The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde didn't know what his father and uncle said the next day, because he followed Zhang Hongfu, Wu Dong, and Wei Wencai to Dehua County.

It’s so easy to come to Fucheng, why not take a good look around.

Dehua County is where Jiujiang Prefectural City is located. There are prefects and other related yamen here. Naturally, the life of the county magistrates in Dehua will be difficult. It is wishful thinking to want to be a parent official here.

But these are too far away for Wei Guangde now.

Walking on the streets of Fucheng, there are people and cars passing all the way, so lively.

Because of its superior geographical location, Jiujiang is "a river with a lake, and at the mouth of the three rivers, it is a thoroughfare with four extensions and connects seven provinces." It is also close to Po Lake, Ganfu Plain and other grain-rich places. During the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Jiujiang He was taken seriously by the court from the beginning.

In order to strengthen management, during the Hongwu period, a guard station was set up in Jiujiang to farm, and at the same time, the supervision of grain was strengthened.

Nowadays, most of the political and military power of the Ming Empire has turned to the north. The north is poor and its dependence on food from the south has gradually increased.

Jiujiang serves as the starting point for grain shipments from Huguang and Jiangxi to Beijing. Every year, the Cao army transports millions of grains of grain to the north. It also transports grain from Zhejiang and South Zhili to the north to supply the capital and frontier armies.

As a result, Jiujiang has gradually developed into an important grain market in the south, especially for private grain procurement. A large number of businesses from the south to the north have settled here, creating a prosperous Jiujiang Prefecture.

Jiujiang benefits from the Yangtze River, connecting Yingtian to the east, Wuchang to the west, and the Poyang Lake water system to Nanchang. A huge water transportation network is connected by water transportation. Various industrial and commercial products from Jiangxi are sold in large quantities to various provinces. It can be seen that the money passing here every year and the prosperity of commodities.

Jiujiang Chaoguan also became the only tax collection port established and maintained on the Yangtze River during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It collected countless tax dollars for the empire, which also shows the wealth of Jiujiang.

Although Wei Guangde comes from a later generation, he is still amazed by the prosperity of Jiujiang Fucheng today.

Although those products that can dazzle most people in this era have no lethality to Wei Guangde, there are also things that Wei Guangde's later generations cannot see.

The eldest brother was amazed by the rows of shops along the street, but when he saw the complete Jiujiang City Wall, the ancient heaviness still made him, a modern soul, a little confused.

There are not many big city walls left over from later generations. Most of them are in sections. There is no complete wall surrounding the entire huge city that I see at this time.

I heard from Zhang Hongfu that the city of Jiujiang began to be built more than a thousand years ago due to its geographical location. About a few hundred years ago, the earthen city walls were changed to brick walls, which is what he sees now.

Around Jiujiang Fucheng, a total of seven gates were opened, which are called Yingchun Gate and Dongzuo Gate in the east, Jingxing Gate, Xiaonan Gate, West Gate in the south, and Wangjing Gate and Yueshi Gate in the north.

Some of the main gates also have urns. Now they were walking on Wangjingmen Street. A straight road led along the river bank to the entrance of the city gate. People came and went on the road, and there was a constant flow.

After walking around the city, they now walked along the road to the outside of the city, passed through the barbican and the city gate, and slowly walked along the road towards the riverside pier.

Naturally, they were not going to board the ship to go home, but Zhang Hongfu took Wei Guangde and the others to see Jiujiang Chaoguan.

To this day, Wei Guangde is still obsessed with Jiujiang Chao.

Wei Guangde wanted to live a good life, so he wanted to obtain fame and become an official.

But all of a sudden, he traveled to ancient times hundreds of years ago, and the knowledge he had learned was definitely top-notch in this era. Even if he was only ranked fifth among his peers, he was still absolutely ahead of everyone in the world.

However, the egg is useless.

In this era when "everything is of inferior quality, only reading is high", his knowledge can only be regarded as miscellaneous knowledge, not mainstream.

Although he has prepared for himself a job as a village head if he fails the exam, as a retreat, for people who are already familiar with historical development, they naturally hope to work and live in a big city instead of staying in Bengshan Castle. that place.

So Wei Guangde wants to come to Jiujiang Chaoguan to see if he can work as an errand in Jiujiang Chaoguan with his literacy and arithmetic skills and the help of the Zhang family. It is not better to stay in one place.

When we came to the riverside, we walked two miles west and saw a large wharf. There were several large houses beside the wharf. According to Zhang Hongfu, that was Jiujiang Chaoguan.

Merchant ships coming and going have to dock again for inspection and tax payment. If you get the voucher, even if you can escape the patrol ships of Jiujiang Chaoguan and Jiujiang Guard, you will still be inspected by the waterway inspections of Wuchang and Yingtian. If you have the voucher, you can Passage is allowed, otherwise you will be detained and fined.

"The conditions are good."

Wei Guangde saw that up to this time, there were still several merchant ships docked at the pier, and clerks from Chaoguan were inspecting the goods on the ships. But it was not yet the Lantern Festival, and there were still merchant ships plying the river.

As a scholar who failed to pass the examination, Wei Guangde felt that he could still live a life like this, waiting here every day for the ship to dock, inspecting the merchant ship, and then collecting some tips to end the day's work.

"If you want to take the exam in the future and find a job here, it's easy to do."

Zhang Hongfu looked at Wei Guangde and continued to whisper: "Jiujiang Prefecture does not have much jurisdiction over this banknote, but there are still people working down there, so as long as you make good friends with the people inside, it's really easy to go in and find a job. It’s difficult, because making friends is very expensive and requires a lot of methods.”

Wei Guangde understood that before entering the banknote gate, one must be able to give money. Only by giving good money can things be done.

"How much money does this friendship cost?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

"I don't know about this. Maybe it will cost a few hundred taels. I heard that the jobs here are very profitable."

Zhang Hongfu said, then thought about it and then whispered: "If you just want to prepare a retreat in case of emergency, we will talk about it when the time comes, and I will help you find out.

Although my family can't talk to each other in Chaoguan, it's still no problem to find someone to talk to.

But you're still too young now, so it's better to focus on fame. "

It was the first month of the year, and the wind was strong on the river. Naturally, the few people would not stay on the riverside for too long. If Wei Guangde hadn't said that he wanted to see Chaoguan, the few people would not have left the city at all.

He came in a hurry, but returned to the city in a leisurely manner. Only then did Wei Guangde notice that there was a majestic pavilion building standing against the river on the road.

This building occupies a huge area, with three floors outside and four floors inside. It has a nine-ridge roof, flying dragon eaves, tiled railings, and corridors on all sides, making it appear simple and dignified.

As he got closer, Wei Guangde noticed the huge plaque hanging under the eaves - the three characters "Xunyang Tower". Looking at the scene inside the gate, it was clearly a restaurant.

It was already noon since he left home in the morning, and Wei Guangde felt a little hungry.

"Brother, I'm hungry."

Wei Guangde said softly to his elder brother. He said this, but in his heart he was thinking about where he had seen the word Xunyang Tower, but he couldn't remember it for the moment.