On the fifth day of the third month of the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, the first bidding meeting of the Ming Dynasty began, and the venue was in the main hall of the Yamen of the Land Division.

The so-called land division yamen is not even a prototype at present, and a main hall has just been built, and the rest of the halls are still under construction, so even the courtyard wall has not been built.

Even the main hall is only a half-finished product, and the area of the hall is large enough to accommodate more than 100 people.

But it has not been carved in detail, like what kind of color painting, carved wood hollow is not, but a yamen hall has been preliminarily built.

It is really bad that such a pioneering meeting was held in such a place, but it is impossible to borrow a place from other yamen, and the yamen of the land division is independent of the six cabinet departments, so what is the matter of borrowing the places of the rest of the yamen?

In this world, only names and instruments cannot be faked.

Jingshi Shuntianfu and even Beizhili, almost all the businessmen with heads and faces came, and dozens of people sat in this hall.

Although the official office is not even a semi-finished product, looking out through the gate, you can see the workers transporting bricks and timber from time to time, and even the noise of construction around the main hall is endless.

But these dozens of businessmen still sat upright, their bodies tight.

Xia Yuan, the new governor, sat in the center of the seat, facing the dozens of people present, and behind the side of his seat, there was a map of the capital division.

Roads are outlined with red lines and segmented, lengths, widths, and numbers.

"You may also know what you are here to discuss this time, the imperial court is now going to build roads in the world, and want to start a contract system, and hand over this road to you merchants. Shang Jia was originally a lowly member, but now you can also participate in this national event, and there is no need to say anything about the kindness of the imperial court. ”

Xia Yuan looked at the bookcase in front of him, "The planning books you handed over, the official also took a rough look at them, heh, they are all very shrewd, worthy of the name of businessmen." ”

One by one, the planning letters all chose the location on the main roads of Jingshi.

The little abacus is really crackling.

These sections are used as the traffic arteries of the Beijing Division, and the Ministry of Industry has sent people to roll and repair them all the year round, and the road is basically compacted in these sections, and the investment can be relatively less, and the effect of this road can also be kept solid.

"What's more, there are only so many roads in the entire Jingshi, full of calculations, but there are only about twenty of them, there are so many of you, it is really not enough to score, so they will come the same."

Xia Yuan stretched out his hand to pick up the long pole on the bookcase, and pointed to the cross line on the central axis of the Beijing Division on the map, "These two roads, this official has sent someone to measure, they are eighty-five and a half miles long and about six zhang wide, and about thirteen miles of them are paved with bluestone slabs, and many of you want to contract these two roads."

For a period of three months, the court is willing to pay 11,500 taels, and now you will do the math for yourselves, and see who is willing to undertake this matter. ”

In front of each merchant there is a small desk, and the pen, ink, paper, inkstone, and abacus that the merchants bring are all placed on it.

Hearing this, everyone began to put up their calculations, although it was the beginning of the new policy, they also knew it in their hearts.

In addition to knowing the various prices, many people even bought this lapis lazuli and took it back to lay it in and out of their own yards.

After a long time, someone stood up and said, "Your Excellency, is this bluestone slab also going to be laid?" ”

"No, you just need to lay the seventy-two miles or so."

"If it's only seventy-two miles, the villain is willing to take this errand for the imperial court."

With that, the merchant stepped aside his chair and knelt down on the ground.

The road, which was seventy-two miles long and nearly twenty meters wide, was completed in three months and was 11,500 taels.

This price was calculated by Xia Yuan before, and there was definitely a lot of money, and the rest of the merchants present naturally thought of this.

Some people even think that as long as they call in more men and hire fewer workers, they can press down the wage even more than 10,000 taels, or even 9,000 taels.

That's a profit of two thousand, or even three thousand taels of silver.

In this era, the rich man is already the rich man.

And Wanguan's wealth is ten thousand taels of silver.

Three thousand taels of silver is a lot.

More importantly, this road construction is in the name of the imperial court, and with the wages given by the imperial court, there is no need to deal with officials at all levels as usual when doing business.

In fact, this is the reason why these businessmen are actively involved in this matter.

Business is a cheap business, and businessmen are untouchables, especially businessmen, and that is the target of the attack.

Merchants do not represent merchants.

Shangjia is a general term, and the merchant sits on Jia, and the person who sits on Jia is a person who runs an inn, a restaurant, and a variety of shops.

The court's attitude towards these people was better, knowing that without them, the people would have no place to buy anything if they wanted to.

What the court hated the most was the merchants, and those who could sell business to a certain scale in this era were also merchants.

Earn the difference by transporting goods from the south to the north and goods from the north to the south.

The most important thing is that these people will smuggle.

For example, the so-called Eight Imperial Merchants of the Whip Dynasty are the representatives of smuggling traitors.

Although they make a lot of money as a businessman, after each businessman, they not only have to present a part of the money they have earned to the officials above, but also have to deal with officials at all levels along the way.

In these days, this is a matter of course.

And this matter of road construction, as an envoy of the imperial court, does not have to do this natural thing.

That alone has already made these people's hearts move, not to mention that they can make so much money.

So someone else stepped aside from his chair, knelt down and said, "The villain is willing to take on this errand too." ”

"The villain is willing, too."

"The villain is willing too."

“.”

Seeing that many people knelt on the ground and asked for their lives, Xia Yuan said with a relieved face: "Seeing that you and others are willing to share worries for the country, this official is very relieved. ”

"But you are all rushing to build these two roads, which is really difficult for the officials, and I don't know who to give it to."

At this time, one of them said, "My lord, if you let the villain repair this road, it will only cost 11,000 taels." ”

"Oh?" Xia Yuan seemed to be very surprised, looked at the trust arranged by him, and immediately nodded: "Yes, 11,000 taels can save 500 taels of silver, since you say so, then the official has a plan, and there is no need to make any more difficulties, so I will leave these two roads to you to repair." ”

"The villain will not live up"

As soon as he was halfway through his words, someone knelt down and said, "My lord, the villain counts, if you hire fewer people, one thousand and five hundred taels is enough." ”

"The villain thinks that 10,000 taels is not impossible."

"The villain has a lot of idlers under his hands, and he thinks that nine thousand five hundred taels is enough."

“.”

At this time, this so-called bidding conference seems to be about to start, and a group of businessmen have begun to bid, which is also Xia Yuan's purpose, he looked, watched, and was happy in his heart.

Roll it up, roll it all up for me.

(End of chapter)