The Rich and the Idlers of the Red Chamber

Tu Mingyi went south according to the order, Chaozhong calmed down on the surface, but secretly there was a turbulent undercurrent.

Maritime trade and so on may be involved with officials from the south of the Yangtze River and some princes and aristocrats in Beijing who are far-sighted and willing to take risks. management scope of the company.

In various waterways such as the Yangtze River Canal, how many passenger ships and merchant ships pass by every day. This year, the salary of an official is only so much. For example, Jia She, the Marquis of Anle, only has a salary of about 1000 taels a year. Just like ordinary people, food, clothing and chewing are enough.

The question is, how is this possible?Just like in later generations, some celebrities often have various rumors of bankruptcy or insolvency. Don't they earn a lot?But in fact, when you reach a certain position, you have to have a certain pomp. When people go out to ride horses, you can’t ride donkeys. No, this is outrageous!

The imperial court has arranged an official residence for you. You don’t have to pay rent and you can live there for free. The problem is, in such a big place with a garden, you should raise a lot of servants. You need monthly money every month, and you need money for running errands and doing errands. You should make clothes all year round.The main wife wants to go out to socialize with those officials' wives, so she can't wear the same clothes and jewelry every time!If you want Hongxiu Tianxiang to study at night, the concubine must give some money, or else she will serve you with a naked face, and she won't be able to cheer up!

Therefore, for officials, salaries and other pocket money are not enough, let alone supporting their families!If you want to live a prosperous life, it is definitely not enough to just count on salary or some kind of respect. Although it is a good way to buy a farm or something, it has to be said that the output of the land is the most stable, but the actual It's not high in terms of quality, not to mention, after many years of founding the country, there are owners of serious fertile land, so it's not easy to buy a better Zhuangzi.

Therefore, it is a good choice to buy a few shops and hang them under the name of the servants at home.In this case, it is inevitable that we need to communicate with the north and the south, transport corresponding specialties from various places, and sell them in our own shops. The cost of land transportation is obviously much higher than water transportation, and it may not be more convenient than water transportation. Therefore, on the Yangtze River Canal, those real large merchant ships , Which family doesn't have the name of Lord XX, Lord XX, a steward comes out, and what he holds in his hand is his master's post.

If you win the exam, the land tax and corvee will have no chance for Juren, and some exorbitant taxes will not be collected from the class above Juren. , officials are not allowed to do business, so those shops are either listed in the name of the woman in the inner house, or they are placed in the name of the house slave. Because they got involved with these dignitaries, the tax they had to pay was cut down by a large amount. Even if they didn't pay, the tax collectors of the Shibo Department didn't dare to force them.

And even if an official takes a foreign appointment or returns to Beijing to report on his duties, or the family members of the official return to their hometown, there will still be some merchant ships who are willing to pay tribute and name the official, so as to save the checkpoints along the way. Taxes to be paid.One or two ships is enough, now all kinds of circumstances add up, every year because of the power of these officials, the unpaid taxes and fees are an unbelievable number.

Now it's time to strictly investigate the city shipping department. If they were investigated in the past, there would be very few innocent people in Beijing, and everyone would be scolding endlessly in their hearts, eager to get rid of the matter immediately.

But this has little to do with Jia Amnesty, he doesn't do such low-level things, tax evasion can make him a little more money, and he has to get favors for nothing.

Jia Shen has a soft spot for natural and environmentally friendly things. After making various tricks with water power, Jia Shen aimed at solar energy.He does not need to engage in photovoltaic power generation. It is quite simple to convert solar energy into heat energy.

Originally, Jia Shen wanted to make a solar water heater. However, there is no running water these days, and it is a bit troublesome to supply and discharge water. If you want to do this, you'd better build a water tank or a water tower. Therefore, Jia Shen finally decided to do it first. Let's talk about a few solar cookers. After a lot of trouble finding craftsmen, Jia Amnesty's village has some weird gadgets, big and small. At first glance, it looks very uncoordinated.However, for the sake of efficiency, this thing can’t just change its shape or add some patterns and colors on it. Jia Amnesty didn’t plan to use this for himself. He thought it would be mass-produced for tenants. Can't make up my mind.

When Tu Mingyun ran over, he saw a few things that looked like large bamboo hats placed on the open space and on the roof. They were shiny and seemed to be pasted with tin foil, which was a bit dazzling at first glance.

"Enhou, what's this thing?" Tu Mingyun came here many times, and he didn't treat himself as an outsider, and asked curiously, pointing to those solar cookers.

Jia She explained to Tu Mingyun: "Take this, as long as there is sun in the future, you can put the kettle here to boil water. It doesn't cost charcoal, and the water boils quickly, but it takes up too much space. , The cost is also high, I originally wanted tin foil, but the tin foil is not smooth enough, so I can only get silver foil!"

"Silver foil?" Tu Mingyun's eyeballs were almost protruding, "Enhou, you have money and have nowhere to spend it. You need to boil water, pick some firewood and come back. How much money did you spend? You have the money to make silver foil , I'm afraid people will be willing to burn boiling water for a lifetime!"

Jia Amnesty didn't explain, dissolving the silver into the quicksilver, and getting it into the solar cooker doesn't really take much silver. However, in these days, this kind of thing is indeed a bit of a waste, so I have to spread my hands: "I was just doing it for fun. After I made it, I realized that people who can afford it don't care about the artificial charcoal, and people who care about it don't want to use it at all!"

Tu Mingyun leaned over, looked at his deformed face and figure on the curved surface, and praised, "You have the ability to put silver foil on this thing, why not make it a glass mirror!"

One word awakened the dreamer, Jia She could not remember how to make glass, he always wanted to make glass, but never thought about it, so he just bought glass and came back to make a mirror by himself.What's more, the method of making glass doesn't seem to be very difficult. Jia She remembers that when he was a child, he read an interesting science article about how glass was discovered in the first place, saying that a group of sailors moved a large block of alkali and built a stove on the beach for cooking. , As a result, after cooking, I found some irregular glass blocks on the beach, that is to say, the raw materials of the glass should be quartz sand and soda ash, and maybe other things. After a few more tries, it will come out!

Jia She got excited all of a sudden, he patted Tu Mingyun on the shoulder: "It's really a good idea, just say a word to the lord, I'll make a glass mirror later, I will give you a share of the lord!"

Tu Mingyun was taken aback, and looked at Jia She with some surprise: "Enhou, you really know how to make glass mirrors?"

Jia She chuckled: "What's so difficult about this? I made it later, and I'll send you a few to the prince first. When the time comes, you can completely mount mirrors on the wall and play with it!"

Tu Mingyun thought of the mirrors on the walls of his house, and suddenly felt a chill in his heart: "What are you talking about, the walls are covered with mirrors, what a joke! But it's agreed, when the mirrors are made, I will give you a few more. I!"

After Jia Amnesty thought of other places, he also felt that those solar cookers were more of an eyesore, so he simply asked someone to take them away first, and then gave them as rewards to the capable servants in charge. Well, you can also get one for Ah Shou, let him Playing around, after making plans, he looked at Tu Mingyun and said with a smile: "My lord, you came here today to give me advice on how to make money!"

Tu Mingyun regained his spirits immediately, and said, "Enhou, I'm here this time, and I'd like to ask you to help point out the way!"

Jia Amnesty said a bit rascally: "I'm just an idler. The prince has countless capable people. If you want me to point you in the right direction, shouldn't I be making fun of it?"

"Enhou, you are too modest, aren't you!" Tu Mingyun didn't get angry with Jia She, and said with a smile, "Father and Emperor have already said, Enhou, you are a talent of the country, you can't take it lightly! So, Whenever I have a problem, don't I come to Enhou you?"

Jia She chuckled: "Your lord, you can drive away all the staff members of your palace. If you have any problems, you can come to me, an idler, and what's the use of raising those people? Why don't you just take the money from raising them?" Give it to me!"

Tu Mingyun didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Enhou, you are not short of money, right? How did you acquire the virtue of looking for money!"

Jia She said righteously: "What do you mean by not being short of money? Problems in the world that can be solved with money are not problems. If they can't be solved, then it means that you are not rich enough! Besides, many things have to be done properly. The first time I gave advice to a sage, the sage gave me rewards, but when it was your turn, the lord, you didn't get anything out of it, this is really unreasonable!"

Tu Mingyun couldn't help being amused by Jia She's words: "Enhou is so unreasonable, alright, if this matter is resolved, not only will I give you a thank you gift from Enhou, but the emperor will also give you a reward. In this way, You should be satisfied!"

Only then did Jia Shen say: "That's the truth, come on, my lord, please come inside, let's drink tea and talk slowly!"

Tu Mingyun laughed and said, "Drinking a cup of tea from you, Enhou, is really not easy!"

Jia She also smiled and said: "That's not true, my lord, do you think anyone can drink my tea when they come to me!"

After the joke, Tu Mingyun finally got down to business: "Father has been worrying about Shibosi's affairs these days. As a son, I am not as good as fourth brother. I went south in person to help my father. But, I think, even if the problem is found this time, the person who should be killed will be killed, and the person who should be replaced will also be replaced. However, it is a temporary solution, not the root cause! People like you, Enhou, say it is love Money, however, has always been obtained in a proper way, and those who do not take any crooked paths are a minority after all. It is too difficult to stop government-business collusion or something! I wanted to see if there was any solution once and for all, but I just couldn’t think of it , I just thought of you, Enhou!"