More than a hundred ships arrived in Wuhu.

Almost one-tenth of the top businessmen and big families in Jiangdong and eastern Zhejiang are concentrated on the ship.

Hundreds of heads of households, as well as slaves and maids, and all the big families in the area, are shining brightly.

It's the money that lights up, and it has little to do with status.

A Yangzhou businessman stood on the bow of the boat and rubbed his eyes desperately and asked, "This is Wuhu?" ”

seems to have a lot of status, and many people ask him: "Zhang Dalang, what's wrong?" ”

"Is it Wuhu?"

"yes."

"How is it possible, I came here once before the big year." Zhao Tongju and other officials of Taiping Prefecture laughed together, this is a miracle, mainly created by Zhizhou, but they also participated in it and played an important role.

However, listening to Zhang Dalang's question, everyone still has some emotion, the year before last here was unsightly, the winter began to build, last year there were many houses, but it is almost a dead city, just in the blink of an eye, as if the spring breeze is blowing, the vitality is coming, look at today's Qingyi water, boats come and go, there are constantly homeless people come to find a way to live, but there is still a shortage of manpower everywhere.

Everything was so stressful, so busy, and so hopeful.

Zheng Lang just smiled.

Sugarcane is a technical problem, once the technology spreads, Wuhu does not have an advantage, and even the planting technology keeps up, Sichuan Suining does not occupy an advantage, it will gradually transfer to the east of Zhejiang to Lingnan, this is the general trend, let it appear in advance, will make Wuhu appear false prosperity, and it is not a long-term solution.

In the history of cotton, Songjiang is the world's richest, planting and looms are transmitted, many areas will benefit, the most benefited is the coastal and along the canal, if the sea is developed, sooner or later it will also be transferred to Xiuzhou and Suzhou.

These two things are just catalysts for the development of Wuhu, not its, sooner or later it will not be it, but before it is damaged, Wuhu has developed, and it is what it needs most. So the warehouse only occupies more than 100 acres, otherwise more area will be needed.

The best textile is in Suzhou, and Wuhu will also have a little, which does not matter, sooner or later it must be moved to Suzhou, or a catalyst.

Polders and good ports, rice markets, without themselves, it will also appear in the Song Dynasty.

Of course, after reversing yourself, the quality of the surname will be different.

With this huge team came to the workshop.

This is white sugar in the strict sense of the word. In later generations, the industrial sugar extraction was more advanced, the juice was squeezed and precipitated to remove the fixed impurities, and a small amount of lime water was added to neutralize the acid in it, and the impurities were removed at the same time. The lime is removed with carbon dioxide, and then evaporated in a vacuum still, and after concentration, reddish-brown crystals are precipitated, which is brown sugar. It is adsorbed and decolorized with live charcoal, and then evaporated, it becomes white sugar. Rock sugar is a large crystalline body slowly formed by evaporating and concentrating sugar solution, which is the purest sucrose.

This method was impossible to achieve in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the yellow mud water decolorization method was used, and the test was unsuccessful. Finally, a small amount of lime water was added to make it successful. Without removing the acid in the sugar, it cannot be decolorized, which is not recorded in "Heavenly Creation".

The mud is also picky, it may come from the mud of Dangtu contains a lot of iron, this Zheng Lang does not want to move, although he knows that once he finds iron ore in Dangtu, it will bring a greater economic leap, it is not worth it! Can't do that!

Therefore, the decolorization effect is not good, and finally the yellow mud of Fanchang is chosen, which seems to have the best effect. If you don't believe in evil, you can't do it, and the chemical composition contained in each clay is different, and the effect will inevitably be different.

The other procedures are similar to those recorded in the Heavenly Creations.

I also roughly estimated the yield. The quality of sugarcane varieties is still very poor, and together with the large amount of waste generated, the sugar output is only about 5 to 6 percent. But other impurities can also make some by-products, which are not completely wasted.

The yield of one acre of land is already being harvested, and it is only about four thousand catties. It is far from the ten thousand catties of land in later generations.

That is, one acre of land can produce two hundred catties of high-quality sugar. The disparity with the Hereafter is eightfold.

The next thing to do is to see how the merchant works, if it is sold at the original price of black sugar, it will be miserable. It's about the same as planting rice and harvesting. If it is sold for frosting, it will be 500 to 1,000 times the harvest of rice.

Neither is possible.

Walking in, the previous process is the same, rolling into sugar juice, boiling into black-yellow syrup with fire, and condensing into black sugar. This kind of sugar can't be described as black sugar, it should be black paste sugar, and it will condense together when it is wet and stuffy.

But before the advent of better sugar products, it was still good.

Although the frosting is good, it is too expensive to bear.

Before they came, in order to save time, it was already started to form a large pile of black sugar, the only difference was to add a very small amount of lime water. Since then, the magic has begun, let everyone take a look at it in turn, and then let everyone go out, the technology should be kept secret.

It didn't take long to keep it a secret, but I did some tricks and feet, such as the yellow mud that was transported, which must be diluted with water, sink all the impurities, and dry it in muddy water again, and take these fine melted mud to make yellow mud water, otherwise it may make sugar teeth.

There is also lime water. You can first take some yellow mud to make some small hands and feet, and then mix it together and dilute it, and the craftsman who looks at it will think that it is a medicinal material, this procedure has been kept in the hands of every Zhizhou, and there is no need to bother, but with this layer of mystery, the technology will not be lost.

The other is very simple, install a tile slip on the vat, also called a tile slip, plug the leak with straw, and pour black sugar on the tile slip. At this time, the brown sugar is still hot, and the paste sugar is quickly settled. Only then did the straw be removed, and the black sugar in the tiles was poured with yellow muddy water.

This decolorization method is similar to the principle of decolorization of living charcoal, and this drenching also plucks the impurities that react with lime water and sugar acid together with the black slag and flows into the cylinder below. A layer of hoarfrost is left in the funnel, which becomes whiter and sweeter the color and truly crystalline granules. The middle layer is yellow sugar, and the lower layer is brown sugar, which is also the most inferior sugar, and the sweetness and color beauty can only be about the same as the original black sugar.

But brown sugar can also be sold as sugar, and the price is not high.

The contents of the vat will not be wasted, and after precipitation, the black residue on the upper layer can be used to make wine, and when mixed with sixty percent of rice wine, it is a good molasses wine.

The stuff down there is a bit of a mess, there is muddy water, there are the products of lime and sugar acid neutralization, and there are some heavy sugar crystals, but it is the best fertilizer. The squeezed bagasse can also be composted.

Standing outside, Zheng Lang asked the official to hand out a package of things, which was black sugar, and said: "Before the crisp winter, the sugar has not condensed, and it is not sweet, you can taste it, and immediately make some comparisons with another sugar." ”

Everyone tastes the sugar.

Lu Erlang said: "It's still the sweetness of spring, which still makes me remember it vividly." ”

Zheng Lang smiled slightly: "At that time, the sugarcane was frozen, the sugar was condensed, and the new sugar was made immediately, and it was not as sweet as it was then, so I said that the construction would start at the end of the year at the earliest, but the best season was in the first month." After February, the weather warmed up, and the sugarcane was not easy to preserve, and it was not good again. ”

Eating sugar, everyone was discussing together, and Zhang Dalang from Yangzhou just now asked eagerly: "How long do you have to wait?" ”

It was invited by his friend, and he said that if he didn't come again, he would miss the opportunity to make a fortune, so don't blame him.

"Soon," Zheng Lang said, walked in and looked at it for a while, "You can come in." ”

Walking in again together, the crystals have been produced, and they are still in the bucket, Zheng Lang took out the top layer of white sugar from the bucket, held it with lotus leaves, took it out, and put it in the sun for everyone to see.

No need to eat, just by the color has fascinated everyone, small grains, like white snow, and more than white snow, like salt, and more pure than salt, like white jade, more than white jade.

"Guys, try it again."

Everyone carefully pinched a cluster and put it in their mouths, and said one by one: "It's so sweet, it's so sweet!" ”

"After another two months, the cane will be frozen and sweeter."

"Good stuff." They all stared at it, their eyes flashing with greed, and they all lost their temper. Frosting is a good thing, but the effect is too slow. That's that speed! Speed is efficiency, and with efficiency, the output can be greatly improved, which also means that the rolling copper money comes in a steady stream.

One by one, they were breathing, motionless, but many thoughts were flashing in their minds.

Two words come to mind: rationing!

This is the ideological concept created by the strange monopoly system of the Song Dynasty.

For example, tea, first the state monopoly, divided into Jingnan Mansion, Hanyang Army, Wuwei Army, Qikou, Zhenzhou, Haizhou six goods monopoly, to the gardener capital, when it is ripe to sell to the imperial court, and then from the six goods to the whole country. Hangzhou's loose tea, the imperial court gave an average of 13 Wen per catty, but the price was 30 Wen, Fujian Jianzhou tea was the best in the Song Dynasty, and it was also expensive, with a head gold of 135 Wen, but the price was 500 Wen. There are some freight and losses in the middle, but the difference is also amazing.

But what is not normal in the hands of the government, the officials below are desperately forcing the gardeners to pick tea for the sake of political achievements, and even the autumn old yellow leaves are also picked. couldn't sell it, so it was forced to be used and stuffed to merchants. Can these merchants be offended? Not only merchants, but also a few of the major wealthy families are businessmen. If it can be offended, Wang Anshi's market law in history will not cause controversy. I had to change it. If you lose money to the capital, the Jingshi will give you a coupon and use the coupon to buy tea in the tea garden. Later, the army was used in the northwest, and it was inconvenient to transfer corn, so he asked the merchant to transport the corn by himself, and the northwest counted the corn to be introduced.

The method seems to be very good, but after a long time, it has changed its taste, and the northwest military also has to be greedy and ink, and the defense is carried out in a vain manner, which originally required one stone of rice, but it was raised into ten stones, and the amount of tea is very different. If you change it again, Lin T and others changed the seven articles of the transaction citation method, and the more you change, the more cumbersome it becomes, as long as it is cumbersome, nothing good happens. Therefore, Zheng Lang said that he was simple and not arrogant.

But at that time, he got benefits, and the income before the change was 730,000 yuan, and after the change, it was 7 million yuan. According to the oil pot theory, part of the vegetable oil is lost by heat after being put into the pot, and part of the loss is lost on the pots and pans, and even the rag has to be stained with a part of the oily gas, and a part of the leftover vegetables is wasted, and only half of the real vegetable oil enters people's stomachs. The same is true for the income of the imperial court, which can get 7 million guan, and the layers below are greedy for ink, and the actual income is at least more than 10 million guan. What a miracle!

This method of cross-quotation not only did not control the flood of cross-quotation, but made it more and more profitable, and in the end it was only 230,000 yuan, and the tea became more expensive. What about the pros? However, the profits were gradually controlled by a few big tea merchants, such as Chen's father, Chen Tea Merchant.

It is not in line with the interests of the country, and then it is changed, in the first year of Tiansheng, it was replaced by six articles of the Trade Law, and the main idea is that the imperial court does not give the principal to the gardeners, and allows the merchants to trade with the gardeners themselves, and the imperial court collects commercial taxes. However, as soon as the new law was promulgated, all the government and the opposition opposed it, because in this way, all businessmen had an equal opportunity to run the tea business, and the monopoly position of the former powerful was gone. In particular, Zhao Zhen's teacher Sun Zheng took the lead in opposing it, and in the third year of Tiansheng, under the leadership of Sun Zheng, he implemented the three sayings, and as a result, all the drawbacks reappeared one by one, only in the first five years of Jing You's second year, the military expenses of the sixteen states of Hebei reached 5.68 million yuan. Zhao Zhen had to ask Li Zhi to replace the three sayings with the sticking method again this year, but Li Zhi had enough of suffering in the early years of Tiansheng, and he did not change his previous book, fearing that it would be inconvenient for wealthy businessmen to rely on the powerful to move the imperial court, and His Majesty must issue an edict.

You can let me become, but the ugly words are said in the front, what are the bad consequences, Your Majesty, you have to take care of it for me. This change persisted for several years, and finally in Haoqiang's molars, the three sayings were restored.

Not only tea, but also salt, wine, alum, incense and other franchises, there are such and such drawbacks.

Zheng Lang once deliberately took out an example and analyzed it with several students. And I have to think about it, he really wants to go to Hangzhou, once he goes, there is tea, salt, wine, alum, and incense!

Looking at the snow-white sugar grains on the green lotus leaves, there was a greedy look in their eyes, and they thought of ideas in their minds.

It is said that it is a monopoly of the imperial court, but sixty percent of it is a private share. It's no longer a secret.

It is said that it is private, but there are forty percent of the shares of the imperial court behind it.

First of all, this system is not right, what is it?

I am afraid it is not easy to use the power of the imperial court to oppress private individuals, after all, the imperial court still has forty percent of the benefits, and Zheng Lang even dares to confront several prime ministers in the imperial court. Or bribery, and private shares, it is a matter of self-interest, who will acquiesce in some small bribes and let their own interests go to the damage?

In any case, they have seen the money, and they can see the rationing of the money.

Just as he was thinking about it, suddenly the official brought several large baskets of chickens, knocked a small hole in the chickens, and poured the egg whites into the basin.

"What is this for?" Zhang Dalang asked.

"Another, more expensive sugar, you won't see it until tomorrow."

Can it not be expensive, at this time, the chicken is already expensive, only take its clear, not even yellow, don't think about it, how expensive it is.

The officials took out the egg white, brought it in, and took the egg yolk away, just to comfort the migrant workers.

By next year, there is no need for migrant workers, and they can be sold at a low price.

Zheng Lang clapped his hands, and the officials brought a bench again, beckoning everyone to sit down, and the officials brought tea again, but there were many people who came, and they could not be placed in the teahouse, so they had to sit in the open space of the workshop to continue the talks.

But everyone's eyes are still on it.

At this time, if you care about your interests, let them sit on the ground.

Zheng Lang had no choice but to say a few words to a small official, the little official weighed it, went to the warehouse next door to take out two brocade boxes, opened the brocade box, the first box was still white sugar, but in addition to white sugar, there were brown sugar and brown sugar, which were separated by three layers.

Zheng Lang said: "This is made in the first month of this year, let's try it again." ”

Before I tasted it, everyone was already amazed, and it was still the same after more than ten months. Replaced with the previous black sugar, it has long been stained together.

I tasted it, and sure enough, after the winter jelly, it was sweeter than the white sugar I had just made.

I opened another box again, squeezed over one by one, looked inside, and after reading it, there was a sound of cold air, and one by one did not speak. Pieces of light green sugar strips lie quietly in the brocade box, and there is a layer of snow-white sugar silk outside, just like jade pillars, crystal clear, extremely lovely.

The frosting is also cute, but it is an amber color, which does not agree with the aesthetic views of the Song Dynasty.

Wei Siniang asked in a low voice, "Is this for eating?" ”

"It's the sugar that will be made tomorrow, and of course it's meant to be eaten."

"Can I take a look?"

"Okay."

Wei Siniang picked up a piece and put it in the sun to look at, the beauty's crisp fingers were like snow, and the rock sugar was crystal like jade, complementing each other, making this piece of sugar even more beautiful and attractive. Wei Shi Niang's fingers moved, and hundreds of pairs of eyes followed suit.

Reluctantly put it down, and said, "It's so beautiful, I'm really reluctant to eat it." ”

Gao Ruone also picked up a piece and looked at it, but looking at his big black hands, and then at this piece of rock candy, many people frowned secretly.

Zheng Lang said: "At that time, there were some left, less, everyone used a knife to divide a point and taste it." ”

One person put a small piece and tasted it slowly in his mouth, and there was a melty taste of egg whites in it, which had a refreshing feeling compared to the sweetness of the cane sugar just now.

After eating, I looked at the more than 100 people in Xitou, all of whom were shareholders of the sugar factory. I am even more envious in my heart, I am afraid that this thing is the only one in the world, Hugh said that it is cost-effective to take the field and take the money. Only 1,100 hectares of worthless arable land will be exchanged for forty percent of the shares, is there still heavenly reason!

Actually, it's more than that, but who thinks.

Then looked at Shi Congguang with resentful eyes, it was he who partnered with his fifth brother-in-law to initiate this matter and bring in the first batch of shareholders, that is, the businessmen who sent money and goods. I thought to myself, we also know your family, why don't you call me? It's a headache for rationing now!

Zheng Lang said the first thing and said to the shareholders: "Technology has been kept in the hands of the government, and it will become a rule in Taiping Prefecture." I will establish a state law, and engrave the stele and put it outside the workshop. But how to operate requires everyone's collective efforts. There are many shares of the deed, and you have six shares in ten shares, and one representative is elected in one share, and this representative speaks in order to protect the interests of all of yours. However, when making decisions, it is said that there are eight shares, and although the government holds four shares, it can only be counted as two shares. ”

A businessman in Jiangning asked in disbelief: "Zheng Zhizhou means that if there is doubt about the decision, the three of them do not speak, and the three oppose the prison, will the discussion of the three prevail?" ”

"Exactly, it is for the benefit of the court and for your benefit, the government is four shares, but there is only one person, and the wisdom of one person is at most regarded as the two of you. So I came up with this proposal. ”

No, this is for fear that the imperial court will act as a prisoner in the future, and if you want to expand its profits, it is better to leave it to the businessmen to operate. But he was afraid that the businessmen would take away the interests of the imperial court, so they reserved two decision-making powers, coupled with the influence of the imperial court, which was at least equivalent to the right of four people to speak. It is possible to check each other.

But when it comes to money, there will be a lot of messy things. No matter what kind of system, there are loopholes to exploit. For example, the tea method, or his joint venture method.

I can only try to make it a little more open.

Then he said, "Consult with yourselves and elect six deputies." ”

As he spoke, Chong Gao Ruone and Wang Zhaoming glanced at each other, walked out, and said, "Gao Zhizhi, you said that sugarcane was misgrained, but you also have to listen to me about one thing." The price of this workshop is 2 million yuan, and the large merchants have paid 1.4 million yuan for the land, money, and materials, as you know. But I was put to good use, and the land and things were distributed to the people and the victims. It doesn't matter, after a few years of taxation, the imperial court will take it back one by one, and provide the livelihood of more than 10,000 poor people. At present, in his hands, including those who have been loaned out in advance, there are less than 700,000 yuan left. As for the rest, I consulted with them this spring, and it is also counted as the principal not being recovered. ”

"Well," seeing these two things, Gao Rune was also a little shocked.

"You know what I mean? That is, in the name of a court, and one of my technologies, which is worth more than 1.3 million yuan. Even if you grow a few hundred acres of food, what's the matter? ”

"This ......" Gao Ruone was speechless, if the account is calculated like this, Hugh said that it is a few hundred hectares, even if the two large polders of Jingminwei and Youminwei are planted with sugarcane.

"Maybe it's just an empty account, but as long as I put the technology out, don't I believe that the 40% of the deed shares in my hand will be sold at a higher price?"

“……”

Zheng Lang was confused repeatedly, and Gao Ruone was confused.

In fact, when he returned to the capital, all the bigwigs were confused together, and they were also poor in money, but they were not confused, and in the face of this kind of profit, no one went to admonish. The brain can't get into the water!

"Why don't you give it to Your Majesty?" Wang Zhaoming asked resentfully.

"This is a luxury, if it is sugar cane, grain and cloth, I will give it away, and if this thing is given to Your Majesty, I am also worried about Yanchen."

Yanchen was next to him, and Gao Rune was speechless.

"But if you force me, there will be a batch in the storehouse."

"I'm strong...... Urgent...... You. Wang Zhaoming muttered, why did he say it so awkwardly.

"Okay, you forced me, stay a while and take it yourself, don't forget to give some to some ministers, otherwise they will impeach you."

Is this also forced? Gao Ruo fell to the ground, and Wang Zhaoming fell to the ground.

But how?

Based on the relationship between Cai Xiang and Ouyang Xiu, look at what Cai Xiang praised Ouyang Xiu in the poem "Four Sages and One Unscrupulous", and later only bought a few cakes of Xiaolongtuan tea, so he was scolded by Ouyang Xiu: You don't see, the millet buds by the Wuyi River, Cai Xianglang added before Ding and Cai Xianglong, competing for new favors, and this year's fighting products are full of official tea.

said that Cai Xiang and Ding Wei are the same characters.

A few small tea cakes, as far as it goes?

That's it.

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times, full of all kinds of incredible things.

Including Zheng Lang's "forcing" this time.

Gao Ruone didn't care about this, and asked, "How much will it profit for the imperial court?" ”

"We'll know at once, let's go in."

Re-in.

The six representatives were elected, four people from other places, two of Ben's, and one as a supervisor, a total of seven representatives, but the other six representatives were not the head of the family, but a steward was selected to supervise.

Zheng Lang said again: "Let's talk about two more things, one is rationing, and the other is price. ”

With just one sentence, everyone cheered up. Two things they care about the most!