Soap workshop.
Last night, Liu Yan, Chen Xun, Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Chen Jiangshi, Qian Zao, Chu Yunfei, and inspector Shen Donglai gathered in the Baihu Official Hall.
At this time, Dapanbao had been upgraded to a hundred households station by Liu Yan, and Shen Donglai, a hundred households picket officer in the former camp, also served as the team officer.
After everyone gathered together for a night, Liu Yan took everyone on an inspection tour early in the morning.
At this time, the soap workshop was already quite large, occupying almost two-thirds of the area in the north of Dapanbao, so that many military households and civilians have now moved out of the fort, and are now being built in the north and east of the fort. Many houses were built, forming a large "castle town" in the north and east.
In the soap workshop, Chen Jiang led more than 500 people to work in the workshop. Today, the output has increased to more than 60,000 yuan per month. It is divided into different varieties such as ordinary soap and sandalwood soap, and the price ranges from The most common ones range from six cents of silver to one tael of silver.
"Sir, our soap workshop now has a monthly income of more than 40,000 taels of silver. After deducting the cost, we also have a net profit of more than 30,000 taels!"
Liu Yan nodded with satisfaction and said, "Is there still room for improvement in the workshop's output?"
Chen Jiangshi was well prepared and had already kept all the conditions of the soap workshop in mind, and said: "Sir, the soap workshop now has more than a dozen production lines, and my subordinates are preparing to build three more production lines. These three production lines have been completed." After that, the soap factory’s production capacity will reach its maximum.”
"How much can it be increased?"
Now Liu Yan is not afraid that the soap will not be sold at all. Although the soap he produces is huge in quantity, it is still in short supply. It is even sold in Jinan Fucheng and other prefectures and counties, and it will be sold out by the middle of every month.
"My subordinates have calculated that the output can be increased by about 10%, and the net profit can also be increased by almost 10%."
"Okay, get it done as soon as possible."
"yes."
Chen Jiang had just given birth at this time. At the end of last year, she gave birth to a son for Chen Xun. He had not yet given a name. Chen Xun on the side smiled and said: "My lord happened to be here today, so why not give your son a name?" Give me a name."
The rest of the people also booed, and Chen Jiang was looking forward to it. It would be an honor for Chen Xun and his wife to be named by Liu Yan.
But this made things difficult for Liu Yan. He had no expertise in this area, so he thought for a while and said, "I think, let's call him Chen Yaozu. In the future, how about you Chen Jiaguang Zong Yaozu?"
Everyone applauded, and Chen Xun and Chen Jiang even agreed with their hands in laughter.
Liu Yan felt ashamed. With such a clichéd name, everyone really gave him face.
Before leaving, Liu Yan specially rewarded Chen Jiangshi with fifty taels of silver to use for his health. Then he said goodbye to Chen Jiangshi and led everyone to the wine shop.
Like the soap workshop, the winery has expanded by one-third of its original size, the number of steamers has also increased to 22, there are more than 300 craftsmen, and the output is very large.
Now the winery consumes almost two thousand stones of sorghum every month and produces nearly 140,000 kilograms of wine. Now the price of Shaoguo wine has also increased, and each kilogram of Shaoguo wine can be sold for 80 Wen.
Calculated in this way, the net profit of the winery after deducting various costs such as sorghum and labor every month can reach about 11,000 taels of silver.
After listening, Liu Yan thought for a while, and to be honest, the income was still lower than his expectations.
So Liu Yan asked: "We just took a look around and there are still some empty houses in the winery. I think the production capacity of the winery will continue to expand."
Qian Zao said: "What your Excellency said is absolutely true. I have already drawn up a plan to increase production and will submit it to you for approval in the next two days. I estimate that after the increase in production, the monthly output of Shaoguo Liquor will reach about 190,000 jins. The monthly net profit is fifteen thousand taels of silver."
"Okay, report it as soon as possible."
Shaoguo Liquor has become a "business card" of Dapanbao. As pots of Shaoguo Liquor are sold everywhere, the names of Dapanbao and Liu Yan are also spread to all parties, which enhances Liu Yan's reputation. Very helpful. Therefore, Liu Yan also hopes that the winery will increase its production to another level as soon as possible.
After inspecting the winery, it was already afternoon. Liu Yan looked at the sky and said to everyone with a smile: "Let's go to the salt drying field now. Let's stay there tonight."
Shen Donglai still wanted to persuade him to stay. Although many houses had been built at the salt drying field to accommodate more than 400 people there, after all, the conditions were not as good as those at Dapanbao.
Chen Xun smiled and said: "Since the adults said it, let's do it."
"yes."
At dusk, Liu Yan, Chen Xun, Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Shen Donglai and others led hundreds of cavalry soldiers to leave Dapanbao. They all headed south and arrived at the salt drying field at nightfall.
At this time, the work in the salt drying field is still not over. Many craftsmen and young people are cleaning the salt ponds and preparing to introduce seawater after cleaning to prepare for continued drying tomorrow.
Liu Yan rode his horse and stood at a high place, and saw that many torches had been lit throughout the salt drying field. Under the dim light, the lights reflected the flames, which was very spectacular.
"Sir, it is early spring right now, and there is not much sunshine on the beach, so the production of sea salt is not high now, so it is considered the off-season."
Liu Yan nodded. The salt drying farm is like this. It depends on the weather. The production of sea salt will naturally increase or decrease with the changes of seasons and weather. This is normal.
"Come on, let's stay here first and look around tomorrow morning."
"yes."
Everyone stayed that night, and the salt drying field was on the beach. The sea breeze in early spring was extremely cold, and even Liu Yan felt uncomfortable. However, fortunately, most of the houses here were recently built, and at least there was no air leakage. Bian also sent enough warm bedding, so there was no need to worry about getting frozen.
Early the next morning, Liu Yan and others inspected the salt drying field.
Today's salt drying fields have cleaned out all the abandoned salt ponds, and they are now producing at "full power".
Moreover, under the leadership of Chen Xun, all the salt ponds in the salt drying field were unified in size and sorted out according to large-sized salt ponds. There were as many as 25 standardized salt ponds in the entire salt drying field.
With so many salt ponds, if it is the peak production season in summer and autumn, the salt drying field can produce about 53,000 kilograms of sea salt a month. Even in the current off-season, it can produce about 35,000 kilograms of sea salt every month.
"...Based on the current selling price of 1.25 per kilogram of sea salt, the salt drying farm can currently earn about 53,000 taels per month, and in the peak season, it can earn 78,000 or 9,000 taels."
"After deducting labor and other costs, on average, the salt drying farm can make a net profit of about 63,000 taels per month."
The salt drying field is considered to be the most profitable industry in Liu Yan's hands at this stage. It can be called a "pillar industry", so he attaches the most importance to it.
"We looked around today and found that the production capacity of the salt drying farm should have reached its limit. What is left is normal operation and maintenance. In addition, when selling to outsiders, we must also pay attention and try not to hedge against the official salt sold by the court to avoid It will cause unnecessary trouble to us."
Although Liu Yan is the ethics officer of Lingshan Guard, the sea salt produced in this salt drying farm is still private salt after all, so it is better to keep a low profile and make a lot of money.
"Yes, I obey."
One day later, Liu Yan took Chen Xun, Miao Shao, Xu Ming and others to the iron yard located in Tiechu Mountain.
The Guzhen Inspection Department, which is in charge of the defense here, is inspecting the inspection. Former Battalion Right Chief Guo Mingxu, the first hundred commander-in-chief, has been waiting here in advance. The chief Gao Yunshan and his two apprentices Chen Luo and Tang Yuan are also waiting here.
"This subordinate has met your Excellency!"
Liu Yan greeted Guo Mingxu with a smile and said, "Come on, we have been very busy these two days. We need to inspect all the mines in Tieji Mountain."
"yes."
At present, the fifty miles around Tiegu Mountain are basically blocked by Guo Mingxu's troops, and there is a post of New Army soldiers stationed here to guard it.
After two years of development, there is not only an iron yard here, but a large number of mineral deposits have been excavated one after another.
Around the iron yard, Liu Yan successively approved new mining of coal mines, quarries, gypsum mines, lead mines, copper mines, manganese mines, lumber mills, etc., digging almost all of the Tielu Mountain Valley.
For this reason, Gaoyunshan has successively recruited a large number of people. There are approximately more than 1,300 people gathered in these mineral deposits, and the number of various mineral deposits excavated and smelted every month is very considerable.
"Chief Gao, please introduce me."
Gao Yunshan is now exposed to the sun and wind at the Tiechu Mountain Iron Material Yard. He has become much older, but his mental state is very good, and his eyes are full of energy.
"Yes, sir."
After Gao Yunshan's introduction, a huge mining base has now been formed on Tieyu Mountain, and Gao Yunshan is the leader here.
Among them, the output of copper mines, iron mines, coal mines, lead mines, manganese mines, and gypsum mines are basically supplied to the Firearms Supervision Manufacturing Department and the Armor Supervision Manufacturing Department for the creation of new military equipment and related equipment.
Today, thirty blast furnaces have been erected in the iron yard, which can smelt tens of thousands of kilograms of refined iron every month. The remaining output of copper, lead, and manganese is also thousands of kilograms, which can basically meet the consumption of new military equipment.
The output of coal mines is basically used for smelting. Gao Yunshan also built some coking furnaces next to the iron yard, and then used coke for smelting, which greatly improved the quality of various metals.
"Sir, please see, behind the mountain peak over there is a quarry, which can produce tens of thousands of kilograms of granite and other various stones every month. At the other end of the mountain road, my lord, is a lumber factory."
"The output from these two locations is sold to the outside world. Now we can have a monthly balance of more than 8,000 taels, which can basically cover the expenses of the Tieyu Mountain Mining Base."
Liu Yan pointed at Tang Yuan and Chen Luo and asked with a smile: "What are the two of them responsible for now?"
Gao Yunshan said: "Chen Luo is now in charge of the quarry, lumberyard, and external sales, and Tang Yuan is in charge of the mining base."
Liu Yan said: "Well, Director Gao, you have done a good job here. The Tieyu Mountain Mining Base can be responsible for its own profits and losses. It has solved a big problem for me and saved a lot of money and food."
After these days of inspection, we found that the monthly income from the three industries of salt drying field, wine shop and soap workshop is more than 110,000 taels. With a small amount of land tax and other income from various places, the maximum is another several thousand taels. It’s just silver income.
Now Liu Yan has more than 90,000 New Army officers under his command. The military expenditure alone is 40,000 taels of silver per month, plus the cost of raising soldiers, the expenses of the Firearms Supervision Department and the Armor Supervision Department, as well as various Other expenses of the office include about 20,000 taels per month.
Although calculated in this way, Liu Yan can have a net income of 50,000 taels of silver every month, but part of the money must be allocated to purchase grain as a reserve of military rations, pay taxes to the Shandong Dusi, etc.
In fact, Liu Yan only had more than 30,000 taels of silver left every month at most.
This amount of money seems to be considerable, but he can't help but spend it. In Liu Yan's plan to develop his strength, many items are very expensive, especially with the expansion of the army, the casting of cannons, the replenishment of various military equipment, and the rectification of Lingshan Guards. Up and down, under the leadership of Zhang Lei, Huoludun and Tunbu all over the country were clearing up wasteland and preparing for spring plowing. Liu Yan was spending money like water, and the money in his hands decreased sharply. Even though he had a net profit of 30,000 taels of silver every month, But there is no money in the treasury.
So on the way back to Lingshan Guard, Liu Yan began to think about new ways to make money.
Some people died, but not completely...
