Jingming

Chapter 299

Taoism has nothing to do with fertilizers, but because of Zhu Houcong, they now forcibly have a relationship.

There is no need to think about chemical fertilizers, the technical threshold is quite high.But Jin Kela himself tried to mix many things into his fat, but the effect was good, which provided Zhu Houcong with a new idea.

This original compound fertilizer, if several effective ingredients are determined under the "inspiration" of Zhu Houcong, then a lot of things can be done in the name of seeking and preparing those raw materials.

Empty the experience of alchemy Taoist priests in doing "heating reaction experiments", and then use the scientific method of quantitative analysis to train newcomers in the way of recruiting apprentices, this is probably faster-no way, Zhu Houcong can't be a chemistry teacher either.

I don't want to develop a complete discipline system, but I just study the preparation of some non-industrial fertilizer raw materials for practical purposes.

In addition, the struvite is also on the agenda.The reason why Zhang Lun and the others were dragged into this matter was naturally to use Zhu Houcong's inconspicuous unit in this reform-the Maritime Transport Bureau.

Overseas benefits must be seen by more people.

The smugglers have seen it long ago, but what they saw was money.

And the court officials are not short of money, what they want is status and reputation.

Combined with the prestige of overseas struvite and Jinkela original compound fertilizer, if someone can really fill the stomachs of the people of Ming Dynasty, what kind of fame and sense of accomplishment would that be?

For them, this is the real "profit" overseas!
……

Xue Lun, Marquis of Yangwu, took control of the overall situation in Sichuan two years ago. Although he did not participate in the suppression of the rebellion in Huguang, his contribution is not small.

He is also getting older, and Xue Lun handed over the resignation form in advance to determine the candidates for the commanders of the provincial capitals at the military affairs meeting. Successful Cheng'anbo Guo Zan, such as Ji Weimin, the guerrilla general of the Shenji Battalion who made outstanding achievements in the First World War against the rebellion and was newly named Jianingbo.

He knows how to advance and retreat.

What's more, it's not that there are no fields for making contributions.

But that would not be Xue Lun himself, but his son Xue Han.

Now, he is teaching his son earnestly in the mansion: "Cui Cance's letter has arrived, and His Majesty has approved my speech. I will wait for Jianingbo in Chengdu, and you go to Hangzhou first. Remember, ask Mr. Pan for advice."

On the side, Pan Min, his old aide who had been with him for many years, looked solemn.

"Father, why do you want me to go to the Maritime Bureau to practice? Except for Zheyang, the Maritime Bureau is now only reorganized into the Zhejiang Chief, and the only way to go is to go to the River Transport Bureau."

"My son's words are wrong." Pan Min immediately said, "What my son wants to see is that although the Maritime Bureau still has a branch office in Tianjin, the head office has moved to Hangzhou. The left and right guards of the Nanjing Navy, and the left and right guards of Longjiang , Guangyang, Jiangyin, Yingtian, plus Huai'an, Dahe, Gaoyou, Yangzhou, and Changhuai five guards, plus Cao Jun's Zhejiang capital commander, this Maritime Transport Bureau is composed of soldiers for the people, but it has actually taken time out of many local guards in the south of the Yangtze River Troop strength. More importantly, Yang Getai, Jiang Getai, and Yan Dutai, which one is not going to the south of the Yangtze River with a heavy responsibility?"

Xue Han was still young, so he couldn't figure it out for a while.

"Wherever you go, do good deeds! Since you are not good at military affairs, and you are not willing to do business like a British government, the Maritime Transport Bureau is the best place to go! The River Transport Bureau is just a company that His Majesty said. This Maritime Transport Bureau wants to prevent Japanese pirates, but it is also Army is also business!"

Because of his merits, although Cui Yuan did not disclose any secrets of the Nanyang Maritime Great Wall, he still helped Zhu Houcong order Xue Lun: In the future, great achievements will be made at sea!

Xue Lun's great-grandfather, Xue Lu, was the first Marquis of Yangwu, and after his death he was posthumously named Zhongwu.

Now, in the new dynasty, His Majesty has bestowed on Yu Qian the posthumous title of "Zhongwu", which deserves to be enjoyed by the Taimiao.

Xue Lun still has the heart to make contributions, but he is already old.

After reprimanding his son with a straight face, Xue Lun said: "Remember! When you go to Hangzhou, ask Mr. Pan for advice, listen to the plan of Yan Dutai, and obey the orders of President Ma! The Shipping Bureau is not like It's as simple as you think!"

Xue Han doesn't know how difficult it can be, but the first month has passed for a long time, and it's time for him to set off.

He really wanted to stay in Sichuan with Guo Zan, his father Yu Yin was still there, and it was easiest for Xue Han to accumulate qualifications in Sichuan.

To put it bluntly, in the future, once you win the title, you may be able to be the leader of either side.

Now, he was somehow going to a certain company.

It was still reformed by Cao Jun, who could only supervise grain and could not fight at all.

Xue Han thought so, but in Hangzhou, the establishment of the Maritime Bureau has affected the hearts of countless people.

The reason is a bit simple: after the Cao Jun was transformed into the River Transport Bureau and the Maritime Transport Bureau, the River Transport Bureau only supervised the transport of grain from the north of the Yangtze River and the items purchased by the palace and the imperial court to Beijing. It will be transported to Beijing and sent to Jizhou, and the part of Huangmingji's goods transshipped by sea will also be carried.

Although Huangmingji also has its own transshipment service dedicated to land transportation.

And what is Huangmingji?It is now the only company in Daming that can legally engage in maritime trade after the abolition of the Shipping Department in Zhejiang.

What is even more imaginative is why Yan Song went to Ningbo to stay for nearly ten days after returning from the national policy meeting in the capital. Cheng?

Ningbo, that's where the former Zhejiang Shipping Department was located!

What they didn't know was that what Yan Song and Ma Cheng were looking at was an inconspicuous and even a little incomprehensible matter.

But because it was confessed by the emperor himself, neither Yan Song nor Ma Cheng dared to take it lightly.

Now, the two walked around and returned to Hangzhou, with several boxes in front of them.

"I don't know if this is what His Majesty is looking for."

In the box, there are gray or grayish-brown stones that look rather rough.

Ma Cheng belonged to the "contributing crimes and meritorious deeds". Now he is the president of the Shipping Bureau. The order sent by the emperor in the first month is really a bit heavy: it will be a strategic task of the Shipping Bureau to find and buy a large number of this kind of stones from overseas.

"It's not wrong, right? Struvite... As the name suggests, it should be this kind of thing."

Yan Song, who finished the national policy meeting, did not leave for Zhejiang immediately. After Zhu Houcong saw Jinkela at that time, he thought of struvite and mentioned it to Yan Song, because he remembered that there were many islands in the sea of ​​Zhejiang, and he might be able to find them first. Click Experiment.

"If it's really this thing..." Yan Song frowned, "Your Majesty, if this thing has a miraculous effect on our Ming crops, the amount needed in the future will be huge! According to Your Majesty, this thing is mostly produced on the vast island , because the birds often look for islands to settle on the sea, and it took years to form this stone. Since most of them are produced on overseas islands, how to find a large amount of this guano stone is a bit difficult..."

It is produced on the island, which means that the manpower required for mining and transshipment are big problems.

And this thing is just a stone, if it is not a large quantity, it will not be worth much.If the purchase is expensive, how can the effect of high-quality and cheap fertilizer mentioned by the emperor be achieved?

At any time, cost is something that must be considered.Since His Majesty wants to see if it can benefit thousands of farmers in the future like iron hoes, iron plows, iron rakes, etc., it must be cheap.

The background of Yan Song's coming to Zhejiang was that there was a Japanese tribute dispute in Zhejiang. The emperor wanted to lay off the Zhejiang Shipping Department first, and Zhejiang needed stability.

He has been in Zhejiang for more than two years.During this period of time, Zhang Fujing went to Shandong from Guangdong to help the emperor run the Confucian family. What did Yan Song do in Zhejiang?
Naturally, there is nothing wrong with it, but it can't be called a great achievement.

But now Zhu Houcong just asked him to find some struvite to experiment with, but with Yan Song's brain, he clearly saw the opportunity.

Although the new law will encourage business, Ming is still based on agriculture.Otherwise, why would the majestic Son of Heaven pay attention to the matter of fertilizers?
If this matter is accomplished, all the people of the Ming Dynasty will praise it.

Goal: Cheap, large and easy-to-use fertilizers.

Yan Song pondered for a while, and gradually loosened his brows: "Pass down the governor's order, and the prefectures don't have to wait until the selection of the township sages is completed before reporting. Now the prefectures and counties are candidates, and the governor wants a list!"

After all, he spread out the paper and prepared to send it to Beijing together with the struvites he found.

……

One foot high and one inch wide.Dragon pattern lace, blue paper made from mulberry tree stems, with the words "Guan" in the middle, and below it are several strings of copper coins, and below that are the words "The Ministry of Households will print and print the Daming Treasure Banknote..." and so on.

This is the Daming Banknote.

Next to it is the copper coin Tongbao.From Hongwu Tongbao to Hongzhi Tongbao, the texture visible to the naked eye has become more and more different.

In addition, there are various privately minted copper coins, as well as various broken silver, silver ingots, and silver ingots.

Today, the Ming government does not allow silver to circulate, and even the legal status of copper coins is not as high as that of treasure bills, but treasure bills are basically not used, except that many taxes are still rigidly implemented, and some salaries are also issued with folded bills .

"In other words, the biggest trouble with the abolition of banknotes is that the rich gentry and wealthy households involved in the taxation, the pressure on money and food caused by the full salary of officials, and the recognition of the status of silver in line with the current actual situation will bring a lot of pressure to ordinary people ?”

After reading their plan for one night, Zhu Houcong asked questions in the Palace of State Affairs.

In the past, food and taxes were paid in kind, and many taxes were also paid in kind.However, some practical situations are also taken into consideration, such as folding banknotes and silver.

The salaries and rations of officials, clans, and relatives were gradually distributed in banknotes.

Precious banknotes are worthless, why do people with status want them?On the contrary, people who have to pay taxes in the local area are willing to find ways to collect some precious money so that they can be paid.

Daming Treasure Banknotes have a ridiculous liquidity, but now those who are involved are those who are rich and powerful.

On the contrary, the later new law intends to reform taxation and corvee, and after the unification of the department, only the payment of silver will be used, but it will bring some inconvenience to the common people.

There are not many copper coins, and if you want to hand over silver, you have to find ways to sell something.

Trouble also includes: Daming is short of copper and silver now.

This will only lead to the fact that if ordinary people need to find money to pay taxes, they will have to sell more things to make up.

"The ministers think that there are two methods. One is to print new banknotes and replace the old with the new. With this method, if the imperial court wants to rebuild the people's confidence in the precious banknotes as His Majesty said, it needs to temporarily bear more heavy pressure. If you want to establish trust, you need to fold more banknotes for taxation within a few years, and as your Majesty said, Huangmingji Department Stores and others need to collect banknotes and sell goods, and they will bear the losses themselves."

Fei Hong and the others are people who have taken many classes from Zhu Houcong. They have understood and recognized that the essence of currency is credit, and it is necessary to ensure that the transaction can be made in kind at any time.

The current Daming Treasure Banknote is hopeless, can changing the shell regain confidence?

"Secondly, the quasi-bank is used. The Baoyuan Bureau casts Jiajing Tongbao and Jiajing silver ingots. Xu Guanmin exchanges banknotes for treasures and silver. This method may require a huge amount of silver and copper, and the fire consumption and cost are even greater. A sum of silver. I am afraid that the common people will still not be able to exchange the treasures and silver ingots cast by these officials. When taxes start to be paid in cash and silver next year, I think there must be a matter of money being more expensive than rice."

No matter what, the ass of Daming Baochao needs to be wiped.

If you lose it directly, no matter whether you admit it or not, there will be no currency trust in the future.

Wanting to take over the offer is another huge financial pressure: Even if the exchange is based on the current real ratio, Daming's unconscious "over-issue" for so many years is already a terrible figure.Who knows that after the news is announced, how much money will suddenly appear from the people?
Also consider how easy it is to print counterfeit banknotes in this day and age.

Zhu Houcong could only say: "In the final analysis, the imperial court does not have so many copper and silver reserves in its hands to absorb the precious banknotes that exist today, and it is impossible to talk about forbidding private casting in the future."

"The matter of private casting is mostly half-public and half-private. There are too many pieces of silver in the local area, and it is not easy to send them away. They ordered the local area to melt them into ingots and engrave them for inspection. When melting, they also melted some copper coins, silver ingots, Ingots are nothing more. There are also copper and silver wares used by the people..."

"In this way, there are a lot of problems with those two methods, at least doing it now, there are a lot of problems." Zhu Houcong knew better than them the destructive power of messing up the monetary system, and said after staring at Fei Hong and others , "This is not the work of one or two years, and coercion will not work."

Although Zhu Houcong gave this big project, Fei Hong and others are also very urgent to make some achievements.

"I think there are five things to do first. First, the court collects banknotes, but how much pressure it can bear every year must be calculated, and then the ratio of taxable banknotes can be determined. To meet the needs of the time. Third, first only cast Jiajing Tongbao, and take advantage of the opportunity of promotion to punish a group of people who privately cast copper coins. Fourth, let Baoyuan Bureau study and improve the casting process. The material and appearance of Jiajing Tongbao will be improved in the future. Anti-counterfeiting of banknotes, many things can no longer be done casually. Fifth, when copper coins are minted this time, silver coins can also be minted. What I mean is that, like Tongbao, one coin is as much silver and does not need to be weighed. It’s just that Subsequent false castings and wear and tear must be taken into account.”

Zhu Houcong gave his own thoughts, and then said: "Let the people only recognize the money made by the imperial court, and cut off the space for local smelting silver ingots and ingots to add fire consumption and weighing. Officials and private commercial firms are more likely to be banned by the commercial law, and try new money. When we discussed the new law strategy in the past, I and I both agreed that the money law must be put at the end. What we have to do now is just preparation, not three or five The year will bear fruit."

Fei Hong remained silent. Although he felt the same way, he did intend to take back those Daming treasures that Daming had left in the world at least within the next three years at the least cost.

Now it seems that there is still no rush.

The rebellion has been suppressed, and the emperor is not in a hurry to set up the prime minister to delegate power and reward the world with titles of grace and title.

Instead, his focus now is on the technical aspects of those long-term things.

Is that why the important state affairs such as discussing the money law have been declined for the sake of fertilizer?

"I have to report it too. There are many discussions among the people, who think that banknotes will be abolished this year, and only banknotes and money will be issued." Zhu Houcong solemnly told them, "Don't make the people panic. In the matter of collecting banknotes, the eighteen companies Enterprises are more useful. They collect money and convert it to pay taxes, so this account is just a matter between me and the government, and the household department does not have much loss in kind."

"...Then most of them will lose money this year?"

Fei Hong thought to himself, then this is the main loss for you, the emperor.If a company like Huangmingji sells goods and collects money, what it loses is actually useful goods.

Zhu Houcong laughed: "Tactical losses are not in the way, and it is not a big problem for the time being. Besides, those precious banknotes are in their hands. When it comes time to make and print new money and new banknotes, they can also exchange the most good money. At that time, the folks It is a death penalty to mint or counterfeit money, but you can’t use less money, so you will have more opportunities to do business with these companies. With money in hand, they will do things very well.”

There is no formal bank yet, but when the new money is issued, wouldn't these [-] companies become one of the best flow channels?

And how much leverage can you have with the largest amount of good money in your hand?How many industries will have a discourse effect?
On the first undecided matter discussed by the first ministers of the State Affairs Hall after the beginning of the new year, they once again felt that the emperor had a deeper understanding in this regard.

He always likes to do more than one bird!
(End of this chapter)