Chapter 64 The Horrible Price of Salt
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"Hurry up and inform the two adults." Still, the joy didn't get to his head.
Without waiting for anyone to go, Li Chun and Li Yi came over on their own and laughed heartily when they saw the salt pond full of salt.
At this moment, news came from the new soldiers guarding outside Yantian Village: The General and Lord Zhuge had brought people.
Li Chun suddenly felt a double happiness, and immediately led the salt households to visit him.
Li Chun is black!
This was Qin Hao's first impression of Li Chun after many days.
There were a few wrinkles on the originally thick face, the whole skin was dull, and even the body had a faint smell of sea.
"Thank you for your hard work these days."
Qin Hao held Li Chun's rough hand and looked over it several times, only to see that his fingernails were filled with sand and his mouth was full of cracks.
"Sir, Zhuge Xuan, come and have a look with me. The salt fields are producing salt." Li Chun didn't care about the crack in his hand, greeted everyone and walked towards the village.
What he wants to share most now is this joy.
After a while, Qin Hao was a little surprised when he saw the neatly stacked salt fields on the sea. He thought they were just a few salt fields, but he didn't expect there were dozens of salt fields, far beyond his imagination.
I followed Li Chun to the salt-producing crystallization pond. The seawater inside had basically dried up, leaving only piles of sea salt.
"Is this salt that has been boiled and processed with seawater?!" Qin Hao dipped his finger into a piece and put it in his mouth to taste.
It is salt, but the taste is very bitter, the taste is not very mellow, and it is a bit difficult to swallow.
In fact, it is clear from the appearance that the coarse salt particles are in the most primitive crystalline state and contain a lot of impurities. The surface of the particles is yellowish in color, and the particles are large and uneven.
In Qin Hao's memory, it seems that when he was very young, his grandparents would use such large grains of salt to pickle pickles in winter, but it didn't look that ugly.
"This, can this be eaten?!" Qin Hao asked with some confusion.
Before Li Chun could reply, a young man from Yantian Village who followed him said unconvincingly: "Of course you can eat it! How can such good salt be inedible? I don't know how many people in my hometown want to eat such salt. Still can’t eat it!”
These officials are just hypocritical!
Qin Hao knew he had made a mistake, so he quickly waved his hand and apologized: "It was my fault, and I apologize to you all here."
After saying this, he bowed to everyone and expressed his apology. This small gesture immediately shocked the salt households.
When had they ever been humiliated by the elder? They all stood stunned, not knowing why. When they came back to their senses, they all said "No way", but the warmth in their hearts was retained.
The upright young man also realized that he shouldn't be like this, and was secretly afraid that if he were still in his hometown, he would inevitably get beaten up a few times. Fortunately, the old man was kind-hearted and could not pursue the case. He even apologized to himself, which made him feel ashamed for a moment. Face flushed.
Qin Hao didn't care about his outspokenness. If he was wrong, he was wrong. He should never apologize carelessly.
Then he called the young man to him and asked, "How much does a pound of salt like this cost at your place?"
"Normally, you can buy a pound for 40 cents. If there is a famine or famine, you can buy it for 7 or 80 cents."
After hearing this, Qin Hao felt confident.
Haha, a big gold mine for me! Continuous cash flow!
He remembered a lecture he once attended at school. At that time, he invited a master of red learning to give a lecture. When he mentioned Lin Daiyu, he couldn't help bragging about how rich the Lin family was, even more wealthy than Xue Baochai's family and Jia's family. The money is much more, and it is not considered as rich as the enemy of the country. It is more than enough to be as rich as a large province on the western frontier!
What's the reason for this? It's because of "salt". Her father, Lin Ruhai, is the salt inspector of Yangzhou! Yangzhou is the best place to sell salt in the world. Half of the salt imports pass through here every year, not to mention the private salt sold privately.
You must know that apart from eating and drinking water, the only thing a person needs is salt. This is a necessity of life!
According to the price mentioned by the young man just now, Qin Hao made a calculation in his mind. According to the cost of 10 Wen per catty, he sold it for 40 Wen per catty. Excluding the loss and freight in the middle, a pound of salt can be sold for 25 Wen. profit.
Based on one catty per month, a household can earn about 300 taels a year. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were probably more than 30 million households. Calculating the total revenue in a year is a profit of nearly 10 million taels. This was during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty. 5 times.
Of course, this salt price figure is the general price in the coastal provinces of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, it is still a small amount. If you go inland, the price will rise rapidly. It is common for the chief ministers of Shaanxi, Shanxi and other provinces to have salt prices of hundreds of cents.
This shows that the salt merchants are rich and the Ming court is poor. Qin Hao estimates that the annual profits of the salt merchants in Yangzhou are now equal to the imperial court's annual taxes.
However, officials will definitely not talk about such a matter. They and the businessmen are a collective group of interests, and the people below have no chance to talk about it, so they can just put it off.
When our sea salt arrives, the salt merchants of the Ming Dynasty will cry.
"In this case, you must protect it well and make sure nothing goes wrong." Qin Hao is very serious about this. This is his future money bag and cannot be careless.
"promise!"
"In the entire Yantian Village, all the seaside land has been built into salt fields. The salt pond covers an area of about 3,000 acres of land. 500 people have been recruited as salt workers and all of them have been registered. In addition, a team of 30 soldiers is stationed in Yantian Village. They patrol day and night, and it is absolutely difficult for outsiders to enter." Li Yi, who is on guard duty in Yantian Village, this simple dark-skinned young man, is now able to take charge of his own affairs.
"I wonder how the output is?" Zhuge Xuan, who was listening, could no longer contain his excitement and pulled Li Chun aside to ask.
"According to the calculation that 100 tons of seawater can be processed per day for every 15 acres of salt fields, about 3 tons of crude salt can be obtained per day and night for every 15 acres of salt fields." Li Chun said a few numbers slowly.
15 acres, three tons!
Zhuge Xuan estimated that at least 3,000 acres of salt fields could be developed in the sea area in front of him. If the 3,000 acres of salt fields are so efficient, 600 tons of crude salt can be obtained every day and night, which is 1.2 million kilograms! Even if it is calculated at half price, 600,000 jin is still amazing.
Zhuge Xuan immediately whispered the number he calculated to Qin Hao, which really shocked Qin Hao.
"You mean, if we follow the normal salt price, this salt field can bring us at least 300,000 taels a year, and this is the number after deducting the labor, freight and other unexpected losses."
Qin Hao looked at Zhuge Xuan in disbelief. He knew that he could not deceive him, but he still found it hard to accept for a while.
300,000 taels of silver is equivalent to 10 million RMB in the future. I didn't expect that I didn't have this opportunity to make so much money before, but now it seems so easy. It's really fate.
"Sir, it's actually more than that." Hearing the two talking about money, Li Chunping returned the salt household and walked up to give them another surprise.
"If the coarse salt is made into refined salt, this number can be doubled by 3 to 5 times."
After all, it is pure snowflake salt. The salt eaten by dignitaries is different from the coarse salt of ordinary people!
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