The pirate attack on May 1st had no impact on Wei Zhuangsuo. Many people even did not know about the pirate attack.

The eleven captive pirates are being guarded by two soldiers every day as they build the new wall of Fort Erwei. They eat the worst food and do the heaviest work. If nothing happens, they will die of exhaustion here.

No one would pity them.

The No. 2 new salt field was cooked from April 30th to May 3rd. It took four days to cook 47 stones of snowflake salt. When the news was sent to Su Ren, Su Ren opened his mouth in surprise. According to the plan, two tons of snowflake salt were cooked in a month.

Based on three speed calculations, this new No. 2 salt field can harvest hundreds of stones of snowflake salt in one month.

Including more than 8 shi of snowflake salt cooked in the new salt field at the end of last month, Erweibao has now accumulated more than 55 shi of snowflake salt. The value of these salts is at least 5,000 taels of silver.

5,000 taels of silver was a huge sum of money. The average annual income of the Ming Dynasty court was only 20 million taels of silver, which was distributed to nearly 200 million people, each of whom only had 100 taels of silver.

In Su Ming's view, the social contradictions of the Ming Dynasty can be summed up. The essence is that productivity cannot keep up with the rapid population growth, so human life is not valuable. There are refugees everywhere, rebellions everywhere, and Japanese pirate attacks everywhere.

The wealthy families and the royal family controlled the entire country. They were not engaged in producing domestic slaves and had countless servants. Those big families relied on domestic slaves to do business and controlled all the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, they themselves felt that businessmen were inferior and respected the way of Confucian saints.

The first time salt was boiled in the No. 2 new salt field, everyone finally understood that the salt production efficiency of the new third-level salt field was not even a little higher than that of the old salt field.

The exterior walls of Erwei Fort have been repaired, and the interior houses are also under construction. Nowadays, many workers do not go home at night, and there are also some families in Salt Fort. Children are often seen playing outside the fort during the day.

The construction of the new city wall of Erwei Fort is very slow. Because tunnels have been dug recently, the new city wall is still in the foundation digging stage.

However, the newly arrived refugees in Wei Zhuang these days are completely different from when they first arrived. They work actively and try their best to find jobs in the fort, because Wei Fort has recently begun to recruit refugees to work.

What was given was real copper coins and silver.

This made all the refugees see hope of living, and they felt more and more grateful to the brothers Su Ren and Su Ming. They all planned to settle down in Wei Zhuang, because the Second Wei Fort did not drive away those who built houses outside the fort.

Refugees, this attitude is enough.

"Eighth brother, our grain store sold 148 shi of grain in one day yesterday. It's only noon today, and the store manager came again and asked me to replenish grain. If this continues, we won't be able to hold on to any amount of grain." Su Ren turned over the food he was making.

Su Ming from the salt field called him home and said anxiously when he saw him.

"Brother, the day before yesterday, you distributed 619 taels of silver to the soldiers and workers in the station, which is more than 2 taels per person on average. If they have money in their hands, why don't they buy some food and save it?

Besides, our grain prices are more than 10% more expensive than Jinshanwei's. If you can earn at least double the profit from selling these grains, you have nothing to worry about." Su Ming looked at his elder brother and said.

"But if our warehouse runs out of grain and the grain store closes, the entire Erweibao will start to panic. Now those new refugees have begun to work to earn wages. When they are rich, they will definitely have to buy a lot of grain. We

The food must be consumed faster and faster," Su Ren said.

"This should not be the case. The average family's hoarding of Shishi grain is already too much. This is basically enough for a family of five people to use for a year. Not to mention the difficulty of preserving if you save too much, all the grain will be gone when the Japanese pirates come.

There are only more than 200 households in our Second Weibao now, and the people who can buy food have basically bought enough food. If you are worried, big brother, call all the flag owners and small flags together and order everyone not to save too much food for the family.

, a few people in the family can only store a few stones of food, and those who hoard food maliciously will be punished.

Although the refugees will sell a large amount of food, they have absolutely no soldiers. Workers' families buy more. If they want to live in Erwei Fort, they must build houses and they will not hoard too much food in a short period of time." Su Ming analyzed.

.

"That's the only way! Eighth brother, the day before yesterday we ordered all the soldiers and workers to settle their military pay. Yesterday, many soldiers in the army received more than ten taels of silver.

They have never seen so much money before, and I always feel a little panicked because I don’t know if this is the right thing to do or not.”

Su Ren always felt that he gave too much to the people. What could have been solved with just one meal, Su Ming insisted on paying them wages, more than ten taels of silver, which was enough for an ordinary family to spend a year.

"Brother, I saw yesterday that in addition to the grain store, the grocery store and cloth store in our fort are doing very well. I have asked the shopkeepers of the two stores to buy more goods today. This time, I will buy more. In the end, more than half of the money you sent out will be

Or return it to your hands.

And yesterday afternoon I took a look at the east, south, west and north villages outside the city. Although the four villages have not yet been completed, women and children have come out together. There are a lot of refractory materials and stones piled up. I have already asked people to start construction.

With the new cement-burning furnace, our cement output will be higher and higher," Su Ming said.

"Well, indeed. Yesterday, many Xiaoqi asked me whether our cement can be sold. Now that they have some money, they want to build their own houses. If there is cement, it will not only be strong, but it will also be much more beautiful."

Su Ren asked.

"Of course it can be sold. Not only is it sold, but the price is even cheaper for us. To us, these cements are just some gypsum stones and workers' wages. The cost of one stone is about 1 tael of silver. We sell it for ten kilograms for a bunch of money.

Let’s make some money,” Su Ming said.

If a stone only sells for one and a half taels of silver, those little flags all have more than a dozen taels of silver in their hands, and they will definitely use cement to build houses. Su Ming also hopes that there will be more solid cement houses in the fort. If Fort Wei is breached, they will

You can also rely on these houses for resistance.

"It's nothing to sell to the people in the fort, but today someone from the Sihai Escort Bureau came and said they wanted to build a car dealership in our fort. In this way, the secret of cement will probably be known to more people soon. By then, those aristocratic families in Jinshanwei will

If a wealthy family buys cement from us, will we sell it?

If Jinshan Weizhen asks us for cement, what should we do? Or should we really hand over the formula?" Su Ren looked at Su Ming and asked.

"Whoever wants to buy it, just sell it to them. If you ask about the cement formula and firing method, you won't be given. If you can't stop it, you will be given the wrong formula. If they are not satisfied, then they will come and attack us at Erwei Fort. I don't believe they dare to send troops easily."

." Su Ming said.

"This is the only way. It's more difficult to deal with Yao Qianhu. He keeps asking me about the cement formula and the new salt field. If this continues, I'm afraid Yao Qianhu will attack us." Su Ren said.

"What kind of trouble could the person named Yao make? If he could, he would report us as thieves to the commander, but would the person named Yao dare to do this?" Su Ming said.

Su Ren nodded after hearing this. He went out in person to find the flags and the old men in the fort, and told them about the problem of fast food consumption in Erwei Fort. In the afternoon, all the soldiers and workers were ordered to go to every household.

The maximum amount of food that can be hoarded is the same as the number of people. If someone hoards too much, not only will the food be confiscated, but they will also be punished.

The rush to buy food soon subsided. By the eighth day of May, Erweibao Grain Store had sold 560 shi of grain. On average, each household had nearly three shi of grain in stock. There was only more than 300 shi of grain left in the Erbao warehouse.

There has been no large-scale sales of grain, but the grain is only enough for Erwei Fort for one month at most.

In the past, the people of Erwei Fort ate coarse grains and wild vegetables. 50 shi of grain could last for two months, but now 300 shi of grain a month is not enough. Every time Su Ren mentioned this to Su Ming, he became very angry. He thought it was Su Ming who

Ming has spoiled the people. The happiness is only temporary, and the hard times are the life that should be there.

"Brother, although we sold a lot of grain, not all of it was eaten by the people. They all hoarded the grain. The hard life has been too long, and everyone is very scared.

There have been fewer and fewer refugees reported to the soldiers in the past few days, and many families in the fort have more domestic servants. Let these refugees be given to the soldiers inside and outside the fort, and the worker families will take them in first. It will also be good for the stability of our Erwei Fort.

A good thing.

I believe that in a few days, more and more people in our Second Weibao will get married, and in this way, Second Weibao will become more and more prosperous." Su Ming said with a smile.

Su Ren was also very happy to hear this, but after laughing for a while, his smile stopped.

"Eighth brother, since you have come back from the Shen family, you can't stay like this alone. You are not yet old enough to be crowned. Big brother will arrange a marriage for you. As long as we give enough betrothal gifts, there will always be a young lady for you.

Those who are willing to marry into our family.

My family used to be poor, and the four of us brothers lived in the same courtyard. Now that you have grown up, we can build a new house for you in the castle. If you marry our lady, they will definitely not want to live with us.

In a courtyard." Su Ren said to Su Ming.

"Brother, don't worry about my affairs. What you and Miss have to do are meaningless to me. I will consider it when our two Weiburgs are re-established.

As for building a house, Fifth Brother’s second child is about to be born, and the house is getting more and more crowded. As a member of the sixth rank of a hundred households, it is not suitable for you to be crowded together with us. There is no one around to take care of you.

We have recently made plans for the new Weibao, which can include the new courtyard. When the city wall is completed this year, we can start building the new courtyard," Su Ming said.

No matter how you say it, the eldest brother still has an official status. He has no servants to serve him and has never taken a concubine. All this is because the house at home is not enough to live in and the food is not enough to eat.

The Su family needs to manage the increasingly prosperous Erweibao. The brothers need to marry wives and take concubines. Without successors, even if they start a big business, it will be meaningless in the end.

Su Ren nodded after listening. He had recently been talking to Su Ming about the planning of the new Fort Wei. Now the commercial area, residential area, warehouse area, and training ground in the fort have all been planned, especially the area of ​​the commercial area.
Chapter completed!