Zhao Youheng, the former prefect of Qiongzhou, became the governor of Guangdong after not seeing him for a few years, and then immediately inspected a small county town in Qiongzhou Prefecture, which not only surprised Shen Tingyang, but also made the officials, businessmen and gentry in Ding'an County "flattered".

The Ding'an Wang family, as the leader of the official gentry in Qiongzhou, naturally relied on the relationship between his son-in-law Liu Yaoyu and Zhao Youheng's wife and uncle to become proud again. Who doesn't know that the rise of these new agricultural policies and Nanyang business in Qiongzhou was strongly supported by Zhao Youheng, and now that Zhao Youheng has made a comeback, the future of Qiongzhou will be more secure.

At the beginning, the people walked the tea and cooled, and instantly became upside down, and the Ding'an Wang family was pompous, calling friends everywhere for three days, and almost half of the local gentry in Qiongzhou Mansion gathered in Ding'an County. Singing praises and virtues is continuous, which makes Zhao Youheng a little crying and laughing, and at the same time, it also makes the Wang family proud.

The repeated banquets lasted for three days, until Zhao Youheng couldn't resist the push, and then the Wang family smiled and let Liu Yaoyu come forward and settle the other party in their mansion to wait for them to move in. Who let the son-in-law Liu Yaoyu and the governor be related, it is natural to live in the Wang family, not to mention that the Wang family is also an official family with a lot of connections in Nanjing.

All of a sudden, officials from all over the state and county of Qiongzhou Prefecture came to visit with gifts, and there were many kinds of Cheng Yi. The local petty officials who have eaten and drunk enough in Qiongzhou over the years will never miss the opportunity to show loyalty to their old bosses. In just two days, all kinds of gifts and property piled into the Wang family made Liu Yaoyu startled.

……

Late at night, Zhao Youheng returned again with a slight sense of wine. And his brother-in-law Liu Yaoyu also waited in the backyard study early, and the two could finally stop and chat privately.

“…… Brother Yu, your sister has been feeling unwell recently, so she can only stay in Guangzhou to raise her, otherwise you should let your sister and brother meet. ”

I haven't seen him for a few years, and the last lone seedling of the Shandong Liu family in front of me is more mature and stable, and the former white-faced little scholar has grown a short lip beard.

"My brother-in-law works hard and complains, and he is an honest and honest official, and now he is the governor of a province, and God rewards him for his diligence." Liu Yaoyu smiled. The attitude towards Zhao Youheng also seemed more indifferent.

"I won't mention much of the polite words between us...... This time, your brother-in-law and I were ordered to patrol Guangdong. See the South Seas sea trade is more than before. The Huamei Hong Kong concession has been open for several years, and the merchants of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang are like carp crossing the river, I don't know how you should deal with it? Shen Tingyang Lord Shen is the new local prefect and military preparation, how do you think of your new business? ”

Zhao Youheng took out a document from his sleeve. Placed on the desktop. This was when he had just arrived in Guangzhou. An official document transferred from the Guangzhou Municipal Department of Shipping. It roughly tells the story of the merchants from Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang who are now avoiding the Guangzhou City Shipping Division, competing for Hong Kong merchants, and guiding most of the trade in the border areas of the Ming Dynasty to be transferred to Hainan. It's not Qiongzhou, it's Hong Kong, and Guangzhou Bosi has existed in name only.

"Hehe, my brother-in-law has been away from Joan for many years, so naturally it can only be inferred from the official letter. If my brother talks about it in detail, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it clearly in three or two days, so it's better for my brother-in-law to go for a walk with my brother in the next few days and take a look. ”

Seeing that his wife and brother actually sold Guanzi to him, and he looked very relaxed, Zhao Youheng was also a little relieved, at least for now, the new policy of the Nanhai business and even the local Qiongzhou has not been greatly affected.

……

The next day, Zhao Youheng returned to Qiongshan County with Liu Yaoyu, and after briefly expressing to Shen Tingyang that he wanted to pay a private visit to Weifu, he took a few guards and attendants at dusk that day, and went to sea on the sea ship of the Nanhai Merchant to Danzhou Bay in the west of Qiongzhou Mansion.

After just one night, early the next morning, Zhao Youheng stood on the pier of Danzhou Bay. The sea ship that rode all the way was not the kind of hard-sailed Dafu ship or sand ship common in the Ming Dynasty, but a three-masted long-sail merchant ship from Huamei at first glance, which is said to carry more than 8,000 quintals of cargo!

Larger than the gorgeous large five-masted schooner merchant ship, and even the steam merchant ship, Zhao Youheng saw it at Qiongshan Wharf when he was the prefect of Qiongzhou. But now that the South China Sea business has this kind of fast boat that travels at least 500 miles a day, Zhao Youheng is not a little surprised, if he knows that the price of such a gorgeous Western-style fast ship is as high as 60,000 taels of silver, it is estimated that it will be even more untenable.

A few years ago, Danzhou Bay was just a deserted bay with only a small rundown fishing village called "White Horse Well" nearby, but now it has become a new and lively port market town. Judging from the flow of people near the port alone, there are at least one or two thousand households in the local population, and most of them speak with local accents, and there are not many natives in Qiongya.

In addition to the high-grade big ship of the Nanhai Merchants, there are also more than ten small and large Ming sea ships moored in the harbor, and a steam merchant ship with a gorgeous flag stands out from the crowd. Piles of large bamboo baskets filled with coal were stacked on the docks, and then loaded onto ships or transferred inland by the people, and many of them were loaded with fine iron ingots loaded with cargo boxes on the Chinese merchant ships, and the number seemed to be quite impressive.

Look at a newly built workshop near the port area, with a few strange iron cellar stoves and tall chimneys emitting a gray mist, and a strange smell wafting through the air. Farther away, there was a large shack and a few blast furnaces, and every time a stick or two of incense passed, a thick white smoke would rise, and streams of bright red molten iron would flow into the trenches, surrounded by shirtless furnace workers.

"My brother-in-law allowed the opening of the Nanhai Mine, which has been mined and transported for many years, and Gaozhou coal and stone have also been transported here. After the selection, one went out to Hainan to sell Huamei, and the other was used in the subway field for iron smelting. With the help of steam machinery in Danzhou Coal Yard, Nanhai Mining Refined Coal Mining consumes extremely manpower, and the bid price is only one dollar and two cents per load, and the annual price is 200,000 quintals. In addition to transportation and miscellaneous expenses, you can make a profit of more than 10,000 taels a year! ”

"The leftover 'oil and coal stone' is steamed into 'oil' in the local 'oil steaming field', and can be sold in barrels, which is about 25 taels of silver per quintal, and can be steamed more than 15,000 quintals a year. The remaining stone slag is then sent to the cement brick yard to mix marl bricks, which can be called the best use. The prefectures and counties of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Guangxi repaired the city, and used more Qiongzhou green mud bricks, which did not consume additional coal salary, and was made by cold drying. The size can be made. These two kinds of annual profits can also be more than 50,000 taels. ”

The so-called oil and coal stone in Liu Yaoyu's mouth is the associated oil shale produced in the Changhua or Gaozhou (Maoming) open-pit coal mines in Danzhou. Many open-pit coal mines in Maoming, which lack knowledge of history, have buried a large number of these poorly burning oil shale mines as impurities, or simply burned them down.

Liu Yaoyu pointed to the smelter in the distance, and his face was quite complacent: "This is the smelting field operated by the Nanhai firm, and the Nanhai mine transports refined coal, copper and iron ore to smelt here. Brother Zhao introduced a new smelting method from Nanyang a few years ago, and he can get more than 7,000 catties of iron and more than 1,000 catties of copper in one day! The new Huamei smelting method really saves time and reduces a lot of effort, and one furnace can be worth ten furnaces of the old method. A pound of refined iron consumes no more than three points of silver. Huamei bids seven and a half cents of silver per catty. The annual sales of copper and iron totaled 1.4 million catties, with a profit of more than 70,000 taels, and the supply exceeded demand! Selling refined coal, oil, refined iron, and refined copper, Qiongzhou will increase the number of mining and metallurgical miscellaneous classes by 10,000 taels! ”

"The South China Sea Firm currently dominates five clippers. Qiongzhou merchants ship ships. There are more than 60 ships with more than 300 materials. It can deliver 900,000 quintals to sea every year, especially the lack of capacity. In time, the younger brother bought more clippers from Nanyang Huamei. Why worry about the prosperity of the family and the country? ”

Looking at the high-spirited wife and brother, and the demeanor of "wholeheartedly serving the country" back then, and then looking at those busy and hard-working furnace workers, compared to those mining and metallurgical private workshops that cut work and evaded taxes in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, it is simply an outlier!

"Cane, cotton and other agricultural products are still recognized in Nanyang, so good fine iron and copper, the country's heavy goods, why still lose to Nanyang merchants? Didn't the Qiongzhou official inspect it?! Zhao Youheng seemed to think of something, his face suddenly turned cold, and his tone lowered a lot, while he also turned his head and secretly looked at a few entourage officials who were not far away.

"If it's an internal vendor, in the opinion of my brother-in-law, can you ever receive a penny and a half of silver?" Liu Yaoyu smiled coldly, and a touch of self-deprecation appeared on his face, as if he had already seen it, "The local gentry in Qiongzhou have tried their best to run a mining and metallurgical field, settle the displaced people, boost the people's livelihood, and benefit the country. Not to mention ......"

"Huh? But it doesn't hurt to say that. Zhao Youheng saw that his wife and brother seemed to be interesting, so he quickly raised his hand.

"Invest in shares, build mountain roads, help mining and transportation vehicles, and at least seventy percent of the coal, iron, and copper obtained must be sold in Nanyang. This is the agreement between Brother Zhao of Huamei Oriental Union Group and the squire of Qiongzhou, otherwise how can such a good thing fall in Qiongzhou? Although we and other merchants must compare baht, but the Ming maritime merchants pass through the South Seas, how can hundreds of years of faith be in our hands? As he spoke, Liu Yaoyu lowered his voice again, and secretly pointed to a large mansion covering a wide area in the market town, "There are people from the Oriental Union Group staying in the inn here, and it just so happens that there is a 'patent to equity joint venture' to negotiate and bid recently, and my brother-in-law can observe it in the dark with me......"

Seeing that his wife and brother were so mysterious, Zhao Youheng's doubts in his heart became even heavier.

……

A few plainclothes men sat in the corner of the hall of an inn in the town, attracting no one's attention, because at this time there was a red-faced tender for the "joint venture of the spinning mill patent to share".

“…… This is the most advanced spinning technology in the country, and the full production line is equipped with a steam power pack! It is many times more advanced than the production line in Wanzhou, which runs with animal power, and the production cost of each spindle yarn will be reduced by at least two percent! On the high platform, a young Chinese man dressed in gorgeous clothes was proudly depicting the general information on the blackboard, and the wealthy gentry in the audience who had come from all over Qiongzhou all stared at them and let out heavy breathing.

In the past few years, Wanzhou Baisheng yarn factory can be said to have earned all the profits of cotton and linen yarn, but I did not expect that this year Huamei has launched a more advanced yarn factory production line, and the cost of yarn will be lower by two percent in the future! Not to mention the demand of Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang, the cotton yarn and linen yarn exported to Nanyang last year alone were as high as 100,000 quintals.

"In the lower Danzhou Xusheng, bid 24,000 taels, and transfer 20% of the shares to you!" A chubby squire raised his arm in the audience.

"In the lower Wanzhou Baisheng, I am willing to give 26,000 taels, and transfer shares into two!" Another skinny middle-aged businessman said something coldly in the corner, and everyone present turned their heads in surprise.

As soon as he heard that the Wanzhou Baisheng in Qiongzhou Mansion, which was the first to eat crabs on the yarn factory, made another move, a group of squires who came to grab business glared angrily, and the middle-aged businessman who called out the high price still looked unfazed.

"How many cotton and hemp fields are there in Qiongzhou today?" Zhao Youheng touched his beard and suddenly asked softly.

"In Yazhou alone, there are 85,000 acres of cotton fields...... All over the province. The total number of cotton fields and hemp fields is probably not less than 200,000 mu. However, over the years, most of the Nanhai firms have contracted these properties to the Anqian displaced people for reclamation. The yarn mills auctioned by the squires from all over the country can make about 80,000 quintals of cotton and linen yarn per year, with an annual profit of at least 25,000 taels, so that the demand for raw cotton and linen must be in short supply...... "Liu Yaoyu thought for a while and said a figure that surprised Zhao Youheng.

“…… In the Huang family, I am willing to give 36,000 taels and transfer shares into 30%! With a thunderclap, a thinner middle-aged man stood up. Shaking the fan in his hand, he said unhurriedly.

The bid is so much higher. A sound of cold air was heard. A group of people looked at the representative of the Ding'an Huang family, which ranked among the top three in Qiongzhou's capital strength, in disbelief, as if they had heard it wrong just now.

"Are there any new bids?"

The gorgeous young man on the stage was a little stunned, and it was the first time he had seen such a bold joint venture bidding. This means that OUCC only used a small yarn mill production line with a domestic purchase price of less than 25,000 US dollars, and sold it at an ultra-high price of 54,000 US dollars in Daming Qiongzhou. It also set up a ten-year three-percent stake. Since then, the annual share dividend has reached nearly 10,000 US dollars. Not counting the value-added profits of cheap cotton yarn and linen yarn after being transported back to the Pearl Island Textile Factory to be remade into cloth, this rate of return on capital can be described as earth-shattering!

"Deal! Congratulations to Mr. Huang of Ding'an County for winning this patent to equity joint venture project! Now I have to ask Danzhou Tongzhi Wang to conduct on-site notarization for this contract! Seeing that no one dared to argue with the Huang family in Ding'an, the business representative of the Oriental Union Group hurriedly knocked down the hammer.

As soon as this remark came out. Zhao Youheng almost jumped up, but fortunately, his wife and brother around him were able to sit firmly, and he quickly turned sideways and pretended to drink tea to prevent being recognized.

The side door opened, a pot-bellied Ming official walked out, and the representatives of the merchants bidding in the hall all stood up and bowed, and the Danzhou Tongzhi did not squint, and walked to the high platform with a righteous and awe-inspiring look.

Danzhou Tongzhi took the original contract, just glanced at it slightly, picked up the brush on the side and hooked a circle in the corner, and then took a copy and left, which was regarded as a passing scene.

"Let's not mention the private business for the time being, and the business book has not been carefully inspected, so it is not child's play to be so confused and notarized?" Zhao Youheng pinched his beard, and he was already getting more and more angry.

"Brother-in-law, you probably don't know, according to the contract between the Oriental Union Group and the local officials and squires in Qiongzhou, the joint venture has a time limit, mostly ten years, and dividends are distributed by shares. For example, after ten years, no matter how much the share capital is, only 10% of the shares of the Oriental Union Group are allowed to be retained, and the rest must be returned to the Huang family. Within ten years, 10% of the profits obtained by the Huangjia Yarn Factory must be paid to the government, of which Qiongzhou and the location of the yarn factory each get half of the money, so the local state and county officials of Qiongzhou competed for the joint venture private workshop to settle in the local area. And all the contractors are printed and crossed, and the officials and businessmen in Qiongzhou are already familiar with it. Danzhou official notarization once, you can get notarization of 600 taels of silver, has become a rule in Qiongzhou. This is not only the case in Qiongzhou, but also in the places where the gentry of Canton are on Hong Kong Island, but the amount is small and not obvious......"

Liu Yaoyu lowered his voice and told the biggest secret of Qiongzhou in recent years.

You can get six hundred taels of notary silver by going through the motions, and there is actually this kind of blatant flower, which is enough for the local government of Danzhou to be happy, you must know that the annual salary of Zhizhou is less than twenty taels of silver. Zhao Youheng was suddenly shocked in his heart, and gradually remembered the "Baihuaju" case, and a layer of sweat actually secreted from his back.

Probably because he had said too much before, the young business representative of the Oriental Union Group who presided over the auction retreated to the back hall, and after a drink of cattle, a new auction resumed.

"Thank you again for coming to this auction of the patent-to-equity joint venture project, and we will launch another new project for you: a new oil press unit! This patented production equipment is also driven by a steam engine, which is at least three times more efficient than the animal-powered oil press unit set up in Thanksgiving County, Yazhou the year before. If the raw materials are sufficient, about 1,000 tons of oil can be extracted per year, that is, at least 16,000 quintals. The minimum investment price is 8,000 taels, the minimum conversion is 10%, and the price increase is not less than 500 taels each time......"

It only takes dozens of people to extract 16,000 quintals of oil a year? The Qiongzhou squires present were stunned at the same time, and at the same time, they rose up with endless competition.

The scale and output of cotton and flax planting in Qiongzhou have long exceeded the processing and receiving capacity of Huamei Pearl Island enterprises, and the rough processing of cotton and linen has to gradually fall in Qiongzhou.

The new 1,000 tons of oil extraction may not be as good as a small oil mill on Pearl Island, but for Qiongzhou, it is a good opportunity to turn waste into treasure.

Under the skillful guidance of the bidding host of the Oriental Union Group, there was another burst of chickens and dogs jumping in the audience, but the oil extraction project was soon won by the more wealthy Ding'an Wang family, which caused a strong disappointment among the small local gentry present. When the last pulp production line was put on the table, the competition on the scene reached the highest point.

Zhao Youheng, who was listening in the corner, had no interest in continuing to listen, but quietly withdrew from the auction site.

……

Seaside tidal flats, endless mangrove forests, Zhao Youheng stood on a high slope, silently looking at the sea, touching his beard and never moving for a stick of incense.

"Brother-in-law......" Liu Yaoyu walked behind him and bowed.

"It's only been five or six years since Qiong, and at first I was worried that you and Zhao Mingchuan would be squeezed out by the gentry here, but I didn't expect it......" Zhao Youheng sighed, turned around, and stared at each other's eyes, "The state affairs are difficult, and the land of Qiongzhou is extremely prosperous." Taixi Huamei is so flamboyant that it has already touched the county and township of Qiongzhou, and this local government has no restraint......"

"My brother-in-law doesn't know that Qiongzhou is rich in grain and cheap, and now rich businessmen resell their fields and build workshops. The land rent and land price are not as good as 30% of Guangzhou, if it were not for the fact that some displaced people enter Qiong every year, it would be difficult for ordinary rich households to find someone to be tenants. Although the tax law is difficult to change, the new policy in Qiongzhou has been more than ten years old, and how many families have been fed. The people are rich and the officials are rich, the people are at peace, there is enough food and clothing, surplus grain is exported, and the silver class has increased greatly. Such a scene that benefits the country and the people, even if it is a personal relationship? Why is my brother-in-law still not satisfied? Or does my brother-in-law feel that such a good life is against the ancestral law? ”

Liu Yaoyu, who is not confused in his youth, has been calm after many years of turmoil, and in addition to being polite to his brother-in-law, his former caution is long gone.

Such a sharp rhetorical question from his wife and brother made Zhao Youheng unable to answer for a while, recalling the joke that Liu Yaoyu and Zhao Mingchuan originally promised that he had regarded as a joke that he did not know the height of the sky.

"In the land of Qiongya, if the new policy of industry, agriculture and commerce is carried out, it can be prosperous in ten years......"

After silently reading it, Zhao Youheng walked towards the distant port with his hands behind his back, and he no longer had the interest of continuing to stay in Qiongzhou to visit. Because he knows that whether it is the gentry and wealthy households or the common people in Qiongzhou, the current qiē is almost the lifeblood of life that cannot be reversed, and whoever goes against their lives will not hesitate to fight for their lives. (To be continued......)