Xu Ji came with his son Xu Erjue, Xu Ji is just an itchy student, that is, Xiucai, and his father Xu Guangqi is too far away.

After the death of Xu Guangqi, the only official thing the Xu family could rely on was the help of his father's former colleagues and students.

Out of admiration for Xu Guangqi, Wang Yue was still very polite to Xu Ji. The Xu family in Shanghai is an agricultural family, and this agricultural family is not only a landlord, but also an agricultural technology family.

Therefore, Wang Yue invited Xu Erjue, who is now Chinese New Year's Eve years old, to visit the agricultural construction in the starting point city.

Hearing about the yield per mu and farming mode of the starting point city, Xu Erjue was very interested, and said that he would make the trip as soon as possible.

The agriculture of the starting point city needs more talents to join, and the agricultural technology and excellent seeds also need to be spread and promoted.

The white-haired Gu Changzuo is not young, he is in his sixties, this is the real head snake in Shanghai County, the county commander Tang Yidian has a term, and he will leave when the time comes. The richest man in Shanghai County also had a generous meeting gift.

Wang Yue accepted the gift, then greeted him politely, and sent him to Zhang Zhong, this old man also wanted to deal with the goods of the starting point city.

However, Wang Yue knew that it would not be long before this old man might be scolding his mother to himself.

Because Wang Yue wants to collect business taxes in Jiangnan, this will definitely touch the nerves of the entire Jiangnan merchants.

If Jiangnan wants to carry out infrastructure construction on a large scale, it needs a lot of funds, and this money cannot be paid by the starting point, so it can only fall on the commercial tax. Wang Yue wants to collect commercial tax, it must be a disguised commercial tax, otherwise he will work for Chongzhen.

Shen Tingyang, the head of the Shen family in Chongming County, is a prisoner of the country, and many of the prisoners of the country at the end of the Ming Dynasty were born in favor or donation, which is nothing more than the identity of a scholar.

This old man Shen was about thirty-seven or eighteen years old, and he was born with a dignified appearance, a dark complexion, and a sturdy figure -- at first glance, he was a weather-beaten man, not a weak scholar who studied in the study all day and night, and could not help but read weakly. Looking at this, I probably have been to sea and run a boat.

"Ji Ming (word) has seen Lord Wang, I really didn't expect Lord Wang to be so young!" Shen Tingyang's voice is not small, but he looks like a heroic person.

"Brother Ji Ming doesn't have to be polite, look at the seats!" This Shen Tingyang can be his uncle at his age, and Wang Yue is still called a brother.

Wang Yue's understanding of Shen Tingyang was also introduced by Pan Shiren, and since he was transported by the sea canal, he was a little interested.

Shen Tingyang bowed his hand and thanked: "Thank you, Lord Wang!" ”

After he sat down, Wang Yue casually asked Shen Tingyang what businesses his family operated.

According to Shen Tingyangyi, he later checked some relevant information. Wang Yue knew that this person was not simple, this Shen Tingyang was not only an important figure in the Sand Boat Gang, but also a ship king.

Shen Tingyang is a native of Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture. His fame is closely related to the ships and seafaring of the late Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the only experiment of "changing grain to sea" was proposed and presided over by him.

In the twelfth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Tingyang presented the "Book of Shipping" to the emperor, expressing his willingness to build sand ships to resume shipping. After the emperor allowed the performance, Shen Tingyang raised funds to build a sand boat. Soon, Shen used a sand boat to transport Huai rice, and traveled north along the sea route traveled by Zhu Qing, and it took ten days to reach Dagu and Tianjin, and the Beiyang route was resumed.

After the death of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Tingyang wrote to the imperial court in the first year of Hongguang, hoping to replenish the sailors of the 100 water ships he owned for sea transportation, and turn them into warships, which were specially used as the Yangtze River sailors.

After the city of Nanjing was broken, he and his generals commanded thousands of naval forces and hundreds of ships, and arrived at the Zhoushan Islands.

In the first year of Yongli, when Shen Tingyang led the fleet from Zhoushan to prepare for a counterattack on Suzhou. Suddenly encountered a storm outside Chongming Island and was defeated. Shen Tingyang's warship capsized and sank in Xu Liujing, and many soldiers drowned. Shen Tingyang was captured and died unyieldingly.

Now Shen Tingyang owns four shipyards, more than 300 large and small sand ships, and also has a large amount of land, opens shops, and operates various industries, and is indeed rich.

"Lord Wang!" Shen Tingyang frustrated his big hand and said: "Ji Ming saw the adult's sailor warship outside the city, it's really, really...!" ”

As a veteran of playing with boats, I suddenly saw a modern ship, and it was indeed a little inexpressible. Huge, all-steel, sailless, strange shapes, all incomprehensible, I really don't know where to start.

Wang Yue could understand his feelings: "This official is going to build a shipyard in Shanghai County, and he is looking for a partner, I wonder if Brother Ji Ming is interested?" ”

Wang Yue needs technology diffusion, and also wants to cultivate the civil shipbuilding industry, it is impossible to make a circle by one person in the Great Voyage, and more people need to participate.

This Shen Tingyang has a shipyard and a large number of shipwrights, and he is indeed a candidate for cooperation.

Shen Tingyang's eyes lit up and said, "Could it be that you are building the kind of sailor warship that is an adult?" ”

Wang Yue said with a smile: "The current conditions are not enough, but Lord Ben's shipyard is definitely different from your current shipyard, my ship is bigger and faster." In the future, of course, large iron ships will be built. ”

Shen Tingyang patted his thigh and said, "Okay, since Lord Wang can afford it, then it will be considered Ji Ming." I don't know if adults have a charter? ”

"It's easy!" Wang Yue said: "The technology, materials and start-up funds are provided by this person, and the venue personnel are in charge of Ji Ming. The official holds 51 percent of the shares, Ji Ming holds 29 percent of the shares, and the other 20 percent is open to the public. ”

Shen Tingyang asked puzzledly: "IPO?" ”

Wang Yue nodded and said, "For the IPO, there is a lot of power." ”

In fact, the more Wang wanted to pry up the funds precipitated by the people, those landlords and old fortunes liked to put silver in jars and bury them in the ground, how could this be, they must be allowed to flow. Shipyards are just the beginning, and there will be a lot of adoption of this model in the future.

Shen Tingyang values Wang Yue's official body and the strength behind him, and the advantages of cooperating with Wang Yue in the shipyard outweigh the disadvantages, of course Shen Tingyang will not refuse, not to mention that his investment is not large, so he agreed on the spot, and the most attractive thing for him is to build iron ships.

The next topic will talk about Shen Tingyang's old topic: "Cao grain to the sea". Shen Tingyang has been researching and promoting this for several years, and now he is only a prisoner, not a Zhongshu scholar, and has no right to write to the emperor.

Therefore, his main direction is to do the work of officials, which is also the purpose of his coming to Wang Yue this time.

Wang Yue is currently serving as a squire in the military department and governor Yingtian. Not only is it a high position, but Nanzhili is the starting place of grain.

Shen Tingyang's fellow villager Zhu Qing set off from Liujiagang in Taicang to transport grain, using sand boats built in Shanghai.

In the first year, 40,000 stone of grain was transported, and at the highest time, the annual grain transportation reached 3 million stones, and the loss was so small that it was less than half of the river transportation. There is no need to spend endless manpower and material resources to dredge and repair the canal and maintain a large and inefficient army of boats and rivers.