Wu Zhenzhou knew that these short-haired officials didn't like people kneeling down, but he was so scared at the moment that he couldn't care less about it, so he knelt down and hurriedly kowtowed, saying that he was obsessed with money and saw that ginseng was cheap, so he came.
Don't refuse.
"Boss Wu, we are not here to arrest you today, otherwise we wouldn't have just three people here. But if you hide it for those people, you will have to bear the consequences."
"The villain is guilty! There are six groups of people in the ginseng picking gang in the mountains. Xu Mazi's group has the largest number, with more than 300 members. The other four groups have as many as 100 members and as few as 30 members."
"Get up and talk. Who was the group that hurt people on the mountain trail in the first two days?"
Wu Zhenzhou stood up and said calmly: "It should, it should be Xu Mazi's person."
According to an investigation conducted by the Civil Affairs Bureau some time ago, since the Qing army withdrew from Ninggu Pagoda in May, some criminals who had been exiled here took advantage of the chaos and fled into the mountains, formed gangs, illegally dug ginseng, robbed border residents of their property, and frequently injured people.
occur.
Furthermore, today's Northeastern ginseng is all natural ginseng, and the annual mining volume is almost more than 100,000 taels. The current average market price of ginseng in Beijing is forty taels of silver and one tael, and it is even more expensive in the south; that is to say,
This is a large industry with an annual trade volume of more than four million taels, and this is what Zhao Xin really cares about.
Beginning in the late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing court decided to follow the "Salt Introduction Law" and take the ginseng harvesting business into the royal family's private hands by issuing "ginseng tickets". However, due to the hard work of collecting ginseng in the early days, the ginseng tickets could not be issued at all. So here comes the
During the Yongzheng period, the ginseng harvesting industry in Northeast China was contracted to the Fan family, an imperial merchant.
This Fan family is the Jiexiu businessman Fan Yongdoujia, the head of the eight great profiteers in the late Ming Dynasty.
As an aside, the most glorious period of the Fan family was the Yongzheng Dynasty. Not only was the family an imperial merchant, handling many businesses such as copper industry and ginseng, but there were also people who served as ministers of Taipu Temple and were ranked second-rank officials. But there will always be good and evil.
According to the newspaper, due to rising copper prices in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, the copper industry run by the Fan family suffered serious losses. Therefore, Qianlong decreed that Fan's official position and imperial merchant qualifications were removed, the family property was seized, and the head of the Fan family was imprisoned, and they never recovered.
Since the imperial merchants took over the ginseng procurement business, the benefits brought by ginseng tickets are huge. Simply put, one ginseng ticket collects sixteen taels of ginseng, and the 10 taels are handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the merchant gets the remaining six taels. With this business, the Fan family has
The annual profit is about three hundred thousand taels of silver.
Seeing the profits, the Qing government wanted to take back the ginseng harvesting industry. So starting from the 10th year of Qianlong's reign, it was said that "the imperial merchants only wanted to make profits for themselves and could not sincerely release tickets", and it was officially changed to a government-run business and was taken over by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
When it came to gathering ginseng, Wu Zhenzhou told Zhao Xinzhi everything. This was not a secret in the first place.
"In the past, the imperial court..." Wu Zhenzhou paused and saw that Zhao Xin and the others did not respond, and then continued: "They set up official participation bureaus in Shengjing, Jilin, and Ningguta, and the voting was handled by the Ministry of Household Affairs in the capital.
When it comes out, it should be handed over to General Shengjing and the various official bureaus, and every year the Ministry of Internal Affairs will send people to help."
Zhao Xindao: "What are the rules on the number of votes?"
Wu Zhenzhou said: "There is no limit on this. As long as there are people who can take it, the court also hopes that the more the better."
In short, the Manchus hoped that the more they could earn, the better. The original "Ten taels should be paid to the public, six taels should be returned to oneself" was changed to "Ten taels should be paid to the public, two taels should be shared by the public, and one tao should be paid to the guarantor"; in addition,
Ginseng also charges a tax of six taels per catty. In the 18th year of Qianlong's reign alone, the sales and tax revenue of ginseng was more than 1.5 million taels of silver. The national customs revenue that year was only 430 taels of silver.
More than thirty thousand taels.
The year with the largest number of ginseng tickets issued in history was the 25th year of Qianlong's reign. The official ginseng bureaus in the three places issued a total of more than 60,000 ginseng tickets. Even based on the price of thirty-two ginseng and one liang, the direct income of one ginseng ticket
It was three hundred taels, not counting taxes. However, after the forty-second year of Qianlong's reign, the ginseng picking industry in the Northeast began to deteriorate and failed to recover.
The civil affairs cadres on the side heard something strange here and hurriedly asked what was going on.
Zhao Xin sighed: "It's nothing more than 'fishing in the lake'."
Wu Zhenzhou extended his thumbs up and praised: "My lord, it is indeed true."
The ginseng harvesting model of the Qing Dynasty involved only plowing and not planting. It lasted for more than 200 years and was a large-scale, fishing-like excavation. No matter how many mountains there were, there was not enough to dig. The Manchu Qing Dynasty not only did not support the artificial planting of ginseng, but strictly enforced it.
It was banned and officers and soldiers were sent to arrest people who cultivated ginseng in various places. The reason was that "the fake was confused with the real one."
A ginseng needs to grow for at least three years before it can be harvested. Large-scale ginseng harvesting year after year destroys the growth of ginseng seedlings, and the decline of the industry is inevitable.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty also issued an order to cultivate ginseng in the mountains, this was limited to the official ginseng bureau, which did not release ginseng tickets, but could not prevent people from illegally harvesting. In fact, the more severe the ban, the higher the market price of ginseng, and the more serious the illegal harvesting.
There is no way, who can make huge profits from ginseng. Many officials and powerful people secretly support the refugees to illicitly harvest the ginseng and transport it into the customs. There are also officials who blackmail the ginseng stealing gangs, and even pass off inferior ginseng to line their own pockets.
Wu Zhenzhou spent more than an hour giving a brief introduction to the ginseng industry in Northeast China. He also talked about how hard it is to dig ginseng. It must be processed in time after digging out the soil, otherwise the water content will be too high and the ginseng that has been dug so hard will be damaged.
Ginseng will rot and deteriorate.
After he explained this, his mouth went dry, and Zhao Xin and the other three listened attentively.
However, after Zhao Xin finished listening to the other party's explanation, he returned to the original topic and asked: "That Xu Mazi group, you said there are more than 300 people, who are they?"
When Wu Zhen heard this on Monday, he was surprised that he was still thinking about him! So he quickly said: "Sir, Xu Mazi's place is mostly filled with prisoners who have been exiled and cannot endure the hardships. There are also runaway slaves of the bannermen, unemployed vagrants, etc. In addition,
There are also some officers and soldiers who were beaten away by the pioneers. Their group only had a few dozen people last year, but this year they have a lot more people."
Don’t think that most of the exiles in Ningguta are wronged people. The local exiles can be roughly divided into political prisoners, criminal prisoners, and ethical prisoners, among which criminal prisoners are the main ones. These are originally serious crimes.
Those who died were sentenced to exile because of amnesty from the Qing government or other glimmers of life.
According to the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", there are about thirty reasons for the exile of Ning Guta. These include those who were exiled to the smoky land in the south and escaped and were recaptured, those who trafficked people, those who pretended to be under the banner, and those who were robbers who escaped death.
, those who sell smuggled salt, those who run secret sects, those who steal grain, those who make counterfeit money, etc.
Those who dared to brave the severe punishment of the Qing court to steal ginseng in Ninggu Pagoda in recent years were not good deeds. Since they would be exiled again if they were caught, most of these ginseng guests held weapons to resist arrest by the officers and soldiers, and sometimes even
Robbing border residents passing up and down the border.
Whether they are oppressed or for other reasons, these people will pose a threat to the future governance of Beihai Town and must be resolved.
Zhao Xin nodded. It was the right time to come to Hengfeng Pawnshop today. Although shopkeeper Wu is a pawnshop owner, he is very familiar with the ginseng industry.
It seems that the local Beihai garrison has to move out to wipe out the ginseng stealing gangs occupying the hills and restore peace to the place. If Xu Mazi's group is allowed to develop, it will definitely become the biggest instability under the rule of Beihai Town.
factor.
He pondered for a long time and winked at the person next to him. The person understood, and said that he had something to do and left for a while. After that, he hurried out of the back hall, walked around the counter and went out.
Later, while drinking tea, Zhao Xinze asked about the situation of local immigrants, and then asked about the situation of more than a dozen other pawnshops in the city. Wu Zhenzhou could only pick out what he knew and answered one by one.
For a while, I couldn't figure out Zhao Xin's intention.
After about an hour of burning incense, the civil affairs cadre who had just said goodbye came back and nodded towards Zhao Xin as soon as he entered the door.
Zhao Xin suddenly asked: "Shopkeeper Wu, is your Hengfeng Pawnshop the property of Naqitai? Who was the man who entered your shop before the three of us came? Where is he now?"
Three questions were asked one after another, which was truly shocking. Wu Zhenzhou was immediately frightened to the point where sweat broke out on his forehead. He slumped down on the chair, with no strength left in his legs. Just as he was thinking about how to explain, he heard a sound outside the door.
There were noisy footsteps, and then someone shouted sharply: "Come out! If you don't come out again, shoot!"
Wu Zhenzhou immediately panicked, and then he heard another person beg for mercy: "No! Don't! The younger one is a shareholder of this company, come here to discuss the accounts with Shopkeeper Wu!"
If it's not Chang Wu who's speaking, who is it?
After a while, the door opened, and Chang Wu, who was tightly tied up, walked in escorted by two soldiers from the Northern Navy.
A soldier said to Zhao Xin: "Sir, a dagger was found on this guy."
Only then did Wu Zhenzhou realize what the man who had just gone out was going to do. He knew that he could not hide anything now, so he exerted force with his hands, slid forward, and knelt on the ground again.
Although Zhao Xin did not want others to kneel down, he deliberately wanted to tease the other party this time, so he did not let Wu Zhenzhou get up. Instead, he showed a sneer and said: "Although it is okay to say that there is no prohibition, but Shopkeeper Wu, we have to enforce Ning Guta
At the beginning of military control, each store was asked to explain their shareholder status, and they also stated that they would not embarrass you businessmen who are partners. However, you have come to inquire about the situation several times, and you have said that it is your own business and that you have no cooperation with anyone in the government.
Do you think we are easy to deceive?"
"Master, have mercy on me!" Wu Zhenzhou lowered his head and bent down on the ground, his whole body shaking like chaff. "The master asked his concubine's brother Chang Wudai to hold the shares, and this person is it. It's just that the master has a high position and power, and the junior
No one dares to ask for his old man's money. It was all given by the villain voluntarily. Chang Wu came here this time to take the discounted share capital back to Jilin. Before the gentlemen came, the villain was doing the accounting with him."
Zhao Xin asked: "How much money does Qitai want to take?"
"Sir! I'm not an assassin. That knife is meant to be used when going out to protect against wild beasts." Chang Wu was already out of his mind at this time. How could he dare to say anything about money? He knelt on the ground with snot and tears and kowtowed to beg for mercy.
"Are you Na Qitai's brother-in-law or brother-in-law?"
"The villain's sister is the concubine in the fifth room of the lord."
"Tsk, tsk~~" Zhao Xin sighed at how good Qitai's physical strength was, and then said: "Why are you crying, no one will kill you. Go back and tell Qitai, don't think about getting some money.
If you want to do business, come to me directly."
"Yes, yes, I don't dare to do that anymore...ah?" Chang Wu was stunned for a moment.
Zhao Xin smiled slightly and said, "You go back and tell Na Qitai what I look like, and he will understand what's going on. Get out of here!" After that, he motioned to his men to take Chang Wu out and let him go.
After Chang Wu left, Zhao Xin said to Wu Zhenzhou: "Shopkeeper Wu, do you think you should be punished?"
"The punishment is due, and the villain will accept it."
"How much ginseng have you harvested these days?"
"More than 23,000 kilograms." Wu Zhenzhou lamented in his heart, thinking that now the compensation would go to his grandma's house!
Good guy, Zhao Xin was shocked when he heard this. If this was shipped into the customs, it would cost nearly one million taels of silver!
"Hmm. What's going on with ginseng in Guan Nei right now?"
Wu Zhenzhou said: "This is different. Master will understand after listening to the little one..."
According to the records of the Guangchu Department of the Qing Dynasty, the current classification of ginseng includes six categories: special-grade ginseng, and first- to fifth-grade ginseng. In addition, there are also pickled diced, slag powder, reed mustard, raw ginseng, ginseng leaves, ginseng paste, and crushed ginseng.
See seven categories.
Among them, special, first- and second-class ginseng are collected in limited quantities each year and rarely used; good whole ginseng is reserved for emergencies, and no one uses it to stew chicken.
The most commonly used ginseng is pickled diced, ground slag, and reed mustard. All the new harvests are often used up every year, leaving no trace of stock. What the Ministry of Internal Affairs puts out for sale is usually fourth- and fifth-grade ginseng.
Among them, reeds are the cheapest, selling for about 50 taels of silver per catty, diced ginseng is sold for 200 taels of silver per catty, and ginseng residue can be sold for 300 taels per catty. The fourth- and fifth-grade ginseng stocks are the largest, priced at 50 taels per catty.
The price is eight hundred taels; while special grade and first and second grade are more expensive, hundreds of taels or even thousands of taels per piece.
After explaining the ginseng market in Guan, Wu Zhenzhou told the truth that the price he charged for ginseng was basically about five or six times different. After hearing this, Zhao Xin said to himself that pawn shops are really shady.
"I won't make it difficult for you. You can sell all the ginseng you collect to Beihai Trading Co., and the price will be calculated based on what you collected. Someone will naturally come to count it for you in a while. In addition, I will fine you another twenty taels of silver.
This is because you did not truthfully explain the store’s shareholding status to the Military Control Commission.”
"Ah? This... the villain is willing! The villain accepts the punishment!" Wu Zhen was overjoyed when he heard this on Monday. He originally thought that his home would be ransacked and he would be imprisoned.
Zhao Xin nodded, then stood up and said, "Okay, I'll take my leave first. They both have something to ask you."
Wu Zhenzhou hurriedly kowtowed and said, "I would like to express my gratitude to Master Qingtian!"
On the way back to the Military Control Commission's office, Zhao Xin basically had a solution to the ginseng industry in Ningguta and Sanxing City. Under the guidance of the civil affairs, ginseng was planted in large areas in several mountain fields and traded.
Controlled ginseng market and sales.
By the way, these days there is no such thing as sulfur fumigation, sugar boiling, potassium permanganate dyeing, and even metal aggravation.
Let Korean ginseng and American ginseng go to hell! The Chinese like to use ginseng as health care products so much, they must develop this industry. How much does a pound of ginseng cost in the future? The cost price, the best one is only 1,200
Yuan. (The author once helped a ginseng market in Northeast China make investments, and after reading the relevant accounts, I knew the price of ginseng.)
There are actually many industries that can be done in the outer Northeast. Once the transportation is solved, all kinds of local specialties can be transported out. When the people and border residents become rich, people's hearts will be stable!