Emperor Ming Dynasty

The next day, Zhang Qi left Dayuan County and went to a villa not far away.

Today's sugarcane matures only in August and September, and the best sugarcane has the highest sugar accumulation during the winter, so sugar extraction is the most suitable.

Due to the emperor's order, the inner court first came to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland on a large scale to plant sugarcane, and thus chose a good location, near the river.

In this way, not only does the sugarcane field not suffer from water shortage, but also uses water power when squeezing sugar, which saves an unknown amount of manpower and material resources.

"Reporting to Yuanwai, we are now in Dayuan County. We have 600,000 mu of sugarcane fields, both raw and cooked. One mu of land can produce about [-] catties of brown sugar. This year, we can produce a total of [-] shi of sugar."

"600,000 shi?" Knowing this figure, Zhang Qi was not happy but worried: "The output is so much, I am afraid that the purchase price of Xiyi is not high!"

"You are right."

The steward smiled wryly and said, "The year before last, it was sixty yuan per catty, last year it was fifty yuan, and this year it has dropped to ten yuan. There is no market for it!"

"Those Fujian businessmen, who made an unknown amount of money through Yuegang in the early years, are now flocking to Taiwan to open up wasteland and plant sugar cane. Who can bear this?"

"So how much money can you charge this year?"

Zhang Qi couldn't calculate such a large number, so he hurriedly asked.

"Based on ten coins, we can only earn about 600,000 silver dollars."

"How can such money be handed over?" Zhang Qi said angrily, "I'm afraid the emperor will use Jin Yiwei to arrest people."

It is unreasonable that sugar is cheaper than salt.

"I proposed to the magistrate that Ming merchants form a sugar merchant guild. I originally wanted to increase profits and create greater glories. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a rescue."

Hearing this, the steward's eyes lit up: "It should be so, so that this Xiyi can only buy our brown sugar, so it should be raised to fifty yuan, and one hundred yuan is also fine."

"Nonsense!" Zhang Qi scolded, "How many dignitaries in the Taiwan government built sugar houses here, and you banned them like this? I don't know how many people you will offend."

Isn't Lao Tzu's sugar house going to starve to death?
After saying that, he suddenly remembered that the emperor had ordered him before he left, saying: "From now on, taking advantage of the low price of sugar, let's buy brown sugar vigorously, and then do this..."

Hearing this, the steward frowned.

"White sugar? I've never heard of sugar as white as snow!"

"This is an opportunity from His Majesty, you just collect sugar and shout, let those Xiyi go to Tianjin Mansion, and there will be white sugar there."

Although I couldn't figure it out, Zhang Qi didn't want to delay Zhang Qi's outburst: "This time I brought 100,000 yuan silver dollars, and I bought all of them to buy brown sugar. Don't sell our brown sugar, and send them all back to Tianjin."

After giving instructions, Zhang Qi asked someone to lead him the way to find a suitable place to reclaim wasteland.

"Besides, there are too many sugarcane fields, and they are being cultivated and ruined."

"Who said growing sugar cane? This is growing cotton."

Zhang Qi put his hips on his hips, facing a piece of land by the river, and said, "Nowadays, the price of cotton in the south is rising day by day, and His Majesty is worried about the shortage of cotton, so he will plan ahead and get more cotton fields."

"You can also tell those merchants that the price of cotton in the south of the Yangtze River has risen, so you can't just stick to Tangliao."

After coming to Taiwan for a few days, he formed a sugar merchant guild, decided on a sugar collection business, and decided on a cotton field planting. Zhang Qi was exhausted and began to return north.

When the boat arrived at Songjiang Mansion, Zhang Qi asked people to stop the boat.

When he came to Jiangnan himself, he just wanted to see how it was going to be.

As far as I can see, there are cotton fields, mulberry fields, and rice fields all over the place. The common people are willing to grow these economic crops.

Of course, in addition to the attractive benefits, another factor is the heavy tax policy in the south of the Yangtze River for many years, which has made the people tend to this, so that they can afford the heavy tax.

Today, the new policy of the Shaowu Dynasty, although it is still the highest three-point silver for the third-class land tax, has relieved Jiangnan of the heavy burden.

But it is precisely because of this that the Jiangnan area is also richer.

After Zhang Qi's exploration, he has a deeper understanding of the prosperity of Jiangnan.

Just from the clothes, it is impressive.

On the road, although the clothes of the passers-by are mostly shabby, they still have clothes covering their bodies, and cloth shoes trample on them. One out of ten people is well-dressed, and the fat ones can be counted.

In the fields, the buffaloes have seen and heard, and there are many kinds of iron tools.

Walking to the village, an ancestral hall came into view, and the sound of reading aloud came from my ears, combined with the rushing water not far away, people were immersed in it.

"We weave clothes by ourselves, have plenty of food, there are many river ponds, fish are fertilized and vegetables are green, the land is harvested twice a year, and during slack seasons, people travel to and from cities to do short-term labor. Why isn't Jiangnan rich?"

Amidst his emotions, he actually asked about the cotton price.

The price of cotton rose from 120 Wen per catty to 350 Wen, while the price of cotton cloth fell from [-] Wen to [-] Wen per piece (three feet and two feet).

"Cotton is imported from the south of the Yangtze River, spun in Tianjin, and then sold in the south of the Yangtze River, forcing the price of cotton cloth to drop."

After pondering for a while, Zhang Qi figured it out.

But the merchants in the market didn't understand, because according to common sense, the cost of cotton cloth should rise, but unexpectedly it is falling.

However, due to the Yangtze River water transport, grain from Huguang flowed into the south of the Yangtze River smoothly, and grain from Guangdong and Guangxi flowed into the south of the Yangtze River through sea transportation. The price of grain in the south of the Yangtze River has dropped to [-] yuan per bucket.

In this way, the common people are more willing to grow cotton instead of rice.

Zhang Qi couldn't stand the canal for too long, and he still went north by sea boat.

And because of the unimpeded shipping, people are used to it, and they are no longer too afraid, but it gave birth to passenger ships.

Passenger boats sprung up like mushrooms after rain, just like the darts in those days.

The merchants converted the warehouses into small, medium, and large rooms to accommodate dozens of people at one time, and the boat cost ranged from ten, fifteen, and fifty yuan.

Because there is no need to go to the highly competitive freight, the time is faster, and the passenger can earn hundreds of silver dollars for a round trip, which is much better than freight.

When Zhang Qi arrived in Tianjin Mansion, he was surrounded by crowds and entered the restaurant, where he was swept away.

Once you eat and drink, you will relax.

"Member, you don't know that the biggest advantage of this Tianjin mansion is the textile factory, the Baibu family, and the sound of locomotives are connected together. It's a lively scene..."

"But now, the most people do it, and this line of work is even more difficult!"

A pot-bellied merchant with a Shanxi accent complained.

"Why?" Zhang Qi was stunned: "There are thousands of people in the world, no matter how much cloth you make, you can still sell it."

"No matter how bad it is, North Korea, Japan, Annan, and Ryukyu can also be resold!"

"To tell you the truth, the price of cotton has risen, so you can still buy it, but no matter how good the loom is, someone has to do it, right?"

The businessman smiled bitterly and said, "I bought a hundred machines, and they cost three silver dollars a month. Three dollars ah, I can't recruit people."

"What about people?"

"The people in Tianjin Mansion have all been signed by that group of people. We have a chance but no one."