Chapter 233 Shanghai Special Zone (Request for subscription and ticket)

“Sir Wu, the Jiangning Prefecture is about to be destroyed, or even destroyed by the Taiping rebels, right? As a prefect, I don’t even have the prefecture, how can I make money? Isn’t this lucrative position a bit unworthy of its name?”

In the reception room of Tongshunxing, Luo Yaoguo, Chen Chengrong, Cheng Fupei and Wu Ruxiao started to express their dissatisfaction to Wu Jianzhang as soon as they sat down.

Although the Jiangnan Salt Administration and Jiangning Prefect is a fourth-rank official, his territory is only Jiangning Prefecture. The land of this prefecture is almost gone, so why is he still trying so hard? This fourth-rank official is a shrinking product and must be replaced.

“Hey, Lord Luo, you don’t know,” Wu Jianzhang immediately waved his hand and said with a smile, “The Jiangnan Salt Administration and Jiangning Prefect’s benefits have never come from Jiangning Prefecture. Although Jiangning Prefecture is a wealthy prefecture, it is also the residence of the Governor-General of Liangjiang and the General of Jiangning. With the Governor-General and the General watching over him, how much can the Prefect make? The Jiangnan Salt Administration, who is linked to the Jiangning Prefect, is the lucrative position! There is no official in charge of salt who doesn’t get paid, let alone the salt of Jiangnan?
Let me tell you this, before Shanghai was opened as a port, among the local officials below the governor, only the Guangdong Customs Supervisor and the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner could compete with the Jiangnan Salt Commissioner. The Guangdong Customs Supervisor has always been a position held by people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner is a third-rank official. Moreover, since the Yongzheng period, the Salt Transport Commissioner has also been under the jurisdiction of the Liangjiang Governor-General, and the silver he made had to be shared with the Governor-General, so his actual income was not much more than that of the Jiangnan Salt Commissioner.

“Oh, I see,” Luo Yaoguo nodded, showing that he had learned something, but then he frowned again, “The Taiping rebels can’t stop at Jiangning. Zhenjiang, Changzhou, and Suzhou will probably be attacked by the Taiping rebels soon. Can Governor Yi hold on?”

Wu Jianzhang said with a smile: “You can earn a day’s worth of silver if you can defend the territory for a day. You can earn a share of the silver from the salt consumed by the common people in the territory if you can defend the territory for a day. Even if you can only defend Songjiang Prefecture, as long as you trust me, I can help you earn a lot.”

“How much salt can a Songjiang Prefecture consume?” Luo Yaoguo didn’t quite believe it.

“Hey, that’s not how it works,” Wu Jianzhang said with a smile, “People in the Taiping territory don’t eat salt? They still need to eat salt.”

“Master Wu means,” Luo Yaoguo stared, “that I sold contraband salt to the Taiping rebels?”

“How can it be private salt? You are the Salt Law Commissioner!” Wu Jianzhang said with a serious face, “The standard for whether this salt is public or private is whether you have received silver. As long as you have received silver, this salt is public salt. If you do not receive silver, this salt is private salt! It has nothing to do with who this salt is sold to. Even if this salt is bought and thrown into the sea, as long as you are paid, it is still public salt!”

“Hey, that makes sense!” Luo Yaoguo suddenly realized that Wu Jianzhang, the customs supervisor, was very talented in anti-smuggling! If he gave him money, could smuggling be changed to “public transportation”?
Thinking of this, Luo Yaoguo looked at Wu Jianzhang and asked, “Master Wu, if we can hold on to Shanghai, we can sell more than just salt to the west, right?”

Wu Jianzhang smiled and said, “Lord Luo, although the port of Shanghai is small, it is already a place where Chinese and foreigners live together and where Chinese and foreigners communicate. It is not only the estuary of the Yangtze River, but also the main estuary of the Jiangnan water network. It is truly a unique trade port!”
Do you know what this Jiangnan water network is? Almost all the villages in the wealthy states of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Zhenjiang, and Taicang are caught in a water network! Any ship that can run in the canal can go anywhere in this water network.

This water network leads to the Yangtze River estuary through the Wusong River and the Huangpu River. This is the main outlet to the sea in Jiangnan! Lord Luo, you should know that although Jiangnan is close to the sea and has a dense water network, water transportation is extremely convenient. However, there are not many good ports to the sea. The Huangpu River is the first port.

As long as we hold this first port firmly in our hands, we can act as middlemen between foreigners, Taiping rebels and the imperial court, and make money on all three sides!

Lord Luo, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish! The more chaotic the situation, the higher the profit from trade!”

Wu Jianzhang is not good at being an official or fighting a war, but he is really good at making money! Even if the situation is so chaotic, he can see at a glance where there is a lot of money to be made!

Shanghai’s conditions for developing trade during the hundred years from the second half of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century were indeed unique!

In fact, Luo Yaoguo could have become the “King of Changsha” a long time ago. The reason why he went to all that trouble to come to Shanghai was because he saw the unique advantages that Shanghai would have in the next hundred years, right?

When Luo Yaoguo was thinking about how to turn Shanghai into a “special money-making zone” that could make money from three sides, he suddenly found someone pulling his clothes, and it seemed to be Chen Chengrong. Luo Yaoguo knew that this person seemed treacherous, but in fact he was full of bad intentions, so he listened to what he had to say.

So he tilted his head towards Chen Chengyong.

“Sir,” Chen Chengrong whispered in Hakka, “This Sir Wu is the governor of Shanghai and the supervisor of the customs. If you keep the Taiping Army out, he will benefit the most!”

Yes! Why didn’t you think of that? Although Wu Jianzhang will be taken down by Xiaodaohui within a month, he doesn’t know it yet, so he can still ask for more benefits from him!
“Sir Wu,” Luo Yaoguo frowned and said, “You are the governor of Susong Prefecture. Songjiang Prefecture is your territory after all! And I am the governor of Jiangning Prefecture. My office should be located in Jiangning Prefecture! No matter how good the business in Shanghai is, it has nothing to do with me, an official in Jiangning Prefecture, right?”

Wu Jianzhang smiled and said, “That’s easy! You can open your Taotai Yamen in Songjiang Prefecture and Taicang Prefecture. The opening expenses of the Yamen will be covered by the Customs Yamen. All your expenses in Shanghai will also be covered by the Customs Yamen!
Let’s submit a petition to Lord Yi together. The Shanghai New Army will be financed by the Customs Office in the future. Aren’t you planning to raise 8,000 or 9,000 people first? We’ll reimburse you 12,000 yuan, and I’ll give you 5 taels of silver per person per month for the remaining 3,000 people.”

Well, fifteen thousand taels a month is really a lot!

But Luo Yaoguo wanted more!
“Mr. Wu,” Luo Yaoguo pondered for a moment and asked, “Do you really want to keep the port of Shanghai?”

“I do! I really do!”

Wu Jianzhang looked at Luo Yaoguo expectantly.

“Then I have three more conditions.” Luo Yaoguo said seriously.

“You say it, just say it!” Wu Jianzhang said, patting his chest.

Luo Yaoguo said: “First, the militias of Songjiang Prefecture and Taicang Prefecture must be commanded by me. They cannot be managed by the local prefects or prefects! I will send two people, one to manage the militias of Songjiang, and the other to manage the militias of Taicang. I will send the people, and you will be in charge of the title.”

“In a word! My post is to patrol the military preparations of Su, Song and Tai!” Wu Jianzhang said with a smile, “The militia training of Songjiang and Taicang is only for you to take care of two people. I will send them to be the supervisors of the militia training in Songjiang Prefecture and Taicang Prefecture!”

“Okay!” Luo Yaoguo nodded. “Then I’ll state my second condition. My Salt and Taxation Office must be located inside the concession, preferably on the Bund, close enough to the river where the two old lock boats sold to me by the British are moored. I will also station two companies of soldiers in the Salt and Taxation Office to protect my silver.”

“Okay!” Wu Jianzhang nodded, “I’ll talk to the foreigners.”

“The third condition is that I want to dig a trench between Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River and build a wooden wall to protect Shanghai County and the French and British Concessions.”

Luo Yaoguo stated his third condition.

Today’s Shanghai is not “Big Shanghai” or even “Small Shanghai”, it is at most a “Young Shanghai”. The truly prosperous area is the angle where Suzhou River and Huangpu River meet.

Suzhou River and Huangpu River were almost natural barriers for British, French and American imperialists who had steam gunboats at their disposal. If a trench and wooden wall with a total length of 12 to 13 miles were built between Suzhou River and Huangpu River, the Taiping Army, which had poor equipment and had not undergone strict Western and French military training, and relied only on numbers and bravery to fight, could be blocked from the most prosperous areas of Shanghai.

“Okay! I promise you!” Wu Jianzhang nodded without hesitation, “I’ll immediately hire someone to dig trenches and build wooden walls!”

Luo Yaoguo added: “Go find Aliguo, Aitong and Ma Hui and ask them to send foreign engineers to help. I have received accurate information that the Holy Angel of Wu Wang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will come to attack Shanghai! We must go all out to hurt him! Only when we hurt him will he agree to let us turn Shanghai into a port for three-party transactions!”

Wu Jianzhang, of course, agreed 100% with Luo Yaoguo’s words. He nodded and said, “Okay! Let’s go talk to A Liguo, Aitong, and Ma Hui together tomorrow.”

(End of this chapter)