Chapter 107 Market Changes
After walking across the suspension bridge and entering the base, the two shopkeepers suddenly discovered that the houses built inside the village wall were all neat and uniform. Even the drainage ditches under the eaves were as straight as a knife. The road is clean and tidy, with absolutely no chaos like in Yazhou City, not to mention the livestock excrement that may appear everywhere. Although the place is not big, it seems very orderly. Some coconut trees are preserved in the gaps between the houses, so that the space on the site does not lack green embellishments. In addition to the natural fragrance of vegetation, there is no stinky smell emitted by domestic garbage in Yazhou City.
The two shopkeepers were shocked and felt that although the environment here was not bad, most of the houses seemed a bit small. They didn't know why these wealthy Haihan people were willing to live in such a place. From this point of view, their views are consistent with those of Shuizhai Commander-in-Chief Luo Shengdong. Luo Shengdong also believes that with the material and financial resources of the Haihan people, instead of building some comfortable courtyards, they will live in such a military camp-like place. In a collective dormitory, this behavior is simply incomprehensible.
Except for a few people currently staying in Victory Port who are stationed on the "New World" and are responsible for the daily maintenance of the ship's equipment, the vast majority of them still live in prefabricated houses in Base No. 1. Due to the continuous shortage of manpower in the past few months, there are currently only a few limited brick and stone structure houses in Base No. 1, and they are all for special purposes and are not used for human habitation, such as canteens and kitchens that require the use of open fires, and to store firearms. The arsenal of weapons, the computer room that houses the large database server, and the telecommunications center that controls wireless communications in the entire Victory Port-Tiandu area, etc.
It’s not that people in Chuanhuan intend to continue living in such hardship and austerity, but there have been more important infrastructure projects going on than building dormitories since time traveled, so everyone can only accept this kind of accommodation conditions for migrant workers. However, the executive committee plans to wait until the Tiandu River Hydropower Station is completed and put into operation before starting to build a batch of masonry-structured dormitories on the island in the middle of the river next to the hydropower station to solve the housing problem that has plagued the people across the river for a long time. This place is adjacent to the hydropower station and the future industrial base on the east bank of the Tiandu River. It is convenient for ensuring electricity supply and going to work. In addition, it is surrounded by natural rivers, making it easier to build basic defenses.
Of course, even if masonry-structured residences were built in the future, they would not be the courtyard-style buildings that Ming people thought they should have. The Ministry of Construction has long had a plan to build dormitory buildings according to the structure of later generations of Tongzi Buildings, and then allocate dormitories to individuals or families. As for the construction of truly comfortable housing, the Executive Committee believes that it will not be put on the agenda until at least the development of Sanya's "Two Rivers and One Port" area in the future. Only then may we really have the energy and resources to do so. Carry out the construction and development of commercial and residential buildings.
Entering the conference room, which was also made of prefabricated houses, the two shopkeepers discovered that the house was originally neither stone nor wood, but made of boards that had always seemed to be extremely thin. Now they were even more concerned about these Haihan people. I am in awe of the craftsmanship.
After Tao Donglai warmly invited the two guests to take a seat, he asked: "The weather is a bit hot today. Would you like some iced drinks to relieve the heat?"
Shopkeeper Zhang was surprised: "Is there ice available here and now?"
Tao Donglai smiled and said: "We have our own method of making ice, and ice is available all year round."
Shopkeeper Li was also surprised and said: "Well, I have to see it."
Both of them have been in Yazhou for a long time, and they have never heard of any local household having ice available at this time of year, not to mention that Tao Donglai's "ice making method" can make ice all year round. Shopkeeper Li knew that some wealthy families in Guangzhou used saltpeter to make ice, but saltpeter was not produced locally in Yazhou, so no one used this method to make ice. Could it be that these Haihan people have been purchasing large quantities of saltpeter in Yazhou just to make ice cubes for drinking in summer? But it seems unreasonable that the Haihan people live in such "simple" houses and eat so extravagantly.
Naturally, the people who traveled through time would not use the saltpeter they had worked so hard to purchase to make ice, which was a precious raw material for making gunpowder. As for the method of making ice, of course it comes from several large commercial freezers purchased before traveling. There are four freezers with a capacity of more than 800 liters, mainly used for the preservation of fresh food at the two bases. In addition, there are several small freezers for the scientific research needs of agriculture, metallurgy, chemical industry and other departments.
The two shopkeepers stared dumbfoundedly as Tao Donglai picked up a small black box and said a few words, and then soon someone came in with several bowls of mung bean soup and a small bucket of ice cubes.
"You two, please help yourself." Tao Donglai made a gesture of invitation, indicating to the two of them to put ice cubes in the mung bean soup.
When the two of them saw that the small bucket of ice and the tongs used to hold ice cubes were so bright that they could reflect the figures, they had the same thought in their minds: "I thought this Haihan man didn't want to be extravagant, but it turns out he was just looking away. At a glance, even the ice cube equipment is clearly made of stainless steel! ”
The ice cubes in the ice bucket are all half an inch square and have the same size and shape. The two shopkeepers can tell at a glance that these are indeed ice cubes specially made for cold drinks. Shopkeeper Li of "Fu Ruifeng" hesitated for a long time, but finally asked: "Could it be that you purchased a large amount of saltpeter just to make ice cubes in hot weather?"
Tao Donglai and Schneider were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter. Tao Donglai waved his hand and said: "We have a special method for making ice, and it's not made with saltpeter. This ice cube is not for making cold drinks for ourselves. It's just that the two of you came from afar today, so we took it out to entertain you. We're just guests." After eating a bowl of iced mung bean soup, the two shopkeepers immediately felt refreshed and felt less tired from the journey, so they immediately got back to the topic. The two of them each took out this time's cargo list and handed it to Tao and Shi.
The contents of this manifest mainly include the unsettled cash from the last transaction, as well as some goods used to offset the price in accordance with the requirements of the Cliff Station Office, including coal coke, saltpeter, sulfur, ropes, etc.
Schneider noticed that the price of some of the goods had changed from the first transaction price, and asked: "I remember that the last time the price of coal was eight cents of silver per hundred catties, how come it has risen to two cents of silver after just a short time?" ? Could it be that the coal you brought this time was better than last time? ”
Shopkeeper Zhang waved his hands repeatedly and said: "This is not because we two intend to raise the price, but the price of coal on the market has indeed increased a lot."
Shopkeeper Li continued: "Most of the coal used in Yazhou comes from Danzhou and Qiongzhou Fucheng. In the past, when the supply was sufficient, it was indeed priced at eight cents per hundred catties. But recently, it is said that a large number of civilians in the north have been requisitioned, resulting in insufficient manpower. Coal is mined, so the price has skyrocketed.”
"How come a large number of civilians were suddenly recruited? Is there some kind of war?" Tao Donglai was keenly aware of the unusual smell.
"It's not just the She'an Rebellion in Sichuan and Guizhou. The imperial court fought back and forth for six years but still hasn't wiped out the rebels. Now the war is said to have reached the Chief Secretary of Guangxi. The Guilin government has given the imperial court a discount and asked the imperial court to organize reinforcements. . After an imperial edict came down, the whole Guangdong and Guangxi became busy, even the Qiongzhou Prefecture was no exception. The civilian men who were recruited were to be sent to Guilin Prefecture to be responsible for transporting baggage." Shopkeeper Li, who was relatively well-informed, introduced it casually. He knew the times were changing.
The She'an Rebellion broke out in Sichuan and Guizhou in the first year of Tianqi. The cause was that She Chongming and An Bangyan, the chief chieftains of the two places, tried to establish a local Yi government, so they rebelled against the Ming court. This war to quell the rebellion lasted for more than ten years in history. The war affected the four provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi. The total number of casualties on both sides exceeded one million, and the property losses were countless. It greatly accelerated the domestic situation in the late Ming Dynasty. of collapse.
Now this civil war has entered its sixth year. Although the frontline battlefield is far away on the mainland, it still inevitably has an indirect impact on the small town in the distant South China Sea, and the momentum of this impact has spread to the Crossing Group. Although the price of two qian per hundred kilograms of coal is not a sky-high price, what Tao Shi and his wife thought about was the impact that a shortage of coal supply would have on the production of Chuan Chuan Group.
Schneider immediately asked: "What will happen to Yazhou if there is no coal shipped from the north?"
Shopkeeper Zhang said with a bitter face: "Then everyone will have to burn firewood to survive. However, the adults in your Cliff Office were quite foresighted. They purchased a lot of coal in advance and made a kind of coal called 'honeycomb briquette' The briquettes are very resistant to burning. I see that there are many such briquettes stored in the cliff office. I think they will not be troubled by this matter in the near future. ”
At this time, He Xi went to the big database to retrieve some historical information, otherwise he could have told the frustrated shopkeeper Zhang that this was not something foresighted by the Cliff Office, but was simply something Zhang Guang created on a whim.
Shopkeeper Li added: "Yazhou is short of coal, so it can only be shipped from farther away Guangzhou, and the price will probably double. If you still need to purchase large amounts of coal and coke in the near future, I'm afraid you will have to find a way elsewhere. ”
Tao Donglai and Schneider looked at each other. They both thought that the development plan of Hongji Port seemed to be too late and had to be carried out in advance. Nowadays, the price of coal in Yazhou has risen to two taels of silver per hundred catties, which is almost 4 taels of silver per ton. But shopkeeper Li said that the coal shipped from Guangzhou will probably have to double the price, even if it costs 8 to 10 taels of silver per ton. For Chuanchuan Group, which has a coal demand of more than 300 tons per month, the possible expenditures involved in this procurement project are not a small amount. If this tight coal situation lasts for a long time, then Chuanchuan Group will spend tens of thousands of taels of silver just on buying coal in a year. After all, the cost of mining a coal mine by itself can still be A little less.
(End of chapter)