As soon as the late twelfth lunar month arrives, all levels of government offices are basically in a state of fishing. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet been able to fish, and their tasks are very heavy.
The governor Ye Lijingchen suddenly fell ill and was bedridden, but his work was not paralyzed. The other officials at all levels gathered in Linshuo Palace to settle accounts. In the afternoon, Shao Shude also came over in person.
"Last year, there were three batches of ships returning. A total of ten ships arrived at the port, and another one sank in the Whale Sea." Fu Cheng Zhao Zhi said: "A total of more than 30,000 furs of various colors and more than 575,000 kilograms of meat were shipped back.
, more than 51,100 jins of fish, 620 bags of Dongzhu, more than 195,000 jins of wild goods, more than 4,900 jins of medicinal materials, more than 3,200 jins of copper..."
"That's quite a lot." After hearing this, Shao Shude nodded in approval.
Zhao Zhi looked happy, and after hesitating for a moment, he signaled with his eyes.
Ma Wanpeng understood and said: "Your Majesty, there is actually a lot of inventory in Liaodong that has not yet been transported. If the volume of meat and fish is reduced..."
"No!" Shao Shude kicked him and said, "Don't just think about transporting valuable things. Can these more than one million catties of meat and fish be sold for twenty or thirty thousand yuan?"
"Your Majesty, we can sell so much this year, but not necessarily next year." Ma Wanpeng said bravely. With a large supply of meat and fish, can the price be maintained? Impossible.
The most valuable sea fish, which used to be a bit mysterious and noble, is now in ruins. The price is like the Yellow River bursting its banks. Even if they think of many ways, they can only maintain it. Next year, it will definitely
Need a big price cut.
"Don't just settle these small accounts." Shao Shude sighed.
In fact, he knew that meat and fish were not difficult to obtain in Liaodong.
The natives don't want anything they want, and their fishing skills are so poor that they let a large number of salmon die in vain. This is abnormal.
Wild animals can be seen everywhere in Liaodong. Especially the huge herds of deer. One moose can produce more than a thousand kilograms of meat, and five hundred can produce half a million kilograms of meat. There are also many other animals, which are really numerous.
Of course he knows that this kind of gift from nature usually only produces high yields in the first few years. As hunting activities intensify, resources such as meat and skins will become less and less, and deer will not be so stupid that they are not afraid of people. But
Isn't this the beginning of "natural prison" breeding? Production will eventually be maintained at a stable level.
In the early 19th century, without mechanization, the Russians raised the price of salmon from two to three rubles to kopecks through fishing. Their output was more than ten times that of the natives, and it lasted for more than half a century.
There was a strange phenomenon that the price of rye and oats exceeded that of meat and fish. This shows that the overall resources are far from exhausted. What are you afraid of? Just catch hard, and you can also train your troops.
"It is true that meat and fish do not have skins, medicinal materials, and Dongzhu makes money, but this is just an economic account. Have you ever calculated a political account?" Shao Shude asked back: "I have made the lives of the people in Hebei and Henan better. This can only be measured by money.
of?"
Zhao Zhi, Ma Wanpeng and others had nothing to say.
"When people's lives are better, they will not think so much about rebellion. I call it "bribing the people." Shao Shude continued: "If the transportation capacity is insufficient, then buy more ships. All the money earned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be invested in shipbuilding and sailor recruitment.
, in training."
For thirty years, Shao Shude has been buying people off.
There are generally two ways to bribe people.
The first is to change the way of distribution. For example, he takes back ownerless land and distributes it to each household, so that they have the means of production and improve their living standards.
The second one does not change the allocation method.
To put it bluntly, from ancient times to the present, in most cases, no matter what social system, the overall structure is a pyramid, that is, a few people rule the majority.
This is determined by human nature. I cannot exploit others, occupy more resources than others, and obtain a higher status, so why should I work hard? Technological progress also stems from this pursuit of desire.
The top class exploits the bottom class, and this bottom class can be the people of the country. But in another way, it is possible to think of the people of the country as a whole as the top class and the people of foreign countries as the bottom class. This model is also achievable.
To put it bluntly, it is colonial plunder, whether it is physical colonization or economic colonization. Nowadays, it uses both methods.
As for the latter, that is, plundering foreign resources and buying off the people of the country. Providing cheap meat and fish is one of the ways of buying.
Bribing the people can greatly alleviate conflicts. If done well, it can even create opposition and export conflicts to the outside world. Isn't it wonderful for the rulers? - The people of this country actually don't let me plunder. Your living standards are
It's all their fault for the fall, *** them!
This is the political account Shao Shude talks about.
Yes, he is an out-and-out imperialist, but he doesn't seem to be qualified.
If you are a qualified imperialist, you should only plunder and not build. The only construction is to better serve the plunder.
But after all, he is a relatively moderate imperialist, and he still wants to assimilate the natives and turn them into his own people. This will definitely increase the burden in the future - after the plunder is completed, he will leave a mess behind, pick up his pants and leave, without increasing the burden.
Any burden is the most efficient method, although there may be backlash.
"A shipyard has also been built in Zhigu. If it doesn't work this year, we can build a few sea turtle boats next year." Shao Shude said: "In addition, what are the shortcomings of the current boats? You have been using them for so long, so you should have some idea.
Find ways to improve, don’t settle for nothing.”
"Your Majesty, I think that besides building more ships, we can also build big ships." Ma Wanpeng said: "But there is a lack of keels. I saw a lot of tall, straight trees in Liaodong, which may be used as keels to build big ships."
"The shipyard in Muzhou has also been built. It is not easy to transport large timber to the Central Plains, but it can be built locally." Shao Shude said. He was very happy to finally talk about something constructive.
To build a big ship, of course you need a bigger keel. There are two ideas for big keels.
Historically, the British liked to use the technique of splicing keels, that is, splicing small pieces of wood together to make large keels.
But the Spaniards didn't like this, thinking it wasn't strong enough and could easily be torn apart in strong winds and waves. It happened that their tropical colony was very vast, so they sent a large number of people deep into the dense forests. Every time they found a tall and straight giant tropical tree, they were like a treasure.
, cut it down and transport it to the shipyard to be processed into ship keels.
Shao Shude feels that with today's technical level, the quality of the spliced keel is probably not good and is easy to corrode, so it is more appropriate to choose a whole natural giant wood.
"I obey." Ma Wanpeng is still a relatively pure person. He is more like a craftsman than an official and is quite obsessed with shipbuilding. After saying this, Shao Shude asked the officials to continue the discussion while he listened and looked through the account books.
.
More than 30,000 pieces of skin were mixed with a large amount of low-value leather, such as black pig skin.
The Mohe people know that pig skins can also be exchanged for grain. After drinking strong wine, they are more motivated to raise pigs. They have to continue to purchase this thing. You can't just buy it because it is low in value. You can make clothes and even leather armor anyway, and it can even be used in
In production - these are consumables.
There are actually two copper mines in Bohai, and 3,200 kilograms of copper were taken from there.
But it’s actually not much money. It weighs 6 kilograms and four taels, and the loss in the minting process and the base metal mixed in it offset each other, so it’s only 500 coins.
The value of wild products and medicinal materials also fluctuates greatly. To put it bluntly, in a small-scale peasant feudal society, demand is relatively stable. If you supply too much at once, the price will be seriously distorted.
Dongzhu and the like are actually similar.
Overall, after deducting various operating expenses, depreciation of fixed assets, personnel expenses and other costs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs earned more than 20,000 yuan in Liaodong last year.
There is still a lot of room for growth.
"Rent more civilian ships next year." Shao Shude said, "Make the accounts more beautiful." "I obey the order." Zhao Zhi, the highest-ranking person present, immediately responded.
"If the accounts look good, I will recruit people to join the business." Shao Shude said: "Then the Ministry of Internal Affairs will separate the people, land, houses, ships and other things involved in this part of the business, which will be of great use to me."
Accounting is not done to make money by going public, but to convince "investors".
Next year, he will bring in a large number of people to prepare for the establishment of the Bohai Trading Company. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will invest in fixed assets, supply and marketing channels, personal connections and even the technology it possesses, while others will invest in money and materials to jointly operate the business.
Jurchen chieftains can also invest in shares.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, let the professionals explain it to you and tell you how much money you can make. As long as they taste the benefits, they will spontaneously protect the colonial company Bohai Trading Company and become Daxia’s “accomplices”.
A profound combination of interests is much more useful than giving a piece of paper to confer an inexplicable official title. In addition to Bohai Trading Company, there will also be Annan Trading Company.
He once thought deeply about why the leaders of these border areas rebelled against the separatists and even became independent. The conclusion was that they did not get any benefits, or the benefits they got were not enough.
Taking Annan as an example, the interests of the local tycoons and local tycoons have not been taken seriously for a long time, and they have long been dissatisfied. Before independence, it was due to various concerns, such as fear of being suppressed. But as long as the opportunity arises, in
After calculating the risks and benefits, they will take advantage of the situation and segregate themselves to create chaos.
Now there is an opportunity to sit at home and count money every year. Do you want to do it?
Of course, this opportunity to make money also comes with a prerequisite, that is, you cannot cause trouble.
Once you rebel, you will lose the market in an instant and you will not be able to make any money. Not only will you not be able to make any money, but the small family that is attached to you will not be able to make any money either. At this time, you have to weigh things up.
This is the purpose of bringing more people into the profit chain. Sometimes you don't have to step out to be the bad guy, that's the stupidest thing.
Annan powerful people would spontaneously use whips to whip local natives. Conflicts occurred between Annan's lower class people and local powerful people. The Daxia court was an arbiter who stayed out of the matter. Its status was aloof and it did not attract hatred on the surface.
A certain tycoon really went too far and caused a civil uprising. The imperial court would strike hard to punish the person and appease the people. As for the civil uprising, don't worry, the tycoons in other places will take the initiative to suppress it because they are afraid of delaying making money.
When interests are closely combined, people in the interest chain will also have subjective initiative and spontaneous maintenance, such as marrying each other, which strengthens the connection between Annan and the mainland.
If the imperial court gives some political sweeteners at the right time, such as imperial examination quotas, promotions to officials, etc., it will be more stable.
What is the Annan peasant uprising? Under this suffocating and dense spider web-like chain of interests, and the local upper-level does not cooperate, how can the uprising succeed? Is it dependent on Gundam?
Perhaps, this will only be possible after the dynasty has completely decayed. But maybe two or three hundred years have passed, the degree of assimilation has already been very deep, the national consciousness has been completely strangled, and the possibility of independence has been greatly reduced.
Once the idea is decided, the next step is to find candidates.
On December 26, Shao Shude ordered Jiang Zhiwei, the imperial officer of Jing Haijun, to enter the palace.