I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 134

Chapter 133

Being poor cares themselves, being wealthy cares the world.

In other words, if you are poor, you will go round and round, and if you are rich, you will be carpet bombed.

In fact, Cheng Shijie is also such a person. He doesn't even think about how capable and energetic he is, and what he can't do.

Now after nearly a year of hard work, he finally has some wealth and energy, so he can get a share of the salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Speaking of the salt merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is like talking about the coal bosses of later generations. That's terrible. They seem to be synonymous with rich people, and the adjective rich and powerful can be used.

Many merchants in Ming Dynasty, such as Shanxi merchants, relied on building slaves to rise up. They played collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country to the extreme, and they sold everything they could sell.

Cheng Shijie also knew that Shanxi merchants were now delivering grain to Jiannu, and every stone of grain was sold at a high price of more than ten taels of silver, which was almost ten times more than that.

The silver and pawn business of Huizhou merchants is of course a huge profit industry, and it is also mottled with blood and tears. In fact, the big businessmen of this era hardly make clean money.

However, from another dimension, the existence of pawnshops is actually doing good deeds. Even if they make money, but without pawnshops, there is no way to find sellers for valuable things in the hands of ordinary people, and there is no way to exchange them for silver. Help.In fact, people who go to pawn shops are the last way.

Salt merchants hate more than Shanxi and Huizhou merchants. Taking the family expenses of Jiangnan landlords recorded in "Zhuang Zhongfu Miscellaneous Works" as an example, food expenditures accounted for 70% of living consumption expenditures, and salt accounted for 34.6% of food expenditures. The ratio is [-]%.

To give a simple example, let’s not talk about other people, let’s calculate based on the author’s family of five. The average monthly living expenses are 3000 yuan, which includes water, electricity, mobile phone bills, gas and heating bills, but the proportion of salt, Probably less than one percent.

This is a landlord family in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, which is also the wealthiest region in the country, and they are already the group with the highest consumption level in the country.But table salt is a consumer product with relatively low elasticity, and the consumption of salt by landlords and peasant households is similar.

Everyone wants to buy it, and the profits can be imagined.

Cheng Shijie found that Yang Chen was in a daze all the time. His three questions were very difficult for Yang Chen. Since the salt farm was Cheng Shijie's first industry, everything was on a normal track, so he didn't pay much attention.

In the past, the salt produced by the salt farm had always been produced for its own use. Yang Chen hadn't even done a cost calculation of table salt. Of course, before the protection law was promulgated, the cost of salt production was also very low.

Except for a few foremen and stewards who are paid, ordinary salt workers receive a bucket of grain a day as salary. These calculations are really too difficult for Yang Chen.

Cheng Shijie also knew that Yang Chen was illiterate and did not know how to calculate. This kind of thing was justifiable, and he couldn't force others to make things difficult for him. In later generations, there will be great competition in the workplace.

But the problem is that in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Chen was a good salt worker, and he was very skilled in the process of salt purification, analysis, and detoxification, but he was not a very suitable salt farm manager.

Cheng Shijie can replace Yang Chen, but the problem is that if Yang Chen is replaced, who else will come?
If there are capable people, why wait until now?

In fact, many craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were illiterate. In terms of technology, their skills were excellent and could stand the test, but they were illiterate, but they could understand the drawings. Some craftsmen did not know the dimensions marked on the drawings, but they could To manufacture a machine that meets the requirements of the drawings, do you think it is miraculous?
Just like the artillerymen of the Ning Navy, nine of the ten artillerymen do not understand parabolas, but they have their own way to quickly adjust the firing angle of the artillery and successfully hit the target.

Since there were no problems like this, Cheng Shijie changed his method and calculated by himself.

"With a one-month deadline, how many workers are there in our No. [-] Salt Field?"

"Six hundred and four!"

"Where is the second salt factory?"

"430 five!"

"The third salt factory!"

……

For these figures, Yang Chen is quite clear.

Cheng Shijie had no choice but to record it himself. Now that the four salt factories are all added together, there are a total of 740 workers.

"Second question, how much salt can the No. [-] Salt Factory produce each month?"

Until now, Yang Chen seemed to understand Cheng Shijie's real problem, and he said seriously: "Marshal, before we didn't pay wages, we spent less money, but the cost was less. Now we pay wages, spend more money, and eat better. It costs more. Our salt farm also has salt workers from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Those unscrupulous salt merchants don’t pay the salt workers. ..."

"Ugh!"

Cheng Shijie sighed, the cost is higher than other salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition to the better treatment of salt workers, the temperature in southern Liaoning is lower than that in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Under the same sunshine, seawater evaporates much slower, and the cost will naturally increase. improve.

Even if you want to smash the pot of the salt merchant, your strength will not allow it.

Of course, it does not mean that the salt in southern Liaoning has no advantages, because Cheng Shijie adopted a more complicated purification and analysis process when drying the salt. The salt in southern Liaoning has no impurities, and it only tastes salty, unlike Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The crude salt produced by salt merchants is not only bitter, but also has a lot of silt.

Then take the high-quality line. In fact, even though the high-quality line is taken and price competition is not adopted, once Liao salt squeezes into the market, wealthy people who can afford refined salt will absorb a certain amount of market share.

It will force commercial salt to focus on quality and improve the process in order to improve competitiveness.

In any industry, once it is monopolized, it basically seldom develops technological innovation, so let the salt in southern Liaoning act as the catfish.

When Yang Chen left the General Military Mansion, which was also the yamen of the Economic and Strategic Appeasement Envoy, he was very nervous. He could see Cheng Shijie's dissatisfaction with him, and he could hear Cheng Shijie's sigh.

Although Cheng Shijie's sigh was not loud, it seemed to hit his chest and heart like a heavy hammer.

Originally, Yang Chen worked as a salt worker at the salt factory in Wenquan Town, Ninghai Prefecture in August last year, and was gradually promoted to be the director of the salt factory. Later, Cheng Shijie moved all over.

He also followed Cheng Shijie to southern Liaoning and began to resume his old career.

Later, in February, he hired someone to write a letter to his family, asking his wife, son, and daughter-in-law to immigrate to southern Liaoning. Now Yang Chen enjoys general-level treatment, with 72 shi of grain every year, plus A salary of 100 taels of silver.

In this day and age, immigrating to southern Liaoning with a family undoubtedly takes courage. Several salt workers that Yang Chen knew came to southern Liaoning just like him, but they were still alone. They planned to earn money in southern Liaoning and return to their hometown to buy land. home buying.

How good it is to live in the collective canteen of the salt field in southern Liaoning. Not only can I eat enough, I can also earn more than 100 taels of silver and 72 shi of grain for three meals a day.

You must know that this salary is in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang saltworks, let alone a year, even if they work for a lifetime, it is impossible for them to earn 100 taels of silver.

Yang Chen asked his wife and children to come to southern Liaoning mainly because he was worried that one of his family members was Guo Sixi. There was a landlord in their hometown village. The landlord got into trouble because he had a little surplus food.

Regardless of the conditions in southern Liaoning, there is no problem in terms of safety, especially in the Haizhou victory of the Ninghai Navy. Even the vicious Jiannu was cut down by Cheng Shijie Cheng Cheng. Thousands of people.

Since eating Marshal Cheng's meal, Ning Haijun has been fighting continuously for nearly a year, but except for Qin Wu who touched the Dengzhou Weiqianhu Office at that time, other bandits and rebels are not Ning Haijun. Adversary of the Navy.The Ning Navy became stronger and stronger. It just started in the Ning Navy, and then went to Jinzhou, Gaizhou, Fuzhou and Haizhou.

Every time a war is won, Ning Haijun is elated from top to bottom, and all the factories are rewarded for it, and the whole people have shared the dividends of the war.

After returning to his home, several of Yang Chen's old buddies came to ask him for a drink.In southern Liaoning, people rely on technology to eat, good technology, high income naturally, and people with high income have passed the initial stage of food and clothing, and can buy some meat and wine.

Even, the winery in southern Liaoning has begun to be built.

This is Cheng Shijie's advance arrangement. The main reason is that the land developed in southern Liaoning has more than 500 million mu. times, it is also endless.

However, the shelf life of food is limited, especially when a large number of high-yielding new crops such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are planted. When there are no people and no oil and water, everyone is a big belly man, and eating three bowls of rice is not too much. Panic, eat two big bowls of rice, still feel hungry.

But now, in the cafeterias of many factories and enterprises, meat is no longer a once-in-a-century rarity. With income like Yang Chen, it is possible to realize the freedom to eat meat.It's just that he is not willing to part with it. He will buy some meat only when there are occasional guests, but unknowingly, he finds that his appetite is decreasing.

"Old Yang, you have the foresight. You brought your sister-in-law and children to Liaonan early. My wife and children came three months late, but now I have to..."

Yang Chen's colleague, Jiang Dahai, a worker at the third salt factory, patted his thigh to express regret. Yang Chen's family came to southern Liaoning at the end of February in the fifth year of Chongzhen, and Jiang Dahai's family came to southern Liaoning at the beginning of May. In three months, the fate of the two families was decided.

When Yang Chen arrived, the Engineering Hundred Households built houses for all the soldiers of the Ning Navy and the factory managers. Jiang Dahai, the foreman, was the director of the branch factory. No matter how he could be at the same level as the post chief, he could enjoy free welfare housing.

However, Jiang Dahai was alone at that time, and he was assigned a homestead, but no house was built for him, while Yang Chen built five halls, two wing rooms on the left and right, a total of nine new houses with red bricks and red tiles.

When Jiang Dahai wanted to apply for building a house, it was not his turn yet, and the benefits of dividends had already been cancelled. Now that the house is being built in southern Liaoning, there is no welfare housing.

This made many Ninghai soldiers who were not single but did not build a house regret it very much, but it was useless to regret it. No matter how regretful they were, they would not be able to leave southern Liaoning.It is very easy to return to the customs, but it is too difficult to survive in the customs.

The imperial court’s land tax itself is not heavy, but it can’t be increased layer by layer. For example, the Liao’s salary, the imperial court collects [-] cents of silver per mu. You need six pieces. If you buy vegetables, you need about a catty and a half of leeks, or four cucumbers.

It's not that ordinary people can't afford it, but the problem is that when you go to the chief secretary, you add [-]%, and you add another layer when you go to the prefectures, and you add another layer when you go to the county. Rarely, charging ten times more, that is, one penny and two cents, is considered a conscientious official.

Yang Chen looked at Jiang Haihai and said, "Old Jiang, you have to hurry up. The price of building materials is getting higher and higher. At the beginning of the year, you can build nine large tile-roofed houses with more than a dozen taels of silver. Now you need three to forty taels of silver. In the future, it will be more expensive." It's getting more expensive..."

Having said that, Yang Chen took the jug and poured wine for Jiang Dahai.

Yang Chen's expression was very unnatural, and Jiang Dahai was not quite right. Jiang Dahai knew Yang Chen's character, and his mouth was very strict. He would definitely say what he wanted to say, and he wouldn't say what he didn't want to say, even if asked. Tortured, he will not say the same.

After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, Jiang Dahai and a few old friends bid farewell and left.

After everyone left, Yang Chen's wife, Yang Zhoushi, poured a bowl of tea for Yang Chen, "Father, what do you do?"

"If something happens, call the boss and his wife!"

Yang Zhou could only call someone.

"Father, sir!"

Yang Chen's eldest son, Yang Qing, and his daughter-in-law, Li Shi, were not born in an official family, but Li Shengnan, the daughter of Li Jinsong, the book boy who supervised Yushi Xia Zhiling.

Because Li Jinsong was poor since he was a child, he was sold to the Xia family as a servant. Li Jinsong followed Xia Zhiling as a book boy. Later, Xia Zhiling offended Wei Zhongxian, Li Jinsong was implicated and died in prison.As the eldest daughter of Li Jinsong, Li Shengnan was ransacked by bandits on the way back home.

Li Shengnan panicked and jumped off the cliff to keep his innocence. However, he survived and was rescued by Yang Chen and his son Yang Qing.

After thinking for a long time, Yang Chen said, "Boss daughter-in-law, I have something to discuss with you!"

"My lord, please order!"

Yang Chen explained the matter of Cheng Shijie summoning him this time. In the end, Yang Chen concluded: "I'm getting old, and it's too late to learn to read. Da Lang's skills are still good, and his qualifications are still high." Qian, besides, we don’t practice the hereditary system anymore in southern Liaoning. Wife, you can read and count. From tomorrow onwards, follow me to the salt factory. First, get familiar with the salt factory. When you do, I will I recommend you to be the general manager of the salt factory!"

Li Shengnan looked surprised: "Master, this slave is just a woman..."

"What's the matter with women and Taoists? We don't like this in southern Liaoning. Women can also be officials. Yang Yunniang from our management committee, general manager Jin from the textile factory, and Mr. Wang from Jinzhou Girls' School. This is a good opportunity, you have to seize it!"

In Yang Chen's opinion, Cheng Shijie was dissatisfied with his ability, because he was an old man and hadn't taken his position as general manager. If new talents came, he would definitely give up his position.

Instead of letting Cheng Shijie drive him away, he should make room for himself and push his daughter-in-law up first.

The daughter-in-law is not a son, and she is still one level behind, but the problem is that the meat is rotten in her own pot, and she can still drink a mouthful of broth.

In this way, Li Shengnan was wearing men's clothes. In fact, this was deception. Women who could be concealed by men's clothes to hide their feminine features were all neutral or masculine in appearance.

……

Miss Xu Fourth, Martina, who was in Zhenhai City, found that she fell in love with Liaonan.

There is no comfort of etiquette here, no nagging from elders, and more importantly, she can go to Li Zhenli's newly opened Meixianglou to play openly.

Meixiang Building is a characteristic of Zhenhai City. Although it has not been opened for a long time, it has become the most famous brothel in Zhenhai City. This brothel seems to be like a club for later generations. You cannot enter without the recommendation of acquaintances. The area of ​​this brothel is only three In the Meixiang Building with more than 20 rooms, there are more than a dozen famous courtesans who are well-known in the Qinhuai River, and they are proficient in playing, playing and singing.

Every day, she can only sleep until dawn, and she will definitely be woken up by the noise around her. This is the academy in Zhenhai City, not far from the courtyard where she lives. There are three to four hundred of these children. One thing is not to go into the classroom to read in the morning, but to go to the playground and start lining up.

Standing in front of the window of the attic, Martina could clearly see that these children started boxing under the instruction of the instructor, and the instructor was Meng En, the second apprentice of Cheng Shijie's personal guard Bajiquan master Wu Sheng.

These children's immature voices made loud shouts, and they advanced and retreated at the same time, and they swung and retracted their fists and feet at the same time, full of vitality.

Bajiquan is a highly practical martial art. So far, the three schools in southern Liaoning, Jinzhou Academy, Zhenhai Academy, and Jinzhou Girls' School have all adopted militarized management.After enrolling in school, I started to practice queue training, which was the same as Ning Haijun's regular military training, but the standards were not so strict.

Mardina is a bit of a joy, a taste of not thinking about Shu.

Because it is too close to the school, the smell of the school cafeteria is getting stronger and stronger. Needless to say, the breakfast in the school cafeteria is ready, and with the instructor's "dismissal", the children cheered loudly and ran back to the school quickly. When they came out again, they had an extra food box in their hands.

The old servants carried out several large wooden barrels, which were steaming hot and fragrant. Needless to say, this was the children's breakfast.Smell the smell, today's breakfast is sauerkraut noodles, a spoonful of noodles, a spoonful of sauerkraut, and an egg, it's all together, it's very simple, but the children are eating so much that they don't lift their heads, the sound is really loud , I accidentally thought I had entered a pig farm.

The Maid of Mardina is Catherine the Venetian, a parishioner she met in the Golden State.

Also a child of God, Martina took in Catherine.

Because Catherine has good cooking skills, Europa's food is dark food, and the only food that can be eaten is Italian food.

Mardina doesn't know whether the spaghetti is authentic or not, but since she came to southern Liaoning, she has changed from a southerner who is used to eating rice to a northerner who likes to eat pasta.

Catherine devoured the same sauerkraut noodles from Zhenhai City Academy.

Only Mardina's maid, Xu Lian'er said with some emotion: "These children are so happy!"

"Happy?"

Martina was puzzled: "Why are they happy? They get up before dawn, and then practice for half an hour in the morning. They are so tired that they are sweating profusely. They eat breakfast, and then they go to class after breakfast. They last the whole morning until the afternoon. Only after school... what is happiness?"

She thought of her old days. At that time, she didn't need to practice boxing, and she could sleep until it came naturally. She had half an hour of class in the morning, a quarter of an hour rest, and another half hour.It was the same in the afternoon. She felt terribly tired after two hours of class every day, and had to spend two hours doing homework.

Martina never felt that going to school was a happy thing.

Xu Lianer sighed: "They can go to school for free, eat for free, give out new clothes for free, give out shoes for free, and give out books for free..."

At first, Cheng Shijie didn't consider giving the students shoes, because the children's shoes were not easy to prepare, and because the children's feet grew fast, a round-neck Confucian shirt could not fit in half a year.The same goes for shoes.

But when these children were barefoot or wearing shoes with exposed toes, Cheng Shijie felt that it affected the perception, so he changed the rules and distributed two pairs of cloth shoes to each student.Two pairs of cotton shoes.

Originally, he didn’t think about taking care of breakfast, but just taking care of lunch. Cheng Shijie also found that many children came to school with buns made of bran and wild vegetables to eat. He changed his mind and started to provide free breakfast to the children. .

Martina had to admit that what Xu Lian'er said made sense.

Everyone's definition of happiness is different. In Xu Lian'er's eyes, having new clothes to wear, food to eat, and books to read is happiness.

But Miss Xu Si has never worried about the basic life, and her definition of happiness is completely different.

Fourth Miss Xu said: "General Cheng is still a good person!"

"What does it mean to be a good person?"

Xu Lian'er was a little anxious, her little face was like a blushing apple: "It's not just a good person, even a good person is nothing more than that! Miss, think about it, who can let tens of thousands of people see a doctor for free like him , Tens of thousands of people study for free?"

Catherine stared at Xu Lian'er's red face and chuckled.

Xu Lian'er asked in confusion: "What are you laughing at?"

Catherine said with a smile: "Lian'er, you keep praising people, you must be looking for General Cheng, right?"

Xu Lian'er's small face flushed to the base of her ears, and she stomped her feet and said, "You old woman, you...what are you talking about, who has taken a fancy to him, you just fell in love with General Cheng!"

"That's right, I've taken a fancy to him!"

Catherine said without hesitation: "Let me declare first that I didn't like him because he was a great general, the governor of the East. I liked him because he was tall, handsome, and mighty... It would be fine if he wasn't the governor of the East. Yes, I will take him back to Venice, and beg my father, canonize him as a Baron of the Republic, no baron is too young, he should be an earl..."

Xu Lian'er was a little overwhelmed by Catherine, her little face was puffed up with anger, she gritted her teeth and scolded: "I'm so shameless, shameless..."

Martina laughed narrowly: "Lian'er, don't be angry, even if General Cheng is not a general, he still looks down on Catherine!"

Xu Lian'er didn't have any scheming, so her face softened.

Miss Xu is right, Daming is a iron-blooded Daming, even now that the sun is setting, he still has arrogance in his bones, even if he is a beggar, he will not marry a foreigner.Zheng Zhilong married Maeda Kawamatsu and became a laughing stock in the eyes of everyone.

The universal values ​​of the Ming Dynasty are completely different from those of later generations. They would rather marry a woman from Le nationality than a barbarian woman.

Martina looked at Xu Lian'er's performance, and said dumbfoundedly: "Lian'er, you are lying, and you said you didn't like him, so why do you keep praising him? I have never seen you praise any man like this .”

Xu Lian'er's face swelled up: "What's wrong with Kua Kua? Isn't what he has done worthy of praise?"

Martina: ...

……

Entering July, Jinzhou discovered a huge change. The originally planned Jinzhou City, which was nearly ten times larger than the original Jinzhou City, had already been stuffed to the point of exploding. At that time, the outer city was already full, and Cheng Shijie was simple and rude. He built a zigzag ring road along the original plan to build the city wall, and continued to expand the outside.

Jinzhou City is 300 meters long from north to south, and 900 meters wide from east to west. It will continue to expand and become 5000 meters long from north to south, and 700 meters wide from east to west.

Song Xiance, the director of the management committee, said with some uncertainty: "My lord, is this too radical? Such a large city... If it is to build a city wall, it will also require a lot of money and food."

You know, the current Beijing city has undergone three large-scale expansions, with a total area of ​​250 million square meters. It is close to the current Beijing city area.

Cheng Shijie explained: "Jinzhou is our management center in southern Liaoning. If we let Jiannu attack Jinzhou city, even if there is a city wall, how long can we defend it? The best defense is always offense. During intensive training, as many as two to three thousand rounds of shells were destroyed every month, and hundreds of gun barrels were discarded. This commander spent so much money and divided houses and land for soldiers. What is it?"

Song Xiance reacted.

Not to mention that Cheng Shijie strictly ordered Ning Haijun to fight to the death, even if he ordered Ning Haijun to retreat, Ning Haijun would scold her, because Jinzhou has their new home, their fields, their wives and children...

"After Autumn, I'm afraid that Jiannu will send troops?"

"Whether they send troops or not has nothing to do with me, anyway, I will send troops!"

Cheng Shijie pointed to the map and said: "This is the Songliao Plain, thousands of miles of fertile soil, which is more fertile than the Guanzhong Plain and the North China Plain. We occupy the south of Liaoning. Compared with Shandong, this is a good place. For Songliao Plain Say, it’s rubbish, here is the essence. Last year, our number was small, and even if we occupied it, we couldn’t develop it. Now that our strength is strong, we will push it step by step. The army rested for half a year, it’s time to move Move! This commander plans to recruit [-] young men from the refugees in Henan, and cooperate with the Ning Navy to attack north and east!"

(End of this chapter)