Four hundred and tenth chapter April two months money
By September, there were fewer typhoons along the southeastern coast. Li Zhi's huge fleet of thirty-five ships stopped trading with Japan and instead sailed to Taiwan.
In early March, when Li Zhi was still on his way back from exterminating the bandits, Li Xing felt that the cost of land reclamation in Taiwan was too high, so he stopped transporting new farmers to Taiwan. At that time, there were 22,000 farmers on the island of Taiwan farming.
Fifty thousand farmers are cultivating new fields. Now these 50,000 farmers who are cultivating new fields have tidied their fields, set up waterwheels on the river banks, and can plant late rice for a season.
When the old farmers started farming, Li Zhi no longer needed to pay them wages for land reclamation. Each of these 50,000 land reclamation workers needed 20,000 taels of money each month, and 50,000 people had to spend 100,000 taels of silver each month. Monthly expenses
It was a huge sum of money. After these people did not need to pay monthly payments, Li Zhi's finances were greatly relieved and he could recruit new farmers.
Recruiting new farmers is a very simple matter. Nowadays, farmers in Tianjin know that they can live a good life with Li Zhiqian. As soon as Li Zhi posted notices in various states and counties, countless people signed up to participate in Taiwan reclamation. However, Li Zhi was worried about finances.
Collapse, and did not dare to recruit too many farmers at once. Li Zhi controlled the number of farmers recruited to 50,000.
After September, Li Zhi's fleet transported these 50,000 people to Taiwan in batches.
On October 2, Li Zhi followed the fleet transporting farmers to Taiwan to inspect the development of Taiwan.
It was already a bit chilly in Tianjin in October, but it was still warm in the south. As the fleet headed south, when it approached Taiwan, Li Zhi had already taken off his underwear and protective gear, and only wore a middle coat under his official robe.
When they arrived in Hsinchu, Taiwan, before Li Zhi even got off the ship, he saw that a large commercial market had been formed on the pier inside the harbor.
Every time the fleet sails to Taiwan, it will bring a large amount of daily necessities, including cotton cloth, ironware, pottery, porcelain, cement, farm tools, etc., which need to be shipped from the mainland. These goods are purchased in Tianjin by Gao Ligong.
When they arrive at the port of Hsinchu, they will all be sold to farmers in Taiwan. Of course, Lu Hu will not retail these goods one by one. He will sell them wholesale to local traders in Hsinchu.
At this time, the fleet docked, and some traders were pushing carts, waiting for the ships to unload goods sold from the mainland. Although these traders were not engaged in agriculture, they could still earn a lot of income by retailing various goods.
Of course, compared to the various cargoes in the ballast, there were more poor people on the ship who came to open up wasteland. After these farmers got off the ship, they immediately saw officers wearing crimson Fanjiazhuang military uniforms guiding them. Under the guidance of the officers,
Farmers marched in groups to temporary resettlement sites across Hsinchu.
Li Zhi took a look on the ship and saw that although there were thirty-five people on the ship and the cargo was in great variety, under the organization of Zheng Hui and Lu Hu, all the work was in order.
Zheng Hui, wearing a bright red official robe and leading officials from Hsinchu, was waiting at the pier to greet Li Zhi.
As soon as Li Zhi got off the boat, Zheng Hui ran up and bowed down, shouting: "Zheng Hui has met my uncle. Congratulations to your uncle for being granted the title of Uncle Xingguo. We are honored to do so."
Li Zhi patted Zheng Hui on the shoulder and said, "This time you defeated Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and with your merits, you were promoted to the rank of second-level commanding officer. Are you happy?"
Zheng Hui said loudly: "I'm glad. Zheng Hui is overjoyed. He is grateful and willing to work hard for my uncle's career."
Li Zhi laughed loudly, mounted the horse brought by Zheng Hui, and walked towards the center of Hsinchu City.
Passing by a temporary settlement site for newly arrived farmers, Li Zhi pointed to his riding crop and said, "Go in and take a look."
Zheng Hui quickly jumped off his horse and led Li Zhi's horse towards the resettlement site.
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Yao Minle is a farmer from Qingxian County, Tianjin. His family was lucky enough to join the team that reclaimed Taiwan and followed the fleet to Taiwan.
The couple separated from their clan when they got married. They had no land in Tianjin, so they farmed 35 acres of dry land owned by Mr. Qiao in the village. Those dry fields only harvested seven or eight bushels of wheat a year, and 50% of it was harvested.
With land rent and a bucket or two liters of seeds, Yao Minle and his wife work from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and they can only get eight to nine tons of wheat to put into their barn. These grains barely allow Yao Minle to have enough food and clothing.
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Even during the Chinese New Year, he and his wife did not dare to eat a bite of meat. They had been married for three years and had a daughter the year before last. However, this daughter did not bring joy to the Yao family, but instead became a worry for Yao Minle.
He was always worried that his daughter would not be able to feed the eight or nine stone of food when she grew up. How could he feed a family of three?
At the end of July, Yao Minle heard that Uncle Xing Guo was recruiting a second group of people to open up Taiwan, so he signed up without saying a word. Everyone in Qingxian County knew about Uncle Xing Guo Li Zhi. As long as he followed Uncle Xing, he would be in trouble.
It was a good day. As for where Taiwan was and what he would experience when he arrived in Taiwan, Yao Minle didn't even think about it.
When I heard that I had raised funds and my family of three could sail to Taiwan on the first day of September, Yao Minle and his wife spent the whole night dancing in the two shabby huts at home to celebrate that the good day was coming.
The shogunate official responsible for organizing manpower, Xing Guobo, asked Yao Minle not to bring anything, but to send everything when it came to Taiwan. Yao Minle trusted Xing Guobo very much, and after hearing this, he gave all the pots and pans at home to relatives, and brought them with him.
I got on the boat with my wife and daughter empty-handed and headed for Taiwan.
Uncle Xing Guo's big boat was very tall and looked like a fort. But after going out to the sea, Yao Minle realized how big the sea was. The big boat he was riding on was like a leaf in the sea, floating with the waves.
The boat was so bumpy that Yao Minle's daughter-in-law vomited, but Yao Minle did not. Yao Minle stood excitedly on the top deck when he was at sea, holding on to the side of the ship and looking excitedly at the sea he had never seen before.
When he arrived in Taiwan, Yao Minle thought he would see a shabby wasteland. But he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived at the port and stepped off the ship, Yao Minle saw a large number of prosperous business houses, with the noise of mules and horses and the bustle of people.
Yao Minle and his family got off the boat. More than a hundred people followed an officer and walked forward for a mile. The officer took two hundred people into a small square full of small stalls. There was a brick at the entrance of the small square.
Shimen, with the four characters "Talent Market" written on it.
The officer leading the way said loudly: "If you don't want to farm, you can find something to do in the job market. Let's go in and have a look!"
Why not farm when you come to Taiwan? Yao Minle was stunned and walked into the talent market. When he walked in, Yao Minle found that there were many stalls in the market. Those stalls were unattended, but there were vertical signs on each stall.
There is a sign with densely written words on it.
Yao Minle and the farmers behind him were both illiterate and had no idea what was written on the stalls. They all looked at the officer leading the way with pleading expressions.
The officer laughed, walked up and pointed to a stall and shouted: "Hsinchu City Zhangji Restaurant is recruiting two boys. They are required to be between fifteen and fifty years old, with good conduct. Those who have been boys will be given priority. They are quick and agile.
Priority will be given to those who are good at entertaining guests. The salary is four taels per month, including one lunch. Those who are interested can go to Zhangji Restaurant on Hsinchu City South Street to find the shopkeeper, Boss Liu."
Hearing the words "four taels per month, including lunch", Yao Minle opened his mouth in shock.
Do you need to pay four or two months to recruit a servant? You must know that in Qingxian County, Tianjin, anyone who is willing to pay one, two or five yuan to hire a servant is considered a good employer. Such jobs are often robbed by more than a dozen people, and the employer has various requirements, and the applicants
You can't get it even if you try hard. For ordinary errands, you can hire people for just one or two cents a month.
However, in Taiwan, a waiter from a restaurant is paid for four or two months, and a meal is included.
