Yan Jizu and his entourage stayed in Chifengwei for three days, and Li Xiao had nothing to say, and by the time they parted, they were already familiar with each other like old friends. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, in the past few days, Li Xiao also told Yan Jizu in detail about how Chi Fengwei recruited displaced people, how to collect commercial taxes, how to reclaim wasteland, how to operate and manage, etc., and Yan Jizu nodded again and again.

It's just that, of course, Li Xiao also has reservations. That is, some issues related to Li Xiaojun's development, such as iron and steel smelting technology, woolen production, cement production, cigarette production, etc., were lightly mentioned by Li Xiao and did not explain them to him specifically.

Three days later, Yan Jizu and his entourage returned to Jinan Mansion, and Li Xiao gave him a precious Northeast Laoshan to participate in a large eastern pearl, such as Fang Wenhe and various guards, and also gave him a certain amount of silver. Li Xiao's bold style made Yan Jizu and others think more and more highly of him, and they all looked happy and satisfied.

Seeing the back of Yan Jizu and others beating their horses away, Li Xiao and Chen Zilong both had a thoughtful expression.

"Lord Li, although the new official has taken office three times, do you think that this Governor Yan can promote our Chifengwei's practices in Shandong?" Chen Zilong asked.

Li Xiao shook his head gently.

"Easier said than done!"

Li Xiao sighed lightly and said: "In this small Chifeng Guard, there are soldiers and rights, and it has lasted for two years, and there are still many squires and landlords, who are openly and secretly restrained. A newcomer like Governor Yan has a shallow foundation in Shandong, no officials and generals with close trust, and no strong funds and money. According to this official, Governor Yan seems optimistic now, but he is afraid that he will eventually hit a wall everywhere, and finally give up in frustration. ”

When Chen Zilong heard this, he also sighed, and the two of them turned back to the city.

On the way back to the city, Li Xiao asked Chen Zilong: "Wozi, have you ever counted how much income our army has every month?" ”

Seeing Li Xiao's question, Chen Zilong immediately replied: "Lord Li, now I am Chifengwei, Tielong City, and Jintang City, there are ironware, sea salt, woolen wool, raw silk, gold ore and other materials, which are key commodity items, and commercial taxes are an important supplement to the finances. ”

"Go on."

"My lord, now there are 6 blast furnaces and 4 frying furnaces in Tielong City, and the daily wrought iron output is conservatively estimated to reach 72,000 catties, and the monthly iron output is at least 2.2 million catties. Among them, there are about 1.4 million catties of middle and lower quality wrought iron, which are used in the production of various types of ironware, such as iron needles, shovels, shovels, iron pots, iron buckets, iron spoons, kitchen knives, hoes, wine jugs, basins, axes, fire chopsticks, tongs, iron furnaces, nails and other kinds of ironware, excluding costs and labor, as well as transportation and sales expenses, it is expected to obtain a net profit of more than 800,000 taels per month. It is actually the most important financial source for our army. ”

Hearing Chen Zilong's report, Li Xiao's face was happy.

This steel project can be called the foundation of Li Xiao's army, and now in addition to the armor and weapons that are mainly supplied to Li Xiaojun, and are not sold out for the time being, all kinds of iron tools produced have become the most important production project of Tielong City, bringing a lot of money to Li Xiaojun.

If, when the research of steelmaking technology is fully mature, and the whole grid steel can be produced in large quantities, Li Xiao's profits will be even more lucrative. Li Xiaojun's equipment will also reach a new level.

"How much profit can the Haiyan project make every month now?" Li Xiao asked again.

"My lord, now our army has a total of 1,000 acres of salt fields, which can produce 3 million catties of salt per month, a total of 25,000 quintals, in order to avoid the suspicion of disturbing the salt market, basically in addition to supplying Chifengwei, Tielongcheng, and Jintangdi, most of them are exported to Mongolian departments, and a small part is sold to Dongjiang Town and some Korean merchants. On average, after removing all kinds of costs, each load has a net profit of 3 taels, and a net profit of 75,000 taels per month can be obtained. ”

Chen Zilong paused for a moment, and then said to Li Xiao: "My lord, when the development of Ocean Island is completed, another 2,000 mu of salt fields can be built, in that case, the monthly salt output can reach 75,000 quintals, and the monthly profit can reach 225,000 taels." ”

Li Xiao showed a pleased smile on his face, and continued to ask: "What about the wool produced in Jintang City, how much profit can be made on average every month?" ”

"Your Excellency, according to the report of Jintangcheng, there are now seven Mongol tribes, namely the Tumut tribe, the Naiman tribe, the Karaqin tribe, the Lejin tribe, the Yongshebu tribe, the Asut tribe, the Ordos tribe, and the Balhu tribe, which provide wool to our army in the late spring and late autumn. In a year, a total of 15.2 million catties of wool can be obtained, according to 4 catties of wool to produce a catty of wool, a woolen wool is about 5 zhang long, the weight is about 4 catties, 950,000 woolen wool can be produced, all of which are sold at a wholesale price of 5 taels per horse, with a total selling price of 4.75 million taels, and a net profit of nearly 4 million taels per year, with an average net profit of 330,000 taels per month. ”

Seeing Li Xiao's smile, Chen Zilong smiled again: "Then next, I'll tell the adults about the profit of raw silk." ”

"Well, you go on."

"My lord, the number of mulberry fields that our army has developed and cultivated is 30,000 mu, all of which are in the territory of Chifengwei, 30,000 mu of mulberry gardens, and one mu of mulberry fields can produce about 1,000 catties of mulberry leaves, and 5 to 6 catties of silk can be reeled. According to the minimum output, it can produce 150,000 catties of raw silk, which is 1250 catties of raw silk per load, that is, 1250 quintals of raw silk. Because our army has no overseas sales channels for the time being, it can only be sold in China, and the price of raw silk in Daming is about 6~7 yuan of silver per catty, and it can make a profit of 90,000 taels per year, with an average of 7,500 taels of silver per month. ”

After listening to Chen Zilong's introduction, Li Xiao frowned slightly.

The current profit of raw silk is much less than that of ironware, sea salt, woolen wool and other industries.

Chen Zilong seemed to see through Li Xiao's thoughts, and he said with a smile: "Master Li, the reason why there is not much profit from raw silk now is really because of the limited mulberry field. If you wait until the 150,000 acres of mulberry fields in Shanxian County, the 80,000 acres of mulberry fields in the original Huang County and Zhaoyuan County are reclaimed, there are a total of 260,000 acres of mulberry fields, which can produce 1.3 million catties of raw silk, and if they are sold in China, they can make a profit of 780,000 taels, and if they can expand overseas channels, the profits can be doubled to 1.6 million taels. ”

Li Xiao knows that if the raw silk trade is trafficked overseas, it is the real profiteering.

Overseas trade data at the end of the Ming Dynasty show that at that time, many foreign merchants bought raw silk from Guangzhou, and then sold it back to European countries, or transshipped textiles from Mexico and other places in the Americas, and their purchase price was about 160~180 taels per quintal, which was more than twice the domestic market price! If it is a high-quality raw silk with good quality, good quality, sufficient amount and no fraud, it can be as high as 260~300 taels per quintal!

Zheng Zhilong, a merchant and a big sea coar, because he completely monopolized the trade with Japan, after trafficking the raw silk produced in Fujian to Japan, the price per load was as high as an astonishing 600 taels! This almost terrible price, reaching more than 9 times the price of the domestic market, is really a complete windfall profit!

It's just that if you only sell raw silk, it can't fully satisfy Li Xiao's ambitions.

Li Xiao smiled and said to Chen Zilong: "If you only produce raw silk, but the profit is still too small, Wozi, this official sent you to Songjiang and other places, hire a group of female textile workers with a high salary, and buy a large number of looms, so that I Chifengwei will weave silk by himself." But don't let the big profits go to others to earn them. ”

Chen Zilong's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said: "Students obey the orders of adults!" If you can really produce your own silk, the profit will be great. Didn't you say that one and a half catties of raw silk can make a catty of silk, that 1.3 million catties of raw silk can produce at least 850,000 catties of silk, about 7,200 quintals, a total of 576,000 horses, and if it is sold in China, each horse is an average of 10 taels, and a total of 5.76 million taels of silver can be sold, with a monthly profit of 480,000 taels. If it can be sold abroad, the acquisition can be tripled, and we can make a profit of more than 15 million taels a year! ”

When Chen Zilong said about the excitement, his face was flushed with red light, and he looked expectant.

Li Xiao smiled: "Very good! As for the matter of weaving silk, Wozi needs to be done as soon as possible, and I will send personnel from the Department of Commerce to assist you, and at least half of the raw silk produced this year must be spun into silk. ”

Chen Zilong promised loudly, and then continued: "My lord, let's finally talk about gold mining, since the gold mining of Jinyingling at the beginning of last year, a total of 18,000 taels of gold have been smelted. In addition, according to the report of Ma Tang, the head of the mine, after repeated exploration, gold veins were found in three boundaries in Zhaoyuan, and it is estimated that after all the four gold mines are successfully mined, a total of at least 75,000 taels of gold can be mined every year. ”

Listening to Chen Zilong's report on the flying eyebrows, Li Xiao was very happy.

Now in the Ming Dynasty, silver is cheap and expensive, one tael of gold, and even 13 taels of silver, then, the amount of gold produced by Li Xiao in a year can be exchanged for nearly 1 million taels of silver, and this income is absolutely considerable.

Chen Zilong finally said: "My lord, now there are more than 1,000 large and small merchants in Chifengwei, Tielong City, and Jintang City, and each household pays an average of 20 taels of commercial tax per month, and can get 20,000 taels of commercial tax per month, and a total of 240,000 taels of commercial tax a year. ”

A comfortable smile bloomed on Li Xiao's face.

Then, when the Yantian, Sangtian, and textile industries are all established and improved, it can be calculated that iron can make a profit of 9.6 million taels a year, Haiyan can make a profit of 2.7 million taels a year, woolen wool can make a profit of 4 million taels a year, raw silk and silk are conservatively estimated at 8 million taels a year, gold mines are 900,000 taels, and commercial taxes are 240,000 taels, so a total of 25.44 million taels can be profited!

This is a rather astonishing figure, you know, now Emperor Chongzhen disregards the life and death of the people, vigorously urging the payment of three salaries, the Ming Dynasty's annual financial revenue, in addition to all kinds of folded grain, is only more than 20 million taels of silver.

What is even more regrettable is that the silver that Chongzhen has spent a lot of effort to loot can only be quickly consumed, and he can't even fill the shortfall, resulting in huge financial deficits year after year.

In the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, there are some records that are sad to read.

It is recorded in the "Miscellaneous Records of the Mourning": "The thief ran westward, including more than 70 million taels of gold and silver in the palace, and the camel carried away, and the world was confused when he heard it." thought that there was a treasure in the palace of the first emperor, which lasted for decades, and Gu used the addition of 2.4 million yuan to practice salary, and lost the heart of the world, resulting in collapse. Even if you are very stupid, it will not come to this. Wu Huoshan said, I tasted the plan, please send the internal money, and the order was close to the secret edict, and the inner treasury was empty, so he fell into tears. ”

It is also recorded in the "Jiashen Chronicle" that "when the superintendent was given to the treasury of the festival, on the 15th day of the third month of Jiashen, he handed over to the chief Miao Yuan, and the treasury was suspended for more than 2,300 taels of silver, and the money was 800, and the poverty of the country was so poor that it was possible to laugh." ”

Li Xiao sighed in his heart that with only these three lands, the estimated financial income he would obtain was equivalent to the financial income of the Ming Dynasty in a year, which could be described as a rich country.

This shows how much income trade and industry can bring to the country.

This is also the main reason why the Netherlands, which is only a few counties in the Ming Dynasty, was able to make huge profits all over the world, through the sale of industrial products, through trade and colonization, and gained the reputation of a coachman on the sea, thus becoming the richest and richest country in this Age of Discovery.

In contrast, the Ming Dynasty, which was larger than the whole of Europe, could only hold on to that little land tax revenue, and could not even collect commercial taxes, so that the central government could not make ends meet, and finally forced countless poor people to rebel.

In fact, Li Xiao's income was not the richest person in the Ming Dynasty, and there was one person who was even richer than Li Xiao.

This person was Zheng Zhilong, who was the guerrilla general of the Fujian Five Tigers at the time.

Through the monopoly of trade between Japan and the South Seas, and the way of forcing passing merchant ships to pay contributions, this person made huge profits, and his annual net income could reach more than 30 million taels.

The Zheng family was able to form a huge fleet and private army to obtain such huge profits, so that in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Emperor Longwu was almost overturned like a puppet by the Zheng family, and finally became a victim, which is really amazing.

Zheng Zhilong, who has deep pockets, makes the Dutch East India Company, which is also engaged in trade and piracy, sigh to himself and be willing to have the upper hand.

Li Xiao secretly thought that maybe, when his own cigarettes start to be produced and sold, his own profits can barely match Zheng Zhilong.

Because Li Xiao calculated last time, Li Xiao's 450,000 acres of tobacco fields can produce a total of 45 million cigarettes or 22.5 million cigars. In addition to all kinds of costs, the annual profit can reach more than 5 million taels of silver!

Li Xiao then roughly calculated the amount of money to be spent each month.

If the three battalions of the Chifeng Battalion, the Iron Dragon Battalion, and the Golden Wolf Battalion are all fully recruited, each battalion will have a total of 3 soldiers, and each battalion will have about 18,000 people, and the three battalions will have a total of 54,000 troops.

The salaries of the soldiers and horses of the three battalions, plus the salaries of various government officials, the living allowances of the families of the soldiers and soldiers, and the bereavement and condolence payments of the disabled non-commissioned officers, etc., can reach 120,000 taels per month according to preliminary statistics.

The salaries, bonuses and subsidies of workers in various factories under Li Xiaojun cost about 50,000 taels.

In this way, coupled with the maintenance of various equipment, the renovation of the city, and the cost of product research and development, Li Xiaojun needs to spend a fixed amount of silver taels per month, and 200,000 taels is enough. In a year, without calculating the cost of food, it is only 2.4 million taels of silver.

Compared with the rolling of wealth, the current Li Xiao is most worried about the production and supply of grain.

After all, having enough food is the foundation for the survival and development of the country and the ruling group. (To be continued.) )