Zhang Qi thought thoughtfully: "What do you mean, there are no suitable female workers in Tianjin?"
"Hehe, the imperial court implements a road guide system. You must have a road guide when you go hundreds of miles away from home. Tianjin is governed in Zhigu County, and the nearest Jinghai County is more than a hundred miles away..."
"Then you can go to Jinghai County!"
"But Jinghai is not as convenient as selling directly. You can just go up the river from Dagu and unload directly."
The businessman said with a grimace: "Jinghai County has to cross the Triangle Lake and the canal, which is very troublesome."
"Road guidance is the foundation of the imperial court and must not be abandoned."
Zhang Qi shook his head and quickly refused.
He really couldn't help with this matter regarding court policy.
If he could find a loophole in other places, he wouldn't dare even if he had the guts to do so in Gyeonggi.
However, he made a mental note that it was becoming increasingly difficult to open a factory in Tianjin, and he had to find a good place.
Taking a boat from Tianjin to the north, the canals are crowded and it is much slower than sea transportation, but it is more stable and not disturbed by wind and waves.
Just a few dozen miles out of Tianjin city, I opened the window and saw two groups of people shouting and killing, no less than a fight with weapons.
"Is this happening near Gyeonggi Province?"
I sent someone to ask, and the servant replied: "A group of people were recruiting workers in the market, and they were female workers. The villagers thought they were human traffickers, so they started fighting."
After a while, the government officials rushed over and stopped the fight.
Zhang Qi shook his head. He had never been in such a situation when Tianjin was short of people.
When he returned to the capital, he went to Yuquan Villa to report the situation.
"Please wait a moment."
The eunuch politely brought melons, fruits and tea, and Zhang Qi was not polite either. He smiled and accepted the offer, and quietly rewarded it with a few golden beans.
This was his consistent style, and he was always friendly to the people around the emperor.
And the easiest thing to get close to is the charm of money.
As expected, the eunuchs burst into smiles when they saw his reward.
Zhang Qi ate a few melon seeds and saw an official in his thirties coming back.
Huang Zongxi, has he returned from Chongqing?
Cheering up, Zhang Qi smiled and nodded.
Such promising officials, especially those who are still in charge, are worthy of association and respect. These people are the ones who like to impeach their relatives the most.
Huang Zongxi also saw the emperor's royal businessman, his father-in-law. He nodded casually and then ignored him without any interest in talking.
Zhang Qi didn't take it seriously, straightened out his clothes, and went to see the emperor under the leadership of the eunuch.
"Old minister Zhang Qi, I would like to pay homage to Your Majesty."
"Get up and give me a seat."
For someone like Zhang Qi, Zhu Yixi gave him a smile and asked: "How is the current situation in Taiwan?"
"Your Majesty, the population of Taiwan Prefecture is increasing day by day, and there are many people migrating up and down Fujian, so there is no shortage of labor. However, because of this, there are more and more sugarhouses..."
Zhang Qi described the situation in Taiwan in detail.
There are more and more people growing sugar cane, and there is also more and more brown sugar. The people from the West also purchase it in large quantities, so the price will inevitably drop.
The establishment of the Sugar Merchants' Guild was only to stop internal friction, and only played a role in simmering the soup and stopping it from boiling.
"Since the price of Xiyi is low, we should transport more to the mainland. Although there is some freight, we can still make more money. There are huge cities in the south of the Yangtze River and the capital, so there must be a lot of people eating sweets."...
The emperor was not impressed by this: "Moreover, Korea, Japan and other countries also love brown sugar very much. Don't focus on the Western Yi and be afraid of the shipping cost."
"What your Majesty said is true."
Zhang Qi was busy flattering, and then put forward his own suggestion: "Those Mongolians have never seen sugar. From now on, we can not only use tea, but also sugar."
"That's right, draw inferences from one example!"
Zhu Yixi nodded with satisfaction.
As for white sugar, it appeared as early as the Jiajing period.
Legend has it that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a sugar producer in Nan'an County, Quanzhou Road, Fujian accidentally discovered that the yellow mud on the wall had soaked due to rain and fell into the brown sugar. Instead of destroying the sugar, it turned the brown sugar white.
After continuous exploration, this family invented the method of decolorizing yellow mud water to make white sugar.
However, this kind of white sugar is different from the white sugar that was as white as snow in later generations. It only appears yellow-white. For example, the steamed buns at this time cannot be truly milky white.
Even this kind of white sugar can be sold at several times the price of brown sugar, but the process is more complicated.
Zhu Yixi was not satisfied with this, he wanted to create real white sugar, that is, snow sugar.
Charcoal, filter gauze, boil, evaporate and concentrate, this is the method.
"If the price of sugar is unstable, then give up some sugar factories and concentrate on selling sugar cane and brown sugar."
The emperor suggested: "The brown sugar that you have worked so hard to make will not earn you as much as you handle it. It is always good to give up some."
"Prairies, plateaus, countless businesses are waiting for you."
When talking about business, Zhu Yixi had a lot of fun and talked endlessly.
As an emperor, as long as you have an idea, you can directly generate a lot of benefits. No one dares to go against the emperor.
Power is the backer of wealth, and people of certain status have what kind of wealth.
With the income from the Taiwan government, which is almost comparable to that of the customs, these years have been the easiest for domestic funds.
"The brown sugar I bought is ready, the baron has a hundred pounds, the viscount has two hundred pounds, and so on."
"Civil and military officials, don't be left behind. Give two thousand stones as a reward for the Mid-Autumn Festival."
After talking about the business, the emperor suddenly remembered something, took out a memorial, opened it, and asked: "You come from Tianjin, do you know anything about its situation?"
"Old minister, I don't know!"
Zhang Qi was a little confused.
"Jinghai County, Wuqing County and other officials said that a large number of women were abducted in Tianjin city, causing families to be broken up and the people to be miserable."
"Is this possible?"
After hearing these words, Zhang Qi suddenly realized and hurriedly handed over his hands: "I heard from some merchants that there are not enough female workers in Tianjin..."
It turns out that after the popularity of ZTE machines, production efficiency doubled, businessmen made profits and began to expand factories aggressively. Female workers in Tianjin became a rarity, and monthly wages continued to increase.
And businessmen are stingy from the very core.
So they recruited workers from villages near Fucheng and paid half the price of female workers to keep costs down.
Due to the restriction of the road introduction system, female workers near Fucheng in Tianjin were recruited in large numbers.
Since the monthly salary of textile workers is high, the female workers are willing to stay.
At this time, the men found that their sisters and daughters were unwilling to come back, and they also wanted to marry and have children, so they thought that these businessmen were traffickers who abducted women, and they started fighting.
The squires in Wuqing County, Jinghai County and other areas under the jurisdiction of Tianjin were furious. Such large-scale trafficking was too abominable.
Therefore, when a large-scale agitation began, the county government could not bear the pressure and had no choice but to go to the imperial court.
Since Tianjin Prefecture is located in Gyeonggi Province, the cabinet will naturally pay attention to it.
The draft proposed that while the Tianjin government investigates and handles abductions, patrol battalions can be dispatched as appropriate.
Zhu Yixi felt something was fishy and ordered Dongchang to investigate. Zhang Qi happened to come back and ran into him.