The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 50 He is organizing the archers
"How much can I eat?" Gao Jin said with a smile, "Look at this boat behind me. I can eat as much as it can carry. If one boat is not enough, I can always get another."

Yue Wenxuan smiled. Very good. This man had a big appetite and liked to do business with businessmen who felt they didn't make enough money.

Yue Wenxuan: "Aren't you worried that you won't be able to sell all the goods if you buy too much?"

Gao Jin laughed, "You're worried about not being able to sell other things, but why should you be worried about salt? I'm not afraid either. I'll tell you the truth: the government sells salt for 40 wen per catty. I buy it from you for 12 wen, and sell it for 25 wen. How much can the government salt sell before I sell all my salt? I'll pull the sea salt you give me south, find a random place to secretly land it, and then go inland to sell it. I can easily sell it all."

Yue Wenxuan nodded. "That's great! Breaking the imperial court's monopoly and allowing the people to eat cheaper salt is a good thing. Well, since you're not afraid of having more, next time you come, we'll give you double, or even triple, the supply. Just let us know in advance so you don't run out of money."

Gao Jin was surprised. Who was this young man? How could he be so confident? Shandong was in chaos right now, and to say the people were suffering was an understatement. How could he be so confident in increasing production under such circumstances?

Yue Wenxuan’s confidence, of course, comes from the figures.

He got several sets of ancient craft ornaments from Qiu Zhi Shen Guang Sculpture Company, including a set of Ming Dynasty salt-processing craft ornaments. The salt-processing technology of the Ming Dynasty had made great progress compared to that of the Song Dynasty.

The salt-making technology in the Northern Song Dynasty mainly used the method of scraping salty soil from the seashore and making brine by soaking it. First, a beach was opened on the seashore and seawater was introduced for irrigation. After being exposed to the sun, the salt adhered to the mud and sand. Then it was collected and picked up into a pit and flushed with seawater to dissolve the salt in water and flow into the brine tank.

By the Ming Dynasty, brine extraction methods had become diverse, including ash pressing, soil shaving, tidal soaking, and pit digging. Ash pressing was the primary method in Lianghuai and Changlu, while soil shaving was popular in Liangzhe and Guangdong. The ash pressing method involved spreading rice and wheat straw ash on the ground to absorb surface salts. The soil shaving method involved drying soil, watering it with the tide, and then soaking it in brine.

Technological advances led to a significant increase in total salt production during the Ming Dynasty compared to the Song Dynasty.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the national salt production reached 2.5 million jin.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the national salt production reached 6 million jin.

During both eras, the total population was around 4 million, yet salt production doubled. With this surge in production, private salt production could no longer be controlled, and official salt production was no longer monopolized. As a result, the price of salt available to ordinary people in the late Ming Dynasty could be as low as 6-10 wen per jin (approximately 20-40 wen) during peacetime, and only - wen during wartime. This was a stark contrast to the wen per jin (approximately - wen) paid for official salt during the Song Dynasty.

Gao Jin didn't know that once Yue Wenxuan made a move, his small, broken boat would be unable to carry the salt. He was very confident and patted his chest and said, "Scholar, just let the salt workers work hard to make salt. I will take whatever you make. I will never tell you a word of falsehood. Integrity is the most important thing in my business."

Yue Wenxuan: "Okay! Then let's make it a deal. Mr. Gao will come to collect salt in early April next time, right? See you in early April."

Gao Jin settled the price of salt, boarded the boat and sailed away. Soon, only a small sail was left on the sea.

As soon as he left, he galloped in front of the crowd on a fast horse. The scout on the horse turned over and fell off the horse: "The iron mine in Wangcun Town has also agreed to join our rebel army. The three villages we passed on the way to the iron mine have also agreed to accept our protection."

Madam Gong Er was overjoyed: "Okay!"

Yue Wenxuan was secretly happy in his heart: Very good, my command ability must have increased.

With three villages and one iron mine, plus the Chengyang coal mine that was brought under control a few days ago, Yue Wenxuan's command ability has greatly increased. Now he can place at least 8 flintlock soldiers or four special generals.

Of course, he couldn't just resort to excessive military spending; he had to allocate some command power to "internal affairs." He had already allocated some food, an agricultural expert named Mr. Liao, and a Ming Dynasty blacksmith. He also planned to deploy a Ming Dynasty saltsmith to increase salt production at the Guanhai Salt Field.

The clatter of horse hooves came again... Another scout came galloping over, shouting urgently, "There's movement over in the county town."

"Oh?" Everyone was excited, and Qian Zhuoqun asked, "Is the new county magistrate here?"

The scout nodded. "Three new officials have arrived: the county magistrate, the chief clerk, and the county lieutenant. As soon as they arrived, the county magistrate issued a notice to reassure the people. Many people have left the mountains and returned to the county. Now the county is bustling again."

Upon hearing this, Yue Wenxuan couldn't help but think: The government's business card still works! The county magistrate only needs to issue a notice to reassure the people, and they will immediately attract a large number of people to join him. But the rebels have a much harder time. Every time they arrive in a new village, they are treated like "kings," and they need more tricks to reassure the people. Obviously, when the rebels are still weak, they still need to use the government, rather than directly replace it.

The scout continued, "The new county lieutenant has already started recruiting archers. I heard his name is Wu Jialiang, and he's a tough guy who's seen blood and isn't the type to be timid. All his new archers are in his element."

Archers were not archers, but rather a type of local militia. They were typically selected from able-bodied men from well-off families and commanded by a county lieutenant. Their primary mission was to maintain social stability. Archers usually worked at home, gathering only for training, patrols, and other missions. Their weapons typically included bows and staffs. Private possession of weapons was prohibited, and they were managed by the government. They were registered and issued when necessary.

The county lieutenant prefers to use this kind of soldiers to suppress bandits instead of regular troops.

Because the Song Dynasty came to power in an illegitimate way, it was particularly afraid that someone would imitate the Chenqiao Mutiny, so it established a strange rule that if more than nine regular troops were used, it had to report to the higher authorities and wait for approval.

How much trouble is this?

But there is no such restriction when using archers. It doesn’t matter how many people you get, as long as you have the ability to get them.

If there are too many to manage, you can arrange a few more officials to help.

The official who managed the archers was called a Dutou.

Wu Song became famous for killing a tiger on Jingyang Hill. The local officials were impressed by his bravery and appointed him as Wudutou. Of course, this is a novel. The real Wu Song was a vicious bandit, a desperado, who killed and burned people everywhere.

Madam Gong Er frowned slightly. "This county lieutenant is recruiting archers right after arriving. Is he planning to attack us?"

Qian Zhuoqun smiled, "Don't worry! Recruiting archers shows that he wants to get things done. The more he wants to get things done, the more he should understand the current situation in Shandong. How could he easily attack us?"

They were thinking about the "archer", but Yue Wenxuan became interested in the name "Wu Jialiang".

The resourceful Wu Yong, nicknamed Mr. Jialiang!

The prototype of Wu Yong is Wu Jialiang.

It seems I have to go to the county town to meet this wise man.

(End of this chapter)