Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 856: Defeat More with Less
"Pile it there, pile it there, quickly, quickly..."

"Damn it, you should have put less! You put ten kilograms of cement on this one kilogram of brick... Have you really lost your conscience?"

"You want this place? This place won't work. According to His Highness' order, a drum tower will be built in the center of the market... Or you can look over there? Three shops are planned to be built there. Look at this location, wow, it faces north and south, it will be very prosperous in the future! If you like it, just go to the government office to register! After the bidding is successful, this will be the shop of your clan."

"...What? You don't know what a bid is? So you country folks..."

The east of Lianzhou City is now a bustling scene. After days of construction, the eastern city wall has been extended by more than ten miles, and the enclosed land has been planned as the Lianzhou Prefecture's maritime trade market. Now there are artisans and merchants everywhere, and they are busy building shops, houses, ports, docks, etc. The crude city wall can be built by recruiting rough men from the army, but the facilities such as houses and ports are mostly involved and must be built by professional artisans.

But this was not a big problem. After the prefect, Lord Wang, went to the residence of His Royal Highness King Zhou, he immediately came up with a solution to have the best of both worlds. Lianzhou Prefecture invited investment to the land in the east city, which immediately attracted a large number of merchants from Southeast Asia. You know, many facilities in the Southeast Asian concessions were subcontracted to these merchants by the imperial court. Under Zhu Su's deliberate guidance, these merchants had long understood how much profit there was in contracting government projects. Now that Lianzhou Prefecture openly invited investment from these merchants, how could they not flock to it?

With a wave of his hand, Wang Futai contracted out all the construction work in Dongcheng at the cost of a few decades of leasing facilities such as the port dock and shops. Even the roads around Lianzhou Prefecture were renovated by merchants.

Even before the market opened, the city of Lianzhou was already thriving.

"Your Highness, seven chieftains have been willing to settle in Lianzhou Market and accept the Ming Dynasty's license." Xie Jin has now become the secretary of the East City. He is busy inspecting and registering at the construction site every day. Seeing that the market will open soon, he found a free time today and came here to look for Zhu Su.

Zhu Su had moved into the barracks in the north of the city, which was also Li Wenzhong's central military camp. Although the house price in Lianzhou was cheap and Li Wenzhong had also bought property here, he was a general after all, and it was not very decent to live in a house every day. Since he returned to the barracks, Zhu Su naturally went with him. However, in order to welcome Zhu Su, the prince, Li Wenzhong made the barracks rich and bright, which was not inferior to the houses in the city.

Zhu Su was reading a book about stories from the pre-Yuan Dynasty. When he saw Jie Jin coming in, he put the book down. After listening to Jie Jin's report, he leaned back in his chair and asked, "Only seven chieftains?"

"Hmm... a little less. But it's enough. The business of Lianzhou Market doesn't have to be done entirely by the local chieftains. The fleets of the Nanyang merchants, the chambers of commerce of the merchants in the city, and the merchants who have contracted the projects, they must have a share of the business of this new market."

"Well, if you count it this way, seven is enough... As long as these seven chieftains become rich because of this market, with this example set in front of them, other chieftains will naturally become jealous and want to get a piece of the pie."

"By then, it will be easier to control them." Zhu Su said.

"Your Highness is right." Xie Jin bowed slightly, "But Your Highness, these seven chieftains are all from the East, and there are no Li people."

"I am worried that these vulgar people are mostly closed-minded and self-centered. If they continue to do what they want, then we..."

The so-called Dongren were the Tusi villages composed of Han immigrants and criminals from Lianzhou, such as Ye Shangren's village. Because these people were of Han origin, they had a certain affinity with the Ming Dynasty, a Han regime, and were more open than other local villages, so they were naturally more receptive to Zhu Su's proposal to open a market.

Li people and Xuhu, in general, are Tujia people who have lived in Lianzhou for a long time. These people are trapped in their villages, just like a country, and their interest in the outside world is far less than that of the Dongren villages. They are the main target of Zhu Su's experiment to subdue the Tusi in Lianzhou this time. If this method has no effect on these Tusi, then Zhu Su's trip can be said to be a failure.

"Well... For the sake of their own power, the chieftains may not accept the imperial permit and put another layer of shackles around their necks... But they also have people under their command. What if their people are eager for them to join in the business of the market?" Zhu Su said.

"Even if the chieftains have the final say in their respective tribes, it is hard for them to resist the overwhelming public opinion... Especially for the households that make a living by collecting pearls. If no one is interested in the pearls they collect, how can they make a living?"

"When the time comes, you won't have any choice but to join our Lianzhou Market."

"Your Highness, are you going to forbid merchants from going to various places to collect pearls privately?" Xie Jin asked in surprise. "Your Highness, please forgive me for speaking frankly... Merchants have always been profitable and go everywhere. Even if Your Highness asks the emperor to issue a strict order to forbid it, merchants will find ways to collect pearls secretly. Moreover, if so, wouldn't it be that we are forcing these Xuhu people to expose our actions in public?"

"If our great Ming dynasty were to resort to such means, it would be unjust and unethical. Moreover, if we were to do so, wouldn't it make those chieftains and our imperial government even more alienated?"

"Yes, that's the truth." Zhu Su nodded. "Of course I won't use such an overt prohibition."

"That is..." Xie Jin was confused. "Then, Your Highness, how can you prohibit merchants from purchasing Xuhu Nanzhu?"

"You should know that the majority of Hepu Nanzhu is produced by the Tuzu households. The Tusi tribe of the East only produces a small amount."

"If we want to suppress them by bidding, we will never be able to compete with these chieftains and their subordinates... How can the merchants give up more for less?"

"Jinshen... when it comes to classics, history and government affairs, you are quite knowledgeable. But when it comes to business, you still have a long way to go." Zhu Su said with a smile, his face was relaxed, and he had picked up the book from the pre-Yuan Dynasty on the table again. "These South Pearls are not something that is necessary like rice, flour, grain and oil. Who says that more is better than less?"

"I have my own way to make it so that those households can't sell even a single pearl... Just rest assured and watch my method." Zhu Su was full of confidence.

(End of this chapter)