In Wang Fulin's memory, the history of Macao, which is actually placed in European history, is a very typical history of the development of commercial cities.

The Portuguese who arrived here traded with the Cantonese and Fujian merchants, and gradually formed a thriving bazaar. In order to facilitate trade, it was impossible for the Portuguese to live on ships all the time, and after bribing Ming officials, they were granted the right to rent moat mirrors, so houses were built around the market, and a square was naturally formed. Later, churches appeared around the square, and as more and more Portuguese settled, churches were built no longer just one, but one after another, and eventually the Holy See appointed bishops to manage them and to take charge of the mission.

Churches and bishops appeared, and the establishment of administrative bodies naturally followed. Earlier in history, the Portuguese sent the Governor to Macao, and it was the Portuguese who formed the Council. However, this council was urgently established to counter the governor sent to Macau by King Philip II of Spain, who had annexed Portugal. And such a hastily established council naturally launched a fierce game with the governor in the next two or three hundred years of history, which is also the tortuous road that many autonomous cities in Europe have experienced. However, during this period, the power of the Governor gradually expanded, and the members of the Council had to be confirmed by the Governor, and the power and status gradually declined, and eventually there was even a farce of the Governor interfering in the election of the Council, causing bloodshed. At that time, it was the bishop of Macao who mediated and even stopped the greater conflict in the end.

Eventually, the Council died out, and the Governor, as the king's representative, became the supreme ruler. This made Macau a colony. And not autonomous cities.

But now. The bishop of Macau already has it, but the Portuguese have not yet had time to set up a council. Usually there is a dispute with the bishop, but the Portuguese merchants who settled in Macao also formed a guild, and if it were not for the fact that the Lisbon matter was too involved, the head of the guild would definitely not work, and they would have taken care of it. Now, Wang Fulin directly put people's councils on local businessmen, of course, not because. He is a supporter of democratic self-government, after all, even these businessmen have no awareness of this.

It is precisely because in the Ming Dynasty, where the Confucian system is unbreakable, and only in Macao, which was originally rented to the Portuguese, there is a small possibility of opening a small breakthrough in the system. Moreover, Xiaobei also has an heir to the Cantonese merchants who is about to return to his hometown, which is the eldest son of the No. 1 person in the Guangfu merchant gang, and it may play a big role when used on the blade at a critical moment.

And a huge court. To this day, there are still many officials clamoring for tightening the confinement and even expelling the Francophiles. The sea ban was reinstated, but there are still more people seeking stability. After all, among the taxes on Macao's income, the one that starts from the capital is a fixed amount, that is, no matter how much the tax is on the income of the year, the city needs to send 26,000 taels directly to the capital, which is not a small amount.

The remaining part is used as official expenses in addition to supporting officials at all levels in Guangdong, and of course it is indispensable to enrich private pockets. Roughly calculated, this amount is as little as 350,000 yuan, and as much as 780,000 or even 100,000 taels, which is still because of the Portuguese tax evasion!

Why didn't he mention customs first? Because this matter categorically cannot be set up when Zhang Juzheng is the first assistant, otherwise if Zhang Juzheng dies as early as in history, and is counted as an old account afterwards, he will definitely be hit by thunder, and the time is not ripe. Besides, just looking at the previous example of the official who introduced the Australian ticket, he knew that only a proposal that did not affect too much could be passed, so that the government could get money from the ground, rather than a bone-wrenching article that could be supported. Of course, being able to reclaim the land that was leased out in the original name is also a way to win support to a certain extent.

As for whether those wealthy businessmen in the Council will be greatly impacted in the future, he really doesn't care, how can he see the preciousness of his predecessor's attitude if he doesn't crack down? What's more, he has other considerations.

And why haven't the Portuguese set up an administrative body yet?

Quite simply, the establishment of an administrative agency means that the merchant ships that come and go will not only be taxed by the officials of the Ming Dynasty, but also by the administrative agency again. Therefore, it is not that the Portuguese royal family does not want to set up a viceroyalty again, but that many businessmen who regard this as a treasure trove are trying to delay. However, trade with the Ming was now almost completely monopolized by the Portuguese, but once Spain annexed Portugal, Philip II, who had the ambition to build an armada, would of course immediately send a governor, and at that time, the Portuguese self-governing organization would of course be immediately established to fight against it.

Therefore, in fact, what he is doing now is to completely develop Haojing into a special zone of the Ming Dynasty and eliminate the Lend-Lease privilege of the Portuguese. But the premise is that the wealthy businessmen who dominated the Haojing transaction can pay attention to the deep meaning of this and win over the power of the DPRK and China to support this proposal! Of course, the more important point is how to ensure that the annual tax payment can be paid on time, or even more than usual, which is a very important issue.

Seeing that everyone was urgently digesting their proposal, Wang Fulin leaned back on the Taishi chair for a while, then glanced at the sky outside, and said lightly: "I didn't expect that I ordered someone to go to Haojing to invite all the wealthy businessmen, and there have been nine representatives of the family in Xiangshan County, but there are only six people here who went to the appointment on time today. I don't think the others will be here today. So, to put it mildly, there is no need to nominate the first council, you might as well take all of you here today as the backbone, and then choose an Australian governor from among you. Moreover, if this matter is done well, the first Australian governor will always have some special rights and interests. ”

The people who can sit here are all put in charge of the place by the family, and the power is not insignificant, but most of them are not the real heads of the house, so some of them donate the crown and belt, and some of them are just simple businessmen. Moreover, even if there is a crown belt, it is still different from a real official title. Therefore, everyone can deeply understand the deep meaning of Wang Fulin's last sentence. The county magistrate is not as good as the current management. They certainly have a certain say in the mirror. But that's because the family is big, how can it be able to get the right to speak from the government?

Master Huang Qi of the Chaozhou Merchant Gang once again acted as the vanguard. He asked cautiously: "Wang Ye trusts me so much, I am grateful." However, today's summons will not be just for this one thing, right? ”

Wang Fulin changed his previous pleasant face, which made the smile on his face suddenly retract, and the person also stood up: "Of course, this is the only thing." How much power, how much responsibility. You want to trade with the Franc Robot in your own own place, and you make your own rules. Or do you want to let them have the final say in everything, that's the key. If you make money in business and manage your own business, you will naturally have the ability to be first-class, but once the stall is spread, whether you are competent and whether you can establish the corresponding prestige is another matter.

Among you, there are the top five and the bottom of the list. Is it to rely on the government to become bigger and stronger, or to collude with the Francophone people. Crowd out your own people, and please think about it. By the way, incidentally, I didn't say anything about this casually, I have already told the Governor of Liangguang, Ling Zhitai, and the first assistant of the DPRK, if you want to delay waiting for the reply of these two bosses, it is not impossible. ”

Seeing that Wang Fulin was even able to calculate some of the measures that those who were excluded from the council in the future, he said that he had already told Ling Yunyi, who was in Zhaoqing Mansion, and Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the current dynasty, that Master Huang Qi and others looked at each other, and they couldn't help but raise their evaluation of Wang Fulin to a higher level again. However, when they thought that Wang Fulin was going to hit with a heavy hammer next, they didn't expect the other party to surprise again.

"Alright, I've said everything that needs to be said, you might as well decide for yourself. I'm in the county magistrate's office, so if you want to see me, just come. After all, Gu Xianling is responsible for himself, and it is not good to accompany you more, so the two of us will go first. ”

Gu Jing didn't have time to say that he had actually canceled the lunch hall and the evening hall, and he had time today, so he had to echo Wang Fulin's words. But just as he followed Wang Fulin down the stairs to the gate of the teahouse, a carriage and horse stopped in front of the door, but the last three arrived belatedly. As soon as the two of them looked at each other, he saw the face of the youngest of them change, and he couldn't help but show a sneer for a while.

Do you think that Wang Xunji and I, the county magistrate, will really stay in the teahouse all the time, waiting for you guys who are putting up a fight? Dream!

The eldest was much calmer, and after getting off the sedan chair, he hurriedly stepped forward: "Master Wang, Gu Xianzun, I'm really sorry, because I encountered some conditions on the road, so I delayed for a while......"

"It's okay to do something, Hengzhu Wang and this county just want to chat with you, it's not a big deal." Although Gu Jing didn't know if the businessmen above would tell the latecomers, it didn't prevent him from giving these three guys a little color, and immediately said with a smile: "It's just that the affairs of the yamen are busy, and Wang Xun is a person who has a lot of opportunities, so I won't accompany you much and say goodbye." ”

Wang Fulin was very satisfied with the sound of Gu Jing's words, and at the moment he just bowed his head slightly reservedly, and left in a sedan chair with this Xiangshan County commander. As for the expressions of the three guys who deliberately arrived one step late, it has nothing to do with him.

Three quarters of an hour late, this was something that the representatives of the three families had already discussed. Because less than half of the businessmen who decided to come after getting the news from Haojing, and the three of them have always been married to each other, and they are all businessmen of the Guangfu Merchant Gang, as long as they are together, they will occupy a very large voice among the nine representatives who came, but they didn't expect that the result of being late was that Wang Fulin ignored them at all and left directly! The three people who were left at the door looked at me, and the young Feng Sanye stomped his feet with hatred, and said sharply: "It's too much to deceive people!" ”

He was young and vigorous, and the other two didn't dare to be honest like this, so after thinking about it, he entered the teahouse with a gloomy face, and happened to see six people upstairs rushing down. The two groups of people faced each other like this, and among the three later, the older Master Yan pretended to be puzzled and asked, "We are really stumped by things, and we have to come too late." Wang Ye and Gu Xianzun walked so fast, could it be that they were summoned today, and they were really just drinking tea and chatting? ”

If this is normal, there will always be someone among the others who shows a little mouth, after all, even if it is an opponent, it is occasionally necessary to form a little good fate, but at this moment, the person who just came down is tight-lipped like a bottle, and Master Chen Si even laughed and said: "Who said that it is not to drink tea and chat?" Wang Ye is witty and witty, so I have gained a lot. Just taking advantage of this rare time to come to Xiangshan County, several of our families have agreed to ask Wang Ye for advice. It's not early today, and I still have some business, so I won't accompany you. ”

Fourth Master Chen arched his hand with a smile and walked away quickly, and the others all kept silent about what they had just talked about. In the face of this scene, even Feng Sanye, who was angry at first because of Wang Fulin's neglect, also realized that something was wrong, he turned his heart sideways and directly stopped Huang Qi, who was at the end, but he was rude and said deeply: "Uncle Huang Qi, we are late, but please give me a hint." More than 100 miles from Haojing, even if we are late today, no matter what, we are better than those who don't think there is such a thing at all, right? ”

It's for the sake of some in-laws in our two families! That's good if you have a large family!

"If something is delayed for a quarter of an hour, then that's fine, but you must know that this kind of occasion should have been for me to arrive early, and there was no reason for these two officials to wait. It's three quarters of an hour late, and three of them are really a big shelf. Master Huang Qi was one of the two old men who heard Wang Fulin communicate with the owner of the teahouse in Cantonese at the window before. For the sake of his in-laws, he first pierced the layer of window paper that was late, and then said with pity, "Now that the matter is over, make amends yourself." Otherwise, you won't have your share in that good deed. ”

What a good thing? What's good?

Feng Sanye didn't have time to ask at all, so Huang Qi looked at him with sharp eyes until he had to turn sideways and give way. He also had to give way, among the Cantonese businessmen today, the Guangzhou Merchant Gang and the Chaozhou Merchant Gang are the two largest factions, and Huang Qi is the seventh in the ranking, but there is only one brother who is the head of the family in total, and he sits firmly in the second position in the Chaozhou Merchant Gang. The most important thing is that this bishop is said to have some dealings with the Francophile, so even a few leading figures of the Guangzhou merchant gang can't help but pay three respects to him, and the Feng family is naturally afraid of this.

In other words, many people didn't expect that Master Huang Qi would give Wang Fulin face and walk hundreds of miles to Xiangshan County! Of course, because the interior is not monolithic, even if they heard that Master Huang Qi was coming, there were still many businessmen in Haojing who turned a deaf ear and didn't take it seriously.

"Yan Shibo, what now?" Just now, I was resentful because Wang Fulin left as if no one was around, but now Feng Sanye is really out of options. He temporarily replaced his uncle who had something to return to his hometown to Haojing, and in the past, he was in charge of things outside, but now that he is really facing changes, he is a little out of line. Seeing that the eldest master was silent, he couldn't help muttering in a low voice, "Is it possible that we still want to come to the door to apologize?" ”

PS: There is one more update in the evening (to be continued.) )