As a result, Emperor Wanli was so praised by the civil servants that he couldn't find any answers! I was so happy that I scattered a lot of things! This is why his pockets have bulged in recent years because of Liu Haojia. According to his past character, it would be impossible for him to give away rewards!
But not long after the reward was released, the stingy temper of his Lao Zhu family broke out again! He regretted it and felt that the reward was too much!
With this in mind, he naturally complained a few times when communicating with Liu Haojia. But this matter could be hidden from Emperor Wanli, but not from Liu Haojia! He knew very well that commerce and industry were the industries that could absorb the most people, so he understood the ins and outs of the matter after a little thought! It turns out that all the credit I have made has been taken by you civil servants!
Now that he has figured it out, he cannot let others take away the credit in vain. So he explained the whole story to Emperor Wanli in the letter.
Emperor Wanli was not stupid, and he had also learned some basics of governing the country over the years. So after receiving Liu Haojia's letter, he became furious and cursed! But those rewards had already been given out and he could never get them back, which made him even more frustrated!
Emperor Wanli's temperament is that if you don't make it easy for me, I will never make it easy for you! So in the eyes of the ministers, Emperor Wanli suddenly changed during this period!
At the beginning, when everyone came together to ask for merit, he was pleasant and smiling. I am very happy to hear that the situation this year is better than previous years. Why do you suddenly start to make trouble with everyone? They will fine ministers several months of salary at every turn!
The eyes of the elders were naturally sharp, and they immediately concluded that Emperor Wanli was seeking revenge on those ministers because he had seen through the truth of the matter! Because the several ministers who were fined one year's salary were all the first to advocate that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, that His Majesty is wise, that the ministers have merit, and that the ministers have worked hard!
However, several pavilion elders secretly laughed but did not intend to speak. On the one hand, they did not take any initiative in this matter. It was all done by the people below, trying to put some credit on their own faces while taking credit from Liu Haojia. This was a routine operation for civil servants, and there was nothing unusual about it.
Another thing, since these people want to use small means to gain a future, they must be mentally prepared to pay the price! Anyway, there are so many civil servants, and some of the unlucky ones are substitutes. It's just that these people were discovered by the suddenly smart Emperor Wanli!
However, Liu Haojia ignored the commotion in the temple and concentrated on organizing people to build sea walls and salt fields. Finally, as the weather turns cooler and it’s autumn, the first phase and the original third phase of the project are completely completed!
Originally, Liu Haojia planned to build only the first phase of the project this year, but this year there were more refugees to attend, and the people involved in the construction were very capable, especially the engineers, who played a major role, which led to the construction date being greatly advanced. In order not to waste manpower, after rigorous calculations, Liu Haojia ordered the relatively small third phase of the project to be started early.
The third phase of the project is actually a Haiyan refinery. The salt produced successfully in the first phase will be melted again into high-concentration brine, filtered layer by layer, and then recrystallized. The table salt produced in this way is very close to modern table salt. It is as white as snow and has crystal clear particles. It can be sold at a very good price!
Don’t think that since the salt industry was very developed in ancient times, the salt produced will be both beautiful and delicious. In fact, they are two completely different things!
In ancient times, the ancients were still accustomed to using salt when brushing their teeth and rinsing their mouths, but this was limited to wealthy families. Ordinary people could not even afford salt, so how could they use salt to brush their teeth. Moreover, wealthy households also use green salt.
Because the brine of green salt is extracted from wells, it has relatively few impurities, a white color, and a not astringent taste. It is already somewhat close to modern table salt. The salt used by wealthy people is mostly sea salt. However, the color of this salt is still yellowish and the particles are relatively large. This is because the filtration method they use is not thorough. The salt tastes okay, but it always has a fishy smell and a light astringency.
As for the salt that ordinary people eat, it is unsightly! First of all, these salt particles are very big! Larger salt particles can be as big as a fingernail! And the color is so yellow that you can even see the impurities contained in individual salt grains! As for the taste, it’s true
It's salty, but fishy and astringent, making it hard to eat! But even so, it’s still extremely expensive!
The reason why Liu Haojia made the salt factory so big was because he planned to greatly improve the level of the salt industry in the entire Ming Dynasty! So when he built the salt fields, he set up layers of filter tanks to ensure that the brine entering the salt fields was extremely clean. In this way, the salt produced would be pure white in color, with smaller crystals and a purer taste!
As for the salt produced in the third phase of the project, it is basically aimed at high-end users! Therefore, the salt must be made as white as snow as in modern dramas. It is only salty, not astringent, and has no fishy smell! Only by selling to those wealthy and powerful can you get a better price!
As for the first phase of the project, it was only to meet Liu Haojia's need to exchange salt for grain, so it was not large in scale. The second phase of the project is extremely large, almost thirteen times the size of the first phase! If the second phase of the project is completed as scheduled, the salt field will spread from Tianjin to Shandong, forming a huge salt field!
In Liu Haojia's plan, he wants to use this salt factory to completely destroy the salt industry in Jiangnan, completely drive down the price of salt, and make private salt nowhere to be found! Every kilogram of salt sold must be taxed to the Ming Dynasty! So this requires that the output of the salt farm must be very huge!
However, Liu Haojia was very confident in this, because in later generations the Changlu Saltworks itself was a huge enterprise, supplying almost one-third of China's edible salt and industrial salt. But for Daming now, industrial salt is almost useless, so he only needs to go all out to produce edible salt.
If the planned fourth phase of the salt farm is put into use, he is even sure that one salt factory will be used to supply all the salt of the Ming Dynasty! By then, the Ming Dynasty will be able to collect about 20 million taels of silver a year from the salt tax alone, instead of the pitiful three to four million taels like now, and it will be handed over to the court like charity!
But relatively speaking, the risk of Liu Haojia's operation is even greater! Because he almost offended the two largest merchants in the Ming Dynasty, the grain merchants and the salt merchants! ap.
All those who dare to intervene in these two industries are truly wealthy! They are intertwined, entrenched in the court and local areas, and have huge energy! Especially when they still control the huge flow of funds, combined with their power, it is simply unfavorable!
