"Now that we've eaten and drank enough, it's time to go to the salt field and have a look."
Li Xiao finished his lunch, put down his things, and then went out.
Arrived outside the house.
The servants have already prepared the horses.
"Master Xiao, your horse."
"Thanks."
Li Xiao nodded with satisfaction, then jumped on his horse and drove away.
Although there is no system proficiency blessing, Li Xiao has become proficient in riding horses.
The main reason is that the attributes of strength, agility, and intelligence are higher than those of ordinary people, and he can learn quickly.
An hour and a half later.
Li Xiao came to the salt mine. At this time, the salt field at the foot of the mountain had begun to take shape.
The several brick and tile factory buildings that I arranged for Zhu Gaoxu to be built are already being started by craftsmen and are half finished.
As for the salt-making tools purchased, they are all neatly placed.
Zhu Gaoxu was busy directing these people in an orderly manner.
It has to be said that Zhu Gaoxu's organizational skills are quite strong. He is worthy of being a man who has been on the battlefield. Moreover, he is tall and majestic, and others will feel timid just by looking at him.
"Gao Xu, you've worked hard these past few days. You've done a good job."
Li Xiao walked over and patted Zhu Gaoxu on the shoulder.
"Brother-in-law, you are here."
Zhu Gaoxu said in surprise: "This is a trivial matter. I have already asked the craftsmen to work harder. It will be completed tomorrow, and we can start work the day after tomorrow."
"Huh?" Zhu Gaoxu asked strangely: "Brother-in-law, you seem to be a little taller."
After Li Xiao's attributes were improved, he also found that he seemed to have grown a second time and was a little taller. He was now almost 1.8 meters tall, as tall as Zhu Gaoxu.
"Is it high? You must have remembered it wrong, haha."
Li Xiao quickly changed the subject: "How much money did you spend together?"
Did you remember it wrong... Zhu Gaoxu scratched his head and said, "It's not much silver. The total of these tools, materials and craftsman's fees is less than fifty taels."
"Counting fifty taels, plus the fifty taels I paid for the salt mine earlier, the total is one hundred taels."
Li Xiao said: "Gao Xu, you have helped me a lot. For one hundred taels, you will become a shareholder. You will get 10% of the profits from this salt farm."
Zhu Gaoxu laughed loudly and said: "Brother-in-law, you are just cheating. This hundred taels is nothing. You are cheating when talking about money. All the profits from this salt farm belong to you. I don't want my brother, so I should help you."
One hundred taels was really nothing to Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Di has given more than just these things in recent days.
Moreover, Zhu Gaoxu felt that the matter of making salt was... suspenseful...
My brother-in-law is just a farmer, so he shouldn’t understand this, and he might fail.
Besides, how much profit can there be from 10%?
But it doesn't matter, the favor helps.
"No? Gao Xu? Are you sure you don't want 10% profit?" Li Xiao asked with a smile.
"I really don't want my brother-in-law. I shouldn't do this little favor as my brother, right?" Zhu Gaoxu laughed.
"Okay...you can always tell me when you regret it."
Li Xiao is a loyal person and cannot let Zhu Gaoxu help in vain.
"Okay, just listen to my brother-in-law."
Zhu Gaoxu said unconcernedly.
...
for the rest of the time.
Li Xiao inspected the salt field and found nothing different from what he thought.
The salt field is not far from the salt mine, and there are several large brick buildings.
Each room is a step in the making of salt.
Just like a factory assembly line.
The salt mine is transported down the mountain and entered into the first factory building where it is crushed...
It will then be transported to the second factory where it will be stewed and impurities separated.
After entering the third factory building, it is precipitated and filtered.
Next is boiling salt...crystallization....
The division of labor is clear and the efficiency is high. It can be regarded as a simple version of a factory.
Of course, Li Xiao doesn't have to worry about the production method being spread out.
Because the most important part of the recipe is in his hands.
"These are all fine."
"The next step is to recruit people."
"This place is relatively close to Dadong Village, so we simply go to Dadong Village to recruit people."
Li Xiao suggested.
It is now the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, and the land of the Yuan Dynasty has been baptized.
Basically every household has farmland.
After farmers are busy in spring, people with a large family will go out to find some work to increase their family's income. Basically, no one will starve to death.
During the Yuan Dynasty, land was basically owned by landlords.
Most of them are tenant farmers, and when they see the landowner, they have to behave like master and servant.
But this is the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang once issued an edict stipulating: "When tenants meet the landowner, regardless of their rank, they should treat them as if they are young and do things well."
Therefore, even if you accidentally become a tenant, it is only a superior-subordinate relationship.
Therefore, Li Xiao felt that it was not bad to travel back to the Ming Dynasty, as the status of farmers was not so humble.
The two of them arrived at Dadongzhuang all the way.
After asking around, I found the director here.
The court institutions of the Ming Dynasty stopped when they reached the county, and the grassroots management organizations below were called the Lijia system.
To put it simply: 110 households are organized into a li, and the 10 li chiefs who produce the most Dingliang (taxed grain) are selected as li chiefs. The 10 li chiefs take turns serving in a 10-year cycle.
The remaining 100 households are classified as 10A, and 1A is composed of 10 households.
Chief A also takes turns to serve on a regular basis.
The head of the village is the future village secretary, and the head of the village is the village director.
It's just labor, voluntary labor.
The compiled book of fish scales is made according to the A system here, just like fish scales.
From a modern perspective, Li Xiao feels that there are many disadvantages.
But this is none of my business, I just need to live a good life.
Soon, the two found the lieutenant, a simple middle-aged man.
"Are you the leader of this area?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.
As soon as the other party saw Zhu Gaoxu's dress and appearance, he didn't dare to offend him. He quickly bowed and said, "Yes... I wonder what you two adults are doing?"
Zhu Gaoxu asked directly: "How much money do you make when you go to help other people's homes for a day's work?"
The man smiled naively: "For fellow villagers, we help each other on happy occasions, building houses, etc. We don't charge for it, and we just take care of the food."
"..." Zhu Gaoxu was speechless for a while.
Li Xiao smiled and said, "That's right. What I want to ask is, if you go to help a wealthy family in the city, how much do you get for a day's work?"
"Oh, you ask that." The man smiled and said: "Usually it's 50 yuan, but this is the slack time for farming, and now you get 70 yuan when farming is busy."
Li Xiao thought about it in his mind.
1 tael of silver converted into copper coins is 1,000 coins.
In other words, 2 taels of silver can recruit someone to work for a month.
I estimate that I will need 50 people. The cost per month is 100 taels.
The main cost is labor cost. The mine has been purchased and tool loss is ignored.
And I secretly calculated last night that the current scale can produce 50,000 kilograms of salt a month.
In the Ming Dynasty, salt was under the control of the state, and the court set the price. The price was clearly marked at 2 qian silver per pound.
Private salt is much cheaper at 1 yuan per pound, but it is easy to lose your head...
Follow this algorithm.
The quality of my snowflake white salt is worth 1 tael per kilogram. Is it not expensive?
According to the selling price of one tael...
The output of 50,000 kilograms of salt per month is equivalent to 50,000 taels of silver!
What was it like to earn fifty thousand taels of silver a month in the Ming Dynasty?
"Fuck, if I could sell salt directly, I would make a lot of money."
Li Xiao complained in his heart.
