After the Ming army entered Taiwan, it vigorously developed the economy, and Keelung, Yilan, Taoyuan and other counties vigorously developed collective farms, and in addition to developing intensive farming, they also developed animal husbandry on a large scale and built orchards and tea forests. ［

At the same time, counties and townships have also built a large number of camphor factories, small coal mines, furniture factories, tanneries, small cement factories, farm tool factories, fruit, meat, poultry, and egg processing plants, and hundreds of township and town enterprises to meet the needs of the masses of people in the Taiwan region.

The economic prosperity promoted the circulation of goods, and the establishment of a free port in Huwei by the crossing team further accelerated the development of northern Taiwan's commerce.

Taipei Beicheng District is the Keelung River in the north, Tamsui River in the west, the Ming Dynasty set up a customs customs office in Guandu, all the goods in and out of the Tamsui River and the Keelung River pass through the Xicheng District of Taipei, and the surrounding area of Dadaocheng has become an important cargo distribution center.

Tea, camphor, sulfur, coal, dyes and other local products are concentrated here and shipped out, and the daily necessities imported in are also dispersed here and transported to various parts of northern Taiwan.

The Ming Army's vigorous development of the new urban area has led to the urban development of the Dadaocheng area, and the originally desolate Dadaocheng surrounding area has become the most lively street market in Taiwan.

On December 21, Lin Youzao, chairman of the Dadaocheng Trading Company, climbed a high watchtower.

"Huh! Hehe! ~~”

Seeing the boats coming and going on the Tamsui River docking on the Dadaocheng Wharf one after another, Lin Youzao felt indescribable joy in his heart, fortunately he made a quick decision, otherwise it would be the same fate as Huang Longan.

Seeing that his sworn enemy changed Daming to a joint-stock company, Lin Youzao was very worried. At his strong request, the Ministry of Finance of the Ming Dynasty also changed the lower suburbs into joint-stock enterprises. Lin Youzao heard that fifty percent of the shares in the suburbs belonged to Daming, and he also wanted to give away fifty percent of the shares, and finally Daming bought shares with state-owned land use rights and obtained thirty percent of the shares of Dadaocheng Trading Company.

Lin Youzao admired the Ming Dynasty so much that he threw himself into the ground, not to mention the martial arts, just relying on the commercial operation of the Ming Dynasty, which opened his eyes and convinced him.

Outside the east gate of Dadaocheng, the newly built Taipei North City District has become a prosperous metropolitan area in just a few days. The neatness of the houses, the flatness of the roads, and the atmosphere of the market are unprecedented, and the liveliness far exceeds that of Dadaocheng.

Lin Youzao, he is determined to serve Daming. After going down the watchtower, he found Lin Youmin and others to discuss, planning to demolish the wall of Dadaocheng Village, and asked Taipei Yamen to carry out unified planning, so that Dadaocheng and Beicheng District could be connected as a whole.

The Ming Dynasty opened Taipei City between Dadaocheng and Monga, and only built a city but not a city, which made many people feel not very safe. Although Dadaocheng is a soil enclosure, it can also play a great role in preventing bandits and thefts.

Someone immediately raised an objection, "Shall we wait a while longer, I heard that the warships of the British card and the American people have been killed at the mouth of the Tamsui River this morning!" ”

"It's okay!" Lin Youzao smiled, "I heard from the Yamen people that the Yiren came this time not to provoke, but to congratulate the opening of the Huwei Free Port." ”

Huwei was officially closed on December 10.

After the closure of the area, the Huwei Free Port entered the trial operation stage. All foreign goods entering Shanghai are exempt from customs duties, and only terminal usage fees, storage fees, and transaction deed taxes are appropriately charged.

Merchant ships from all over the world immediately flocked to the city. In the area of Huwei Oil Wharf, there is a lot of people coming and going, and the shouts come and go. The joy of opening the port has not yet passed, and the merchants who rented the warehouse façade are full of energy, and they are full of tricks to attract merchants.

At this time, the Western world thought that China was a large market for dumping goods, with its vast territory and large population. Shanghai, Hong Kong and other places gathered a large number of speculative businessmen, who traveled thousands of miles from Europe and the United States to transport large quantities of goods, thinking that they could make a lot of money. However, most of these efforts have failed.

Just when these Western merchants were depressed, they suddenly heard that the Ming Dynasty, which had been wiped out by the Tatars, had been resurrected, and that the Ming Dynasty was very strong, supported free trade, and opened a free port in Huwei, Taiwan. The eyes of these adventurers suddenly lit up, and they rushed to Huwei with their goods.

European and American steel, machinery, textiles, and other materials were originally re-exported through Hong Kong and then exported to various parts of East Asia, but now a large number of businessmen have gone directly to Taipei to open trading houses in Shanghai, and Hong Kong's bulk commodity trading has suddenly been somewhat depressed.

On the morning of December 15, Bao Ling stood in front of the window, looking at the somewhat cold Hong Kong Pier, and felt very uncomfortable.

In his early years, Bao Ling followed the utilitarian philosopher Bentham and believed in the free trade policy advocated by Bentham, and was twice elected to parliament, preaching "natural human rights" and calling himself "the most ardent advocate of peace". He also ran his own business, investing heavily in the steel industry in southern Wales.

Bao Ling was well-educated, but politically speaking, he was a radical reformer. When he lost the election and failed to invest, Bao Ling took advantage of the opportunity of the British Liberal Party to come to power, and came to China, first as consul in Guangzhou, and then as the British plenipotentiary in China, commercial director, and governor of Hong Kong.

At that time, in Britain itself, the modern party system was flourishing, and the Liberal and Conservative parties alternately presided over the cabinet and were in charge of domestic and foreign affairs. Britain's domestic and foreign policy often exhibits different party tendencies during different cabinet periods.

The Conservative Party's foreign policy was relatively moderate and not enthusiastic about expansion. The liberal representatives were typical of "gunboat diplomacy" and did not hesitate to dispatch "gunboats" to seek new interests for Britain as soon as an opportunity was available.

However, the British government was also increasingly reluctant to make the maintenance of the colonies a financial burden and therefore had some hesitation about occupying new colonies. A kind of "informal imperialism" that does not directly occupy the land, but controls its economy, is emerging.

The main mission of Bao Ling's visit to China was to find a way to provoke trouble, use "gunboats" to completely open the door to China, force the Manchu government to completely change the policy of closing the country, and open up more business opportunities for British goods.

Although Britain won the First Opium ~ War, it failed to realize the profit of opium trade and commodity trade with China. The British bourgeoisie, on the other hand, pinned its hopes on the vast Chinese market, which made it a great responsibility to represent the Far East.

After Bao Ling came to China, he seized every opportunity to expand Britain's aggressive rights and interests in China. The first goal he diligently pursued was to repeatedly negotiate with the Manchus and want to enter the city of Guangzhou.

In Guangzhou, outsiders were not allowed to enter the city. The Treaty of Nanking allowed outsiders to reside in five treaty ports, but did not specify that they could enter the old city, which was different from the new business district.

In 1845, the British tried to enter the city of Guangzhou, which caused a strong resistance from the people of Guangzhou. In 1847, the British ships broke into Whampoa again, invaded all the main fortresses of Humen and the Pearl River, and demanded to enter the city. In the end, the two sides compromised and agreed to enter the city in two years.

Year 1849. At the end of the two years, the British were ready to enter the city, and more than 100,000 people from the townships gathered for a while to prepare for battle. Xu Guangjin, the governor of Liangguang, went to the British ship to negotiate, and Wen Han, who was then the British minister, attempted to detain Xu Guangjin.

Wen Han, who belonged to the Conservative Party, was intimidated by the might of the Chinese people and voluntarily included the words "strictly forbidden for British people to enter the city" in the "Guangzhou Trade Treaty." In this way, the struggle ended with the victory of the Chinese.

When the people of Guangzhou were cheering for the victory, it coincided with the extremely frustrated Bao Ling, who was extremely frustrated in Europe, to take up his post in China. The jubilation of China added to his suffering, and in his diary, he recorded: "The Qing people 'did not break a single soldier, did not fire a single arrow,' so that 'the discussion of entering the city was over'." This victory made him 'delightful and indescribable'. ”

Bao Ling was an active member of the British peace movement, but he believed that China was an "irrational" country and did not apply the principle of peace. So, he took on the mission of provoking trouble with peace of mind and came to China.

Mak Wara-to, the first secretary and translator of the Hong Kong Governor's Office, stood behind Bao Ling, "Sir, I think that the establishment of the Huwei Free Port will be of great benefit to the development of British business opportunities in Taiwan. ”

Mai Huatuo has been in China for more than 10 years and speaks Chinese very fluently. Three years ago he was employed by the Governor-General's House of Hong Kong, and his predecessor, Lord Raymond, greatly appreciated him.

"Although I am the British Plenipotentiary to China and the Director of Commerce, I am also the Governor of Hong Kong. The shrinking of the Hong Kong market means that we need more money locally. Bao Ling tapped his hand on his forehead, "Those bureaucrats in the colonial department are going to attack us again!" ”

"The temporary downturn in the Hong Kong market is inevitable. In the past, the development of Shanghai seriously affected Hong Kong's entrepot trade, and now the opening of the port at the end of Shanghai has had an impact on the Hong Kong market, which is also normal. After all, the Chinese market is closed, and it can't carry too many of our goods at once. ”

"The market is closed, which is not in line with the law of free trade!"

Bao Ling was very annoyed and snorted coldly, "What we need to think about is how to completely open the door to the Chinese market!" ”

"IMHO, it's not an overnight thing."

McWarto leaned towards the British Conservatives, and he was very critical of the financial burden of the colonies becoming British.

"No, I have to do something!" Bao Ling remembered his personal financial advisor, Tang Muyao.

The Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue was originally beyond its means, and after Bao Ling took office, under the guidance of Tang Muyao, he opened up a variety of financial resources by opening gambling ~ horses, which greatly improved the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue.

Half an hour later, Bao Ling's luxury carriage stopped in front of Watson's tea room.

"Lord Governor, please come here!"

A waitress dressed in a medieval black and white maid's dress ushered Bao Ling into the podium garden on the second floor, where Tang Muyao had been waiting for a long time.

Bao Ling walked over with a spring breeze on his face and hugged Tang Muyao warmly, "Dear Tang, I'm so happy to see you!" ”

"Sir, I have just read your translation. It's just amazing! ”

Tang Muyao took an exaggerated deep breath, and then chanted in English, "I leaned against the railing, enjoying the freshness of the evening breeze. The autumn wind blew the fragrance of the white lotus, and I saw the crescent moon like a hook and as bright as water. Legend has it that just tonight, the stars in the sky came together. ”

This is the Chinese poem that Bao Ling has just translated. Bao Ling is versatile and belongs to the linguistic genius. He claimed to know 200 languages, 100 of which he spoke.

After chatting a few words about the translation of ancient Chinese poems, Bao Ling asked Tang Muyao directly, "Tang, now that businessmen are rushing to Huwei, Taiwan, the Hong Kong market is much deserted, and the financial revenue is about to decrease day by day, have you helped me come up with any good solutions!" ”

Tang Muyao took a sip of coffee gently, "The opening of the Huwei Free Port should be of great benefit to Britain to open up the Qing market and find a market for surplus products." ”

Bao Ling did not mince words, "That's right! Therefore, I have sent a commercial representative to Huwei to discuss business cooperation with the Ming Kingdom, and I am also preparing to open a British Empire commercial office in Huwei. ”

At the end of October, Ningbo Vice Consul Wen Jisituo went to Zhoushan with the French envoy and gained a certain understanding of the Ming Dynasty's system, current situation and foreign policy. Back in Ningbo, Wen Ji Situo immediately wrote a report and reported the investigation to Bao Ling.

In his report, Wen Jistu strongly praised the Ming Dynasty for its political civilization, strong military strength, business acumen, and willingness to follow the laws of free trade.

Bao Ling received the report of Wen Ji Situo as soon as possible, studied it carefully and carefully, and sent people to pay close attention to the movements of the Ming army.

He shrugged, "But before I can do that, I have to settle Hong Kong's affairs first." ”

"It's easy!" Tang Muyao smiled slightly, and he pointed to the direction of Guangzhou in the northwest, "There are hundreds of thousands of rebel forces in Guangdong, and there are many wealthy officials in Guangzhou, if they can be rescued to Hong Kong, the land price in Hong Kong will definitely rise sharply." If Hong Kong's population continues to grow, a market boom is just around the corner. ”