Late Tang

At the end of March in the 15th year of Xiantong, the spring plowing work on the three arable islands in Shamen Town was completed.More than [-] mu of land has been sown with spring wheat, and one deep well per [-] mu of cultivated land has been dug and completed, and the waterwheels produced by the carpenter's workshop have also been completed.

But now the people on the islands don't pay much attention to these lands. After the seeds are sown, each family's two and a half acres of land don't need much time to tend it.Since the spring plowing, each castle has started to launch several new projects brought out by Li Jing.

The flint mine in Daheishanbao, the fire shell blacksmith workshop, the flint grinding workshop, and the lighter assembly workshop.Fort Montenegro and even Shamen Town each organized a huge fishing team to go fishing, and set up slaughterhouses and canning yards, and even built and expanded a pottery pot factory and porcelain factory because of this.

The sun-dried salt factory on Nantuozi Island has also formally transferred manpower into it, and officially opened up a large area of ​​salt fields.The entire Nantuozi Island was officially sealed off, and it was claimed to be a military important place, and idlers were not allowed to enter. In fact, Zhang Chengye, the military supervisor, was afraid that Li Jing's salt drying method would be known by others.

A thousand acres of salt fields have been developed in Nantuozi, and the peak season for drying salt is from March to May every year, which can be called the flood season.From the end of October to January of the following year, it can be called the small flood season.This new method of drying salt in salt fields can complete the process of drying all the salt every twelve days, and formally collect salt.The yield of this sun-dried salt method is extremely high, and the salt production rate reaches [-]% of seawater, and one mu of salt field can produce four thousand catties of salt.Calculated based on the output and labor required, Zhang Chengye, Zhang Hong and others were surprised to find that a worker in a salt factory can produce an average of [-] catties of salt per year, which is only the output of [-] days of drying salt in two flood seasons each year. .

In a period of twelve days, the salt field produces more than 3 stones of salt, and only 1000 workers are needed.Ten seasons of salt can be dried in a year, reaching more than 30 halite.The produced salt is white in color, large in size and dry, and its quality is much better than ordinary sea salt.Even the world-famous Huai salt is not as good as this sun-dried salt, only some high-grade multi-filtered salt can be compared.

When the first batch of salt came out of the salt fields, and a piece of white flowers like snow-like salt lay quietly in the field, Zhang Chengye, Zhang Hong and others were very excited. Speak up.Over the years, everyone has long been used to cooking the sea for salt, and I have never seen such a person drying the sea for salt.

"The quality of this salt is better than Huai salt, comparable to green salt, good salt, good salt." Zhang Chengye exclaimed happily.

Green salt is not sea salt, but lake salt, also known as rock salt, which is a specialty of Qinghai.The price of this salt has always been high, three or four hundred yuan for a bucket of salt, or even twice the price of rice.At this price, the salt bucket of the imperial court is worth a hundred dollars. Nantuozi Island produces more than 30 stones a year, so the annual output of this salt field is worth more than 70 tons.Even if it is only calculated by half, that is a huge profit of 40 to [-] guan.And this does not require much effort at all, the cost is only the wages of a thousand salt factory workers, and the annual labor cost is less than five thousand guan.It is simply a lucrative business!

"Nan Tuozi strictly prohibits everyone from entering and leaving, and must be strictly guarded. It is best for the family members of those workers in the salt factory to move to Nan Tuozi Island to prevent them from leaking secrets when they go out." Zhang Chengye was more concerned than Li Jing, and immediately I saw the huge profits of this salt factory.

By the end of March, the salt factory had officially released two phases of salt, and there were nearly [-] stones of white salt in the salt warehouse on Nantuozi Island.Looking at these warehouses of salt, Zhang Hong, the big butler, couldn't close his mouth with a smile.After the first effect of salt production, the first batch of lighters from Daheishanbao was finally officially produced.According to Li Jing's guidance, the first batch of lighters were positioned as luxury goods, and the targets were also wealthy officials, etc., so the casings were all extremely luxurious, with four styles of fine steel, brass, silver, and gold. They were all set with jewels.These lighters are completely a collection, using kerosene, and each lighter is also sold with a small porcelain bottle of kerosene.

"How much is the price?" Lin Wei asked nervously as he sent several lighters to Li Jing.Now almost half of the tens of thousands of people in Daheishan Island have joined this project.

Li Jing looked at several lighters running around naked, and said with some dissatisfaction: "Your lighters are not bad, beautiful and luxurious. But as I said earlier, our products are positioned as luxury goods. If this is the case, then we It’s not just a good product. The packaging is more important. You have to pack it in silk and then put it in a nanmu box. Finally, there must be patterns on the box. In short, just one box must be a rare luxury. In addition, you must use celadon bottles for your kerosene bottles, don't worry about the cost, all of these can be added to the price, and even some more, it must be extravagant."

"As for the price, there are four types of stainless steel, bronze, silver, and gold. Why don't we set prices at ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred guan. The sales will be divided into regions according to the sales method of baijiu. If you want to sell it to a dealer, you must do hunger marketing to increase the price. Not only must the selling price be high, but you must also make it rare and have a price but nothing. In this way, you won’t have to worry about making money.”

"Is anyone buying it for such an expensive price?" Lin Wei asked worriedly, this small lighter is now related to half of the people in Montenegro.The lighter looked mysterious, but the cost was not high. He wondered if Li Jing would charge such a high price.

"The people who are willing to spend money on lighters are the sons of wealthy businessmen and senior officials. Do you think they would care about the higher price since they are willing to spend money on such a luxury?" Li Jing replied with a smile .

Li Jing is in a very good mood recently. Starting from March, all the battalions in Shamen Town, except the logistics battalion, the other six battalions took turns to attack.Gongsun Lan from the Plum Blossom Gate provided information on pirates and bandits, and the reconnaissance battalion reconnaissance verified the information in advance, inquiring about the detailed route and the enemy's real situation, and Li Jing discussed in detail with the officers of the various battalions to prepare a battle plan. Every time, Li Jing gave the commanders who attacked to make temporary decisions on the battlefield. It can be said that with such an arrangement, the entire bandit suppression battle with combat training was very good.

In the past month, each of the Sixth Battalion has taken turns to attack, and the battle situation is very gratifying.More than 30 of the Sixth Battalion were divided into more than a dozen batches, and they successively wiped out nearly twenty groups of pirates and bandits on the sea near Shamen Town and on the coast of Dengzhou.The number of pirates and bandits that were exterminated ranged from three to five thousand, and the few were over a hundred. None of them could escape under the attack of the Shamen town army, and they were all wiped out.

The bandit capital was executed, and the remaining bandits and their families, as well as the money, food, weapons and other things in the cottages were all transported back to Shamen Town.During these sorties, Li Jing also mobilized the prisoner-of-war battalion and the barracks battalion, and even specially recruited a battalion of civilians to accompany the army each time to train their ability to cooperate in combat, and by the way, to transport all the nest's belongings. .On the other hand, it also solves a lot of surplus labor and gives the common people a chance to make money.The civilian husbands who participated in the transportation with the army received very rich rewards. In the end, Li Jing had to take turns recruiting civilian husbands, which calmed down the envy of other common people.

More than 20 thieves' lairs were wiped out. While training troops, Li Jing brought more than [-] yuan in extra income, and obtained thousands of pairs of swords, guns, bows and arrows. Although these weapons were various and even damaged, Li Jing directly let Diu It was repaired and processed in the armory workshop, and then piled into the arsenal for foreign trade.

In addition to the seizure of money and weapons, Li Jing also obtained more than 3 shi of grain and more than [-] pirates and bandits and their families by destroying these cottages. These people all became Li Jing's captives.Li Jing had no intention of taking these people in, and put them directly in a prisoner-of-war camp, planning to sell them in Liaodong, or exchange them for some young and strong prisoners of war, slaves, war horses and other supplies.

In this round of combat training, each battalion also suffered some injuries, adding up to nearly a hundred battle deaths, all of which were caused by inexperience when they first entered the battlefield.Although there seemed to be such a large casualty, Li Jing thought it was definitely worth it.Only a month later, after the baptism of war and swords and guns, when these Salmonella town troops walked in front of Li Jing again, they had completely changed, and there was a real killing spirit in their actions.

"Yanei, the canned food in the new supply army is really good. It takes more than two days to go back and forth to march and fight each time. When marching, there is very little time for cooking. With these canned food, there is no need to regenerate the fire. For cooking, just send out a few cans to each group, and then use fried rice and fried noodles or Guokui cakes made by logistics. It is simple, easy and delicious. Especially the canned braised beef, it is the first time I have eaten so much when I grow up The beef is so delicious." Liu Shouqian said loudly.

Beef was a precious commodity in the Tang Dynasty. People were not allowed to commit suicide on cattle. If cattle died of old age and disease, they had to report to the officials before killing them, and the officials sent people to kill them.After killing, the horns, tendons, cowhide and other things have to be confiscated by the officials.It is normal for most people to have never eaten beef in their entire lives.

These canned beef were made after slaughtering a large number of old cattle that Li Jing transported from Qingnipu, and the sergeants below ate it all at once.

Now the cans produced in several islands are divided into five categories, meat, poultry, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables.

Specifically, it is divided into canned steamed meat, canned seasoned meat, canned cured meat, canned smoked meat, canned sausage meat, and canned offal meat.And boiled canned poultry, canned deboned poultry, canned seasoned poultry.Oil-soaked canned aquatic products, seasoned canned aquatic products, and steamed canned aquatic products.Canned fruit in syrup, canned fruit in syrup, and jam.Canned clear pickled vegetables, canned vinegar pickled vegetables, canned seasoned vegetables, canned salted vegetables.

There are so many varieties that can be said to be very rich. Now all the products produced are picnic packs in clay pots. Each pot is packed in a few kilograms. One pot can supply a group of soldiers for marching.According to Li Jing's request, next, the canning workshops on each island will also produce family packs for sale.According to the price, it is divided into ordinary family version, which is packed in bamboo tubes, gourds or even small clay pots, and each pot is about one catty.The other one is luxurious, in a beautiful porcelain bottle, and the price is higher.

Since the canned food was supplied to the army, it has aroused a warm response, and the soldiers all like the canned food very much.

Li Jing is negotiating with Cangcao Cangjun Han Zhongwu to increase orders for canning workshops and store more canned food in the warehouse.Suddenly, Zhao Jiang, the head of the guards, came in and reported, "In the Yamen, a man who claims to be Lord Shangjun of Puzhou came to see the Yamen."

"Shang Jun?" Li Jing's expression changed when he heard the words, and he immediately thought of a person, a figure who was turbulent and rampant in the late Tang Dynasty.

(To be continued)