Shanghai County already had an organization during the Yuan Dynasty. In 1277, the fourteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court set up a city division in Shanghai Town, and the yamen was on today's Guangqi Road. At that time, the Shanghai Shipping Division was as famous as the Municipal Shipping Division in Guangzhou and other places, and was one of the seven major customs offices in the country.

In the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the unpredictable maritime ban policy of the government, the maritime trade of the whole country and the related scientific and technological development regressed a lot. For example, after the Longqing switch, there was only one in Guangzhou, and the rest were all revoked by the government

To a certain extent, Xiong Dao's task this time is to "reopen the market" and "rebuild the first foreign trade port in China", which can be described as a long way to go.

When the ship came to the outside of Shanghai County, it was already the time to hold the lights.

Although in terms of planning, Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty was just a county seat. But in terms of prosperity, Shanghai County at this moment, the city and outside the city are full of lights, stretching for five miles in the east and west, markets, inns, Buddhist palaces, restaurants, Jia Shi, row upon row, just like the appearance of a giant town in the south of the Yangtze River, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the Ming Dynasty version of the "Ten Mile Ocean Field".

This kind of grandeur is not subject to people's will.

No matter how negative the imperial court was in terms of maritime trade, Shanghai's geographical advantages were unchangeable. As the midpoint of the coastline of Chinese mainland, Shanghai is strategically located from here, whether it is north to Beijing and Tianjin, south to Fujian and Guangdong, or to cross the sea to Ryukyu, Japan, the voyage is similar.

Even if the Ming people only do domestic demand and sea trade, it is enough for Shanghai County to be prosperous and rich. Moreover, Shanghai County has never been a small fishing village, and has been a prosperous trading port since the Song and Yuan dynasties, the so-called "Southeast Zhuang County".

After passing Jinshanwei, Xiong Dao's boat turned into the Huangpu River, and then went all the way down the river, came to the wharf area outside the east gate of the county seat, and slowly chose an anchor and sail among the many trestles next to the official wharf.

After walking out of the shipbuilding and sighing at the Bund in the future, Xiong Dao got off the boat with many servants. Under the light of the two kerosene lamps that are standard in the homes of the rich and noble, Mr. Xiong stepped on the gangplank and connected with the landlord who had been waiting at the dock for a long time.

The landlord and Xiong Dao are about the same age, surnamed Luo, and named Luo Shizhi. This person has a well-proportioned figure, a straight face, a warm and unpretentious attitude, and is a handsome old man with demeanor.

Luo Shizhi has a talent and fame, and he is a wealthy local businessman, who has been buying a large number of Xiongdao's goods, and is considered a second-level dealer of Xiongdao.

After meeting and saluting, Xiong Dao exchanged a few words of greeting with a few small businessmen on the side. These people all came to Mr. Xiong to carry the sedan chair with his face on his face after hearing about this, you must know that Mr. Xiong is a hot figure now, and if he knots well, a little leakage in the business is enough for small businessmen to chew grain.

After dealing with a bunch of favors on the dock, Xiong Dao and Luo Shizhi turned around and got into the sedan chair, went to the east of the city under the hug of the front and back, and entered the Luo family's private residence "Luo Yuan" three miles away from the Guanxiang.

Since the Song Dynasty, because the mechanism of selecting talents in the imperial court has gradually become the imperial examination, the family gate valves who have been inherited for thousands of years and hold bureaucratic positions in the Tang and Han dynasties have gradually lost the news, "In the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people".

The relatively fair imperial examination system allowed the scholars of the poor to enter the ranks, and in the words of later generations, "opened the way for the lower classes to rise".

However, under this system, the emerging scholar class in the Song and Ming dynasties could not monopolize social resources, so the history of the rise and fall of the family and the rise and fall of the family of "no more than three generations of wealth" became a new social normal.

In other words, the wealth of land, real estate, which is used for family heirlooms, often changes back and forth between the gentry. Because few families can produce from generation to generation, the land and wealth obtained by the ancestors using their official positions will gradually be unable to be kept by future generations once they have no amulet.

And today, the "Luo Garden" that Xiong Dao came from was purchased by the Luo family from a fallen official gentry when he was last year.

Speaking of the Luo family, it can be regarded as another emerging family under the imperial examination system.

The Luo family is from Taicang. Luo Shizhi's uncle was a waiter in the Ministry of Industry during the Wanli period, and in this generation, Luo Shizhi's two brothers were officials in the Ministry of Industry and Honglu Temple, so the Luo family is now a prosperous family.

In this situation, the development time is short, and only the Luo family of the two rooms can take care of each other, so Luo Shizhi, the head of the second room, also accidentally "tested" a few years ago before coming back.

With the rank of Xiucai, it is enough for Luo Shizhi who stayed behind: he is responsible for the business dealings between the two families in Jiangnan on weekdays.

Perhaps it is because the Luo family specializes in the Ministry of Industry and is knowledgeable, so Luo Shizhi has been "falling in love at first sight" since he saw the large wood, 95 green and red bricks, cement, and glass in the hands of Xiong Dao in Hangzhou, and he took out a large amount of silver to become a dealer of Xiong Dao very early.

Luo Shizhi's large purchase was naturally confident: it didn't take long for these materials to be sent to the capital by him, along with the craftsmen. The eldest brother who worked in the Ministry of Industry's camp department was not a vegetarian, and after the wall test in the back garden, he saw the benefits of these building materials at a glance as a technocrat.

So the eldest brother immediately ordered someone to hurry up and go straight to Jiangnan: "Take all the money at home to buy." ”

So Luo Shizhi grabbed ahead of all the people who were waiting, and bought a Laoshzi "secondary wholesaler" qualification at a high price from Xiong Dao, as well as the license to sell a certain amount of building materials in the capital every year.

After that, the eldest brother of the Luo family soon opened up the sales of building materials in the capital: the free craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry traveled through various construction techniques provided by the public, so that the mansions of dignitaries and nobles quickly set off a wave of replacement of cement roads, cement floors, cement walls, and glass windows.

At the same time, the eldest brother of the Luo family also took this opportunity to get acquainted with many powerful people, including the palace of the great eunuch in the palace, which also needs to be repaired at any time, so it is natural to use building materials.

In this way, the two brothers of the Luo family coincidentally got benefits: the eldest brother earned a lot of money and made friends. Although the second brother in Honglu Temple is said to be Qingshui Yamen, relying on the resources provided by his family, he has been promoted to the next level not long ago, which can be regarded as arching the level first.

From this moment on, the Luo family has become a loyal ally of Master Xiong: everything is false, and only interests can make both sides NBN to death.

This is also the reason why Xiong Dao came to Shanghai this time and lived in Luojia Courtyard: his own people, everything is convenient. 11