"Leizhou's whale oil tribute this year, you transport it to Qiongzhou Mansion, and I will ask Qin Wang Bing to take it to Fujing."

"Yes, Zhongcheng." Wu Tiaoyang was already numb.

Leizhou pays more than 3,000 catties of whale oil to the palace every year, and whaling involves the interests of the Tan people, and Zeng Ying did not increase the quota. The 3,000 catties of tribute whale oil was a gift to Shou Xiang, and Zeng Ying didn't plan to use it for herself.

Most of the tax plates in Leizhou Mansion this year were set by Zeng Ying and his team, and only hoarding sugar was the idea of keeping order. Shou Xuan originally wanted to raise 100,000 stone grain with the help of Zeng Ying, but seeing that he was so difficult, he couldn't do it directly with food. You can only use some brains on sugar, and the federal government has collected enough data on the sugar trade.

Today, there are two major sugar production centers in China, Fujian and Leiqiong. Fujian is the old center, and Lei Qiong has only risen in recent years. Sugar is a global commodity, and China did not have pricing power in the past.

Nowadays, the price of sugar purchased by the Dutch is 3.5 riyals per quintal of brown sugar, about 4 cents of silver, and the purchase price of white sugar is nearly three times that of brown sugar, which is more expensive. Considering the cost of extracting sugar, this amount of money will be less in the hands of farmers. At the current sugar price compared to the grain price in Chinese mainland, the income of growing sugarcane is actually not as high for farmers as growing rice. If given the opportunity, they would always cut down the sugar cane to grow rice. As in Fujian, in recent years, Leiqiong farmers have been oppressed by the sea merchants to grow sugarcane.

Lei Qiong has an average of 2.4 quintals of sugar per mu of land, and about 300,000 to 400,000 quintals of sugar are transported from western Guangdong to the world every year. As a result of the 30-year war, the price of sugar in Europe plummeted, and in 1623 the price of sugar was less than half that of 1613. The price of sugar rose again after 1630, when the price of American brown sugar in Amsterdam was around 0.67 guilders per pound.

After the price of sugar rose again, the Portuguese expanded the sugar plantations in Brazil, the amount of American sugar shipped to Europe increased, and the global sugar price declined, the price of white sugar in Europe was only 0.44 guilders per pound the year before last, which was about a dozen taels and one quintal of official silver in the Ming Dynasty, and the fluctuations in the European market and the purchase price of Chinese sugar fell for several years.

Dutch demand to Europe has been stable between 2 million and 3 million pounds in recent years, and they mainly buy white sugar, which the Dutch don't consider when Chinese sugar is abundant. Depending on the cost of the voyage, the Dutch made between 50 and 300 percent of the profits of transporting sugar from East Asia to Europe.

Japan's demand fluctuates greatly, with a maximum of 57,000 quintals shipped to Japan by Chinese ship, and in general, the proportion of white sugar and brown sugar needed by Japan is not much different, and rock sugar is slightly less. According to the price in recent years, Japanese rock sugar is sold for 6 taels of silver, white sugar is sold for 5 taels per quintal, and brown sugar is 3.5 taels per quintal.

The Dutch ship does not ship as much sugar to Japan as the Chinese ship, about 15,000 to 30,000 quintals per year, because for the Netherlands, the profit of sugar on the Japanese route is average, and the sugar exported to Japan is basically the nearest Taiwanese sugar.

Persia has the third largest overseas demand for Asian sugar, with an annual demand of slightly less than 10,000 quintals, and like Europe, it is dominated by white sugar and rock sugar.

Europe, Japan, and Persia together consume about 100,000 quintals of sugar, and China's largest demand for sugar is actually in its own country. Exports, while more profitable, account for only a small portion of total output.

Shou Xu embezzled a quota of 20,000 taels of silver from the Sanya Company, and with the endorsement of the governor's yamen, he hoarded more than 40,000 quintals of sugar in Qiongzhou in the form of commercial acceptance bills, and Haishuzu also donated more than 10,000 quintals.

Zeng Ying saw that Shou Xiang and Hai Shuzu personally ended, so she believed in She's order. He's a governor, and it's easy to do that. Half coercion and half inducement, he only paid a small deposit and hoarded 50,000 taels in Qiongzhou.

Zeng Ying, the governor of Leizhou, planned to come hard, use force to seize the sugar produced in the whole province, and free up a part of this year's tax grain to pay to the sugar farmers. If he had done this before, he would have pierced the sky, and he would definitely not be able to keep his official position. Now he dares to do anything in the name of raising military salaries for King Qin's soldiers.

Selling brown sugar at a price of 3.5 riyals is not really profitable. The reason for this is that Fujian and Guangdong have been invaded this year, and the production of sugar in Fujian and Guangzhou will inevitably be reduced on a large scale. Needless to say, sugar prices will definitely soar from the second half of the year. As long as it stabilizes for a few months, the income can probably be doubled.

Leizhou Mansion is followed by Lianzhou Mansion.

Lianzhou Mansion is relatively poor, although it is also a three (state) county, the positive endowment of Lianzhou Mansion is only more than 26,500 stones. Hepu County provides more than half, more than 16,500 stones. Lingshan County in Qinzhou is more than 7,000 yuan, and Qinzhou is only more than 2,900 stones.

Seeing what happened to the Tongzhi of Leizhou, Lin Zhuanheng, the prefect of Lianzhou, recognized the 55,000 stone task very simply, which was slightly less than half of Leizhou. Lei Lian's two mansions are also grain exporting mansions, and Zeng Ying only emphasized her true color, not the folded silver. In the war years, food came first.

Lin Zhuanheng recognized the amount of taxes, and he still had an important matter to ask, "Zhongcheng, there are many people in our house, how to deal with them when the tax is raised." ”

Among the civil officials under Zeng Ying, Lin Zhuanheng ranked third after Fang Guoxiang of Hainan Province and Wu Yanliang, the prefect of Qiongzhou. The prefect's request must be taken seriously by Zeng Ying.

Tanmin's question Zeng Ying also had a headache, and now she can only put it on hold, "Pearl, don't move, maintain the status quo." ”

"Zhongcheng Yingming," Lin Zhuanheng breathed a sigh of relief, scraping the land on the shore and raising taxes was a trivial matter, and he was afraid that Zeng Ying would go to the Pearl Pond.

There are 8 large pearl pools in Haibei Road, Lianzhou accounts for 7 of them, and Leizhou only has one Lemin Pond near the Lemin Shouyu Thousand Households. The people of Lei Lian have a long history of diving into the sea to collect pearls, and Lei Lian pearls have been tribute since the Han Dynasty. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the West Pearl is not as good as the East Pearl, and the East Pearl is not as good as the South Pearl.

Pearling is probably one of the most dangerous jobs of this era, and diving diseases and predators and poisonous species in the sea are constantly endangering the lives of pearl divers. In the Ming Dynasty, Lei Lian Tanmin invented the diving snorkel, which had a slightly lower mortality rate than the previous generation. The pearl diving in Lei Lian in the Ming Dynasty was an outright tyranny, and Emperor Jiajing intensified his efforts to raise money. There was no room for private pearl mining, and they lost the income from trade with the South Seas. There is only one result of cutting off people's financial routes, war.

The large-scale pirate invasion of the Jiajing Dynasty was of course indispensable to the participation of the coastal Tan people. But the Tan people actually had their own armed forces, and the imperial court referred to these pirates as the Bead Thieves. The Tan people fought against the imperial court for nearly 100 years, and it was not until the imperial court ceded most of the interests of the pearl pond that western Guangdong basically calmed down.

The Tan people have their own organizations, and the officers and soldiers of Lei Lian No. 2 Guard colluded with the Tan people and colluded to sell pearls. One of the problems Zeng Ying faced was that he did not have a large-scale sailor, and he was helpless against the Tan people. The interests of pearls can not be moved, the water in this is too deep.

Zeng Ying, a Tan people in Hainan, is not too worried, because there are few people on Hainan Island, and most of the Tan people there have already gone ashore, and even if there are fishing boats going to sea, Tan people will buy some fields on the shore.

After 10,000 years, Hainan successively produced a number of Tan people's talents, and the Qiongzhou government basically regarded the Tan people as the people. Unlike their compatriots in Haibei, the law is their main means of protecting their rights, and they often use litigation to resolve disputes with Hermes-Epitek. The government basically maintained fairness in the trial of the case, and there was no discrimination against the Tan people. Haibei is different, the people of Lei Lian's Second Mansion are still armed, and their war potential is definitely far greater than Zeng Ying's current naval forces.

The Tan people were the biggest unstable factor in western Guangdong, and they fought with the imperial court for nearly a hundred years, and their enmity was as deep as the sea. The present state of peace is only a tacit equilibrium, and the invasion of Jianzhou will inevitably upset the balance. Perhaps in the early days they would be on the side of the Ming Dynasty because of inertia, but it will be difficult to judge after they establish contact with Jianzhou.

Zeng Ying had to plan for the worst, what if the Tan people defected to Jianzhou. Jianzhou does not have a navy, and the surrender of the Tan people in the past will allow Jianzhou to gain precious sea power. The only way is to temporarily appease the Tan people as they are, and seize the time to build a water division.

Zeng Ying didn't have time to talk with the officials, and after assigning the task, he announced the dismissal of the meeting, and the officials returned to their yamen to prepare for the collection of summer grain.

Shou Xian sat on Zeng Ying's right hand and attended the whole meeting without saying a word. Walking out of the yamen, I saw the new governor Zhang Xiaoqi coming up.

"Lord of the Kingdom."

"Press the table."

After saying hello, Zhang Xiaoqi suddenly fell to the ground, "Xiaoqi thanked the lord for saving his family last year." ”

The order was blinded, and he and Zhang Xiaoqi met for the first time, "What does this mean?" ”

"Zhang is a native of Wujiang, Suzhou, and now his parents and brothers are in Taipei."

Suddenly, it turned out to be last year's Jiangnan immigrant.

Zhang Xiaoqi learned that the Jianzhou soldiers were slaughtering and looting everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River, and he didn't think about tea and dinner for a while. It wasn't until the first month of this year that he received a letter from a merchant ship to Qiongzhou from Taipei to his family, and he learned that his family was safe and sound. In troubled times, this kind of mood can only be experienced by the parties.

Zhang Xiaoqi asked Shou Xu: "Can Xiaoqi trouble the lord of the country to send his family to Leizhou?" I know that I have to wait for the north wind to be shipped, and I am not in a hurry for a while, so please leave a few places for Xiaoqi when the lord's merchant ship is free. ”

Shou Xiang smiled, "Small things, I will personally inquire after I arrive in Taiwan, and I will definitely send my family members to Taiwan." ”

Zhang Xiaoqi saluted again to express his gratitude.

Shou Xiang supported him, "Press the stage, I don't recommend that you put your family in Leizhou." There are fewer people and more land in Qiongzhou now, so you might as well buy some land in Hainan to settle your family. ”

The fields in Hainan are cheap, and Zhang Xiaoqi, as the official in charge of the criminal name of the government, has no big problem with saving up to buy dozens of acres, which is better than sitting on empty mountains in Leizhou.

After all the officials left, Zeng Ying sipped tea and asked Shou Order: "What do you think?" ”

Shou Xiang stretched out his thumb, "Zhongcheng is amazing." ”

In order to raise soldiers, Zeng Ying will not be polite. Looting this kind of thing is a technical job, purely based on experience, and Zeng Ying's level of looting is just right. Guangdong Province is a relatively wealthy province, and compared with Zhejiang, the tax rate is lower and has the potential to increase taxes. As long as the tax collection process is not messed around, there will be no mess.

As long as the officials of the three governments come according to the plan, even if they can't collect the full amount in the end, they will have 300,000 stone grains if they are levied 8 percent, and they can collect 20,000 silver for miscellaneous cases. According to the current military salary, Zeng Ying can raise 5,000 standing troops with 120,000 yuan, supplemented by the temporarily mobilized rebel army, and Qiongzhou's military salary expenditure is enough. The remaining 200,000 stones, he can invest in the construction of the strait defense line.

Zeng Ying: "The people of Haibei are unreliable, I want to build a new sailor." You are an expert in naval warfare, what advice do you have? ”

Shou Xiang shrugged, "The sailors are nothing more than shipbuilding and recruitment, you don't build big ships, build more small and medium-sized warships that are flexible in the wind." The number should be sufficient, at least to cover the patrol tasks of the Qiongzhou Strait. ”

The enemy of the Qiongzhou Navy Division is not a large plywood ship in Europe, and the combat effectiveness of a single ship does not need to be too strong.

There are ready-made military shipyards in Hainan. Originally, the warships needed by Hainan had to be built in Guangzhou, and it was not until the 45th year of Wanli that the imperial court allowed Qiongzhou to build its own warships in Baishazhai in Haikou.

There are 66 warships in the theoretical establishment of Baisha Water Village, mainly ships with No. 4 or less, a total of 39 ships. There are also boats, labras, and eight-oared boats. The main ship is a kind of warship converted from a grain carrier, in the style of a Canton ship. After the Apocalypse, the war in the northeast was tense, and the imperial court was unable to maintain a large naval division on the southern coast, and the establishment of Baisha Water Village became an empty letter.

Private shipbuilding has not been interrupted since the Song Dynasty.

There are two kinds of very distinctive boats in Hainan, one of which is the rattan port boat, the keel is round and the bottom is pointed, and the hull is seamed with rattan tie boards, without putty twisting seams, and without iron nails. The hull of the boat leaks during the voyage and must be scooped out without stopping. The shape is somewhat East Indies style, which is cheaper and can be built casually.

The second is the fishing boat, the Qiongzhou fishing boat is very simple, using rare cloth sails in the mainland, which is probably because Qiongzhou is a cotton cloth production area. The lightweight sail can be controlled by one person, one person who is in charge of the rudder's rocking oar, and the other person who holds a weapon. There are many such fishing boats, and the Tan people in Qiongbei have no money to use cloth sails, so they use straw mats or bamboo mats.

Commercial shipbuilding is concentrated in Qiongshan County, and the technical level of Guangzhou Shipbuilding is no different from that of the mainland, because the island has rich timber reserves, and the shipbuilding price is cheaper than that of the mainland, but the production capacity is limited.

There is no way to do this kind of thing, you can only build them one by one. Haikou and Qiongshan County's civilian ship yard together, Shou Order, suggested that first try to build some galleys, and then consider warships when the patrol boats are enough.

In terms of weapons, Hainan Wei's self-made weapons began in the Zhengde period. The largest and most complete arsenal in western Guangdong is the Hainan Guard Ordnance Bureau, and Jiajing's annual production capacity is at its highest, which can make 6,892 weapons a year.

The Hainan Guard Ordnance Bureau can build its own bird guns, furlong machines, bronze handcuffs and daihatsu guns. After Wanli, the production capacity of the Hainan Guard Ordnance Bureau gradually declined. The situation in Haibei Leizhouwei and Lianzhouwei is much the same. Zeng Ying plans to recruit folk blacksmiths and enrich them into the various guard weapons bureaus. Now that communication with Guangzhou is normal, Zeng Ying also sent people to Guangzhou and Macao to recruit weapons workers.

Don't worry too much about cold weapons, swords, spears, and wooden shields are built as usual, and Zeng Ying's heart is firearms.

The advice given to him by Shou Order: Franc and Bird Gun should be built as usual, and someone should be kept an eye on the quality. The Tiger Squat Cannon has been slightly improved, the Tiger Squat Cannon basically has no battlefield reloading function, and there are a lot of messy reloading procedures, and you can throw it away after a shot.

This kind of short-diameter light artillery melee is actually very easy to use, and the tiger squat cannon in the improved plan casts the cannon ears, and the weight rises to more than 100 catties. Fires only shotguns, and has the ability to reload on the battlefield.

Firearms are powerful to use, but the cost of training and warfare is staggering.

Tiandu Iron Ore can solve some iron bullets, but cannot solve lead bullets. In addition to charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, none of the raw materials for gunpowder can be produced by Qiongzhou. Sulfur can be traded with Taipei, and saltpeter is not enough for itself. Even if Zeng Ying cleans all the toilets in the house, he can only produce a maximum of 3 tons of black powder per year, and he can finish the battle in one battle. Scraping toilets can only be used as a supplement, which is embarrassing and useful.

The Nanming army can sometimes fight a few beautiful battles, but it is difficult to maintain combat effectiveness, in addition to the unsustainable military salary, it is the problem of ammunition. There are saltpeter mines in the Jianzhou control area, and nitrate can also be obtained in the north through large-scale nitrate sweeping in autumn and winter, but the south is wet and cannot be dried. Nanming has many fewer resources, and he has worked hard to save a wave of soldiers, even if he keeps winning battles, he can't consume Jianzhou.

With the financial resources of Qiongzhou Prefecture, if you buy Indian saltpeter, the cost will be too great for Zeng Ying.