Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 157 Dimensionality Reduction Strike
"Spread some news to the landowners near Xiangshan County." He Zhen thought for a moment and then instructed, "Praise the pirates too much, maybe the ordinary people in Xiangshan County will be afraid, and the people who have finally gathered together will disperse again. . In short, the battle for people's hearts cannot be given up in vain."

"Yes, I don't believe it anymore. No one will be afraid of pirates coming ashore." He Gui nodded and said, "As long as it makes others lose their hearts, it will naturally be impossible to succeed!"

He Rong became happy after hearing this, and added: "Okay, let them fight, it's best if we just wait and see what happens!"

After saying that, everyone in the room started laughing.

There are people in front of everything, and even if they offend the son-in-law or the emperor behind the son-in-law, it has nothing to do with their surname He.

………………

In fact, there are some things that do not need to be secretly encouraged by the He family. As long as those powerful landlords do not want the public distribution of grain fields in Xiangshan County to be promoted, they themselves will find every way to obstruct it.

Only five or six days later, Qi Xiang found Zhang Yifan and reported to him: "Prince-in-law, the Guangdong Dusi said that there is no remaining ordnance in stock, and they cannot allocate ordnance to us in Xiangshan County for the time being. In addition, food and grass This area, said to be used to support the war in the southwest, has to be halved."

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately sneered, pointed to Zhang San, the Dianshi who was present, and said: "There is also news here, saying that someone is spreading news about how ferocious the pirates are, which has caused some panic. What is this? This is continuing to tell us Xiangshan County is putting pressure on us to give up the distribution of grain fields to the public!"

Dare not to come with open swords and spears, hiding in the dark and making small moves!

Zhang San obviously blushed a little with anger and said, "My son-in-law, what should we do?"

Qi Xiang, on the other hand, after hearing this, said to Zhang Yifan: "If we can't get the weapons, then the people will not be well armed. We can only find other ways ourselves. We can make more simple weapons such as spears. The food and grass will be halved. , the training intensity of each hundred households will be reduced. But, overall, it will not affect the war with pirates!"

Having said that, he paused for a moment, thought a little hesitantly, and finally reminded: "However, our passive defense method will not cause problems in a short period of time, but if it takes a long time, the defense will inevitably have problems." If possible, it is best to take the initiative and kill the pirates."

What he said was based on military considerations.However, he also knew that there was no boat in Xiangshan County, so he couldn't take the initiative to attack, so he needed his son-in-law to figure out a way.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan thought for a moment and said: "The pirate issue will not be deadlocked for long. Just use this opportunity to expose those who oppose my implementation of the New Deal, and then deal with them later. In this way..."

After hearing his words, I felt his confidence. Whether it was Zhang San or Qi Xiang, they immediately felt more confident.

The prince-in-law had already given them many surprises, and they had reason to believe that the prince-in-law would not say this for no reason.

Therefore, they all listened carefully to what the consort said next.

Just listen to Zhang Yifan say to Qi Xiang: "You don't need to reduce the training intensity. I will send people to buy food and grass and send them to you. As for weapons, just follow what you said and make more simple and practical weapons. That I will also send people to Foshan to buy more gun heads. In addition, as for firearms, I have sent a few to King Yan. I will tell you later and you will supervise them personally. They cannot be revealed without His Majesty's permission."

He refers to gunpowder granulation, ten thousand enemies, and tiger crouching guns. Zhu Yuanzhang has not promoted them nationwide, at least not in Guangdong.

However, Xiangshan County is a special zone, and now that weapons are in short supply, Zhang Yifan has reason to take out these things.However, he still paid attention to propriety and only let Qi Xiang take responsibility.

When Qi Xiang heard that his son-in-law had solved all his affairs, and got a firearm by accident, he couldn't help being very happy and more confident.

Then, Zhang Yifan turned his head again and ordered Zhang San: "Look for the source of spreading panic news, pay special attention to those who are not registered in Xiangshan County. It is best to mobilize the people and let them watch. Once you find out who is spreading the panic, With this news, we should arrest them as pirate associates. If people with household registration in Xiangshan County are spreading this news, our household registration in Xiangshan County will be revoked and expelled from the territory of Xiangshan County. If we dare not advance and retreat with the people of Xiangshan County, but will hold them back, we will not Worthy of being a Xiangshan person!"

"Yes, this kind of person does not deserve to be a Xiangshan person!" After hearing this, Zhang San immediately agreed angrily.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Yifan said to Zhang San: "I am really short of people at the moment. Ask your brother if you can work for Xiangshan County. I want to use him!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang San said nothing, and immediately patted his chest and said: "The prince-in-law wants to use him. That is his blessing. I will call him immediately!"

"If I use him, it will be difficult to open his inn, and someone else will have to take responsibility!" Zhang Yifan immediately reminded him after hearing this.

After hearing this, Zhang San said without hesitation: "Don't worry, Prince Consort, it's just an inn. If it weren't for Prince Consort in Xiangshan County, we would be nothing. I'll call him immediately!"

Hearing this, to be honest, Zhang Yifan was a little relieved, at least it was a kind of recognition.

So, he nodded and said, "Okay, then you can go."

Zhang San and Qi Xiang both left one after another.

Zhang Yifan wrote something with a quill pen. Before he finished writing, Zhang San came over with his brother Zhang Liu.

"Prince-in-law, if you have something to ask the common people to do, the common people will not give up even if they die!" Zhang Liu got an explanation from Zhang San, so when they met, he expressed his position directly after the ceremony.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan raised his head and looked at him.

This Zhang Liu is indeed a business-minded person. The inn he ran has become prosperous and he is a businessman.

With this in mind, he said to Zhang Liu: "I am going to set up a new official position in Xiangshan County, specifically for selling salt. The salary will be the same as that of your brother, so I will call him salt official."

Having said this, he reached out and picked up the thing in front of him and wanted to hand it to Zhang Liu, but he quickly remembered something and put it down again. At the same time, he said with a smile: "I even forgot that you can't read!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Liu's face suddenly turned red, and he quickly replied to Zhang Yifan: "Prince-in-law, ordinary people can already recognize the six characters of 350! I promise to know five characters every day!"

"Oh?" Zhang Yifan couldn't help but praise after hearing this, "It seems that you might be able to recognize all of "The Thousand Character Essay" years ago, not bad!"

Zhang Liu listened, stretched out his head to look at the things in front of the Prince Consort, and said a little eagerly: "Prince Prince Consort, why don't you show it to the common people?"

When Zhang Yifan heard it, he immediately smiled and handed it to him.

After Zhang Liu took it respectfully, he immediately started reading.Zhang San also stretched his head and watched.But, obviously, he was a little blind.

After a while, Zhang Liu asked with some confusion: "Prince-in-law, I don't know if the common people have learned it wrong or something. Isn't the salt price too low?"

He didn't dare to say that the prince consort made a mistake in writing it. He suspected that he didn't recognize the whole word, so he didn't understand the full meaning.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately laughed and said: "You read that right, that's the price!"

Hearing this, Zhang Liu couldn't understand and replied to Zhang Yifan: "Prince-in-law, this price is more than half cheaper than the private salt sold before, let alone the official salt. This... this... It’s almost like giving it away for free, is this the price?”

To be honest, he couldn't believe it.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately said with a smile: "This is coarse salt. Naturally, it costs about the same as giving it away for free. In this way, ordinary people can afford it, don't you think so?"

"..." Brothers Zhang Liu and Zhang San were speechless after hearing this.

The reason is this, the price is so cheap, then ordinary people can indeed buy more and use it, so they don't have to worry about the lack of salt in the future.

However, in this case, wouldn’t the government definitely lose money?

Zhang Liu thought so in his heart, so he said it.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan smiled again and said: "Don't worry, you won't lose money. I have improved a new method of producing salt. Even if I sell it at this price, I still make a profit. When we turn around and the refined salt comes out, you can sell it again , the price will be more expensive than this, which is the price of coarse salt in the past.”

"..." After hearing this, Zhang Liu and Zhang San continued to be dumbfounded.

Is this possible?

After coming back to his senses, Zhang Liu was immediately excited and quickly reminded Zhang Yifan: "Prince-in-law, we can't let others learn such a good method! This... this is an opportunity to make a fortune!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" After hearing this, Zhang San nodded in agreement, but soon came to his senses, hit his brother on the back of the head, and lectured, "What are you thinking, the prince-in-law is not here to make a fortune, this is We are raising money for us Xiangshan people!"

Hearing this, Zhang Liuyi nodded quickly while stroking the back of his head and said: "Yes, yes, yes, the son-in-law has really worked hard for us Xiangshan people!" "There is a hundred households that protect it, and outsiders can't get in. Seeing Zhang Yifan, he smiled lightly, explained, and then said: "This is one of the important sources of finance for our Xiangshan County in the future. You must manage it well and sell as much as possible. The emperor will definitely promote this method in the future." , then there will be no price advantage, do you understand?”

In fact, it is impossible to keep it secret for too long. My father-in-law will definitely explain it later, and then the whole country will probably follow up.

"Understood, understood!" Zhang Liu nodded again and again after hearing this, "Don't worry, my son-in-law, for such a simple matter, the grassroots must try their best to sell it!"

All in all, seize the time to sell salt!

Seeing that he understood what he meant, Zhang Yifan told him some details about selling salt.

Zhang Liu went back to hand over his inn and recruited some villagers. After a few days of preparation, the "Xiangshan County Government-run Salt Store" was officially opened.

As soon as it appeared, it immediately caused a sensation in the city.

The price of salt is almost the same as getting it for free.At least compared to the previous price of salt, it is indeed almost the same as giving it for free!

As a result, many people were afraid that the price would change, so they took out their savings and lined up to grab salt.

Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing were standing in the house opposite the salt store, looking at the huge army of people grabbing salt, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Some of them will probably regret it. They will have to eat the salt they have hoarded for at least three to five years.

"Brother Fan, do you really have enough to sell?" Zhu Jingjing couldn't help but ask as she looked at the long queue and even the people carrying bags of salt back like rice in cloth bags.

Zhang Yifan laughed immediately and said, "Didn't you see how salt is produced? I have stockpiled the amount for half a month before, and the warehouse is full. Even if it is sold out, it will be available soon."

After Zhu Jingjing listened, he looked at it for a while and couldn't help but sigh: "I really didn't expect that the salt in our Ming Dynasty would be so cheap!"

In the past, she would definitely not have cared about daily necessities.However, after arriving in Xiangshan County, she began to keep detailed records of expenses and income, and because Zhang Yifan mentioned the price of salt when she was in Tangjia Village, she paid attention to it.

Unexpectedly, how long has passed, my husband came up with a new way to make the price of salt so much cheaper, it's unbelievable!
After thinking for a while, she said to Zhang Yifan again: "Father, I think someone will be sent to inquire about the situation soon!"

"Haha, it's okay!" Zhang Yifan said with a smile after hearing this, "When the whole country starts to use my method again and again, we will have already made a lot of money!"

This is why he asked Zhang Liu to sell as soon as possible and sell more.

Because it is foreseeable that once the salt in Xiangshan County starts selling, it will inevitably impact the surrounding salt prices.And this impact is the kind of torrent and tsunami-like impact.

Sure enough, on the second day, businessmen from Panyu County arrived.

The salt system of the Ming Dynasty was that merchants went to the government to buy salt, which was a kind of salt certificate, and then went to the salt field to get the corresponding salt, and then they could start selling it. This was official salt.

Private salt is not to buy salt, but to cook the salt yourself and then sell it. This is illegal.

Later, the Ming Dynasty introduced the Kaizhong method, which allowed merchants to transport grain to the border, which could be exchanged for salt, and then went to the salt field to exchange for salt and sell it. This was also official salt.

Generally speaking, you cannot make much money by selling official salt, and you may even lose money.

How to lose money?
That is, after buying Yanyin, I went to the salt farm to exchange salt, but the salt farm said there was no salt and asked you to wait.

Of course, you can still make a lot of money selling salt.

How to earn it?

It is the salt merchants with background, when they sell official salt, they will fill it with private salt.For example, originally one hundred catties of salt was sold, and it was gone after selling it. As a result, it was filled with private salt and sold for one hundred and one hundred catties, which made a lot of money.

The proportion of false accusations depends on how strong your background is.Anyone who sells official salt will more or less pass it off as personal salt, and it’s all money!
Now, here comes the problem.

The price of official salt in Xiangshan County is lower than that of private salt, so how can they compete?

Salt merchants in various counties are generally local powerful landowners.They definitely don't want Xiangshan County to be better off.

However, they couldn't sit still when they heard that the price of salt in Xiangshan County was so cheap.

Want to protest?They sell it in Xiangshan County and you have no control over it.

If you want to compete, it’s impossible to compete because their prices are so cheap.

It would be best to buy out Xiangshan County's salt supply in order to avoid the impact.

As a result, some salt merchants organized a group to go to Xiangshan County and tried to buy out the salt.At this time, they no longer care whether they send money to Xiangshan County or not.

When I saw the amount, I was stunned.

The amount in Xiangshan County is so huge that it is simply impossible to buy it out.Seeing the continuous flow of salt in and out, I completely gave up the idea of ​​buying out.

Every day, people from the neighboring county come to Xiangshan County to buy salt. They must not be reconciled to seeing the money that was supposed to go into their pockets disappear like this!

At the beginning, they also took action and caught some people who bought salt from Xiangshan County and then sold it at a higher price in this county.However, more people buy salt from Xiangshan County for their own use. Can you bite them?They are official salt, so they are not breaking the law!

Later, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that salt could only be bought and sold in prescribed places.

But now not only do they not exist, but Xiangshan County has not gone to other places to sell them, they only sell them in their own Xiangshan County.Can you bite someone?
In short, since the sale of salt in Xiangshan County began, the flow of people to Xiangshan County was originally reduced because of worries about piracy in Xiangshan County, but the number of people going to Xiangshan County increased again, and they were all sent to Xiangshan County to send money.

The salt merchants around Xiangshan County could no longer survive, so they all went to the Salt Class Office in Guangzhou.Ask the Salt Class to find a way, otherwise the salt dealer will go bankrupt and no one will buy salt in the future.

But the problem is that Xiangshan County is a special zone and is not under the jurisdiction of the Salt Class Lifting Department. Faced with this situation, Lifting was at a loss what to do. In the end, he could only quickly report to the capital and respond to the superiors.

No matter how fast the horse is, it still takes time.

Anyway, Xiangshan County, taking advantage of this time difference, is like a siphon effect, continuously sucking in money from surrounding counties, and continuously flowing out salt.

We have food and purchased iron materials. Anyway, we are rich!

Dongguan is not far from Xiangshan County. In fact, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Xiangshan was only a subordinate area of ​​Dongguan County, and later became independent from Dongguan County.

Needless to say, the salt industry in Dongguan has also suffered a huge impact, and as the biggest local snake, the He family certainly cannot give up such a good business as salt.Therefore, heavy losses were also suffered in this salt attack.

As He Rong's eldest son and future heir, He Rong got angry again: "This is simply too much bullying. You can sell salt at such a low price and make so much money. Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

He Gui was also a little downcast. When he heard his eldest brother getting angry, he reminded him: "If the consort dies, our He family will have no choice but to flee overseas!"

He Zhen's face was gloomy. He never expected that the prince-in-law would come up with such a move. Not only did he solve the problem in Xiangshan County in one fell swoop, he also dealt a blow to the He family who was hiding behind them.

It was really this trick, no matter whether he was hiding behind or not, he was hit back by the son-in-law.

　Ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)