Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 496 Another Year

Counting from July of the sixth year of Wanli, it has been a year since Gao Yushi returned to his hometown.

Now it is Yimao, the seventh year of Wanli, and the year of the township examination has arrived.

During the year, everything about Gao Pragmatism went smoothly, especially the development momentum of various transactions.I won't mention the old ones, just talking about the new business is worthy of high-level laughter.

The two major events of the new business are the establishment of Jinghua Bank and its loan to Huguang for the construction of water conservancy projects;

The former took a lot of effort, but it was not mainly spent on raising funds, but on persuading the imperial court and Huguang officials.Through the operation of high pragmatism or high party, the Huguang Political Commissioner formally submitted an application to the central government after the autumn of the fifth year of Wanli, requesting approval of the Huguang Political Commissioner and various local government offices to borrow money from private "those who are willing to borrow funds" to build water conservancy projects.

Of course, the Huguang Chief Envoy found a lot of reasons to prove that this approach was necessary. Under the strong support of Guo Pu and Zhang Siwei, the cabinet proposed to "approve the request of the department, but the interest on the borrowed money shall not be allowed." More than one percent."

Shujin, Zhu Yijun's imperial pen and Zhu commented: "The construction of water conservancy can strengthen the foundation of agriculture. It is indeed a national priority, and it is at the request of the department."

However, shortly after this approval was issued, there was a memorial to stop it, which came from Ying Tian Xun Press, who said: The government dismantling funds from the people is an insult to the majesty of the court, please stop.

It stands to reason that Ying Tianxun can't control Huguang's affairs, but everyone in the court knows that this matter is definitely not Ying Tianxun's personal idea, and I am afraid that Yingtian Governor has the same attitude.The reason is not that Huguang's water conservancy repairs are harmful to them, nor is it that Huguang's borrowing of money has something to do with them, but that they have learned the inside story. The Jinghua Bank's loan to Huguang has a clause in it that "Huguang can repay with rice at a discount. Pay principal and interest."

How much does Huguang want to borrow?A full 100 million taels of silver!
According to this amount, if the price is discounted to repay the principal and interest every year, Huguang will pay Jinghua Bank a large amount of rice every year for the next ten years!How much law?In most areas of Huguang, rice grains are converted into silver, and one stone is worth eight coins.

Even if the interest is not included, Huguang will pay Jinghua Bank 10 shi of rice based on the annual repayment of the principal of 125000 taels.In fact, given the abundance of grain in Huguang, the impact of this amount cannot be said to be particularly huge. The great thing is that the grain price in Yingtianfu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River has risen slightly.

But the problem lies in another additional clause: Jinghua Bank is allowed to purchase Huguang rice at a fixed price every year, and the annual quota cannot exceed 100 million shi. ) make up.

12.5 shi of rice can feed 6 to 100 people for a whole year. If it is 10,000 million shi, it can feed at least 60+ people. Add the two together and save a little to eat, and it can feed about [-] people.

If it is only to relieve the victims that may appear in Henan Province, this amount should basically be enough. After all, it is only the beginning of the Little Ice Age, and the disaster situation is not as serious as that in the late Ming Dynasty.Of course, this relief is by no means free relief, it must be based on work, otherwise the Jinghua Bank, which is highly pragmatic, will go bankrupt in a few years.

But in this way, it will have an impact on Nanzhili. The price of food will increase by at least [-]%, or even [-]%. Of course, Ying Tianfu and the two houses must speak out.

Wanli had received high-practical secret reports, and he also knew that Henan and other northern provinces have often been affected by disasters and reduced production in recent years, and that Nanzhili is at least not short of money. It would not be a big problem to spend more money to buy rice, so he resolutely approved: Huguang Water Conservancy The ups and downs are of great importance, and the company does not pursue a false name, but seeks practical results, which is just as it should be.Needless to say, it is necessary to patrol and work on one's own job. "

Thus, the matter was settled.

Although Henan did not suffer any major disasters in the five years of Wanli, in fact, this transaction is still profitable, because Gao Yushi is equivalent to being approved to buy rice in Huguang based on the lower market price, even if the market price rises, it is not his business. ——If it rises, don’t buy it from the private sector, and go directly to the chief envoy to use the grain tax deduction.

And the price of grain in Henan is much more expensive than that in Huguang. If the normal market price is added and the cost of trafficking is added, you may not be able to make much money. But since the purchase price is a low price, even if you sell it in the Henan market, you can still make money. earn.

As for the future, if there is a disaster, the price of food in Henan will definitely have to rise.If Gao Pragmatic hadn't been aiming at helping (receiving) refugees, he could have made a lot of money by selling them directly.But right now he can help here. After all, his ability is limited, and it is good to relieve some pressure on Henan. Shanxi, Shaanxi and Beizhili are all things that can't be helped at the moment.

I can only hope that the embankment that the river has spent several years strengthening with cement will not break as easily as before. By then, the disaster in Henan will be less severe. Maybe there will be refugees coming to Henan after the disaster in Lin Province. At that time, it may be highly pragmatic. If you can think of another way, do your best.

The second thing that went smoothly was the matter of Jinghua Yu Kiln.

Speaking of it, the smoothness of this matter even exceeded Gao Yushi's expectations. Perhaps Gao Yushi himself underestimated the current reputation and appeal of the Xinzheng Gao family. Anyway, Jinghua Yu Kiln has just announced its establishment, and it is just a trustee in the scholastic community. After bragging about it, people began to vote within two months.

The people who came were almost all porcelain craftsmen, and most of them were inherited from their ancestors. Their skills were different, and their skill levels were also very different. But Mrs. Zhang quickly arranged them in different categories with the assistance of the three major craftsmen, and then Start trial production.

The first batch of products, "good and bad" is an understatement. It should be said that most of them did not meet Zhang's requirements. In the end, only seven pieces of porcelain were selected by her.For the others, she suggested that Gao Pragmatic should not sell any of them, but distribute them directly to the various factories and mines under his name for their own use.

Gao Wushi didn't care. He didn't think it was easy at the beginning, so he calmly asked the porcelain craftsmen to continue the trial production. Don't worry, and don't be afraid of losing money—Gao Wushi has already made a plan to lose money for five years in a row, because It doesn't matter to him, in terms of the cost of firing porcelain, you can't lose much money, and the bulk of the money is actually just supporting these artisans who have no income.

Maybe it’s the highly pragmatic attitude that encouraged the porcelain craftsmen, maybe it’s the fact that the northern porcelain industry is in decline, but its heritage is still there. Anyway, since the fourth batch of trial products, Jinghua Yu Kiln has turned around!
They trial-produced a batch of high-grade chicken blood black tea bowls, adhering to the characteristics of "Jun kiln is expensive", and sold the chicken blood black tea bowls with the inscription "Jinghua Yu kiln · Daya" on the bottom to the Zhou Palace in Kaifeng. Not to mention Ying, the name has also started.

Now the main problem of Jinghua Porcelain is that it is difficult to expand the scale for a while - almost all the people who have the ability to vote for him are almost here. Now if we want to expand the scale, we can only slowly cultivate professional talents by ourselves.Porcelain making is a sophisticated handicraft in this day and age, and you can't even talk about getting started in three to five years, so you can't rush to be highly pragmatic.

Fortunately, Jun Kiln has always been known for its rarity, but its low production here makes people feel that "the authentic product of the origin is the authentic product of the origin, it is really slow enough..."

(End of this chapter)