Chapter 188 is willing to dare to pull the emperor down from the so-called "nine borders" from east to Liaoji and west to Gansu, as well as Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, all of which were the frontiers of the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty.These places have long distances and strange roads, and the transportation of military supplies not only requires a large number of requisitioned transporters, but also costs a lot of travel expenses, and the government really does not want to carry this heavy burden.Therefore, the court of the Ming Dynasty passed on this burden to the salt merchants, and organically combined the salt administration with the border administration through the form of the Kaizhong system.Salt is a huge profit, although the factory price of the imperial court is low, but in the hands of the people, this price has increased more than tenfold.In this way, the Kaizhong Law was to hand over the right to retail salt to some merchants, and by the time of Chenghua and Hongzhi, the Kaizhong system was basically impossible to implement under the destruction of the powerful and powerful people and all kinds of people who wanted to occupy the nest, monopolize the Kaizhong, and carry multiple branches and sell illegal salt.The salt monopoly was used as a means of financial looting, which was realized by increasing the number of nanometers in the proportion of salt and grain exchange before Ye Qi's reform, and by increasing the introduction price after Ye Qi's reform.The Ming government no longer focused on consolidating the frontier defense and developing the frontier, but devoted itself to enriching the national treasury and increasing the amount of silver.Qian Longxi wants to restore the opening of China and France and take back the retail sales of salt merchants.Although it does not take away the production and distribution of salt merchants, it will be painful to take over the retail rights.You know, like daily necessities, monopoly management is profiteering.To take a very simple example, Sinopec and PetroChina control almost 99 percent of the country's gas stations, while a few private gas stations can be much cheaper.It is pure nonsense, there are no private oil refineries in China, all fuel oil is state-owned, why do they sell it so low, and where does the profit come from?
Because the fuel factory is so high, it is a lot to earn one or two dollars per liter of oil, even if you earn a piece of five, it is also a huge profit.Now that the law is adopted, a part of the private salt of the salt merchants in order to avoid taxes will not be able to hide, and the salt merchants must give the salt, and the salt can be sold openly, and the imperial court can also feed the loss and intermediate drift as before.This news immediately caused an uproar in the imperial court, but, relatively speaking, it was much better than the dismissal of redundant officials, and it was better to move salt merchants than officials.Of course, there is still a lot of scolding.Qian Longxi is almost equated with a national thief.As soon as Quan Xu arrived in Dengzhou, he was taken aback.Densely packed with dozens of miles, there were soldiers, horses and troops everywhere, of course, the military discipline of the Ming army was strict and lax, and it was very chaotic anyway.Quan Xu did not enter the city immediately, but went directly to the other courtyard located on the Xin'an River Plateau in the northwest of Dengzhou City.However, Quan Xu was a little incredulous, in just two or three months, this place has undergone earth-shaking changes, on the south bank of the Xin'an estuary, more than 30 waterwheels have been built here, forming a water-powered mill with more than 30 waterwheels.From time to time, there are large carts and small carts, pulling grain to grind noodles.On the terrace near the Wharf of the Clan's Courtyard, a shipyard of considerable size is under construction, thousands of workers are working on it, and the site where thousands of people are working in full swing is quite spectacular.Many giant trees were dragged by boats and landed from the dock, and the most surprising thing for Quan Xu was that the I-beams that Quan Xu got from later generations were converted into a rolling belt by these craftsmen, that is, two I-beams, like splicing rails, with logs in the middle to form rolling logs.The kind of giant trees, which were more than three feet thick, were dragged onto this kind of track, and then piled up in the open space outside the Quanxu Courtyard with oxen and horses, and at this time, the wood yard where the wood was stacked was actually piled up into a hill.According to rough estimates, there are no less than 100,000 cubic meters of timber.The stacked timber is immediately selected by craftsmen, and after being removed from insects and decayed, it is then smoked and dried to dehydrate and dry.This is a technical work, the wood of shipbuilding has to take several years to dry before it can be used, it is too dry to do it, it will rise when it is soaked in seawater, absorb water and become sinking, it is not good if it is too wet, the wood will be dehydrated under the scorching sun at sea, and the entire hull structure will be destroyed, and it will kill people if it is too dry and wet.Only the most experienced craftsmen know what to do to keep the wood in the best condition and to ensure that the hull structure is stable and strong, which is why the old craftsmen are precious.Not far from the shipyard is a weaving workshop.Ge Erfu looked surprised and said, "My God, it's so spectacular!"
How many ships do you have to build to use such a large shipyard!
”"Sanniang, what's going on here?"
Sanniang said with some panic: "Xianggong, it's all my fault!"
”"Your fault?""
Xianggong, please don't blame Shopkeeper Zheng!"
Sanniang lowered her head, not daring to look at Quan Xu's eyes.When Quan Xu left Dengzhou City, Zheng Wanxian, the steward hired by Chen Ying, was left as the steward, but Sanniang was the most decision-maker who held the financial power.Quan Xu didn't leave too much money in Dengzhou, that is, more than 3,000 copper utensils, which are not antiques, just daily necessities, such as copper teapots and copper lamps, and some silk cloth.Quan Xu suddenly realized.Those silks were quite valuable, worth more than 3,000 horses, which was equivalent to 780,000 taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty.It's really hard to sell this kind of thing in the future, and who else wears silk now?
Sanniang said in a low voice: "I saw that those people were too pitiful, so I asked Steward Zheng to find something to do for them, and reward them with a mouthful of food ......"
"It turned out to be like this?"
”Jeon Xu didn't know what to say.In the Qin-Chen Rebellion, the sixteen cities were broken one after another, artificially creating a large number of victims.When the war ended, some of them fled to the mountains, some of them hid in the countryside, and when the war ended, they also lost their homes and had to wander around.At a critical time, Zheng Wanxian followed Quan Xu's instructions to build a waterwheel, built more than 30 water-powered mills, and hired four or five hundred people to work.As a result, more and more people are affected, and they are not willing to ask for wages at all, as long as they have enough to eat.Zheng Wanxian is not Quan Xu, Quan Xu provides three meals a day, he only provides two meals, but it is dry rice.On the contrary, it attracted a lot of people to come to work, and then the immigrants from Liaodong began to come, the boat was broken and small, and there was an accident, the boat leaked and sank, although the rescue was tried to help, but more than 30 people were missing.At this time, the steward in charge of immigration learned the technique of drying wood from Quanxu's Zhuangyuan, and they began to start a timber business.From Dongjiang Town, it is responsible for felling wood from all over Liaodong, and then transporting it to Dengzhou, and then after it is dried in the shade, these wet woods are cheap and become expensive wood, whether it is to make furniture, or to build ships, or other uses, anyway, the supply exceeds demand.The bigger the business, the more the tradition of credit in this era, just cash settlement, Dengzhou by the sea, and you can get the grain of Jiangnan from the sea.This trade route was smoothed, and not only did they pay for their own profits and losses, but they became bigger and bigger, and they began to build shipyards and prepare to build their own ships.Knowing that Quan Xu was coming, Zheng Wanxian, who was busy, came to meet Quan Xu with dozens of dog-like stewards."
Master!"
Different from Sanniang's apprehension, Zheng Wanxian thought that these things were arranged by Quan Xu, and he began to show his merits to Quan Xu: "Master Quan, you see, our shipyard will be able to complete the shipbuilding in half a year at most, and then we can make a thousand or even three thousand large ships."
Here is our wood drying room, more than 100 have been built, more than 300 are under construction, there is a mill, and there is a workshop that can make ironware......"
When Quan Xu looked at Zheng Wanxian, he just glanced at it in a hurry, this product was unlucky, and in order to treat his father, he was willing to sell himself for ten taels of silver.Quan Xu hired him to be a steward, and he liked that he could read a few words, write and calculate, and he could be regarded as a rich man.Chen Ying gave him a salary of two taels of silver a month, and he was so happy that he couldn't find the north.In just a few months, it has turned into an amazing transformation."
Good job, you guys, each of you add five taels of silver to the salary, you get busy first, I'm tired, tomorrow with the account book, come and report!""
Thank you, Master!"
Quan Xu stared at Sanniang: "You go back to the house first, and then I will clean you up when I turn back!"
”Sanniang was so frightened that she hurriedly ran away.In the crowd, there was a man in Xuanxuan overalls, and Quan Xu knew that this was Xuanyingwei's person."
Come in with me!"
When I came to Quanxu's room in the courtyard, everything was arranged as usual.Jeon Wook pushed open the window and let in the fresh air."
What's the news lately!"
The Xuanying guard said: "The mansion that just arrived at night!
”Quan Xu opened it and saw that Chongzhen asked Qian Longxi to reinstate the official, but Qian Longxi immediately folded the salt method, and he wanted to restore the method of opening the middle, Quan Xu said in disbelief: "How is this possible?"
”"I have repeatedly confirmed that there is no omission!""
Qian Longxi is not afraid that when he sleeps, his head will be cut off?"
Each normal situation needs to consume ten to fifteen grams of salt, with a minimum of not less than five grams, so as to ensure the energy balance of the human body.That is to say, Daming needs at least 300 million to 500 million catties of salt, even if calculated at the average price of 12 Wen, the plate of this production market is 6 million taels of silver, of course, counting retail, this market is as much as 20 million or 30 million taels of silver.Cutting off people's money is like killing their parents, and it's no wonder that those salt merchants are not in a hurry.Of course, this interest group is not only the salt merchants, but also their backstage nobles and gentry.There is a way to be willing to cut the emperor and dare to pull the emperor off the horse.Qian Longxi is shameless, now he is not afraid of anything, he doesn't care about anything, he has become a mad dog, whoever opposes, he bites.Although the Manchu Dynasty resisted and the crowd was angry, Emperor Chongzhen liked it, coupled with the means of rectifying the person, he was not bad at Qian Longxi.Catch a few people who are dancing happily, and a set of mature processes will come down, and the officials will be dismissed and the house will be raided.These borers are quite fat.Even if Jinyiwei deceived again and again, the silver sent to the treasury was more than 100,000 taels, and at this time, when Emperor Chongzhen saw the silver, his eyes were also red.......