Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

Chapter 355: I'll even marry my daughter to you!

Li Jong felt heartbroken when people questioned whether he could afford a boat.

He retorted somewhat unwillingly: "This ship.............is very expensive?"

Ji Qing chuckled and said, "Your Majesty, the cost is only for the Ming Dynasty."

"Have you ever seen anyone selling things at cost price?"

"Also, do you really think that just buying the boat will be enough?"

"It's not that I look down on North Korean fishermen, but it's a sheer waste to give them such a big boat!"

"Because you don't have a fishing net to match it!"

"I'm telling you something in secret. The cost of one trawl net used on the Fuzhou ship is thirty taels of silver!"

"Besides, it can only be used for a month at most!"

Li Zong took a deep breath when he heard that.

Thirty taels of silver for a fishing net?

What a joke!

How many fish can you buy with thirty taels of silver?

And it can only be used for one month, so on average, the cost per day is one or two taels of silver.

He didn't dare to think about it anymore, because with North Korea's current national strength, it really couldn't afford such expenses...

Seeing his reaction as if his father had died, Ji Qing inexplicably felt a sense of pity.

He sighed deeply and shook his head helplessly.

"Your Majesty, actually......"

"I can provide you with a way to make money."

Li Zong's eyes suddenly widened, and he grabbed his shoulders with both hands and shook them hard twice.

"What is the way to make money? Tell me!"

"As long as you can help me earn money, I will betroth my daughter to you!"

Ji Qing was overjoyed when he heard this. Just as he was about to express his thoughts, he saw the two North Korean officials behind Li Jong showing expressions of gloating.

What the hell?

Could it be that Li Zong's daughter looks like a yaksha?

Or, she got pregnant before she even had a family?

Just forget it, never mind!

Anyway, this thing is impossible to succeed. Even if Li Zong wants me to marry his daughter, I may not be able to pass the test of His Majesty.

Is it so easy for two countries to have a marriage?

So he threw Li Jong's conditions out of his mind and pointed at the salted fish drying over there.

"Your Majesty, think about it, what is the most lacking thing in the Ming Dynasty right now?"

"fish?"

Li Jong blurted out the answer without even thinking about it.

Ji Qing smiled and shook his head.

"No, no!"

"There are plenty of fish in the sea. There are boats, nets, and fishermen. So although fish are in short supply, they are not the most scarce thing."

Li Zong looked at the salted fishes blankly and felt like he was a salted fish.

Judging from what this person said, this question should be easy to guess.

But why can't I figure it out?

He turned around, stared at the two officials beside him and asked, "Do you know what Master Ji is talking about?"

In the end, the two men just shook their heads in confusion.

Without even a hint, who the hell could have guessed it?

Instead, Park Guochang came over and took a salted fish from his waist with a smile.

This fish was given to him by Ji Qing. It was a large yellow croaker weighing seven or eight kilograms. It was only marinated and had not been dried in the sun. When he shook it casually, juice was dripping from the fish.

He scraped the fish head with his fingernails and then stretched his hand in front of Li Jong.

"Your Majesty, if I am not mistaken, this is what Master Ji is talking about!"

"Salt?"

Li Zong looked at the white particles on his nails in astonishment, and then looked at Ji Qing.

"Master Ji, is it salt?"

Ji Qing smiled and nodded: "Of course!"

“These fish cannot be preserved for long without being salted.”

"You saw it too. In just two days, we caught eight million kilograms of fish."

"The amount of salt needed to pickle these fish is huge. It's a long way to transport it from China, and the sea is long, so no one can be sure when the wind and waves will rise."

"So if Korea can provide the Ming Dynasty with the salt needed for pickling fish, and if the price is fair, I believe that His Majesty will agree."

After listening to this, Li Jong did not say anything, but silently calculated in his mind.

From what he knew, pickling fish was a very salt-intensive process.

Almost one ounce of salt is needed for one pound of fresh fish!

In other words, of the eight million kilograms of fish caught in the past two days, eight hundred thousand kilograms of salt were used just for pickling the fish!

Although he didn't know the price of salt in the Ming Dynasty, it didn't matter!

This is North Korea, surrounded by sea, and the sea water has no cost!

North Korea is mountainous, so you can pick up firewood anywhere, and it doesn’t cost any money!

As long as the people have a stutter, they will do whatever they are told to do...

After thinking all this through, his attitude towards Ji Qing became more friendly than before. He directly put his arm around the latter's shoulders and asked with anticipation.

"Master Ji, what I want to know is, if North Korea can provide salt, what price can Ming Dynasty offer?"

How could Ji Qing know what price Zhu Youxiao could offer!

After all, when he received the mission to go out to sea, he didn't expect that he would cause such a thing.

Now that the topic has come to this, he can only bite the bullet and continue the conversation.

"I am not sure about this, but what I can tell you is that the salt in the Daming market is divided into green salt and coarse salt."

"The prices vary. The cheapest coarse salt costs only two cents, while the best green salt costs twenty cents."

"So, Your Majesty should have an idea in mind, right?"

After listening to this, Li Zong started to make some calculations in his mind.

It was sold for two cents in the Ming Dynasty.

It shouldn't be too much to add two cents per kilogram for shipping to North Korea, right?

Therefore, the price I quote must be lower than the cost of Ming Dynasty.

Money must be made, but it cannot cause the Ming Dynasty to be dissatisfied with North Korea.

Everything, for the rise of North Korea!

He gritted his teeth and extended three fingers to Ji Qing.

"Three cents!"

"I will immediately order the people to boil the sea and make salt!"

"Please send someone back to consult the emperor. If he agrees, the deal will be settled!"

Ji Qing almost couldn't hold back his laughter, his face turned as red as a monkey's butt!

The Ming Dynasty did have salt that cost two cents!

But not now!

But it is the price of salt during the Jingtai period!

In this year, the price of coarse salt has risen to eight cents per pound...

But this Li Zong only wants three cents?

Ji Qing dared to bet that his emperor would definitely agree to this matter, and would agree to give as much as he could!

Originally, he helped Li Jong come up with this way to make money because he couldn't bear to see the North Korean people suffer from poverty, but now he suddenly feels that this is too unkind.

Chapter 356: The Fu Ship on Fire

In order to make himself feel at ease, Ji Qing thought it over again and again and pulled Li Zong away from those officials.

Some officials wanted to follow due to concerns, but were driven back by Li Jong.

No one knew what they talked about on the beach, but after they came back, everyone saw the grateful smile on Li Jong's face.

It is gratitude to Ji Qing!

The next morning, the fleet went fishing as usual, but Ji Qing did not follow them and stayed in Nanpu.

On the beach not far from where they were drying the fish, Li Jong and thousands of people were busy working.

There is strength in numbers, and digging sand is not a very troublesome task. In just one morning, they built dozens of pools.

From the seaside, going inland, there are four pools in a row.

Each pool is two feet deep and ten meters long and wide.

The pool near the sea is the highest, and the subsequent pools have a half-foot drop in height between each other, which is convenient for subsequent drainage.

After these pools were dug, they were poured with Shanghai water and unmarried Korean women were allowed to step on them barefoot.

After the bottom of the pool is flattened, use a millstone to tamp it firmly.

Perhaps in order not to waste the day's sunshine, Li Jong did not wait for the tide to rise, but directly ordered people to use buckets to fetch water from the sea and fill the first pool with sea water.

All we have to do next is wait for this pool of sea water to slowly evaporate.

What remains after evaporation is then introduced into the next pool for further drying.

The four pools represent four concentrations of seawater.

By the time it reaches the last pool, it becomes brine that can precipitate crude salt.

These are the things that Ji Qing told Li Zong.

He also asked Li Zong to crush, dissolve, filter and cook the coarse salt again!

Although it looks cumbersome, once the process is actually started and you have gone through the previous preparation steps, when the salt boiling begins, a steady supply of refined salt will be boiled out!

Sitting on a chair at the dock, looking at Li Jong's enthusiasm, Ji Qing smiled and stuffed a spoonful of crab roe into his mouth.

Look at how miserable this king is!

It's better to be a small official by myself......

For the refined salt that costs three cents per pound, Your Majesty should issue an imperial decree to reward me, right?

look forward to!

In fact, according to the current situation, he will indeed be rewarded by Zhu Youxiao.

but!

As I said, there is always a but!