Master Yuan, start!

This is truly the treasure of our store!"

"Oh, there's such a thing?" After hearing Han Bei's explanation, Yuan Xiangcheng immediately realized the huge business opportunity contained in it: "I don't blame you for offering ginseng. Tell me more slowly."

After hearing what Yuan Xiangcheng said, Han Bei finally put his mind at ease and told him the reason in detail.

It turns out that the reason why Korean ginseng is so popular is due to the "shrinkage" of competing products.

China has a tradition of eating ginseng since ancient times, but ginseng in inland areas is limited by climate and soil, and is often of poor quality, with short roots and a shriveled and uneven appearance.

Long[16310-zero long*

The place that is truly suitable for ginseng to grow should be in the cool climate areas such as the cold temperate zone near latitude 45, and it prefers soil rich in humus.

Looking across the entire earth, there are only three places that meet this growth environment.

Russia's Ukrainian region, China's northeastern mountainous area, and the border between the United States and Canada.

That is the black soil belt in a broad sense.

After the Manchus entered the Pass, successive emperors strictly prohibited the felling of vegetation in the northeastern mountainous areas and implemented a strict wicker border policy in order to protect the "dragon's birthplace".

Therefore, the high-quality Korean ginseng cannot be mined on a large scale and is only used by the royal family on a small scale as a palace supply, or used to reward meritorious officials.

But there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom.

When people's needs are not met, they will naturally seek them elsewhere, and American ginseng will usher in its glorious moment.

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, American ginseng, originally from North America, was sold to the Qing Dynasty through colonial trade. It was considered to be of excellent quality and a top-grade ginseng. Because of the American flag on the ginseng ship, the locals also named American ginseng "American ginseng".

After Emperor Qianlong's reign, Guangzhou was the only port left for trade, and American ginseng produced in North America gradually became famous in the Lingnan region.

But after Emperor Daoguang, in order to protect the industry, the Americans banned the export of American ginseng, which suddenly created a huge commercial vacuum.

Now the only thing that can be supplied to the southern market is Korean ginseng.

Korean ginseng is mostly produced in the mountainous area of ​​Jilin, where it is difficult to mine and the yield is extremely low.

After learning about the booming ginseng market in the south, Han Bei keenly realized the huge commercial value of Korean ginseng. So he decided to organize ginseng mining through the farmers' association and open up trade routes through the Commercial News, and in one fell swoop captured nearly 8% of the southern ginseng market.

Chapter 195 Seeking Credit

"Well, you are worthy of being the money bag of our Red Confucian Society." Yuan Xiangcheng praised, and Han Bei's heart slowly settled down.

However, Yuan Xiangcheng's next words made his heart beat again.

"But you're still no match for Ji Zhi and Zhang Jian. They're big moneybags, and you're just a small one."

Big money bag, small money bag, are you saying that I don't make as much money as Zhang Jizhi? Han Bei felt a little aggrieved. In his opinion, he was not concentrating on running an industry, so of course he could not make as much money as Zhang Jian.

He himself is the Minister of Finance of the Red Confucian Society. In addition to making money, he also has to handle trade affairs outside the customs and analyze the operating conditions of the Red Confucian Society factories in various places. He is more inclined to management rather than business.

"Of course, it's different. You are different." Yuan Xiangcheng seemed to see Han Bei was in a low mood, patted his shoulder and said with a smile:

"The way Zhang Jizhi makes money has already been figured out by others, but you're making money that no one else has ever made. The difference is huge."

Han Bei was immediately encouraged to see that Yuan Shikai did not favor one over the other, but after thinking about it, he decided that it would not be appropriate to take all the credit for the ginseng matter, so he explained.

"This time, the Korean ginseng was sold southward, thanks to Comrade Ji Zhi's connections with the southern gentry." Han Bei praised Zhang Jian again: "Otherwise, it would have been a long time before we could open up the market."

"With the two of you working together, I won't have to worry about the finances outside the customs."

Seeing the fiscal revenue gradually increasing, Yuan Xiangcheng couldn't help but recall the efforts he had made to increase fiscal revenue.

Although the finances outside the Great Wall have barely balanced their income and expenditure in recent years, the investment in railways has been increasing, and military expansion and war preparations also require a lot of money. Naturally, things like ginseng that can make money will become more and more.

After he took charge of Northeast China and North Korea, although the territories were large, the actual tax ratio was very distorted.

The four major taxes in the late Qing Dynasty were likin tax, land tax, salt tax, and customs tax.

Lijin was abolished and replaced by commercial tax, and this revenue was reduced by nearly half. Although there have been signs of gradual increase in recent years, it still cannot return to its previous level in a short period of time and can only be considered half.

Land tax. Since Yuan Shikai spared no effort to promote the strategy of crossing the Great Wall, in order to encourage more people to move outside the Great Wall, the Northeast Reclamation Bureau announced that no land rent would be collected within 3 years and the land rent would be reduced by half within 5 years. Therefore, the land rent can only be counted as half.

The remaining customs duties were under his control, but not all of these taxes were paid by Yuan Xiangcheng. The compensation had to be deducted in proportion before the remaining amount could be deposited into the treasury.

Fortunately, the salt tax in the Northeast region gave Yuan Xiangcheng an unexpected surprise.

He originally thought that there was not much salt tax outside the Great Wall, after all, the famous Changlu Salt Field and Lianghuai Salt Field were not in the Northeast, but the actual situation was quite different.

When Han Bei was counting the financial revenue and expenditure of the three northeastern provinces, he found that the Yingkou Salt Field spent huge amounts of money every year but did not produce much salt. So after investigation, he discovered a great business opportunity.

It turns out that Yingkou's salt industry has a history of 2000 years. It has developed to varying degrees during the Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. It reached its peak in the early Qing Dynasty and once became one of the three largest salt fields in the north.

However, in the late Qianlong period, Yingkou salt was positioned as "tribute salt", and the area began to control its quality, turning the refined white salt with a white color, high purity and good taste into a treasure exclusively for the nobles in the capital. The normal annual output was only a few hundred thousand kilograms.

As for the salt supplied to the people, most of it was inferior salt with a bitter taste, used to distinguish it from tribute salt.

Although there are several differences between tribute salt and ordinary salt, it doesn't take much effort.

In other words, the same salt field can obviously produce salt of the same quality, but it is artificially divided into different grades. It is a waste of money to make money, which Yuan Xiangcheng thinks is a real waste of resources.

When Han Bei discovered this situation, he immediately reported it to the higher authorities. Yuan Shikai then established the Salt Transport Commissioner of the Three Northeastern Provinces to manage salt production, transportation, and taxation outside the Great Wall.

As the full-power governor, officials below the third rank were appointed without the need for review by the Ministry of Personnel, and only a list needed to be submitted afterwards.

While establishing the Salt Transport Commissioner, he also decided to introduce salt-pounding machines to increase salt production, hoping that the Yingkou Salt Field would open up the market by relying on the quality of its refined white salt.

High quality and low price are the hard truths in any era.

After the introduction of modern processing containers, the salt industry in Yingkou area has supplied a large amount of salt to the north and has occupied the salt market in the Bohai Rim and North Korea.

So the total is 0, half and zero are counted as 6, and there are seven kinds of taxes. Yuan and Xiang's nine cities can only collect two complete and two half-collected .

This is why he spared no effort to seek revenue outside of the four major taxes, because he is now walking with a limp and cannot walk steadily.

Only by continuously increasing revenue can we cope with future crises. Otherwise, we will be reduced to borrowing money from foreigners or exploiting the people.

Yuan Shikai was unwilling to do the former, and he couldn't bear to do the latter. He couldn't do such a thing as collecting taxes more than 90 years later.

After all, if the father has to suffer a little so that the child can enjoy life, that's fine. It's only 20 years, so I can just grit my teeth and endure it.

But if the tax is collected after 90 years, his descendants will be suppressed and unable to rise up. If that is the case, then why did he go through so much trouble to travel through time?

Wouldn't it be better to take good care of yourself, lie down and wait until 1921 to actively send activity funds to several representatives on the ship, and become an angel investor to bless future generations?

Therefore, with this idea in mind, Yuan Xiangcheng kept looking for ways to make money without directly exploiting the people.

At the end of the 19th century, there was only one way to do this, and that was to establish industry, and not on a small scale, but on a large scale.

So three years ago, Zhang Jian accepted Yuan Shikai's commission and started his industrial journey outside the Great Wall.

In this life, although Zhang Jian started his business 10 years earlier, due to the early investment from Yuan Shikai, his business developed even faster than in the original time and space where the business had a difficult start.

With sufficient financial support, Zhang Jian continued to show his talent as an industrial tycoon.

Although both of them founded a spinning mill, the Incheon Spinning Mill under the Red Confucian Society did not have strong innovation capabilities because it had military orders and could generate income regardless of drought or flood. The products it produced on a daily basis were barely enough.

It’s not bad quality, but it’s not great either, and the price-performance ratio is out of the question.

However, the Dasheng Cotton Mill founded by Zhang Jian started with the daily clothing of ordinary people and developed cotton yarn products for ordinary people. It soon occupied an absolute share of the market outside the Great Wall.

In addition, Zhang Jian also took advantage of the developed agriculture in Northeast China to open a large soybean oil factory specializing in soybean oil pressing business.

In addition, he later saw the lack of large flour mills in the north and opened the Fuxin Flour Mill in Yantai. He purchased wheat from the countryside in Shandong, ground it into flour, and then sold it to Beijing, Tianjin, and outside the Great Wall.

In addition, Zhang Jian also took over the match factory, pencil factory and other light industrial factories under the Red Confucian Society. After some restructuring, he not only increased the workers' wages, but also greatly increased sales.

The factory, which had been doing fairly well under the Red Confucian Society, immediately became prosperous when it came into the hands of Zhang Jian.

In just a few years, Zhang Jian became famous for his industrial development and was praised by his contemporaries as the best businessman among scholars outside the Great Wall.

When Yuan Xiangcheng learned that Zhang Jian was doing so well in the Northeast's industry, he could only sigh that the world line had come to an end again. The honor that should have been given to this "King of Industry" ultimately belonged to someone else.

Although he no longer has the title of top entrepreneur, he still has the reputation of being the number one Confucian businessman.

As his thoughts turned, Yuan Xiangcheng's gaze once again focused on Han Bei in front of him.

"Are you here to see me today just for the Korean ginseng?"

"Yes and no." Han Bei smiled awkwardly. He originally wanted to take credit for sending ginseng, but he didn't expect that he not only took credit for it, but also took credit for others.

After calming down, Han Bei took out a piece of thin paper and handed it to Yuan Xiangcheng.

"Chief Instructor, this is a request from Japan to restart trade."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xiangcheng read the telegram in front of him attentively.

After a while, he heaved a sigh and sighed:

"Han Bei, Ito Hirobumi, I'm afraid he's coming!"

Chapter 196 Ordinary People Ito Hirobumi

"beep!"

A melodious whistle sounded off the coast of North Korea, and the "Taihu Maru", Japan's first domestically produced iron ship, slowly landed in Incheon Wharf.

Since the establishment of the bonded area in Incheon, hundreds of ships have been coming and going every day. The laborers on the dock have long been accustomed to such a not-so-big ship.

Just as the laborers were about to move forward and ask if there was any need for transportation, hundreds of police officers rushed over from a distance, surrounded the dock where the ship was about to dock, and prevented anyone from approaching.

As the boatman dropped the anchor weighing hundreds of pounds, lowered the gangway that was more than ten meters long, and raised the plaster flag with a white background and a red heart, such an ordinary ship finally attracted the attention of everyone on the dock.

Under the gaze of everyone, Hirobumi Ito, wearing a traditional Japanese kimono and leaning on a cane, appeared at the edge of the ship.

The sun was so hot that he could hardly open his eyes.

Hirobumi Ito narrowed his eyes and looked at the towering chimneys in the distance and the thick black smoke coming out of them.

He then turned his gaze closer, looking down at the coolies on the dock, most of whom had braids.

Seeing this scene, Ito Hirobumi took a deep breath and said to himself:

"No, North Korea, Qing Dynasty, here I come."

Then he walked slowly down the gangway.

With a "click", the wooden clogs stepped on the solid ground of Incheon Wharf.

Hirobumi Ito also officially became the first Japanese to land in Korea in an official capacity in seven years since the Japanese army was driven into the sea in 1887.

"Ito, Hisa. Ito-sama, long time no see."

Under the protection of the police, Jin Bingshi stepped forward and greeted Ito Hirobumi in the Japanese he had just learned:

"I am the chief inspector of the Qing Empire's coastal province."