Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 285: Investing in three major industries! (4k ha!)

Rock salt is a type of mineral salt. The extraction method is slightly different from boiling sea salt, but in fact it is similar, except that there is an additional process of mining stones containing salt.

After that, it is dissolved and filtered with water to filter out the brine, which is called brine. Some chemical substances must be added to filter out the soluble impurities, and the rest can be cooked into salt.

It is a little more troublesome than boiling salt from seawater, but compared with the long journey of transporting well salt from coastal areas or Sichuan to the northwest, this little trouble is nothing.

The salt produced here in this way is slightly more expensive than blue and white salt, but much cheaper than dissolved salt. Once Su Yun uses administrative means to interfere, he will have an overwhelming advantage over blue and white salt.

At Su Yun's command, he recruited some experienced salt-making masters and began to instruct the young and strong people in Yanjiabao to excavate the rocks of Langshan Mountain.

Su Yun watched from the side. After the rocks were mined, they were smashed with a sledgehammer and then further crushed with a large stone mill. Then, water from the Wuding River was introduced to dissolve them. Finally, an extremely fine sieve was used to filter out the insoluble impurities before the rocks were boiled.

After boiling, crystals were continuously shoveled out, and gradually a basin of yellowish coarse salt was presented to Su Yun. Su Yun pinched a grain of coarse salt and put it in his mouth, and immediately a salty and bitter taste spread in his mouth.

Su Yun asked the master, "It still tastes bitter. Is there any way to remove the bitterness?"

The old master shook his head in surprise and said, "It's normal for rock salt to taste bitter. Except for the blue-white salt, all other salts taste bitter."

Su Yun nodded and said, "Try adding a large amount of wood ash into the pot."

The old master didn't understand what was going on, but knowing that Su Yun was the young Su Jinglie from Fuyan Road, he didn't dare to say anything more and hurried to make arrangements.

Not long after, the old master came over with a basin of salt and said excitedly: "Mr. Su, this salt is not bitter anymore! This salt is not bitter anymore! We can call it white salt!"

Su Yun checked the appearance of the salt and found that its color had turned snow-white. He picked up a grain and tasted it carefully. Sure enough, only the salty taste remained in his mouth, without any bitterness.

Su Yun immediately understood why blue and white salt was called white salt. It was because its origin was Qinghai and its color was bright white, so it was called blue and white salt.

Su Yun smiled and asked, "This salt is not much different from the blue and white salt, right?"

The old master nodded excitedly and said, "There is not much difference anymore. If we sell it under the name of blue and white salt, I think ordinary people won't be able to taste the difference."

Su Yun nodded and said, "It's not enough. We need to add another step and use a roller to grind the coarse salt into fine salt. This will make it look better."

The old master nodded quickly.

There were no problems during the trial production process, so large-scale mining began.

Su Yun mobilized the garrison troops to come here to guard the salt mine, while he rushed to the next place, which was not far away and was also nearby.

When Su Yun arrived, Ah Hui came out to greet him and said with a smile, "Jinglüe, I was just about to ask someone to invite you over. We have already dug up some coal, and it's good coal."

Su Yun was quite happy to see A Hui. He had transferred A Hui from Bian Jing some time ago to be in charge of these matters.

Su Yun went in and took a look, and found that it was indeed a top-quality coal mine.

Su Yun was somewhat delighted. With this coal mine, he would have no shortage of fuel for large-scale salt boiling. In addition, he could have an extra source of income. Fuel was in short supply in the northwest, and coal was also very popular.

Su Yun asked again: "Have the coal stove and honeycomb coal been made?"

Ah Hui nodded and said, "Are you still unsure about my work? I'll take you to have a look."

Not far from the coal mine, there is a large open space where honeycomb coal is drying in the sun. Many people are making honeycomb coal, and some are piling the dried honeycomb coal into piles.

They arrived at another place where a large number of ceramic honeycomb briquette stoves were coming out of the oven. Su Yun went over to take a look. These stoves were made of ceramic shells and refractory bricks inside. The arrangements of the air inlets and other items were very appropriate. It could be considered a honeycomb briquette stove that was adapted to local conditions.

Su Yun smiled and asked, "How are the sales?"

Ah Hui smiled and said, "Don't worry, our products are of good quality and low price. The northwest is bitterly cold and there is a lack of vegetation as fuel. Our honeycomb coal stove saves a lot of coal and can be used for heating, boiling water and cooking. It is really a rare good thing.

We have no problem selling the stoves and honeycomb briquettes we produce now. We can sell as many as we produce, and there is no such thing as not having enough. "

Su Yun nodded and said, "The stove and the honeycomb coal are fine, but you have to pay attention to safety in the coal mine. If something happens in the coal mine, the people inside can't get out."

Ah Hui nodded quickly and said, "Don't worry, we are paying attention."

Su Yun smiled. After all, he was an old friend and could be trusted, so he planned to return to Yanzhou.

But he was stopped by Ah Hui.

Su Yun looked back at Ah Hui, who said, "Ah Yun, I think the northwest is even colder than Bian Jing. We have been here for a month and haven't even seen a single vegetable leaf. Why don't we dig a cave? This will make more money!"

Su Yun laughed when he heard this and said, "You want to do it?"

Ah Yun nodded seriously and said, "You regard this coal mine, honeycomb coal, furnace, and mined rock salt as the assets of the Fuyan Road Army. We can't be left with nothing, right?

I wanted to do it before, but there was a shortage of fuel in the northwest, so there was no way to do it. Now that we have a coal mine, we can naturally do it in this underground cave.

Although the Northwest is not as big as Bianjing, there are still many wealthy families. We can build a cave and earn hundreds of thousands of strings of cash in one winter. "

Su Yun smiled when he heard this and said, "You can do it if you want, but you have to arrange things at the coal mine properly."

Ah Hui said happily: "Don't worry, I also brought a lot of people with me, they are all capable helpers, don't worry."

After Su Yun arranged all the affairs, he returned to Yanzhou.

During the nearly two months he had been away, he had set up several businesses for the Fuyan Road Army, including a salt mine, a coal mine, a coal furnace, and a honeycomb coal field. Su Yun began to count the accounts.

First there was the salt field, and this salt field was just the beginning. Su Yun calculated the total annual salt market value of the entire six routes in Shaanxi.

The population of the six routes in Shaanxi is about eight million. According to the data he has investigated, the average daily salt consumption per person is about 15 grams, which is nearly one catty per month. In a year, each person has to consume at least 11 catties of salt. The price of the official salt of the Song Dynasty is 45 wen per catty. In other words, the total annual market value of salt in the six routes in Shaanxi is 3.96 billion wen, which means that the total market value is about 5.14 million guan.

And this does not include the salt needed by livestock. Cows and horses also need salt.

The coal mine's current output is mainly salt and honeycomb coal, so the income is not included for the time being, and the main focus is on calculating the profit from honeycomb coal.

If a coal stove is used just for heating, about three or four pieces of honeycomb coal will be burned every day, but if it is also used for cooking, about eight pieces will be needed, which is about the amount for a family of five.

According to this quantity, a family of five needs 460800 pieces of honeycomb coal per month, pieces per year, and million people need pieces of honeycomb coal per year. If each piece of honeycomb coal is worth one cent, the total market value is million strings of cash.

As for the coal stove, it is just a supporting facility. After basic needs are met, an income of tens of thousands of strings of cash each year is considered good.

Therefore, the combined annual output value of these industries is approximately 11 million guan. Naturally, the Fuyan Road Army cannot completely monopolize the market, but if it can take over 40% to 50% of the market, it will have an annual income of 40 to 50 million guan, and the net profit can reach 20 to 30 million guan.

This is a lot of money, but when Su Yun calculated the cost of maintaining the troops, he frowned again.

If he trained the troops in his way, one cavalryman would cost at least two hundred strings of coins per year, and one infantryman would cost about one hundred strings of coins. In other words, with three million strings of coins, he could only afford to support about ten thousand cavalrymen and ten thousand infantrymen!
No wonder the Song Dynasty’s annual military expenditure accounted for about 70% to 80% of its annual revenue. After all, it really took so much money to maintain such an army!
Fortunately, he did not have to pay all the money himself. The court would still bear some of it. The expenses deducted by the Privy Council and other departments were mostly military pay. As for weapons, food and fodder, they had to be paid no matter how much the court deducted.

Therefore, with this windfall of 3 million strings of cash, the Fuyan Road Army will live a very comfortable life, and Su Yun's military reform can also be carried out.

After Su Yun returned, he called a meeting with Zhang Yu, Qi Keyong, Zhe Keshi, Wang Shunchen and others to discuss the next military reform.

In fact, there is no need for so-called military reform at this moment.

The so-called military reform refers to a change in military spending, but now Su Yun does not intend to touch the military spending, so there is no need to make a big fuss. All they need to do is conduct training in the way of the Jingsai Army.

Su Yun explained the matters of several industries to Zhang Qi, Qi Keyong and others one by one. Everyone was immediately excited. With these incomes, their Fuyan Road Army would be very powerful!
No one worried that the court officials would think they had rebellious intentions because they supported the army.

In fact, the problem of the Northern Song Dynasty army engaging in business was very common. After all, so much military funds were embezzled by the higher-ups. If the army did not become self-reliant, how could it survive?
Therefore, to be an outstanding general in the Northern Song Dynasty, the ability to raise money for the army was also part of the evaluation.

Starting from Taizu, in order to reward the soldiers, he was also worried about insufficient reward funds, so he allowed the border generals to engage in "Huiyi" activities, hoping that the generals would have no worries and could focus on border affairs.

This was a strategy used by Emperor Taizu of Song to win over military generals. From then on, the military and military generals continued to engage in business.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, Sun Mian, who served as the military officer of Zhaozhou, "was in Bingzhou, and he used officials and soldiers as private servants to travel between Qingzhou and Linzhou to buy yarn, silk, paper and medicine."

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, officers in Baozhou operated charcoal burning. "The armies of various provinces often sent soldiers to the camps to store miscellaneous items... The soldiers sent to collect firewood and burn charcoal were not willing to do heavy work and often joined the bandits. In addition, there was a charcoal burning in Baozhou before, and the soldiers fled because they did not pay the taxes."

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, military generals would do anything to make money, regardless of state laws: "Many of them broke the law for personal gain, forcing prison guards to learn strange and ingenious skills...either for jewelry or for painting patterns."

During the Southern Song Dynasty, many military generals were better at business than at fighting.

Liu Bao, who once served as the commander-in-chief of Zhenjiang, opened his own reward warehouse in the center of Zhenjiang city. There were also eight or nine hundred people in the army who specialized in the textile industry.

Hao Zheng, deputy governor of Chizhou, even ordered soldiers to sell daily necessities such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.

These two men are nothing compared to the great General Liu Guangshi. The scale of Liu Guangshi's business operations was staggering. He mobilized 8,000 people to do business, which was equivalent to one-sixth of the total number of troops under his command.

Many military generals also extended their hands to the salt, wine and tea businesses, which had always been monopolized by the state.

The monopoly of salt, wine and tea has been strictly regulated in all dynasties, and the Song Dynasty was no exception. However, in actual operation, there are often "loopholes" such as lax supervision.

The military generals of the two Song dynasties took advantage of these loopholes and, with the help of the special nature of the army, engaged in smuggling and trafficking. The smuggling and trafficking activities were so rampant that the common people even sold salt under the banner of the military.

Therefore, it is not taboo for Su Yun to do some small business. Everyone does it anyway, and he is just doing something that everyone does.

Since money is not a problem, Qi Keyong and others will naturally have no problem either.

So more than 20,000 imperial guards began training.

The instructors were transferred from the original Qiying Camp. After several months of training, the Jingsai Army has gradually gotten on the right track. It is just right to transfer some soldiers who were originally trained in the Qiying Camp to serve as captains.

Su Yun had no plans to continue recruiting soldiers for the time being. He planned to train these 23,000 infantrymen first and then recruit more when the time comes.

Twenty-three thousand imperial guards require two hundred and thirty captains and forty-six commanders. Naturally, there were captains and commanders among the imperial guards. Su Yun pulled them all out and put them into the basic command class of the Jingsai Army for training.

Of course, in order to prevent the original commanders and captains from causing trouble, Su Yun said that this was a refresher class, and when they had learned enough, they could move up to a higher position.

It was precisely because of this promise that these captains and commanders went there happily.

They were not afraid that Su Yun would deceive them. Qi Ying, Sun Rui, Wei Mingshan, Huo Yong and others were all promoted. Even the good-for-nothings in Qi Ying's camp were promoted to captains, and some even became commanders.

Some of them have attended the advanced training class and found it to be full of valuable information. They have grown rapidly after attending it.

Who doesn’t want to make progress? Who doesn’t want to have a wife and children who are honored?
There was no such opportunity before, but now they see the opportunity for promotion in Su Yun, so naturally they will not be obsessed with the things in front of them.

Just like this, Su Yun easily dissolved the complicated relationships within the general. He disbanded all 23,000 imperial guards and redistributed them, led by the captains who were promoted from the soldiers of the Qiying camp.

Thus, a large-scale winter training began!

(End of this chapter)