Chapter 422: In Jining

Jiang Feng left the capital in February of the 19th year of Jiajing. His journey to search for talents had no results at all. News came from Huazhou. After Wu Guang arrived at the craftsman's workshop in Dengzhou, he felt as ecstatic as if he had entered the Baoshan Mountain, and he was busy day and night.

For the military and civil craftsmen in Huazhou, whether it is the craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty or the craftsmen in the Netherlands, these people have the ability to do things, but they have no innovative ideas. After all, everyone cannot be required to be an inventor, so although the ships and guns of the Jiang family army are excellent, their slight leading advantages are Jiang Feng's ideas.

It can be said that what we lack most at present is a person like Wu Guang who is smart and innovative. If Wu Guang's ideas are feasible, they can be quickly produced through efficient workshops in Huazhou.

Moreover, scholars and craftsmen of this era are not as clear as modern times. Everyone is involved in a lot, and Wu Guang still has some understanding of many other aspects.

However, there were no words of praise in the letter Zhao Xiucai from Huazhou to Jiang Feng. Zhao Xiucai complained that Wu Guang had not made much achievements after coming to Huazhou, but only improved the fire device of the mesh gun, but the silver spent seemed to be flowing, which really made him feel distressed.

But when Jiang Feng sent Wu Guang to Huazhou, he issued an order saying that if Wu Guang was studying what expenses he had, he would support it. Zhao Xiucai's letter meant whether he could restrict Wu Guang's expenses. After reading the letter, Jiang Feng laughed and replied very simply:

"I can't bear to bear to beat the wolf, what is silver!"

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Jiang Feng led his men all the way south and arrived at Jining Prefecture by land. Whether it was when Jiang Feng left or the chaos that shocked the court, the Jining Prefecture did not affect the prosperity of this water and land hub. Now, with the prosperity of industry and commerce, it is even more amazing.

There is Linjiagang, the most important port in the north in Shandong. Many of the goods are unloaded in Jining, using this place as a base for transit and storage, and then going to Linjia Island to go to sea.

Jiang Feng felt more and more that this itinerary was not very meaningful to him. He had heard of all the places where literati gathered in the capital, and had also used the name of the Sanjiang Trading Company to support scholars to gather scholars, while he was observing next door or on the side.

I found that part of the readers talk about the romantic and romantic things, while the other part hates the current development of industry and commerce, believing that this is a fundamental thing that shakes the world. In other words, these people cannot see the situation in the world clearly, or are unwilling to observe the world. The rich are enjoying it, and the poor are pursuing it.

Furthermore, Jiang Feng has a limited number of people after all, and relying on what he sees and hears, it is impossible for him to come into contact with more and better literary people. Huazhou cannot open a list to recruit him. He has no title and scholars cannot surrender. Moreover, truly outstanding scholars generally have one or two positions, and such people will be under Jiang Feng as officials.

At the beginning, he was a little depressed, but later Jiang Feng was also trying to get started. Since he could not recruit people, it would be better to carefully observe the Ming Dynasty. In the past, he was a general of the Ming Dynasty and was in the situation. Now he is an outsider of the Ming Dynasty, and he can look at this giant in a relatively neutral and objective manner.

The prosperity of Jining is different from that of the capital. The capital is the center of the world and has a solemn atmosphere. This Jining is purely due to the city where transportation and commerce are flourishing. The entire city is full of vitality and a luxurious and prosperous atmosphere.

Shandong Salt Administration is now known as the most orderly in the world. The annual entry and exit accounts, upper and lower verification, and transportation losses are all the best among all provinces.

The Ministry of Revenue is praised by everyone, but few people know that Shandong's private salt trading is also the largest and most profitable in the world. Huazhou also has a lot of income here every year. Because when Jiang Feng and Huang Ping were here, they straightened out the private salt order here through huge amounts of money and powerful force.

This effective order did not collapse due to Jiang Feng's departure, but continued to operate. The Lin family still had six or seven hundred people on Linjia Island. Among the largest horse bandits in Shandong, most of them were remotely controlled by the Jiang family army. After all, the Liu family still had its own influence in Shandong.

All levels of Shandong yamen are extremely satisfied with this private salt order. They can receive the money they deserve in a stable manner. No matter what they do, as long as they are done in a regular and stable manner, many stakeholders will take the initiative to protect him.

At the beginning of each year, after the leading salt merchants obtained salt intake, they multiplied the number of salt intakes by several multiples, and converted into the total amount of private salt trafficking in this year. The share of the year will be distributed layer by layer according to the scale and investment of salt vendors of large and small salt merchants in the Shandong Salt Merchants Association. Whether it is the eighteen salt farms registered in the government or private salt production workshops, they will be produced according to this share.

Because of several attacks, the salt vendors and salt vendors in southern Zhili, Henan and northern Zhili were always hit and could only join this system obediently. Therefore, the salt production and salt sales controlled by the Shandong Salt Merchants Bank can account for almost 30% of the total business in the Ming Dynasty.

This 30% is enough to affect the general trend. At the distribution meeting at the beginning of each year, according to the quantity, salt merchants and private salt dealers will roughly judge that this year's salt price can almost be determined by the Daming salt price except for several remote provinces.

Therefore, every March, salt merchants and great salt owls either go there in person or send their confidants here. Everyone's salt quotations and various numbers must be summarized together, and they must also fight for the most favorable conditions and prices for themselves here.

Of course, what is set may not be strictly followed. When the price is high, there will always be more than the rated amount of private salt salt, and even if the power controlled by the salt owls is being chopped and killed everywhere, it cannot be stopped. However, this system is beneficial to everyone after all, so everyone still abides by it.

For this system, there are even fast horse speeding established by salt merchants from Jining, Yangzhou, Kaifeng, Taiyuan, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Maintain dozens of institutions called carriages and horse shops, which are actually private stations. The fees required are really slim compared to the fluctuations in salt prices.

This annual gathering is held in Jining. The arrival of these people makes the Jining market even more prosperous. The original prosperity of Jining was because it was a hub for canal transportation, and there were many warehouses of local commercial banks in Shandong. However, many salt merchants now have other industries here. The salt merchants in Shandong, Beizhili and Henan simply have long-term shops here. In all industries in the world, salt merchants are the most luxurious group of people.

Restaurants, brothels, and various southern goods shops in Jining are emerging one after another, and the grade is extremely high. The six prefectures in Shandong and the prefectures in Henan are all honored by spending money here.

These businesses in Huazhou in Shandong were not carried out in the name of the Jiang family army and Huazhou, because this is just a place to make money. The people who run the salt industry here are called Lin Yutang. Speaking of which, they are still the uncle of Lin Zhi, the commander of the Yizhou fleet, and they are also members of the Lin family's nearby branch.

Lin Yutang just knew that he was doing business in the salt industry for his family. He transported a lot of silver through Linjia Island every year. Sometimes he bought and sold other goods on his behalf, but he didn't know that it was a business for Huazhou, and he thought it was a way out for his family in the Ming Dynasty.

Jiang Feng came to Jining this time, and his follower carried a handwritten letter written by the head of the Lin family, and it specifically stated that this was a guest of the Lin family and he must be treated carefully, as this is related to the future wealth of the Lin family.

Lin Yutang was naturally respectful when he said so much, especially when he saw Jiang Feng and his group of more than a dozen people, horses and vehicles could only be equipped by a wealthy family. Moreover, everyone had a sense of being superior, so he did not dare to neglect and carefully introduced them into the house where he lived.

When I saw Lin Yutang's house, even Jiang Feng had seen the scene like this, I was amazed. Before traveling through time, in various media and books, as long as I mentioned salt merchants, it was just a superficial concept that salt merchants were luxurious and wealthy. Later, I came into contact with Huang Ping, but he knew how to restrain his edge.

When I saw such a manor today, I roughly understood that the current situation should be a common phenomenon among salt merchants. In Jining City, I actually created a Jiangnan garden. What kind of work and expenses are really amazing.

Although the maids and servants who were coming and going in the yard looked beautiful, they were the most basic to be pleasing to the eye. Jiang Feng looked at Lin Yutang next to him and thought that this was really great to enjoy.

Looking at Lin Yutang's appearance, he looked about forty years old, with a dignified appearance and extremely energetic, and he was really good at physical health. Thinking of this, Jiang Feng couldn't help but chuckled.

Lin Yutang, who was following behind, has observed Jiang Feng's reaction since entering the garden. Most people are envious or pretend to be noble and do not look straight, but do not have such a natural attitude as Jiang Feng. Seeing Jiang Feng laughing, he quickly asked politely:

"Is there anything happy about Mr. Jiang?"

Jiang Feng stopped and said lightly:

“It’s great to have money.”
Chapter completed!