Even if the goods arrived peacefully, the supply system and financial chaos of the Ming Dynasty made the merchants who were full of dreams of making a fortune dump their fortunes in exchange for only a few pieces of paper, and even the pieces of paper did not commit suicide, and there were many people who became beggars and starved on the streets.

To do business in the imperial court here in Dengzhou, in addition to having capital and the ability to do business, you must also have a deep official background. Similarly, in Dengzhou, some people made a fortune by transporting military supplies from the imperial court, and they also used the ships that sailed on the Bohai Sea to transport military supplies, and carried out sī activities, transporting goods and specialties urgently needed by all parties, and traveling between the Ming Dynasty, Joseon and Houjin, making a lot of money.

Sun Yuanhua knew this very well in Dengzhou, but since he was a person who could be an official, he would not worry much about it, and the reason was self-evident: the businessmen who participated in this kind of sī activity all had a backstage, some officials were powerful and powerful and he couldn't afford to provoke, and some had to work hard for each other, so they couldn't be offended; Some of them were his backers, friends, and in the same year, they made a fuss, and everyone broke up, not to mention that the rectification could not be carried out, and it was a question whether he, the governor of Denglai, could continue to do it.

Therefore, in addition to controlling the output of grain and pig iron to Houjin as much as possible, Sun Yuanhua himself also turned a blind eye to other aspects. And he also needed to go through the sī dealers to import the much-needed horses from the back plate. Dengzhou is located in Shandong, unlike the Ming army generals in Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou, who were able to buy horses from Méng Gu nearby, so the purchase of war horses from the Houjin side became the main source of war horses for the Dengzhou New Army. What's more, the sī dealers also brought a lot of news about Houjin from time to time, and in terms of intelligence gathering, they were much stronger than the fine works sent out by the imperial court.

The young man in front of him may have the same plan. Sun Yuanhua looked at Zhao Yinggong, he came to visit him, obviously "climbing relatives" and "looking for a backer". If you want to do business in this area of Dengzhou, there is no one more suitable to be a backer than him Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua was not disgusted by this.

In Daming, this is a matter of course. He, Sun Yuanhua, is not a Taoist gentleman, otherwise he would not have become a senior member in his fifties.

This Zhao Yinggong does not count as doing business with Australians, in order to make money, he is willing to travel thousands of miles to Shandong, where people are unfamiliar, he is not afraid of taking risks, and he is a bold and daring person. He also has a deep trade relationship with Australians, which can also be taken advantage of. It is beneficial for him that Zuihou directly controls a couple of merchants.

But whether this person is suitable or not will have to be further seen. He asked, "Since you want to do business here, you don't know what to do?" ”

This topic is a bit more sensitive. Zhao Yinggong wants to do business is actually human trafficking, of course, this can't be said, but just make up a random one and have to stand up to scrutiny. Zhao Yinggong had already thought about it repeatedly, and said very cautiously at the moment: "My lord is training here, and what he needs most is naturally food..."

Sun Yuanhua liáo snorted, nodded and said, "Yes, it's food." He sighed, "It's hard." ”

Zhao Yinggong asked, "Dare to ask the Lord why?" ”

"It is said that there is food in the imperial court, but this 'luck, words, is difficult to do." He said.

A large number of garrisons have gathered in Denglai and Denglai, and they themselves have to consume a large amount of grain, and they also have to supply grain to tens of thousands of horses and horses stationed in Dongjiang Town, Liaodong, and the grain transshipment is extremely heavy. However, land transportation in the Tenglai area is extremely inconvenient. In the Ming Dynasty, the Shandong Buzheng Division had jurisdiction over the six prefectures located in the eastern coastal Qingzhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou, the so-called "East Three Mansions", and the three Prefectures of Jinan, Yanzhou, and Dongchang located along the western canal were the "Western Three Mansions". Comparatively speaking, there is a big gap between the eastern three provinces and the western three provinces in terms of transportation and trade.

Located in the eastern coastal area of the three provinces, the territory is mostly hilly and mountainous, and the land transportation is extremely inconvenient. Located in the easternmost part of Dengzhou, it faces the sea on three sides, and the land transportation is the most closed. "Although the western border is even Lai (state) and Qing (state), and the mountain boundary is blocked, the bird road is sheep intestines, the car cannot accommodate the track, and the people cannot be brined" is called "there is no road that can be passed". Such traffic conditions undoubtedly greatly hindered its trade and trade circulation with other regions, so there was a situation of "secluded in the eastern corner, blocking mountains and surrounding the sea, barren land and sparse people, trade was not accessible, and merchants were rarely there".

After arriving in Shandong via the Grand Canal, a large amount of grain from the south needed to be transported by land to Deng, Lai, and other places. However, the geographical conditions of the three western provinces make it very difficult to transship by land. Because the road is difficult, the freight rate is very high.

The grain allocated by the imperial court to the Denglai garrison and the Dongjiang River often could not be transported to Dengzhou quickly, and was piled up in Linqing and other places, which not only greatly increased the loss but also involved many officialdom dealings. To transport grain to Dengzhou, it is necessary to requisition people, hire vehicles, provide food, drink, and lodging along the way, and sometimes build bridges and roads. This all involved the cooperation of the magistrate. After all, Sun Yuanhua is only the governor of Denglai, not the governor of Shandong Province who has his own jurisdiction, so he is not so handy in doing things. For this reason, he had to do a lot of work in the province and in the prefectures and counties along the route to ensure the smooth transportation and delivery of grain.

This is a problem not only with food, but also with other supplies. According to the eyes of modern people, the three eastern provinces are coastal states and counties, typical suitable for the "export-oriented economy" area, and the shipping conditions are very good, the entire coastline of the three eastern provinces stretches for nearly 3,000 kilometers, among the 29 states and counties under its jurisdiction, the coastal counties account for nearly 60% of the proportion, as early as the Sui, Tang and Northern Song dynasties, Dengzhou, Laizhou, Jiaozhou has developed into an important port for trade between China and foreign countries.

However, due to the strict maritime ban in the early Ming Dynasty, the maritime trade along the coast of Shandong declined. Although the sea ban was relaxed after Jiajing and the non-governmental shipping was restored, the scale was still not large, with the capacity of each ship being only a few hundred stones, and only two or three hundred ships arriving at the port each year. Denglai and other places are still in a state of inconvenient transportation and difficult material circulation. Sun Yuanhua is always troubled by this.

In contrast, other materials can still be transported by sea, but this grain, as long as it is transported from the south of the Yangtze River, it must be transported through the Grand Canal, this is a system problem, and it is not up to him alone to change to the sea route, Caoyun is the "big policy" of the imperial court, and even Xu Guangqi, who has already entered the cabinet, cannot be influenced.

Zhao Yinggong said: "In this case, why don't you try to raise it on the spot?" Even if it can't solve all of it, at least some of it can be solved, and the people will benefit from it. ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "You are new to the city, and you don't know where the joints are here. Speaking of local food, the land in the Denglai area has always been barren and the production is limited. But it's also 'Gu Youyu can't be transferred to his county.' If you are insufficient, you can't ask for other counties, you can only support yourself. Therefore, the small ripe is suddenly spared, and the little murderer is sleepy, the place! Not only do you have to flee the famine in a famine year, but you also have to flee in a mature year! ”

"Why do you want to run away from mature years?"

"The grain here can't be sold at all, it can't be sold, how can I pay for it?" Sun Yuanhua looked at him in surprise and said that he didn't understand why he didn't understand this matter.

"Oh, it's the bow that nods quickly, and the heart says that he is ugly again. This is basic common sense for people in the Ming Dynasty, but they are very unfamiliar with themselves.

"Although the imperial court levied grain locally, although En's stone added two coins of silver, the people were still miserable." Saying that, he sighed, "Therefore, Dengmin has a proverb: Dengzhou is like a big urn, and the small people are at the bottom of the kettle."

Su Gui fights for a gold, and Su feeds the dogs. The great ripe fled with food, and the great famine was starved to death. ”

Of course, Zhao Yinggong knew the reason: it was nothing more than the difficulty of circulation caused by inconvenient transportation, and the local harvest of grain could not be transported, and it could not be sold at a price; In the year of famine, grain from other places could not be brought in. He had already done research on the subject before coming to Dengzhou, and brought it up at this time to bring up the next topic.

"Since it is difficult to move a word, students are willing to help adults here." Zhao Yinggong said, "Students are interested in starting a boat here. ”

Sun Yuanhua smiled, but was noncommittal. Zhao Yinggong was not in a hurry: Sun Yuanhua must have understood the value of the ship. The reason why he didn't express his stance shows that he attaches great importance to this, and he should think about it before talking to him about it. I won't continue this topic for now.

The conversation has turned to local agriculture again. The local grain production situation can also be greatly reduced, and the dependence on the transshipment of grain can also be greatly reduced. Therefore, Sun Yuanhua was very interested in improving local agricultural production, and like Xu Guangqi, he was quite interested in agricultural problems. Xu Guangqi once used the "Western water method" to build Tuntian in Tianjin, and "applied what he has learned", and the effect was very good. Sun Yuanhua said that he once had such thoughts.

"Your Excellency has this intention, why don't you recruit exiles and open up wasteland in the local area?" Zhao Yingong said tentatively, "I see a lot of wasteland in the local area. I traveled all the way, and the road was full of hungry people, waiting to be fed. If the adults have this intention, it can not only be used for military food, but also a great good deed" Zhao Yinggong originally wanted to say "merit", but when he thought that he was a Catholic, he immediately changed his words to "good deeds".

Sun Yuanhua shook his head: "Land and people are easy to say, but money is not easy to do." ”

Sheltering the hungry people needs to be fed, clothed, and sheltered, and although the land does not cost a few dollars, seeds, livestock, and fertilizer are needed to open up the land. All require a significant upfront investment. Sun Yuan made Guigui the governor of Denglai, but in fact, he could not govern the three prefectures of Denglai, Lai, and Qing, as well as the islands along the coast of Shandong and the Bohai Bay, which was a typical place where the people were poor and barren. The resources at hand were limited, and even with the military salaries and food allocated by the imperial court, they could only barely maintain the army and defense system. If you want to engage in construction and development, you will have no spare energy.

"Moreover, this place is mostly close to the sea, and the territory is mostly hills and mountains, so the land is saline-alkali and barren. Sun Yuanhua said, "Benfu is already exhausted from running military affairs here, and he doesn't have this spare strength." ”！。