Chapter 1174 Pudong New Area

In fact, as soon as the Portuguese arrived in China, they immediately realized the superiority of Chinese hard sails. The Chinese sailing ship captured with the Duke of Goa and the Oriental Beauty was made by them. The Cantonese called it Laozha ship. The Portuguese word "lorcha" means a Western-style Chinese three-masted sailing ship.

The old Lorcha has traditional Chinese sails and a streamlined Western hull. It is faster than Chinese sailing ships, requires fewer people than Western sailing ships, and is easier to build and maintain. In another time and space, the red-haired devils in Asia have been using it for hundreds of years, and the Qing Dynasty people have also been using it. The Arrow, which triggered the Second Opium War, was a Lorcha.

Later, the warships built by the Americans for the Qing Dynasty also used the galleon's hull and Chinese sails, which shows that there is no problem with this combination.

The only disadvantage of Chinese sails is that they provide less power than Western square sails when facing the wind, so the latter is more suitable for ocean voyages with the help of trade winds. However, when sailing along the coast of China and the South China Sea where wind direction and ocean currents are complex and changeable, the former is obviously more advantageous.

Moreover, for a sailing battleship that is like a sea fortress, speed is not important; endurance is the most important thing.

But how can we just imagine such things? We have to create them honestly and try them out to know for sure.

So Zhao Hao agreed to build three half-size test ships. Ship No. 1 was a strict replica, using the same materials and built the same way as others.

The second ship was based on the original ship model, but the sails were changed to Chinese sails.

The third ship was remodeled according to Yang Fan's creative ideas. The sails were combined with Western and Western styles, and both Western and Chinese sails were installed. The ship also tried to add watertight compartments to the Western hull while retaining the double-deck full-length deck.

In order to save time, Zhao Hao decided to build three ships at the same time. Although ordinary wood was used, the other consumables and labor required for each ship were not much different. Yang Fan estimated on the spot that the three ships would cost about 60,000 taels of silver. If they were equipped with cannons, 100,000 taels would not be enough.

This does not include the cost of early research and development, preparation, and supporting facilities...

Compared to this, the cost of building a thousand-ton sea-going ship at eight hundred taels is almost like giving it away for free.

Jiangnan Shipyard could not afford such a huge initial cost alone. Therefore, the board of directors of the group decided to adopt the method of commissioned construction and full funding, with the group acting as the client.

The urgent need for new warships made Zhao Hao spend money regardless of the cost, just to speed up the progress as much as possible!

Anyway, Mr. Zhao was backed by Jiangnan Bank and was spending the deposits of the wealthy families in Jiangnan. As long as the problem could be solved with money, it was not a problem.

But there are problems that money can't solve...

"It's too much work to build three new ships at the same time. If we want to deliver them by the end of the year, we need at least two thousand skilled shipbuilders, two thousand apprentices and laborers." Ma Hu, who was in charge of coordinating the production, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed: "Unless we stop the construction of the other ships, we can't get so many people. But the Royal Shipping is in urgent need of the Dafu ship..."

"Don't stop, there is a way." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said, "The private shipbuilding industry in Gaochun County, Yingtian Prefecture is very developed. The group has already negotiated with Gao Kaisi to recruit at least 1,500 shipbuilders to support you in the form of labor dispatch. In addition, we also asked Tang Baolu to send people to the coastal areas of Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong to recruit shipbuilders with a large sum of money. Should we be able to recruit another 1,000?"

After a pause, he continued, "As for apprentices, try to recruit them from Chongming County. We will build ships in the future, and we need to reserve more talents for the future!"

"Yes." Ma Hu understood. In short, it was right to find ways to expand the team of boatmen.

~~

On the return journey, when the boat entered Wusongkou, the surface of the river was obviously different.

Originally, the water flow at Wusongkou was as slow as a mirror, and even due to the pressure of water from the Yangtze River, it would flow backwards... The boats could be carried upstream for a long distance without sails or oars.

As a result, the water from Taihu Lake had nowhere to drain and could only overflow the river and flow to the low-lying Pudong area.

During the flood season, most of Pudong will be submerged. If a typhoon causes seawater to flow back, the entire Pudong will become a swamp.

When the floods recede during the dry season, this place will turn into a swampy muddy land. Otherwise, there would be no almost no people in such a prime location in Pudong.

But all is past!

Because at this moment, the Huangpu Songjiang Project presided over by Hai Gong has been completed. He used the platform of Jiangnan Group to mobilize the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songshan to

Three hundred thousand laborers started the work in late December last year and completed it in March this year. In less than 100 days, they completed the construction of the dam and sluice gate at Henglaojing, forcing the upstream water to turn north and go to Huangpu instead, allowing the ancient Dongjiang River to play its role as a flood discharger for Taihu Lake again.

The 80-li section of the lower reaches of the Wusong River from Jiading County to Shanghai County was dredged, and the 30-zhang river channel was narrowed to 15 zhang to "restrain water and attack sand" to prevent the silt carried by the Wusong River from accumulating before entering the Huangpu River.

In addition, Zhao Hao's suggestion was accepted to dig the Taipu River, which connects to the East Taihu Lake and the Huangpu River.

In addition to the Dianpu River from Dianshan to Huangpu, which was built by Wujiang and Kunshan last year, now almost three-quarters of the water in Taihu Lake flows into the Yangtze River from the Huangpu River.

The flow rate at Wusongkou has increased by at least three or four times. The huge amount of water is restrained by the long concrete river embankment on the hundred-meter-wide river surface, which is very spectacular!

As the saying goes, a river is formed in March, clear water arrives and the water hyacinths and mud disappear by themselves!

The flood discharge channel of Taihu Lake was finally unblocked! Huangpu finally became the Huangpu River that Zhao Hao remembered, the river that gave birth to the prosperity of Shanghai County and even the Yangtze River Delta!

In this regard, Lu Yan, Vice Chairman and General Manager of Shangkai Company, who was summoned to join the meeting, felt the most deeply.

"This is truly a great move that will reshape the world! From now on, floods in Wuzhong will no longer harm farmers, and the people of Jiangnan will be able to live and work in peace!" Lu Yan said with tears in his eyes, "Mr. Hai and Mr. Zhao have done a great favor to Jiangnan, and they have rebuilt Shanghai County!"

"Alas, just thank Lord Hai, don't thank me." Zhao Hao waved his hand and smiled faintly: "I am just doing business, everything is for the benefit of the group."

"In the future, the group's propaganda will also uniformly attribute the credit to Hai Gong alone." As he spoke, he cast his eyes toward the boundless land of Pudong and said, "We have already received the best prize, and we can no longer covet false reputation."

"Wouldn't it be possible to pursue false reputation and suffer real disaster?" Lu Yan suddenly thought of this, but of course he would not say it out loud.

He followed Zhao Hao's gaze and looked towards the large green wasteland east of the Huangpu River.

Years ago, Jiangnan Group built a 200-mile seawall in Pudong. Years later, Hai Rui built a high river embankment for Huangpu, completely blocking the invasion of river and sea water into Pudong, turning the former muddy pond into the largest and last uncultivated virgin land in Jiangnan!

The entire Pudong area is 1.2 million mu, and it is expanding towards the sea every year. The silt brought by the Yangtze River is not only reshaping Chongming Island on the other side, but also continuously increasing the area of ​​Pudong. Jiangnan Group only spent a mere 1 million taels of silver to pocket all of it. The people who sold them the land at that time, as well as the people of Shanghai County, all laughed at them for being too stupid.

Who would have thought that in just two years, Jiangnan Group had magically revitalized Pudong with just a seawall and a river embankment!

Now these lands are worth at least 20 million taels of silver, right? Mr. Zhao's original investment has increased in value by at least 20 times.

Investing in Pudong has added a strong touch to the many legends about Mr. Zhao turning stones into gold.

Those who laughed at him for being stupid at the beginning are now in tears.

There are also many people who are not convinced and want to make some trouble to see if they can make Jiangnan Group give back some of its money.

However, Shanghai County Magistrate Zhang Qi and local wealthy and powerful families such as the Lu family have already boarded the Jiangnan Group. How could they be allowed to take over?

This is why Mr. Zhao, even though he was mainly focused on making the pie bigger, also paid great attention to ensuring that the local government and gentry got enough benefits. In the Ming Dynasty, without the full support of the government and gentry, the signed contracts could be torn up at any time, and the locals had a hundred ways to make it impossible for outsiders to do anything.

On the contrary, only with the support of the government and the gentry can things move forward... Even if Mr. Zhao has great abilities, he cannot work alone without these people.

Fortunately, as more and more counties join the Jiangnan Group, the power of the group is rapidly expanding. It can in turn suppress the government and gentry in each county and firmly grasp the initiative.

This wave, in fact, was not originally created by Mr. Zhao, but was learned from the Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives in another time and space. It was indeed very successful.

However, the Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives later changed from a dragon-slayer to an evil dragon, becoming the biggest conservative group hindering the development of Japanese agriculture and even society. I wonder if the Jiangnan Group can avoid repeating the same mistakes?

~~

The Science slowly went upstream and dropped anchor at the confluence of the Wusong River and the Huangpu River.

Zhao Hao and Lu Yan took a small boat and arrived at a beach on the east bank of the Huangpu River. The Huangpu River made a nearly 90-degree bend here, thus forming this protruding land. Looking from the west of the Huangpu River, this beach is like a huge golden-horned beast, stretching its head and opening its mouth to drink water in the river.

Because the Imperial Academy scholar Lu Shen was buried here, the people of Shanghai called it Lujiazui. And the entire Lujiazui was originally the property of the Lu family.

Lu Yan is the adopted son of Lu Shen... All four of Lu Shen's sons died, so he adopted his nephew to inherit the family line. Now that Lu Yan is the head of the Shanghai Lu family and the head of a prominent family, his words are much more effective than those of the county magistrate.

In order to acquire Lujiazui, Zhao Hao really put a lot of effort into him. Not only did he exchange 10% of Shangkai's shares, but he also made him the second-in-command of Shangkai, which made it difficult for him to acquire Lujiazui.

As for why Mr. Zhao was so persistent, it was of course to build the Oriental Pearl Tower... heavy fog.

Of course, it is because this is the gateway to Pudong and the natural center of Shanghai. If Jiangnan Group does not take over this place and vigorously develops Pudong in the future, wouldn't it be a waste of time to help others?

Young Master Zhao stood on the embankment of Lujiazui and said to Lu Yan, "I plan to build a new city here and make it a world economic center that is more prosperous than Suzhou. How about you be the chief builder?"

"Pudong New Town?" Lu Shen's heart was pounding. It was hard for a wealthy man like him to be moved by money. What could excite them was to do something big that would go down in history.

"But I don't plan to build a city wall, so it won't be called a city. How about calling it Pudong New Area?" Zhao Hao said with a smile.

ps. I wrote very seriously today, but I just can't write fast for this kind of plot. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to finish the chapter I owe. How about the next book, we can just write about happy life...

(End of this chapter)