There are men and women in front of us. Most of the men and women are in their prime. The life of boiling salt is very hard and cannot stop at the beginning. At least one whole day, the weak ones can't stand it.

Most men wore shabby fat jackets, and some wore iron mesh boots that were almost rotten. The quality of the robes and boots has been at least twenty years. According to the Daming Wei Office system, fat jackets are released every three years. However, Min Yuanqi remembered that the last time he sent a fat jacket was about the 20th year of Wanli, which was probably when he was preparing for the Japanese. Women wore blue or blue jackets and skirts, and the dyed colors were almost faded, revealing the original color of the earth cloth. There were patches on the robes, which were no different from men, let alone the color and style.

There were more than 100 people in the crowd, but it was not all the strong men of Min Yuanqi, a hundred households. In Min Yuanqi's memory, there were at least 70 or 80 people following Han Sen of the General Banner to Huai'an to serve, and more than 100 households remained. The total number of households in the entire 100 households was indeed more than 110, but including the Yu Ding and the women and children, the total population should be around 770 people. The number of soldiers and Yu Ding in each small banner is quite large.

This is quite inconsistent with Min Yuanqi's memory of the military households in the Ming Dynasty, and it also makes him feel a little confused.

Min Yuanqi really didn't know that Dahewei, Huai'anwei, and Nanjing's guards along the canal rarely escape.

These garrisons rely on water to draw water, and can do business along the river, and can be detained to manage the canal ships. The transport ships northward were also these garrisons who contributed their efforts to the court to provide freight fees.

These two canal garrisons also have their own shipyards, and their lives are still difficult than those of the private households, but they are still much better than those of the northern garrisons. In the early Qing Dynasty, the guards lost their military functions and completely became ship transporters. Because they were originally inherited by the garrisons and had strong organizational nature, they gradually formed into secret organizations, which was the early Qing Gang.

Seeing Min Yuanqi coming, a thin man quickly jogged over, put the hand held in front of Min Yuanqi, and carefully brushed it clean-and then grinned with yellow teeth and said, "Sir, sit down."

Min Yuanjin laughed and scolded: "Liang Shifa, you are so terrible! You are the best to welcome him. It is hard for you to prepare this exchange early!"

Liang Shifa said: "I was so happy when I saw the adults, but it was because my family was about to lose food... I'll forget it, the wife and the baby couldn't stand it."

Min Yuanqi nodded slightly. Liang Shifa was very clever and good at greetings, but he was also an honest person in the Gu family.

Seeing Min Yuanqi coming, several men also came over, and each stood below Min Yuanqi and bowed to him.

Min Yuanqi looked over one by one, and his inner memories and the portraits in front of him gradually overlapped and turned into one.

The blurry feeling after the time travels gradually becomes clear. The original erratic feeling has faded away. I originally seemed to be in the picture, with a sense of ethereal and illusion. The people in front of me greeted me one by one. When they listened to these people's words, they did not feel strange, but a sense of familiarity, like a stone thrown into the pond. When the ripples rippled, the still picture became lively and vivid.

The people in front of us are Min Yuanzhong, Xiaoqian official, Yang Zhijin, Xiaoqian official, Gao Cuncheng, Xiaoqian official, Liang Shifa, and Min Yuanjin, all of them are Xiaoqian military officers.

According to the Daming vassal system, each hundred households has one hundred twenty flags, two general flags, ten small flags, and hundreds of households are the sixth rank. The test is for a hundred households to be the sixth rank, the general flag is the seventh rank, and the small flag is the seventh rank.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the military officials were noble and the civil servants were low. When the military was prosperous, the military officers had an important position. They had real power and had the opportunity to be awarded titles and became nobles. Civil officials only provided logistics management areas and were suppressed by military officials. During the Yongle period, civil officials took the initiative to transfer military positions.

After Yongle, especially after the civil and industrial transformation, civil officials gradually surpassed military positions. The small flag officials in front of them were all seventh rank, but they were covered in fireworks, dressed in rags, and even had rare food and clothing.

"Thank you all." Min Yuanqi nodded with a serious expression and said, "How much salt can I get?"

The few small flag officials felt a bit strange in their hearts. The Min family had a relatively high status in Yuntiguan Guard. Not only Min Yuanqi's 300th household, but also Min clan members in the other hundred households. Because of their strong family strength, Min Yuanqi was only in his early twenties and was a little sloppy in his usual manner and a bit of a playboy. The person in front of him seemed to have changed his personalities, simple and heavy, which made people feel a little awe.

The few small banner officials in front of him were Min Yuanjin obeying orders under Min Yuanqi's orders. Min Yuanzhong was mainly responsible for daily farming, Liang Shifa pipe utensils and warehousing, Gao Cuncheng and Yang Zhijin were mainly responsible for decocting salt by the sea.

When the salt goods came out, Liang Shifa was the one responsible for taking action, so this person was the most anxious.

After all, it is impossible to support the family by relying on farming. Dahewei is responsible for the transportation of the canal. He has to transport more than 100,000 stones of grain to the capital every year. It is hard to work and it takes several months to go out at one time. The income from sailing is limited. What can really make money to supplement the family's income is the salt cooking farm in front of him. After getting salt, there is no need to worry about sales. The price is relatively stable. If you take action, you will not be hungry during the current spring famine.

Min Yuanqi felt a little guilty. He accidentally fell to the bottom of the valley in his previous life. His soul passed through this. He had been unable to adapt before. He hid at home without seeing anyone or doing anything. He tried hundreds of households, and no one could interfere with his own governance. Now he knew how many things had been delayed. He hid for a few more days, and he was afraid that the people in front of him would go hungry.

Liang Shifa clasped his fists and said, "Sir, I have cooked more than 12,000 kilograms of salt this month. According to the current market, each stone salt is five cents and silver. If you want copper coins, it is 550 cents per dan. If you sell them all, you can get 50 taels of silver. If you exchange it for money, it will cost more than 50,000 yuan. It may be a little different, but it is not big."

Min Yuanqi nodded slightly. No wonder Liang Shifa could manage the storage of objects, and it turned out that he could settle accounts.

The price of salt was also good. In the Ming Dynasty, the salt price was extremely cheap. The most expensive salt price was about ten cents per kilogram. People at that time scolded them very fiercely. Huaiyang salt production land was more than 500 cents per kilogram, and wholesale was more than 500 cents per kilogram, and in the hands of the people it was about seven or eight cents to ten cents. The price was quite cheap compared to the previous Song Dynasty.

In this era, four or five out of a hundred people were literate, but even fewer could settle accounts. Liang Shifa worked as a clerk in a business company when he was a teenager. He could have gone step by step to the shopkeeper, but unfortunately the business went bankrupt and could only return to the ward office to inherit the position of the small flag official. It was funny that he went from the seventh-rank small flag official to become a clerk in a business company.

Liang Shifa said again: "According to the rules, adults can get 20%, which is ten taels of silver. This is what we have earned in the past two months after the New Year, which is much more than usual."

Min Yuanqi said: "What is the current price of grain?"

Liang Shifa said cautiously: "Shanyang, Huaian Prefecture, Yancheng, and Andong, the prices vary. There are still many grain merchants in Huaian Prefecture, so the prices may be cheaper. Brown rice noodles are rough, four cents per stone, and fine rice and white flour may not double.

"What are you thinking about?" Min Yuanjin smiled and said, "We dare to think about eating fine rice and white noodles in our daily life? We can eat a meal of white noodles during the Chinese New Year, and a bowl of fine white noodles for the baby's birthday. Just be content."

Min Yuanqi sighed and knew why the people in front of him were all dressed in dough.

Fifty taels of silver were enough to buy more than 100 stone coarse grains, but hundreds of people were eating them. Moreover, Min Yuanzhong took away fifteen taels, and the small bannermen also paid more, so the ordinary military households took even fewer.

Every family has to work hard. In the past two months, there are less than one stone of coarse grains, and on average, each person only has a few taels of staple food every day.

When it comes to summer harvest, life will be better for each family, but it is not much better.

50% of the grain income is harvested by the commander of the military, 20% of the national taxes are sold, 20% are divided by small and medium-sized military officers such as the 100-household bannermen, and the remaining 10% are divided by the remnants of the bannermen who really farmed.

That is to say, even if you eat brown rice and grains, if you don’t cook salt to supplement the situation, the flag soldiers of the garrison in front of you will probably have to starve to death.

In later generations, there were many people, and even many people took the initiative to eat coarse grains and brown rice, but the calories of a bag of snacks are equal to a few kilograms of staple food. People in this era lacked meat, less oil and water, and no high-calorie snacks to supplement their bodies. Middle-aged men had to do heavy work, and they had to consume at least three or four kilograms of staple food every day to avoid harming their bodies. In fact, these people in front of them were in long-term malnutrition, and they were overdrawing their lives.

It is not uncommon for scholars and officials to live to 60 or 70 years. Ordinary people, regardless of the civilian households, have an average life expectancy of less than 40.

"Let's go to Huai'an Mansion, Liang Shifa and Min Yuanjin will take their people with you." Min Yuanqi waved his hand and said, "Thirty-five taels are all made of grain...My fifteen taels will also buy brown rice!"

The Dahewei Yuntiguan Defence Station is more than 200 miles away from Huai'an Prefecture, nearly 200 miles away from Shanyang, and Yancheng is more than 200 miles away. The nearest Andong is less than 100 miles away, and Baoying is the farthest, more than 300 miles away. It is considered the closest to Haizhou and Hai'an Prefecture. Dongyang is too far away, and there are no official roads to Haizhou and Yancheng, and the road is difficult to walk. Only by going to Huai'an and Shanyang is the waterway along Huai'an. Although the distance is far, you can get back and forth in five or six days.

Min Yuanzhong handled the assault, received the official robe and seal, and also went to the Dahewei Commander's Office in Huai'an Prefecture to handle the work.

Unexpectedly, Min Yuanjin and others had a strange look. Min Yuanqi glanced at Min Yuanjin and said, "Did I say it wrong?"

"Brother Yuan Qi may have just recovered from illness..." Min Yuan Jin said: "We have to give Yang Ti 20% of the silver we get from selling salt, which is ten taels of silver."

"Yang Tiju? Yang Shida's salt merchant?"

Min Yuanqi frowned and then suddenly remembered.

The rest of the military officers in the garrison will not want to take the harvest of salt. They will also control the flag army under their command to boil salt. The commander of the guards and other senior officials will share the profits with three sections and two respects. After all, they cannot reach that long hand, and boiling salt is not as long as the land acres, so they cannot verify it.

However, during transportation, there will be people from the Salt Course Testimonial patrol along the Huai River and the official roads. If it is handled according to national laws, selling private salt can be punished with a serious crime. However, no one took it seriously during the Chongzhen period, and private salt was flooded everywhere, and the income from the court's salt course was quite limited.

Most of these so-called inspectors are powerful local salt merchants. They donated silver to buy them from the deputy who was a seventh-ranked deputy, and then brought a group of young men to blackmail them everywhere in the name of banning private salt.

With Yancheng as the core, a large number of people in this type of person can cook salt within a radius of hundreds of miles.

Min Yuanqi thought that he had only saved twenty taels of silver in his family, so he had to give ten taels for free this time. He was angry and waved his hand and said, "I have worked hard for nearly two months, and I have only fifty taels. If they don't do anything, they will take ten taels away? From this time on, we will not give away our money."

Liang Shifa showed an uneasy expression on his face and rubbed his hands and said, "Sir, this is an old example."

"Old example?" Min Yuanqi became angry. Looking at the soldiers in front of him, he felt that they were really obscene and had a very despicable appearance. He was also quite unwilling to lead this group of people. He also intended to find a breakthrough and said coldly: "This old example is broken in my hands. Whoever wants to take the silver needs to ask me the knife!"

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Chapter completed!