Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 20 Material Prices (Part [-])
It took Gao Xiaozhuang a long time to go, and he couldn't make it back for lunch, and he rushed back to Gao's mansion in the wind and snow at about Shen o'clock, and the sky was already getting dark.

Gao Wushi saw that his coat was covered with wet marks all over the place, and his hair was still dripping with water droplets, so he asked with concern in a reproachful tone, "Don't you go out wearing a coir raincoat or an umbrella? How did you make it so?" Does this look like a drowned rat?" He waved at him, pointing to the charcoal stove in his study: "Come on, come over and enjoy the fire, if you catch a cold...uh, it won't be good if you catch a cold."

"Thank you, young master." Gao Xiaozhuang didn't care too much: "Actually, when I went out, I wore a coir raincoat and a hat, but I couldn't stand the capital. The wind was too strong, and the snowflakes seemed to have eyes. Yes, I can see that there is a lot of water in the coir raincoat. The hat can cover the top of the head, and there is no other way... But it’s okay, it’s just some floating snow, and it doesn’t take a stick of incense to dry it all up.”

Shangyue brought a small chair to Gao Xiaozhuang, Gao Xiaozhuang thanked him at a loss, Gao Wushi smiled, and told him not to be too polite, but to sit down and talk.After he sat down in the lower seat next to half of his buttocks, Gao Yushi asked, "Did you ask about the prices of those items? How about the price of alkali? Is it expensive?"

Gao Xiaozhuang replied: "I have never bought alkali before, and I don't know whether it is expensive or not. In short, one tael of silver can buy two hundred catties of earth alkali, and 120 five catties of refined alkali." [Note: The data comes from "" Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes, Instructions to the Factory Warehouse of the Ministry of Industry, etc., are quite authoritative. ]
Gao Wushi was startled for a moment, and said in surprise, "So cheap?" He was a little puzzled. It is said that although the soda ash in the capital is supposed to be soda ash, it was directly sold by the Mongolians from Hetao soda lake, but from Hetao to Jingshi this The distance is not close, and there are no trains and cars right now. With the low capacity, the transportation fee should be very high?

But after thinking about it, I understood: not only is the alkali price cheap, but the key is that silver is valuable!After all, it is equivalent to a quarter to a fifth of the monthly income of many people!This is like an ordinary family spending four to one-fifth of their monthly income to buy caustic soda, for example, to buy caustic soda worth 1000 yuan...that’s more than 600 kilograms (wholesale price).

Thinking about it this way, the price is much more normal.Gao Wushi nodded, and then asked, "Where's Lime?"

Gao Xiaozhuang regained his energy, sat up straight and said: "Speaking of this lime, the little one looks very cheap. I asked three or four shops, and the prices are all about the same. One tael of silver can buy a hundred buckets, but there is a little The bad thing is that they only ship the goods, but they don’t care about the delivery.”

Gao Wushi nodded, calculated silently in his heart, and remained silent for the time being.

One bucket is equal to ten liters, and one liter is about three catties, so let's count as three catties.That is to say, one bucket is worth thirty catties. According to the price Gao Xiaozhuang inquired about, one tael of silver can buy one hundred buckets, which is about three thousand catties... Even if the lime is very heavy, three thousand catties of lime is worth it One tael of silver, no wonder the other party is not responsible for the delivery.

In fact, this is really a pragmatic misunderstanding. Those stores are not willing to ship because the labor costs are too expensive, but because there are not so many means of transportation.You must know that even if it is a wooden wheeled cart, it takes a dozen or twenty carts to transport three thousand catties of lime. For the store, it is definitely better to use so many wooden wheeled carts to deliver lime. To buy goods and deliver goods to buyers of some smaller goods, such a comparison, it is not cost-effective to send lime.And their purchase channels are not far away - there are many limestone mines around the capital, and those limestones are transported to them by the mines.These days, miners are the real sufferers. They have always sold the hardest labor and earned the least money. It is really miserable. Therefore, since ancient times, miners' uprisings have been very dangerous situations - they have labor and are not afraid of death. , can it be serious?

So the problem is with the car, not the person.The labor cost is really indifferent. The real "brick movers" who work hard these days have a very low income.How low is it?A long-term worker gets up early and works late every day, and has to work all the time if there is work, but his salary is only three taels of silver for one hundred days. The only benefit that can be considered is that the store will take care of lunch.Fortunately, although it is unlikely that there will be much oil and water in this meal, at least it is basically enough to eat.

Yes, manpower at this time is so cheap that people who grow up in modern society can hardly believe it.

In fact, regarding this issue, Gao Yushi later specifically asked the "Gao Party" people who worked in the Ministry of Industry. At that time, laborers in various departments of the Ministry of Industry were divided into two levels: craftsmen and husbands, and craftsmen and husbands were divided into long-term workers. Compared with short-term workers, the wages of craftsmen are higher than those of husbands, and the wages of long-term workers are higher than those of short-term workers, but the difference is not very big, and the wages of different departments also vary.In general, the wages of high-skilled jobs are higher than those of low-skilled jobs, with the highest being 0.07 taels per worker [Note: Each worker means one day’s work per worker. ], the lowest is 0.03 taels per worker, more than double the difference. [Note: The source of the data is still "Notes to the Factory Warehouse of the Ministry of Industry". This book was compiled by Shizhong He Shijin, who had twice inspected the factory warehouse.The book, from Volume 43 to Volume 12, records in detail the amount and unit price of various materials "contained" and "called for purchase" by various institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, as well as the price of labor services in some departments, with a total of more than 400 types.The prices of many items in this book will refer to the records in this book, and will not be explained separately unless there are special circumstances. ]
Next, Gao Pragmatism mainly asked about the prices of various main oils and the corresponding meat prices by the way.In general, it can be described in two words: cheap.If you want to use three words, it is: cheap!

At present, the price of pork in the capital is 55 catties and a half for one tael of silver. The price of lard is about three times more expensive than that of pork. One tael of silver can only buy eighteen catties and three taels; beef is cheaper than pork, and one tael of silver can buy a full 77 The price of mutton is basically the same as that of beef, but suet is more expensive than butter, and you can only buy 29 catties for a tael of silver, but it is still cheaper than lard.

"Why are beef and mutton cheaper than pork?" Secretary Gao Wushi, who grew up in later generations, said it was hard to understand, and asked with a frown: "There is also lard, why is it more expensive than butter and mutton oil? What is the reason for this? "

In Secretary Gao's view, the difficulty of raising pigs is so low, and the output of live pigs is unknown how many times that of cattle and sheep, so how could the price be higher instead?He subconsciously thought that there was a problem with the price, and it was a big problem. Maybe Gao Xiaozhuang was fooled by someone?

Unexpectedly, Gao Xiaozhuang also had a look of surprise on his face, and said in amazement: "The eldest young master didn't know about this situation?"

Gao Wushi was stunned for a while, and asked, "What's the situation?"

What could be the case, could it be that there was swine fever near the capital during this period, and all the pigs died?

(End of this chapter)