Chapter 133

If you are poor, you will be good alone, and if you are good, you will help the world.

In other words, the poor are interspersed with roundabouts, and the carpet bombs when they reach it.

Cheng Shijie is actually such a person, how much ability he has, how much energy he can have, and what he can't do, he can't even think about it.

Now after nearly a year of hard work, he finally has some family background and some energy, so he can get a piece of the pie from the salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

When it comes to the salt merchants of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it is like mentioning the coal bosses of later generations, which is terrible, they seem to be synonymous with the rich, and they can be used as an adjective that rivals the country.

Many merchants in the Ming Dynasty, such as the Jin merchants, relied on the rise of Jiannu, and they played the enemy and betrayed the country to the extreme, and they sold everything they could.

Cheng Shijie also knew that the Jin merchants were now transporting grain to Jiannu, and each stone of grain was sold for a high price of more than a dozen taels of silver, which was almost more than ten times more.

The silver and pawn business done by Hui merchants is, of course, also a profiteering industry, but also mottled blood and tears, in fact, the big businessmen of this era make almost no clean money.

However, from another dimension, the existence of pawnshops is actually doing good deeds, even if they make money, but without pawnshops, the valuable things in the hands of the people cannot be found by sellers, there is no way to exchange them for silver, and they cannot save their lives. In fact, those who go to the pawn shop are the last way.

The hatefulness of the salt merchants was even worse than that of the Jin and Hui merchants, as recorded in the "Miscellaneous Works of Zhuang Zhongfu", for example, the expenditure on food accounted for 70% of the living expenditure, and the proportion of salt in the expenditure on food was 34.6%.

To give a simple example, let's not talk about others, let's calculate according to the author's family of five, the average monthly living expenses are two or three thousand yuan, which includes water, electricity, mobile phone bills, gas and heating fees, but the proportion of salt is probably less than one percent.

This is the landlord family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it is also the richest area in the country, and it is already a group of people with the highest consumption level in the country. Salt is a relatively low elastic consumer product, and the salt consumed by landlords and farmers is about the same.

Everyone wants to buy it, and the profit can be imagined.

Cheng Shijie found that Yang Chen had been in a daze, his three questions were very difficult for Yang Chen, because the salt farm was Cheng Shijie's earliest industry, everything had entered the normal track, and he didn't pay much attention to it.

Originally, the salt production of the salt farm has always been self-produced for self-use, and Yang Chen did not even do the cost accounting of salt, of course, before the promulgation of the protection law, the cost of salt production was also very low.

Except for a few foremen and stewards who are paid, ordinary salt workers get one bucket of grain a day as a salary, these calculations are too difficult for Yang Chen.

Cheng Shijie also knows that Yang Chen is illiterate and does not know how to calculate, this kind of thing is excusable, and he can't be strong.

But the problem is that in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Chen was a good salt worker, and he was very proficient in the process of purification, analysis, and detoxification of salt production, but he was not a very suitable salt farm manager.

Cheng Shijie can replace Yang Chen, but the question is that if Yang Chen is replaced, who will be the others?

If there are capable people, do you have to wait until now?

In fact, many craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty are illiterate, on technology, people have excellent skills, can stand the test, but illiterate, but can understand the drawings, some craftsmen do not know the size marked on the drawings, but can be based on the drawings, to manufacture machinery that meets the requirements of the drawings, do you say magical?

Just like the artillery of the Ning Navy, nine of the ten artillerymen did not know how to parabola, but they had their own way to quickly adjust the firing angle of the artillery and successfully hit the target.

Since there is nothing wrong with this, Cheng Shijie changed his way and calculated it himself.

"With a one-month deadline, how many workers are there in our first salt farm?"

"Six hundred and four!"

"What about the Second Salt Plant?"

"Four hundred and thirty-five!"

"The Third Salt Plant!"

……

For these figures, Yang Chen is clear.

Cheng Shijie had no choice but to record it himself, and now the four salt factories are all combined, with a total of 1,744 workers.

"The second question, how much salt can the first salt plant produce every month?"

Until now, Yang Chen seemed to understand Cheng Shijie's real problem, and he said seriously: "Dashuai, in the past, we didn't pay salaries, and we spent less money, but now we have paid salaries, spend more money, eat better, and spend more." We also have salt workers from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in our salt farm, and those black-hearted salt merchants don't pay the salt workers, they only take care of the food, and sometimes they will send some salt, and the cost is less, and the cost is less than ours......"

"Alas!"

Cheng Shijie sighed, the cost is higher than that of the salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in addition to the good treatment of salt workers, followed by the temperature in southern Liaoning is lower than that in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in the case of the same sunshine, the evaporation of seawater is much slower, and the cost will naturally increase.

Even if you want to smash the salt merchant's pot, your strength will not allow it.

Of course, it does not mean that the salt in southern Liaoning has no advantages, because Cheng Shijie adopted a more complex purification and analysis process when drying salt, and the salt in southern Liaoning has no impurities and tastes only salty, unlike the crude salt made by salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which is not only bitter, but also has a lot of sediment.

In fact, although the high-quality route is taken, and the price reduction competition is not adopted, once Liao salt is squeezed into the market, the wealthy people who can afford refined salt will digest a certain market share.

In order to improve competitiveness, commercial salt will be forced to start on quality and improve the process.

In any industry, once monopolized, there is basically little attention to the development of technological innovation, so let the salt of southern Liaoning act as this catfish.

When Yang Chen left the General Military Mansion, that is, he was very worried about calming the envoy Yamen, Cheng Shijie was dissatisfied with him, he saw it in his eyes, Cheng Shijie's sigh, he was listening to it.

Although Cheng Shijie's sigh was not loud, it seemed to be like a heavy hammer, hitting his chest and his heart.

Originally, Yang Chen worked as a salt worker in the salt factory in Ninghai Hot Spring Town in August last year, and was gradually promoted to the director of the salt factory, and later Cheng Shijie moved the whole way.

He also followed Cheng Shijie to southern Liaoning and began to return to his old business.

Later, in February, he hired someone to write a letter to his family, and let his wife, son, and daughter-in-law immigrate to southern Liaoning.

In this era, it undoubtedly takes courage to immigrate to southern Liaoning with his family, and several salt workers colleagues Yang Chen knew came to southern Liaoning like him, but they were still alone, and they planned to earn money in southern Liaoning and return to their hometown to buy land and buy real estate.

How good it is in southern Liaoning, eating and living in the collective canteen of the salt field, not only can you eat enough, three meals a day, but also earn more than 100 taels of silver and 72 stone of grain.

You must know that this salary is in the salt fields of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, let alone a year, even if they work for a lifetime, it is impossible to earn a hundred taels of silver.

Yang Chen asked his wife and children to come to Liaonan, mainly because he was worried that one of his was named Guo Sixi, and there was a landlord in their hometown village, and the landlord was killed by robbers overnight because of a little surplus grain at home.

Regardless of the conditions in southern Liaoning, there is no problem in terms of safety, especially the Haizhou victory of the Ning Navy, and even the fierce Jiannu was cut down by Cheng Shijie and Cheng Dashuai.

Since eating Cheng Dashuai's meal, although the war has been continuous in the nearly a year since Ning Haijun was born, except for Qin Wu who touched the Dengzhou Wei Qianhu Office at that time, other bandits and rebellious troops were not Ning Haijun's opponents. The Ning Navy is getting stronger and stronger, and it has just started in the Ning Navy, and later came to Jinzhou, Gaizhou, Fuzhou and Haizhou.

Every time the war is won, the Ninghai Navy is full of pride, and all factories have made great benefits because of this, which can be regarded as the whole people sharing the war dividends.

When he returned to his home, several of Yang Chen's old buddies came to him for a drink. In southern Liaoning, people who rely on technology to eat, have good technology, and have a high natural income have passed the initial stage of food and clothing, and can buy some meat or wine.

Even, the winery in southern Liaoning has begun to be built.

This is Cheng Shijie's arrangement in advance, mainly because there are more than 5 million mu of land developed in southern Liaoning, although it only accounts for about half of the cultivated land area in southern Liaoning, but the grain will definitely not be able to be eaten, even if the population of southern Liaoning increases by three times, it will also be inexhaustible.

However, the shelf life of grain is limited, especially when a large number of high-yield new crops such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are planted.

But now, in the canteens of many factories and enterprises, meat is no longer a once-in-a-century rarity, and Yang Chen's income can realize the freedom to eat meat. It's just that he is reluctant, and only occasionally when he comes to the guests, he will buy some meat, but unconsciously, he finds that the amount of food he eats is decreasing.

"Or Lao Yang, you have the vision, you took your sister-in-law and children to southern Liaoning early, and my wife and children came three months late, and now they have to ......."

Yang Chen's colleague, Jiang Dahai, the engineer of the Third Salt Factory, patted his thigh to express regret, Yang Chen's family came to southern Liaoning at the end of February of the fifth year of Chongzhen, and Jiang Dahai's family came to southern Liaoning in early May, and the fate of the two families was decided in just three months.

At that time, when Yang Chen arrived, the 100 households of the project built houses for all the Ning Navy soldiers and factory managers, and Jiang Dahai, the foreman, was the director of the branch, how could he be at the same level as the sentry chief and enjoy free welfare housing.

However, Jiang Dahai was alone at that time, and he was assigned a homestead, but he did not build a house for him, but Yang Chen built five halls, two wings on the left and right, a total of nine new houses with red bricks and red tiles.

When Jiang Dahai wanted to apply to build a house, it was not his turn yet, and the welfare dividend treatment had been canceled, and now there was no welfare housing for building a house in southern Liaoning.

This made many Ning Navy soldiers who were not single but did not build a house regret it very much, but it was useless to regret it, and it was impossible for them to leave southern Liaoning if they regretted it. It's very easy to get back to Kannai, but it's too hard to survive in Kannai.

The field tax of the imperial court itself is not heavy, but it is not heavy layer by layer, for example, the Liao salary, the imperial court collects one centimeter and two cents of silver per mu, if it is counted as copper, the small flat money is 12 Wen, and only six pieces are needed when converted, and if you buy vegetables, about one and a half catties of leeks, or four cucumbers.

The common people can't afford it, but the problem is that when they go to the political department, they add one percent, add another layer to the prefectures, add another layer to the county, and add up the layers to the county, and it is not uncommon to receive three or four coins of silver per acre of land, and ten times more, that is, one dollar and two cents of silver, which is considered a conscientious official.

Yang Chen looked at Jiang Dahai and said: "Lao Jiang, you have to hurry up, now the price of building materials is getting higher and higher, at the beginning of the year, a dozen taels of silver can build nine large tile houses, now it needs thirty or forty taels of silver, and it will become more and more expensive in the future......"

Speaking of which, Yang Chen took the wine jug and poured wine for Jiang Dahai.

Yang Chen's face was very unnatural, Jiang Dahai was not right, Jiang Dahai knew Yang Chen's character, his mouth was very strict, if he was willing to say it, he would definitely say it, if he didn't want to say it, he wouldn't say it, even if it was torture, he wouldn't say it either.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Jiang Dahai and a few old friends said goodbye and left.

Waiting for everyone to leave, Yang Chen's wife, Yang Zhou, took the brewed tea and poured a bowl for Yang Chen: "His father, do you have something?" ”

"If there's something, call the boss and the eldest daughter-in-law!"

Yang Zhou can only go and call people.

"Daddy, sir!"

Yang Chen's eldest son Yang Qing and his daughter-in-law Li were not actually born in a family of eunuchs, but Li Shengnan, the daughter of Li Jinsong, a scholar who supervised the order of the imperial history Xia.

Because Li Jinsong's family was poor since he was a child, he was sold to the Xia family as a servant, Li Jinsong followed Xia Zhiling as a scholar, and later Xia Zhiling offended Wei Zhongxian, and Li Jinsong was implicated and died in prison. Li Shengnan, as Li Jinsong's eldest daughter, was ransacked by bandits on the way home.

Li Shengnan panicked, in order to protect his innocence, he jumped off the cliff, but he did not die, he was rescued by Yang Chen and his son Yang Qing, Li Shengnan's appearance can only be regarded as ordinary, but Yang Qing is middle-to-high-looking, and he was promised by Li Shengnan.

After thinking for a long time, Yang Chen said: "Eldest daughter-in-law, there is something to discuss with you!" ”

"Master, please command!"

Yang Chen said the matter of Cheng Shijie's summoning of him this time, 1510, in the end, Yang Chen concluded: "I'm old, it's too late to learn literacy, Da Lang's skills are okay now, his qualifications are still shallow, besides, we don't have a hereditary set in southern Liaoning, the eldest daughter-in-law, you are literate and can count, from tomorrow, you follow me to the salt factory, first familiarize yourself with the things of the salt factory, and when you are familiar, I recommend you to be the general manager of the salt factory!" ”

Li Shengnan looked surprised: "Master, the slave is just a woman's ......."

"What's wrong with the women's family, we don't prosper in southern Liaoning, women, can also be officials, Yang Yunniang of our management committee, General Manager Jin of the textile factory, and Mr. Wang of Jinzhou Girls' School, this is a good opportunity, you have to seize it!"

In Yang Chen's fancy, Cheng Shijie was dissatisfied with his ability, because he was an old man, and did not put him in the position of general manager, if there was a new talent to come, he would definitely give up his position.

Instead of letting Cheng Shijie drive him away, it is better to make room for himself and push his daughter-in-law up first.

The daughter-in-law is not a son, and she is always one layer behind, but the problem is that the meat is rotten in her own pot, and she can still drink a mouthful of broth.

In this way, Li Shengnan is wearing men's clothes, in fact, this is covering his ears and stealing the bell, and the women who can be covered up by men's clothes to hide the female characteristics are neutral in appearance, or masculine.

……

Miss Xu Si, who was in Zhenhai City, found that she fell in love with Liaonan a little.

There is no comfort here, no nagging from the elders, and more importantly, she can go to Li Zhenli's newly opened Meixiang Building to play openly.

Meixianglou is the characteristic of Zhenhai City, although it has not been opened for a long time, it has become the most famous green building in Zhenhai City, this Qinglou seems to be like the club of later generations, there is no acquaintance to recommend, it is not allowed to come in, this covers an area of only three into more than 20 rooms of Meixianglou, there are more than a dozen famous prostitutes of the Qinhuai River, proficient in blowing, playing and singing.

Every day, she can only sleep until dawn, and will definitely be woken up by the noise around her, this is the academy in Zhenhai City, not far from the courtyard where she lives, there are three or four hundred of these children, and they begin to assemble at dawn every day, and the first thing they do when they enter the school is not to walk into the classroom to read in the morning, but to walk to the playground and start to line up.

Standing in front of the attic window, Maldina could clearly see that these children began to boxing under the guidance of the instructor, and the instructor was Meng En, the second apprentice of Cheng Shijie's personal guard Baji boxing master Wu Sheng.

The children's immature voices let out loud shouts, advancing and retreating at the same time, swinging their fists and feet at the same time, retracting, full of vitality.

Bajiquan is a highly combat-oriented martial art, and so far, the three schools in southern Liaoning, namely Jinzhou Academy, Zhenhai Academy, and Jinzhou Girls' School, have adopted militarized management. Beginning to practice cohort training when entering the school, it is the same as the regular military drill training of the Ning Navy, but the standards are not so strict.

There is something about Maldina that is not thoughtful.

Because it is too close to the school, the smell of the school cafeteria is getting stronger and stronger, needless to say, the breakfast in the school cafeteria is ready, and with the instructor's "dismissal", the children cheered loudly and ran back to the school quickly, and when they came out again, they had an extra food box in their hands.

The old servants carried out several large wooden barrels, which were steaming hot and fragrant, and needless to say, they were the children's breakfast. Smell the taste, today's breakfast is sauerkraut noodles, a spoonful of noodles plus a spoonful of sauerkraut, and then an egg, all right, very simple, but the children eat sparsely and snoring without lifting, the sound is really loud enough, accidentally thought that they had entered the pig farm.

The maid of Maldina, a Venetian Catherine, was a parishioner she met during her time in the Golden State.

Martina, a child of God, took Catherine in.

Because Catherine has a good cooking skill, if you want to say that Europa's cuisine is dark cuisine, the only dish that can still be eaten is Italian cuisine.

Whether the spaghetti is authentic or not, Maldina doesn't know, but since she came to southern Liaoning, she has changed from a Jiangnan person who is used to eating rice to a northerner who likes to eat pasta.

Eating the same sauerkraut noodles from Zhenhai City Academy, Catherine was gobbling it up.

There was only Mardina's maid, Xu Li'er said with some emotion: "These children are so happy!" ”

"Happiness?"

Maldina wondered: "What are they happy about?" Get up before dawn, then exercise for half an hour in the morning, sweat profusely, eat breakfast, go to class after breakfast, start in the morning, and leave school until dark in the afternoon...... Happiness what? ”

She thought of her old days, when she didn't have to practice boxing, she could sleep until she came naturally, and she went to class for half an hour in the morning, rested for a quarter of an hour, and then went up for half an hour. The same is true in the afternoon, when she feels so tired that she has to spend two hours doing her homework for two hours a day.

Maldina never felt that going to school was a happy thing.

Xu Li'er sighed: "They can go to school for free, eat for free, send new clothes for free, send shoes for free, and send books for free......"

At first, Cheng Shijie did not consider giving shoes to the students, because the children's shoes were not easy to prepare, because the children's feet grew quickly, and a round-necked Confucian shirt could not be worn for half a year. It's the same with shoes.

However, when these children were barefoot or wearing shoes with exposed toes, Cheng Shijie felt that it affected the perception of the child, so he changed the rules, and each student was given two pairs of cloth shoes. Two pairs of cotton shoes.

Originally, he didn't think about managing breakfast, just a lunch, Cheng Shijie also found that many children brought nests made of bran and wild vegetables to the school to eat, and he changed his mind and began to provide free breakfast to the children.

Maldina had to admit that Xu Li'er had a certain point.

Everyone's definition of happiness is different, in Xu Li'er's eyes, there are new clothes to wear, food to eat, and books to read, that is happiness.

But Miss Xu Si has never worried about basic life, and her definition of happiness is completely different.

Miss Xu Si said: "General Cheng is still a good person!" ”

"What do you mean to be a good person?"

Xu Li'er was a little anxious, her little face was like a red apple: "Not only are they good people, but also good people!" Miss, think about it, who can let tens of thousands of people see a doctor for free and tens of thousands of people study for free like him? ”

Catherine stared at Xu Li'er's red face and chuckled.

Xu Li'er said puzzledly: "What are you laughing at?" ”

Catherine smiled: "Li'er, you praise people so much, shouldn't you be looking at General Cheng?" ”

Xu Li'er's little face was red to the root of her ears, and she stomped her feet and said, "You mother-in-law, you ...... What are you talking about, who has taken a fancy to him, you have taken a fancy to General Cheng! ”

"That's right, I've got a crush on him!"

Catherine said without scruples: "Let me declare first, I don't like him because he is a general, the governor of the East, but because he is tall, handsome, and heroic...... If only he were not the governor of the East, I would take him back to Venice and beg my father, to make him a baron of the Republic, not too young, but a count......"

Xu Li'er was a little overwhelmed by Catherine, her little face was bulging with anger, and she gritted her teeth and scolded: "It's so shameless, shameless......"

Maldina smiled narrowly: "Mercy, don't be angry, even if General Cheng is not a general, he doesn't look down on Catherine!" ”

Xu Li'er didn't have any scheming, and her face softened.

Miss Xu is right, Da Ming is an iron-blooded Da Ming, even if it is now in the twilight of the West Mountain, there is arrogance in his bones, even if he is a beggar, he will not marry a foreign race. Zheng Zhilong married Maeda Kawamatsu as his wife, and he became a laughing stock in the eyes of everyone.

The universal values of the Ming Dynasty were completely different from those of later generations, and they would rather marry a woman of Le nationality than marry the daughter of a barbarian.

Mardina looked at Xu Li'er's performance and said dumbfounded: "Li'er, you are exposed, and you still say that you don't fancy him, so why do you praise him so hard?" I have never seen you praise a man like this. ”

Xu Li'er's face puffed up: "What's wrong with praising him?" Isn't what he has done worthy of boasting? ”

Maldina: ......

……

Entering July, Jinzhou found a huge change, the original planning of Jinzhou City, than the original Jinzhou City expanded nearly ten times the outer city, has also been stuffed to the point of exploding, in the city wall has not begun to repair, the outer city has been stuffed, Cheng Shijie is also simple and rude, along the original plan to build the city wall, build a mouth shape, ring road, continue to expand the outside.

Jinzhou City was 3,300 meters long from north to south and 2,900 meters wide from east to west, and continued to expand to become 8,500 meters long from north to south and 6,700 meters wide from east to west.

Song Xiance, director of the management committee, said with some uncertainty: "Lord, is this too radical?" Such a big city...... If it were to build a wall, it would have required a lot of money and food. ”

You must know that the current Beijing city has undergone three large-scale expansions, with a total area of 62.55 million square meters, but the problem is that the circumference of the outer city of Jinzhou City, which has been expanded by Shijie, is more than 40 miles, covering an area close to the area of the current Beijing City.

Cheng Shijie explained: "Jinzhou is our management center in southern Liaoning, if we let Jiannu fight under the city of Jinzhou, even if there is a city wall, how long can it be kept?" The best defense is always offense, after the expansion of the Ning Navy, it has been strengthening training, as many as two or three thousand shells are knocked out every month, and there are hundreds or thousands of guns that are discarded. ”

Song Xiance reacted.

Now don't say that Cheng Shijie strictly ordered the Ning Navy to fight to the death, even if he ordered the Ning Navy to retreat, the Ning Navy would scold his mother, because Jinzhou has their new home, their fields, and their wives, sons, and daughters......

"I'm only afraid that Jiannu will send troops after the autumn?"

"Whether they send troops or not has nothing to do with Ben Shuai, anyway, Ben Shuai will send troops!"

Cheng Shijie pointed to the map and said: "This is the Songliao Plain, thousands of miles of fertile soil, more fertile plains than the Guanzhong Plain and the North China Plain, we occupy the southern part of Liaoning, relative to Shandong, this is a good place, for the Songliao Plain, it is garbage, here is the essence, last year, our number was small, even if it was occupied, there was no ability to develop, now our strength is strong, then step by step." The army has been resting for more than half a year, it's time to move! Ben Shuai plans to recruit 30,000 young men from the Henan refugees and cooperate with the Ning Navy to attack north and east! ”

(End of chapter)