Chapter 798: Drawing fire under the cauldron (Part 2)
Fang Jun said with a smile: "Have you never paid attention to the full name of my navy? It is the 'Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty'! My navy is under the dual supervision of Your Majesty and the Ministry of War, but strictly speaking, it is only controlled by The Ministry of War is in charge, and the real ownership belongs to His Majesty! No matter how high the authority of the Political Affairs Hall is, can it still manage His Majesty’s private army?”
Don’t blame Xiao Ban, Xiao Ming and others for being confused. Strictly speaking, there has never been an army in Chinese history that was completely controlled by the emperor and had nothing to do with the Ministry of War and other departments. Even Cao Wei’s Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and the great ancestor Li Yuan The Yuan Cong Forbidden Army, and even His Majesty Li Er's Black Armor Cavalry, are not the true royal army.
Xiao Ming's eyes suddenly lit up!
If the Royal Navy is really not under the control of the Ministry of War, the Political Hall will naturally have no jurisdiction over it. This is completely outside their scope of authority!
The long history of the Royal Navy...
Even if he is not the number two figure in the Navy, he is at least the one with the most power and can fully satisfy his political desires! What's more, this is the emperor's private army. Now it is controlled by a powerful figure like Fang Jun, and it will be the main force in the Eastern Expedition in the future. The development prospects are bound to be broad!
Instead of staying at home, getting moldy and having no life to live in, why not go to the navy and try your luck? Maybe if you catch His Majesty's eye, you can achieve something successful?
Xiao Ming's heart suddenly beat, as if there was a joy and longing for rebirth, and he turned to look at Xiao Ban. He naturally knew that if he joined the Navy, it would mean that the Xiao family would stand with Fang Jun unreservedly, at least that would be the view of the outside world...
That means standing on the opposite side of the entire Jiangnan gentry!
Such a move would definitely cause an uproar in Jiangnan, and the consequences would be unpredictable. And it is not difficult to guess the real intention of Fang Jun's move, which is to divide and disintegrate the alliance between the Xiao family and the Jiangnan gentry!
But Xiao Ming really doesn’t want to live a life of regret with nothing to pursue and nothing to love...
Xiao Ban frowned tightly.
Fang Jun's move, whether it was premeditated or impromptu, created a huge problem for the Xiao family! According to the family's standpoint, it should be rejected, but from an emotional point of view, Xiao Ban could not say the words to refuse.
Xiao Ming's eyes looked at him, full of longing and pleading. It was a desire to come back from the dead again...
Xiao Ban shook his head and smiled bitterly, looked at Fang Jun and said: "General manager, you are posing a problem for me..."
Fang Jun said calmly: "It is difficult to have both ends of the world."
After saying that, he left enough time for Xiao Ban to consider the trade-off, turned his attention to the Zhu brothers, and said straight to the point: "I plan to build several salt farms in Huating Town, but I have neither the manpower nor the energy. I don't know if there are any wise men. Interested in participating? ”
Zhu Jian said in astonishment: "What is a salt field?"
"Guanzi" records: "At the beginning of late spring, the people of Beihai boil the sea to make salt." To boil seawater into salt is to boil seawater in a container, evaporate the water and crystallize it into salt. As long as there is fuel, salt can be boiled anywhere on the seaside, so there is no such thing as a "salt farm". Seawater boiled salt has existed since ancient times, but seawater sun-dried salt did not appear until much later, at least before the Tang Dynasty, so Zhu Jian did not know what a "salt field" was.
Fang Jun said: "I have mastered a brand-new method of making salt, which does not require fuel for cooking, but requires a lot of space and labor. I have inherited the grace of the Holy Spirit, and my affairs are complicated. I need to build a military port and a shipyard, and also prepare for construction. The Shipping Department does not have enough energy to take care of the salt farm affairs. If Xian Kunzhong is interested, he can join in, and the profits will naturally be huge."
Zhu Jian and Zhu Qu looked at each other, thoughtful and silent.
They have absolutely no doubt about how much profit this so-called "salt farm" can make. Fang Jun's reputation as the "God of Wealth" is not in vain. It was created by each and every classic method that can be passed down to future generations. If we just talk about the art of amassing money, it can be said that no one in the world has the best.
But just like the Xiao family's concerns, Fang Jun wants to use huge profits to win over the Zhu family and divide the alliance of the Jiangnan gentry...
The Jiangnan overseas Chinese surname is headed by "Wang Xie Yuan Xiao". Among them, the Langya Wang family has declined and has now switched to Fang Jun's camp. The Xie family is wavering and has always followed the Xiao family's lead, but now it seems that the Xiao family will find it difficult to refuse Fang Jun's offer. The temptation of the Xie family is not difficult to figure out. The Yuan family has always been neutral, not involved too much with other families, and flaunted its aloofness.
The Wu surname in Jiangdong is headed by "Gu Lu, Zhu Zhang". The Gu family is a staunch "house flipper" and will never have an affair with Fang Jun. The Lu family was in ruins, but Lu Xiaoyu and Fang Jun turned their feud into friendship and helped Fang Jun to harm the Zhu, Xiao, Changsun and other families. Their position was already clear, and it was said that there was a big business deal going on with Fang Jun. The Zhang family is similar to the Yuan family. Although they are not obsessed with official career, they do not interact too much with other families. They have strict restraints on the children of the family and are proud of themselves. It is quite similar to Zhang Han in the Western Jin Dynasty who said, "Because he saw the autumn wind blowing, he thought about Wuzhong wild rice." , water shield soup, seabass soup"? The legacy of abandoning his official position and returning to Wu...
The so-called "Jiangnan gentry" are headed by these eight surnames.
But Zhu Jian suddenly discovered that the originally monolithic Jiangnan gentry alliance was gradually falling apart unknowingly, and was about to become a piece of loose sand...
Zhu Jian had to think carefully about the future path of the Zhu family, whether to stick to the seemingly huge but increasingly scattered ship of the Jiangnan gentry, or to switch to Fang Jun, an upstart who was gradually rising and holding the Tianxian...
Zhu Qu suddenly asked: "I don't know how much salt this new method of making salt can produce per year?"
There was a sudden silence in the hall.
Zhu Jian almost raised his hands to cover his face...
I know you love money, but brother, this is not a matter of how much salt is produced and how much it is sold, right? This is a matter of stance and standing in line. Even if Fang Jun is given a mountain of gold, if he can't stand over, he just can't; on the contrary, even if he doesn't have a penny, he still has to stand when he should!
How come this fool loves money more and more as he gets older?
Zhu Qu was also a little embarrassed by everyone's gazes, but he still looked at Fang Jun closely, waiting for Fang Jun's answer. In his opinion, it's just a matter of choosing one of two. Whoever offers more benefits can follow him. What's there to worry about?
Is it about feelings? There are a lot of bad things going on between the aristocratic families. They are all trying to make a living on this one-third of an acre of land, so it is inevitable that there will be no bumps in the road. When the Lu family was in trouble, everyone pushed against the wall, but no one was emotionally willing to help...
Fang Jun chuckled, saying that he likes you like this!
He raised his thumb and praised: "Brother Zhu speaks straightforwardly and without pretense. He is indeed a sincere gentleman! I have planned a total of fifteen salt fields in Huating Town. Each salt field can produce no less than ten sea salt per year." Wanhu, if there is any shortage, I will make up for it for you.”
Thirty kilograms are Jun, four Juns are stones, and stone is the same as Dendrobium. One Dendrobium is one hundred and twenty kilograms. What is the output?
According to the tax revenue of the two salt fields in Puzhou in the late Tang Dynasty, which was 800,000 shi per catty, and the price of salt at the time was around 17 shi per catty, the output was approximately 470,000 shi, while the output of the two salt fields in Puzhou over the years was They are all between 400,000 and 500,000 stone. Puzhou and Anyi, the main salt producing areas of the Tang Dynasty, only produced 400,000 dendrobiums of salt a year. It can be seen how amazing the output of 100,000 dendrobiums from one salt farm was!
During the Zhenguan period, the price of salt was always around 200 wen per dou. In conversion, what a huge amount of wealth this would be?
The most important thing is that this is an eternal transaction. If the sea water is not exhausted, it will be inexhaustible!
The output of four or five salt fields is more than that of one major salt-producing land. How can it not be astonishing?
Zhu Qu's eyes were red, and he looked at Zhu Jian anxiously, the greed and urgency in his eyes shining nakedly...
Zhu Jian looked at his brother's appearance and smiled helplessly.
Most of the Jiangdong families have sea salt business, but the largest one is undoubtedly the Gu family. The Gu family occupies a large amount of coastal reed marshes. If Fang Jun wants to build a "salt farm", he will have to have a direct showdown with the Gu family, because this has already touched the Gu family's bottom line.
Zhu Jian understood that Fang Jun was seeking revenge against the Gu family who had united with other families to kill him in Niuzhuji!
But can the Zhu family side with Fang Jun and directly conflict with the Gu family?
Xiao Ban was about to speak but stopped.
He had heard that the "Salt Farm" had such amazing profits, and wanted to get involved. After all, if Xiao Ming became a long history of the navy, it would be equivalent to siding with Fang Jun. Why not get more benefits?
But directly conflicting with the Gu family was not in line with Xiao's usual style of doing things, so he gave up the idea.
Fang Jun is taking money from the bottom of the cauldron!
How can the Gu family give up when they compete with the Gu family for the reed marsh?
Destroying someone's financial path is like killing one's parents, let alone the pillar industry that a family relies on to maintain?
The Ming Dynasty scholar Song Yingxing wrote "Tiangong Kaiwu. Making Salt Fifth" records: "There are people in Haifeng who lead seawater directly into the pool to dry it. When it condenses, they sweep the food without adding manpower. It is the same as salt decomposition. But when it becomes salt, If you don't borrow the south wind, then Big difference. "In the first year of Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (1522), Haifengchang took the lead in frying and drying. The old traditional salt-making process has been used for more than two thousand years, and was replaced by the new process invented by the Wudi people in Shandong...
Anyway, I can’t find any information about sun-drying salt any earlier, so let’s just assume that sun-drying salt started in the Ming Dynasty. However, even if there was a method of drying salt in the past, it was definitely not earlier than the Tang Dynasty.
(End of chapter)