"The net profit of two hundred thousand taels is at least 70%, which is 140,000 taels of silver. Then what I get in my hand is 30% of the net profit, which is more than 40,000 taels of silver, and it is a month's income!"
Thinking of this, the smile on Wang Wenzhen's face became even brighter, and he immediately agreed and said: "Okay! You don't have to worry about Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village, or even Lingshan Guard, Mr. Liu, I will take care of you." , you just have to run this place well."
Liu Yan nodded with a smile and said: "The initial income will definitely not be that much. It will take time for my subordinates to gradually expand production, and you must be mentally prepared."
Wang Wenzhen smiled and said: "Haha, this is natural, I understand it."
On the same day, Wang Wenzhen and Jia Hongyu inspected the salt drying field and returned to Wangjiazhuang happily.
Liu Yan returned to Dapanbao, then found Wang Yue and said, "I heard that you have resold private goods before?"
Wang Yue was startled when he heard this and said hurriedly: "Chief A, I'm just helping others. I'm just buying and selling some sundries..."
Liu Yan looked at Wang Yue's frightened look and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid. I didn't call you here today to settle old scores."
Wang Yue felt more at ease now, and then asked cautiously: "What are the orders from the commander?"
"The salt drying farm will start production this month. Find some connections and find some private salt dealers for me. Do you understand?"
Wang Yue was ecstatic. Since Liu Yan had entrusted such a secret matter to him, it meant that he had regarded him as a confidant. He immediately patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Commander Jia. I really know two private salt traders. But They are all small-time characters, so I don’t know if they can catch the eye of a commander.”
Liu Yan said nonchalantly: "No problem, the output of the salt drying farm is not too high anyway. Let's find some small salt sellers to sell it. When the output increases, those big salt lords will naturally come after hearing the news."
And after listening to Wang Yue's words, Liu Yan felt a lot more at ease. Now there are so many private salt dealers all over Shandong, and there are so many private salt dealers among the people. This is evidence that official salt is becoming more expensive.
However, there were not many places that could produce salt on a large scale at this time, especially someone like Liu Yan, who not only had the ability to produce salt on a large scale, but the price was very low, and he had the background of a guard soldier as a guarantee, which could not be found in the entire Shandong. The second home.
Therefore, Liu Yan is very optimistic about the prospects of the private salt business, and it will even surpass the soap workshop in the near future and become the largest industry in Dapanbao.
That day, Wang Yue took several Dunjun troops and hurriedly left Dapanbao to contact the private salt dealers.
In the following days, in addition to routine inspections of the military camp and the soap workshop, Liu Yan's main task was to stay in the firearms workshop.
At this time, Tan Xiaoda had more than 30 people under his command, and the firearms workshop was moved out of the original two rooms. A yard was built on a homestead north of Dapanbao, specifically used as a firearms workshop. This yard was named the Firearms Supervision and Manufacturing Office by Liu Yan, and Tan Xiaoda was also appointed by Liu Yan as the head of the Firearms Supervision and Manufacturing Office.
“How is the production now?”
Tan Xiaoda stood next to Liu Yan with sweating profusely and said, "Master Qi, now we can make ten blunderbuss, five sets of armor, and hundreds of other spears, feather knives, and shields every month."
Liu Yan nodded. The output of the Firearms Supervision and Manufacturing Department can temporarily meet the needs of Dapanbao. All the firearms and weapons produced now are in stock.
However, Liu Yan still wanted to continue to increase production, because the military strength was expanding rapidly, and the creation of military equipment could not be accomplished overnight.
According to Tan Xiaoda's scale of more than 30 people, the output should be higher than it is now, but now Liu Yan is unable to equip everyone with suitable tools and equipment.
"It seems it's time to climb the technology tree."
Liu Yan inspected the firearms manufacturing department for a while, then returned to the flag hall while thinking about it, called Wang Bo together, and the two rode horses to the salt drying field.
At this time, Liu Yan had money in his hands, so he sent people to buy more than a dozen war horses from Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village. Except for Liu Yan, Chen Xun, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, and Wang Yue, one horse each, the rest were All the more than ten war horses under the banner were assigned to the Ye Bu Shu team.
Miao Shao, Xu Ming and ten Yebu received one war horse each, which made everyone in Dapanbao jealous.
Soon Liu Yan and Wang Bo arrived at the salt drying field.
Since Wang Wenzhen came to inspect, Liu Yan spent money to hire hundreds of people and began to clean up the surrounding salt ponds, preparing to expand production capacity while producing.
The Dunjun of Zhang Yi's team were guarding the surrounding area, while dozens of women in the fort were busy. The brine boiling house in the north was also steaming with steam, and streams of white smoke continued to rise, creating a busy scene.
Zhang Yi hurried over after hearing the news and accompanied Liu Yan to look around.
"Chief A, the first batch of sea salt has been made. It weighs about 700 kilograms. It has been put into storage now."
Zhang Yi introduced as he walked, and pointed at two houses not far away, which are the warehouses of the salt drying field. They are surrounded by a courtyard wall as high as a person, and there are two Dunjun soldiers standing guard at the entrance of the courtyard.
Liu Yan said: "The sea salt made must be moisture-proof. This is the seaside. Sea salt cannot be stored here for a long time. Once it gets damp, it will not be sold."
"Then what Commander A means is to transport them all back to Dapanbao?"
"Yes, ship them all back!"
Liu Yan thought for a moment and then said: "When I go back today, I will order someone to set aside a warehouse in the fort specifically to store sea salt. Every batch of sea salt made here can be stored in the warehouse here for up to two days. It must be transported back to Dapanbao within two days, without any mistakes!"
"yes."
Then everyone entered the warehouse, and Liu Yan personally looked at the prepared sea salt.
I saw that the sea salt in the salt shaker was very white. Although it was not as fine as table salt in later generations, it was much finer than the official salt and most private salt at this time.
"Ah, very good."
Liu Yan also sincerely praised Zhang Yi. Although Zhang Yi has not been appointed to take charge of the salt drying field, Zhang Yi is basically in charge of everything here. Zhang Yi also contributed a lot to the high quality of the sea salt. .
Zhang Yi was humble, and then said: "I have something to ask the commander for instructions on."
"Well, tell me."
"There are already 160 or 70 people working on the salt drying field now, not to mention the more than 120 people hired, and the monthly salary is six cents of silver. But there are also 30 women in our fort. Seven people, how do they calculate their wages?”
During this period of time, all the women in the fort were paid five silver coins as wages, but Liu Yan said that it was only temporary and the amount of wages was not finalized.
At this time, Zhang Yi brought up this matter again, obviously seeking "welfare" for his subordinates.
Liu Yan said with a smile: "In this way, the wages of all the women in the fort will be calculated as seven coins of silver, and each of your army will receive a monthly subsidy of two coins of silver."
Now the Dunjun in Dapanbao are all given fixed military pay, and now these two coins are additional income. Zhang Yi was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately clasped his fists in thanks.
On the same day, Zhang Yi notified Liu Yan of the wage amount set by Liu Yan. The eighteen Dunjun soldiers and thirty-seven women in the fort immediately cheered and became even more energetic.
In the blink of an eye, on the third day of August, a total of 4,100 kilograms of sea salt was produced in the salt drying field, all of which was transported to Dapanbao for storage.
Wang Yue lived up to expectations and actually found two small private salt dealers.
These two private salt dealers were both members of the Lingshan Guards, and they were originally military households. Later, when they could no longer survive, they fled one after another. Each of them raised a team and started trafficking in private salt.
One of them is named Sun Qian. He is thin and small, with a pair of triangular eyes that are habitually squinted, showing a shrewdness and insidiousness. The dozen or so men under him are all Sun Qian's fellow villagers. Among the salt dealers, he is the most Known for his dirty tricks.
The other person's name is Chu Yunfei. This person looks very good. He doesn't look like a private salt dealer, but looks like someone's son-in-law. He speaks very pleasantly and has a high emotional intelligence. Chu Yunfei also has more than a dozen men under his command, and he has a good reputation among salt traders.
Wang Yue invited the two to Dapanbao, and Liu Yan entertained them personally and showed them some sea salt.
Seeing such high-quality sea salt, both Sun Qian and Chu Yunfei were very interested. They both wanted to exclusively distribute the sea salt in Liu Yan's hands.
After talking, Liu Yan naturally leaned towards Chu Yunfei. After all, being able to gain a good reputation in the circle of private salt dealers was enough to explain everything.
So Liu Yan asked Wang Yue to invite Chu Yunfei out, and then said to Sun Qian with a smile: "Captain Sun is older than me, so I will call him Brother Sun."
"Haha, I don't dare to be a villain."
Sun Qian smiled and said many compliments, and then asked: "I wonder if your Excellency has decided. This is not a boast. My strength is much stronger than that of Chu Yunfei. No matter how much goods you have here, I can eat them all in one bite." Down!"
Liu Yan said with a smile: "Brother Sun has misunderstood. The sea salt production here is still very small and cannot satisfy Brother Sun's appetite at all, so I don't dare to delay Brother Sun's business."
The smile on Sun Qian's face disappeared instantly, and then he said: "Does this mean that your Excellency is rejecting me?"
Liu Yan also sneered when he saw this. A private salt dealer dared to shame himself in front of him. It seemed that the prestige of the Ming court had really collapsed at this time.
"Refused!"
Liu Yan said: "But today, after all, I made Leader Sun run away in vain, so I will give Leader Sun two taels of hard-earned money later. Please!"
Seeing that Liu Yan issued an order to expel guests, Sun Qian stood up slowly, clasped his fists and said, "In that case, let's see you again in the world!"
After saying that, Sun Qian walked away.
Liu Yan raised his eyebrows, feeling more alert in his heart.
After a while, Wang Yue returned to the house with Chu Yunfei, and Liu Yan immediately said: "Chief Chu, from now on, your family will distribute the sea salt in my Dapanbao."
Chu Yunfei stood up excitedly, clasped her fists, and said, "Don't worry, sir. I can take as much sea salt as I have here!"
"Okay! Let's have a happy cooperation then!"
After saying that, Liu Yan sent someone to call Zhang Yi and asked Zhang Yi to take Chu Yunfei to deliver the sea salt.
Wang Yue was very happy when he saw that the private salt dealer he had recruited was settled by Liu Yan. He was about to congratulate Liu Yan on another income when he heard Liu Yan say: "The Sun Qian you recruited is not a kind person. You can find him later." Let’s take advantage of the opportunity to hammer it out, so as not to cause any trouble to our Dapanbao.”
The smile on Wang Yue's face suddenly froze, and he quickly agreed. After coming out of the house, his face was gloomy, thinking that he must teach Sun Qian a lesson when he turned around.
This time, Dapanbao sold more than 4,200 kilograms of sea salt, earning more than 6,400 taels of silver. According to the share-sharing agreement, Liu Yan sent Wang Bo and his people to Wangjiazhuang and sent two thousand taels of silver to Wang Wenzhen, the team leader.
