After thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Youxiao decided to put the development of shipping and water transportation first, for the time being, these two projects need to invest too much money, and now the capital of Daming Royal Bank is not so abundant, and it is not very cost-effective to invest in these projects. In terms of shipping, although the ocean-going trade is more profitable, there is no navy for the time being, and the ships are robbed by pirates when they sail to the vast sea.

There have been a lot of pirates these days! Not only were there local pirates, but the Dutch were also robbing everywhere.

In a few months, the Beijing camp will be able to initially form its combat effectiveness. At this time, Zhu Youxiao also began to plan and began to attack those vested interest groups.

The first one to start was the salt industry.

The world's private salt profits are incomparable, creating a large number of wealthy Yangzhou salt merchants.

At this time, the population of the Ming Dynasty must have exceeded 100 million, and after two hundred years of multiplication, a large number of black households were produced, and the population may even reach 200 million.

The imperial court only collects about 2.4 million taels of salt tax every year, and it is gradually decreasing.

According to the population of 150 million, the average per population is only 9.6 wen yuan (copper plate) of the Ming Dynasty, and the price of each catty of salt on the market is more than 50 wen, under normal circumstances, the annual consumption of salt by a population will generally be about 10 catties.

The amount of salt profits that have been encroached upon is shocking. And there are still many ordinary people who can't eat salt, and some can only eat nitrate, or even light food.

The main reason for the encroachment of the market by illegal salt has a lot to do with production technology. The other is that the administrative method of the Ming Dynasty belongs to the type of local high autonomy, and the advantage of this near-autonomous administrative system is that the administrative cost is low, and there are only more than 30,000 officials in a country, and on average, there are very few in each state and county. The disadvantage is that the ability to control the local area is not strong, and there are too many acts such as collusion of local interests, and the imperial court cannot control it at all.

In terms of production technology, it is mainly a matter of drying salt and boiling salt. At this time, the official salt of the Ming Dynasty was mostly boiled in the sea for the salt production method, which required a large amount of fuel consumption, among which the Huaibei region, which had the highest output, was occupied by the magnates because the grass beach was occupied by the magnates, as well as reclamation and other reasons, resulting in high fuel prices.

As for drying salt, it does not require fuel, and the cost is naturally relatively low.

Xu Guangqi has mentioned the improvement of salt drying technology to Zhu Youxiao several times, but Zhu Youxiao did not have a reliable army in his hands before, and it is difficult to move the interests of salt merchants.

Now that the Beijing camp is about to be compiled, Zhu Youxiao also has some confidence. So he called Xu Guangqi over and carefully inquired about the seawater salt drying technology.

Seawater salt drying is indeed the mainstream of future technology, but Zhu Youxiao does not know much about the salt drying technology of the Ming Dynasty. After Xu Guangqi entered the palace, Zhu Youxiao asked: "Xu Aiqing, is the salt drying technology mature now?" How much salt can an acre of salt field produce? ”

"Qi Yu Majesty, seawater salt has been in place since the founding of the country, but it was limited to Fujian at that time, and when Taizu formulated the salt industry system, he used the method of boiling salt, which has the advantage of being convenient for controlling the output of salt, so as to eliminate private salt. However, nowadays, private salt is everywhere, and the cost of boiling salt is quite high, so that official salt cannot compete with private salt. The technology of drying salt can be said to be very mature, and the local price of salt in Fujian is only 2 yuan per catty. In other provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the price of salt is very common. Xu Guangqi detailed the benefits of drying salt.

"The price is so low?" Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised, the price of salt per catty in Fujian was actually 2 yuan, which is a bit of a breakthrough of the lower limit!

As for the yield, the minister in the Huaibei area has used salt pans to dry it, one mu of salt field has a perennial output of 3,500 catties, 5,000 catties, if it is hot and rainy in summer, the yield is higher. However, the sea water of the Bohai Sea is more salty, and the tidal flats are all silt, which is not like the sandy beaches in the south, which will cause leakage, and is more suitable for salt drying. Xu Guangqi continued, Zhu Youxiao realized that the output of seawater salt is so high! And there is no need for a little fuel.

The annual output of salt per mu of salt field is 2~3 tons, and the salt is mainly concentrated in the high temperature stage in summer. However, if the hired labor system is adopted, a large number of temporary workers are used during busy times, and on average, each young and strong labor force will be responsible for the production of 50 acres of salt pans in a year. Each laborer produces an average of 100 tons of salt, and the cost of salt per catty (600 grams) is only 0.0072 wen according to the monthly wage of 2 taels of silver, plus the expenditure on animal power and tools, the cost of salt per catty is at most 0.01 wen, and the transportation cost is calculated again, at most it is the cost of 1 wen.

Too cheap?

It is indeed very cheap, in Fujian, where private salt is very rampant, and because of the use of the salt drying method, the price of salt in Fujian has become 2 Wen per catty, such a price still has 100% profit, and the production is not 2 taels of silver per month, or even much lower, with a profit of more than 100%.

The main reason why the price of salt in Fujian is so low is that there is no strong monopoly power in Fujian's salt market, and the official monopoly power in Fujian is almost non-existent. Under the bidding of Fujian salt merchants, the price of salt naturally fell all the way to 2 yuan a catty, and at least 90% of the prefectures and counties in Fujian were occupied by illegal salt.

After all, the emperor of Fujian is far away, and the Ming Dynasty is basically in a state of abandoning the treatment of Fujian's salt market.

"Since Xu Aiqing is familiar with drying salt, then Aiqing is responsible for the reform of the Changlu Salt Farm!" Zhu Youxiao decided, Xu Guangqi was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise." ”

Zhu Youxiao has already made up his mind to reform the salt industry. The first target of the reform was the Changlu Salt Farm in the north, which was still in the production of boiled salt at this time.

The fact that salt drying reduces costs is not actually a major problem. The main problem is how to eliminate illicit salt. At the same time, after the popularization of salt drying technology, how to place the original stoves that boiled salt.

If they cannot be resettled, once the popularity of salt drying makes them unemployed, then they will become the main force of illegal salt, and even violently resist the law and embark on the road of no return.

And even if boiled salt is turned into dried salt, it is powerless to change the problem of illegal salt flooding the market.

However, these questions still feel very simple for Zhu Youxiao. When salt is produced, must it be handed over to those salt merchants to sell?

Why can't you sell it yourself?

Salt itself is monopolized by the government, and the salt is produced and transported and sold by itself, and then the salt market in one town and one town is controlled.

It just so happened that Jinyiwei and Dongchang were also rectified, and although the smuggling salt dealers could not be 100% intercepted during the trafficking, the salt was to be sold in the market, and the retail guys were arrested, and as long as the crackdown was severe, no one dared to openly sell the smuggling salt.

Zhu Youxiao, who decided to break the status quo of the salt market and establish a new order, then established the 'Daming Salt Company', and ordered the reform of the Changlu Salt Factory, and all the stoves in the salt field were changed to the employees of the 'Daming Salt Company', and the production system changed from a contract system to an employment system.