June 13, Rizhao County, Qingzhou Prefecture.

Early in the morning, at the door of the Ruya Building, the largest and most luxurious inn in the city, the guy opened the door with a smile, and then sent Chu Yunfei out respectfully with the shopkeeper.

Although Chu Yunfei is still the head of the shogunate's Ministry of Commerce and runs the salt drying plant, his net worth has long been different.

With the promotion of the new policy, commerce flourished and workshops flourished in various parts of Shandong, coupled with the accumulation of salt drying fields in the past few years, Chu Yunfei at this time already had four salt fields in his hands, which were located in Dapanbao, Dashansuo and Haiyang in Dasongwei, and Jiacang Town in Rizhao County.

Among them, the salt pans six miles south of Jiacang Town were newly reclaimed by Chu Yunfei, who had just completed the construction of various facilities such as salt ponds, built various houses, temporary warehouses, and walls of salt farms, and also bought a large number of houses in Jiacang Town, as the residence of the families of Yantian craftsmen, as well as a hoarding place for sea salt.

Now that the authority of the imperial court is gradually decreasing, all localities are no longer picketing illegal salt, and they have no ability to investigate anymore, so the sea salt produced by Chu Yunfei's hands has almost been sold on the surface, and no one cares about it at all.

"Hehe, Chu officials go slowly, thank you for coming to the shop, the shop is really full of brilliance!"

Chu Yunfei was dressed in a gorgeous silk green shirt, even if the weather was hot, the thin green shirt was not very hot on his body, not to mention that Chu Yunfei had two servants by his side who fanned the wind with fans at any time, and Chu Yunfei didn't even have a drop of sweat on his face at will.

"Well, your inn is fairly clean, so send it here."

"Yes, thank you for the compliment!"

Chu Yun is not on top

The carriage, a new four-wheeled carriage produced by the vehicle workshop, is not only decorated with a variety of exquisite ornaments, but also the axles and wheels are also of the latest design, so that the horses can be pulled up very smoothly and more comfortably in the carriage.

Chu Yunfei sat in the carriage, with a hollowed-out iron ball on the left and right, each placed in an iron plate.

Inside the iron ball, there are ice cubes, which make the carriage cool and silky, which is the "air conditioning" of this era.

"Go to Sandwich Town."

"Yes."

The coachman whipped his whip and drove the carriage, accompanied by several attendants, out of the county seat and towards the town of Jiacang to the south.

Jiacang Town is more than ten miles south of Rizhao County, originally a small town that eats the sea by the sea, the population of the people is not much, only more than 100 households, operating some seafood, all kinds of specialties, attracting merchants to pass through here, over time it has formed a prosperous place, and the population has increased to more than 300 households.

Now, with the implementation of the new policy in Rizhao County, Jiacang Town has become more lively, soap, all kinds of lamps, pot wine and other goods can be seen in the town, as well as all kinds of leather goods, etc., as if it has become a commercial distribution center in the south of Qingzhou Mansion.

Moreover, there are also three cement shops in Jiacang Town, which sell cement to the outside world, so that there are many craftsmen in the town, and employers can be seen every day to hire people to build houses, which is also a major feature of Jiacang Town.

Chu Yunfei was built in the salt pan south of Jiacang Town, and the reason why it took a short time was that the cement craftsmen in Jiacang Town were used, and the houses and courtyard walls were all built with cement, which was solid and fast.

At this time, the carriage entered Jiacang Town, and Chu Yunfei looked through the window

Outside, I saw people coming and going on the streets, and it was estimated that the number of merchants and freight teams coming and going from the south to the north was more than the number of people in the town.

"This sandwich town is really lively."

"The officials haven't been here for a while, but now that the new policy is effective, businessmen and wealthy families from all over the country are doing business, opening shops, starting workshops, and even opening mines, and all kinds of commercial goods are becoming more and more abundant, and even the small people have made a lot of money."

The coachman smiled and said: "My eldest son is begging for work in the Langya Mountain Mine, which is a lime mine, although it is hard, but the remuneration is rich, better than farming, it will not take a few years to save enough money to go to the dowry to marry." ”

Chu Yunfei said with a smile: "Yes, we have governors in Shandong, which is the blessing of the people of Shandong." You look at Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and all parts of Liaodong, what kind of life the people live there, compared with them, we are now a fairy-like day. ”

"The official is right."

The more the coachman spoke, the more excited he became: "If you want me to say, you should let the governor go to Beijing to be the prime minister, those adults in the court have no ability, they can't win the war, they have no ability to govern the government, and they make the world like this, which is far worse than our governors!" ”

Chu Yunfei laughed and said, "I hope so." ”

As he spoke, the carriage stopped at the entrance of a courtyard, which was the treasury of Yantian.

Chu Yunfei got out of the carriage, and the guys who were guarding here recognized Chu Yunfei and came over to salute.

"What's going on inside?"

"Officials can rest assured, everything has been packed up and can be deposited in sea salt at any time."

"Are the guards in place?"

"All of them are here, thirty-seven in all, already inside

The noodles were arranged to stay. Officials can rest assured, as long as the salt in the salt pans starts to dry salt, we will not be on the right track here. ”

"Well, that's good!"

"One more thing......"

Chu Yunfei asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Official, I heard from someone just now that a team of elite iron horsemen wearing armor passed outside Jiacang Town and headed towards Yantian."

"Huh?"

Chu Yunfei knew that all battalions of the new army were shrinking towards the city of Jinan, and all parts were guarded by the garrison army that had been reorganized, and the Qingzhou Mansion side was the first battalion of the garrison, and the commander was Jia Hongyu.

But Chu Yunfei felt strange, didn't he hear that there were elite iron cavalry in the garrison?

"I heard that the garrison is not collected and guarded at night, and it is not equipped with armor until now, it is definitely not a subordinate commanded by Jia, so it will be ......"

Chu Yunfei immediately clapped his hands and shouted: "Let's go, go to Yantian, it's the governor who is here!" ”

Chu Yunfei took three steps and two steps into the carriage, and then galloped out of Jiacang Town, and it didn't take long to arrive at Yantian.

"Governor!"

As soon as Chu Yunfei got out of the carriage, he saw Miao Shao at a glance, as well as Liu Yan, who was checking next to a salt pool.

"Subordinates meet the governor!"

Liu Yan said with a smile: "It turned out to be a Chu official." ”

Chu Yunfei clenched his fists with a bitter face and said: "Don't laugh at your subordinates, it's all for business, and your subordinates have to pretend, and their subordinates don't have any shelves on weekdays, and they don't wear these silk clothes." ”

"Haha."

Liu Yan said with a smile: "It's okay, if you have money, eat, drink and wear something, it's not a problem." Just remember one thing, don't take money that shouldn't be taken! ”

"Yes, the governor taught you."

Liu Yan beckoned Chu Yunfei to accompany him

Go, Miao Shao also followed, the three of them walked and watched everywhere in Yantian, and Chu Yun was not attentive to Liu Yan to introduce the situation everywhere.

After looking at it for a while, Liu Yan was very satisfied, but the smile on his face slowly put away, and said: "This time, the governor came all the way from Qingzhou Fucheng, and the new policy has basically been implemented in various places, but there are some problems. ”

"Now our businesses and workshops are blooming everywhere in Shandong, and there are businessmen everywhere, people who make a living in shops, workshops, and mines, and everyone has more money in their hands, and their hearts are also impetuous."

"Especially the people in your Ministry of Commerce, you handle thousands of silver coins every day, even hundreds of thousands, and if you are not careful, something will happen, but don't be blinded by greed."

The more Liu Yan spoke, the more calm his tone became: "Why did the imperial court govern the world into chaos? For this reason, corruption is a big reason, and the Governor doesn't want the same to be true of the officials under his command. If you really let this inspector find out who is corrupt and perverts the law, no matter who it is, it is one word: kill! ”

Chu Yunfei was sweating profusely at this time, and hurriedly clenched his fists and said: "Don't worry, although the subordinates have a small amount of savings, they are all accumulated dividends from the salt drying field. In order to buy more sea salt, those businessmen will give gifts to their subordinates during the New Year's Festival, but except for some food, those money and real estate are returned by their subordinates, and they dare not ask for it at all. ”

Liu Yan said with a smile: "Hehe, this governor knows that Master Chu is not a greedy person, but self-cleanliness is only the most basic, and more importantly, he must control the people below him, and he can't let his subordinates come nonsense." ”

Speaking of this, Miao Shao took it over and said, "Master Chu."

In fact, the governor arrived two days ago, and has been visiting Jiacang Town for the past two days. The two guys you left in the Yantian Treasury are not very clean, and they have taken kickbacks on the silver coins you built in the treasury and the wages for recruiting the guards, so you have to take care of this. ”

"If Director Chu feels that it is difficult to manage, I can also help Director Chu take care of it."

At this time, Chu Yunfei scolded her mother in her heart, those two bastards actually did such a thing, and let the governor block it, and now she will be deflated.

"General Miao Shen can rest assured, I will handle this matter well, and I will definitely give an explanation to the governor."

"It's not to give an explanation to Bentu, but to yourself, to all the craftsmen and men in Yantian!"

"Yes, my subordinates obey!"

Liu Yan saw that Chu Yunfei looked like he was facing a great enemy, so he patted Chu Yunfei on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Okay, these problems are not your responsibility, just pay more attention in the future." In the past few years, your achievements are still very great, and the monthly net profit of the salt drying farm should be more than 500,000 taels, right? ”

Chu Yunfei said: "Yes, it's almost more than 550,000 taels, and now the official salt in the six prefectures of Shandong has basically been washed away by us, and almost all the salt eaten in Shandong is produced by our Haiyan Trading Company." Moreover, there is also a lot of sea salt sold to Beizhili and Nanzhili every month, and the income is very stable. ”

"yes!"

Liu Yan sighed: "Now the military expenditure of the shogunate military department is very large, and the military expenditure alone will cost more than 620,000 taels per month, plus the cost of horses, the food and clothing of the soldiers, the cost of military operations in various places, and the cost of building cities and fortifications, the monthly military expenditure is now at least one million silver."

Currency! ”

"Your Haiyan Trading Company can supply half of the silver coins, which shows that you have made a great contribution!"

Chu Yunfei was moved to tears directly, clenched his fists and said: "With the words of the governor, even if the subordinates are tired to death, it is worth it." ”

Liu Yan said: "Okay, the governor has seen this, and he has to rush to the Lingshan Acropolis, there are still important things to do there, and the time is very tight." ”

"Your Excellency still wants to inspect the Lingshan Acropolis?"

Liu Yan said: "Yes, before the governor from the imperial court, many shipbuilders from Tianjin Wei have been kept in the Lingshan Acropolis, and now Shandong commerce and trade and workshops are flourishing, and the income of the Ministry of Commerce has almost doubled, and the income of the Chamber of Commerce has also increased significantly. ”

"Hehe, now that the Shogunate has money, even if the expenses of the shogunate have increased a lot, but the balance is more, it's time to set your sights on the sea!"

Nowadays, most of the workshops of the shogunate and the Ministry of Commerce have established trading companies, and the income of each trading company has increased greatly, and the Haiyan trading company alone has earned more than 550,000 silver coins.

If the revenues of all the trading companies in the Ministry of Commerce are added up, the Shogunate's income from the Ministry of Commerce alone now amounted to more than 1.6 million silver coins per month, which was basically enough to pay for military expenses and the expenses of all officials.

The income of the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture is basically "net profit", which gives Liu Yan a lot of confidence.

Chu Yunfei said: "The governor wants to take the sea trade route? ”

Liu Yan said with a smile: "On the sea, there are not only trade routes! You'll know in the future. ”