After all the subordinates sat down, the information from the Central Plains and Liaodong came to everyone one by one.
However, some of my subordinates disagreed. Those things happened in the Central Plains and Liaodong. What does it have to do with Taiwan?
"Don't keep looking at your own three-acre land." Ding Yunyi was a little dissatisfied with the attitude of his subordinates: "For example, if the bandits or the Manchus become successful, do you think they will let go of Fujian and Taiwan?
Rather than being caught off guard when the time comes, it is better to prepare in advance. Otherwise, I will work hard in Taiwan and end up making wedding clothes for others."
Zhang Xianxuan said at that point: "Does the deputy town think that there will be great changes in the world?"
"It's not that there will be, but there must be." Ding Yunyi slightly emphasized his tone: "In Taiwan and Penghu, what we rely on is nothing more than battleships, cavalry, and muskets. Although they are also trained, they have never been tested. When the war comes, there will be
No one can tell what kind of performance it will take. Let me remind you again that in the next six or seven years, the world will definitely be in chaos! Where will our Tai Peng go? Where will our Tiger Guard go? Have you ever thought about it?"
All the subordinates looked at each other. Why are you worried about what will happen in six or seven years? And why are you so sure that the world will be in chaos in six or seven years?
Ding Yunyi did not tell them clearly, "In short, you all have an idea in your mind. In the past, we conducted countless drills in Penghu to seize Golden Eagle City. This time, our Huben Guards have navy, cavalry, and infantry.
There are musketeers, so I decided to continue a drill in Taiwan a month later to test the strength of the troops."
"yes!"
"Okay." Ding Yunyi changed the topic and said: "It has been more than eight months since the expedition fleet left Taiwan. Damn it, my son has been born, but they still have no news at all...
Qin Yun, Xie Xuan, how is the trade situation in various parts of Taiwan?"
Xie Xuan, who was mainly responsible, replied: "Since the combined fleet of the four countries was defeated by me, although Gan Lasi has attempted to invade Malacca and Batavia, we have released a large number of officers, soldiers, sailors, Hongyi, and Folangji.
The country is on tight alert again, because dry wax silk has also given up this attempt. Our trading fleet travels between Taiwan, Fujian, and Luzon, monopolizing trade with Luzon, and cargo ships are constantly coming and going every day. It is very profitable, and those who made it before
Not counting, in the three months of September, October, and November last year alone, the net profit in Luzon reached 438,219 taels."
"How much?" Ding Yunyi thought he had heard wrongly.
"Four hundred and thirty-eight thousand, two hundred and nineteen taels."
"Pure profit?"
"Pure profit!"
Ding Yunyi opened his mouth: "God, so much? You made so much in three months? An average of more than 100,000 yuan a month, just one Luzon? Zhebai, you calculated correctly, right?"
"My lord will not miscalculate his troops, and Xie Xuan will not miscalculate his profits." Xie Xuan said calmly: "My lord doesn't care about trade, so it's not surprising that I don't know the price of goods. My lord, let me calculate it for you.
Although the imperial court limited the opening of the sea ban, Zhang Kentang, like the former governor Zou Weilian, firmly disagreed with the opening of the sea ban. Apart from Taiwan, the only ones who dared to do large-scale business at sea were the Zheng family, which also caused
The price of goods shipped to Fujian and other places plummeted because they could not be shipped out by sea. But as long as they were shipped out, the profit would be more than ten times or hundreds of times? Taiwan also has a monopoly on trade with Luzon, so its profits are even higher...
The account was clear in his mind: "Sir, do you know how much the price of raw silk is in China? It's only sixty taels of silver per load, but as long as it's shipped out, sir, it's five to six hundred taels of silver per load!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall exclaimed. Sixty taels were purchased and five or six hundred taels were sold. This can be described as more than huge profits.
Xie Xuan talked eloquently: "The same is true for raw silk, and the same is true for everything else. The price of silk floss is 200 taels per kilogram, the price of red thread is 70 taels per kilogram, the price of mercury is 300 taels per kilogram, and the price of a needle is seven cents of silver.
.....Sir, that’s because we have fewer ships sent to Luzon. Otherwise, it would be unimaginable to earn more than this amount!”
Ding Yunyi was dumbfounded when he heard this, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses: "Add more ships, add more ships, add as many ships as there are, it's really not enough, we'll draw them from the Huben Guard Navy!"
"When doing business, you have to do it slowly. You can't become fat with just one bite." Xie Xuan smiled slightly and said: "What's more, we are not only doing business with the Luzon family, but also with Batavia and Malacca. Since
What is shipped out will naturally be shipped in. The Hongyi are already trying their best to make money from the spices we purchased in Batavia and other places, but as long as they can be shipped back, the profit will be ten times that of salt and eight times that of salt.
Plan...Xie Xuan was talking eloquently, which made Ding Yunyi startled.
Since the full-scale trade with various countries was launched, Ding Yunyi's wealth began to grow rapidly in just a few months. Total trade from all places, from June last year to now, in half a year, Taiwan's trade fleet has brought back Ding Yunyi one hundred dollars.
A profit of three hundred and eighty thousand taels.
With the replenishment of new merchant ships in Taiwan's shipyards and the arrival of commercial ships purchased and leased from various places, the scale of Taiwan's trading fleet has further expanded, and the profits it brings will enter a new period of crazy growth.
So, how much wealth will you have?
Ding Yunyi murmured: "Last year, wars in various places were intense and the court was short of funds. A total of more than 2,993,790 taels of silver were distributed... Fujian sent an additional 120,800 taels of silver.
One hundred and twenty taels... Zhang Kentang was so worried about the newly added 120,000 taels of silver that he couldn't sleep well for a day. He didn't expect that we in Taiwan could easily get such money.
That's a lot of money, this sea is indeed full of wealth... Whoever owns the sea route has great power and wealth!
Ding Yunyi suddenly thought that he was already like this in a short period of time, but what about Zheng Zhilong? How much wealth Zheng Zhilong must have accumulated after so many years of business!
"By the way, why not go to Fuso Country?" As soon as Ding Yunyi finished speaking, he remembered that Zheng Zhilong had a complete monopoly on the Japanese trade.
This is really a pity.
Due to the development of new silver mines in Iwami and other places in Japan, as well as political events in Japan and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, Japan's gold demand has been greatly stimulated, and Japan's gold and silver price ratio far exceeds that of China.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi came to power, the gold-silver ratio was 1:10, but in later years it seemed to fluctuate between 1:12 or 1:13. At the same time, the ratio in Guangzhou was as low as 1:5.5, rarely higher.
Passed 1:7. Therefore, anyone who does not know how to do business knows that transporting Japanese silver into China to purchase goods can generally yield huge profits.
It's a pity that the power to trade with Japan is now in the hands of Zheng Zhilong...
After calming down and not thinking about these things for the time being, Ding Yunyi patiently listened to Xie Xuan explain the trade one by one. Ding Yunyi let out a long sigh: "Okay, okay, I have money, everyone's life will be easier. Now that I have money,
, when there are people, when there are people, there is an army. What is the population of Taiwan right now?"
"Back to your lord," Qin Yun said, "Taiwan's original population was 200,000. Later, due to the immigration of the Zheng family and your large-scale recruitment of refugees, Taiwan's population has now exceeded 500,000."
Ding Yunyi's mind began to make rapid calculations.
The population must find a way to exceed one million. And it must be able to ensure self-sufficiency. Then if the world changes in the future, relying on naval superiority can ensure its own security.
"Continue to increase immigration!" Ding Yunyi said suddenly: "We have millions of cultivated land in Taiwan, which is enough to attract a large number of immigrants. Send more manpower to go to various places in the Central Plains to promote. In Taiwan, there is food and drink, and we provide farm tools when they come.
Farm cattle, make a home and earn money... Our Ming Dynasty has been plagued by disasters and there are refugees everywhere, but our Taiwan has survived the drought and has great prospects for development."
"If this is the case, sir, Xie Xuan has another idea."
"explain!"
Xie Xuan is confident: "We only need to plant tens of thousands to 100,000 acres of hills in Taiwan where mulberry trees and tea trees can be planted. If everything is feasible, then it is definitely not difficult to make a profit of nearly ten million taels per year."
"Nearly ten million taels?" Ding Yunyi took a breath of air. He had never thought of having such a number.
Xie Xuan explained his overall idea.
In his imagination, one pound of silk can be exchanged for three stones of rice, and eight pounds of cocoons can be exchanged for one pound of silk. This means that eight pounds of cocoons are equal to 450 pounds of rice, and one pound of cocoons is equal to fifty-six pounds.
Forty-two meters. If you compare the output value of one acre of mulberry field with that of one acre of rice field, the output value is more than ten times higher, and generally eight or nine times higher.
One acre of mulberry field with good quality can raise ten baskets of silkworms. One basket can produce eight pounds of cocoons and can reel one pound of silk. The value of one pound of silk is three stone meters. So one acre of good mulberry field can earn income from raising silkworms.
It can reach more than thirty kilograms of rice. Therefore, if one mu of mulberry field raises ten baskets of silkworms, then one mu of mulberry field can produce ten mu of rice.
At that time, each mu of mulberry field could produce 1,600 kilograms of mulberry leaves, raise ten kilograms of silkworms, produce one hundred kilograms of cocoons, and reel ten kilograms of silk. The domestic price of raw silk in the Ming Dynasty was about five to six cents of silver per kilogram.
The price is 600 to 70 taels per load. This is the domestic sales price, including cost and profit. The export price is 600 taels per load, which is ten times the price, and the export price to Europe and the West is even higher.
At this price, if 10,000 acres of mulberry fields are developed and intensive sericulture and silk reeling are carried out, 100,000 kilograms of raw silk, about 833 dan, can be harvested annually, which can be loaded on a boat. The production cost is based on the domestic sales price.
The total amount is only about 50,000 taels, but it can be sold for 500,000 taels when exported, with a net profit of 450,000 taels. And these 10,000 acres of mulberry fields only require the investment of about 500 mulberry farmers and silkworm farmers.
Taiwan has more than six million acres of cultivated grain land. Mulberry trees can also be planted in hilly areas where farming is impossible, which means that grain fields will not be occupied.
This is still the price of raw silk. If it is woven into silk, the export price will increase even further, ranging from three to ten times depending on the type.
Of course, the key is that we need to introduce a large number of mulberry farmers, silkworm farmers and weavers... Introduce the talents you need, don't be afraid of spending money!" Ding Yunyi said over and over again, and suddenly remembered: "By the way, there are also tea leaves.
It can also be planted vigorously.”
In his memory, during the Wanli period, Hongyi also sold the first batch of Chinese tea back to Europe, and the Westerners began to export large quantities of tea from China through maritime trade.
As soon as he said this, he immediately aroused heated discussion among his subordinates.
Ye Dahai has been a pirate for a long time and is a well-known "pirate prince" who has many dealings with the Thai and Western people. According to him, each load of tea shipped to the country of the Western and Eastern countries is worth 3360 taels of silver, which is equivalent to the selling price of 39 taels per kilogram of tea.
Silver, and the output of tea is about 60 to 100 kilograms per mu. In other words, only 10,000 mu of tea gardens and 2,000 tea farmers are needed to produce 6,000 to 10,000 dans of tea annually, which can be sold to Western Europe.
The profits are eye-catching.
Another one is Taiwan’s specialty sugar cane.
Each mu of sugarcane field can produce 1.6 quintals of white sugar. When shipped to Japan, the price of a quintal of sugar is more than sixty taels. When shipped to Luzon and sold to Europe, the price is about the same. The net profit of 10,000 acres of sugarcane fields is about
Around one hundred thousand taels of silver.
While selling cane sugar, you can also purchase tin, hematoxylin, pepper, ivory, etc. from Luzon and other places and transport them back to Fujian.
Whether it is silkworms, tea leaves or sugar cane, they are all renewable resources.
This is simply better than a gold mine. The gold and silver will be mined out, but raw silk, satin, tea, sucrose, as long as you plant mulberry, raise silkworms, spin, weave and dye, you can continue to produce it.
As soon as the word "gold mine" came to the word, Ding Yunyi's eyes lit up again.
Gold mine? Why didn’t Taiwan think of developing such rich gold resources? It was stupid, it was extremely stupid!
Taiwan's gold deposits are one of the regions with the richest output per unit area in the world. Taiwan is rich in gold deposits. It was once listed by Western countries as the imaginary "Treasure Island" of the East along with Japan.
Ding Yunyi still remembers an article about gold mines in Taiwan, which said: "Jinshan is located in the mountain behind Jilong Sanchao River. Gold is produced locally. Some are as big as a fist, and some are as long as a ruler. When Tibetan people pick up gold in their hands, they will thunder.
Above, I just discarded them. Small ones were occasionally taken out. The sand and gold in the water at the bottom of the mountain were like crumbs... Damn it, such a big treasure was right in front of me. I had been in Taiwan for so long, but I had never thought of exploring it.
?
"The most lacking thing in Taiwan is iron." Xie Xuan never imagined what Ding Yunyi was thinking at this moment: "Without iron, we cannot manufacture weapons and equipment, and iron farm tools and shipbuilding are also required. Therefore, our iron is purchased in large quantities from outside.
Procurement. That’s a big issue.”
"Ah, we can't do it without us." Ding Yunyi's thoughts turned back from the gold mine: "From now on, we will purchase and reserve iron resources in large quantities. The money that should be spent will always be spent."
The funding problem seems to have been resolved, and if everything goes according to plan, Ding Yunyi's wealth will soon rival or even exceed that of Zheng Zhilong.
With money, everything becomes easier.
Ding Yunyi has even seen the day when he dominates Fujian appear in front of him. (To be continued)