My Backyard is the Tang Dynasty
Chapter 181: shipyard
(Thank you for repeating the name again, Pujiang Memories, the monthly ticket to Dushen World, the dear one, and the reward of life with heart.)
All the invited guests were in place, Li Yin waved his hand, and servants and maidservants came out in a file, holding various dishes in their hands, and immediately a strong fragrance wafted out.
"Everyone, please enjoy it to your heart's content!" Li Yin made a gesture of invitation.
"Please, Your Highness!" Everyone bowed their hands to Li Yin at the same time.
Li Yin clapped his hands again at this time, the music sounded immediately, and the banquet officially began.
"Liu Lang, now I finally understand what it means for a scholar to look at you with admiration after three days." Looking at the grand occasion in front of him, Li Hui was speechless in admiration.
Li Yin said modestly: "Thank you, thank you!", and immediately got Li Hui's contemptuous eyes.
The atmosphere at the scene became more and more lively, and Li Hui also joined in. After eating a mouthful of hot pot, this guy's attention immediately shifted, tossing and turning between various dishes, his mouth was full of things, Li Yin invited Most of the guests who came were concentrating on the dishes on the banquet, and the dancing geisha couldn't distract them.
Because too many people came this time, the apricot blossom wine prepared at the banquet was quickly drunk, and Rong Da brought a lot of jars from the cellar to let the group drink to their heart's content.
After drinking and eating, Li Yin stood up and said: "Everyone, firstly, today's banquet is for entertaining everyone, and secondly, it is for a major event in Yizhou. Taking this opportunity, this king wants to discuss this matter with you. "
The officials in Yizhou naturally understood what Li Yin meant. Those wealthy families looked at Li Yin excitedly, because this Li Yin represented not only the imperial court, but also the Chamber of Commerce in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Chamber of Commerce cooperates.
Dou Xiande's grandfather probably guessed something, because Dou Xiande once told him, he said: "Could it be that your highness is talking about the salt well?"
Li Yin nodded: "That's right, it's the matter of the salt well. Nowadays, most of the salt wells in Chengdu are occupied by wealthy families from other states, and the salt wells in Chengdu are monopolized by them. But at the same time, the production of this well salt cannot be increased. , This also caused the salt price in Chengdu Prefecture to remain high, and the people had no salt to eat. The reason why the businessmen in Chengdu Prefecture could not participate in the mining of salt wells was because of the high price of the salt wells. I originally asked you to come here today to discuss this matter. This king can now provide ready-made high-quality salt wells. If you are interested, you can discuss this matter with Tong Nian and participate in the well salt industry together."
Li Yin’s words are shocking. The salt industry was definitely a violent industry in any dynasty, making countless businessmen salivate. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The coexistence of official salt and private salt allowed more wealthy families to participate in the salt industry.
As soon as Li Yin's words fell, the local rich people immediately surrounded Tong Nian and asked about the salt well. Since Li Yin handed over the drilling rig team to him, he has been in Yizhou according to Li Yin's instructions More than 20 salt wells were drilled nearby, after discussing with Shangguanyi and others. Everyone held a negative attitude towards Li Yin's decision to sell the salt well, but after Li Yin told them his true thoughts, they immediately fell silent collectively, and Dou Xiande broke out in a cold sweat, so he had to obey Li Yin.
It turned out that the premise of Li Yin selling salt wells to these local wealthy families was that the salt produced by these wealthy families must be sold to the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce, and the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce was the general distributor of well salt and was responsible for the sales of well salt.
The banquet lasted until late at night before everyone dispersed, and Tong Nian was doomed to have no sleep tonight. Because these powerful families have been pestering him to ask about Yanjing.
Now that all walks of life in Yizhou are on the right track, Li Min is no longer willing to ask about everything in detail. Some things can be done by the people below. Nian also had enough prestige in Yizhou to suppress these people.
"The wine is good, and the food is also good." Li Hui lay on the table. Holding the jug in his right hand and the mutton skewers in his left hand, he is already in a state of unconsciousness, so good food and wine. Li Hui had never tasted it before, and with the addition of many people who wanted to make friends, he was drunk in a short while.
Li Yin shook his head, and said to Rongda, "Take him to the guest room to rest."
Rong Da answered yes, and carried Li Hui away who was drunk.
After the story of sweet potatoes was published in the Shengtang Business Daily, a large number of businessmen began to flock to Yizhou. Unlike the previous potato fair, this sweet potato fair attracted more people, because sweet potatoes have all kinds of faces. This has also attracted many small businessmen, and the local businessmen in Chengdu are more enthusiastic. After all, this is a local specialty of Yizhou, and they have a geographical advantage.
The trade fair made Yizhou lively again. The influx of a large number of merchants made the streets of Yizhou crowded. Various local hawkers in Yizhou took this opportunity to sell their goods. The inns, brothels and other places were full. The fair has virtually stimulated the development of Yizhou's local economy.
Walking on the streets of Yizhou, Li Hui was shocked. Such a scene of prosperity has never been seen in Chang'an. Not to mention the merchants of Tang Dynasty, even those blond and blue-eyed foreign merchants can be seen everywhere, even more than Chang'an. And there are also a wide variety of products in Nanshi and Beishi, some he has seen before, and some he has never seen before. There are row upon row of shops on the street, and one after another is a specialty store with a plaque from the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce. Perfume monopoly, hard yellow paper monopoly , the apricot flower wine monopoly, and the people coming in and out of the store are in an endless stream, the business is very hot.
"Liulang, what is this?" Li Hui pointed to the Shengtang Bank not far ahead and asked. Li Huifei, who was sober today, pestered Li Yin to take him around Yizhou City. Walking around Yizhou, Li Hui didn't close his mouth all the way.
"It is too cumbersome for merchants to use copper coins for transactions. This bank can exchange copper coins for money tickets, which is not only easy to carry, but also convenient for large-scale transactions. Now the Tang Chamber of Commerce basically uses money tickets for transactions." Li Yin explained.
Li Hui understood, "It turns out that this is the money ticket. I just heard about it, but I didn't expect it to be invented by Liu Lang." There was admiration in his words.
Nanshi, Beishi, and Baihuatan have both visited once. Li Yin was planning to inspect the shipyard today, so he said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see the world."
Li Hui now felt that his brain was not enough, so he nodded blankly and said, "Okay." He followed Li Yin on horseback and left.
At present, the shipyards in Yizhou are mainly concentrated on both sides of the two large rivers, the Nanhe River and the Tuojiang River. During the Tang Dynasty, Yizhou’s goods went straight to Yangzhou through these two rivers, which created the saying that "Yang Yi Yi Er is good".
Going out from the south gate, Li Yin and Li Hui traveled more than ten miles to Nanhe. This Nanhe branched from Dujiangyan, with a huge amount of water. In Li Yin's view, it was basically the same as a river. On the surface of the sea, history has also recorded that because of the huge water volume of the Nanhe River, it was considered to be the mainstream of the Minjiang River during the Han Dynasty, and "Marco Polo's Travel Notes" also recorded that the Nanhe River was as wide as a sea, which shows the magnificence of the Nanhe River at that time.
The shipyard that Li Yin brought Li Hui to is the government-run shipyard closest to Yizhou, and also the largest shipyard in the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce. It has very strong technical funds. Five of the twenty treasure ships under construction this time are here. produced.
At this time, five huge hull skeletons are under construction on the Nanhe River Beach. There are no less than 2,000 workers coming and going. Every craftsman is busy with his own work. Everything is in order. Pointing, and standing beside him was a dark-skinned man, nodding from time to time.
Standing on the bank of the river, Li Hui's jaw almost dropped. It is too shocking to put such huge monsters side by side. Compared with boats, people are like laughing like ants. He has also seen many big boats in the Yellow River. But none was worth a third of the ship either.
Looking at these five treasure ships, Li Yin was also overwhelmed with emotion. What a magnificent scene it was when Zheng He set sail with two hundred giant ships.
"Let's go, don't be dumbfounded." Li Yin patted Li Hui on the shoulder, Li Hui just woke up like a dream, and followed Li Yin to the river beach.
When Li Yin went down to the shipyard, Du Zhiping brought people over to meet him immediately.
"Excuse me!" Li Yan helped Du Zhiping up, and said with emotion: "The progress is not bad. Have you set the position of the steam engine? This is the most critical position of the steam ship."
Du Zhiping said: "Your Highness, put it down, this is my painstaking effort for the past year, I will definitely not let him go astray." After finishing speaking, Du Zhiping pulled the dark-faced man over and said: "Your Highness, his name is Yun Shou, he has made a lot of contributions to the construction of the treasure ship."
Li Yan looked at Yunshou, his healthy bronze skin was caused by frequent exposure to the sun, his body was thin, but he looked very capable, with straight eyebrows, round head and round face. Being pulled out by Du Zhiping, Yun Shou was at a loss.
"If my guess is correct, you used to fish for a living." Li Yin looked at Yunshou a few times and said.
Yun Shou was stunned for a moment, then asked in surprise, "How does Your Highness know?"
"Fish smell!" Li Yin said with a smile.
Yunshou suddenly realized that the clothes on his body were still the clothes he used to wear when fishing, and there was still a faint fishy smell on them, which was a bit embarrassing.
Du Zhiping thought that Li Min looked down on Yunshou, so he hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, although Yunshou used to fish for a living, he knows more about shipbuilding skills than those old craftsmen. He encountered many difficulties when building this treasure ship. It was all solved by Yunshou, so I made him my deputy, and I haven't told His Highness about this matter yet."
"If you are a talent, you need to be promoted. You don't have to report this matter to me. Since the construction of the treasure ship is entrusted to you, you have the final say here." What these technicians need most is unconditional support, and Li Yin is exactly that. Get closer to that.
Du Zhiping was moved in his heart, and said to Yunshou: "Thank you, Your Highness." Li Yin agreed, and Yunshou officially entered the palace.
Yunshou realized that he was about to kneel down to Li Yin, and Li Yin helped him up, and asked, "Du Zhiping values you so much, you must have some real skills, but this king is very curious, you are just a fisherman." Why are you so proficient in shipbuilding?"