Eight hundred and ninety-seventh chapter charter (2)
"This is my destiny..." Liu Lang proudly explained to Yuan An: "Of course, I also contributed..."
"I have already decreed that if you want to hunt whales, you must rent a ship from a large ship. In addition, you need to apply for permission just like mining copper or gold mines!"
"The license fee ranges from a hundred gold to a thousand gold per year!"
"Longli has wanted to hunt whales since last year..." Liu Yan said with a smile: "For this whaling ship, I heard that Longli also borrowed two thousand gold from the North Korean king!"
Yuan An was stunned when he heard this.
Although Liu Yan didn't explain it too carefully or too clearly.
But Yuan An still knew two pieces of information.
First, before this huge ship was built, Longlihou Chen Jiao had already paid all the fees!
Moreover, judging from the situation, even if Chen Jiao paid for the shipbuilding expenses, the ship did not belong to him.
He just rented it from Lou Chuan Yamen.
Just to rent this ship, he has to pay thousands of gold in rent tax every year!
In addition, he also has to pay another thousand gold to the country for the whaling license of this ship!
Second: Even when the cost is so high, Longlihou is still willing to pay such a huge amount, and even borrow money from Chaojun.
The North Korean king’s money is not so easy to borrow!
Borrowing his money is no different from borrowing money from King Liang.
This interest rate is probably similar to loan sharking.
This shows that the profit from whaling is probably higher than mining for gold!
However, Yuan Ang still couldn't understand.
If Long wanted to use this boat to fish in the Xinhua River, he would understand.
After all, the Xinhua river now generates tens of millions per year, making it an inexhaustible gold mine.
The Lou Chuan Yamen regarded it as a treasure and did not allow anyone else to interfere with it.
In Xinhua City alone, there are thousands of people stationed at Louchuan Jiangjun Yamen.
But whaling…
Unheard of!
Can you make money?
After thinking about it, Yuan Ang felt that there should be.
Otherwise, how could Chen Jiao, a scumbag with a personality like Yan Guo's feathers and a scumbag who doesn't even care about fame and reputation, spend such a large sum of money on such a gamble?
There must be huge interests in this that Yuan Ang doesn't know about.
"Your Majesty, Longli has spent so much money, can he get his money back?" Yuan An asked deliberately.
"Why can't you get your money back?" Liu Yan smiled slightly: "Mo Yuan alone is willing to buy back the muscles and bones of the whales he caught at the price of one dollar per pound!"
Liu Yan stepped on the giant ship under his feet and looked at the huge bed crossbow.
This whaler is a terrifying ship capable of hunting down all the behemoths in the ocean.
The bed crossbow installed on it can kill any giant beast that appears within sight, and the powerful winch has a powerful towing function.
So far, the largest whale hunted by the Han family weighed thousands of stones!
If its muscles and bones were peeled off, it would weigh a hundred thousand kilograms!
In other words, just the muscles and bones of a whale may be worth a hundred thousand dollars!
What's more, whale oil is worth as much as gold!
"Does Tutor know how much a pound of whale oil is worth in Anton and Liaoxi today?" Liu Yan asked mysteriously, and then stretched out a finger: "One hundred yuan! And it's still priceless!"
"And whales, even the smallest calf, can extract at least a thousand kilograms of oil! It's worth one hundred thousand dollars!"
"As for the giant whale...it's completely unimaginable..."
"Long thought about this ship, it can take at most half a year to make back the original investment..." Liu Yan said: "Is there any business in the world that is more profitable than this?"
Yuan Ang was stunned when he heard this.
Can you earn back five thousand gold in half a year?
If it hadn't come from Liu Yan's mouth, he would have thought it was crazy!
How is this possible?
The most profitable salt and iron trade in the world today only contributed more than 200 million yuan in profits to the country last year.
Converted into gold, it's only about 200,000 gold.
But this is the output of the entire world, and it also includes many costs.
The actual net profit may only be in the tens of millions.
Yuan An suddenly thought of a question.
Things in this world have always been rare and valuable.
If these whale oils are only produced at 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms, the price can probably be maintained.
But once the output exceeds one million pounds per year.
Isn’t this price going to plummet?
After all, Yuan Ang had only heard that whale oil had anti-freezing properties.
"Who can Longlihou sell to?" Yuan Ang asked: "Longlihou can't just go around selling it, like a merchant, right?"
If that's the case, then he's making a huge fool of himself.
You are a dignified prince, you are shameless, you are selling it everywhere, you will lose the face of the royal family and the country!
"The Shaofu is willing to purchase unlimited amounts of money at a price of one hundred yuan per catty..." Liu Yan said: "Moreover, whale oil can also be used to offset rental fees and licensing fees..."
"Huh?" Yuan An couldn't understand what he said.
What are you doing today?
On the one hand, he rented out whaling ships at high prices and also set high so-called "whaling license" fees.
Presumably, in order to protect the whaling license fee, Lou Chuan Yamen will actively patrol the sea area very carefully and prohibit others from hunting whales without permission.
This is also the consistent practice today.
Use a highly profitable industry to sustain an institution that seems to have no role at present.
For example, today horse racing and horse betting are used to maintain the existence of the lord and captain's yamen.
Another example is that in the past, profits from the Salt and Iron Yamen were used to subsidize the expenses of Moyuan.
Take the money from businessmen to build roads and lay tracks for the country.
There is probably no one in the world who is better at leveraging strength than today.
The same is true for the boat office on this floor.
In the past, the existence of a huge fleet and various bases was maintained by renovating fishing.
However, this is still criticized.
Many ministers feel that there is no need for this shipbuilding office to maintain such a large fleet and so many bases.
It's just fishing and delivery and transportation anyway.
It would be better to cut off half of unnecessary bases and ships and save money to benefit the world.
In the past, Yuan Ang was a member of this critical group.
Moreover, to this day, Yuan Ang still feels that he makes sense.
What is the use of maintaining such a large shipyard in this building?
Can it help the country produce more food, or can it help the country expand its territory?
Fishing delivery and transportation cannot be done on such a large scale.
If you cut it in half, you can save tens of millions of dollars a year.
Whether this money is used to repair channels or raise cavalry, it is all very good!
However, with the advent of whaling ships, and the emperor's policy of unrestricted acquisition of whale oil.
This will inevitably lead to countless people participating in this wave of whaling.
Although Yuan Ang has never been to the sea, he has never known what a whale looks like.
But from King Jiangdu's words, he knew that those were probably the super giant beasts belonging to the Kunpeng family mentioned by Zhuangzi.
One animal can be worth hundreds or even thousands.
With the emperor's foundation, in the future, Han nobles, ministers and even scholar-bureaucrats will rush into the whaling industry, and merchants will not be left behind.
In this world, no one is willing to do the business of losing money, but there are many people who are willing to do the business of losing money!
As long as the whaling industry rises, Lou Chuan Yamen will naturally have a reason to exist.
Moreover, looking at the so-called ‘whaling ship’ below, which is no different from a battleship.
Yuan An could already imagine the face of General Lou Chuan.
"Forcing ià, those whalers are better than our warships... This year, the funding for the building ship yamen must increase by 50% to build more powerful ships to defend the sea and protect the sea for forcing ià!"
What a noble reason!
Isn't this the same reason that the generals used to ask for military expenses?
"The Huns control 400,000 yuan, and the country's border defenses are tight. If we don't increase military spending, I fear that if something happens in the future, the country will be in danger!"
Moreover, driven by profit, Lou Chuan Yamen will definitely work hard to build ships, competing to launch more terrifying and powerful ships one after another.
They will demand bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful ships.
Then what?
As the giant beasts in the offshore were hunted and killed.
When the whaling ship goes to the open sea, will the Lou Chuan Yamen follow?
Just need to expand to the outer sea by a hundred miles every year. In ten years, the Han family's ships will probably reach unprecedented sea areas, and then they will discover a new world that has never been seen before.
Thinking of this, Yuan An took a deep breath.
"What a grand plan..."
The whaling industry, which no one in the court pays attention to, may become the driving force for the expansion of the Han Dynasty in the future.
This is not an exaggeration, it will definitely become a fact!
Chen Jiao is the proof of this.
This dandy in Chang'an not only discovered the so-called Japanese Nu Islands, but also triggered the enthusiasm of the entire Andong countries for catching slaves.
but……
Yuan Ang felt that there was more to the whaling industry than that.
He looked at the giant ship at his feet.
It is a giant ship that is larger, sturdier and more spacious than the building ships of the Han army in the past.
It can be turned into a warship at any time!
in other words……
"Use private money to support the country's warships..." Yuan Ang was completely convinced.
"Once something happens, the Han family can immediately pull out hundreds of warships..." Yuan Ang thought of a terrifying scene: some year in the future, a distant country will not accept it, and the emperor will issue an edict to attack it. In one night, the entire maritime territory will be destroyed.
, will all be occupied by the fleet that covers the sky and the sun.
The nobles, merchants, and scholar-bureaucrats took their "rented" whaling ships, along with their retainers and soldiers, and followed the fleet of ships to annihilate the disobedient kingdom.
It may even happen that some people simply deliberately push for rebellion in order to gain credit, and even fabricate evidence that "the barbarians from far away are dissatisfied."
This is not a delusion, but a fact that has already happened.
Last year, the killing of Han merchants on the border of Changsha was not exploited by the Qilu kings?
If South Vietnam had not seen the opportunity quickly, the entire South Vietnam would be in flames of war.
"The rituals and music have collapsed..." Yuan An sighed in his heart.
As a scholar-official whose stance was relatively Confucian, Yuan Ang did not advocate simple expansion.
What he advocated was a righteous war.
The so-called Master Wang obeyed Heaven's orders, crusaded against the unjust, and saved the people from water and fire.
Confucians do not like making up excuses and deliberately provoking wars.
However, the current situation is that voices advocating war and expansion have gained an overwhelming advantage.
The army, eager to be rewarded for meritorious service, to have wives and children, and the scholar-bureaucrats and nobles eager to take their families to a higher level, brought the people's hearts and social atmosphere throughout the world to be warlike.
Nowadays, the common people cannot avoid war.
Even in the Jiangdu Kingdom in the southeast, ordinary people craned their necks, waiting for the annual recruitment notice.
I don’t know how many ordinary people want to join the army even if they break their heads.
There was even an incident in Jiangdu Kingdom where someone bribed the recruiting officials in order to get into the army, especially the cavalry unit.
This was unimaginable in the past.
Affected by this, the entire Confucian movement also turned to the right.
The Gongyang faction is gaining momentum!
Even the Guliang faction is secretly and obliquely endorsing the war.
Therefore, Yuan Ang wisely did not talk too much about this aspect.
He even found relationships with several of his sons and stuffed them into the Habayashi Guards.
The trend is so unstoppable!
But Yuan Ang still couldn't figure it out.
The emperor purchased whale oil without any restrictions. What did he do with it?
Can this whale blubber be turned into money?
But Yuan Ang knew that this whale oil could indeed make money!
Nowadays, in the homes of nobles and relatives in Chang'an City, whale oil is burned every day when lighting lamps!
This whale oil is very popular because it burns colorless and odorless, very bright and has a long burning time.
This alone can make you a lot of money.
In addition, whale oil can also be processed into oil for human consumption.
The market is even bigger!
It can also be used as a maintenance oil for weapons and equipment, especially cuirassier equipment.
It can even become a lubricant for waterwheels and some precision machinery!
It is the best soap raw material!
more importantly……
In a secret laboratory in Moyuan, a secret project based on whale oil has been established.
This project is the Manhattan of this era.
If it succeeds, it will completely and profoundly change the world.
It is the forefront and highest technology of chemical science in the world today.
When it succeeds, the Zhuxia people will have the highest deterrent power in the current world, and will have the trump card to dominate the world.
However, this project is still in its infancy, and there is no hope of success for a while.
Because it requires that the chemical industry of the Han family can at least develop the ability to separate substances, and it also needs the cooperation of other related industries and technologies.
Even so, these existing projects are enough to absorb the whale oil produced every year.
As for the whale's muscles, bones, skin, Shaofu and Moyuan, both are in large demand.
Especially in Shaofu, the demand for fertilizer alone reaches tens of millions of kilograms every year.
In this day and age, there is no better source of natural fertilizer than whale bone meal.
The bone meal produced by last year's small-scale whaling was used to apply to the land of Shanglinyuan. As a result, the land of Shanglinyuan immediately exploded with planting, and the average yield per mu increased by as much as 50%!
And how much land is there in the world?
This market can only be said to be infinite!
Before the chemical industry develops to the point where it can produce fertilizers, this market will never shrink.
It will only get bigger and bigger. (To be continued.)
