In the golden autumn of October, in the capital city of Wenzhou, the pedestrians on the street are bustling, and there is an endless stream of passers-by, Gao Zan searched a little in the crowd, and found a stall to buy roasted sweet potatoes.

He walked over slowly, smiled and asked, "How much does a roasted sweet potato cost?" ”

The vendor said skillfully: "The big one is six texts, and the small ones are three texts." ”

Gao Zan took out the three pennies, threw them into the money box next to the oven, and said cheerfully: "Bring me a small one." ”

The vendor immediately picked up a sweet potato and said loudly: "Okay, this one has just been baked, and it's still a little hot, you can take it well." ”

Gao Zan nodded, took the sweet potato, took it in his hand and turned it upside down, about three or four taels, the portion was very sufficient, he peeled the sweet potato skin again, tasted it carefully, and the taste was quite authentic.

He couldn't help but nod his head in appreciation: "Well, that's the taste, fellow, you're from Pingyang, right?" ”

The vendor laughed and said embarrassedly: "Don't hide it from you, I'm from this Wenzhou Fucheng, I just ordered this set of clothes in Pingyang, and I learned the craft from relatives there for a few days, so I baked it out like a little bit." ”

Gao Zan praised while eating: "It's not just like the appearance of the dots, it's the same taste as the one in Pingyang, the business should be good on this day, right?" ”

The vendor said with a little smugness: "It's okay, it's not a problem to sell a hundred a day." ”

Gao Zan quickly calculated in his heart, a pound of sweet potatoes costs five cents, a small one is three or four taels, plus the cost of charcoal fire is about two cents, a sweet potato can earn a penny, and the big one is only seven or eight taels, and you can earn a little more.

According to one penny, the profit of one day is one hundred wen, ten days is one tael of silver, and a month is three taels of silver.

At this time, another old woman came with her two grandsons to buy roasted sweet potatoes, Gao Zan politely said goodbye, and Shi Shiran left.

After turning two streets, he had already eaten more than half of the roasted sweet potatoes in his hand, and noon was approaching, so he put the remaining sweet potatoes and peeled them into a beggar's bowl on the side of the road, and then walked to a restaurant in front of him.

There are still more than ten steps away from the door of the restaurant, and the shopkeeper who greeted customers at the door ran up and flattered: "Oh, the big shopkeeper, you are old." ”

Gao Zan nodded and said with a smile: "Well, don't worry about me, you can go ahead, I'll go in and see by myself." ”

When the shopkeeper heard this, he hurriedly nodded and retreated to the door, and began to solicit other guests, Gao Zan nodded at him with a little appreciation, and then strode into the lobby on the first floor of the restaurant.

At this time, it was just time to eat, but the lobby on the first floor was already half full, Gao Zan glanced at the dishes on their table, there was almost a potato on each table, vinegared shredded potatoes, braised potatoes, etc., the most was potato stewed chicken, and some tables even had three or four dishes on a table full of potatoes!

A serving of vinegared shredded potatoes, with about half a catty, costs about five yuan, sells for fifteen yuan, and makes a profit of about ten yuan.

A serving of braised potatoes is about one catty, the cost is about eight wen, the price is twenty wen, and the profit is about 12 wen.

A serving of potato stewed chicken, the potato is about half a catty, the chicken is about two taels, the cost is about 30 Wen, the price is 60 Wen, and the profit is about 30 Wen.

The lobby on the first floor is full of more than 20 tables, and about 100 tables can be opened from noon to noon, and the profit of potatoes alone is about 20 yuan per table, and it is four taels a day, plus the income attached to other dishes, plus the second and third floors, the income brought by potatoes in a day is not less than ten taels, and the cost is only fifty taels for 10,000 catties of potatoes!

This business was earned, and Gao Zan's face couldn't help but bloom with joy.

At this time, the people of Binh Duong were also happy, and the county magistrate even arranged the sale for everyone, and every household only had to hand over the potatoes and sweet potatoes they planted, and the silver would be sent down.

Generally, people hand over about 1,000 catties, and the income is about four or five cents of silver, and some people except for one or two hundred catties of seeds left, all the others are handed over and sold, and they can get seven or eight taels of silver!

The peasant family has money, and the artisan households are also happy, and they are usually reluctant to make clothes, and they have made agricultural tools that they are usually reluctant to add, and they have added nearly 10,000 households, even if each household only spends five cents of silver, it is 5,000 taels of silver.

There are less than 50 artisan households in Pingyang, and on average, each household is 100 taels, excluding the cost, the gross profit is almost 50 taels!

The peasant households and artisan households are rich, and the officials in charge of collecting taxes are also happy, and even the normal taxes are usually procrastinated, and even the salaries are collected now, which is simply unimaginable before.

The tax of the Ming Dynasty is actually not high, according to the standard of 20 taxes and 1, the tax of one acre of land is less than 20 catties a year, and the tax of ten acres of land is less than one or two silver, but with the increasingly serious land annexation, coupled with the rapid increase in population, the average farmer can not eat enough, where does the silver come from to pay the tax, so there are tax arrears in many places.

After the levy of Liao, it is even more terrible, Liaoyu is an additional nine cents per mu, ten acres is nine points, almost one or two, the tax is equal to double, farmers can not afford it, every year is procrastinating, patchwork, not necessarily paid, meet the officials who collect taxes ruthlessly, do not pay is a board, forced people are not allowed to sell houses and land, so it will aggravate the speed of land annexation, the people of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be full of complaints, and the people are not happy.

Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, there is no need to urge like Pingyang, and all the Tian Fu and Liao Salary and Tian Fu are collected at one time, there is no such thing at all!

Of course, this is just the beginning, if this development continues, with the selection of potatoes and sweet potatoes and intensive sowing, the yield will continue to increase, coupled with the promotion of rice in two seasons, it is only a matter of time before the income of the people of Binh Duong will double again.

It stands to reason that at this time, the county commander Zhang Bin should also be happy in his heart, but unfortunately, his term of office is about to come, whether it is the optimization of potato and sweet potato seedlings and the promotion of rice in two seasons, he can't control it, leaving him with only regret and melancholy.

If he could, he really wanted to stay in Binh Duong for another three years, first increase the yield of potatoes and sweet potatoes to more than 3,000 catties, and popularize the matter of two consecutive rice crops.

However, time is running out, in order to save the Ming Dynasty, he can no longer stay in Pingyang, according to the normal historical trend, the Ming Dynasty will die in 20 years!

If he doesn't want to climb up at this time, in a few years, even if he understands the historical development trajectory and can blow it, it will be too late.

Because there are too many reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, not only land annexation, not only natural disasters, not only corruption, not just party strife, but the result of all factors combined, these things, none of them can be solved in a year or two, if he does not grasp the power as soon as possible, even if the ability is in vain.