Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 237 Monopoly
After the governor finished speaking, Zuo Shenzheng, the Chief Political Officer, said: "Now the victims not only have no food, but also no place to live. Because the flood destroyed a large number of houses, the victims were displaced, so we have to find a way to solve them. The place."

Hearing that the official mentioned the housing issue, Li Jingjing nodded, saying that if these local officials were sincere in doing things, they would consider the issue very carefully.

After thinking about it, Li Jing said: "This problem is really not easy to solve. We don't have to worry about manpower, but the materials for building the house.

When the flood came, the house was washed away, and all the wood was washed away at the same time. It was really difficult to cut down so much wood in a short time.

But no matter how difficult it is, what should be done is still to be done. I have informed the victims that they must work if they want to eat, and let everyone go to the nearest forest to cut wood.

However, many mountains and forests here are owned by individuals, and several adults need to say hello to those mountain owners, otherwise the victims will not be able to go up the mountains to cut wood. "

Governor Wu nodded: "This is easy to handle. Let the adults issue an announcement under the rule. If anyone obstructs, they will be severely punished."

Li Jing shook his head: "I asked you adults to greet the mountain owners not to ask them to donate wood for free. After all, those mountains and forests are their personal property, and we cannot use the property of the mountain owners to subsidize the victims.

What we have to do is to prevent them from taking the opportunity to drive up prices. In the catastrophe in Henan, countless houses need to be built. There must be some unscrupulous mountain forest owners who use this to raise wood prices and make huge profits. We must severely crack down on these people. But for those carpenters who stick to their duties, their interests must be guaranteed, and even rewards, such as we can exempt them from part of the tax and the like. "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "In addition, there are still some wood merchants and forest owners who may not be willing to sell wood at a low price. Necessary measures must be taken against these people, such as checking whether they have paid their taxes in full in the past. If they pay enough, they will be fined heavily, and their qualifications to manage timber will be disqualified next year, and the forests they bought will be used as decorations."

Governor Wu and the others were taken aback by Li Jing's words. Is this person really a businessman?Is it a rude warrior?These methods of governing and calming the people are probably far inferior to capable officials who have been immersed in local management for many years.

Sighing, Li Jing continued: "However, even if we introduce these decrees to benefit the people, I'm afraid it will not solve the problem of food and housing for so many people. After all, the resources of the two governments are limited, and the government treasury and grain merchants and landlords only have so much food. , we can control the hunger but not the full, and we have to mobilize the people, those who have relatives to visit relatives, and those who have friends to rely on friends."

As soon as Li Jing said this, all the officials immediately nodded their heads, feeling that Li Jing was quite understanding.

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "In addition, I don't know if you adults have calculated that Li needs to recruit a large number of civilian husbands to transfer grain from Shanxi, and there are nearly ten thousand people in Li's escort. Eating horses also consumes a large amount of food.

Therefore, I plan to withdraw the civilian husbands in Shanxi and let the victims transport food, which will save a large amount of food, and at the same time prevent the victims from eating for nothing. "

All the officials nodded after hearing this. The more food they transported, the more civilian labor they would need to recruit, and the more food they would consume. Everyone knew this truth very well.

Anyway, the purpose of transporting food is to treat the victims, so it is just right for the victims to transport food, so that the food of the peasants can be saved.

Seeing everyone's agreement, Li Jing continued: "There is one more thing, all adults may know that Li still has a small amount of property, and these industries still need to recruit a group of workers to work.

In addition, this time the emperor handed over the salt administration of Pingyang Mansion to Li, and the salt factory also needed people to dry the salt.It happens that those victims who have nothing to do can be transferred to Pingyang Prefecture to work as salt workers. In this way, we can settle most of the victims by taking a multi-pronged approach. "

As soon as Li Jing finished speaking, all the officials present looked at each other in blank dismay, and moved the population to Shanxi?This matter must be carefully considered.

We must know that the taxation of the Ming Dynasty mainly came from land, but it was not based on how much land the peasants owned, but on the basis of the number of farmers in their families, which is the so-called head tax.In fact, this method of tax collection was not established by the Ming Dynasty, but lasted for thousands of years. It was not until the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty that it was changed to the taxation method, which reduced the burden on the common people.

Now that Li Jing wants to relocate the population, it is tantamount to taking away their taxes.

But everyone immediately thought, could it be that Li Jing's disaster relief was to relocate the affected people to Shanxi?

Li Jing said that he only had a small income, and everyone present knew that he was being modest when he said that.All of these people are well-informed people who know that Li Jing's industry is huge and needs a large number of workers to work for him.

If it wasn't for the purpose of transferring people to Shanxi to work for him, could it be that he burned the bag with a lot of money and went to Henan to toss about with such a big crime?

That's not one money or two money. If the materials transported by Li Jing this time are converted into silver, they must be at least 30 taels.Could it be that his money was blown by a strong wind, so it doesn't hurt at all to spend it so much?
If it is for these victims, then it makes sense.

It is a good deal to exchange hundreds of thousands of silver for tens of thousands or even 10,000+ victims.

Among them, the magistrate of Henan Province couldn't help but secretly smiled bitterly after hearing this. Mengjin and other counties belonged to him. Tens of thousands of people have already fled to the territory of Pingyang Prefecture.

It is probably because Li Jing felt that begging in private is not as enjoyable as asking for someone openly, so Li Jing is now asking them directly.

Seeing that everyone was noncommittal, Li Jing smiled and said: "My lords, there is one thing that you may not know. The salt factory managed by Mr. Li is currently selling salt certificates. One salt certificate is 5000 taels, and the other certificate is [-] rock salt. I don’t know if you adults know any salt merchants, if you have a good relationship, Li can sell them a salt certificate for the sake of your adults.”

"Ah!" All the officials exclaimed in unison.

Only 5000 taels of silver are charged for [-] halite, which means that [-] halite of salt only costs [-] qian, which is much lower than the price of private salt, which is more than one liang of silver per shi!

If Li Jing's salt quantity can be guaranteed, once his salt price gets out, all salt merchants will come to his salt factory to buy salt, which will be a bonanza.

If they take this kind of salt certificate, they will make a big fuss.If you resell it, you can get at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

But considering Li Jing's style of doing things, it is impossible for them to make such a huge profit.

Sure enough, Li Jing continued: "In Shanxi, the price of salt set by Mr. Li is ten cents per catty of salt. If anyone pays more than this price, Mr. Li will be punished severely. Check, if anyone mixes something with salt, he will be fined ten times more and will be disqualified from selling salt. Shanxi is adjacent to Henan, and the price here cannot be higher than that in Shanxi. Otherwise, the salt here is afraid It cannot be sold."

All the officials nodded silently when they heard this. They all understood the meaning of Li Jing's words. Henan and Shanxi are so close. If the price here is high, the salt merchants in Shanxi will inevitably squeeze in. When the time comes, the salt merchants in Henan I have no choice but to follow the price in Shanxi. Instead of doing that, it is better for everyone to unify the price and make money happily.

At the moment, I quickly calculated, one catty of salt is ten Wen, and one stone salt is 120 catties, which can be sold for one or two yuan. The salt merchants have taken so much salt that it is impossible to retail it, and it can only be sold in batches. The money is ready, the fifty thousand shi is 5 taels of silver, and the various expenses are calculated as 1 taels of silver, so you can still earn 5000 taels of silver. If you sell it in a farther place, the profit will be higher.

Ask Li Jing for a certificate, and sell it to a salt merchant for 3 taels.If you want two more, it will be tens of thousands of taels.

After all the officials finished their calculations, they immediately came to their senses. After taking Li Jing's salt certificate, they had to agree to Li Jing's transfer of population, and the co-author was bought by Li Jing.

It doesn't matter if you turn your head and think about it, just think that these people were drowned in the flood, and no one will count how many people died anyway.Moreover, Li Jing had already sent people to gather up the bodies of the dead victims, and cremated them all. If he wanted to count them, he couldn't even find the graves, so he could only count them in the underworld.

Damn it, Li Jing has even figured this out, no wonder he can make so much money in business!

Li Jingzi didn't know that these officials were judging a gentleman's belly with the heart of a villain, and he didn't expect that these guys were slandering him in their hearts while trying to get money from him.

However, looking at the expressions of these people, Li Jing knew that these people had actually agreed in their hearts.

Smiling, Li Jing said: "I am going to provide twenty salt certificates here in Henan. Whether you give it to ten salt merchants or twenty salt merchants, it's up to you adults to decide."

Governor Wu and others hastily counted the number of people. There are six people in the governor's yamen, the chief envoy and the chief officials of the two prefects in Henan and Kaifeng (the chief officials are three, the chief envoy and the left and right Participating in politics), there are two chief officials of the state government (the two prefectures have a total of five states, and three of them were killed for corruption), and six county magistrates, a total of [-] chief officials.The supervisors above the magistrate each receive two certificates, and the officials below each receive a salt certificate, twenty is just right.

After counting the number of people, these officials suddenly knew that this was a salt certificate given by Li Jing according to their number. If there were more people, Li Jing would give a few more.

However, twenty salt certificates are 100 million halite, and there will definitely be no less than 100 million halite in Shanxi. Naturally, a lot of manpower is required to produce such a large amount of salt.

At this time, everyone finally knew that Li Jing's salt factory really needed a lot of people.

If this quantity is produced, it is estimated that thousands of manpower will be mobilized.

But they obviously underestimated Li Jing. Li Jing not only wanted to monopolize the salt industry in Shanxi and Henan, but also Shanxi, Gansu, and Zhili in the north and south. Li Jing even planned to monopolize the salt industry in Mongolia, Liaodong and other places. monopoly of the whole industry.

(End of this chapter)