Ye Rongbai is the eldest son of the Ye family in Ningbo and the eldest son of Ye Guoji, a veteran of Ningbo Chamber of Commerce.

The Ye family in Ningbo is well-known among Ningbo merchants, and Ye Guoji is Chu Qiao among Ningbo merchants and is highly respected by the Ningbo business community.

In recent years, although the Ningbo Ye family has developed rapidly by taking advantage of the opportunity of Ningbo's maritime trade, it is much worse than the Wang family of Wang Fan. You should know that although the Wang family was also considered the leading figure in the Ningbo business world and was collectively known as the six masters of the Ye family, in fact, the Wang family was far less than the Ye family's scale, whether from the background or family business, the Wang family was far inferior to the Ye family. Compared with the Ningbo Ye family, which has been circulating for hundreds of years, the Wang family is just a rising star.

However, when Zhu Yicheng won over the Ningbo business community, the Wang family was the first to surrender to Zhu Yicheng, and Wang Fan directly served as the shopkeeper of the Sihai Commercial Bank. From then on, the Wang family began to soar. While bringing huge benefits to Zhu Yicheng, the Sihai Commercial Bank also allowed the Wang family to gain considerable wealth. Later, after Zhu Yicheng revealed his identity and took charge of the government as the state supervisor, Wang Fan was appointed as the deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue and became a leader in the Ningbo business community.

Afterwards, Zhu Yicheng first took Hangzhou, then occupied Nanjing and Susong, and formed a stance with the Qing court to rule the river. Then Zhu Yicheng ascended the throne in Ningbo, and the Ming Dynasty successfully restored the country. The Wang family even rose. The deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue became the Minister of Revenue. Not only did he manage the business of the Sihai Commercial Bank for Zhu Yicheng, but he was also an important official in the new dynasty.

One mistake, one mistake. Ye Guoji was scheming at the time, but he didn't expect that because of too many concerns, he lost the chance of the Ye family soaring, and instead made the Wang family get this advantage. If Ye Guoji was the first to express his support for Zhu Yicheng, then with the Ye family's status in the Ningbo business world, Zhu Yicheng would never treat the other party badly.

When Ye Rongbai thought of this, he sighed in his heart, but who could have expected the incident at that time? Judging from the situation at that time, Ye Guoji's response was not wrong. On the contrary, he tried his best to ensure that the elders and young people of the Ye family avoided the cause of unprovoked disasters. Unfortunately, in many cases, some decisions do not only look at vision and experience. The so-called planning is in people and success is in heaven, which is what is said.

With the scene back then, who could have thought of Zhu Yicheng's true identity, and who could have expected that Zhu Yicheng would step by step with the lonely city of Ningbo as the basis? If he missed it, he missed it. It was nothing. Unfortunately, the Ye family lost such a good opportunity because they missed it.

But even so, the Ye family is still a top figure in the business world of Ningbo, or the business world of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yicheng did not deliberately suppress or make things difficult for the Ye family's previous actions. Therefore, although the Ye family has not developed as fast as the Wang family in the past two years, it is also extremely rapid. In addition, the Ye family is a businessman, with a deep connection in the business world. Now, in terms of the scale of the Ye family, it can be said that it is the most prosperous period since the Ye family became rich.

Originally, Mr. Ye thought that the Ye family was like this in his hands. Because he lost the opportunity to voluntarily surrender to Zhu Yicheng at that time, no matter how prosperous the Ye family was, it was not as good as the Wang family. After all, the head of the Wang family is now an important minister in the court. Although Zhu Yicheng was implementing the strategy of equality among the four people when he was in Ningbo, he continued to improve the status of the three people in agriculture, industry, commerce and the people after taking the throne in Nanjing.

However, from the perspective of people's habitual thinking or deep-rooted concepts, in the eyes of businessmen like Ye Guoji, it is obvious that there is a world of difference between businessmen and officials, not to mention Wang Fan, who is now the Minister of Shang. If possible, Ye Guoji was even willing to exchange most of his property for an official who is equivalent to Wang Fan, and to become a family of officials completely separated from the identity of a merchant family.

Although Mr. Ye hasn't said anything over the years, his regret in private will still be revealed. As Ye Guoji's eldest son, Ye Rongbai, who has already replaced his family and become the head of the family, knows it clearly.

Who would have thought that when the Ye family had already accepted their fate and wanted to spend the day safely and continue to be a business family, Zhu Yicheng took the initiative to give the Ye family a chance, and this opportunity was Shanghai.

After defeating Su Song, Zhu Yicheng began to plan to build a new city in Shanghai. Shanghai's plan was very important for Zhu Yicheng. Shanghai's status in the future would far surpass Ningbo and even replace Nanjing. Facts from later generations have proved that Shanghai's development potential is extremely huge. It will definitely become the largest port city and commercial city in the Far East and even the world. As for Nanjing, although it is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, when it is able to solve the Qing court, Zhu Yicheng will inevitably launch a Northern Expedition and recover Beijing in one fell swoop. By then, Beijing will be the real capital. Nanjing, as one of the two capitals, will still maintain its original position.

It is a huge and long-term investment to start the construction of Shanghai. Under the current circumstances, Zhu Yicheng can not directly allocate much money to Shanghai. Although the development of maritime trade is rapid, the benefits brought to the Ming Dynasty by the Sihai Commercial Bank are also huge. In addition, the continuous implementation of the new policy and the stability of the local government, the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue is still good overall, especially under the implementation of Zhu Yicheng's new currency and the establishment of banks to control finance. The Ming Dynasty's economy can be said to be extremely prosperous.

However, it is not a peaceful era, and the Ming Dynasty has not really recovered China. No matter north and south, there is still the power of the Qing court. In addition, Zhu Jiancai, Wang Zhiqing, Gao Jin and other forces are complicated, and the Ming Dynasty still has many battles to fight.

When fighting, you have to raise soldiers, and when raising soldiers, you have to spend money. Not to mention that Zhu Yicheng is constantly investing huge amounts of money in established scientific research departments every year. These investments are almost like a bottomless pit, swallowing up a lot of money. In fact, some people in the court have also raised objections to Zhu Yicheng's investment, but they are all strongly rejected by Zhu Yicheng.

History tells him that technological power is the real decisive factor, and now it is on the eve of the great outbreak of science. Today's investment will inevitably bring huge returns. Zhu Yicheng has certain confidence. However, these huge investments also lead to financial tightness, so the source of funds for Shanghai's construction is a problem. After Zhu Yicheng reluctantly allocates a start-up payment from the fiscal budget, he can only use various policies to attract Shanghai's development. At the same time, he also needs to find new sources of funds and partners to support the implementation of this long-term plan.

To this end, Zhu Yicheng turned his attention to Ningbo's business world, and the Ye family happened to be the most suitable candidate in Ningbo's business world. The Ye family has a wealthy family, a high status in the business world, and the Ye family can also drive other businesses to invest together. In addition, Zhu Yicheng chose the Ye family, that is, he brought the Ye family out to compete with the Wang family and used the Ye family to balance the Wang family. It is not a good thing that a family dominates, and it is not that Zhu Yicheng does not trust Wang Fan, but such a means of preventing things before they happen are still necessary.

Zhu Yicheng asked someone to find Ye Guoji and talked to him privately. If Ye Guoji can make efforts to support the construction of Shanghai New City and improve the business concept and shipping structure in Shanghai, then Zhu Yicheng will give the Ye family great support.

Not to mention the others, it is only Mr. Ye Guoji. Zhu Yicheng will give him an earl with his merit of the Dragon, and will give him a formal official title of third-rank official in the Ye family, and at the same time give the Ye family a certain amount of good fortune in Shanghai. Such conditions can be said to be very good. Ye Guoji was stunned for a long time after hearing the news, and then he was extremely excited because he knew that this was an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given to him by the emperor.

Of course, the Ye family has to pay a lot to get these rewards. The Ye family not only has to make continuous investments in Shanghai for Zhu Yicheng, but also help the court develop Shanghai. These are not easy things. Once they have invested without output, they will not be able to support the Ye family's current wealth for a few years. But even so, Ye Guoji decided to accept Zhu Yicheng's request. He saw it very clearly because this opportunity is the last opportunity to completely change the Ye family. Even if the Ye family eventually loses everything for it, as long as the holy grace is still there, with the title and official position given by Zhu Yicheng, the Ye family can still be passed down from generation to generation, and even become a real noble family of honors after several generations.

It is precisely for this reason that Ye Rongbai, as the head of the Ye family, turned from a businessman to directly become a doctor of the Shanghai Maritime Service and the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Originally, the official position of the Ministry of Revenue was not high, and it was usually only a fifth rank, but the Shanghai Maritime Service was different from other things. The court directly appointed him as a fourth rank official to show Zhu Yicheng's attention to Shanghai development. As for the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, these were all third rank plus ranks to determine Ye Rongbai's status in Shanghai's construction and previous commitments.

It is not far from Ningbo to Shanghai, and it is also the most convenient to take a boat. The Ye family is doing a large sea trade business now, and of course it has its own fleet. Ye Rongbai travels directly from Ningbo by sea, passes Hangzhou Bay, then heads north, passes Jinshan, and then goes to Chongming to the estuary of the Yangtze River. From Wusongkou to Huangpu River, he will directly arrive near Shanghai County.

The place where Ye Rongbai got off the boat was a short-lived wharf. This wharf had no name before, but after the construction of Shanghai began, the wharf became lively. Locals discovered business opportunities around the wharf and gathered to build shops of different sizes. The existence of these shops naturally formed a spontaneous market around the wharf.
Chapter completed!