen that foreign trade does not dominate here.
Yuan Fei looked at his solemn expression and felt a little worried. Suddenly I heard Xu Yanliang ask:
"Besides these small business names, are there any big businesses here?"
"Yes, yes, the largest font size here is Qionghai..."
"Qionghai? Isn't this Li Luoyou's business?" Xu Yanliang blurted out after hearing this familiar word.
"Li Luoyou? No, no, the owner of this shop is named Gu..."
"Oh, yes, his name is Gu Hecheng."
"Gu Baocheng."
"Yes, Gu Baocheng." Xu Yanliang was a little surprised, "Isn't he in Lingao?"
He knew that Gu Baocheng was Li Luoyou's heartthrob, the one he was closer to than his son. Placing it in Lingao will save him a fortune and allow him to become a rich man with peace of mind. Why did you come to Sanya again?
"It's the Sanya branch of the Qionghai. Mr. Gu is here, and there's another person in charge."
Xu Yanliang thought that this brand was an old cooperative brand of the Senate, and it could be considered to have withstood the test. Although Li Luoyou's attitude was ambiguous, after Guangzhou was recovered, he rushed north to Nanjing. However, none of his brands in Guangdong have been relocated and are still operating normally.
“How about this local operation?”
"It's quite satisfactory. I do some maritime trade business. The business is not big. There are ships that take the Kaohsiung route, and there are ships that take the Portuguese route."
"Is there any more?"
"There is also a branch of Dongshanju. The business was quite prosperous at first, but news came out a few days ago that their boss Liu was arrested in Guangzhou. The main branch of Dongshanju was also sealed, and now Dongshan Juli It’s a mess from top to bottom. No business can be done.”
"Who is the boss of this brand now?"
"The young shopkeeper here, Chen Huamin, is said to be Liu Caidong's cousin. He came to our chief a few days ago and asked for help in interceding. He burst into tears when he spoke."
