I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

"What about this salt?"

Wu Changqing continued to ask.

"Hui guest officer, coarse salt is 100 cents a pound, and fine fine salt is 150 cents a pound."

The shop assistant replied.

Tsk tsk, so expensive, no wonder salt tax was the key type of various taxes in ancient times.

Wu Changqing was shocked when he heard the words, this is equivalent to 70 yuan per pound in later generations, and fine salt in later generations is generally a few yuan per pound.

The price is one or two hundred times different.

Salt is a necessities of human life, no matter how expensive it is, the common people can only buy it. It can be seen that the living pressure of the people is still quite large.

In order to save money, some poor people save salt in their daily life, which is not good for the body.

Wu Changqing also wrote down the salt.

It is necessary to improve salt production technology as soon as possible, and then carry out large-scale industrial production. Only by increasing the output can we suppress the salt price and reduce the living cost of the people.

Moreover, after increasing the production of salt, it can also snatch wealth from the Qing court.

You must know that the largest salt merchant groups are concentrated in Yangzhou, and they are still under the control of the Qing Dynasty. While those salt traders made huge profits, they also contributed a lot of tax to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

As long as the price of salt is suppressed, or even the salt is dumped to the north, the Manchu court will lose an important salt tax revenue, which will hit the Manchu Qing a lot, even more than the dumping of cloth.

After all, people can wear tattered clothes, but they cannot go without salt for a long time.

Salt making technology, this also has to be remembered.

Wu Changqing continued to look at a few items before leaving the store.

"Bah, it looks like a wealthy person wearing it. I didn't expect it to be so stingy, I just asked if I didn't buy it."

After Wu Changqing left, the shop assistant cursed.

He had been serving him for a while, but he didn't sell a single item. It was normal to be angry.

"Shh, I'm afraid you're tired of living, do you know who the person who asked you just now? That was the governor of Wu Guogong, Wu, who came to observe the feelings of the people. It's your destiny to be able to ask you two questions. ."

A customer in the store quickly reminded.

Etiquette is very particular in this era. Just because the second shopkeeper scolded Wu Changqing just now, no one would call him wrong even if his head was beheaded.

"What, Wu Guogong, if it's true or false, don't lie to me." The second shopkeeper asked with lingering fears. Although he didn't quite believe it, he didn't dare to scold me again.

It's not worth it if you lose your life for the sake of speaking out.

Moreover, Duke Wu cares about the common people and does not increase taxes for the common people. The shop assistant actually likes and respects them very much. If you wrongly scolded Master Qingtian, it would be a sin.

"Why did I lie to you? When Wu Guogong entered the city, I was fortunate enough to grab a good position and see Wu Guogong's face clearly. I will never forget that face in my life. You really deserve to be a good official.”

The customer continued to sigh, while the shop assistant was secretly thankful that he had not had a bad reception just now.

Wu Changqing went out of the grocery store and continued to stroll on the street. When he saw a shop he was interested in, he would go in and have a look.

When he came to a tobacco and liquor store, Wu Changqing walked in. The decoration in the store is relatively simple, just some big vats with wine and sacks with dry tobacco.

"How much is a pound of dry tobacco?" Wu Changqing picked up a handful of shredded tobacco, and found that the cut of the tobacco was very irregular, some thick and some thin.

"Caomin has seen Wu Guogong. This dry tobacco is a good thing imported from Nanyang. There is no other place. If Wu Guogong likes it, Caomin will give it for free."

The shopkeeper was once fortunately met by Wu Changqing along with other businessmen, but Wu Changqing did not remember him.

Wu Changqing likes things, no matter where he dares to collect money, he naturally gives as much as he has.

"What I'm asking is how much is a pound of this dry tobacco."

Wu Changqing emphasized it again, he was a little speechless, and he didn't seem like a person who would take things by force.

The shopkeeper heard Wu Changqing's impatience, and quickly replied, "Because there are not many supplies of dry tobacco, it is more expensive to sell. Small ones are usually sold for 100 wen per pound."

Three hundred wen, isn't that about the same price as table salt? The problem is that growing tobacco is much simpler than making salt, and the cost of obtaining a pound of cut tobacco is much lower than the cost of making a pound of table salt.

So, this is also a lucrative industry.

In fact, in this era of underdeveloped business, almost all businesses are quite profitable. Even selling candied haws on the street, the annual profit is definitely more than 50%.

In the 21st century, an industry with an annual profit of more than 15% is a super high-quality industry.

I asked about the price of dry tobacco and the price of rice wine, and then Wu Changqing left the store.

Huaxia drinking has a long history, at least thousands of years, but the history of smoking is not long. It was probably introduced by Westerners during the Wanli period, and then quickly sold.

This kind of slightly addictive commodity, selling well is an inevitable event and cannot be prohibited.

Wu Changqing did not smoke in his previous life, nor did he like smoking, but he also knew that he had little hope of wanting to stop smoking. Chongzhen banned smoking, and the Manchu Qing also banned smoking, but they all failed without exception.

Those Han people can accept shaving their hair and braids, but they can't quit smoking, which shows how terrible this addictive commodity is.

In later generations, the United States also promulgated the prohibition of alcohol, which was later proved by history to be a joke.

Tobacco and alcohol, when they appeared, human beings could not stop their popularity.

Therefore, Wu Changqing never thought about smoking and prohibiting alcohol, anyway, they are all low-addictive things, just don't smoke opium. However, there is currently no opium on Huaxia, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being.

At present, the wines are still mainly low-degree yellow rice wine. Although white wine has a high degree, it is difficult to brew, consumes a lot of food, and costs a lot, so it is relatively small.

For the wine industry, Wu Changqing is prepared to ignore it, neither prohibit it, nor encourage it.

Because brewing consumes a lot of food, it is very cruel to the people to encourage the development of the brewing industry when the people are still hungry. The more wine and the less food there is, the higher the price of food.

When the price of grain is high, the common people will not get any benefit. The grain they grow is not enough for them to eat. Only the big landowners benefit.

As for cigarettes, Wu Changqing wanted to support and encourage people to plant them.

Because of the high income of planting cigarettes, it can greatly increase the income of the people. As for the food problem caused by growing too many cigarettes, this can be done by selling cigarettes abroad, and then buying food from abroad.

Wu Changqing plans to get the cigarette machine out, so that cigarettes can be manufactured in large quantities, which will greatly increase the output and reduce the cost.

As long as the cost is low, foreign cigarettes will not be able to compete with the cigarettes made by them. At that time, they can dump and seize the market as much as they want, monopolize the global market, and achieve riches.

This is what Europe has done to other places in history. Europe is relying on the industrial revolution to greatly reduce the cost of commodities, and then dump them all over the world.

But now, it was Wu Changqing's turn to do this. In the future, if any country or region dares to prohibit the inflow of his goods, he can also send a fleet to attack the other side, and then sign a so-called fair trade treaty.

In fact, how can an industrial country do business with an agricultural country?