Ma Yilong had been completely aroused by Zhao Hao, and that night he had his luggage packed and prepared to go to Kunshan to pursue his ambitions.

We have to be impatient. If we delay a few days, the seedling cultivation will be delayed. That will delay hundreds of thousands of acres. If we lose a season's harvest, it will be a huge sin.

When they heard that Mr. Menghe was leaving, the elders of Liyang were all shocked and came to the academy to persuade him to stay. There were two to three thousand villagers gathered outside the academy, and more people kept pouring in from all directions.

Ma Yilong had no choice but to come forward to appease the villagers, telling them that he was going to Kunshan to learn advanced agricultural science from Mr. Zhao so that he could better benefit his hometown.

The common people were dumbfounded. In their eyes, Mr. Menghe was a figure like Shennong. What agricultural technology did he need to learn?

In order to get out of the situation, Ma Yilong picked Zhao Hao out and praised him nonsensically, saying that he could grow several thousand kilograms of grain per mu!

Zhao Hao had no choice but to show his corn cobs. He also showed his cucumbers, eggplants, bitter melons, and loofahs, which finally impressed the ordinary people who had never seen the world.

He also promised that he would regularly send agricultural technicians to promote technology so that everyone could enjoy the latest agricultural technology. Only then did the people reluctantly let him go.

The side effect of this move was that Zhao Hao's whereabouts were exposed.

When he took a small boat back to the county dock and was about to board the Science, he saw the familiar scene happening again.

Shi Qingshan, the magistrate of Liyang, led several gentry in the county and had been waiting for a long time. No matter what, they wanted to invite Mr. Zhao to have a meal.

Young Master Zhao wanted to integrate Jiangnan, so he naturally couldn't keep people at a distance. He had no choice but to follow the host's wishes and went with them to Gaojing Garden.

During the dinner, Magistrate Shi, as expected, tentatively asked whether Jiangnan Group had the spare capacity to guarantee the raw silk and silk products of Liyang?

Shi Qingshan said that as a thank you, he would definitely open the door and provide all conveniences for Jiangnan Group in Liyang.

Unfortunately, Magistrate Shi himself had no confidence. Liyang was too small, not along the river or near the lake, and too far from Jinling and Suzhou, so it was really useless.

That's what he thought.

Liyang is located at the junction of the Wushen Canal and the Danjinli Canal. These two canals and several other crisscrossing water systems together build the transportation network connecting Jiangnan in Mr. Zhao's mind. This is destined to make Liyang occupy a very important position in the future pattern of Jiangnan.

After all Zhao Hao's pretense, he finally agreed reluctantly.

Of course, bamboo leverage... Oh no, the details still need to be discussed by Sister Jiang, Mr. Zhao is not good at this.

~~

After another day of delay in Liyang, Zhao Hao had to stay in Gaojing Garden that night. However, the garden was still very beautiful, and it was a small change of pace during the journey.

The next day, the Science set sail out of the city and headed for Wuhu, the fourth stop of this trip.

The Science left Liyang along the Zhongjiang River and entered Gaochun County. It is not far from Nanjing. Later, Gaochun became a district of Nanjing. It is a land of abundant fish and rice, with mountains and lakes, beautiful mountains and clear waters, and evergreen all year round.

When the canal passed through Gaochun County, Zhao Hao had no intention of getting off the boat. Unexpectedly, the magistrate of Gaochun got the news from somewhere and actually blocked the way on the river by boat.

Mr. Zhao had no choice but to patiently socialize and reached the same agreement with Gaochun County.

After declining the other party's kind invitation to go ashore for a tour, he hurried on his way.

Fortunately, after leaving Gaochun County, we entered Wuhu County.

As one of the top three important western cities in Zhao Hao’s Jiangnan plan...of course, this western city refers to the western part of Jiangnan.

Wuhu is known as the head of Wu and the tail of Chu, and is considered the border of the Jiangnan region both geographically and culturally.

After careful consideration and repeated discussions, Zhao Hao has announced internally that Jiangnan Group will not expand its boundaries indefinitely.

The operating area designated by Zhao Hao for Jiangnan Group roughly starts from Hangzhou in the south, extends to Yangzhou in the north, borders Shanghai in the east, and reaches Wuhu in the west.

This area includes the most important areas of the Ming Dynasty, namely Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Yingtian, Taiping and Yangzhou, a total of ten prefectures.

The total area of ​​these ten prefectures is only 50,000 square kilometers, which is only half of Zhejiang Province. But the population exceeds 20 million, and the tax revenue accounts for more than half of the country!

There is no doubt that this is the most essential area in Ming Dynasty and even in the whole world.

Moreover, there will be no war here for decades; it is far away from the political center of Beijing, and there are no fiefdoms of vassal kings, so the environment is very relaxed; most of the scholars and officials are not ashamed to talk about profit, and the business atmosphere is very strong; most of the common people raise silkworms and weave cloth, and the handicraft industry is also very developed.

If there is a place in the Ming Dynasty that can achieve the transition from natural economy to commodity economy and complete the commercial revolution, it must be here!

Compared with leading the entire Ming Dynasty to carry out a commercial revolution, it is obviously a more realistic, more feasible and naturally easier goal to only lead this tiny area of ​​50,000 square meters to achieve a breakthrough.

Well, this is also difficult. In this era, except for the Ming Dynasty, the population of the major empires was basically around 20 million. Portugal and England only had a few million people.

Leading 20 million people into a new era is by no means easy.

But it’s always better to be relatively easy…

He felt that if he could accomplish this task in his lifetime, he would be a great success.

~~

Why does Zhao Hao attach so much importance to Wuhu?

First of all, its innate conditions are too good.

Wuhu is located in the golden waterway of the Yangtze River. The Qingyi River, Shuiyang River and Qingshui River converge into the Yangtze River in the south, and the Yuxi River connects to Chaohu Lake in the north. It is the intersection of Huguang and Jiangnan, and southern Anhui and Jianghuai. It is a natural water transportation hub connecting the north and the south, and the east and the west.

This made it the largest of the four major rice markets in the world. Along the Qingyi River, masts and ships were lined with merchants, and most of the rice sold to Jiangnan, Southern Anhui, and Jianghuai was shipped from here.

In addition to being a grain trade center, Wuhu was also the steelmaking center of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that "iron in Wuhu is made into steel".

The famous "Su Steel" of the Ming Dynasty was actually not produced in Suzhou, but in Wuhu.

To be more precise, the Wuhu Iron and Steel process originated in Suzhou. However, several decades ago, due to the lack of raw materials such as iron and coal needed for steelmaking in Suzhou and the rising cost of hiring workers, a large number of iron smelters and craftsmen moved from Suzhou to Wuhu.

Because Wuhu is close to the iron mines in Fanchang and Dangtu, and the coal mines in Tongling and Guichi, and these minerals are all lined up along the Yangtze River, the transportation cost is extremely low. With this incomparable advantage, Wuhu became the actual production base of Sugang.

Moreover, this place was also the starching and dyeing center of the Ming Dynasty, and it is known as "Suzhou and Songjiang are the best for weaving, and Wuhu is the best for starching and dyeing."

Wuhu's pulping and dyeing industry is unique in the country, with advanced pulping and dyeing technology and dye production technology. The dyed cloth and silk are of high quality, bright colors, various types, and not easy to fade. Especially some special dyeing, such as "copper green" and "silver vermilion", only they can dye them.

Even much of the silk produced in Suzhou and cotton cloth produced in Songjiang would be sent to Wuhu via the Wushen Canal, dyed in the dyeing workshops here, and then sold throughout the country and exported overseas.

These two pillar industries together built Wuhu's status as one of the five major handicraft centers in the Ming Dynasty.

How could Mr. Zhao not love Wuhu?

ps. Second update.