Chapter 35 Salt Field (2)
If Schneider, a financial speculation expert, were present at this time, he would definitely add another point of view from the perspective of economics: for the means of production currently available to the public, salt is undoubtedly a low-input, high-output, and convenient Materials circulated and exchanged. If Chuanzhong can produce salt in large quantities, in addition to using it for its own industrial development, it can also be used in large quantities for foreign trade. You must know that salt is a real hard currency in this era. As long as it is produced, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell it. From the Li people who carry all kinds of mountain goods to cross the bases and actively trade salt these days, it can be seen that salt is definitely a very popular commodity in this era.
In the Ming Dynasty, the central government implemented a "gang salt system" for the sale of salt. Merchants holding salt quotas were divided into ten groups according to regions. Each group was worth 200,000 tons, and each quota was equivalent to three hundred kilograms of salt. After merchants pay taxes and transportation fees to relevant government departments according to the national price, and get a certain amount of salt after registration, they can sell salt. Businessmen who have not spent money to buy salt from the government are not qualified to make money from this industry.
Absolute monopoly will inevitably breed corruption. This is an objective law of sociology. The salt industry, as a state monopoly industry, is naturally no exception. It is recorded in "History of the Ming Dynasty: Salt Policy Discussion" that salt industry capital was very concentrated during the Wanli period. The amount of hot money concentrated in Yangzhou every year was staggering, reaching more than 30 million taels of silver, and its interest was close to that of the Ming Dynasty in a year. The year has come. And this is just the official salt market. Private salt has higher profits because there is no cost to buy salt. There are not a few people who join this industry and work hard to make money.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, sea salt production technology began to abandon pots and stoves, build salt fields, and replace the complex process of frying, boiling, and boiling with sun-drying. Of course, the so-called sun salt does not mean that salt can be produced by digging a few pools on the beach. In actual operation, the seawater must be continuously adjusted through several processes such as steaming ponds, sun brine ponds, and crystallization ponds, etc., before table salt can be obtained. . However, the salt production methods of this era were far less efficient than those of later generations. The ancients could not use scientific means to accurately measure the concentration of brine. They basically still relied on experience and feeling. Compared with later generations, the output was naturally not much higher. go.
As long as the salt fields across the country can gradually expand their production capacity, relying on scientific management and salt production methods, it will not be a problem to leave the salt fields of this time and space far behind in terms of production costs. When the output is large enough, large-scale dumping can be organized on the mainland at low prices, plundering the profits that originally belonged to the salt merchants. Of course, for now, the output of salt will definitely be limited for a considerable period of time. First of all, it must meet the development needs of the public.
The few people who are inspecting this place have not considered things that far away yet. Their current task is to find out the actual situation of this place and whether it has the value of redevelopment. In addition, they must evaluate this "enclave" from a military perspective. security, after all, this place is already outside the current main defense circle.
Along the way, the team members have discovered many waterwheels and ditches that carry seawater, and there are many stone salt troughs on the plain that are like inkstones. Gu Kai roughly counted them. From what he saw along the way, they were large and small. There are at least hundreds of them. If the entire area had such a density, there would probably be thousands. It's just that these places have obviously been abandoned for many years, and most of the salt troughs have been overgrown with weeds.
After going two or three miles into the inland area, the members finally discovered several houses at the foot of the mountain in the distance. After slowly walking over, I realized that this place was probably abandoned at the same time as those salt fields. Several adobe houses with yellow mud walls had no roofs, and only the ruins were left to let later generations know that ancestors once lived here. Pass. Qiao Zhiya found several broken tools in a room, including rakes, wooden shovels, broken water tanks, etc.
Finally, Gu Kai found decisive evidence. He called a few people together, pointed to a ruined wall with traces of smoke and fire, and said: "There was a fire here, and the residents here did not rebuild their homes after the fire." , but chose to leave, but I think they may not have left here voluntarily.”
"What do you mean..." Wang Tom seemed to understand something.
Gu Kai nodded and said: "Pirates. A long time ago, a wave of pirates looted this salt field, set fire to the houses here, and maybe killed many people here. Since then, this place has become a ruin, and Because of the fear of pirates, no one comes here to make salt anymore.”
"A very reasonable conjecture. The ancestors must have spent a lot of effort to develop this place into a salt field. There is no reason to give up here easily." Gu Kai's inference coincided with Wang Tom's own guess. He gently touched the place with his fingers. Scratching on the remnant wall, it seems that the scene at that time can still be felt: "About this, after we go back, we can ask the captured officer. It is said that three generations of his family have served as soldiers in Yazhou. I’m not sure what to ask.”
It doesn't matter how much Luo Shengdong knows. At most, it's just a confirmation after the fact. What is important now is to make a comprehensive assessment of the development value and risks here in preparation for the executive committee to make a decision.
Everyone walked around the valley for most of the time along the foot of the mountain. After seeing almost everything they needed to see, they took the assault boat back to the seaside. Johnson set up a beach chair on the deck and lay half shirtless. From time to time he raised his binoculars to look at the sea. When he was bored, he finally waited until the team came back and quickly got up and came over to ask how the situation was. "From a military perspective, it may be difficult to effectively defend this place until we can blockade and control the entire bay." Wang Tom directly set the tone: "Although it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the coastline on the sea side is too long, and the inner The land is flat and there is basically no danger to defend it. Unless we make great efforts to build a bastion defense there, we will still have to send people to guard it.”
"I think we can forget about building the bastion. Base No. 1 has not been completed yet. How can we have the manpower to build new fortifications there." Gu Kai also backed down when he heard that he had the strength to work.
During this period, every day after dinner, the Executive Committee organized people to work overtime to build the defenses outside Base No. 1. Many people have begun to complain that "the calluses on my hands after traveling for half a month are growing faster than the past thirty years of being single." . Of course, complaints are complaints, and they still need to be repaired. After all, it is a life-saving thing at critical moments. However, most of the labor force is currently transferred to the hydropower station construction site. With the few remaining manpower, it is necessary to complete the defense of Base No. 1 at least It still takes about ten days, let alone opening a new construction site.
"If we can't defend, we have no choice but to hide." Qiao Zhiya had a new idea: "We can build the settlement at the foot of an inland mountain away from the sea, or even build it on a higher hillside, so that the distance from the sea can be reduced It should be close to two kilometers. This way, if something happens at the seaside, the people working in the salt field can get early warning and have time to retreat to the mountains.”
"The outpost at Yulinjiao is facing the coastline of the valley over there. If pirates land in the valley, the base camp will get the news soon. There will not be much time left for the pirates to cause trouble." Wang Tom also admitted that Qiao Zhiya The plan does have merit. After all, the time travel has the advantage of communication. Any warning can be clearly conveyed to the relevant personnel in a very short time. The response speed is definitely the fastest among all military forces in this time and space.
"What about the development prospects of the salt farm?" Gu Kai continued to ask Qiao Zhiya. He was the only one in the group who worked in the chemical industry, and he was the only one who had a say in whether the valley was worthy of development.
Qiao Zhiya shrugged and said: "At least the location of the salt farm is better than the one we were looking for before. The executive committee originally planned to build a salt farm in the fishing village. I have also visited there. It requires a lot of work, including leveling the land, digging canals, Water diversion is definitely not something that can be put into operation in the short term, and the most important thing is that it is too close to the entrance of Tiandu River, and the concentration of sea water is not ideal. Even if it is barely started, the salt production efficiency will not reach the expected value. I think it only takes half a month to dredge the water channels and repair some lifting and irrigation devices, and then it can be put into production. Of course, even after it is put into production, this place will still need a lot of manpower.”
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Manpower! This is simply like a shackle on the traversers' feet, slowing down the progress of the traversers anytime and anywhere. The person in charge of every project is having a headache for manpower, and many projects even have to be put on hold temporarily due to lack of manpower. For example, only half of the land passage from Base 1 to Base 2 has been opened. The remaining half had to be suspended indefinitely to take care of the hydropower station project, which was a nightmare for the people who were accustomed to convenient transportation.
Although there are Han or Li migrant workers coming every day after hearing the news, it is only a drop in the bucket, and the total number is still far from the requirements of the Executive Committee. According to the data obtained by Gu Kai, in terms of projects currently under construction and to be built, the labor gap is still at least about 500 people.
It is said that some radicals have already suggested to the executive committee that they might as well go out in full force and collectively act as slave traders, attack villages and towns directly along the coastline to the west, and pull local young men directly back to work as coolies on ships every time they capture a place, or they Simply capture Yazhou City in one fell swoop. There are at least a thousand local navy and garrison soldiers. These are all excellent labor forces. If we can capture them all, we can solve the current labor shortage problem in one fell swoop.
Naturally, this kind of extreme rightism has not been recognized by the Executive Committee, but as the situation develops, the demand for labor is becoming more urgent day by day. Regardless of whether the Executive Committee is willing or not, we must find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible. .
(End of chapter)