Songjiang Prefecture, Baoshan County, Wusongkou.

Baoshan County is a newly established county for a few years, the territory under its jurisdiction is cut out from Jiading County, which also belongs to Songjiang Prefecture, there are 13 in total, the land spans both sides of the Wusong River, the county seat is on the side of Wusongkou, the Yangtze River in the east, the Wusong River in the southeast, and a small part across the Wusong River, fell on the opposite bank of Pudong Gaoqiao Town, just hold the gateway of the Wusong River.

And this is the expanding Baoshan county, is also very distinctive, this is a fortress and commercial port combined with the county, not only considering the Yangtze River estuary coastal defense needs, but also taking into account the development of industry and commerce, to promote foreign trade needs, and this county is not surrounded by an outdated, limited defense capacity of the wall, so it can be very convenient to Wusongkou as a starting point, continue to expand inland!

The fortress part of Baoshan County is divided into two parts: Wusongkou Fortress and Gaoqiao Fortress. These two parts are based on the fortress as the core, with the shore fortifications and forts as the periphery, and then the moats, fences, and breast walls are used to rely on the natural river channel (there are many rivers in the water town south of the Yangtze River, and the number of dense ones cannot be counted) to cover the back road and form an extremely solid defense system. It is basically impossible to break through the defense system of the Wusongkou-Gaoqiao double fortress from the front.

In addition to constituting the gateway to the Yangtze River together with the Chongming Island naval fortress at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Wusongkou-Gaoqiao double fortress system is used to protect the trade port where the "river shipping" converges in the Wusong Pass!

The river in Wusongkou, sometimes called Huangpu River, sometimes called Wusong River, is actually the confluence of two inland rivers with strong water transport capacity on the territory of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

These two inland rivers, one called Wusong River, leads to Suzhou and connects to the South Canal! A road to Jiaxing Mansion in Zhejiang is also connected to the South Canal!

After the two inland rivers meet in Shanghai County, they flow through Baoshan and join the Yangtze River estuary. The section down Shanghai City is currently called Wusongjiang.

This is a real golden waterway! Jiangsu, Zhejiang, the canal, the Yangtze River, and the East China Sea are all screwed together on the turf of two counties next to each other, Shanghai and Baoshan. In addition, there are countless navigable tributaries of the Huangpu and Wusong rivers, which connect almost all the villages in Songjiang Province into a network.

What is even more rare is that the place where Songjiang Mansion is located is the whole of China. Oh, and now it should be the richest plain in the world, the Jiangnan region of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain.

The whole Jiangnan is not only the land of fish and rice, but also the land of silk and cotton, with waterways extending in all directions and extremely convenient transportation. There are hardly any major floods, there are no droughts, and agricultural output is extremely stable.

Oh, there are more, more rare things, that is, Baoshan, Shanghai, Chuansha, Nanhui, Fengxian, Jiading, Taicang Prefecture, these treasures, because of the repeated alternation of wars in the Ming and Qing dynasties and the coastal relocation of the pit people of the Qing Dynasty, the originally very concentrated land was dispersed.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty, which took over Songjiang Prefecture, was able to divide the "outside the boundary" within twenty or thirty miles of the coastline equally to the Jiangnan nationals and scholars who had participated in the anti-Qing, anti-Geng, and anti-Wu wars, thus forming a huge and extremely loving group of "middle-class Chinese" of the Ming Dynasty.

They are all Chinese soldiers who have fought for the new Ming Dynasty and shed blood!

In the newly established Baoshan County, because almost all the land in the county belongs to the "outside the boundary", the land is very even, and the people in the countryside are almost all Chinese. Moreover, these Chinese households are from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and there are not many Songjiang locals, so there are no intricate families.

At the same time, because these countrymen all served in the Ming Dynasty's national army, they were naturally township soldiers when they were in the township, and they could use the "township soldiers" to organize and manage the autonomous system of the people.

Including the "township soldiers", all the "capitals" in the Ming Dynasty, as well as the townships above the capital, have now implemented the "three old system".

The so-called "Three Old Systems" originated in the Warring States Period and matured in the Western Han Dynasty, and it was a grassroots governance model greatly respected by Emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty.

When he arrived in the new Ming Dynasty, he was excavated and improved by Li Zhongshan and Huang Zongxi, which became the basis for the Ming people to discuss politics, and was also responsible for grassroots self-government.

Specifically, it is the autonomy of the three elders elected by the people and scholars of Hongo. The "three elders" can also represent the local capital to participate in the prefectural and county level councils (township three elders discuss government affairs, capital three elders discuss county affairs), and elect some deputy (executive deputy positions) of local officials

This system, of course, is not as ideal as it seems, and its effectiveness often depends on the number of "middle-class people". When wealth is average, and the rich and the destitute are very few, the effect is certainly ideal.

Therefore, in Baoshan County, where every household is average, every family has a gun, and the people of the country discuss politics based on the three-old system, it is quite well implemented. This can be seen from the appearance of the emerging Baoshan commercial port - this commercial port was not invested by the imperial court, but was personally planned by General Li, and the people of Baoshan County built it under the advice of the general through fund-raising and loans from Zhongshan Bank, which is the people's own industry! Can you do it well?

Don't look at this commercial port has only been open for two or three years, but it has already begun to take shape. On the side of the Wusong River (Huangpu River), the wharves are next to each other, from the "first shop" wharf to the "sixteenth shop" wharf.

The reason why the wharf is named "shop" is because these wharves are next to the commercial market, and the wharf is full of cargo warehouses and selling all kinds of goods, as well as restaurants and hotels crowded with merchants from the south to the north.

On the river, there are all kinds of boats moored everywhere. There are boats along the Huangpu River and Wusong River, sand boats that can travel between the river and the sea (offshore) from the Yangtze River, and bird boats, fortune boats, Guangzhou boats, old lock boats, and Galen boats that come from the sea. There was also the huge one, like a castle on the water, the first-class sail battleship Royal Sun, and several fourth-class cruisers that arrived with the Royal Sun!

Sailors from France huddled on deck, curiously gazing at the ports of this mysterious ancient country of the East, which was sometimes glamorous and sometimes dirty, in European legends.

The first impression of these French visitors was that they had an atmosphere of "vigor and competition" that they did not see when they were berthed at the ports of India and Annam.

Led by a small pilot ship, the Royal Sun carefully sailed through the channel over the Wusong River to the east bank of the Wusong River, near a military dock at the Gaoqiao Fortress. Little Baptiste from France. Kirbel, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was from Germany but was hired by the French court, and Father Schival, the representative of Prince Foquansky, stood together on the deck of the stern of the Royal Sun, staring blankly at what was happening before them.

This is the republican Ming who was praised to the sky by a group of Dutch and English people for a while, and demoted to the earth by another group of Dutch and English people for a while. An ancient country that has found its vitality in the ancient system of "national republic"?

Looking at the lively scene in front of him, and thinking about the increasingly extravagant court and the people who were gradually falling into poverty, the hand holding the railing became tighter and tighter.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, known as an all-rounder, was excited, a fan of Chinese culture and unprejudiced against the republican system. After all, he was only a German, and he did not owe allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, but was also a "trifectary", serving the Archbishop of Mainz, the Elector of Hanover, and King Louis XIV of France. In order to come to the Ming Dynasty to study Chinese culture and system nearby, he even resigned from his job at the Elector of Hanover, and with the help of several friends in the Parisian academic circle, he joined the French bureaucracy and boarded the Royal Sun in the name of "French shipbuilding expert".

And Father Sivar was the most surprised of the three by the change in Daming. Because he was born in Macao, China, before he was arrested by Li Yat-sen and sent to Beijing to serve as a foreign servant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he had been preaching in Guangdong, and he was too familiar with the suffering and temperament of the people at the bottom of China.

It's a desperation to the point of numbness. But less than ten years later, when Sivar saw the Ming garrisons, bureaucrats, and merchants in the Ming port of Hoi An (Annam), which was occupied by the Ming Dynasty, he no longer felt the slightest numbness without the slightest vitality.

And today, when the Royal Sun sailed into Wusongkou, the vitality that Father Sival felt was not only in people, but in the whole city, in all the buildings, and in the crowded water of the Wusong River.

In just a few years, they actually built a city!

The city was clearly well planned, with wide roads, well-laid out buildings, and most of the houses were not luxurious, but they were all sturdy and durable, and made extensive use of red bricks, which had rarely been seen in China before—red bricks were much less expensive than green bricks, but the red walls were too much of a stretch for use. But the Republic of the Ming Dynasty does not pay much attention to these, how can low-cost and strong materials not be used?

Just as his thoughts were rushing, the Royal Sun, flying the fleur-de-lis flag, had slowly approached the dock. There were already some people waiting on the dock, those wearing unicorn suits, black gauze hats, waist knives hanging from their belts, and pistols, needless to say, were all figures of the Ming military. They all looked at the huge French warship in amazement - this is a large ship with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, more than double the size of the largest gunboat of the Ming Dynasty!

Standing with these officers, there are also many guys wearing one-color civilian uniforms - according to the official uniform system now implemented by the Ming Dynasty, the regular uniform of military attaches is a unicorn robe, and the size of the official position is distinguished according to the different colors. Civil officials wear one-color official robes, which are also divided according to the color.

There were also some Ming soldiers in military uniforms standing straight, led by a small officer, each carrying a flintlock pistol with a bayonet on it, and forming a three-column horizontal formation—a standard formation for a line to be shot!

can be discharged, it means that the army of the Ming Dynasty still has two hits!

The captain of the Royal Sun was Rear Admiral Anne-Illarion of the French Navy. Morality. Cotentin, the distinguished admiral who had made many achievements in the Franco-Dutch Wars, and who would have played a role in the Grand League Wars in his original history, and who, along with some of his colleagues, had won the "rare honor" for France (French naval victories were far rarer than army victories), and now ascended the stern of the Royal Sun in full costume and wig.

He was also extremely interested in the military port, fortress, and military personnel in front of him. In his opinion, the country of Daming, like his motherland France, is seriously preparing for war!

Before the ship had stopped, several skilled French sailors dropped anchor and lowered the cables, and the gangplanks were quickly lowered. Little Baptiste, Leibniz, Sival, and Cotentin immediately rushed down the boat and walked off the boat. One of the first of the few military attaches wearing unicorn uniforms on the shore is Li Zhongzheng, Li Zhongzheng, the good brother of Li Zhongshan, and next to him is Yu Qilin, the guard of the Haiju Fortress on this side of Baoshan - he is the son of Yu Deshui, who was not surnamed Yu and was raised in someone else's house.

However, he is not as good as Li Zhongzheng, and after graduating from the martial arts hall, he followed Li Jizhen to mix, and he didn't have much credit, two years ago, he heard that the Chongming Island Naval Academy under the General's Mansion was opened, and he was admitted again. This is amazing, it is equivalent to talking about martial arts together and adding the first phase of the sea soldiers, the people are double first-class, and he is double the first phase! So at a young age, he looked like a child, and he became the guard of the fortress.

Seeing the four foreigners get off the boat, Yu Qilin stepped forward, apologized from afar, and said in Latin: "Welcome, welcome to China!" ”

The four foreigners could understand it, and they all bowed and returned the salute. And Li Zhongzheng and a few other people wearing unicorn suits also hugged their fists together. After the two sides exchanged polite words, Yu Qilin smiled again: "The journey was hard and hard, and the general had to fly eight hundred miles from Annan, and when he knew that you were coming, he asked his brother Li Zongzhen to come to Baoshan to greet him, and asked the lower officials to prepare a resting residence for you in Gaoqiao Town." You should rest for a while, and then change to a boat and go to Nanjing to meet the general. ”

Silval opened his mouth and said to Qilin in Chinese: "Yu Zhenshou, I am not an envoy of the King of France, I represent the general's old boss Uncle Fu, I want to see the general as soon as possible!" ”

"Uncle Fu? He is." Yu Qilin was stunned and didn't think about it for a while.

Li Zhongzheng next to him remembered who Uncle Fu was, his face changed slightly, and he said to Xivar: "I know. But in any case, let's settle down in Gaoqiao Town today, and I'll pick you up early tomorrow morning and go to Nanjing first. ”

Xival was satisfied, and without saying anything more, he went to Gaoqiao Town with Li Zhongshan and Yu Qilin. Compared with Baoshan County on the other side of the river, Gaoqiao Town is an old town, the alleys in the town are very narrow, and most of the houses are quite old. Li Yat-sen and Yu Qilin placed the French Mission in one of the newest and most spacious buildings in town—a primary school! It is called Baoshan County No. 2 Primary School, which has just opened and only accepts children of one grade, so there are many empty classrooms, which are just used to arrange for these foreigners who come from afar.

Because of the fatigue of the journey, Sival and the others had a good meal after getting off the ship, and went to bed early. The small population of this town of Gaoqiao makes it quiet at night, but the guests from France are awakened early the next morning by the shrill sound of suona and the rhythmic sound of drums.

When Father Sival was woken up, he thought he was living in the barracks, so he got up from his bed, put on his robes, and went out of the house. Outside the house was a large playground, and it was already dawn, about eight o'clock in the morning. Little Baptiste, Leibniz, and Cotentin have also left their respective rooms, standing on the edge of the playground and watching?

Sivar hurriedly fixed his eyes and looked at the place where the sound of drums and suona came from the playground, and the whole person was stunned.

It turned out that there were four "platoon-level" horizontal formations standing neatly, all in a twelve-by-four formation, as if they were Louis XIV's royal guards! And the formation of these horizontal formations are some young boys who are seven or eight years old, and certainly less than ten years old.

I only saw them under the dispatch of the "head of the church", the sound of the snare drum, and the sound of suona, one moment to the right, one moment to the left, one moment to the left, one moment to step forward, one moment to turn back, a team of dozens of people, neatly like one person!

Are these children students at this elementary school? Sivar muttered, "They are already conducting military training at such a young age, and their martial arts are too abundant, right?" ”

I don't know who replied: "Yes, Daming turned out to be a Spartan country!" A Spartan of 60 million people"

(End of chapter)