The salt road has been opened for a few months, and Ninghai salt has also been recognized by large households in Shandong, in fact, in this case, if you want to completely open up the trade route freight of Ninghai Road and Jining, it is not difficult to take water transportation.

Gaomi had a boat shop that was bought by the king for money, although it was not big at the time, but now it has built several Zhuangzi around it, and gathered nearly 2,000 people to work as helpers.

In the past few months, Wang Zhengqian has bought a lot of new ships of all sizes, and the original small boat company has long since developed to the top few in the local area.

However, these are all preparatory work, whether the development of freight can be carried out, or depends on the cooperation of local merchants in Ninghai.

On December 11, the tenth year of Chongzhen, Qian Jingui, the owner of Chenghaixuan and Chengwenlou, and Hao Sicheng, the owner of the largest Qinglou in Dengzhou Mansion, came to the General's Mansion with more than a dozen businessmen after eating wine and food in Chenghaixuan.

"Garrison Ninghai Admiral's Mansion"

Standing under the seven majestic characters were four expressionless soldiers, and when they saw the group of people coming from afar, they quickly greeted the head of the door.

"The general is already waiting for a few people in the main hall, please come with me."

As he spoke, Shi Changhu's face became serious, and he turned around and reminded:

"After entering the mansion, just follow me. Don't look at what you shouldn't see, don't ask what you shouldn't ask, otherwise you will get into trouble and implicate the family, and you won't be able to say anything about your humble position. ”

Nashichang's face was solemn, and after speaking, he stepped into the door.

Hao Sicheng and several people also secretly swallowed their saliva, and hurriedly followed, but they were all surprised.

Even the prefect Sun's mansion is full of warblers and swallows, servants and maids, everyone is very relaxed after entering, there is no nervousness at all, but when they arrive at this general's mansion, they can't stop trembling.

The merchants found that there were not a few servants coming and going in the huge front house and backyard, and the soldiers of the Wendeng battalion who patrolled back and forth all the way saw a lot.

The other generals are all focused on enjoyment, but this general's mansion is like a military camp, and those soldiers in helmet and armor can be seen everywhere, and perhaps only the family in the backyard can see a trace of warmth.

They had to be cautious when walking on the bluestone road, thinking in their hearts that this general was really a different person.

"Report to the general, Hao Dongjia, Qian Dongjia and Qi Shopkeeper have arrived."

"Come in, please!"

Wang Zheng's words were still cordial, which made Hao Sicheng secretly relieved, and it seemed that this time it was a good start.

A group of merchants boarded the lobby, but they saw that there were already two officials waiting on one side, especially Dong Youyin, who was on the right side, who looked over with big eyes, and the merchants shuddered.

In fact, everyone knows in their hearts what they want to discuss today, Wang Zheng wants to open up a business route, and his ability and means are clear to everyone, as long as he wants to do it, he can definitely do it.

This is a great opportunity for their local merchants, Ninghai is a freight blockage, a single variety, and a very small market.

The merchants here have simply become chicken ribs, except for the Hao family and the Qian family, most of the rest of the people are not enough to be taken seriously, have no right to speak, and have become the lowest class except for the common people.

If Wang Zheng can really open up trade routes, a large number of Shandong merchants will pour into Ninghai, and a large number of goods will be transported back and forth, and local commerce will definitely flourish.

The status of the merchants rose rapidly, and the squires had to pay attention to some things, and there was no problem with that.

Wang Zheng stood upright, and the people looked over.

I saw that he was dressed in light armor, with a tall and slender waist, a shining steel knife hanging, thin cheeks but not a skinny feeling, and his eyes were resolute, looking at the merchants in the lobby like a master and a servant.

Wang Zheng is a person who rarely talks nonsense, he first glanced at Hao Sicheng, and then said:

"Let's get straight to the point, what is the matter with calling you here today, everyone knows it in their hearts, so there is no need to push Tai Chi around the corner."

Hao Sicheng understood that Wang Zheng wanted to let himself play the first hand, so he bowed down and said:

"General Rongyu, this is Qi Maode, the shopkeeper of the cloth store in the state city, this is Hu Chengdong, the owner of the wine market, and Shen Lian, the owner of the pig, sheep, mule and horse market, and Lu Cuilian, the shopkeeper of the grain store, is the ...... she operates in the night market."

The tiger looked around at everyone, and Wang Zheng slowly opened his mouth and said:

"All of you here are the big names in the Ninghai realm, and what I was going to say next was something that everyone was happy about."

Lu Cuilian was dressed in a long green skirt, wearing a green hairpin on her head, staring at Wang Zheng with Danfeng's beautiful eyes, and said in a round and jade manner:

"Whatever the general wants, we just do."

Zimod shouted: "Yes, the general said that is, let everyone think about it!" ”

Wang Zheng turned a few steps, his eyes were deep and calm, and he said:

"The trade route is going to be opened, this is a foregone conclusion, everyone take care of the goods in their hands, and sell them by themselves at that time. Shopkeeper Qi, you are a connoisseur of cloth and goods in this area, and you are going to promote the cultivation of cotton, do you have anything to say? ”

Qi Maode was stunned, and looked at Wang Zheng suspiciously, he really couldn't figure out what he meant, why did he plant cotton?

But he didn't dare to fight with Wang Zheng, even if he took off his head, it was a matter of one sentence, and said cautiously at the moment:

"If it can be planted in a few places in Ninghai, it will be better! It's just that cotton is easy to compete with the people for land, and now there are not many people's land, so it is not worth promoting cotton planting. ”

Wang Zheng seemed to have expected this a long time ago, and said unhurriedly:

"Who said that you should use the people's land to grow cotton, there are so many wastelands outside, which one of them is not a good field? As for the balance between cotton and grain, it would have been disposed of at its own discretion. The shopkeeper only needs to worry about one thing, whether he can produce a large amount of cotton cloth after planting cotton. ”

Qi Maode nodded subconsciously and said, "Yes!" ”

After a while, he was embarrassed again, and his expression changed: "I'm afraid the general doesn't know, don't say Ninghai, even if it is the boundary of Shandong, it is not easy to produce a large amount of cotton cloth now." ”

Wang Zheng looked at Qi Maode with a wolf-like gaze, but his words were still tepid.

"I only ask Shopkeeper Qi one thing, you have grown cotton, do you have the ability to turn them into cotton cloth and transport them out?"

Qi Maode, who looked at this gaze, trembled, and said in a voice:

"Yes! The general can rest assured that as long as the cotton is grown, he will do everything he can to make the cotton cloth and sell it. ”

Wang Zheng smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "That's no problem." ”

In fact, Shandong Province has always been among the best in cotton production.

During the Chenghua period, only in the territory of Wengzhou Prefecture, there were more than 50,000 acres of cotton fields, and at that time, each mu of farmland produced about one stone, and each mu of cotton fields produced about 20 catties of net flowers.

At that time, the price of a stone of rice was less than one tael of silver, and the yield value of one mu of cotton field was equivalent to five acres of farmland, which greatly stimulated the prosperity of the cotton industry in Shandong Province.

During the Wanli period, Shandong transported 600,000 pieces of cotton cloth to Beijing, and 400,000 catties of cotton, and most of the cotton cloth transported to the important towns of Liaodong came from Shandong.

In recent years, Shandong has been in constant turmoil and turmoil.

One time the Xiangjiao uprising, and the other time it was the rebellion of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, which led to the collapse and extreme shrinkage of the cotton industry, and the former glory has long been ignored.

Wang Zheng knew that although the Liukou was currently suppressed, it would not be long before the Qing army knocked on the pass, and the Ming court would once again fall into the situation of being attacked by the enemy, and the main army would go north to resist the Qing army.

At that time, the rogue will be resurrected, and then it will be out of control, and more and more provinces will be affected, and where the rogue passes, everything such as industry and commerce, animal husbandry, etc., will return to the original and be completely destroyed.

Li Zicheng and other rogues only know destruction and don't understand the truth of self-sufficiency in production at all, but Wang Zheng does.

Wherever the Liukou go, the cotton, grain, and other industries and commerce there will be destroyed, and the price of cotton and grain will reach a staggering new height.

If the plan goes well, by then, Ninghai will already be self-sufficient