Shu Jin was not surprised when he heard this.

If the canal waterway really becomes a canal that anyone can run, then the country spent so much money to repair it is not really charity?

In this era, how can there be a real project to benefit the people?

In fact, before the canal, all waterways were also controlled by the imperial court, and if they wanted to run the waterways, whether it was a merchant transporting people and goods, they had to pay a lot of taxes and fees to the imperial court every year. Due to the convenience of waterways, despite the high taxes and fees, various localities still fight for the right to navigate the river every year. Merchants seek profits, which shows how much benefit water transportation can bring to people.

Once the canal is completed, it will be more convenient for businessmen to sell the goods in their hands to the whole show, and there will be no need to do it as in the past, water and land transportation and then water transportation, and the back and forth of loading and unloading goods, although it may be necessary to pay some more taxes and fees, but on the whole, the transportation cost will be greatly reduced.

Then run the business like this, and the profit can be imagined.

The merchants would not fail to see this, and the courtiers were also in their minds, but they were still opposed to the construction of the canal, in fact, because they were not sure about the benefits they would get, so they were waiting and watching.

"That's it, grandpa, in fact, they are not really reluctant to give up the silver, but they are just not the rabbit and the eagle. If they are told that if they are willing to pay some money now, they can transport things through the canal in the future, or they can get the right to directly entrust official ships to escort the goods. I'm sure those people will be happy to pay for it. What do you say? ”

"Well, there's some truth to what you're saying." King Yong nodded when he heard this.

"Concrete. What kind of benefits and privileges should be given depends on how much 'blood' they are willing to give. Shu Jin smiled, then got up again and flipped through the booklet that the housekeeper had just excerpted.

"Grandpa, these things, although they are not very useful, they are still put away, but I really want to talk about them. All of them are high-quality products, so they are called by the housekeeper to take them out and sell them, and it is good if they meet those who know the goods. But if you encounter a black-hearted price reduction, isn't it too cost-effective? ”

When King Yong heard Shu Jinyi, he saw her sly smile, and knew that she had an idea in her heart. So he smiled and said:

"Little money fans. Tell me, what the hell are you up to? ”

"Hahaha, it's not a ghost idea, grandpa, you think, so many good things, all of a sudden, flowed outside, but it is conceivable that they can't be sold at a good price, but. If I had done it another way, these things would have been able to fetch much more than they were worth. ”

"It's still a sale! What an idea to talk about yet! ”

Shu Jin Yile. The answer was only announced:

"Auction!"

"What is an auction?" King Yong and Jiang Duanyu were confused.

"The so-called auction is the one with the highest bid." Saying that, Shu Jin gave the two of them a general overview of the auction process, and then said,

"Grandpa, since the emperor has decided to build the canal, the next step is to raise silver and grain, in addition to recruiting craftsmen. Although the times are not good now, it is considered to be a lack of green and yellow, but if it is really calculated, which of these big families in the long capital city does not have some surplus grain in stock? If the emperor ordered them to pay money and food, they would have to hand it over as well. However, if you can give them a good name, they will be happy. ”

After saying this, Shu Jin's face turned pale, he cleared his throat, straightened his chest and said seriously:

"Heaven and earth are unkind, taking all things as Zou dogs, repeatedly sending disasters and performing with me, and causing trouble to my people. The ranks are all benevolent people, who have mercy on the people of the world, and they can't bear to see the people suffer from floods for many years. Today, all of you are giving generously, those who have money want to donate gold and silver, and those who have rice and grain want to give the people enough food, all of which are immeasurable merits.

At this time, this auction conference will be held, and countless treasures will be presented to show your benevolence. When he is leveled down, he will be more grateful! ”

"Grandpa can work out with the emperor as early as possible, how to calculate the benefits of the canal after the opening of the canal for these donors in the future, and then find someone to release the wind in advance, these people are not good for early, and when they hear the wind, they will definitely rush over like flies to donate silver and food, when the time comes, hehe, I'm afraid you won't let them donate them before you are in a hurry!"

Shu Jin was still talking decently at the beginning, and when he talked about it later, he couldn't help laughing, King Yong and Jiang Duanyu were stunned when they heard it, and in the end, they couldn't help laughing.

In fact, these inedible and unusable jewels are exchanged for money or food, so that after people donate money and food, not only do they have a good reputation, but they will not return empty-handed, so that they can exchange something and get it back.

Since you have to donate money anyway, having such a name of "mercy for the people in the world" is enough to lift people.

King Yong listened, thought about it again and again, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this idea was good:

"Jin girl, you, you, you have a lot of ghost ideas! But that's a good idea, auction! You can't figure it out! ”

"Huh."

"Then, Jin girl, tell me, do you want to donate food or silver? You don't think that when the emperor asks the big families in Changdu to hand you over, he will forget about you! Let me tell you, the emperor and I both know that you are very rich. ”

"Tsk! Grandpa, look at what you said, it seems like I would deliberately hide from my pocket. Actually, I've been ready for a long time, so I don't want to donate it, so I'll just take a thousand eight hundred silver to count. ”

"Hey, look at it, take a look at it, and you're still going to be coquettish with me!" King Yong looked at Shu Jin's appearance and said with a smile,

"Jin girl, you said that you were ready, so tell me, what have you prepared?"

Shu Jin thought about it and didn't answer the question directly, but half-jokingly said to King Yong:

"I have a lot of things to prepare, but I am also a merchant, and I don't scatter eagles when I don't see rabbits."

When King Yong heard this, he laughed, but he didn't get angry, but said generously:

"You don't have to worry about this, if it's good. Grandpa will definitely give you a great benefit to come back. But you still tell me in advance, so that I can also have a bottom, and then grandpa can go and bargain with the emperor! ”

"Haha! The granddaughter is waiting for her grandfather's words! Shu Jin said. sat down beside King Yong, poured him a cup of tea, and then said:

"Actually, grandpa, in my opinion, it is not difficult to find craftsmen to build the canal, and it is not difficult to raise silver. What is really difficult is enough food for so many people. Am I right? ”

Hearing this, King Yong nodded.

Indeed, the canal is to be built. It will inevitably occupy a lot of farmland, and there will be less land available for growing food, and at the same time, because some of the strong laborers will be diverted to build canals, and the number of people who can stay for cultivation will also be reduced. So. This will inevitably lead to a food shortage.

That's all there is to it. The population of the Great Theater is only so large, how to ensure that the treasury of the Great Performance is not empty when the canal is built, whether it is the sergeants guarding the frontier at the front or the craftsmen who build the canal, it will be a big problem.

"And what can you do?" King Yong asked.

King Yong thought to himself, even if Shu Jin had the financial resources, he wouldn't be able to take enough food for the craftsmen to eat for several years, right?

"Grandpa, in fact, my conditions are very simple, I want to transport and open later. The emperor granted me a grant to exempt me from taxes and fees for ten years. Ten years later. I pay 80% of the normal taxes every year; In addition, I hope to be able to allow my own fleet to trade in the waters of the whole festival without hindrance. Shu Jin said suddenly, and then before King Yong was surprised where she came from with such a big breath and made such an excessive request, she continued:

"Of course, these demands are not made in vain, and I will naturally pay the corresponding price, I can pay 50,000 taels of gold for the construction of the canal, and I will be responsible for the food of a million people for a year."

"What?" Don't talk about King Yong, even Jiang Duanyu was startled when these words came out!

50,000 taels of gold is enough for people to take out in one go, and the ration for a million people for a year, how much does that have to be?!

Under normal circumstances, 10,000 people consume about 12,000 to 15,000 catties of grain a day, and a million people will eat 1.5 million catties a day! If it is a year, it is more than 50,000 catties of grain!

That's a scary number! This is already nearly one-tenth of the annual output of the land in the big performance, how did Shu Jin get it alone?

"Jin girl? Are you sure? ”

"Grandpa has known me for so long, when have you ever seen me do something I'm not sure of?"

When King Yong heard this, he was silent for a long time, and then looked at Shu Jin carefully for a long time, and after making sure that she didn't mean to joke at all, he couldn't help but feel shocked in his heart.

He has always known that Shu Jin is very powerful and very talented in business, and he also knows that after Shu Jin came to Changdu, he has opened many shops one after another and made a lot of money, and even he doesn't know how many transactions there are under Shu Jin now.

But he never imagined that she would be able to take so much food.

"Grandpa won't tell you that some of the grain in my hands has been harvested recently, but most of it was collected last year."

"Oh?"

"I originally thought that the price of grain would rise every year after the end of the year, so I collected a lot of grain through various channels, in order to make more money at the beginning of spring. However, if the emperor can agree to my terms, the grain will be used on those craftsmen in the same way. ”

This so-called multi-channel Shu Jin said vaguely, in fact, a large part of these grains were produced in the Xinghuo space, and the other part was bought by Shu Jin's caravans under Xinghuo from various neighboring countries.

Thanks to Hua Fengyu, Shu Jin has a lot of valuable things in his hands. There are many pieces of jewellery that can be recast or polished by jewellers and are even more valuable. Although ordinary people are interested in real food, it is these "expensive goods" that are really sold at a high price.

A small hosta can be exchanged for several carts of japonica rice, and a beautiful beaded flower can be exchanged for several carts of white flour, this kind of thing can be said to be commonplace.

As far as she knows, several of the neighboring countries have had good weather in the past two years, the people have surplus grain at home, and the official warehouses are also full of grain, and they are worried that they will not be able to sell it at a price. At this time, when someone comes to exchange valuable things with them for food, why don't these people do it?

What's more, Shu Jin has already ordered it to go down, as long as the grain is not rotten and spoiled, even if it is old, he is not afraid.

The annual ration for one million people is about 500,000 tons, which is an unattainable figure in the eyes of others, but in Shujin, as long as she is given enough time, this is not a problem. This also said that she also had to take care of helping Hua Fengyu collect food.

King Yong pondered for a moment, pondered, and finally said:

"Okay, I'll go into the palace and talk to the emperor about this matter."

"So, I'm here waiting for Grandpa's good news?"

Shu Jin said with a smile.

King Yong raised his hand, slapped Shu Jin's head, shook his head, turned around and changed his clothes and entered the palace.

Waiting for King Yong to leave, Jiang Duanyu thought about it and said:

"Shu Jin, although it is said that if the emperor can agree to your request, it will be of great benefit to our business in the future, but in this way, isn't it equivalent to exposing your wealth to the surface? Isn't that inappropriate? ”

The so-called wealth is not exposed. Whoever it is, it's not wise to let people know how much money they have in their pockets. What's more, the other party is the emperor? Such a large investment, although it was a temporary solution to the emperor's urgent need, may not be able to return the emperor's gratitude.

"Hehe, of course I know, but I don't think Qi Yan will want to do anything to me, if he wants to deal with me because of this, isn't it equivalent to killing chickens and taking eggs, and fishing with all his might? He is a generation of Ming Jun, and he will not be so short-sighted.

I'll earn my money so he can dig some more money out of me, won't he? Shu Jin said firmly,

"As for my conditions, I will be exempted from taxes for ten years, and it is not that I don't have to spend other money, after all, if I go by water, there are still a lot of donations and miscellaneous expenses, and taxes and fees are just a big amount. So, now it's an upfront investment. ”

"But......" Jiang Duanyu still frowned. He still thinks it's too eye-catching.

"Hehe, don't worry too much about this, in fact, there is another point that I can be sure that he will not do anything to me."

"Huh? What the? ”

"I still remember, when you chatted with the second uncle, the second uncle said that the emperor had ordered a large number of rebuilds after the trial voyage of the warship you built?"

"Yes, this news is secret, and only some people know about it."

"You say, what are these ships going to do when they're built? It's not going to be a seaside decoration, is it? ”

"Of course not, the emperor has always been ambitious, I'm afraid he really wants to even have an invincible navy come out!"

"That's not it." Shu Jin looked at Jiang Duanyu and said,

"You say, if the emperor wants to send a person as a general to train sailors, who will he send?

You have been performing remarkably well after the gate, the boat was designed and built by you, and you are very clear about the situation in the waters around the big show, you say, who else is more suitable than you?

While sending you to train him as a master of the sea, he is thinking of dealing with your wife's business?

The emperor won't do such a thing! ”

Shu Jin said with a smile. (To be continued.) )