Chapter 2104 Express Ship
When Wen Rensheng arrived in the southeast, he began to take action.
Shipbuilding is naturally not possible because it consumes too much money.
He first went to the boatman who was usually responsible for freight on the inland river.
Although the land of Jianfu is mountainous, it also has many rivers. After all, it is a land close to the sea in the south and has plenty of rain.
He quickly found more than two dozen medium-sized shipping companies.
They are all boats that can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles of rivers and transport goods on them.
There are as many as dozens of inland river boats, as few as three or five.
Every year, day and night.
The land of Jianfu is in the south, where the rivers never freeze all year round.
After taking the governor's post, he directly asked the local county magistrate to summon these merchants.
"I have always praised the military affairs in the governor's office. What you do to the boatmen is conducive to the military affairs..."
Wen Rensheng's words made all the boatmen kneel down in fright.
"Master, we are willing to repay the silver..."
They thought Wen Rensheng wanted to commandeer their ship.
You must know that imperial requisition is the same as buying, which basically means you will go bankrupt.
The ship cannot give you money. If it breaks down, you have to accept its fate. If you want to get it back, you will need an extra amount of silver.
To put it bluntly, when doing business, as long as it reaches a certain scale, you must have a backer. If you don’t have a backer, you are waiting to be eaten.
There are only small traders, and the big crocodiles don't like it. It's too troublesome and not enough time to do it once.
The small traders were left to the government servants, gangsters, landlords and gentry to expropriate them.
Therefore, merchants' families all regard cultivating scholars as the first priority, doing business as the second priority, and buying land as the third priority.
But land is not easy to buy. Without background, you cannot buy much land.
If there is no scholar in the family and you buy land, unruly people will force you to avoid paying the rent.
This is very common.
The county magistrate will not help you, but will let you calm down.
In other words, as long as you don't have a scholar background, no matter how much money you have, you will always be bullied.
Unless you can master the gangster forces such as Daxing, your reputation will naturally be ruined, and it is impossible to take the imperial examination.
However, if you become a prominent figure, you can serve in the army in critical moments, and you may also get some military positions.
Nowadays, these medium-sized ship lines have some backers, but they are either some middle and low-level military attachés or some local civil servants.
But no matter who is here at Wenrensheng, they are all fat sheep.
Because they don't have the ability to compete with a governor.
It's very simple. Wen Rensheng will not touch anyone who has the ability to compete with the governor...
"Get up, I am here this time only because within this province, although The mountains are rugged, but the river network is dense. Water transportation can be developed to communicate with various places. "
"If you have any difficulties in daily life, you can report them to me and tell me. Don't be afraid. "
Wen Rensheng said with a smile.
However, in the eyes of all shipowners, this is a wolf that eats people without spitting out bones.
"This, sir, now the Ming Dynasty is peaceful and the people are safe, and there is no difficulty for me." In order to prevent Wen Rensheng from getting angry, someone finally whispered.
"Yes, the villain thinks the same way."
"Is it really so?"
"It is really so."
No one dares to tell the truth.
Is there any official who will help merchants solve their difficulties?
If it is to help farmers stabilize mergers, I have heard of a few.
I heard that some honest officials, in order to gain reputation, would always favor the poor when judging cases, regardless of the merits.
As long as you are a wealthy landlord and have no backers, you will suffer a loss if you suffer a loss.
The tenants did not pay rent and sued the officials. Not only did they not get the rent, but they also had to pay the tenants grain and silver...
Anyway, there were so many such things that local wealthy households sold their land to them. Those who are famous...
"I see, well, I have something to do. I call on you to jointly invest in a freight company that relies on inland rivers."
The merchants suddenly felt cold. .
Waiting for myself here.
Yes, wait until you invest in it, and then eat it together.
Isn’t this just the big fish preying on the small fish in the sea?
I thought it was inconvenient to eat small fish, so I squeezed the small fish together and swallowed them in one bite.
They often heard people who went to sea talking about such strange things. After all, it was indeed interesting.
Now it's your turn.
But what can be done?
Behind the other party is the governor. Behind them are either hundreds of households or many thousands of households. This is the military position.
Don’t look at them all as the sixth grade, from the fifth grade, the grade is quite high, and it seems to be quite intimidating, but in front of a big official like the governor, P is not.
A post from a staff member can be summoned to the governor's office, and if someone makes a mistake, he can be beaten with a cane.
This is not an exaggeration.
There are so many faults among hundreds of thousands of households. If you don’t pick one, they just want to cause trouble for you. It’s very simple.
Unless someone is dispatched by an officer and has specific real power: for example, Qianhu also serves as a garrison, supervisor, and commander, leading troops outside, which will be seen as somewhat respectable in terms of real power.
Of course, by the end of the dynasty, military generals with soldiers were highly regarded. They were no longer statusless. On the contrary, they would be forgiven for making big mistakes and would not be easily hunted. Civil servants, even governors and governors, They will also be put to death.
This is how things change.
Wen Rensheng continued at this time:
"I will send the yellow flag of the governor's office to this trading house and put it on the bow of the boat. If there are any extortionists on the water in the future, you can report to the governor's office."
Everyone felt a little relieved when they heard this. A jolt.
It seems that the other party doesn’t want to swallow him directly?
However, most people still decide to sell their boats and pawn them off immediately after returning, and quickly go to sea and run away.
Anyway, they are close to the sea. I heard that the senior officials were recruiting people to settle the land, so I simply ran over.
Although you will have to suffer the disaster of Malaria Typhoon Savage after it passes, it is better than destroying your family and killing people immediately.
“I think you all don’t believe me, but I’m here to make it clear that I only take 40% of the annual profits, 20% goes to the governor, 10% goes to me, and the remaining 10% goes to the yamen. ”
When everyone heard this, they felt a little relieved.
Yes, the other party just wants money.
If you don’t want money, you have to swallow it all.
It seems that the other party wants to keep things flowing smoothly.
Some people thought about it and thought that in this case, they would have a backer and would not have to worry about it in the future.
And with the governor's Yamen backing, it seems that the previous backing can be abandoned.
Moreover, my previous backer was also blackmail and intimidation. He never let anyone take a breath. If he made a little more money, he would come to ask for it.
As for the quality of industrial management, they are determined not to care. If they go bankrupt, they will find the next one.
And Master Zanhua here seems to be living on profits.
Someone was shaken.
"The adults are so kind to the common people, how dare the common people refuse to die?" One family decided to bite the bullet and obey.
This is a small boat shop, thinking that even if it sells a boat and goes to sea, it will be difficult to escape successfully.
After all, the other party will send troops to watch.
That's for sure.
Wen Rensheng did invite soldiers from Governor Biao Camp and local government officials to take care of the boat shop he invited. How could it be so easy for them to escape?
Wen Rensheng didn’t have time for those tricks.
Now Donglu is developing vigorously, and the momentum will soon be achieved.
In fact, there have always been opportunities in the late Ming Dynasty. However, they lacked core advantages, making it difficult for them to make a successful comeback.
Only the sea route is the most likely opportunity to make a comeback using existing technology, manpower, and materials.
Other methods, to be honest, the probability of error tolerance is too small. He was knocked to pieces by accident.
Only the sea is incomparable to the Jurchens.
It will take them at least 50 years to catch up, and as long as they continue to attack, they will not have the time or opportunity to catch up. They can just attack all the shipbuilding places on the sea.
The only way for the other side to control the sea is to move the border and ban the sea.
In fact, there is a way to break it, and that is to connect with the inland river network and build a large fortress.
Why was the Liaodong Fortress destroyed?
Because it was a road traffic, it was besieged by long trenches dug on land. Without foreign aid, it was naturally broken.
But with the help of sea + inland river transportation and constant foreign aid, there is no need to worry about being forced.
You must know that in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Jincheng was besieged for more than half a year, and it was only broken after the reinforcements were eliminated.
Subsequently, under the coercion of Wen Rensheng, more than two dozen shipping companies finally invested in ships, manpower, private ports, etc., and finally formed a shipping company.
There are no exceptions, because the exceptional Wen Rensheng will not be selected.
Wen Rensheng named it: "Express Ship Line".
Then people gave these people a yellow flag with names on it. This is the background of the late Ming Dynasty, so there is no taboo.
In my Qing Dynasty, this color could kill your whole family and three tribes.
It’s such an exaggeration.
From now on, just put such a flag on the bow of the ship.
Anyone who passes through various water checkpoints, private checkpoints, and banknote checkpoints, except those set up by eunuchs and vassal kings, even water checkpoints set up by nobles, officials, and gentry can pass unimpeded.
Relying on this, you can reduce a lot of costs.
At the same time, after avoiding inspection, the passenger flow of cities transporting people and goods will increase greatly.
Who doesn’t want to be able to ride on a ship that has a good background, is reliable, and can pass the customs smoothly?
"You take turns to reorganize, and the personnel who are not in business will be gathered here in batches, and I will check them one by one..."
Wen Rensheng said again.
Then everyone brought their shopkeepers, clerks, sailors, handymen, bodyguards, guards... one after another in rotation.
There are 23 large and small shipyards, and the number of people suddenly increases. According to verbal statistics from shipowners, these people total about 3,500 people.
The big one has three to four hundred people, while the small one has only twenty or thirty people.
The main reason is that there are many bodyguards and guards, but not many sailors and clerks. This can also show the scene of the end of the world.
Significantly increased operating costs.
After all, guards do not work, they only provide security. In a peaceful year, only one-tenth of the manpower is needed, which can save a lot at once.
But not now. If there are not enough escorts and guards, then you will wait to be robbed.
Water ghosts, bandits, liars, river pirates, etc. will eat you up.
Wen Rensheng then did some cleaning.
It took two days to find 35 traitors, 220 greedy people, and 422 scoundrels. Finally, a total of 1,200 people were found who were honest and willing to work, smart and motivated, somewhat loyal, and barely qualified.
Among them, more than 100 loyal and kind-hearted people were identified based on their character, and these owners put them in purchasing and supervision positions.
In short, after some cleaning and rectification, a batch of supplements were recruited, and the business efficiency of the 23 boat shops immediately increased significantly.
On this day, Wen Rensheng reported what he had done to the governor Wang.
When Governor Wang heard this, he immediately smiled and said: "Since you are short of guards, just allocate 200 people from my camp to serve as soldiers, and they will be considered as servitors."
Wen Renshengyi Listen, agree immediately.
At the same time, he also knew that this was a major drawback.
What is occupation? That is to say, the governor has a direct transport camp, and the soldiers inside are paid by the imperial court.
Now he is being dragged into working as a private businessman.
The imperial court spent money to support him, but he ended up using hard labor for private purposes.
It is most common in the capital camp. The corruption of the capital camp begins with occupation, and the person who occupied the most is the emperor himself, who used it to build palaces and mausoleums.
The noble eunuchs also followed suit.
As a result, the capital camp was in serious trouble.
This is also normal. When the court looked at peace, it spent high military pay. As a result, the soldiers were idle there, and of course they couldn't bear their inner impulses.
They don’t want to be unable to defeat others in the future. They only know that doing so can save taxes. If they want to requisition civilians, they must first give them food. If they don’t give them, it will be easy to cause chaos. Second, they will take up farming time and affect production. .
So the Beijing camp was used. You must know that this has a labor force of hundreds of thousands, and they are all young and strong.
How troublesome it is to recruit civilian laborers from other places to work.
However, Wen Rensheng knew it and still did it.
Of course I have other plans.
Because he wants to pay double pay to these standard battalion soldiers and provide them with more training.
Convert public soldiers into private soldiers.
So he selected 200 soldiers from the governor's Biao camp. They were all people with good nature and serious work.
And they were given the first month's silver, 2 taels, as soon as they came up.
Actually, these people knew it well, and it would have been the same if they had not issued it, because the yamen would issue it.
The premise is that the Yamen will not default.
Sometimes Biaoying will be in arrears, if the governor is ineffective and not taken seriously.
In short, Wen Rensheng gave them extra money and ordered them to perform exercises every three days according to the characteristics of this era.
They were only given enough food, and there was no queue or daily training.
Those are the ones that transcend the times.
Every day is even more impossible.
I just hope that they will take the initiative to work hard when they have enough to eat in their free time.
During the training, we still practiced the Yuanyang Formation and Qi Jiguang’s Military Book.
Of course, there is another car formation method when you reach the north.
It’s just a car formation, why can’t it defeat Donglu?
The reason is very simple. It is not that the law is not good, but that the equipment is not good and the pay is insufficient.
The vehicle formation needs to be coordinated with firearms, but the firearms often explode. How to use this?
As for the express shipping company and the escort of goods, with the background of the governor's office, there was still some ambiguity at first, but after a few lessons, it became smooth.
Relying on his reputation as governor, he can still be used within the province.
Express Shipping Company soon began to stand out, and its business volume increased significantly.
Stealed a lot of business from others.
Taking someone’s wealth is like killing your parents.
Of course they are not willing to give in.
However, considering the background of Express Trading Company and their small scale, many people still choose to tolerate it.
This is an official battle.
The bigger the official, the bigger the wealth.
Of course Wen Rensheng knew that this method could only be used locally.
After going to the capital, many people can go directly to Tianting.
A sixth-grade or seventh-grade censor can overthrow the ministers of the cabinet, let alone a governor?
So this rule cannot be directly applied to that place.
It depends on who can mobilize the imperial power better.
That one is a bit vague.
In short, business in the capital is another approach that cannot be touched without sufficient strength.
(End of this chapter)