Chapter 314: Rectification and United Salt Industry (2)

"Well!"

Frowning, Li Han pulled the reins, and his face was obviously very unpleasant.

"Don't worry about this matter. It's really too chaotic recently. The military government couldn't open its hands to clean up. Now our initial strategy has been realized. Some of the officials who have quickly corrupted and the officials of the former Qing court still have the airs of the official. This time, we will take advantage of the opportunity of reform to clean up together!"

He snorted coldly, causing Zhang Meisheng's face to change slightly, knowing that the coach was already furious!

"However, Grand Marshal... Our military government's new military expenditure is too much, more than twice that of Wuchang. Do you think, should we cut some of it?"

"no!"

Li Han refused decisively, "The military expenditure in the future will only increase and there will be no possibility of reduction! In troubled times, force is the only guarantee for the existence of the military government! Why do we blatantly seize control of Yichang and western Hubei, and Wuchang can only send electricity? Because of force, Wuchang knows that as long as the revolutionary new army in my hands is not lost for a day, he can only watch and be anxious!"

"But you reminded me that the excess military expenditure has become one of the hidden dangers that have dragged down the financial situation of the military government. We still need to re-open the financial resources to maintain the good financial situation of the military government... Don't worry, I have my own arrangements. By the way, all the merchants and gentry in our military government that you have invited, have you invited them?"

"When the Grand Marshal returns, we have invited them... Not only have we invited them, but some of them have even been uninvited. Now we are all waiting for you outside the city!"

Li Han nodded and suddenly turned around and said to Chen Tianxiang who was following him: "Boyong, go and arrange for the civilians to send the machine to Camp No. 1, and ask the city defense team to take a closer look! Anyone who does not hold my military order approaches and immediately alerts him. If he does not leave after warning, he will be allowed to arrest directly, and those who resist or intend to destroy are allowed to be shot on the spot!"

"yes!"

His adjutant saluted and gently clamped his legs down the seated horse. He immediately controlled the horse to ride back.

After a while, he heard his shout from behind: "Everyone obeys the order, go here with me!"

Chen Tianxiang led the convoy to Camp No. 1 marked by the military government in the suburbs. It was a salt-rich mine drawn by Li Han based on his memory. It seemed to store nearly 3 billion tons of rock salt mines. More importantly, it was one of the most convenient places for collection in the entire Yingcheng salt mine in Li Han's memory. The underground burial depth seemed to be only about 300 to 350 meters! According to his calculations, if nearly 1,000 civilians were mobilized to start building salt wells, it would only take about a month. If he wanted to be faster, he could mobilize more civilians!

Of course, these are just his own calculations. It will definitely be a lot of trouble to build a real underground salt well. We also need to listen to the opinions of several German technicians he hired from Major Werner. They had arrived in Yingcheng a few days ago under his arrangement to evaluate the rock salt deposits underground in Camp No. 1 and began to arrange the construction of Camp No. 1!

After a month of overdraft over-mining, the gypsum salt mines of more than ten meters and dozens of meters in Yingcheng have reached the time when they have to seal the well for the second time to store water. It is expected that one of the main fiscal revenues of the central Hubei military government, the salt affairs, can generate about half a month of revenue for the military government at most, so they have to temporarily seal the well! Moreover, with the continuous announcement of liberation of the southeast coastal provinces, I see the huge profits of salt caused by the inability to self-sufficient salt in the provinces of Lianghu, I don’t know how many salt merchants have taken action. Now the salt price in Hubei has generally dropped by 20% to 30% compared to a month ago. It is expected that by mid-December, it will drop by a few more%.

However, the profits of the salt industry are too large. Just like the current military government's calculations, because of cooperation with many salt merchants, the newly refined salt can be sold. After deducting the cost and waived transportation costs, it is almost 6,500% (sorry, the salt industry said it was 7,500% to 8,500% in the late Qing Dynasty, and about 4,500%, and I took the average value). Even coarse salt can achieve huge profits of 3,000%, dozens of times the profits. No wonder in China's thousands of years of history, salt has become one of the giant funds of traditional government revenue!

Therefore, as the gypsum mines enter the water storage period, the establishment of the United Salt Industry Company, which he had planned a month ago, is imminent. Once the underground high-quality rock salt mine in Yingcheng is developed, within the next few years, Yingcheng Salt Industry alone can ensure that all military expenditures of the new army in the five towns will be surplus. Moreover, in his industrial blueprint, Yingcheng will replace Xiaogan and become one of the newly planned transportation hubs of the military government. It is one of the central light chemical bases connecting Hubei, Hunan, Henan, and Sichuan!

A lot of thoughts suddenly turned into my mind. Li Han couldn't help but smile on his face, raised his horse whip and pointed at the direction of the city, saying, "That's good, let's not let those gentry wait for a long time, each of them is a wallet in my eyes. Now the military government's finances are a little difficult, but I'm dreaming about them. It's rare that they came to the door this time. Can we still not express it?"

"hehe..."

Zhang Meisheng laughed loudly, "Master, please rest assured. I have arranged a banquet in the city. You can go directly to the banquet later!"

"Walk!"

...

"Oh, isn't this a blind man? Your business has been booming recently, but your business is getting more and more prosperous. See, Self-Strength Match, what we use now are all domestic products you produce!"

"For you, you can appreciate it, Da Lai Magistrate..."

"Yo, Chengdegong is here too..."

"Shi Jing, it turns out it's Manager Liu. I'm happy! This person is..."

"Come on, let me introduce you. This is the shopkeeper Li of Yi County!"

"So it's Shopkeeper Li, Cheng De greeted him!"

In front of the south gate of Yingcheng, a group of gentry and merchants greeted each other. Those who attended were all merchants and gentry in Hubei Province. Of course, there were many people coming to Henan, Anhui, and Hunan, and even Sichuan, which was farther away, there were several people. However, compared with those in Hubei Province, it was obviously not the majority! Those who came were all with flexible news. Seeing that Li Han's power was getting bigger and bigger, they would give him some face if they wanted to eat in Hubei. In addition, the several industries that the military government had built some time ago did make many people see the military government.

Some of them want to follow the military government to eat some benefits, some want to eat different food, and of course they have good vision to see some other things from several factories, such as the unusual relationship between the military government and foreigners, and the technology of producing safety matches and the fragrant foreign pancreatic technology that is obviously only mastered by foreigners in China. In addition, the advanced machines of the flour mill are even more advanced than some large flour mills in China. At this moment, no one doubts the relationship between the military government's strength and foreigners!

This time I found out that the military government had a big plan. For a moment, many people who heard the wind rushed to Yingcheng, preparing to cut a piece of it on the possible cake!

When Li Han and a group of people arrived from afar, they were staying at the city gate for a long time and the cold wind suddenly started to make a fuss and gathered in his direction!

"Master, you are back!"

"See you sir!"

"I'm paying homage to you!"

"Well!"

Li Han smiled and nodded to the crowd. Seeing that Miss Zhao was also among the crowd, she immediately smiled a little more on her face and greeted her with a look. When she was about ten meters away from the crowd, she stopped.

After getting off the war horses supported by the guards, he smiled and said loudly: "Why can you please come out of the city to greet me with the cold wind... Hurry, everyone, let's go into the city!"

Everyone spoke in unison: "I dare not!"

After the scene calmed down for a moment, Zhang Meisheng stepped forward with a wink and said, "Master, I have arranged a banquet in the city. Why don't you guys use the banquet with Master?"

Seeing a group of people trying to ask questions, but they were a little restrained, Li Han also helped, "Forget it, I know what you are asking for today, so I can use some wine and food with me. I rode on the road early this morning. Because the convoy was moving slowly on the road, I returned to Yingcheng after dinner. It happened that I was hungry at this time, so don't bother you to dislike..."

"I dare not...I dare not!"

"please!"

"Then, I'll disturb you!"

When Li Han waited for the horses, someone naturally helped to take care of them. A group of people followed Zhang Meisheng and soon arrived at a well-decorated restaurant in the city - Wanxianglou. It is said that it was the property of the Du family, who had dealt with the military government.

"The handsome man is here..."

As soon as the group arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, a clever-eyed man came into the heart and shouted, "Master, please, Du Shijun, the shopkeeper of Wanchunlou, here to wait for the Grandmaster's arrival."

Under Zhang Meisheng's guidance, Li Han and others arrived at the door. The shopkeeper of Wanxianglou personally greeted him, with indescribable fear and excitement on their faces.

Seeing that he was a little kind-hearted, Li Han threw a questioning look at Zhang Meisheng. He stepped forward and came to his ear and whispered: "Sir, this is the Du family's property. You asked me to let go some time ago, but the old man of the Du family also intends to participate in the shares, so he signaled the restaurant at home to contact us and said that if you need it, you can use it at any time! Grand Marshal, the Du family still has some influence in Hubei and has ordered their armed servants to be disbanded. Do you think..."

It turned out that it was the Du family showing goodwill. He nodded slightly, then clasped his fists and said with a smile: "I'm going to bother Manager Du today!"

"Don't disturb...Don't disturb!"

After seeing that Li Han had no other opinions, Du Shijun breathed a sigh of relief on his face and hurriedly walked in with them!

"There is no need for the second floor. Manager Du, prepare the first floor. We have some things to discuss today. The second floor must be some private rooms, but it is not suitable for us to have a dinner together today, next time!"

When he entered the restaurant and saw Du Shijun wanting to welcome a group of people upstairs, he immediately called him.

"Yes, yes, yes, great coach, and everyone, please wait a moment. I'll arrange for the waiter to clean up!"

When Du Shijun heard that they were eating in the lobby on this floor, he suddenly felt sweat from his forehead. He originally thought that Li Han would go to the second floor to have a meal, so he only cleaned the second floor to the private room. Unexpectedly, it was the first floor. He arranged for the waiter to clean up immediately.

After about a few minutes of delay, the group of people entered the table. In addition to Zhang Meisheng, there were also blind men, Miss Zhao, salt merchant Liu Weiyuan and a middle-aged man whom they didn't know. In addition, there were several other people. They were all heavyweights in the province who came to Yingcheng this time, and there was still an empty seat. He thought there was no one to sit in, but he didn't expect that not long after, an old man with a slightly old man came into the seat with the help of Manager Du. He was the old man of the Du family and had a relationship with him.

Mr. Du greeted him, and Li Han nodded and replied. The matter has been found out. The mistake was on his two sons. He had some good feelings for this old man who was unwilling to contact the smoke, so he did not want to make him look ugly!

Because many people are not very familiar with each other, he just nodded slightly and looked at Zhang Meisheng. His table is the main table, and everyone who sits in has to be arranged by Zhang Meisheng. It should not be simple for a few people who can sit in it!

"Please take your seat. While the wine and the food banquet have not been delivered yet, let's chat about things that everyone is curious about at night!"

Li Han sat in a seat with a little smile on his face, which was particularly friendly, not as difficult as many people speculated.

"Let's listen carefully!"

The crowd secretly shouted, "It's true that today is not in vain, I believe I can hear some good news!"

Zhang Meisheng nodded to Li Han, and after whispering a few words from a soldier he brought, the soldier immediately went down. In a few minutes, six strong soldiers came in. Each of them held a stack of tall documents. Behind them, there were several German technicians he invited.

"Please wait. I believe many people have heard that the military government has made big moves recently? It's really good. This time the action is indeed quite big... A month ago, when I was commanding the war in Jingshan, the military government hired dozens of foreign technicians. After more than a month of investigation, it discovered a great thing. Everyone in the province knows that I, Yingcheng, is a capital of ointment, but few people have explored why the ointment mine can produce salt? Let me tell you a good news. The last time I mentioned that the military government found a reserve of hundreds of millions of dans of rock salt underground in Yingcheng has been confirmed and it is true! According to the experience of foreign technicians who have been engaged in underground exploration for decades, this time the huge mineral reserves discovered may be more, and it is not impossible to reach millions of dans, and the quality is excellent, not much different from the thousand-year-old salt in Sichuan!"

Looking at the group of people below, he smiled, "Everyone knows that 'salt' is the livelihood of the people. Every year, the people in my country need a total of 10 million dan (500,000 tons) to 11 million dan (550,000 tons) of salt, which can generate more than 15 million taels of silver every year. This data was still in the Guangxu period. It is said that the court collected a total of 19 million taels of salt tax last year. This is a huge industry... isn't it?"

He smiled and said, "The military government intends to develop this huge salt mine. The machine was ordered from the German Empire a month ago. It was recently shipped to Jingzhou and then arrived in Yingcheng today. At present, the factory in the salt mine area is under construction. The military government has also begun to recruit salt mine workers. Because the mineral deposit is so large that it is beyond the expectations of the military government. Although Li brought some financial back when he returned to China, it is difficult to develop this huge treasure alone. This is just the past

The more than two million taels of silver that I originally prepared for in the first batch of machinery procurement has been spent. In order to carry out the second batch of machinery procurement and expand the salt production capacity of the salt company to be established, I intend to find more powerful forces to invest together. You are all the elites of Jingchu. Maybe everyone knows that now, the military government of Hubei has made a daily gain of 10,000 taels by relying solely on salt production. In front of you is the prospectus of this salt company. If you are interested, you can take a look. It is better to pass the time!"

"hiss..."

There was a sound of sucking air conditioners in the house, and the old foxes suddenly narrowed their eyes, and they were so excited that they could not find the north. What was the most profitable thing in the late Qing Dynasty? Maybe many people couldn't explain clearly, but among the richest groups in China, salt merchants could definitely rank among the top three. Even during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperor went south and was treated by salt merchants, and the expenses were not hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels each time, but salt merchants could easily swallow it, which shows how powerful his financial resources were!

If it is true as he said, Yingcheng discovered a huge salt mine, which has the potential to become the second thousand-year salt capital, then, you will definitely make a big profit in the future when you invest some stocks now!

At that moment, someone couldn't help but anxiously opened the prospectus that had just been placed on the table in front of him and started reading it carefully.

"United Salt Industry Prospectus, Military Government System!"

After opening it, you can see these big characters on the first page, which are covered with the official seal of the Hubei branch military government and the seal of Li Han’s Jingchu Guardian.

The paper is made of telegraph paper, so the quality is very good, and the layout is also neat. The official seal of the military government appeared on the first page. Li Han wanted to use these details, like a group of gentry and merchants to prove that the military government has the intention and power to form a joint-stock salt mining company!

Li Zongmei, a big salt merchant in Yi County, had already met with Zhang Meisheng before because of Liu Weiyuan's glory. He learned that he was the one who informed the military government that the Qing army might have traveled south in two directions, and his salt business also had a lot of cooperation with the military government. Therefore, he was arranged to be with Li Han and a prospectus was also assigned in front of him.
Chapter completed!