Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 100: The skyrocketing amount of food (please subscribe for a monthly ticket)
After more than a month of busy work, Kaiyuan's recruitment work was finally completed.

In these days, Zhang Wenbing, the magistrate of Kaiyuan, and Li Sanshun, the general of Tieling, traveled all over Kaiyuan, Tieling, Shenyang, and Qinghe.

I thought it would be very difficult to recruit troops. After all, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties in the bloody battles with the Jianlu. It was very dangerous to enter the border army at this time.

Unexpectedly, it went surprisingly smoothly. Not only did the recruitment of more than 9000 soldiers be completed quickly, but they were even able to select people.

This made Li Xianzhong feel very strange. This thing was so abnormal.

Although since the Liaodong War in March, the imperial court began to pay wages to Liaodong on time and no longer owed wages.

But there must be other reasons why so many people are willing to join the army.

In the end, it was discovered that soaring commodity prices were the culprit, especially for food.

During the Wanli period, the price of grain in the Ming Dynasty was actually not high. In the south, one tael of silver could buy 2 shi of rice.

Generally speaking, food prices in the north are higher than in the south. Rice in the capital currently costs 6 qian per stone.Originally, the price of millet in Liaodong was about 6 to 7 qian per stone. Although it was obviously higher than that in the capital, it was still barely affordable.

Before the war in March, the price of grain in Liaodong had risen to 3 taels of silver, but now it had actually risen to 8 tael of silver and 1 stone.

You must know that this is the price of corn. Usually corn is one-third or more cheaper than rice.

This makes it impossible for ordinary people to afford such high food prices.

In normal times, they could still be self-sufficient through farming, but since the Jianlu invaders invaded Qinghe, Fushun last year, a large number of fields have been laid waste and people have been displaced.

The two roads in Kaiyuan Tieling were okay. Although the fighting was fierce, the Tatars were finally blocked from the border wall.

But Fushun, which is under the jurisdiction of Shenyang Road, and the entire Qinghe Road have become the hardest-hit areas.

Because people in some areas were unable to afford the price of food, some even took the initiative to defect to the Jianlu.

Joining the army has become a good choice. Not only can you eat military rations, but now your military pay is also paid on time, which can supplement your family's income.

Behind this enthusiasm to join the army, it reflects a terrible reality. Prices in Liaodong have begun to skyrocket, and the economy here will soon collapse.

As a "keyboard warrior" who has been in the forum for many years, Li Xianzhong knew that this was the sequelae of Zhang Juzheng's "one whip method".

Although replacing physical goods with silver has greatly improved the efficiency of government tax collection and payment, once prices rise sharply, the purchasing power of silver in the hands of the people will decrease.

Compared with traditional physical taxes, ordinary people also bear the risk of price changes, which actually increases the burden on ordinary people.

Of course, the "One Whip Law" was only a boost. What really led to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's border economy was the disintegration of the "Open China Law."

The Kaizhong method is a system implemented in the Ming Dynasty using salt tea as an intermediary.

The method of opening the middle can be roughly divided into three steps: reporting the middle, guarding the branch, and changing the market.

According to the report, the salt merchants, in accordance with the requirements of the Ming Dynasty official's investment list, transported the grain to the designated granary in the border area and exchanged salt with the government.

Shouzhi means that after the salt merchants exchange salt for salt, they go to the designated salt field to wait for the salt.

Market trading is when salt merchants transport the salt they obtain to designated areas for sale.

Because of the huge cost of transporting food over long distances, salt merchants hired laborers from various places to cultivate fields.

Produce grain and store it in warehouses in exchange for salt, so you can make more profits.

Because this form of farming was run by merchants, it was also called merchant farming.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Shangtun was located in Liaodong in the east, Xuanda in the north, Gansu in the west, and Jiaozhi in the south. Its prosperity played a certain role in the food reserves for border defense and the development of border areas.

According to the needs of the Ming court, in addition to exchanging grain and rice for salt, sometimes cloth, silk, money, horses, etc. can also be exchanged, but exchanging grain is the main form.

This ensures sufficient supplies at the border and makes prices in border areas almost the same as those in the mainland.

During the Chenghua period of Xianzong, all parties were stopped from opening up the law, and salt merchants were ordered to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to transport grain to the Ministry of Finance in exchange for salt.

However, Yan Yin's huge profits caused the powerful to obtain salt Yin through various channels and then sell it to salt merchants.

In this way, salt merchants can buy salt directly, and naturally they are not willing to waste time and effort in transporting grain to the border.

Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, changed the old system and simply asked merchants to use silver instead of rice, pay it to the Transportation Bureau, deliver it to Taicang, and then distribute it to various parties.

Every time salt was introduced and silver was transferred, it ranged from three to four yuan, resulting in Taicang's silver reaching more than one million yuan, and the country's fiscal revenue increased sharply.

Although these series of reforms enabled the imperial court to greatly increase its fiscal revenue by directly selling salt.

But this also caused the salt merchants who originally lived near the village to move inland, and the once prosperous merchant villages gradually fell into ruin.

Then the prices at the border are getting higher and higher, and the cost of the court transporting materials to the border is also increasing.

So much so that by the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, due to internal and external troubles, the Ming Dynasty could hardly even afford to support a town in Liaodong.

If it were peacetime, and border wars were not so frequent, the income the court could obtain from the direct sale of salt could support the border expenses.

However, as the war became more and more intense, the cost of border customs increased. Now the Ministry of Revenue could only get about 60 taels of silver from selling salt every year, which was unable to support the war in Liaodong, so the imperial court had to impose additional Liao rates.

Li Xianzhong knows that this is just the beginning. From next year, the weather abnormalities caused by the Little Glacier will become more and more serious, leading to a large reduction in grain production.

Food prices throughout Liaodong will be even more outrageous.

He suddenly discovered that money was no longer valuable, and food was the key.In fact, Li Xianzhong is not short of money now.

When he returned from the capital, he only had 5 taels of silver.

They guerrillaed Yu Shouzhi in Xiguan and ransacked his house to obtain 4 taels of silver.

A total of 15 taels of gold, silver and jewelry were obtained from the raids on the Mongolian Chaohua and Horqin tribes. After excluding the dividends given to the soldiers and Kaiyuanlu generals, I still got a net 11 taels.

Liang San's caravan can bring him 3 taels of income every month by monopolizing the trade with Mongolia.

The income from selling furs and ginseng can almost offset the salary and other expenses for the Liaodong cavalry.

Now I already have 26 taels of silver in my hands.

Of course, the bulk of it is the reward money owed to him by the Ministry of War. During the last Liaodong war, the Ministry of War owed him 10 taels.

自己扫荡蒙古各部总共提交了7200颗首级，最后兵部认了5000级；这次开原大战的3700建虏首级认定了2500级，这可又是15万两银子。

The Ministry of War owed itself a total of 25 taels of silver.

Huang Jiashan, Minister of the Ministry of War, now has too many debts to worry about. He has repeatedly pressed for payment, but he has no intention of giving anything.

It seems that I have to take the time to go to the capital in person, otherwise this "snowball" will get bigger and bigger, and I'm afraid I won't be able to come back in the future.

Now Pinglubao's farming model has been recognized by Yuan Yingtai, governor of Liaodong.

Although the Ming Dynasty's health clinic system during the Wanli period has basically existed in name only, the situation in Liaodong today is that many health clinics still exist, and some are even running well and can be completely self-sufficient.

Li Xianzhong took the opportunity to turn Pinglu Fort into a thousand-household station under the Tieling Guard, and even gave Fan Wencheng an official position with a thousand-household position in the fifth-grade guard station. These refugees have now been converted into military status.

And since it started selling cement and briquettes, Pinglubao no longer needs to subsidize money.

Fan Wencheng even had 2000 taels of working capital on hand.

But there are not many food reserves. After all, the troops under his command are regular officers and soldiers. They eat food from the court and do not need to spend it themselves.

At present, Pinglu Fort's grain inventory is about 8000 shi.

This amount of food cannot cope with a major famine.

Therefore, Li Xianzhong planned to reform the existing trade model of Kaiyuan Road.

Soon after, he hosted a banquet for these Liaodong businessmen in the name of Liang San.

Now Liang San is no longer the small shopkeeper under Ma Yuanwai, but a big businessman who monopolizes the entire Kaiyuan trade with Mongolian Yehe.

Any businessman who wants to get a share of the trade outside the Great Wall would dare not give Liang San face.

Although there are horse markets in Guangning, Xuanfu, and Datong, Kaiyuan is still a huge cake, especially the trade in Inner Karkha Mongolia, Horqin, and Yehe represented by the Fried Flower Department. I only recognize Liang San.

Today, Liang San is very proud of himself. With a rosy face, he is wearing a gorgeous silk robe and together with Kong Youde, he greets all the businessmen to take their seats.

This huge contrast made Li Xianzhong almost not recognize him!
Although these well-informed businessmen have long known that Liang Santong and Kong Youde were just spokespersons, the real boss behind the scenes was the Kaiyuan general Li Xianzhong.

But when Li Xianzhong appeared directly at the banquet, they were still surprised.

Businessmen who are well versed in the ways of officialdom have an ominous premonition that General Li, who has stepped from behind the scenes to the front, may not do anything good.

So everyone looked at Shopkeeper Ma, and subconsciously said: Old Ma, you have to stand up for everyone!
When Li Xianzhong saw the grim looks on these people's faces, he knew that they thought he was going to "rip off" them.

He cleared his throat and said, "Don't misunderstand me. I am not calling everyone here to raise donations."

"I know that you are quite complaining about the previous trade rules. I have worked hard to transport goods, but I have to share half of the selling price. Do you think you have suffered a loss?"

It sounds like Mr. Li wants to adjust the trade rules. They don't dare to accept this. Who knows how to adjust it?

According to the current rules, they did hand over most of the profits, but there was also an advantage, that is, it saves trouble. After all, you don’t have to go out by yourself for the most risky exit, and you can definitely make a profit without losing money.

And you don’t have to face all kinds of exploitation by the government, which saves a lot of time.

It turns out that the time it takes to complete one trade is enough for them to ship the goods twice. In this way, they actually don't make a lot less money, and their safety is guaranteed. Many merchants have actually accepted this current form of trade.

In order not to be left in the cold, the horseman had no choice but to say: "Actually, the current method is not bad. At least everyone is guaranteed to make money without losing money, and there is no need to live in fear. I would like to ask Mr. Li how to adjust these trade policies?"

Li Xianzhong said: "It's very simple. We are going to re-implement the 'Open China Law', where everyone transports grain in exchange for a license to leave the country for business."

"After obtaining the license, the goods listed on the license can be directly exported duty-free. From now on, everyone can trade freely, and you can earn more or less based on your ability."

These businessmen are no strangers to the "Kaizhong method", but they used to exchange it for salt, but now they exchange it for the qualification to do business in the fortress.

After some deliberations, the businessmen accepted the plan.

The most important thing is that they can raise the price by trading by themselves. Originally, they were based on the purchase price given by Liang San, so they could only suffer a dumb loss!So many people signed a contract with Li Xianzhong on the spot to transport grain, exchanging grain and other physical goods for business permission.

Li Xianzhong made a rough estimate and found that he could get 8 shi of food per month, as well as a small amount of salt and cloth.

Although he has lost tens of thousands of taels of silver every month, with this food, he can develop and expand with peace of mind and recruit refugees.

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