Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 190 The You family comes to visit

Compare cement with unknown label to stone? Is that even comparable?

Li Weijian hurriedly stopped him and told him that after a few days, he would cast the pillars with cement and ask his teacher Yan Xiyao to give it a try.

As for the matter of converting rice into mulberry, now it is just an official from Jiangnan who wrote a letter to make suggestions, and the court has not yet made up its mind. According to Dashun's rules, I'm afraid this matter won't come to an end despite the quarrel a year ago.

A few days later, it was already the middle of the twelfth lunar month. As expected, Li Weijian used a carriage to pull a cement pillar. Yan Xiyao found two servants with big arms and round waists, raised their arms and smashed it with a hammer for a long time, but they only made a few holes.

Li Weijian spent a lot of money this time. He used cement that had been calcined several times for the best effect. It was mixed with mortar and river pebbles. It was also surrounded by a net made of bamboo tendons. It's amazing if it can be smashed!

Yan Xiyao observed this for a long time and admired this disciple even more. He immediately stepped forward and asked about the labor and materials in detail. He heard that it was just calcining lime, clay and crushed iron slag. Mixing mortar, cobblestones and bamboo had such an effect. How did Yan Xiyao calculate that the cost of this cement was higher than that of that stone? Much lower.

This product can be used to repair rivers, cofferdams, or ponds. It costs more than half as much as throwing stones.

"Is this thing really not afraid of flooding?"

"Don't be afraid. This thing needs to be watered and maintained from time to time, so that it can last for a long time."

Yan Xiyao praised him several times and couldn't help but sigh: "Fu Sheng's ability to learn how to create things is far inferior to that of his teacher."

Li Weijian cupped his hands and said, "Teacher, the plan in your heart is the national economy and the people's livelihood, so how can you have time to actually learn about creation?"

Yan Xiyao nodded slightly and said, "Resurrection created this thing. I'm afraid he had a plan in mind, right?"

"Yes." Li Weijian responded and was about to speak when Yan Xiyao stopped him.

The two entered the study and dismissed the servants. Only then did Li Weijian explain his plan in detail. The disasters of the Huanghuai River continue to this day, and the Huaihe River Basin has suffered nine disasters in ten years. It is also because of this that it has become a land of plenty, and now food has to be allocated from Huguang and other places.

Li Weijian's ultimate goal must be to regulate the Yellow and Huaihe rivers and find a new outlet for the Yellow River to the sea. By the way, all the flood-prone rivers in the south of the Yangtze River were reorganized, which resulted in the creation of countless silt fields.

Then Li Weijian's plan was simple. In the name of the inner government, he went to Jiangnan to raise funds and prepare for the establishment of a river company. Then he went to negotiate with the state and county yamen to repair the river course free of charge, and all the fertile farmland that was silted out would be owned by the river course company. As long as a section of the river is renovated, the Jiangnan gentry sees the benefits. When the river company reorganizes the river, they can do a pre-sale with nothing.

In this way, the river company can expand in a very short time.

Having said that he had a plan in mind, Yan Xiyao's face showed a strange expression in front of him. This cheap disciple is really awesome! Yan Xiyao only thought about the convenience and cheapness of building cities with cement and building ponds. Li Weijian was already thinking about how to use these things to make large sums of money.

The south of the Yangtze River is prosperous, with ten or twelve taels of high-quality paddy fields, and salt and tidal flats that can be sold for a thousand coins. The river company controls the floods, so more than a million acres of fertile land are silted out? A small piece of cement was transformed into a behemoth comparable to the Capital Waterworks in the blink of an eye by this disciple.

At this moment, Yan Xiyao had already figured out that unless his disciple rebelled and committed the serious crime of confiscating his family and exterminating his clan, he would have to be protected from top to bottom. He was really a living god of wealth!

Seeing the contemplative look on his mentor's face, Li Weijian thought for a long time and said, "In the future, the Hedao Company will leave three-thirds of its shares to Brother Jingwen?"

Yan Xiyao came to his senses and waved his hand quickly: "You don't need so many, just clearly mark the price and let him buy a cent."

Li Weijian nodded and agreed. Yan Xiyao turned around and said, "After resurrection, do you know why Chen Hongmou insisted on changing rice to mulberry?"

"The teacher said before that this move is to appease the Jiangnan gentry... Is it wrong?"

"Not complete." As he spoke, Yan Xiyao found a newspaper from his desk, handed it over and said, "You will know after you read it."

"This is -" Li Weijian glanced at the newspaper and saw that there were foreign texts on it. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the memorial quoted statistics from the British East India Company.

The newspaper was very thick and Yan Xiyao sent Li Weijian home to take a closer look, knowing that he would not be able to read it all in a while.

Li Weijian returned home and spent a full day reading the newspaper. After reading it, I sighed in my heart, no wonder Chen Hongmou paid attention to it, the saint was tempted, money and silk really moved people's hearts!

The above list lists and counts the East India Company's purchases in Guangzhou over the past ten years, and uses this to infer the production and sales data of Dashun's various products.

After the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, mulberry silk weaving in the north has long declined, the output in Bashu is limited, and Guangdong is in the ascendant, because Jiangnan is the largest mulberry silk weaving production area in the world.

According to the East India Company's calculations, the year before last, the silk produced in the south of the Yangtze River was 77,000 tons, of which 71,000 tons were commercial silk, worth 12 million taels of silver!

The output of silk fabrics was 49,000 tons, worth 14,550,000 taels of silver!

The total value of the two is 26.5 million taels. In addition, Susong alone in the south of the Yangtze River produces 45 million pieces of cloth every year. Based on the median price of three coins per piece, this is 12.5 million taels!

Where do silk weaving and cotton and linen belong together? Jiangnan alone produces nearly 40 million taels per year, but how much commercial tax did the court actually collect from Jiangnan? Less than four hundred thousand taels!

Forty million taels. If you draw one out of twenty, that's still two million taels. No wonder Chen Hongmou and the saint were thinking about it. They were afraid that after the rice was replaced by mulberry, commercial taxes would be strictly inspected in this Jiangnan area.

(Note )

But he said that when Li Weijian returned home that day, Fu Qiufang was nowhere to be seen. After asking Qingwen, I found out that Mrs. You was celebrating her birthday today, and Fu Qiufang went over to join in the fun.

Fu Qiufang didn't return until it was close to dinner. The two of them were sitting in the room, and Li Weijian asked, "Why do you want to go to You's house to join in the fun?"

Fu Qiufang said: "At least I am also An Ren. I heard that two more pleasant people are here today, so I want to get to know them better."

Li Weijian smiled and said, "Have you gained any experience then?"

Fu Qiufang was about to speak but stopped, and suddenly burst into laughter. After laughing for a long time, he spoke happily.

But it was said that Mrs. You was celebrating her birthday that day. Since the house in the outer city was rented out, Mrs. You gave Mrs. You twenty taels of silver alone for her birthday, so the birthday banquet was naturally grand.

The banquet was arranged by a restaurant, and an opera troupe was invited to sing. I don’t know who invited me, but even the children of Liu Guogong’s family came to join in the fun and pretend to be niche.

Fu Qiufang was sitting with her second sister and third sister, and then she heard the third sister inquire carefully about the name of the child of Liu Guogong's family, Liu Xianglian. The third sister immediately changed her mind and just stared at Liu Xianglian, not even eating much at the banquet.

Fu Qiufang was originally careful, thinking that she would be either comforting or pleasant, but in the end, the two pleasant people didn't speak as well as You Lao Niang. Because he gradually let go and started talking to a few people.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, someone suddenly came to the door. But it was a father and son named Zhang who said they had a marriage contract with their second sister and came here to press for the marriage to be completed as soon as possible.

You Lao Niang's expression changed greatly, and she ordered her servants to beat the two men away with sticks, and even chased them out and yelled at them. It made Fu Qiufang laugh a lot.

Afterwards, the mood was lost and the birthday banquet was hurriedly dispersed. Having said this, Fu Qiufang stopped her smile and said: "I have carefully observed the second sister and the third sister today. The second sister has a soft temper and is a bit vain; but the third sister is thorny. Master, if If you want to accept it, just accept the second sister, I'm afraid the third sister is not easy to deal with."

Li Weijian looked stunned: "How does this involve me taking a concubine? When did I say that?"

Fu Qiufang glanced sideways and said: "The master's team is thin and needs to spread its branches. That second sister seems to be a good child..."

Li Weijian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because Fu Qiufang must have thought that she admired Ai as a young man and couldn't help but be seduced by beauty.

Seeing that he didn't want to talk about it, Fu Qiufang turned to the matter of purchasing.

It was freezing cold at this time, so it was a good time to save some fish. As the New Year was approaching, Zhuangzi from all over Liaodong drove a line of cars to the capital to sell. Fu Qiufang took the opportunity to buy deer meat and venison. Seeing some people buying tiger bones, she gave up her money and bought a pair to make wine for Li Weijian.

In addition, Japanese wares, fresh fish from Jinmen, silk and cloth from Jiangnan, apples stored in cellars, and citrus from Guangnan were all purchased at a cost of more than a thousand taels.

Thanks to the small number of people in the family, I expected that the situation in Rongguo Mansion would be like a few thousand taels in the New Year.

After talking about the New Year gifts prepared for everyone, Fu Qiufang said: "Master, no one will come to visit this year, right?"

"It's hard to say -" Li Weijian was deeply involved with only a few families, including the Yan family, King Zhongyong, Rongguo Mansion, and Zhongjinghou Mansion. Apart from that, Da Sikong had stopped contacting him since that incident. , the only remaining merchants are Shanxi merchants, Hui merchants and other merchants.

Li Weijian secretly thought to himself, during this Chinese New Year, the secretarial offices of Duyu Division in the Imperial Palace would not come to his home to use the back door, right?

Everyone knew that King Zhongyong had great trust in him, so maybe someone would actually take the risk.

After thinking about it, Li Weijian said: "Let's just put a red paper bag in front of the door."

This rule was inherited from the Ming Dynasty. During the New Year period, officials were busier than usual and had no time to entertain those who came to visit them. Because there was a red paper bag left in front of the door, if you just wanted to pay New Year greetings, just leave a name card. The one who insists on meeting must have prepared a generous gift.

Fu Qiufang agreed and listed out the gifts to be sent to various places. Among them, Yan Xiyao was Li Weijian's mentor, and King Zhongyong had favored him, so the gift was naturally heavier. Li Weijian stayed in Jia Mansion for more than half a year. Fu Qiufang thought about this and added a few more, so these three families are roughly similar. ; Only Zhongjinghou Mansion is left, so this ceremony is a little thin.

After seeing it, Li Weijian thought to himself: "Just one cart doesn't look good. There are almost enough fruits and vegetables in the greenhouses on the left and right. When the time comes, the family will send a cart."

Fu Qiufang suddenly understood, then smiled and said: "The master is thoughtful. In the twelfth lunar month of winter, I think it will be refreshing to eat some fruits and green vegetables." After a pause, he added: "I was still complaining about that a few days ago. I spent too much on throwing away greenhouses. Now I have harvested fruits and vegetables. I am really capable. I just don’t know if these fruits and vegetables can be sold——"

Li Weijian shook his head and said: "For a family like ours, we don't need a little money. Apart from the fruits and vegetables grown in the greenhouse, we can only eat them ourselves and give some to our relatives and friends from time to time. However, this greenhouse technology can be learned by outsiders in the future. , Qiu Fang can send it out."

"Master, are you willing to bear it?"

"What's the reluctance?" Li Weijian smiled and said, "It won't stop me from eating fresh fruits and vegetables if it spreads. If it spreads, I will be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables when I go to other places as a guest."

While she was talking, Xiu Ying suddenly opened the door and entered, and then walked eagerly in front of Li Weijian, her eyes full of expectation.

He twisted and said: "Master~"

"speak nicely!"

Xiu Ying pouted and said, "I think the watermelon is almost ripe."

Li Weijian was immediately overjoyed. Since the melon vines bloomed, this girl would get into the greenhouse to observe whenever she had something to do. She watched the watermelons getting bigger little by little. Today, she finally couldn't help but drool.

Li Weijian said: "Pick it, pick it, I see you have been thinking about it for a long time."

Xiu Ying was immediately overjoyed: "Then I'll pick it! I don't know, sir, but I have my eye on one, I'm sure it's very sweet!"

Xiuying turned around and ran away. After a while, Qingwen, Hongyu, and Xiangling all entered the main room, chattering about whether the watermelon was sweet or not.

After another long while, the door was almost knocked open, and Xiu Ying ran in holding a ball of quilts.

"Where's the watermelon?"

Qingwen Nahan asked.

Xiu Ying took two quick steps and placed it on the table with a thud. She opened the quilt and revealed the watermelon inside. She smiled and said, "I was afraid that the watermelon would freeze, so I just wrapped it in a quilt."

This move naturally attracted a lot of criticism from everyone, but Xiu Ying didn't care and just stared at the watermelon.

Seeing that his eyes couldn't be pulled out, Li Weijian stopped everyone talking, ordered a knife, and did it himself. When he inserted the knife in, he heard a click, and the watermelon split into tiny gaps.

Slowly cut it open, and Xiu Ying was waiting with her feet raised to observe it. Seeing the bright red flesh of the melon inside, Xiu Ying immediately shouted: "It's red! It tastes sweet just by looking at it!"

Half of the watermelon was cut into small pieces. Knowing that she was too greedy, Li Weijian first handed a piece to Xiu Ying. Xiu Ying held back her saliva and waited until everyone had eaten, especially Li Weijian, who took a bite first before taking a small bite.

The bright red flesh of the melon enters the mouth, and the refreshing taste reveals the unique sweetness of watermelon. Xiu Ying's eyebrows suddenly curved, enjoying it so much.

Xiangling said: "I have only heard people say that in the bitter cold land outside the pass, it snows in August, and the people gather around the stove to eat watermelon. I don't think we can eat watermelon in the capital in winter like this."

Xiu Ying said vaguely: "Not only are there watermelons, but I think the melons are almost ripe as well."

Qingwen immediately scolded: "You run to the greenhouse three or five times a day, I'm afraid you are all thinking about eating."

While they were joking, the steward Qianxue suddenly came to report: "Master, aunt, and several girls, the You family next door came to ask for help, saying that there was a thief in the house."

There was silence in the main room, Qingwen said in confusion: "Since there has been a thief, just report to the Tianfu Yamen, why do you come to look for the master?"

　The data cited are the data listed in "The Germination of Capitalism in China", "Yibanlu", "Sikkim Knowledge Xiaolu" and other articles, but they are from around 1813. After all, Dashun developed better than Manchu Qing, right?

　　

　

(End of this chapter)