Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 87 Everyone's Trip to Wuzhai Fort ([-])

After hearing Huang Laifu's words, all the merchants felt relieved.Although Huang Laifu's levy of commercial tax caused them some pain, but according to the current development trend of Wuzhaibao, the commercial tax is 30% or [-]% lower, and their profits in a year are still very rich. .

As for the management of merchants in Wuzhaibao and the collection of commercial taxes in the future, this is the business of He Fuqianhu and others.But now Huang Laifu wants to talk about another matter, which is the main thing he attracts businessmen to come today.

He whispered a few words with He Fuqianhu and others, and said: "My Wuzhai Fort is getting more and more prosperous now, and this is all due to the credit of the shopkeepers. However, my Wuzhai Fort was originally just a small military fort. and roads cannot keep up with the needs of development, in order to further improve the situation of Wuzhai Fort, I decided to repair the streets and pavements in Wuzhai Fort.”

"However, the financial resources in the fort are currently difficult, and the funding gap is still large. Wuzhai Fort belongs to everyone. This requires the help of all shopkeepers. For this reason, I would like to issue a proposal to all of you, with your caring and helping hands, care for Support the development of Wuzhai Fort, and donate to the construction of Wuzhai Fort, and we will engrave monuments for individuals who donate more than [-] taels.”

The main street in Wuzhaibao is Dadong Street, which leads to thousands of houses and government offices. It is paved with bluestone, and the rest are some dirt roads, even Niangniangmiao Street next to Dadong Street.Every time it rains or when the sky is clear, these streets are covered with mud or dusty, which really cannot keep up with the development needs of Wuzhai Fort.But to build roads, Huang Laifu's cement was used. After the road was built, he advertised his own cement.This is indeed a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

The merchants below looked at each other, except for Qu Yuanrui, all of them had ugly faces, so it turned out that it was Lord Qianhu who came here today to blow the wind to them.Next to Huang Laifu, Deputy He Qianhu, Jiang Baihu and the others looked at each other with smiles on their faces. Lord Qianhu is Lord Qianhu. Even apportioning money to various merchants and playing autumn wind can be said to be so grandiose.

It was Qu Yuanrui who said first: "Building bridges and paving roads will benefit one side. This is a good deed that will benefit the present and benefit the future. If you are talented but not talented, I would like to reward the gentry and the people and listen to their encouragement, so as to benefit the soldiers and people of Wuzhaibao. "
Qu Yuanrui and Huang Laifu are now tightly tied together, so naturally he vented his anger with Huang Laifu. Besides, Wuzhai Fort has developed to its present state. If the streets and roads are repaired, it will be bad for the businessmen in Wuzhai Fort. beneficial.

Huang Laifu said: "The shopkeeper is willing to do good deeds and give all his strength. It is really admirable." He glanced at the other businessmen and said, "Everyone, what do you mean?"

The shopkeeper Du Maozhen of Derunbuzhuang should first agree with Qu Yuanrui. For him, actively donating funds can leave a good impression on the hearts of thousands of adults, and secondly, change the appearance of Wuzhaibao. It is beneficial to the future development of Wuzhai Fort. With the development of Wuzhai Fort, his business will be better. He is a shrewd businessman, so he can still make calculations.

When other businessmen saw this, they also spoke up one after another, willing to donate generously and actively participate in the construction of Wuzhai Fort.Raising funds from merchants to distribute apportionments is a common phenomenon in all parts of Ming Dynasty, not just the Wuzhaibao family.The merchants below, although many families are powerful, are not willing to make Huang Laifu unhappy about such a small matter. Besides, repairing the streets and pavements in Wuzhai Fort will also benefit the merchants.At that time, everyone was thinking about how much they would pay.

Huang Laifu was very happy when he heard that, he said: "Okay, all the sages donate generously to do good deeds. This kind of virtue of benefiting the people will be remembered by the soldiers and people of Wuzhaibao forever."

He pondered for a while, and said: "For the development of Wuzhaibao, I have been working hard and thinking hard. As early as a few months ago, I expected this day, so I established the Great Wuzhaibao Cement Factory. Cement has been developed, which is still a sharp tool for building bridges and paving roads. Compared with large bluestones for paving roads, it is even cheaper and better. For the development of Wuzhai Fort, I decided to sell it at a low price. It is used for road repairs in Wuzhaibao."

According to the rural cement roads of later generations, the average construction cost per kilometer is about 25 yuan, which is about 400 taels of silver in Daming. For trucks, an average of two to three hundred taels per kilometer is enough for construction.

In Wuzhai Fort, all the streets and pavements that need to be repaired are less than 2 kilometers, and the repair cost is less than a thousand taels of silver with the addition of materials and labor.Just in the past few months, my own cement factory has developed 300 tons of cement, which happened to be used up.A ton of cement in later generations is about 400 to [-] yuan, and I don’t want to spend more. A ton of cement can be sold for five coins.

After hearing Huang Laifu's words, the merchants below suddenly realized that Master Qianhu recruited them today mainly for his cement. They also knew that Huang Laifu had built a cement factory in Fujian, but they didn't know the use of cement, so before Everyone just waits and sees, but no one buys.I just found out today that this thing was originally used to build bridges and pave roads, but how effective it is, we will talk about it after the street is repaired. If it is good, it may not be another way of making money.

In the end, everyone’s donations came. Qu Yuanrui donated 200 taels of silver, shopkeeper Du Maozhen of Derun Buzhuang donated 50 taels of silver, and everyone else donated 50 taels to 100 taels of silver. More than 1000 taels of funds were raised, which is enough to repair the road surface of Wuzhaibao Street.

In fact, before these merchants came, Huang Laifu had already agreed with He Fuqianhu and others to set up a city management bureau to take charge of various constructions and other matters in Wuzhai Fort. The director of the bureau was He Chaoxun and He Fuqianhu.

And at this time in the hall, a road construction committee was established on the spot, which belongs to a branch of the city management bureau. It is currently supervised and managed by Yang Anzhang and Yang Baihu, with the cooperation of Qu Yuanrui and other businessmen. Survey the street conditions of Wuzhai Fort, then purchase raw materials, and start repairing the streets after they are ready.

※※※

While Huang Laifu was discussing with various merchants about repairing the streets in the thousand-household house, on the road outside Wuzhai Fort, Mr. Sun, the confidant of Master Liu Jingchun, the Commander of Xiwei in Kelanzhou Town, accompanied by several servants, was unbelievable. looking at everything in front of him.

This... is this still the poor Wuzhai Fort in my impression?

Along the way, there are continuous wheat fields beside the road, and in the continuous wheat fields, farms and manors are surrounded by one after another, as if forming lively villages and towns. Tunting, men and women who walked out of the farm, wore new clothes one by one, All of them had rosy faces, with satisfied smiles, while some children were playing happily around the manor.These scenes, compared with the lifelessness of refugees everywhere in Kelanzhou, are really like two worlds.

As a matter of fact, Master Sun saw many refugees from Kelan Prefecture. Everyone was helping the old and the young, carrying their own simple luggage, and they were going to Wuzhai Fort in a steady stream. Everyone had hope on their faces, as if Once you arrive at Wuzhai Fort, you can live a good life.

In the field next to the farm, Master Sun saw that the villagers were chopping up wheat straw and burning it back to the field. The thick wheat straw showed the great harvest in these fields.There are also irrigation wells in the wheat fields, especially the large waterwheels lined up beside the Qinglian River, which shows that Wuzhaibao is different from other places.

After several months of construction, the farms that Master Sun and others see now have formed places similar to small military forts, with walls, fort gates, crenels on the fort wall, and high watchtowers. When some thieves come to invade, the gate of the fort will be closed, and the supervisor will lead the soldiers to the fort wall, waiting for more than a thousand thieves to break into these farms.

And every farm now has Huang Laifu’s hand press wells, there must be enough water, no problem, every farm is now imitating Wuzhai Fort, building temples, theaters and other living facilities in the farms, It is for entertainment for Tun Ding and his family members in the castle.Although the buildings in these farms are still relatively crude, they are already very good compared to many forts and mountain villages.

Among the various farms in Wuzhaibao, each farm generally has hundreds of villagers, especially the first farm in Wuzhaibao, which has more than [-] villagers. Foreign households and refugee settlements.

These villagers, because the current abundant monthly grain is enough to support their families, these people all unanimously brought their families and lived in the farms together, so that the population of each farm exceeded one or two thousand. During the Ming Dynasty, this was enough to have the population size of a township.

Of course, now the original villagers and their family members all have the military household registration of Wuzhai Fort and enjoy all the treatment of Wuzhai Fort. The counties are incredible.

The various farms with the population size of each town have now become the second choice of merchants besides Wuzhai Fort, and some merchants who cannot compete with big merchants in Wuzhai Fort have also retreated one after another. Secondly, the target of the business is aimed at these tenants.Every few days, markets spontaneously formed at the intersection outside the farm. On this day, various merchants dealing in cotton, salt, cloth, coal, tea, and koji wine set up stalls here one after another. Start a business.

There are also all kinds of chowder noodle stalls, mutton bone stalls, and fruit stalls. Some nearby villagers also come here to buy and sell local specialties such as vegetables, garlic, onions, and leeks. with.Form a messy, yet vibrant situation.

Today may be the agreed market day of each farm. The intersection of each farm is full of street vendors and shoppers. Master Sun and the others passed the intersection of each farm in a daze, and arrived at the gate of Wuzhai Fort.

Not far from Wuzhai Fort, you can see cars and horses coming and going outside the fort, and there are merchants everywhere, showing the prosperity of the business in the fort. After entering the fort, you can see some Wuzhai Fort banner troops They stared at everyone on the fort wall and gate.

The strange thing is that there is no need for guides or entry tax to enter Wuzhai Fort, but all the flag troops guarding the fort are strong and strong, and there is no sign of old and weak that is common in the guard army.These Wuzhaibao flag soldiers were all wearing brand-new mandarin duck war jackets and holding bright weapons in their hands. With such a compelling spirit, no one dared to spy on Wuzhaibao at all.

Master Sun found out that even the thousands of troops commanded by the envoy wanted to fight against the thousands of flag troops in Wuzhai Fort. I'm afraid they would not be able to win at all. When did Wuzhai Fort become so powerful?Master Sun thought to himself.

After entering the Wuzhai Fort, I saw that the inside was even more lively. The streets seemed to be crowded with people, shops everywhere, and businessmen with accents from all over the place. A small Wuzhai Fort was crowded like a can The sardines were average.

On the street, except for some ragged and hopeful refugees, as long as they are local military households in the fort, they look energetic and leisurely.Compared with what Master Sun had seen a few years ago, the emaciated, numb and desperate expressions of the military households in the fort were completely different.Master Sun found that although the buildings in his Kelan Prefecture were taller and wider than Wuzhai Fort, the spirit of the military households was not at all inferior.

After entering Dadong Street, Master Sun was even more stunned. He saw that this street was crowded with grain stores and rice shops, and white rice noodles were placed all over the street. It is also full of cloth shops, tea shops, oil and sugar shops, etc.

Various rice merchants came and went from the shop, and some refugee coolies carrying heavy rice sacks, panting and carrying heavy rice sacks, followed them. People came and went, and the street was full.There was also a cart of horses and horses. After they were filled with food, they headed for the outside of the castle, forming a strange and busy situation.

But when he heard the sound of firecrackers in the distance, he was afraid that another shop was open for business. Master Sun finally sighed and said to the servants beside him: "Is this really Wuzhai Fort? Could we go wrong? place."

(End of this chapter)