Qin Bai came from the industrial age. So in his eyes, such a primitive mechanical efficiency is extremely low, and it just makes those Cangzhou people have something to do, so he doesn't pay attention to it at all.

Hearing that he could earn more than a hundred taels of silver, Qin Bai was really startled. Don't be misled by the profits of matches. Because so far, the mill has only been in operation for a little more than a month, so even according to the current profit, it can earn thousands of taels a year. In this era, thousands of taels were already the annual income of large landowners. It can fully meet the needs of 50 families to achieve a well-off life, that is, the level of having new clothes and often eating meat during the New Year.

Seeing that Qin Bai had suspicions, Wu Lisong called a ranger on the side and asked him to explain it to Qin Bai in detail. I didn't expect that white noodles were actually just needed in this era. Poor families can't afford to eat at all, and small families only buy occasionally, and all the people who often buy are large families and middle and high-end restaurants. Therefore, the price is also quite high.

Now a stone, that is, a quintal (here the stone and the dan pronunciation is the same, and will be unified as a dan in the future) wheat, basically about 150 catties, which contains bran, and is not threshed and ground into powder. And now the season is green and yellow, and the price of grain is relatively high. Then use the price of the ordinary season to calculate. Generally, each load of wheat is about 5 pieces of silver.

Peeling and grinding into white flour, it can basically produce more than 120 catties. The packaging is 20 catties per bag, that is, it can be made into 6 and a half bags. And each bag of white flour can be sold for 1 dollar and 6 cents of silver? Just counting the price difference here, you can earn more than 5 yuan per load of wheat. It's all about the right and the right for the good!

Plus, what's left isn't scrap. The poor guests don't have so much to worry about, and the bran can still be mixed and eaten together. So you can still sell it for some money. No matter how poor it is, you can also raise pigs and chickens as feed.

So why is there such a big difference? The point is that it is very inconvenient, grinding things is either by manpower or by animal power. Large families are not bad, there will be no shortage of mules, horses or slaves in the family, but small households will be very laborious. This little daughter-in-law pushes and grinds, and the old men are also distressed? Anyway, small households buy two bags of white noodles at most every month, and if they can afford it, they don't care about this little money.

I didn't expect to have such a good effect when I came up with an idea casually?

Qin Bai was also very happy, maybe this is the charm of the crossing. As for those emperors and poets, they are played by high-end people. And this is the technological impetus of ordinary life, which makes Qin Bai have the same sense of achievement.

Qin Bai then smiled and asked, "So, can you grind 200 quintals a month?" ”

The ranger said: "Master Bai, you can have 3 or 400 quintals, and you have to count the wages and foot money." In the first few days, we were still fresh, and if we do it later, there may be more. ”

"That's good."

"Master Bai, there's something else I want to get your nod on."

"Oh? Let's talk about it? Hehe. ”

"After the dock in Shanglin Village is repaired, we want to buy a separate boat that can be transported directly to Jingjiazhuang and Laizhou City."

"Huh. Buy it if you want. If you don't have enough money, you can borrow it from the public account. Qin Bai agreed.

Indeed, when Shanglin Village has a wharf, transportation will be much easier. But after all, it is better not to mix it with ships transporting iron ore.

"And Master Bai." The Ranger seemed a little embarrassed, "Can you make more of this machine?" One waterwheel can drive three or four grinding machines, and there are three waterwheels in Shanglin Village. ”

"It doesn't hurt to make a few more. But can that much white flour be sold? Qin Bai had doubts, "There are more than 10,000 people in Jingjiazhuang, and the annual grain needs is almost 40,000 quintals. The annual business volume is only 20,000 or 30,000 taels, and the price difference is even less, at most a few thousand taels. Even so, there are more than a dozen grain merchants of all sizes. If you add Laizhou City, there are five wells. It's almost tens of thousands of taels of silver, do you want to eat half of it at once? ”

In this day and age, transportation is the biggest cost. Therefore, at most, it radiates to Jingjiazhuang and Laizhou City, and other places are sold in bulk at most. And the technology of the water-powered mill is not complicated, and someone should soon imitate it. Therefore, there is no competition with those local imitation grain merchants.

Unexpectedly, this time it was Wu Lisong who replied: "Big cabinet, we haven't started to sell out yet." All the white noodles that came out in the past were eaten by ourselves. ”

"Huh? Haha, hahaha......"

Qin Bai once again didn't expect that his group procurement could have such a large amount and could easily digest the hundreds of bags of white noodles. In that case, don't bother too much. Anyway, this group of people used to be private salt barons, how to sell them? How to compete? How to make profits appropriately? How to plan the market? They all know each other well.

Wu Lisong continued to explain: "Big cabinet, you don't know a little, grain merchants don't actually earn those hard-earned money. It's at this time of year that they're lending money to those who are bitter. Once it is not out, the land, wife and children of the family will be gone. ”

"Oh?" Qin Bai really didn't know this. He also thought that grain merchants were just businessmen. Unexpectedly, the majority of the money was made by usury, and it was convenient for those big owners to buy land. And the big grain merchants are generally all powerful and large landowners.

What's even worse is the disaster year. The price of that grain can be sold exponentially. Therefore, in ordinary years, they don't care about the small money in the grain stack at all, and they wait for the disaster year to open, and they can eat for three years as soon as they open!

In the end, as a thank you, Wu Lisong decided on behalf of those Cangzhou people that in the future, the mill would set aside a part of the shares, give some to Yongsheng's public account, and give Qin Bai some private. And those Cangzhou people will also draw one out of five, and usually serve as Qin Bai's personal guard. In the event of an emergency, additional manpower can be deployed.

To be honest, Qin Bai didn't care much about the increase in private property. Instead, he cared about the personal guards. Because Yongsheng is too short of skilled horsemen here, especially if you may encounter a ringing horse next.

……

After a short rest, the whole group entered a state of rapid march. In order to be able to keep up with his speed, Qin Bai even lent a few mules and horses to those small caravans.

And there is a pattern to the formation of towns along the way. In general, two adjacent towns require a day's walk. Since it is after noon, you must hurry up or the next town will close its gates and you will have to camp in the suburbs.