Mao Jue has a common problem of tyrants, that is, great joy! Good guy, a salt factory can allow him to build the momentum of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Off the coast of Xuzhou, between a series of islands, I was stunned by the fleet throwing concrete blocks and sandbags to build a long causeway, dozens of miles of embankment, this workload is no less than building a big city, and in these months, plus the sand and gravel to level this tidal flat, the amount of work has to be calculated with 100,000 people.

But the effect is also remarkable, the shallow sand flat waste land within a radius of more than ten miles, now it has become a neat piece of salt pan, the sea water poured in by the tide in the morning is dried into brine in the hot weather, and is transported to the upper crystallization pond through the ditch and the water wheel, an afternoon of exposure, it becomes a shiny salt, thousands of people with wooden rakes to work between the salt fields, the finished salt is piled up at the entrance of the factory area, dozens of people are holding sacks and shovels, and bags are filled into sacks.

No wonder Kang Wanli said that just such a salt field is enough to be worth the entire Huai salt production area.

While walking along the blue sea and blue sky, Kang Wanli is eyebrows are dancing and dancing gestures, in contrast, this Feng Xuewen is like a frosted eggplant, listless, a few days ago Mao Jue invited them, these Yangzhou businessmen, to invite them to join the salt farm, but he has always been distrustful of the government and respectful, he just wanted to take tens of thousands of taels of silver to deal with it, but he didn't expect to be rejected directly by Mao Jue, and the minimum amount of shares that can be participated in is 200,000 taels.

At that time, there were few people who participated in the shares, and Feng Xuewen secretly laughed at these fools for shooting the political king's sycophants, and a million taels of silver went to waste, but now it seems that it is himself who is stupid, even if this salt farm does not pay dividends, taking salt at half price is enough to make every salt merchant red-eyed.

And Mao Jue's production model, he still can't learn, this is to launch 100,000 prisoners of war, use hundreds of Dongjiang boats, a quarter of cement in Tieshan, tens of millions of taels of silver to build, with the largest scale to reduce the cost to the minimum, typical scale effect, there are still a few such good tidal flats near Xu Huai, but even if he Feng Xuewen, one of the richest people in Yangzhou, is unable to take out such a scale of human and financial resources to build a salt farm, compared to Mao Jue's cheap salt pan drying method, he also relies on the ancient method of boiling the sea for salt, The cost is not at a starting line, either you have to lose money and sell and vomit blood, or you have to lose a bag and vomit blood!

Almost without saying a word, he followed Kang Wanli through the entire salt farm, and watched him commanding the workers who had come to stand by for a long time to carry the salt bags into the carriage, and deliberately slapped the salt bags a few times in front of him, looking at the appearance of this old Shanxi man picking his eyebrows and dancing, suddenly, Feng Xuewen asked with a flash of inspiration.

"Brother Kang, if you sell Huai salt back to your hometown in Shanxi, you can be regarded as returning to your hometown, but Shanxi is mountainous, I'm afraid this salt transportation is not easy to go, right? When the goods are there, people eat and chew them, even if they get the goods at half price, the cost can't reach it, right? ”

"Haha, brother doesn't know, isn't this the regent opening the railway and using that kun to transport goods? We'll take a stake in this railway......."

said excitedly, but as soon as he was halfway through the words, Kang Wanli stopped abruptly, he hurriedly smiled and waved his hand: "Brother has a little way in Shanxi, I can keep it back, don't worry about it!" ”

"Oh! That's the little brother is too worried! ”

didn't ask again, Feng Xuewen smiled and hugged his fists.

After separating from Kang Wannian, this Feng Zongshang didn't have the heart to go back to see his Jinxiangzhai salt farm, so he rushed back to Yangzhou City in his own four-wheeled carriage.

"You immediately send a post to Mr. Li, Zhao Yuanwai, and Liu Da Shopkeeper, and they will say that Master Ben wants to invite them to participate in the shares, and let the subordinates have a banquet in Yechun Garden!"

"Master, more than half of our Xu Huai's salt Ding stove households are under the command of our Feng family, and the two Huai patrol salt imperial history yamen have fled back to Jiangnan, within two or three years, the salt of the two Huai is the sole discretion of our Feng family, why do you want to share the profits with them!"

Full of puzzlement, Master Feng asked in amazement, but this sentence happened to speak of Feng Xuewen's bitter water, and he almost didn't cry, he patted his thigh sadly.

"Didn't the regent say a while ago that some coastal defense fortresses should be built on a few broken islands in the distant mountains? It's not a fortress at all, it's the regent's royal salt farm, which has built dozens of miles of salt fields, relying on the production of brine and salt, and the salt production is enough for the entire Lianghuai! The cost is less than half of ours! ”

All of a sudden, Master Feng was also stunned, he couldn't speak for a long time, most of the Feng family's assets were invested in this, if according to Feng Xuewen's words, it wouldn't take two or three years, and the Feng family would have to be dragged down.

The matter has come to this, even if you grit your teeth and go forward, you have to go all the way to the dark, Feng Xuewen snorted stupidly: "Li Fat Man Zhao Da picked a few people who were blind and didn't follow up, people Kang Fat took salt at five folds, they entered at full price, and if the competition continues, it will be over sooner or later, for today's plan, we can only pay for silver, and learn from the regent to come to the sea to dry salt, otherwise we have to wait to be out!" ”

"The master has taught you a great lesson! The little ones are going! ”

"Wait!"

Pinching the dumb man, this Feng Xuewen was like constipation again, and he circled around several times, and then asked ruthlessly: "How much silver can be moved in the house now?" ”

"Back to the master, after the salt field is built, there are still 400,000 taels!"

"With the field house in my name, can you make up a million taels?"

"Back to the master, if you can make it up, you can make it up, but this is all ancestral property! Also Chunyuan has to be the second lady's dowry to accompany out, you, what are you going to do? ”

"I can't take care of it! Didn't the regent want to build the railway from Yangzhou to Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Tongguan and Xi'an, with a minimum investment of one million taels? This afternoon, Kang Feizi said that he leaked his mouth, and there must be a greasy one in it, although I don't know what the content is, but since he dares to vote, let's follow! I missed this encounter, sir, I feel that our Feng family is still unlucky! ”

Shopping malls are like battlefields! However, seeing his master's murderous face and wiping the sweat on his forehead, Master Feng also responded with great difficulty, but after hesitating, he made a valuable proposal.

"Master, recently the Imperial Bank under the name of the regent has also been listed in our Xuzhou, and the interest rate on their loans is not high, only five percent, which is not conducive to rolling profits, and the lord does not need to sell his property, he directly mortgages it to the name of the Imperial Bank, and he can lend out the silver, and when the salt farm is profitable, we can also pay it back slowly!"

"So few !!"

Even Feng Xuewen couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

How high was the interest on loans in ancient times? In the "Sermon", Ming Taizu once clearly demanded that in the future, the interest on money should not exceed two or three points! The Ming Law also stipulates: "All private lending of money and debts and pawned property shall not exceed three cents per month, although there are many years, but one profit is one book; Violators will be punished with 40 lashes, and the stolen goods will be counted with surplus profits, and the heavier ones will be punished with 100 rods. ”

Even if the government intervenes in the interest rate, the law allows the monthly interest to be as high as 20 percent, and the annual interest can even reach 100 percent. Anyway, it is also invested in Mao Jue's project, once it is lost, it is also lost, there is no difference between selling it and mortgaging, but if the bet is won, these belongings are still their own, and with a ruthless heart, Feng Xuewen slapped his thigh fiercely: "Bet!" ”

"But it has to be a secret! Don't let Li Fat Zhao Lao pick them out! ”

This is a business opportunity! It's hard for me to get a little bit out of Kang Wanli's mouth in the afternoon, how can I easily cheapen others?

"Don't worry, sir, the villain can save it!"

is also full of gloom, and the teacher agreed with a sneer.

........

Business is like that, in the banquet favors, the deceitful transactions are carried out, and when Feng Xuewen set up the banquet, the dignified regent Mao Jue also set up a banquet there. It's just that now Mao Jue's banquet specifications are much higher, and it can be called a state banquet, even Yangzhou businessmen like Kang Wanli and Feng Xuewen are not qualified to attend.

The location of this banquet is on Mao Jue's old buddy, the flagship Black Pearl.

Now the first-class battleships of the Dongjiang River have been upgraded from the original nine to twenty-one, and the number is enough to retire the Black Pearl into a guard of honor, the three-story artillery deck has been dismantled into two layers, the upper floor and the tail building are used as VIP rest cabins, the middle floor has become a huge banquet hall, and only the next floor still retains the gun cabin, but it has also been dismantled a small half, Mao Jue tossed, so that the first-class battleship that originally had one hundred and twenty cannons and strong firepower quickly fell to a pitiful position that the twenty-four third-class battleships were not as good as.

Fortunately, there is no need for this old fellow to charge on the front line against the rain of fire.

The captain's room is still the captain's room, after all, it has been renovated very luxuriously before, and here, there are still a romantic memories of Mao Jue and Adriana, and a few girls such as Su Yi, this room seems to be related to women, sitting on the sofa in front of the big window in the tail building, Mao Jue is depressed reading a woman's letter.

"Jun Wei'an's husband, the hero of the world, and the hero! can serve the joy of one night, the concubine has no regrets in this life, and dare to have extravagant hopes? Say goodbye today, I hope you don't miss ......"

"This little vixen!"

The letter was left by Gu Hengbo, Mao Jue was too busy for a month and a half, and he was actually busy not visiting this woman who had a happy night once, it was last year that the two Huai salt farms of the empire were finally on the right track, and the supervision departments at all levels were also in place, and there could be no situation of raising rats in the previous Ming Dynasty, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and had the kung fu to go to Qin Huai Bayan, who was rumored in later generations, to sit there.

However, this trip to Mao Jue was empty, Gu Mei had been running away for more than half a month, and Sakurahime, who was holding the vinegar bottle, didn't tell herself, so she left such a letter.

But this is also Gu Hengbo's cleverness, men, the more you can't get it, the more you want to steal! Originally, Gu Mei relied on Mao Jue to take a fancy to her understanding of the contradictions in the Jiangnan family, which could help Mao Jue to cross the family in order to win favor, but now it is good, Mao Jue has fallen in a row, and it is not uncommon to occupy Jiangnan, and her abacus has also failed.

And this romantic night, Mao Jue was beaten the next day, although he found it himself, but in ancient times, women like Gu Hengbo were also easy to be regarded as hoodoos.

So the situation of the confrontation between the north and the south and the Ming Dynasty must have come down, so she quietly packed up her things and left, and left this letter extraordinarily, praising Mao Jue to the sky, which can be regarded as leaving a thought, in case Mao Jue returns to Beijing and occasionally thinks of her, she can't fly the branches and become a phoenix, and it's good to be a Song Huizong's Li Shishi!

However, Mao Jue is also a human spirit now, how can Gu Hengbo not see this careful thought? Originally, I wanted to use her as a vase with cards tonight, but Mao Jue, who was empty, was angry and funny.

"Do you want to get that fugitive slave back?"

Looking at Mao Jue's grinning and shaking his head, full of sourness, Sakura Ji asked with a knife humming on the side.

"I don't need to!"

casually received the scented letter into the box, but Mao Jue pushed the door out, and after a while, he came back with some black and heavy things.

The lower floor of the tail floor is a torture room, Chen Jiao was locked up back then, Yu Le'er was locked up, although it is not needed now, but the things are still there, a pair of black handcuffs, a pair of heavy iron shackles, a black iron chain tied to the neck, and the three things together are thirty or forty pounds of heavy guys were thrown heavily on the table by Mao Jue.

"Gu Mei will definitely go back to Jingshi to find Chen Yuanyuan, and send these to her for the master!"

Gu Hengbo was given to Mao Jue by Qian Qianyi after spending money to comb it, her identity is Mao Jue's female slave, the purpose of sending this is that Mao Jue reminds her of her identity, if it is in the future, Mao Jue dares to give girls this thing, in exchange for a beating and a blacklist, in this era, not to mention Gu Hengbo's family of prostitutes, even if it is the eldest lady of the official family, it is estimated that they have to accept it happily, and even have to laugh out loud in the middle of the night, it is a great honor to be a female slave to Mao Jue.

Naturally, she understood this stubble, pouting her little mouth with sourness, Sakura Ji turned out a box, filled these things in heavily, and turned around and went out of the door with a smug, but as soon as she left, just after Mao Jue imagined receiving something, what kind of expression Gu Hengbo could be, and when she was smirking obscenely, the second door god at the door came in again, and saluted Mao Jue with a heavy fist.

"General! Zheng Zhilong, the chief soldier of the Fujian Navy Division, and Lord Zheng have arrived! And the red-haired foreigners you invited also arrived in Yangzhou, according to your instructions, the two are staggered by half an hour! ”

Although he did not continue to attack Jiangnan, it does not mean that Mao Jue has given up the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and even in his eyes, sea power is more important than today's land power! His expression quickly became serious, Mao Jue sat up solemnly and nodded.

"Go and ask Zheng Zhilong, Master Zheng to come here to see me!"

(End of chapter)