Han Shizu

Chapter 2197 Renzong Chapter 14 From Hong Kong to Huating
The river port area extending along the Songjiang River is undoubtedly the most prosperous place in Shanghai and the heart of the entire city's economic development. The surging waves, the horns of boats, and the hustle and bustle of the market are all the beating pulse of the city.

With the development of urbanization, the empire has already undergone earth-shaking changes in urban management. The development of the commodity economy has completely defeated the traditional restrictive lifang system with an unstoppable momentum.

All prefectures, counties and towns in various places (including independent towns) also followed the trend of the times, innovated and imitated the two capitals, lifted the ban on the blocks, and formed a public office management system with streets as the main body and neighborhoods as the body.

If we count from the middle of Kaibao period, this process has been going on for nearly a hundred years, and it is still difficult to talk about vassal land today. Many imperial cities, especially those in inland mountainous areas with inconvenient transportation, still adhere to tradition, with neither the will nor the conditions to change, and at most adding some "novels" to the management model.

As for the vast border areas, with their special characteristics, they pay more attention to military functions and consider more security, ethnicity and religious factors, and are moving towards a different set of management models. Against the background of the prosperity of border trade, the management of border towns has become increasingly strict, especially in the past decade or so, and the northern and southern borders have become uneasy again.

As the first commercial city in the empire, Shanghai is clearly at the forefront of the country in terms of urban development and management. It has long implemented zoning and subdivision management, and the main roads and rivers that crisscross the city are the natural boundaries of zoning.

At the same time, Shanghai was also the first city in the empire to completely break through the restrictions of the city walls. Without the barriers of the city walls, all the gates were open and guests came freely. An official once proposed to build a new city north and south of Songjiang River to strengthen the frontier defense, which attracted the support of a large number of conservative bureaucrats, dignitaries and upright officials in the court.

However, despite the thunder, the raindrops did not fall. No matter who was in power, it was unlikely that they would follow such a suggestion. They only needed to do some calculations before taking action. The cost of building a brand new city that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people on the distant coast of the East China Sea was too high.

Therefore, Shanghai has always been criticized by conservatives as an "undefended city", and there are always concerns about its safety. Of course, Shanghai is not an undefended city in fact. Not to mention the East China Sea Navy, cavalry and infantry camps, and hundreds of artillery batteries stationed in the home port for many years, the tens of thousands of Red Gang members have a good combat effectiveness.

The imperial court has always regarded Shanghai as a small treasury for withdrawing money, and the powerful and wealthy have also regarded it as a place to freely reap profits. There has been investment, but compared with the profits gained, it is actually insignificant.

Shanghai is actually a city created by the hard work of millions of people, businessmen and industrialists. It is a magical city that has just been hatched by the concentration of a large amount of private social wealth.

Because of this, Shanghai has been filled with the atmosphere of freedom and change since its inception. Over the past hundred years, Shanghai has also been the place where the empire's emerging forces (urban merchants and artisans) have grown most powerful.

However, a hundred years later, those representatives of the emerging forces could no longer turn over and become their own masters. This was because the sky of Shanghai belonged to the sky of the Han Empire, and in the empire, power came before wealth, and officials came before the people. This was an iron rule, and no matter how enlightened the powerful and wealthy in Xinghua were, they would not allow the so-called emerging forces to escape from their control.

As for those merchants and common people, when their wealth and fame accumulate to a certain level, they will face a choice: to submit to the powerful and become their subordinates, or to be independent and insist on freedom.

This is actually a multiple-choice question. If you choose the former, you will become a vassal of the powerful and suffer heavy losses. If you choose the latter, your business will not continue to grow, but will likely be suppressed, and even your life and property will be threatened. Even if you withdraw from Shanghai, is there any more relaxed business atmosphere in the empire than in Shanghai?
In this context, the final choice of the emerging merchant class can be imagined. This is the rule, the rule that the entire imperial society operates. Those who break the rules will be retaliated, and those who oppose the rules will destroy themselves.

Of course, there were always adventurers and challengers in the long years, but in the end, not to mention the Xingye Chang family, they couldn't even leave Shanghai, and a large number of people ended up under the water of Songjiang River.
Due to the massive influx of population, the real estate industry in Shanghai naturally developed. It is worth mentioning here that several large-scale enclosure movements took place during the city's development.

Each time, there was a step-by-step increase in population and a change in the center of the court (a new king took the throne and the prime minister changed). And each enclosure movement was accompanied by blood and rain, but the size of the city continued to expand and grow in this storm until it reached its current size.

About 30 miles southwest of the port area is Huating County, which was once the county seat of Xiuzhou but has long been part of Shanghai. Compared to decades ago, Huating City has also changed its appearance.

Although the port area is prosperous, anyone who has spent a few days in Shanghai can find that Huating is the place where the real powerful and wealthy live and gather.

Probably since the Jianlong period, some dignitaries have chosen to move their residences from the banks of Songjiang River to Huating City. The reasons are varied, but the main reason is the living environment.

Noisy, filthy and smelly are inevitable problems in the process of Shanghai's urban development. For some people who have been to Shanghai, it is a city full of dirt and only villains would gather here.

The influx of a large population and excessive development and utilization have also caused serious damage to the ecology of the lower reaches of Songjiang River, and even affected the drinking water of the people. In the early years, some people still drank water directly from Songjiang River, but nowadays, there are very few people like this.

After all, Songjiang has everything: garbage, feces, urine, and corpses. Just thinking about these things makes people sick. At the same time, due to the poor sanitary environment, Shanghai citizens are always shrouded in the shadow of epidemics, and thousands of people die from epidemics every year.

As for the public security situation, there is no need to say much. Various large and small criminal incidents occur one after another, and the crime rate is undoubtedly the highest in the country.

These practical factors have led to the gradual withdrawal of the powerful from the Songjiang port area. Among the surrounding areas, only Huating is left. This is an unstoppable trend. After all, how can the upper class with their finery live together with the dirty and lowly lower class for a long time.

At the same time, this is also an instinctive adjustment for urban development. The migration of a large number of dignitaries to the south has not only diverted the population of Jianggang District and alleviated its pressure, but also promoted the development of Huating area.

To facilitate travel, the "Chenggang Avenue" connecting Huating and the port area was built in two years, and the prosperity of the port area gradually spread to the south. A large number of "tertiary industries" established to serve the rich and powerful also became more prosperous. For example, there were some people who specialized in drawing water from Dianshan Lake, dozens of miles away in the west, to supply the rich and powerful in Huating.

The old narrow city foundation of Huating had long been demolished, and in its place was a large city that was ten times larger and could accommodate tens of thousands of people. Inside the city, there were clean and tidy streets, and along the streets were rows of Han Dynasty buildings with ample space, novel styles, and beautiful scenery, with blue bricks, white walls, gray tiles, and red railings, which were very impressive.

History is a cycle. While Shanghai is becoming more open and free, the order in Huating City is gradually changing to strict and solemn. There are thresholds for entering the city, and business is targeted. There is no curfew, but the city ban system has been brought out again. Security patrols never stop from morning to night, from night to day, and everything is based on the priority of not affecting the comfortable and easy life of the nobles.

With the relocation of various government offices in Shanghai, the city siphon effect has become more significant. If Huating is compared to a hotel, then beds here are hard to come by.

The Hegang District attracts attention from home and abroad, and Huating City is the cockpit of this big ship. Over the past few decades, Shanghai has produced countless wealth legends and generations of heroes, but whether one can buy a property in Huating City is the real test of its quality.

(End of this chapter)