Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

"Master Liu, how much is the price of salt in this feudal clan?" Fifteenth, it was market day, and Zheng Kezang, who was inspecting Dongning, would naturally not miss this opportunity to observe Taiwan's basic economy up close. No, it was early in the morning With his entourage, he came to the countryside full of chicken and pig manure. "How do people buy on weekdays?"

"Since Chen Zongzhi used the Tong'an salt-making method to make refined salt, the price of salt in Taiwan has dropped to two taels and one stone." Liu Chongxi replied in this way. Because Taiwan's mineral deposits are not abundant and there is little development, it can only rely on imports from Japan. Copper ingots, thus causing copper to be expensive and silver to be cheap, one or two feet can usually be exchanged for [-] yuan, so a catty of salt is only [-] coins, which is not too expensive. "Except for Market Day, you can only buy it in government-run salt shops in the cities of various states on weekdays."

Zheng Kezang didn't say much after hearing this, but instead sent his guards to buy a catty of salt. When the salt was available, Zheng Kezang grabbed a handful and put it in front of his eyes for a closer look. The refined salt eaten in the city is fine and white, but at least there are no obvious black mud and yellow spots, so it can be seen that it has not been mixed with sand.

Liu Chongxi has been scrutinizing Zheng Kezang's actions, and seeing him nodding in satisfaction, he is relieved: "Don't worry, grandchildren, there are mountains of salt in the officialdom, and there is no way to sell it, so I won't intentionally adulterate it and pass it off as a good one." , causing the common people to suffer."

"This is the best." Zheng Kezang just said something, and suddenly thought of something. "You mean there is nowhere to sell the official salt?" Liu Chongxi reconfirmed suspiciously, but Zheng Kezang showed regret because of this. "If I had known this earlier, Yu would have arranged to sell it to Qionglei." But it was too late to regret it now, and Zheng Kezang tried to make up for it. "Come on, go back to Anping immediately to see Chief Envoy Chen, and ask him to transfer five thousand stone salt to the boy scout sailor battalion, and then tell Ying Tanong to send him to Qiongzhou with all his strength."

"My grandson, absolutely not!" Liu Chongxi turned pale with shock, and immediately stopped him. "It's okay if it was before, but the king has already appointed Chen Tingzhang as the Qiongzhou salt transport envoy. If the salt is transported from Dongning to Qiongzhou, wouldn't it be a tiger's mouth? If Mr. Chen sues the king, I'm afraid the grandchildren will also want it."

"Do you want to be reprimanded by your father too?" Zheng Kezang's face was gloomy. "The overall situation of Qionglei has been ruined by them so much, how can they have the face to complain to their father!" Perhaps it is because Liu Chongxi is not Chen Qing, Zheng Xingying, Chen Tingzhang, Feng Xihan and other senior officials in Qiongzhou, and should not be angry at him , Zheng Kezang's tone softened automatically. "The boat is about to sink, why don't you grab a quick one at this time!"

Liu Chongxi was only doing his duty of persuasion, but Zheng Kezang didn’t listen, so he had nothing to do, but he made up his mind to send someone to report to Chen Yonghua later, so that the conflict would be handed over. In the end, even if Zhu Jin wanted to fight, he would Can't hit his ass.

Zheng Kezang didn't know about Liu Chongxi's small abacus, and he was still looking around in the market: "Master Liu, why are they selling chickens, ducks and eggs? There are no butcher shops. There are also wooden, rattan, and bamboo wares. , where are the blacksmith shop and cloth and satin shop?"

"Grandchildren, farmers, the vegetables are all on the ground and can be picked at any time. Chickens and ducks are easy to live and don't need to be taken care of, but pigs are hard to raise if they eat too much. Except for big households, how dare ordinary people raise more? It’s good to eat it after the New Year’s day or when there’s a happy event, so naturally you won’t see butchers in the market.” Liu Chongxi explained. "As for blacksmith shops and cloth and satin shops, they are all in the salt shop. Dongning lacks iron and cloth, so these are run by the government. Unless the agricultural tools are completely broken, the common people will not buy new ones. Set up a stove at home and repair it yourself."

"No butcher shop?" Zheng Kezang looked back at one of the guards around him. "The sailor battalion reported how the salted kun meat was handled?"

"Add meals to the Boy Scouts and Boy Scouts." The guard responded. "But it's not enough to eat. It can be said that the warehouse is piled up like a hill, and there are not enough wooden barrels to store."

"Confused!" Zheng Kezang didn't know if he was talking about himself or the people in the sailor battalion. A gray whale is at least equivalent to a dozen cows. There are only a few people in the Boy Scouts and Boy Scouts, including Kunlun Biao. Even if they eat every day, they can't eat all of them Instead of leaving it there to feed the mice, it is better to sell it at a low price throughout Taiwan. "Let them all sell immediately, no!" Speaking of this, Zheng Kezang remembered that the boy camp did not have a commercial system, and naturally there was not enough manpower to carry out this order. "Master Liu, the salt shop is under the management of the Ministry of Household Affairs, so how about exchanging pickled kun meat for salt?"

This is a win-win solution, but Liu Chongxi blinked: "Shisun, what is this salted kun meat, and how should I discount it?"

"Quite as corned beef." Zheng Kezang then realized that Dongning Baiguan is a larger consumer group than the folks. However, the number of whales in the ocean in this era is not the mere [-] cattle owned by Taiwan. In comparison, to him, it was purely a costless business. "Wait a little while and send ten catties to each of the officials of the vassal to try something new. As for the price, the Boy Scouts and the Ministry of Households can settle at half the current price of meat." This matter was decided in this way, and Liu Chongxi was still a little unwilling , but I believe it didn't take long before he found out that he had actually earned it. "By the way, is the people's surplus grain bought by the vassal?"

Liu Chongxi laughed lightly, but soon realized that her actions were frivolous and impolite, so she turned serious: "Of course you have to buy them, otherwise how can the Changping warehouses of the state capitals and the eunuch warehouses of the feudal clan be filled up? It’s not yet time to gather for storage, so the grandchildren can’t see the excitement of rice milling.”

"That's it!" Zheng Kezang didn't say much, and continued to wander in the small market collection. In fact, there are very few things in the market collection. Judging from Dongning's current situation, it has actually changed from the end of the Ming Dynasty. The sprouts of capitalism have regressed back to the self-sufficient small-scale peasant society, which made Zheng Kezang sigh. China is very innocent. Every time it touches the threshold, there are irresistible external factors that push it back. . "Why can't there be any medical clinics or pharmacies in the market, and there isn't even a doctor from Youfang. What if someone has a headache?"

"There are medical centers and pharmacies in every prefecture and county," Liu Chongxi explained helplessly. "The best doctors in this domain are all in the army, but the locality is insufficient. But fortunately, Dongning is not big, and it only takes half a day to go to and from the state city. If there is no serious illness, it should be able to afford it. As for the old village Well, the village originally belonged to each town, and was taken care of by the doctors of each town, but Xintun is remote and doesn’t have the convenience of the old village, so I’m afraid it will be a bit difficult.”

When Zheng Kezang heard this, he became anxious. He managed to import tens of thousands of immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong. If all of them were lost due to water and soil problems, wouldn’t he be a loser? But he also understands that the matter is over. , There is no rush to be anxious, so I can only focus on the key points and ask: "Did you tell the real immigrants in Taiwan what to do if you encounter severe cold and fever?"

Since the past dynasties were equally concerned about land reclamation and population growth, the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is responsible for the highest supervision in terms of business, naturally would not take Zheng Kezang's account to heart, but Liu Chongxi thought that Zheng Kezang's inquiry at the moment was a matter of concern, and it was chaos. You must know that the people in Taiwan recently are all people from Fujian and Guangdong, and there are even Qiongzhou refugees who are hotter than Taiwan, so it is not impossible for him to adapt to the environment in Taiwan. Forget it: "I have been told to drink boiled water instead of unboiled water. If you have a cold or fever, you should drink stinky Artemisia decoction."

"Minyue has been developed as early as the pre-Qin period, and Qiongzhou now has 10,000+ households." Zheng Kezang breathed a sigh of relief. "This is by no means comparable to the current miasma in Taiwan. It's better to be prepared than to fix it later!"

Liu Chongxi was stunned, and hurriedly said yes, Zheng Kezang didn't say much, and then turned back and prepared to leave. Zheng Kezang suddenly pointed out while walking: "Is that the Pingpu Shefan over there?"

Although Liu Chongxi worked in Anping City most of the time, he had never killed a pig but had seen a pig run away, so he confirmed it immediately, so Zheng Kezang asked as he walked, "Did there be many people from the Pingpu Society on the market days before?"

This Liu Chongxi didn't know, he hesitated, and Zheng Kezang didn't care.When a group of people came to the booth of She Fan, Zheng Kezang took a closer look, and there was nothing to praise on the ground except for a few pieces of damaged buckskins.

Zheng Kezang asked the Pingpu community in front of him: "I'm afraid the deer are almost killed now?"

"Returning to this son, there are indeed fewer deer than before, but we can still hunt them." This Pingpu fan speaks Hokkien fluently, and obviously has deep contact with the Han people. "But maybe one day it will all be lit up."

"After that, all the deer will be hunted, so what should I do? Can farming alone support the whole family?"

"Learning to farm from you Han people, the output in the fields is much higher than before. Unlike before, you can't live without hunting clubs." Ping Pufan explained in a calm tone. "And even if you don't hunt anymore, you can still do business with the Gaoshan Club on the mountain." After speaking, the man took out a small bag from his pocket. "Some of the gold dust here is traded with the mountain, do you want to buy some?"

Zheng Kezang took the bag and poured the gold sand into the palm of his hand. The amount of gold sand is not much, only a dozen grains in total. Zheng Kezang wanted to help him, so he asked, "How do you sell it? Make a price."

"Five bags of salt like this." Unexpectedly, the asking price of Pingpufan was not very high. Zheng Kezang could tell that the price of these gold sands far exceeded the price of two catties of salt.

"Give it to him!" Zheng Kezang ordered, and the guard took out a handful of broken silver and copper coins from his arms and handed them over. Pingpu Fan counted them and returned the excess. He stayed, and then took the buckskin equivalent. "Everyone in the world says that Taiwan's deer skin is the best for armor, but Yu has kun skin and shark skin, so it may not be worse than this deer skin."

"What the grandson said is true." Liu Chongxi echoed. "It's just that Taiwan doesn't have a good base for leather making, so it can't make good leather armor."

"That's why everything has to be imported." Zheng Kezang couldn't help saying with some distress when Liu Chongxi mentioned it. "It's all money wasted"