Chongzhen began to appreciate these two young businessmen, and said: "Now give us a price. How much silver is needed? Or it can be converted into food and other materials."
Wang Pingshan asked again: "May I ask Your Majesty, are all the 600,000 stones of military rations shipped from the Wuchang warehouse, or can the grains be purchased along the way and then transferred to Pu'an Prefecture?"
"It's up to you." Chongzhen said, "If you think you can buy enough food along the way, then buy food. If you can't buy much food along the way, you can also transport it from Wuchang. Anyway, Wuchang has enough food.
"
When Zuo Liangyu was entrenched in Wuchang, he stocked up a lot of food. When the new army came to Wuchang, they brought a lot of military rations with them.
Up to now, the grain stored in the official warehouse in Wuchang has exceeded 1 million shi. There is no problem in transferring 600,000 shi to Pu'an Prefecture to quell the rebellion in Shadingzhou.
Wang Pingshan said: "Your Majesty, can you allow the common people to do the accounting first?"
"No problem." Chongzhen said, "You can do the calculation here."
Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi took off their backpacks and each took out an exquisite small abacus.
The two of them calculated things for a long time in front of Chongzhen, and then whispered a few words to each other.
Finally, Wang Pingshan said: "Your Majesty, we need a total of 2.4 million taels of silver, or we can deliver corresponding value of grain, cotton or silk."
"What?" Zhu Cijiong was furious.
"How dare you ask for 2.4 million taels of silver when you transfer 600,000 shi of grain?!"
"Your Highness Prince Ding," Wang Pingshan said calmly, "to transport 600,000 shi of grain to Pu'an within three months, the cost of 2.4 million grains of silver is already very low. It cannot be lower."
"It's just a joke." Zhu Cijiong sneered and said, "600,000 shi of grain is only worth 600,000 taels of silver, but you ask for 2.4 million taels. Doesn't this mean that giving all 600,000 shi of grain to you for free is not enough, and the court also
I want to find 1.8 million shi of grain for you two. How can there be such a ridiculous thing in the world?"
Wang Pingshan said: "Prince Ding, this is not how you settle the accounts."
Hu Renzhi said: "Of course one stone of grain is only sold for one tael of silver in Wuchang, but if it is transported all the way to Pu'an by water and dry road, it is no longer the price of one stone and one tael, but at least five taels."
"One stone and fifty taels?" Zhu Cijiong said angrily, "Are the people of Pu'an crazy? Will they buy such expensive grain?"
Wang Pingshan said: "So it is unprofitable to sell grain from Wuchang to Pu'an. Only selling tea, wine, cotton or silk and other goods can be profitable."
Zhu Cijiong stopped talking.
Through this incident, he already had an intuitive impression of transporting grain to the border.
Chongzhen smiled, and then said to Wang Pingshan and the others: "It's settled, for a total price of 2.4 million taels of silver, 600,000 stones of military rations will be transferred to Pu'an within three months! But I have something to say first. If
You cannot transfer 600,000 shi of military rations to Pu'an within three months, and I will never forgive you lightly."
"The grassroots people and others will accept the order." Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi responded solemnly, "If 600,000 shi of military rations cannot be transferred to Pu'an Prefecture within three months, the grassroots people and others will be willing to lead the army."
Chongzhen nodded lightly and asked, "Do you have any other requests?"
"Yes." Wang Pingshan hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Your Majesty, can you advance part of the cost?"
"The grassroots people and others plan to divide the 600,000 shi of military grain into two parts, of which 300,000 shi will be shipped from Wuchang, and the other 300,000 shi will be purchased from grain merchants in the prefectures and counties along the way."
"With such a large volume of sales, food prices will definitely rise."
"Even if the market price is doubled, 300,000 shi of grain would still require 600,000 taels of silver."
After a pause, Wang Pingshan added: "In addition, the cost of hiring grain boats, trackers, and mule and horse porters along the way should be at least a million taels. The common people really can't afford so much."
"It's no problem to make an advance." After Chongzhen finished speaking, he said to Gao Qiqian, "Gao Banban, aren't the silks, cottons, antiques, calligraphy and paintings seized from the rebels still in the warehouse? Go and count them and get the value from them.
For the 800,000 taels of goods, 400,000 taels of cash were transferred from the Royal Bank's account to be delivered to Wang Weng and Hu Weng."
"Old slave, I have received the order." After receiving the order, Gao Qiqian said to Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan, "You two, please come with our family."
Before leaving the camp, Hu Renzhi suddenly turned back and asked Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the common people still have a question. Are you following the army on the way to Kunming, Yunnan?"
"Of course." Chongzhen said without thinking.
"Otherwise, I won't be able to trust you to hand over the food to you."
"There will be no problem for ordinary people like this." Hu Renzhi and the others followed Gao Qiqian and left.
But Zhu Cijiong sighed softly and said: "Father, I have now realized that war is a real waste of money. In order to transfer 600,000 shi of military rations to Kunming, 2.4 million shi were actually spent!"
"This little expense is nothing." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Transporting military rations to the grasslands or overland to Liaodong is really a huge expense. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when Goguryeo was conquered, only one stone of military rations was transferred to Liaodong.
Sheng! In order to protect the 300,000 Sui troops in fighting, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty actually recruited three million civilians!"
After a pause, he continued: "In the end, I was able to drag down the powerful Sui Dynasty."
Zhu Cijiong was stunned and said: "One stone of military rations was transferred to Liaodong and only one liter was left? This loss is too high."
Chongzhen said: "This is how the dynasty transferred military rations to Liaodong. It was only after the opening of Dengzhou sea transportation that the losses were finally reduced. This time, the transportation of military rations to Kunming was mainly by water. If it had been by land from beginning to end,
Traveling more than three thousand miles over land will consume ten times more military rations!"
Zhu Cijiong said: "In other words, at least 6 million stones of military rations must be prepared."
"Yes." Chongzhen said solemnly, "If we let the government along the way transfer it, we must prepare at least 6 million shi of military rations, and finally 600,000 shi of military rations can be transferred to Kunming."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Father, do you mean you have saved half of it?"
Zhu Cijiong was a little surprised when he heard this. He really didn't expect this.
Chongzhen said: "If this were not the case, why would my father want to find Wang Pingshan?"
Looking for merchants is, firstly, to save money, and secondly, to improve efficiency. Letting the government along the way transport military rations is asking for death, and you will be killed by the inefficiency and failure of the government along the way.
…
Let’s talk about Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan later.
After accepting this big business, the two of them immediately started working separately.
"Brother Hu, in order to save time, we must act separately." Wang Pingshan said, "I will leave all the transshipment in Wuchang to you. I will first take the guys from the company to buy grain in Hunan and northern Guangxi."
"In addition to purchasing grain from Hunan and northern Guangxi, we also need to recruit as many porters as possible."
"The amount of military rations to be transferred this time is too large and the time is tight, so at least 200,000 porters are needed!"
"However, Tongguwei's place is small and sparsely populated, so I have to go to nearby Liping, Jingzhou and other places to find people. I estimate that by the time you arrive at Tonggu, I will be able to find enough porters."
"Okay, leave Wuchang to me," Hu Renzhi said, "Brother Wang, you must pay attention to safety. Guizhou is a very chaotic place. Don't make any mistakes."
"It's okay." Wang Pingshan said, "As long as we don't encounter something bad like a chieftain's rebellion, I'm afraid ordinary thieves can't do anything to our Wang family's servants. Besides, it's not the first time for me to go to Guizhou Tongguwei.
In short, Brother Hu, just take care of things in Wuchang."
Hu Renzhi sent Wang Pingshan out of the Shezhou Guild Hall, and called together more than a dozen shopkeepers, more than fifty clerks, and more than a hundred servants of the company.
This time when they came to Wuhan, the Hu family also came out in full force.
It must be said that businessmen have a vicious vision.
Both the Hu family and the Wang family saw that this was an opportunity.
Whether you can become a top businessman depends on this vote.
After meeting each other, the shopkeepers, clerks and servants of the Hu family business left separately. Those looking for boats were looking for boats, those looking for trackers were looking for trackers, and the shopkeepers took their shopkeepers to prepare for the road ahead. In total, more than a hundred shopkeepers and waiters were still there.
A servant is like a part of a machine, running at high speed in an instant.
This is why transferring military rations through grain merchants is more efficient.
Because the government lacks subjective initiative in handling affairs, if the superiors ask them to find a ship, the subordinates will only do the one step of finding the ship, and will never take the initiative to negotiate the price first, let alone set it first.
Grain merchants will put efficiency first when doing things.
Because efficiency means time, it also means profit.
…
On the first day of June in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, Chongzhen left Wuchang.
Following Chongzhen, there were 5,000 new troops, 3,000 cavalry, 800 Yiding and 5,000 female soldiers.
Before Chongzhen left Wuchang, more than 100,000 native soldiers from western Hunan and Hubei had already set off in advance, taking the land route, but marching along the south bank of the Yangtze River.
The vanguard of the army was the nine thousand new troops led by Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan.
The nine thousand new troops were the first to set off, starting from Wuchang on May 25th. When Chongzhen set out on June 1st, Xu Yingwei and the others had already reached Baling.
Long before Chongzhen left Wuchang, he had already issued an edict to Ding Kuichu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, ordering Ding Kuichu to recruit 100,000 wolf soldiers from Guangxi to Yunnan to assist in the war.
The edict mentioned one hundred thousand wolf soldiers.
But it's hard to say how many wolf soldiers Ding Kuichu can recruit.
Chongzhen even gave Ding Kuichu a secret plan.
…
From the end of May to the end of August, it was a march for three whole months.
By the end of August, the new forward troops led by Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan finally arrived at Pingyiwei in eastern Yunnan.
At this time, except for a small area west of Chuxiong Prefecture, most of the entire Yunnan area had been captured by the rebels in Shadingzhou, or had surrendered to Shadingzhou.
Sha Dingzhou had also long been prepared for the imperial court to dispatch troops to suppress it.
Therefore, a thousand Mongolian soldiers were stationed at Pingyiwei, the transportation hub from Guizhou to Yunnan.
Seeing the Ming Dynasty's sun and moon flag appearing on the official road to the east, the Mengzi soldiers who were on guard at the top of Pingyi City quickly blew their horns. The next moment, groups of Mengzi soldiers swarmed onto Pingyi City.
Yichengtou.
After arriving at the top of the city, we saw the vast army of Ming Dynasty officers approaching along the official road.
The front of the team has already arrived a mile outside Pingyi City, but the rear of the team is still coiled in the mountains. Judging from the formation, there are at least tens of thousands of people.
With so many officers and soldiers, it is obvious that a mere thousand Mongolian soldiers cannot compete with them.
The leading Mengzi native official ordered the native soldiers to guard the city gate strictly, and at the same time sent fast horses to Qujing and Kunming to ask for help.
At this time, Sha Dingzhou was leading a large army to besiege Chuxiong. A total of 150,000 rebels were stationed in 72 companies and surrounded the entire city of Chuxiong.
But Sha Dingzhou encountered a tough problem this time.
As the saying goes, heroes show their true qualities only when the sea flows across the sea. Just when the rebels in Shadingzhou were sweeping across central Yunnan like a tide, Yang Weizhi, deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty Jin Cang Army Preparation, became a rock blocking the way of the rebels.
Sha Dingzhou actually had the opportunity to deal with Yang Weizhi in a snap.
In December last year, Sha Dingzhou made a surprise attack on Kunming, and Mu Tianbo fled hastily with only a few of his followers.
Naturally, Sha Dingzhou would not let Mu Tianbo go, and chased Chu Xiong all the way. At this time, Yang Weizhi, who was stationed in Chu Xiong, only had 400 soldiers under his command, and Chu Xiong's city defense had not been reinforced.
If Sha Dingzhou attacks Chu Xiong at this time, Yang Weizhi will definitely be defeated.
However, Sha Dingzhou fell into Yang Weizhi's delaying strategy. Yang Weizhi said, Mu Tianbo has fled to Jianchang, you should hurry up and chase Mu Tianbo. As for Chuxiong, as long as other states and counties in Yunnan recognize you as the co-owner of Yunnan, I will
I will admit that anyway, I don't have the courage to go against you, but if you attack now, then for the sake of honor, I have no choice but to fight to the death with you. Sir, please think about it clearly.
When Sha Dingzhou thought it made sense, he bypassed Chu Xiong and chased Mu Tianbo.
As a result, the journey lasted for a month. Yang Weizhi used this time to quickly recruit 3,000 native soldiers, strengthen Chuxiong's city defense facilities, and then began to send troops to raid the grain road in Shadingzhou.
Only then did Sha Dingzhou realize that he had been fooled, and he turned back to beat Chu Xiong in anger.
As a result, after many days of fierce attack, the enemy was not captured, so he had to break the siege and attack elsewhere.
In July, the rebels successively captured Dali Prefecture, Menghua Prefecture, etc., and also forced the landing of various chieftains in eastern and southern Yunnan. By this time, the number of Shadingzhou rebels had ballooned from more than 30,000 to more than 30,000.
The number swelled to 150,000.
So Sha Dingzhou turned around and led 150,000 rebels to attack Chuxiong again, and set up 72 company camps outside the city, completely surrounding the entire Chuxiong city.
However, in more than half a year, Yang Weizhi once again strengthened the city defense.
The rebels violently attacked Chuxiong for more than a month until the end of August, but still did not break the city.
Seeing that he was still unable to capture Chuxiong, Sha Dingzhou gradually became anxious.
When the news of the Pingyi Guards arrived, Sha Dingzhou was trying to persuade Wang Xigun and asked Wang Xigun to write a letter to the court, saying that it was the Duke of Guizhou, Mu Tianbo, who started the rebellion, and then he, Sha Dingzhou, put down the Mu Tianbo rebellion, and then reported to the court.
The imperial court proposed that the Sha family could replace the Mu family to guard Yunnan for generations.
I have to admit that Sha Dingzhou still has some discernment.
There is an essential difference between this guy and Wu Bikui. Wu Bikui is a pure martial artist, so he was suppressed by Mu Tianbo after just a few flutters, but Sha Dingzhou is much more powerful.