"Your Majesty, in the second quarter, we sold nearly 130 million catties of official salt to other provinces, creating an output value of 3.9 million yuan. However, the export volume has not risen much, mainly because the northern provinces have almost been occupied by the official salt of the northern Zhili, and the southern part of the country still has the official salt of northern Jiangsu, and at the same time, the private salt is also extremely rampant. ”

At the end of June, Shen Yu made a report to Zhu Youxiao on the statistics of the data. At this time, the focus of Beizhili is still on how much output value is created and how much silver can be absorbed from other provinces. With silver, jobs are guaranteed. Guaranteed employment will guarantee the price of agricultural products, and bank loans will be recovered.

"The salt industry is definitely not these interests, how does Aiqing think it should be rectified?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

The minister thought that in the northern region, the pool salt in Gansu and other places should be included in the business scope of the Royal Salt Company, so as to open up the market in Shaanxi and Gansu, so as to completely monopolize the northern salt industry. In the south, the Jianghuai boiling salt should be abolished, and the stove should be placed in other posts, and we will be in the north of the Changlu Salt Field, as long as some more salt fields are opened, it will be enough for all the people of the Ming Dynasty. Shen said: "Even if the salt pans in the North Zhili area are not enough, Shandong is also full of silt and tidal flats, and there is no shortage of salt pans. ”

The yield of the salt pans is really high, it can easily reach a ton, and it can even be up to two tons in good weather. Based on people's salt consumption in this era, three or four hundred thousand mu of salt fields are enough for hundreds of millions of people to eat. You must know that there is still pond salt in the northwest region, there is also well salt in Sichuan, and there is also well salt in Jiangsu, but it is not mined.

"And now it's time to deal with the salt merchants in Yangzhou, we just need to cancel the quota salt introduction system and open up the salt. Anyone can get salt guides. It would soon be possible to break the monopoly of Yangzhou salt merchants on the salt industry in the southern provinces. Shen Xiao said. Moreover, there are now nine divisions in the Beijing camp, and several divisions are sent to the south to catch the illegal salt, and they are ready to suppress those salt merchants at any time, as long as the salt tax in the southern provinces can be collected, the imperial court's finances will be greatly enlarged. ”

"The abolition of the Jianghuai Salt Works can be carried out, and the illegal salt in Jiangnan can be inspected, and handed over to the local governments in Jiangnan to do." Zhu Youxiao showed a hint of a smile, and asked incomprehensibly, "Why is this?" ”

"Aiqing, you want it! The local government seized the smuggling salt. Naturally, those small minions were arrested, and the official salt of those big salt merchants was affected by the salt industry in Beizhili, and they may not be able to have an advantage at the same price. At this time, they will inevitably take risks and go into the smuggling of salt. Hey! Grab the handle and you'll catch them all. Zhu Youxiao had a sinister smile on his face, and Shen Yu was dumbfounded for a long time, and then speechless.

It's pig farming again!

However, the pigs of Yangzhou salt merchants are fat enough, it is terrible to think about, what a huge property it is! Although the inspection of illegal salt is handed over to the local government to do, it must be a mess. But if those Yangzhou salt merchants can be confiscated, it will be hundreds or thousands of times back.

"In addition, the second quarter. The export goods of Beizhili reached 8.23 million yuan, of which salt was still the largest commodity. This is followed by iron and steel products, coal, and glass. After the export subsidies for porcelain and textiles, sales also increased significantly. With the development of the current situation, there will be more and more export goods, but there are still many export goods that cannot be sold in the south, and the sales volume in the northern provinces is good. Shen Yu continued to report.

"Daming's business is not good!" Zhu Youxiao sighed, the manufacturing industry in the south is obviously more developed than in the north, and if the goods in the manufacturing industry in the north are to be exported in large quantities, many of them must have export subsidies. Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but think of doing foreign trade exports.

The Europeans at this time had South American colonies, where there was a lot of silver. The manufacturing industry of Europeans is obviously inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty, and the technology is much more backward than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Obviously, the business of the Europeans is much better, but if you want to meddle in the maritime trade, you must first have a navy, and now the Ming only has sailors, which is equivalent to a 'marine', but there are no warships. It seems that the problem of the battleship must be solved as soon as possible.

"However, such foreign sales, coupled with the Ming Dynasty's taxes, are enough to support the economy of Beizhili from collapsing." Shen Yu said, Zhu Youxiao nodded, the collapse is obviously impossible. It's just that for a large number of Huangzhuang construction activities, the bank has to bear an interest on the farmers, but this interest is a minor problem to stimulate the economy. When the economy prospers, there will naturally be more taxes.

"What is the situation of population growth?" Zhu Youxiao asked again: We are still very concerned about the population issue. The larger the population of Beizhili, the higher the total economic volume will be in the future, and the larger the commodity market. Therefore, the current population of 15 million in Beizhili is far from satisfying Zhu Youxiao's appetite, nor can it meet the current construction activities of Beizhili.

The most important thing is that when the population is larger, the grain can be sold at a price, and the construction of the Huangzhuang will cost future money. Under the Huangzhuang model, the grain output of Beizhili has increased significantly, and there is obviously no problem in feeding the original 15 million people. However, if the extra grain cannot be sold, the price will not be able to maintain the current level, and the peasants will have no money to earn, and the peasants will not be able to repay the money invested in the construction of the Huangzhuang, which may eventually lead to economic collapse.

"In terms of population, the second quarter increased by 830,000 again, and the current population of Beizhili has reached 16.89 million, and the number is still growing, and the growth rate has also accelerated significantly because of the labor shortage in Beizhili." Shen Yu reported.

"Population growth is a good thing, and we must do a good job of guaranteeing it. We want to let the people in other provinces who can't survive come to Beizhili to have a bite to eat, even if they are injured and sick, as well as the elderly and children who are lonely, they must be able to get help when they come to Beizhili, so as to release the population pressure in other provinces. In addition, epidemic prevention inspections and household registration should be done well, so as not to break out of the plague due to the movement of the population. Zhu Youxiao explained.

"Remember."

These populations are wealth, and as long as they are organized, they can be used for production and construction. At present, only Beizhili is carrying out reforms, and after the integration of Beizhili's agricultural resources, it can produce more grain, and at the same time it can transport grain from the south to Beizhili, so even if the population of Beizhili grows to 40 or 50 million, it can be fed. The most important thing is that at present, the transportation of grain from the south has been changed to the sea route, and the efficiency of grain transportation is high, and the loss has also been greatly reduced.

Such a policy is obviously of great benefit. Populations from other northern provinces who could not survive came to Beizhili to earn a living. It can also reduce the chance of unrest in other provinces. It has released local contradictions, which can be described as killing multiple birds with one stone.

The actual development direction is also the same as Zhu Youxiao's plan. Because of the labor shortage in Beizhili, a large number of people began to migrate to Beizhili. Some of them are young and strong laborers who come to work together, and their families are still in their hometowns. After some became familiar with the environment of Beizhili, they took the whole family to live in Beizhili. Of course, there are also those who can't go on, so they directly dragged their families to Beizhili.

Compared with merchants, ordinary people had to immigrate to Beizhili. The process is still very simple.

When passing through the customs, these people from other provinces will be arranged to go for quarantine, and those who do not have infectious diseases can go to apply for household registration, and if they are workers, they do not need to pay taxes and do not need to go out of conscription. If you can't afford to eat when you first arrive in Beizhili, you can also apply to the Civil Affairs Bureau for assistance, and eating and keeping warm are not a problem. Then you can find a job to work, and when you earn money, you will naturally solve the problem of food and clothing.

Such a resettlement policy has greatly helped the people who have just moved to Beizhili to integrate into the environment.

For those in the provinces, they had to leave their hometowns. For the poor people who go to Beizhili to make a living, Beizhili is not a paradise. But life is still relatively good.

Ordinary workers do not have to pay taxes and are not subject to forced labor. And there are construction sites everywhere where you can go to work and earn wages, and when you get these wages, it is definitely not a problem to eat, and you can also eat a meal of meat from time to time. It's just that the price of meat in Beizhili has been rising recently, and it is really impossible to keep up with the economic development in terms of eggs and meat. However, there are still a lot of breeding companies in Beizhili, and there are farms under construction everywhere. Huangzhuang's pig farms, as well as farmers' chickens, are also relatively large, and meat prices can return to normal levels in half a year at most.

The most reassuring thing for the poor in other provinces is that the safeguard measures of Beizhili are becoming more and more in place.

At the end of June, Zhu Youxiao rode on a carriage and left the Beijing Division under the protection of Jinyiwei and Jingying, and went to Tianjin to inspect the Denglai Water Division.

Gao Bangzuo, the governor of Tianjin, led a group of officials to greet him ten miles outside Tianjin.

"Minister Gao Bangzuo, knock to see Your Majesty." Gao Bangzuo is over 40 years old this year, and he is considered to be a young and strong official, and Gao Bangzuo is naturally very happy when the emperor comes to Tianjin this time. At this time, Tianjin has also undergone a lot of changes, especially in Tianjin Industrial Zone, where many factories have appeared.

"Zhong Aiqing is flat." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Gao Bangzuo and a group of officials stood up, and then welcomed Zhu Youxiao into Tianjin. Along the way, Zhu Youxiao saw that the people in Tianjin were similar to the people in the capital, and the complexion on their faces looked much better. Unlike when he first crossed over, you can see a lot of yellow-faced and thin-skinned figures all over the street.

This shows that people's livelihood has improved a lot, which makes Zhu Youxiao feel very good.

Then Zhu Youxiao lived in Tianjin City under Gao Bangzuo's arrangement. The next day, Zhu Youxiao put on civilian clothes and took a group of bodyguards to visit the industrial zone.

Came to Tianjin Industrial Zone. The roads leading to the industrial area are all wide gravel roads, and heavy horse-drawn carriages produced by the Royal Military Factory go in and out of the industrial area, going to and from Dagu Wharf and other places.

Entering the industrial zone, you can see a lot of textile factories and kilns, Tianjin Industrial Zone is mainly concentrated on textile and porcelain production, the reason why a large number of factories can emerge so quickly, mainly because of the prosperity of the market in Beizhili, under the protection of tariffs, this market with a population of nearly 17 million, all will be divided by the enterprises of Beizhili.

The industrial zone is very lively, with raw materials constantly coming in and goods coming out.

In addition to the market in Beizhili, some of these goods have to be exported, which has led to a large number of jobs.

Zhu Youxiao walked around, didn't go into the factory to disturb their production, and then went back. He is still relatively clear about the development of the industrial zone, after all, many of the factories in it are joint ventures between royal capital and private businessmen. He just came to see what this era was all about.

The next day, Zhu Youxiao officially went to the Dagukou Wharf, accompanied by a group of Tianjin officials, to inspect the Denglai Naval Division. Not long ago, the Denglai Naval Division annihilated the Jiannu Naval Division at a small cost, which shows that this is an elite division. After inspecting the scene, Zhu Youxiao saw all Chinese-style warships.

The equipment of this naval division is similar to that of the Beijing camp, and it is all made by the Royal Military Factory. This is indeed a Marine Corps, which can engage the enemy at sea and on land.

Despite the fact that there were no sail warships like those of the Westerners, the development of such traditional sailors was very necessary.

After rewarding Sun Yiguo and other officers and soldiers, Zhu Youxiao said to Sun Yiguo: "Sun Aiqing, I have decided to expand the scale of the water division, 5,000 water divisions are still too few, expand to 20,000 people!" You go back to Denglai, and Governor Yuan takes a plan and hands it to the cabinet. ”

"Obey." Sun Yiguo happily knelt on the ground.

After Zhu Youxiao inspected the naval division, he also had a score on the construction of the navy in his heart. As long as a batch of gunboats are remanufactured and developed, plus these 'marines', the Ming Dynasty will be able to have a navy with diversified combat methods and the most complete arms.

At the beginning of July, Zhu Youxiao returned to the Beijing Division, immediately began to plan the construction of gunboats, and sent a letter to Yuan Keli to discuss, first, to discuss the expansion of the naval division, and second, to discuss the manufacture of gunboats.

Yuan Keli said that the current naval division can already cope with the situation at sea, but after the expansion, it can become a landing force that can support Jinzhou and Dongjiang at any time, as well as the three towns of Liaodong, so Yuan Keli still supports it, and the only problem is military spending. Zhu Youxiao simply allocated 1 million yuan to the sailors, in addition to expanding the number of sailor soldiers, let Yuan Keli build some warships with a larger tonnage, preferably more than 3,000 materials, and urged Yuan Keli to form a sailor army that could sail to Fujian as soon as possible.

Yuan Keli thought that the sailor would support the Liaodong battlefield, but Zhu Youxiao thought that the sailor could be used to expand maritime rights and interests.

The reason why he was in such a hurry was mainly because Zhu Youxiao had received a letter not long ago, saying that the Dutch had invaded Penghu in May and had occupied Penghu.

If we wait any longer, Taiwan will be occupied by the Dutch, and once the Dutch are allowed to build a fortress in Taiwan, it will be much more troublesome to deal with.

"It is necessary to take advantage of the fact that the Dutch are not firmly on the ground, and first bring Taiwan into the administrative scope of the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Youxiao thought about it, and soon sent a holy decree to Yuan Keli, asking Yuan Keli to send some sailors to Taiwan for investigation.

Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao still remembered the process of the Dutch's invasion of Taiwan, so he marked the area of Tainan City on the map in the later generations, and asked the sailor to investigate where the area was suitable for building a fortress. (To be continued......)

PS: First update