Chapter 135
Wu Sheng went down and quickly brought Fan Yongdou to the front hall.
When Cheng Shijie came to the front hall, he saw a middle-aged man with long sleeves drinking tea leisurely in the living room.
Hearing Cheng Shijie's footsteps, he hurriedly stood up and bowed to Cheng Shijie and saluted: "Fan Yongdou, a common man, pays homage to Mr. Cheng Jinglue!"
"You're welcome, Shopkeeper Fan, please take a seat!"
"There is no place for ordinary people in front of Mr. Cheng!"
"Sit down if I ask you to, stop talking nonsense!"
Fan Yongdou quickly thanked him and sat on the sofa. When he sat on the sofa for the first time, he felt the beauty of the sofa. Although he lowered his head and did not look at Cheng Shijie, he looked at Cheng Shijie with the corner of his eyes. .
Cheng Shijie's age is not a secret, he is now thirty-six years old, but in fact, Cheng Shijie looks extremely young, looking like he is only 27 or 28 years old.
Although all adult men in the Ming Dynasty had beards, including Fan Wencheng himself. But the problem is that before Cheng Shijie came to the Ming Dynasty, he didn't grow a beard and shaved often, so his beard looked hard, like steel needles.
More importantly, Cheng Shijie's skin does not look like that of a martial artist, and is even more delicate than that of most civil servants.
Fan Yongdou said with a smile: "Master Cheng put down Kong Youde's rebellion in one battle, saved the common people of Shandong from water and fire, conquered Jinzhou alone, fought in Haizhou three times, killed more than 4,000 slaves, and made the slave chief Hong Tai's liver and gallbladder split. General Cheng His military exploits are outstanding, his reputation is far-reaching, and he is greatly admired by the common people! For such an achievement, throughout the ages, I am afraid that only Huo Qubing can rival Lord Cheng!"
"You are very good at talking. Even though I know you are flattering me, I am still very happy to hear it!"
Cheng Shijie stared at Fan Yongdou and said, "Tell me, what do you have to do with me?"
Fan Yongdou cupped his hands and said: "The common people have admired Master Cheng for a long time. It is a real comfort to see you today. It's a small thing to express your respect. I hope you don't dislike General Cheng!"
As he said this, Fan Yongdou took out a gift list and handed it over.
Cheng Shijie took it and took a look.
Good guy, there are a hundred war horses, a hundred cattle, sixty camels, and six hundred cowhide. The total of these miscellaneous things is at least two to thirty thousand taels of silver. The most valuable thing is the demand deposit of Liaodong Bank. One hundred thousand taels of silver.
Cheng Shijie would definitely not accept such a big gift from others. For such a generous gift, there must be something to ask for.
But for Fan Wencheng's sugar-coated bullets, Cheng Shijie's principle is to eat the sugar-coated bullets and hit them back.
Cheng Shijie accepted it unceremoniously and said, "Such a heavy gift is really frightening... Tell me, is there anything I can help you with?"
This was the first time that Fan Yongdou met an official like Cheng Shijie. If other officials saw such a gift list, they would definitely scold him. No matter how nice he said and flattered him, he accepted the gift half-heartedly. Then, he Ask the other party to do something...
In fact, Cheng Shijie also knew this routine, and he was also very knowledgeable.
Cheng Shijie would not follow Fan Wencheng's routine.
Fan Yongdou felt something was wrong, but he had rich business experience. He knew that everyone had their own bottom price. Once the bid was higher than the other party's bottom price, the business would be easy to negotiate.
Fan Yongdou considered: "General Cheng, the Fan family business of grassroots people started by grinding tofu, and now the business is all over Northern Zhili. Shanxi, Jizhou, Tianjin, and now Northern Zhili is suffering from drought, and food shortage is a foregone conclusion. Only Cheng Your Excellency’s military field is growing well, so I would like to ask Master Cheng for permission to sell the remaining grain to the common people, and the common people will definitely give Master Cheng a fair price.”
Cheng Shijie was a little puzzled.
Shouldn't Fan Yongdou purchase Ning Haijun's standard equipment from Cheng Shijie? How did you change your gender?
In fact, Cheng Shijie is not a real businessman, so he does not understand the nature of a businessman.
Fan Yongdou was not a fool. He did not dare to reveal his true feelings easily before he figured out Cheng Shijie's intentions.
However, what Fan Yongdou didn't know was that Cheng Shijie had already known that he was at the bottom.
In the late Ming Dynasty, many people did not understand Shanxi merchants. Who in later generations would not know that Shanxi merchants and Jiannu wore the same pants?
Who doesn't know that the rise of Shanxi merchants relies on collaboration with the enemy and betraying the country? The armor and swords in Jiannu's hands that were even more sophisticated than those of the Ming army were all made of iron materials smuggled in by these bastards.
The copper materials and craftsmen who built the cannons were also brought over by these bastards.
When there was a severe drought in Liaodong and no crops were harvested, it was these bastards who secretly smuggled a large amount of grain to the Jian Nu, allowing the Jian Nu to survive the famine!
After the battle in Dalinghe, God slapped Huang Taiji twice. These bastards couldn't wait to jump out and share the worries of their master!
He knew that Cheng Shijie was short of cattle, war horses, and people.
Fan Wencheng said: "Master Cheng, please forgive me, but the grassroots people do not have ready money in their hands, but they do have 6,000 cattle, more than 600 of which are cows with calves, because Mongolia owed the grassroots grain on credit a while ago. To pay the debt, they used 6,000 war horses, more than 2,000 of which were fine iron-shod horses. Therefore, the grassroots only had 6,000 cattle and 6,000 war horses in their hands. These war horses were all two-year-old good horses. They were absolutely It won’t be shoddy.”
It can be said that Fan Yongdou almost knew Cheng Shijie's pulse. If Fan Yongdou traded money with Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie would rather not make the money than kill Fan Yongdou.
Fan Yongdou took 6,000 cattle and 6,000 war horses. These were not materials that could be easily bought with money. What's more, Cheng Shijie pieced together here and there to get four thousand war horses. Although there are as many as four thousand war horses, which looks like a lot, in fact, more than half of them are inferior horses used to make up for the number. These horses have neither Jiannu's horse was tall and could not run as fast as Jiannu's horse. In the cavalry battle, he suffered a big loss.
Now, Cheng Shijie feels in a dilemma.
Cheng Shijie thought: "Now I am not sure how much surplus grain can be sold. We need to wait until after the autumn harvest. If you are willing, you can drive these cattle and horses to southern Liaoning. We will pay with one hand and deliver the goods. As for the price... you go Let’s talk to the management committee!”
"The grassroots understand."
I have to admit that choice is really important many times.
If Fan Yongdou hadn't been stimulated by Bao Chengxian and changed his plan temporarily, otherwise. He used money to trade with Cheng Shijie according to his original plan. At this moment, his head was about to fall to the ground.
Cheng Shijie was a little unsure whether he should trade with Fan Yongdou. Trading with Fan Yongdou was actually trading with Jiannu...
If it was a normal transaction, Cheng Shijie would definitely not be willing to do it, but if it was a trap to trick Fan Yongdou, Cheng Shijie would be very happy.
Driving cattle and horses to southern Liaoning means that the goods will die on the ground, and then Fan Yongdou will no longer be able to do it.
Cheng Shijie pretended to be embarrassed and said: "Shopkeeper Fan, you also know that because of my status, I cannot interfere in these merchant affairs. I will appoint someone to hand over the specific matters to you. You must discuss the specific matters yourself. You must remember that you It has nothing to do with me, I have never met you, and I don’t know what Jie Xiu Fan is!"
Fan Yongdou was secretly happy about Cheng Shijie's attitude.
Almost all officials in the Ming Dynasty are urinary. They can speak grandly and do things as dirty as they want.
"Someone, go get Xie Jinglin!"
When Fan Yongdou heard this name, he suddenly realized.
Xie Jinglin is a businessman in southern Liaoning who has recently emerged. He has many good things in his hands, but the selling price is very expensive. However, Xie Jinglin was originally just a small business and could not catch Fan Yongdou's attention. However, because the goods he purchased were mainly cattle, sheep, and horses, Fan Yongdou had doubts about Xie Jinglin...
Now it can be proven that Xie Jinglin is Cheng Shijie's man.
Not long after, Xie Jinglin came in, bowed to Cheng Shijie and saluted: "My lord, let me pay my respects to the commander-in-chief!"
"No gift!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Xie Jinglin and said with a smile: "Jing Lin, this is the shopkeeper of Fan's Company in Jiexiu, Shanxi. Let's get to know each other!"
"Shopkeeper Fan!"
"Thank you, shopkeeper!"
"Nice to meet you!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Xie Jinglin and said, "Jing Lin, shopkeeper Fan has come to Liaonan. You are responsible for entertaining him. Please discuss this business slowly, don't be in a hurry!"
"Save it for me!"
Fan Yongdou was also a human being. He knew that in this situation, Cheng Shijie would definitely hand over important matters to Xie Jinglin, so he said goodbye.
After Fan Yongdou left, Cheng Shijie told Xie Jinglin: "This time, the initiative is on our side. You sharpen the knife quickly and kill them hard!"
Xie Jinglin seemed to not understand what Cheng Shijie meant: "Commander, what should I do?"
Cheng Shijie said: "In about one and a half months, the corn will be harvested. At that time, you take Fan Yongdou to see our corn. According to my estimation, we should harvest about five or six stones per acre, maybe even more!"
This is of course Cheng Shijie's conservative estimate. If there is enough chemical fertilizer in later generations, corn can produce about 1,000 to 1,200 kilograms. If the fertility cannot keep up, then it is possible to produce a few hundred kilograms per mu.
There is no chemical fertilizer in the land in southern Liaoning, only a small amount of organic fertilizer. Cheng Shijie has no idea of the yield. Of course, no matter how low the yield is, there should still be six to seven hundred kilograms.
Sell the corn to Fan Yongdou as an improved seed and raise the asking price by more than ten times. Fan Yongdou will definitely agree to buy it. After all, this new crop has high yield and corn stalks contain a lot of sugar, which is ideal for silage feed. Jiannu would definitely be willing to pay a lot of money to buy the raw materials.
But later generations of seed companies have already genetically locked this kind of corn. According to Fan Yongdou's intelligence, he will definitely try planting it in the first year, and then sell it to Jiannu after a good harvest.
At this time, the genetic lock of corn seeds began to work. In later generations, farmers would hardly save their own seeds because of the existence of this genetic lock.
However, this kind of gene lock is not a genetic mutation that will be found in the second generation of seeds, but a genetic mutation in the third generation. If Fan Yongdou buys the seeds directly and sells them to Jiannu, Jiannu will indeed benefit one year and the next year's seeds. They will also germinate, but they no longer have the genetically modified high yield, drought resistance, and pest and disease resistance capabilities.
In addition to corn, there are also potatoes and sweet potatoes. The yield of these crops is very high, and the wet weight is larger. The yield per mu can reach tens of thousands of kilograms. No matter how smart Fan Yongdou is, he will choose to plant them.
However, whether it is potatoes or sweet potatoes, once they are frozen, they will no longer germinate. In other words, the seeds Fan Yongdou bought at dozens of times the price are seeds that cannot grow normally.
Even if Cheng Shijie trades with Fan Yongdou normally, he will not provide transportation means or transportation services. This requires Fan Yongdou to transport the goods himself. Once he leaves the control area of Liaonan, Cheng Shijie will order his subordinate Hu Erqi. , led Jiannu to intercept Fan Yongdou's transportation team.
Anyway, Jian Nu is the one taking the blame, leaving Fan Yongdou and Jian Nu to argue.
…
Yang Chen once again received a summons from Cheng Shijie. This time, it was not only Yang Chen who was summoned by Cheng Shijie, but also Gu Shizhang and others from Huizhou merchants, as well as Fan Yongdou.
The location of the summons was the No. 1 Salt Factory in Liaonan and the refining workshop of the No. 1 Salt Factory in Liaonan.
In the refining workshop, a young salt worker first placed buckets of salt in the drying room to dry the water, and then poured the dried salt into a mill for grinding.
The donkey pulled the grinder in circles, and the salt particles shattered into pieces and turned into snow-white salt powder. The ground salt powder is then sent to the packaging area in buckets.
Cheng Shijie, along with more than a dozen representatives of Huizhou merchants, as well as Fan Yongdou and others, watched hundreds of women. They quickly packed salt powder into moisture-proof mulberry paper bags and weighed each bag on a scale. Two pounds, then sealed.
"Everyone, try the tribute salt here!"
"Tribute salt?"
Cheng Shijie originally planned to destroy the salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but he would definitely not end up personally. Anyway, he and Gao Qiqian were in a relationship of mutual use. Cheng Shijie had fed Gao Qiqian for so long, so it was time for him to contribute.
When Cheng Shijie delivered this beautifully packaged salt to Gao Qiqian, Cheng Shijie didn't even need to ask. Gao Qiqian sent Cheng Shijie a personal letter from Emperor Chongzhen: "Royal Tribute Salt!" with four big characters and four outlines. Shiobiki.
This is the government-issued salt certificate. Each certificate is worth 200,000 salt certificates, and each salt certificate is worth 300 kilograms of salt. Cheng Shijie now possesses 800,000 legal salt coins, which is equivalent to 120,000 tons of salt.
In the Ming Dynasty, salt was actually a substitute for silver and a hard currency. Each amount of salt is equivalent to six cents and four cents of salt, which is the nest capital. These 800,000 salt coins are equivalent to 512,000 taels of silver.
Although Gao Qiqian did not come to Liaonan, he sent his confidants here. His intention was to gain benefits.
How could Cheng Shijie not know the truth behind this?
Gao Qiqian wanted benefits, but if Cheng Shijie didn't give them, he would immediately fall out. Considering that he also needed someone to take the blame, he would become a target for Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt merchants.
When Cheng Shijie held this meeting, he asked the eunuch named Wang Muzhi to dress up as a young man in green clothes and follow him over to participate in the meeting.
Gu Shizhang did not dare to come forward, but asked an old man to come forward. The old Huizhou merchant picked up a bag of salt, dipped a little of it with his finger and put it in his mouth. He tasted it for a long time and said, "There is no astringency at all, even better than Zigong." Well salt tastes pretty good!”
Another Huizhou merchant nodded and said: "The royal tribute salt is indeed worthy of its reputation. Good salt, good salt!"
Cheng Shijie explained: "This is called iodized salt, and a little... trade secrets are added to it. All you need to know is that if people lack iodine, they will get sick. The big neck disease you have also seen is a typical symptom of iodine deficiency. Eating this kind of salt not only doesn’t taste bitter, but it also ensures you will get sick less often!”
"I wonder how much a bag of salt like this costs?"
Cheng Shijie said: "Each pack is two kilograms, because it is added... so it is more expensive than ordinary salt, thirty cents per pack!"
"What?"
"Only thirty cents?"
"Nowadays, even sea salt that is too bitter to swallow is sold for more than ten cents per pound! Mr. Cheng, you sell it so cheaply, are you not afraid of losing money?"
The imperial court priced salt at six cents and four cents of silver, which was the official price. Salt was only two cents per catty. This is actually not expensive. However, the problem is that because salt is monopolized, salt merchants increase the price by five to six times, or even more than ten times.
This money was naturally contributed by ordinary people, which made the salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang rich.
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "How can I do a loss-making business?"
The thing about salt is to make small profits but quick turnover. The cost of a bag of salt is about two cents. If you sell it for thirty cents, you will make a net profit of twenty-eight cents. This is a huge profit from salt. The salt that Gao Qiqian obtained was worth 512,000 taels of silver, but in Cheng Shijie's hands, it turned into 3.6 million taels of silver.
Although the iodized salt Cheng Shijie mentioned is actually drying the kelp, grinding it into powder, adding it to salt water and mixing it.
Of course, these thirty cents are just the wholesale price for Huizhou merchants. As for how Huizhou merchants will compete with Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt merchants after they get the salt, this is not Cheng Shijie's concern.
Seeing the quality of Cheng Shijie's refined salt, these Hui merchants made their decisions one after another and signed contracts. In just one day, 800,000 pieces of salt were sold for 600,000 taels of silver.
According to the agreement, they cannot sell salt in the Liaodong area controlled by Cheng Shijie. Even if they want to sell it, it is useless. The salt Cheng Shijie sells to Ning Haijun soldiers and their families is discounted by half, which is fifteen cents per pack, which is equivalent to Seven cents and a half a pound.
In this case, they cannot sell salt in Liaonan, so who will buy it? Ordinary military and household members would sell a small amount of salt to them to make a little money.
…
"Mr. Bao, how much does this tribute salt cost?"
Fan Yongdou also signed an agreement with Cheng Shijie, but he only bought 6,000 taels of salt because he wanted to establish a monopoly on the salt merchants who built slaves. Shanxi actually produced salt, but it was well salt and some was lake salt.
Bao Cheng first dipped his finger in it and put it in his mouth.
His eyes suddenly lit up: "Good salt, good salt!"
Fan Yongdou said: "This is the tribute salt I obtained from the capital through special means. It is produced in Sichuan!"
"Zigong's well salt?"
"That's right, there are good things in it. You won't get sick if you eat it!"
"Then...in that case, one pack!"
Bao Cheng first weighed the weight: "Why do you need three or four silver coins?"
Fan Yongdou thought he was evil, but he didn't expect Bao Chengxian to be even more evil and directly increase the price more than ten times, so that each kilogram of salt is equivalent to two hundred Wen.
"this……"
Fan Yongdou didn't dare to trick Huang Taiji too much, because Huang Taiji had the knife, and if he angered Huang Taiji, his life would not be safe.
Bao Chengxian said: "Shopkeeper Fan, you can't be too greedy. Eight hundred coins can't be more. If it's more, it will be difficult to explain!"
"Okay, you are 30% involved!"
"Only 30%?"
"Then...three and a half percent!"
"Fifty-five!"
In Cheng Shijie's General Military Mansion, Ning Haijun's recruitment work was coming to an end. Cheng Shijie was preparing to recruit 8,000 men and horses. However, with the arrival of Fan Yongdou, he had 6,000 good horses in his hands, so it was imperative to expand the cavalry.
Cheng Shijie looked at General Ning Haijun and said, "As you all know, I recruited more than 12,000 new soldiers a while ago."
Zhou Yandong said: "Isn't it too much? According to current standards, including military pay, food, clothing, and weapon consumption, it would cost at least thirty taels of silver a year to raise a soldier. This does not include cavalry training. The cost, cavalry is even more expensive, our current military expenditure is more than 100,000 taels of silver per month!"
Shen Mingyu asked: "How does the commander expand his army?"
Shen Mingyu has never thought about how to raise troops. Anyway, this problem is not his concern. What he needs to worry about is training the troops well so that they can be sent out to fight anytime and anywhere.
Cheng Shijie pondered: "The best unit to expand is the cavalry unit. We are about to obtain 6,000 war horses. We cannot let these horses have cubs. The left and right divisions will each add a cavalry bureau. The strength of each division will be increased to More than 7,600 troops."
Zhang Yu and Shen Ming were overjoyed.
Cheng Shijie continued: "When the newly purchased war horses are in place, the cavalry force will be expanded to the Cavalry Division. The Cavalry Division will govern the first to fifth generals, totaling more than 6,000 troops!"
Zhao Wencai also showed joy: "It's good to expand the cavalry, but I'm afraid it's hard to recruit them!"
"This is easy to handle. A large number of refugees from Henan have come to our southern Liaoning!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Zhao Wencai and said: "Henan is a major province of horse administration in the Ming Dynasty. The number of people who can ride horses is no less than that of Datong, Yulin and other border areas. You will lead the cavalry. I will give you four thousand horses. How many troops can you recruit?" It all depends on your ability!”
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"no need to thank me!"
Cheng Shijie looked at the generals and said: "My principle is to do as much work as you have the ability. Now that we occupy the four states in southern Liaoning, Jiannu will definitely not sit back and watch us develop southern Liaoning. The war is coming, and everyone must take action." The strings in my heart are tense!”
"It's the handsome man!"
"On the basis of our Ning Haijun's Left and Right Command Divisions, the Ning Hai Navy Guards Division will be established as the commander-in-chief's Chinese military force."
Although Ning Haijun now has more than 3,000 troops, the problem is that letting the Military Supervision and Road Administration Department be responsible for his security work is not a long-term solution.
"Commander..."
Cheng Shijie looked at the generals and said: "This is just the way the army expansion is for the time being. Don't be too greedy. I only have so much money in hand and I can't afford to raise so many soldiers!"
Zhou Yandong said: "If we reduce the salary, we can still expand the two capital divisions..."
"Hmph, cut the benefits! Then what kind of fighting power do these expanded soldiers have?"
"Just cut it a little bit..."
Cheng Shijie solemnly said: "Not at all! I am not worried about poverty but inequality. I don't want to be wiped out by a group of psychologically unbalanced soldiers on the battlefield!"
(End of chapter)
