(ps: The New Year is here, Xiaosheng wishes everyone a happy New Year, and it will continue to be updated during the New Year, so that everyone can watch it more refreshing!! )

There was a big incident in Leizhou Mansion, and it was not a small thing that Zhu Hongsan said to Tong Yangjia at all. Now Xuwen County, the capital of Leizhou, has been in chaos, the sugar farmers have killed the officials of the two county officials, and the government decree can no longer go out.

The matter of Leizhou starts from Ma Jiyuan's arrival in Leizhou Mansion.

The main production area of local sugar in Leizhou is in Xuwen. Sugarcane was not originally a Chinese plant, it was produced in India and introduced to China in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. However, sugarcane can only be grown in the tropics, so the Leizhou Peninsula in the tropics has become the main sugarcane production area.

By the time of Chongzhen, the sugarcane planting areas in Leizhou were distributed in Xuwen and Suixi counties, but eighty percent of the planting areas were concentrated in Xuwen County, which was near the sea. Sugarcane has been cultivated here for hundreds of years, and sugar production has formed a complete industrial chain in the local area. Sugar cane is produced by sugar farmers, purchased by local local sugar houses, and brown sugar is produced, which is then distributed nationwide through 25 local sugar merchants.

Among the more than 50,000 agricultural population in Xuwen County, eighty percent are serving this sugar industry chain. In the local area, almost every village has a local sugar liao, some are private, and some are opened by the villagers.

The tools are also very simple, two huge twisted stones side by side, pulled by several cows, and the sugarcane is put in the middle to squeeze out the cane juice, which is boiled and dried to make small brick-like brown sugar strips.

In the era of scarcity of materials, sugar was still an important material, and the handicraftsmen who made sugar were relatively wealthy, and these twisted stones were actually a symbol of wealth. Brown sugar cubes made from sugarcane have a history of hundreds of years, according to the records of Xuwen County: to the first year of the Apocalypse, there are more than 600 soil sugar houses in the county, with an annual output of more than 5,000 tons of sugar.

Ma Jiyuan is undeniably a good official and a capable official. At the first time I arrived, I visited everywhere to investigate the local sugar and salt production.

The salt industry is very simple, the scale of the salt field on the Leizhou Peninsula is very small, and the big salt field in the north and the two Huai are not comparable at all, and there is no big salt merchant like the one in the two Huai, so the craftsmen brought by Ma Jiyuan simply built the salt drying field in Gangtou Village in Xuwen.

What Zhu Hongsan handed over to them was an improved salt drying method, which had a high salt yield.

Seeing that there was no problem with the salt industry, Ma Jiyuan was very happy, but he didn't expect to hit a nail in the sugar industry.

After Ma Jiyuan's investigation, it was decided to build a sugar factory ten miles outside Xuwen County.

Zhu Hongsan made the sugar factory naturally adopt the routine of large-scale industrial production, abandoning the artificial production that uses animal power, and using all water power. Zhu Hongsan asked the steel mill to cast two solid steel rollers with a length of five meters and a diameter of one meter in cast iron.

The waterwheel designed by Zhu Hongsan uses standardized gear transmission with a high transmission ratio. Driven by hydraulic power, the two steel rollers roll slowly, and the sugarcane is pressed between the two steel rollers, and then the sugar juice is squeezed out for processing. Zhu Hongsan did not discard the bagasse either, and the bagasse in Tutangliao was directly burned on fire. Zhu Hongsan wants to use this thing to make wine, and the residue after the fermentation of bagasse is the feed for cattle and pigs.

The white sugar production line designed by Zhu Hongsan is even more high-end, after Zhu Hongsan's transformation, the sugar yield of this sucrose production line is two percent higher than that of the local local sugar liao, and the cost is even lower than fifty percent. At the same time, the quality of white sugar is much higher than that of Tutangliao, and white sugar has been close to the white sugar produced by later generations.

Ma Jiyuan was also very happy to see the sugar factory successfully produce sugar. He has been in charge of the economy and knows that good white sugar is equivalent to silver in Nanzhili. And that's not even counting the income from sugar's peripheral industries, such as winemaking and cattle and pig farming.

After Ma Jiyuan saw that the sugar factory was put into operation, he handed over the production to the foreman and returned to Leizhou Mansion to deal with government affairs, after all, in his heart, this official position is his own job.

Ma Ji was far from having read Das Kapital and did not know the conclusion summed up by his relative, the old man Max, that when the profit reached 300 percent, the capitalist dared to risk being killed. What's more, this sugar factory has seriously infringed on the interests of local sugar merchants.

Think about it, your sugar factory still has a high sugar production rate, low cost, and high output, which still makes people live. So after Ma Ji left, 25 big local sugar merchants united and prepared to boycott the sugar factory.

After hundreds of years of natural evolution, Xu Wen's sugar industry is controlled by 890 percent of these 25 big sugar merchants, among whom the Wang family is the leader.

On October 20, the heads of the Xu Wen sugar merchants came to the Wang family's manor to discuss how to deal with the government-run sugar factory.

The head of the Xu family, who spoke at the beginning: "Ladies and gentlemen, do you know that the new prefect has built a new sugar house outside the city?" ”

Naturally, when I came to the meeting, I knew what was going on, and everyone replied one after another.

The head of the Xu family continued: "I heard from the workers working inside that the sugar production rate of the government-run sugar house is 20% higher than ours, and the cost is 50% lower. Everyone knows that our brown sugar can buy five dollars and ten catties of silver in Guangzhou, and you know what is the ex-factory price of the government-run sugar liao snow sugar? ”

Everyone doesn't know about this, and they all ask how much?

"Everyone can't imagine that the cost price of their snow candy is only ten taels of silver and one stone, and everyone heard it right, it is one stone. Our brown sugar costs three taels of silver and one stone, and snow sugar costs six taels of silver a catty. If it goes on like this for a few months, we will all have no way to live. ”

Many small sugar merchants didn't know that the cost of the government-run sugar factory could be so low, and after listening to the head of the Xu family, they were all mourned and approved.

"So low? So how do we live! ”

"It seems that it is better to change careers!"

Seeing everyone's fierce reaction, the head of the Xu family said: "Don't panic, everyone, if you want everyone to come today, you will discuss a charter and see what we do?" ”

Someone below shouted, "Listen to what Master Wang has to say." ”

Master Wang is the head of the Wang family, Wang Youdao, this guy is over sixty years old this year. The previous generations of their royal family wanted to eat, but later they were really hungry and became pirates. In Wang Youdao's grandfather's generation, he saved a lot of property, and then returned to his hometown Xu Wen, bought hundreds of acres of sugarcane fields, and became a landlord.

Because the Wang family came from the wrong way, the means were bad. It was passed on to Wang Youdao's father's generation, and he became a well-known sugar merchant in Xuwen County through forcible seizure, and the Wang family itself accounted for one-third of Xuwen's brown sugar production. Therefore, the establishment of the government-run sugar factory had the greatest impact on the Wang family.

Wang Youdao was very happy to see the excitement of the crowd and felt that the people's hearts were available. stood up and said: "In the past, thanks to everyone's trust, Wang was the president of the Xu Wen Sugar Chamber of Commerce, but now that such a big thing has happened, for the sake of everyone's interests, we must come up with the charter, and we can't let the government-run sugar house squeeze us to death." ”

"We listen to Master Wang!"

"Master Wang said what to do!"

This is the trust that Wang Youdao found. But there are also those who have a clear idea and ask: "Master Wang, this government-run sugar house is run by the prefect." Our little arms can't twist our thighs, what should we do when the prefect investigates it? ”

This sentence poured a basin of cold water on everyone, yes, the county order of the broken family, the mansion Yin who destroyed the door, everyone has heard this sentence. This is not like before, when Jiang Long wanted to meddle in Xu Wen's sugar industry, everyone worked together to squeeze it out, this is the government.

Wang Youdao smiled and said, "Have you forgotten what Xue County ordered a few years ago? ”

A few years ago, Xu Wenxin came to Xue County, saw that the sugar industry was very profitable, and wanted to meddle in the sugar industry. Let Wang Youdao unite with the county's big sugar merchants, and let the sugar liao in Zhixian County not receive one or two sugarcanes.

Xue Xianling wanted to use official means to clean up these sugar merchants, but he didn't expect Wang Youdao to bribe the political envoy of Guangdong and transfer Xue Xianling away, and Xue Xianling had no choice but to leave in disgrace. Finally, I heard that Xue County's ship encountered pirates at sea, and Xue County's order sacrificed his life for the country.

It was also this incident that Wang Youdao established his dominant position in Xu Wen Sugar Merchant.

When the sugar merchants thought of the unlucky Xue County Order, they couldn't help but increase their confidence, and they all expressed their willingness to take the lead of the king.

Wang Youdao nodded and said, "Everyone, we are here to protect our own property. If we let the government-run sugar house continue to operate, we will know what the results will be, so I hope that everyone must work together to get through this difficulty. ”

The head of the Xu family said: "We all understand, please show us what we should do?" ”

Wang Youdao said: "Let's make it impossible for the government-run sugar canteen to work, and the first step is to go back and reduce the purchase price of sugarcane, and reduce it to one or two silver per stone of sugarcane." ”

The heads of the families below were shocked and said: "One tael of silver will not be too ruthless, you must know that now the rice costs two taels of silver and one stone, and those sugar farmers will not rebel if it is so ruthless." ”