Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 107 Mingzhou Grocery Chain Company
Zhu Yuan and Xing Ji came to the bank of the Yongjiang River together, ignoring Zhao Xu and other guards who subconsciously started to arrange security, and directly ordered the captain of a fishing boat that was docked nearby to make final preparations before tomorrow's departure to come and collect salt.

Xing Ji noticed the movement around him.

Not to mention the shore, seeing a few nearby fast-oared light boats sailing off the shore like dumplings and patrolling the river, I understand, but I can't help but envy, the treatment of the little adult next to me is really... high.

It's only one product away.

As the owner of this batch of fishing boats, Li Gui, who will go out to sea together tomorrow, quickly brought people over, went up to meet with Zhu Yuan and the others, and then began to get busy carrying salt.

In order to ensure the smooth fishing this time, Zhu Yuan gave Li Gui a grade eight, the title of manager of Mingzhou Fishery Production Company.

In this day and age, 'manager' is another new word.

Speaking of which, there is an official position with the same pronunciation called "experience", which is set up in many government offices to be responsible for clerical work.

As for the 'manager', in fact, it is also easy to understand literally.

Operate and take care of.

Now that the 'company' has come out, the old set of personnel arrangements is not suitable anymore, not just 'manager', Zhu Yuan will gradually introduce many related titles in the past.Just like Li Gui's 'manager', he is not the head of the Mingzhou Fishery Production Company.

The plan is to wait until the end of this season of sea fishing. If Li Gui performs well, Zhu Yuan will add the word 'general' to his title.

The general manager should be the top leader.

At that time, a group of managers will be set up to be responsible for different businesses and departments.

In addition to Li Gui, the manager, Zhu Yuan also started the captain system.

The current similar name is "the bow of the ship", which sounds unpleasant to Zhu Yuan, and, also for the sake of a new atmosphere, he changed it to the captain.

The large fishing boats that will set off tomorrow will each have a captain and two small boats.In addition, because the plan mainly adopts the net fishing method, two large boats and four small boats form a production unit with a team leader.

The total number of official fleets this time is 50 groups.

As for the number of people, depending on the size of the boat, each group ranges from 100 to 200 people.

Compared with the configuration of grain transport ships, the number of people is much larger. This is mainly due to the fact that fishing is a labor-intensive task. Moreover, the current degree of mechanical operation of fishing boats is too low, just like when towing a net requires manual sculls, which is very labor-intensive.What's more, when lifting the net, dozens of people are needed to scoop up the large net containing hundreds of catties of fish.

If there is later mechanical power, these problems can be easily solved.

The problem is, no.

What Zhu Yuan can do is to ask Yao Feng to lead people to improve the net lifting equipment, add the principle of leverage, and adopt a more labor-saving bearing device, hoping to save some manpower in the future.

These all take time.

This year it is still mainly traditional fishing methods.

On the bank of the Yongjiang River, Zhu Yuan, who was chatting casually with Xing Ji as he watched the officials of the Salt Transport Department and the fishermen of the Yinghai Department weighing and distributing salt with large scales, soon had another idea, and asked someone to bring a pen and paper over on the spot. A small round table was set up nearby and began to draw.

At the same time, Yao Feng was called to explain in real time.

What Zhu Yuan thought of was the scale.

Scales, a large-scale weighing tool that is very common in memory, have a very simple lever principle. Compared with the current old-fashioned steelyard, the biggest feature is that it is convenient and has a larger weighing capacity.

It can be expected that in the future, Yinghai Division will have a huge demand for weighing various substances. It is too slow and troublesome to always use a steelyard.

Zhu Yuan sketched and explained quickly, and Yao Feng immediately took the blueprint and ran to try it out.

People around him are no stranger to this, including Zhu Yuan himself, who can think of many things all the time on weekdays.

On the contrary, Xing Ji, who was on the sidelines, became more knowledgeable again.

However, looking at the towering gantry crane not far away, it is just a small object for weighing, and it seems that it is not so special.

After handing over the three ships of salt here, Xing Ji rejected Zhu Yuan's dinner invitation and left in a hurry.

There is indeed something.

The fishing season is not only a good season for the Salt Transport Department to sell salt, but also a time when private salt is rampant, Xing Ji needs to worry about these.

Zhu Yuan also went back to the city, but it was not the end of the day's work.

Back at his mansion of the Yinghai envoy, Zhu Yuan immediately recruited Fang Li, who was relatively free among the three Yinghai doctors, and asked him to arrange the raising of hemp materials.

Zhu Yuan's request is to select 1000 civilian husbands with good feet as soon as possible before tomorrow.

Zhu Yuan plans to form a salesman team.

This is also a decision based on reality.

In this era, some people may plant mulberry trees on a large scale, but there are not many who plant hemp on a large scale. Basically, farmers open up a piece of land after farming, and spread it according to the requirements of the court, or, more often, only in front of the court and behind the house. .

Therefore, it also means that if Yinghai Division wants to raise hemp materials, it is impossible to send a bunch of vehicles and boats to go around the streets to buy them.

Farmers have reserves, but basically not up to the level of special sales.

Therefore, we can only adopt the method of scattered collection, and the effect of directly using money is not good. The more convenient method is to barter.

This reminded Zhu Yuan of the kind of peddler's stall that was already deeply in his memory.

Carrying a load, holding a rattle, walking the streets and alleys, selling all kinds of needles and brains.

In this day and age, similar hawker stalls are already common.

Now that there is a reference, it will be easier to handle.

While sending Fang Li to select the manpower, Zhu Yuan also arranged for the officials of the Yinghai Division to find some similar stalls. The key point was to list a list of goods for himself before tomorrow morning, including the purchase price and selling price of the goods.

It is planned to send 1000 people to various prefectures and counties from Suzhou and Hangzhou in the north to Wentai in the south. In half a month, as long as each person can raise 30 catties of hemp material, they can have 3 catties.

This can meet the basic needs of this year.

If this method is effective, Zhu Yuan intends to continue. 3 catties is really not much. If the folks can give 30 catties, Zhu Yuan also plans to eat it. After all, hemp materials are widely used in the development of oceans.

Zhu Yuan even considered that doing so could stimulate the enthusiasm of folks to grow hemp.

One of the basic principles of a market economy is that where there is demand, there will be production.

The next day is the sixth day of April.

The first thing in the morning is to sacrifice.

Then see off.

The official total is about 8000 people, including 100 large fishing boats, 200 small fishing boats, 6 battalion triton ships responsible for rescue and escort, and two battalion sea division official ships, responsible for exploration, recording, guidance and other work.

Then there's folk.

Although there were only a few big boats, they still had a large number. There were a total of six to seven hundred private fishing boats gathered from Hangzhou, Suzhou and other directions.

This is also specially arranged by Zhu Yuan.

The official productivity is insufficient, and private ships are encouraged to go south together.

For this reason, the Yinghai Division issued a notice in the nearby counties ten days in advance, reminding the boatmen and fishermen in the surrounding counties to come to Dinghai to gather together and rush to the southern Xiangshan off the coast to start fishing. The official will provide various security guarantees, and reiterated repeatedly, There will be no additional tax showdown.

It is not that no one suggested to Zhu Yuan that all civilian ships could be forcibly recruited to join the Yinghai Division.

Zhu Yuan did not do this.

The two fishing forces of the folk and the government should be mutually reinforcing, not exclusive.

After all, the marine resources of this era can be said to be inexhaustible compared to the current backward productivity, so it is far from the time to impose various restrictions on fishing.

As long as all the taxes that should be paid are paid, the rest should be encouraged.

Anyway, when the fish catches the water, it will become the rations in the bowls of the people. The simplest truth is that if you eat more fish, you will consume less food. If you consume less food, the price will be relatively lower. At the same time, you can go north There will also be more food delivered.

Then there is the time for this fishing.

Departed on the sixth day of April and is expected to return on April [-]th.

Last for half a month.

At that time, go back to Dinghai and take a rest. The Xiaoman solar term at the end of April will come, and the large yellow croaker season will be near Zhoushan, and a larger-scale fishing can be started nearby, which is expected to last until early June.

Therefore, this trip to the south is just an appetizer.

Referring to the normal years in the past, the annual output of the Zhoushan fishing ground is about 300 million catties, or 3 tons. Zhu Yuan's goal is to directly hit 10 tons this summer.

To achieve this goal, not only tens of thousands of people in the Dinghai area can continue to maintain a 2-level ration supply to ensure labor enthusiasm, but also send some extra fish to Shandong.

Outside Dinghaidong City.

Sending off the fishing fleet, Zhu Yuan was standing by the pier discussing with Liu Lian the details of the preparations for the second batch of northbound grain transport fleets. Liu Laoqi and Li Gui's younger brother Li Bian came over with two young boys.

When they came close, the two young boys bowed to Zhu Yuan together.

These are two of Li Gui's three disciples that Zhu Yuan personally pointed out to him, Liu Chaoqi and Liu Chaoping, both named by Zhu Yuanqi.

The eldest Liu Chaosheng is 13 years old. This time he went to Xiangshan with his husband Li Gui. The remaining two children are still young, so they did not go together.

Seeing the two young boys in clean and polite clothes, Zhu Yuan was also delighted, ordered the two children to get up, and asked, "What book have you been reading recently?"

Nine-year-old Liu Chaoqi bowed his hands to Zhu Yuan in a respectful manner, and said, "My lord, I'm still learning three hundred thousand, and my master has also talked a lot about etiquette with my three brothers."

Zhu Yuan remembered that this was his special order.

Learning is not the most important thing, learn the ritual first.

Nodding in satisfaction, Zhu Yuan asked again: "What about mathematics, have you started learning?"

Liu Chaoqi shook his head: "Mr. only taught ten numbers, saying that mathematics is too deep, let us learn characters well, and then talk about math."

"That's not okay, you need to learn mathematics early," Zhu Yuan said, looking at Li Bie, and told him, "Recently, you should help Li Gui a little bit, and teach them "Basics of Mathematics". not easy."

Li Nie bowed his hands and said yes.

Zhu Yuanneng sensed that Li Bie seemed to have something to say, and after a few casual chats, he stopped staying by the pier.

Back at Ying Haishi's mansion, not long after he came to his office, Li Nie came looking for him.

After saluting, Li Bie said: "My lord, I want to go to sea with the second batch of grain ships."

Zhu Yuan just picked up a list of goods delivered by the peddler this morning, and glanced at it with a smile on hearing this: "Don't want to take the imperial examination?"

Li Nie immediately cupped his hands again, and bowed lowly: "Wendu...before I overestimated myself."

Zhu Yuan shook his head: "It's not that you are overthinking your abilities. If you go to take the imperial examination, the chance of winning is very high. Do you know why?"

Li Jie paused for a moment, but still said, "Because of your lord."

"It's good for you to understand," Zhu Yuan said, "Since you can take the initiative to come and speak today, I will explain it to you more clearly. It's not that I deliberately prevented your brothers from taking the imperial examination, but that doing so is not good for you .Look at my current scenery. In fact, many eyes are staring at me. They have nothing to do with me, but they may use you to make articles, and these articles are often a matter of life and death, just like... You should also listen Did you say that there is a head of the household department named Cui Ji?"

Li Bie paused and nodded.

Zhu Yuan said: "You are Qingniang's younger brother, and you are also my family members. I don't want you to end up in a similar situation, so I insist on keeping you by my side. It's that simple. Besides, staying by my side doesn't mean you just There is no possibility of advancement, you work hard, you will have what you should have in the future, don't always think about taking shortcuts, the other end of the shortcut may be a cliff, and people will die if you fall, understand?"

Li Nie bowed deeply again: "The villain understands."

Zhu Yuan waved his hand: "You want to participate in the transportation of food, I agree, go to work first."

After sending Li Bian away, Fang Li rushed over.With two other officials, they carried a freshly packed shopkeeper's burden, and there were some samples of goods in it.

Zhu Yuan got up and studied with Fang Li in the office.

The burden of the shopkeeper in this era can also be said to be rich in goods, such as needles, threads, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, snacks and medicines, kitchen utensils and jewelry, etc., everything.

What Zhu Yuan considered more was the cost of the whole matter.

Compared with silk and cotton cloth, linen is currently the cheapest, especially in the southeast region. The market price is 300 ren for one piece. A standard piece of cloth in this era is two feet two inches wide and four feet long. A piece of linen The weight is about 5 catties.

Besides, there are scattered hemp materials, but there is no clear market price because of the lack of transactions.

The officials of the Yinghai Division gave an approximate estimate with reference to the transaction price of cotton.

Related to cotton, a piece of cotton cloth is about 500 wen, and the bulk cotton is currently used to make cotton-padded jackets, which is 100 wen per catty. Cost, labor of 4 Wen.

Based on this reference, the price of a catty of hemp material can be set at about 50 Wen.

Not expensive.

It is planned to collect 3 catties for the first batch. According to the unit price of 50 Wen per catty, only 1500 yuan will be spent.

However, this is only in theory.

Zhu Yuan had long considered public acquisition, but did not implement it because it was too manpower-intensive. Collecting from various places, and finally gathered in Dinghai, the cost of hemp material per catty was doubled or tripled compared to the theoretical price. possible.

If calculated on the basis of 100 Wen per catty, and 3 catties of hemp material, the total price immediately rises to 3000 guan.

Ok.

Compared with Yinghai Division's current account of more than 100 million taels of silver, as long as it can get things done, it's really nothing.

Still, be smart about your budget.

The money in Yinghai's account is actually not enough to consider the next series of plans.

Zhu Yuan discussed with Fang Li and his subordinate officials, and soon approved the first batch of 3000 taels of silver budget. The average budget for each vendor’s stall was 3 taels of silver, including personal food and clothing and goods purchases. The requirement is that within half a month, each stall must hand in 30 catties of hemp material and 1 catty of hemp material seeds.

Seeds were added during the discussion.

In addition to some of them for personal use, when the second batch of grain transport ships set off, they would also take some of them to Shandong and hand them over to Kang Maocai and others for sowing.

Get things done, and similar stalls will be permanent.

In the future, these 1000 people will also be eating public meals.Zhu Yuan even thought of a name, Mingzhou Grocery Chain Company.

(End of this chapter)