Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 963 Shandong Business
Even if the goods arrived in peace, the supply system and finances of Ming Dynasty were extremely disordered, so many merchants who dreamed of getting rich went bankrupt and only exchanged for a few pieces of paper, and even those who didn't make a fuss committed suicide. exist.

To do business in the imperial court here in Dengzhou, in addition to having the capital and the ability to do business, one must also have a solid official background.Also in Dengzhou, some people made a fortune by transporting the military supplies of the imperial court. They also used ships sailing on the Bohai Sea to transport military supplies to engage in smuggling activities, transporting urgently needed goods and special products, and wandering between Daming, North Korea and China. During the post-money period, he made a lot of money.

Sun Yuanhua knew this very well in Dengzhou, but since he is a person who can be an official, he would not care too much about it. He can't afford to mess with the situation, and some of them want the other party to work hard, not to offend; Whether it can continue is a question.

Therefore, apart from controlling the export of grain and pig iron to Houjin as much as possible, Sun Yuanhua himself opened his eyes and closed his eyes in other aspects.And he also needs smugglers to import much-needed horses from Houjin territory.Dengzhou is located in Shandong, unlike the generals of the Ming army in Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou who could buy horses from Mongolia nearby, so buying horses from Houjin became the main source of horses for the Dengzhou new army.What's more, the smugglers brought a lot of news about Hou Jin from time to time-much better than the spy work sent by the imperial court in terms of intelligence collection.

The young man in front of him might have the same plan.Sun Yuanhua looked at Zhao Yingong, he came to visit him obviously to "seek relatives" and "seek backing".To do business in this area of ​​Dengzhou, no one is more suitable as a backer than Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua was not disgusted by this.In Daming, this is a matter of course.He, Sun Yuanhua, is not a gentleman of Taoism—otherwise he would not have become a senior official in his fifties.

This Zhao Yingong's business with Australians is not counted. In order to make money, he is willing to travel thousands of miles to the unfamiliar Shandong. He is not afraid of taking risks. He is a bold and courageous person.He also has deep trade ties with the Australians, which can also be exploited.In the end, it is beneficial and harmless for him to directly master several merchants.

But whether this person is usable or not needs to be seen further.he asked:

"Since you want to do business here, what business do you plan to do?"

This topic is a bit sensitive.The business that Zhao Yingong wants to do is actually human trafficking. Of course, this cannot be said, but making up one will stand up to scrutiny.Zhao Yingong had thought about it a long time ago, and said cautiously at the moment:

"Your Excellency is training here, what you need most is food..."

Sun Yuanhua brushed his beard, nodded and said, "That's right, it's food." He sighed, "It's difficult."

Zhao Yingong asked: "Dare to ask your lord the reason?"

"There is food for the imperial court, but the word 'luck' is difficult to deal with," he said.

There are a large number of garrisons gathered in Denglai and Denglai, which consume a lot of food and supply food to the tens of thousands of people stationed in Dongjiang Town in Liaodong. The food transfer is extremely heavy.However, land transportation in the Denglei area is extremely inconvenient.In the Ming Dynasty, the Chief Secretary of Shandong had a total of six prefectures. The three prefectures of Qingzhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou on the eastern coast were called the "Three East Prefectural Houses", while the three prefectures of Jinan, Yanzhou, and Dongchang, which were located along the western canal, were the "Three Western Prefectural Houses". .Relatively speaking, there is a big gap between Dongsanfu and Xisanfu in terms of transportation and trade.

Dongsan Prefecture is located on the eastern coast, and the territory is mostly hilly and mountainous, so land transportation is extremely inconvenient.Located in the easternmost Terengganu, facing the sea on three sides, the land traffic is the most blocked. "Although the western border is connected to Lai (state) and Qing (state), it blocks mountains and ridges, bird paths and sheep intestines, cars cannot accommodate rails, and people cannot square bridles."Such traffic conditions have undoubtedly greatly hindered its commercial circulation with other regions, so there is a situation of "remote in the east, surrounded by mountains and seas, barren land and few people, trade is impassable, and merchants rarely come".

After a large amount of grain transported from the south arrived in Shandong via the Grand Canal, it needed to be transshipped by land before it could be transported to Deng, Lai and other places.The geographical conditions of Xisanfu make land transfer very difficult.Because the roads are difficult, the freight is very high.

The food allocated by the imperial court to the Denglai garrison and Dongjiang often could not be transported to Dengzhou quickly, and was piled up in Linqing and other places, which not only greatly increased the consumption, but also involved many official interactions.To transport grain to Dengzhou, it is necessary to conscript laborers, hire vehicles, provide food, drink and lodging along the way, and sometimes have to repair bridges and repair roads.This all involves the cooperation of local officials.After all, Sun Yuanhua was only the governor of Denglai, not the governor of the entire Shandong province. He was not so handy when he was out of his own jurisdiction.For this reason, he had to do a lot of work in the province and prefectures and counties along the route to ensure the smooth delivery of food.

Not only food, but other supplies also have such problems.From the perspective of modern people, Dongsan Prefecture is a coastal prefecture and county, a typical area suitable for "export-oriented economy", and the shipping conditions are very good-the entire Dongsan Prefecture coastline stretches for nearly 29 kilometers, and it has 60 jurisdictions. Among the prefectures and counties, coastal prefectures and counties accounted for nearly [-]%. As early as the Sui, Tang, and Northern Song Dynasties, Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Jiaozhou had developed into important ports for trade between China and foreign countries.

However, due to the strict maritime ban imposed in the early Ming Dynasty, the maritime trade along the coast of Shandong declined.Although the sea ban was relaxed after Jiajing and private shipping resumed, the scale was still small, with the capacity of each ship being only a few hundred stones, and only two or three hundred ships arriving at Hong Kong each year.Denglai and other places are still in a state of inconvenient transportation and difficult material circulation.Sun Yuanhua was always troubled by this.

In contrast, other materials can still be transported by sea, but this grain, as long as it is transported from the south of the Yangtze River, must go through the Grand Canal-this is a system problem, and it is not up to him to change the sea route- ―Water transportation is the "big policy" of the imperial court, and even Xu Guangqi, who has already entered the cabinet, cannot control it.

Zhao Yingong said: "Since that's the case, why not try to raise money locally? Even if it can't solve all of it, at least it can solve part of it, and the common people will also get some benefits."

Sun Yuanhua said: "You are new here, so you don't know where the joints are. As far as the local grain is concerned, the land in Denglai has always been barren and the production is limited. But it's 'you can't give it to other counties for capital transfer if you have enough grain. If you don't have enough, you can't ask for other counties. , Only for self-sufficiency. Therefore, the young ones will be spared suddenly, and the young ones will sit in a trapped place! Not only do they have to flee from famines, but even mature ones must flee!"

"Why do you want to run away when you are mature?"

"The grain here can't be sold at all. If it can't be sold, how can I pay the silver?" Sun Yuanhua looked at him in surprise and said - he thought why he didn't understand this matter.

"Oh, yes, yes." Zhao Yingong nodded quickly, thinking that he was showing his ugly face again.This is basic common sense to people in Ming Dynasty, but it is very strange to me.

"Even though the imperial court adds two qian per stone to En every stone when collecting grain locally, the common people are still miserable." He sighed, "So the people of Dengzhou say: Dengzhou is as big as an urn, and the small people are in the cauldron. Bottom. The millet is expensive to fight for a piece of gold, and the millet is cheap to feed the dog and hog. The big ones rely on grain to escape, and the wild ones starve to death."

Of course Zhao Yingong knew the reason: it was nothing more than inconvenient transportation, which caused difficulties in circulation. The local harvested grains could not be transported out, and they could not be sold at a price; the grains from other places could not be transported in in bad years.He had done research on this issue before he came to Dengzhou, and he brought it up now to trigger the next topic.

"Since it's a difficult word, students are willing to help adults here." Zhao Yingong said, "Students intend to open a boat shop here."

Sun Yuanhua nodded and smiled, but he was noncommittal.Zhao Yingong is not in a hurry: Sun Yuanhua must understand the value of the shipping company.The reason why he didn't make a statement is that he attaches great importance to this, and he should think about it carefully before talking to him about it.I will not continue this topic now.

The conversation turned again to local agriculture.If the local grain production is good, the dependence on grain transshipment can be greatly reduced.Therefore, Sun Yuanhua was very interested in improving local agricultural production. Like Xu Guangqi, he had a lot of research on agricultural issues.Xu Guangqi once used the "Western water method" to cultivate farmland in Tianjin, and "applied what he had learned", and the effect was very good.Sun Yuanhua said that he once had such an idea.

"Your Excellency has this intention. Why don't you recruit exiles and open up wasteland in the local area?" Zhao Yingong tentatively said, "I saw a lot of wasteland in the local area. I traveled all the way, and the hungry people were full of people along the way, waiting to be fed. If Your Excellency has this intention, not only It can be used as food for the army, and it is also a great... good deed." Zhao Yingong originally wanted to say "merit", but when he thought he was a Catholic, he immediately changed his words to "good deeds".

Sun Yuanhua shook his head: "Land and people are easy to talk about, but money is hard to deal with."

To take in the hungry people requires food, clothing and housing. Although the land does not cost a lot of money, it requires seeds, livestock, and fertilizer to open up wasteland.All require a significant upfront investment.Sun Yuanhuagui was the governor of Denglai. In fact, he did not govern the three prefectures of Deng, Lai, and Qing, as well as the coastal areas of Shandong and the islands in Bohai Bay. They are typical places where the people are barren.The resources in his hands are limited, and even with the military pay and food allocated by the imperial court, he can barely maintain the army and defense system.If you want to engage in construction and development, you will have no spare energy.

"Furthermore, this place is mostly close to the sea, and the territory is mostly hills and mountains, so the land is mostly saline-alkali and barren. It can't be done without great effort and energy." Sun Yuanhua said, "Ben Fu is in charge of military affairs here. It’s mentally and physically exhausting, and I don’t have the energy left.”

(End of this chapter)