Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 383 Ginseng is a big industry

Wu Zhenzhou knew that this group of short-haired officials would not like people to kneel down, but he was afraid at the moment, and he couldn't care less, so he knelt down, kowtowed in haste, and begged for mercy, saying that he was obsessed with money, seeing that ginseng was cheap, that's why he came here No rejection.

"Boss Wu, we didn't come to arrest you today, otherwise we wouldn't have just three people here. But if you hide it for those people, you will have to bear the consequences."

"The villain is guilty! The ginseng gathering gang in the mountains has six groups of people. Xu Mazi's group has the most members, with more than 300 members. The other four groups have more than one hundred members and fewer than 30 members."

"Get up and talk. Who was it that hurt people on the mountain road the first two days?"

Wu Zhenzhou stood up and said in a low voice, "Sure, it should be Xu Mazi's."

According to the survey conducted by Civil Affairs some time ago, since the Qing army withdrew from Ninggu Tower in May, some criminals who were exiled here fled into the mountains in the chaos, formed gangs, stole ginseng, robbed the property of border residents, and injured people frequently. occur.

Furthermore, the ginseng in Northeast China today is all natural ginseng, and the annual excavation volume is more than 10 taels, while the average price of ginseng in the Beijing city market is 40 taels of silver, and it is more expensive in the south; It is a large industry with an annual trade volume of more than 400 million taels, and this is what Zhao Xin really cares about.

Since the late Kangxi period in the Qing Dynasty, the Qing court decided to follow the "Salt Citation Law" and make the business of ginseng collection private to the royal family by issuing "participation tickets".However, due to the hard work of collecting ginseng in the early stage, the ginseng tickets could not be issued at all.So in the Yongzheng period, the Northeast ginseng industry was handed over to the imperial merchant Fan's family for contracting.

This Fan family is the leader of the eight big profiteers in the late Ming Dynasty, Jiexiu businessman Fan Yongdou family.

To make a digression, the most glorious period of the Fan family was the Yongzheng Dynasty. Not only was the family an imperial merchant, taking care of many businesses such as copper and ginseng, but there were also people who served as Taipusiqing and second-rank officials.But good and evil will eventually be rewarded. In the 48th year of Qianlong, due to the rise in copper prices, the copper industry presided over by the Fan family suffered serious losses. Therefore, Qianlong decreed that Fan's official position and imperial business qualifications were removed, the family property was also seized, and the owner of the Fan family was also arrested. Prison, never recovering from a setback.

Since Huangshang took over the ginseng procurement business, the benefits brought by participating in the ticket are huge.To put it simply, a ticket is charged with 16 taels, 30 taels are handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and [-] taels are taken by the merchants.Based on this business alone, Fan's annual profit is around [-] taels of silver.

Seeing that it was profitable, the Qing court wanted to take back the ginseng mining industry.So since the tenth year of Qianlong, it was said that "the imperial merchants only wanted to make their own profits and could not release votes sincerely", and it was officially changed to government-run, which was undertaken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When it comes to the matter of ginseng harvesting, Wu Zhenzhou said everything to Zhao Xinzhi, which was not a secret in the first place.

"The former imperial court." Wu Zhenzhou paused, seeing that Zhao Xin and the other three did not respond, he continued: "They set up official participation bureaus in Shengjing, Jilin, and Ningguta. General Jing and various officials will attend the bureau, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will send people to help each year."

Zhao Xindao: "Then what are the rules on the number of tickets?"

Wu Zhenzhou said: "There is no rating for this, as long as there is someone to claim it, the imperial court hopes that the more the better."

In short, Man Qing hopes that the more he earns, the better.The original "ten liang to the public, six liang to oneself" has also been changed to "ten liang to the public, two liang to the public, and one liang to the guarantor"; in addition, ginseng will also be charged a tax of six liang of silver per catty.In the 18th year of Qianlong alone, the sales and tax revenue of ginseng was more than 150 million taels of silver, while the national tariff revenue was only 430 million taels.

The year in which the most tickets were issued in history was the 25th year of Qianlong. The official ginseng bureaus of the three places issued a total of more than 6 tickets. Even at the price of 30 taels, the direct income of a ticket is 300 taels. , which is not counting taxes.However, after the 42nd year of Qianlong, the ginseng industry in Northeast China began to go from bad to worse.

The civil affairs cadres on the side were a little strange when they heard this, so they hurriedly asked what was going on.

Zhao Xin sighed and said, "It's nothing more than the words 'draining the lake and fishing'."

Wu Zhenzhou stretched out his thumb and praised: "Master, it's true."

The ginseng mining mode in the Qing Dynasty belonged to the large-scale mining of digging, not planting, which lasted more than 200 years, and there were not enough hills to dig.Manchu Qing not only did not support the artificial planting of ginseng, but strictly prohibited it, and sent officers and soldiers to arrest people who planted ginseng in various places.

A ginseng must be grown for at least three years before it can be harvested.Large-scale ginseng harvesting year after year has destroyed the growth of ginseng seedlings, and the decline of the industry is inevitable.

Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty also explicitly ordered to cultivate ginseng off the mountain, this was only limited to the official ginseng bureau and did not release ginseng tickets, but it could not prohibit the people from stealing it.In fact, the more severe the ban is, the higher the ginseng market will be, and the more serious the stealing will be.

No way, who makes ginseng a huge profit.Many officials and dignitaries secretly funded the refugees to carry out private mining, and transported them into the customs through entrainment, and some officials extorted and extorted gangs of ginseng, and even shoddy and filled their own pockets.

It took Wu Zhenzhou more than an hour to briefly introduce the situation of the Northeast ginseng industry.It also talked about how hard it is to dig ginseng, and it must be processed in time after digging out of the soil, otherwise the water will be too high, and the hard-earned ginseng will rot and deteriorate.

After his explanation, his mouth was dry, and Zhao Xin and the three listened attentively.

However, after Zhao Xin finished listening to the other party's explanation, he returned to the topic at the beginning and asked: "That Xu Mazi group, you said there are more than 300 people, who are there?"

Wu Zhen listened to it on Monday, but he is still thinking about it!So he hurriedly said: "My lord, Xu Mazi's place is mostly prisoners who have been exiled and can't bear the hard work. There are also fugitive slaves of banner people, jobless people, etc. Besides, there are also some officers and soldiers who were beaten away by the old masters. They Last year, there were only a few dozen people in that group, but this year there will be a lot more people."

Don't think that most of the exiles in Ningguta are wronged people. The local exiles can be roughly divided into political prisoners, criminals, and moral offenders, and criminals are the main ones.These people, who had committed serious crimes and deserved to die, were sentenced to exile because of the Qing government's amnesty or other chances of survival.

According to the "Great Qing Law", there are about 30 reasons for exile Ningguta.This includes those who were exiled to the smoky south and escaped and were captured, those who trafficked people, those who pretended to be in the flag, those who saved robbers from death, those who smuggled salt, those who engaged in secret sects, those who stole grain, and those who counterfeited silver, etc.

Those who dared to risk the severe punishment of the Qing court to come to Ninggu Pagoda to steal ginseng these days are not good people.Because they will be exiled again once they are caught, most of these participants hold weapons to resist the capture of officers and soldiers, and sometimes they rob the people passing by the border.

Whether it is oppression or other reasons, these people will pose a threat to the future governance of Beihai Town and must be resolved.

Zhao Xin nodded, it was really the right time to come to Hengfeng Pawnshop today.Although the shopkeeper Wu is a pawnbroker, he is very familiar with the ginseng industry.

It seems that the local Beihai garrison has to mobilize to wipe out the gangs of robbers occupying the hills, so as to restore the place to safety.If Xu Mazi and his gang are allowed to develop, they will definitely become the biggest factor of instability under Beihai Town's rule.

He pondered for a while, then winked at his next opponent.The man understood, and said that he still had something to do, so he left for a while, then hurried out of the back hall, bypassed the counter and went out.

After that, while drinking tea, Zhao Xin casually asked about the situation of the local exiles, and also asked about the situation of the other dozen or so pawnshops in the city.But Wu Zhenzhou had no choice but to pick up what he knew and answer one by one, and he couldn't figure out Zhao Xin's intention for a while.

After about a stick of incense, the civil affairs cadre who had left just now came back, and nodded towards Zhao Xin as soon as he entered the door.

Then Zhao Xin suddenly asked: "Master Wu, is your Hengfeng pawnshop owned by Qitai? Who was the man who entered your shop before the three of us came? Where is he now?"

The three questions were thrown one after another, which was truly earth-shattering, and Wu Zhenzhou was so frightened that his forehead broke out in sweat.He was slumped on the chair, with no strength in his legs. He was thinking about how to explain, when he heard a loud sound of footsteps outside the door, and then someone sternly said, "Come out! Don't come out and shoot again!"

Wu Zhenzhou panicked immediately, and then heard another person beg for forgiveness: "Don't! Don't! The young one is a shareholder of this company, come here to settle accounts with the shopkeeper Wu!"

Who is it if it's not Chang Wu who is talking?
After a while, the door opened, and Chang Wu, who was tightly bound, walked in under the escort of two Beihai soldiers.

A soldier said to Zhao Xin: "My lord, a dagger was found on this guy."

Only then did Wu Zhenzhou understand what that person was doing when he went out just now.He knew that he couldn't hide anything now, so he squeezed his hands hard, slid forward, and knelt down on the ground again.

Although Zhao Xin didn't want people to kneel, but this time he deliberately wanted to manipulate the other party, so he didn't let Wu Zhenzhou get up, but showed a sneer and said: "Although there is no prohibition on the statement, but the shopkeeper Wu, we will enforce the Ninggu Tower. At the beginning of the military control, you have already asked the shops to explain the situation of the shareholders, and also said that you will not embarrass the businessmen who are in partnership. But you are lucky. After several visits to inquire about the situation, you said that it is your own business, and you have no cooperation with people in the government. When we are easy to cheat?"

"Master, spare me!" Wu Zhenzhou bowed his head and lay on the ground, trembling like chaff. "The grown-up let his concubine's brother, Chang Wudai, hold the shares. This is him. It's just that the grown-up has a high position and power. Wherever a villain dares to ask for his old man's money, it is all given by the villain voluntarily. The second time I came here was to bring the discounted share capital back to Jilin, before the master came, the villain was negotiating with him."

Zhao Xin asked, "How much money will Qitai take away?"

"Master! The little one is not an assassin, and that knife is for guarding against wild animals when he goes out." Chang Wu was already out of his wits at this time, so he dared not say anything, and knelt on the ground begging for mercy with snot and tears.

"Are you that Qitai's brother-in-law or brother-in-law?"

"The villain's younger sister is the fifth concubine of the adult."

"Tsk tsk~~" Zhao Xin sighed that Qitai's physical strength is really good, and then said: "Why are you crying, no one will kill you. Go back and tell that Qitai, don't think that you have to get something when you are about to die. If you want to do business, come to me directly."

"Yes, yes, the villain doesn't dare anymore?" Chang Wu was stunned.

Zhao Xin smiled slightly and said, "Go back and tell that Qitai what I look like, he will naturally understand what's going on. Get out!" After finishing speaking, he signaled his subordinates to take Chang Wu out and release him.

After Chang Wu left, Zhao Xin said to Wu Zhen: "Master Wu, do you think you should be punished?"

"It should be punished, the villain accepts the punishment."

"How much ginseng have you collected these days?"

"More than 3000 catties." Wu Zhenzhou lamented in his heart, thinking that he had lost it to his grandma's house!
Good guy, Zhao Xin was startled when he heard that, if this is transported into the customs, it will cost nearly 100 million taels of silver!
"Hmm. What's the market for ginseng in the pass right now?"

Wu Zhenzhou said: "This is different. The master will understand after listening to the younger one."

According to the books of the Guangchu Department of the Qing court, the current classification of ginseng includes six categories of super ginseng, first-class to fifth-class ginseng, and other Refer to seven categories.

Among them, special, first-class and second-class are collected in a limited quantity each year, and are rarely used; good whole ginseng is kept for emergency use, and no one uses it to stew chicken.

Usually, the most used ones are pickled porridge, slag powder, and reed silk. Often all the new harvest is used up every year, and there is no leftover stock.And the ginseng sold by the Ministry of Internal Affairs is usually fourth or fifth grade ginseng.

Among them, reed silk is the cheapest, selling at about 50 taels of silver per catty, 200 taels of silver per catty for soaked diced ginseng, and 300 taels of silver per catty for minced ginseng; fourth- and fifth-class ginseng have the largest stocks, priced at 800 taels per catty Two; and the first-class and second-class are more expensive, hundreds of taels or even thousands of taels.

After explaining the price of ginseng in the customs, Wu Zhenzhou honestly said that the price of ginseng he received was basically five or six times different.After listening to Zhao Xin, he said that it is really dark enough to open a pawnshop.

"I don't make it difficult for you. You sell all the ginseng you collect to Beihai Trading Co., and the price will be calculated according to what you collect. Someone will come and count it for you in a while. In addition, you will be fined 20 taels of silver. It’s because you didn’t truthfully explain the store’s shareholding to the Military Control Commission.”

"Ah? This villain is willing! The villain accepts the punishment!" Wu Zhen was overjoyed when he heard that on Monday. He had thought that his home would be ransacked and thrown into prison.

Zhao Xin nodded, then stood up and said, "Okay, then I'll take my leave first, the two of them still have something to ask you."

Wu Zhenzhou hurriedly kowtowed and said, "My villain, thank you, Master Qingtian!"

On the way back to the office of the Military Control Commission, Zhao Xin basically had a solution to the ginseng industry in Ningguta and Sanxing City.That is, under the guidance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, ginseng is planted on a large scale in several mountain farms, and the market and sales of ginseng are controlled through the exchange.

It is said that there is no such thing as sulfur smoking, sugar boiling, potassium permanganate dyeing, or even playing with metal weighting sets these days.

To hell with Korean ginseng and American ginseng!The Chinese people like to use ginseng as a health product so much, so this industry must be developed.How much is the forest ginseng of later generations?Cost price, the best is 1200 yuan. (The author once helped a family in Northeast China to invest in ginseng, and only after reading the relevant accounts did I know the price of Linxia ginseng.)
In fact, there are many industries that can be done in the Northeast. Only when the traffic is solved can all kinds of local products be shipped out.When the common people and border residents become rich, people's hearts will be stabilized!

　Since the mid-to-late period of Kangxi, the Qing court opened six ginseng monopoly markets across the country, including Lianghuai, Changlu, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiangning, and Guangdong Customs.The sale of Jiangnan official ginseng was initially in charge of Jiangnan Sanzhi.In the late Kangxi period, the price of ginseng in Jiangnan showed a decreasing trend year by year, which aroused Yongzheng's doubts.The reduction in the price of ginseng in the southern province is also one of the reasons why Yongzheng did not trust Jiangnan Sanzhi.Since then, the sales and taxation of ginseng sent to the southern provinces have been directly monitored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)