"Let's rest for a quarter of an hour, eat and shovel salt."

Min Yuanqi was also tired and hungry, and after the announcement, he saw that everyone was still hesitating, and he laughed and scolded: "It will take at least half an hour to shovel salt, are you afraid that it will fly?" ”

Then everyone laughed and put down the wooden shovels, walked barefoot to the edge of the pool, dried their feet with their robes, put on their shoes, and then walked from the edge of the pool to the outside, patiently waiting for the women to bring food.

Min Yuanqi also put on official boots, because he saw some outsiders in the ranks of the women, looking like officials in military robes, and several of them were riding horses...... The horse was not tall, certainly less than five feet, and the rider was not short, and it looked like his feet were about to hang down to the ground, which was a little funny.

This is also the reason why there is too much shortage of horses here in Dahewei, even if it is a serious military attaché, it is rare to have a good horse that can really be ridden, from another point of view, although Min Yuanqi, the hereditary hundred households, has not yet turned positive, but he doesn't even have a horse, and he has to ride a donkey or a mule in the city where he is guarded, Han Sen, the general banner, is still a seven-rank martial artist, and he has to open his legs wherever he goes, who is there to reason with......

Can ride a horse over is naturally a big man, Min Yuanqi was a little surprised and vigilant, today is the first day of salt, there is a flag team of people outside to guard the guard, there has long been a strict order, without his permission not to let outsiders in, these horseback riders came in in a grand manner, what did Min Yuanzhong, who was in charge of security, do?

With some doubts and dissatisfaction, Min Yuanqi stepped forward with a waist knife in his hand, Han Sen and Min Yuanjin, Gao Cuncheng, Liang Shifa and others also saw it, and the small flag officers did not call the flag army to follow, but also held a spear or a waist knife, and followed Min Yuanqi to meet him.

The closer they looked, everyone's expressions relaxed...... Min Yuanqi also breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly strode forward.

"I've seen my uncle." Min Yuanqi saluted when he was far away, he had misunderstandings and dissatisfaction with Min Qiande, and now he knew that it was not easy for him to support the big family of the Min family, especially under the pressure of the Li family and other Wei family, how difficult and difficult it was to maintain the current situation.

At the age of fifty, Min Qiande already has a lot of gray hair, which should not be the case according to the income of thousands of households, it can only be said that the usual life is not too satisfactory, and there are many unknown pressures and hardships.

"Yuan Qi Shaoli." Min Qiande, who was riding on a horse, had a gentle attitude, his body was thin, and his face was also a little weak for a military attaché, which was very different from Min Yuanqi's temperament of a martial artist.

Min Yuanzhi, Min Yuanjiao and others behind Min Qiande also dismounted and greeted Min Yuanqi's rather respectful forked hands.

"Brothers, please be polite."

Min Yuanqi had some resentment towards Min Qiande before, and even had some raw and alienated feelings towards Min Yuanzhi and other cousins, and the two sides had not dealt much with each other before, and there was not much deep brotherhood between them.

It wasn't until the night of the night attack on Yang Shida that Min Yuanzhi sent the armor in a small boat, and the two sides had the heart to make up for the previous estrangement.

In addition to Min Qiande and Min Yuanzhi and others, Wang Sanyi and Li Guoding each came with a group of people from their own hundred households, Wang Mingyuan and the second sister, the brother and sister, were also in the crowd, Wang Mingyuan looked reluctant and disgusted, and saw that Min Yuanqi only nodded his head slightly, which was considered to have been said hello.

Min Yuanqi didn't care either, he only said to Min Qiande: "It seems that the second uncle came over in a hurry to see the salt?" ”

"Well, I knew before that you were going to go out of salt this morning, and I got up early today and rode out of the city on the fifth watch, but fortunately I caught up."

At this time, the women carrying the bucket also rushed up, but everyone was not in a hurry to put down the bucket for dinner, and even Min Qiande no longer greeted Min Yuanqi, because it was closer, and everyone saw the fine salt piled up like a hill on the side of the salt pool!

"Yuan Qi ......" Min Qiande said with some difficulty: "This is the refined salt that you crystallized overnight?" ”

"Yes, the second uncle will take a closer look."

Min Yuanqi led Min Qiande and others to the edge of the salt pond step by step, but the later people did not go through a night of hard work, and the salt mountains that suddenly appeared in front of them gave them a greater impact, but Min Qiande, a thousand households, was still in charge, Wang Sanyi and Li Guoding and others around him were already sluggish, and everyone just followed Min Yuanqi according to their inertia, although everyone knew what was going on before this, and they had psychological preparations in advance, but most of these psychological preparations were to prepare for Min Yuanqi's failure...... This salt drying method has been practiced in Fujian for many years, but no one does it in the two Huai places and the north at all, sea water, wind, sun and sunshine, these conditions are very different from Fujian, although many people do not understand the specific details, but the heart is still full of doubts...... Until they saw with their own eyes the huge mountain of salt heaps in front of them.

The edge of each pond was full of fine salt, and Min Gande and the others not only looked closer, but also sniffed it carefully, and even Min Gande couldn't help but dig a small piece and put it in his mouth and licked it...... It wasn't until it was completely determined that this always calm and introverted scholar Qianhu finally grinned, which was quite rare for Min Qiande.

After laughing, Min Qiande also opened his big hand and slapped Min Yuanqi's shoulder more than a dozen times!

"Congratulations, congratulations." Li Guoding also lost his composure, and after congratulating him without words, he said to Min Qiande: "Yuan Qi's later life was completely unexpected by everyone, originally I thought that he could be a general or a thousand generals in the battalion with martial arts, and then command the affairs, even if it was the blessing of the ancestors of the Min family." Unexpectedly, he is now good at martial arts and is more economical, and we can't do this salt thing...... I see that Yuan Qi's future is not small, and the period of revival of the Min family is not far away. ”

"It's not bad, but it's still early." Min Qiande actually smiled from ear to ear, as the current patriarch of the Min family, Min Qiande's pressure is not known to outsiders, originally Min Qianli was also quite good, the forty-year-old full-time Qianhu, whether it was the daily affairs of the northbound Caoyun or the Qianhu, were all operating well, with the contrast of Min Qianli, and Li Kecheng, who came up later, was simply a clown...... has a good foundation laid by the ancestors, and Min Yuanqi himself also stands, whether it is the ability and courage shown by training and fighting, as well as the economic and government affairs talents shown by the salt pond management in front of him, needless to say, the hundreds of households in the Yunti Pass will have some consideration, if this Min Yuanqi takes over the position of his deceased father, he shows a higher talent, and at the same time keeps the safety of this side of the military household, it can also make everyone live a good life, this thousand households don't say that it is more waste than Li Kecheng, Even those big names in the Huai'an Mansion City Health Department, even including Min Qiande, who can compare with Min Yuanqi?

Wang Sanyi also looked excited, grabbed a handful of salt and tasted it first, salty he almost called out, these salts are undoubtedly high-grade fine white salt, when the price of salt is high, this kind of fine salt will be sold for thirteen or four wen a catty, even now it is worth seven or eight cents, compared to those coarse salt and even salt bricks, I don't know how strong it is, the price of five dollars of silver and one stone, not to mention the Zhu family's commercial house, even if you change any big salt store in Huai'an Mansion, you should also eat as much as you want......

In the blink of an eye, Min Yuanqi looked at some ridiculous measures, and suddenly turned into a fact as thick as a mountain. The fine salt in front of them is piled up, and everyone has seen it, touched it, smelled it, and tasted it, and this is the truth, and the salt in front of them is money, and there is no doubt that it is silver.

40,000 catties a day, more than 200 taels of silver, for many nobles, eunuchs, gentry families this is a small amount of money, like Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen married a famous prostitute in Nanjing, ransom silver is thousands of taels, that night into the door to mobilize more than 5,000 soldiers in Nanjing Beijing to light up the market, in the home set up more than 100 tables of feasting guests, the cost of silver adds up to tens of thousands of taels, this kind of money is a small expense for the Guogong Mansion, nothing at all.

The sea merchants in the south, the big cloth merchants in Songjiang, Suzhou, the silk merchants, it is not uncommon to eat dozens of taels or hundreds of taels for a meal, and the gardens of Suzhou, which garden have to spend tens of thousands of taels to build, two hundred taels of silver, and even a decent rockery can not be built.

But more than 200 taels of silver is a net profit of 200 taels per day, and there must be more than 100 silk factories in Suzhou to achieve this profit target, 200 a day, 6,000 a month, and more than 70,000 taels a year, even if you spend 100,000 taels to buy a large sea ship to prepare goods, and go to sea twice a year, the net profit is almost between 70,000 and 100,000.

A silk factory with a scale of 100 people has a net profit of 50,000 or 60,000 taels a year, and if you want more, you have to have more raw materials, more workers and greater sales.

This income, even the Xungui family is almost satisfied, those Hou Bo relied on the ancestral Zhuangzi, forcibly bought and sold the land, as well as the money village that was cleverly seized and opened up, plus the emperor's rewards from time to time, if the people in charge of the Beijing camp can also make the soldiers of the Beijing camp embezzle military salaries and ordnance, it will be enough to have a total income of 180,000 yuan a year.

Yes, the top class of these Ming Dynasty is at least hundreds of thousands of millions, but that is the wealth accumulated in a hundred and two hundred years, and even their money is removed from the acres of manor mansions, and the cash is taken out with hundreds of thousands, which is considered to be the top rich.

Like Chengguo Gong and his relatives Tian family, as well as the queen's biological father Zhou Kui, after Li broke into Beijing, they were all beaten to death under torture, and they were nothing more than hundreds of thousands of taels each......

If the net worth of the prince and the prince is estimated to be more generous, but it is between one million and two million, and it is either accumulated for many years or favored by the Son of Heaven, for example, Li Zicheng got the family capital of King Fu after breaking Luoyang, which is an additional compensation for Wanli, and it is the reward of favoring Zheng Guifei and King Fu and not winning the position of prince for his son.

Only Zheng Zhilong, who monopolized the overseas power of the Ming Dynasty, personally owned the trade routes to the Japanese Kingdom, and had the only maritime power of the Ming Dynasty, the Fujian pirates who had accumulated a net worth of tens of millions, and the current silver is estimated to be able to take out two or three million, if it is about personal wealth, the rich Son of Heaven is not as rich as Zheng Zhilong, which is also the result of the absence of coastal defense and a systematic tax system after the opening of the sea, which is related to Zheng Zhilong's personal ability, but it is more due to the general trend......

And the military attachés in front of him, such as Min Qiande, have an annual income of a few hundred taels of silver, which is also related to the accumulation of generations of the Min family, such as a large amount of land and tenant farmers-like military households, as well as additional income in weapons storage and other aspects. And the salt pond that Min Yuanqi has made now, the income of a day is more than 200 taels, and more than 70,000 taels a year is steadily in hand, even if some sweet benefits are given to the military households, the big head is at least more than 60,000 yuan in his hands, this income, not to mention the military attache of the guard, even in the eyes of the noble families of Nanjing and Jingshi, is enough to make them red-eyed.

What's more, more ponds have to be opened, and the number of salt drying every day will increase several times or more than ten times?