GBP Chapter 892 Industrial Structure of Ningyang County
Chapter 892 Industrial Structure of Ningyang County
The noodles are nothing special; they're just smooth and chewy.
The key is the aroma of the meat and the broth, which is almost too rich.
Li Shanchang put down his chopsticks and stared directly at Yang Shaofeng, asking, "This soup must have at least a dozen kinds of spices in it. Does that mean spices are worthless in Ningyang County?"
Yang Shaofeng rolled his eyes and said, "Prime Minister Li, you don't know this, those barbarians bring tens of thousands of catties of spices over at a time. It's a large quantity and you can eat your fill. This junk is really worthless."
At this point, Yang Shaofeng feigned sudden realization and looked at Li Shanchang, asking, "Prime Minister Li must think that spices in the capital are too expensive?"
"However, it's normal that spices are more expensive in the capital."
"After all, it is under the emperor's nose, the most prosperous place, where the people are wealthy, unlike the poor and remote Ningyang County."
Li Shanchang's face immediately darkened.
I just made a few sarcastic remarks about statistics not existing, and now Yang the Madman is going to retaliate here.
what!
But do those barbarians really transport tens of thousands of kilograms of spices at a time?
That's fucking weird.
Spices are different from grains.
A person may need to eat several kilograms of grain a day.
However, one person can't possibly eat several pounds of spices in a day.
In other words, the consumption of spices is small to begin with; tens of thousands of kilograms is considered a very large quantity, enough to disrupt the price of the entire spice market.
The result was quite unexpected: spices were cheap in Dengzhou Prefecture and Ningyang County, but the prices of spices in other places remained high.
Then the problem is coming.
With spice prices remaining stubbornly high, who benefits from this situation?
Clearly, the barbarians did not benefit the most.
After all, as Yang Dianfeng just said, the barbarians would transport tens of thousands of catties of spices at a time, and "this junk" was indeed worthless.
It seems the national treasury didn't gain any benefit either.
Because among the various revenues and expenditures of the national treasury, the proportion of spices, both in and outside the border markets, was actually very low.
Ordinary people also did not benefit much.
Because apart from Dengzhou Prefecture and Ningyang County, the price of spices in other places remained high, there were very few sellers and even fewer buyers.
Therefore, after disregarding the source, transportation, and the final buyer, the only beneficiary is the middleman.
When merchants profit, it essentially means that officials and gentry also profit.
Then the problem comes again.
And what about me?
I am, after all, the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, the Left Chancellor before the reform, and the Duke of Han. There is no official in the bureaucracy more powerful than me.
Why didn't I get any benefit?
So, those officials, gentry, and merchants who benefited from it still regarded us old Li as a poor slacker, right?
So it's no wonder that Lao Liu's fellow villagers were always thinking about bringing down Yang Dianfeng.
This is a classic case of cutting off someone's source of income.
While Li Shanchang was pondering this in his mind, Zhu Biao reached out and tugged at Yang Shaofeng's sleeve, laughing, "Prime Minister Li, you may not know this, but spices are indeed worthless among the barbarians. The price they fetch in Dengzhou Prefecture is also not high. You can easily exchange a set of glass teaware for hundreds or even thousands of pounds of spices."
"Thanks to the straight road from Ningyang County to Dengzhou Prefecture, the consumption along the way was much less than that of taking the normal official road."
"Therefore, the cost of transporting spices to Ningyang County is very low, and the price is naturally not very high."
"As for the spices in the capital..."
Zhu Biao shook his head with a smile, then said with a helpless expression, "Once the Ningbo and Quanzhou markets are established, the price of spices in the capital will gradually come down."
Li Shanchang gave a perfunctory "hmm" and picked up his chopsticks again.
……
"The industrial structure of Ningyang County can be roughly divided into six aspects."
"The first one is this glass workshop right in front of us."
"Although the workshop is not large and can only produce a limited number of glasswares, the profit margin is very high."
Yang Shaofeng led Zhu Biao, Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, and other officials around Ningyang County, explaining the county's industrial structure to them along the way.
"The second is the small iron mine in the east of the city, as well as the coal mines in Huafeng, Dongshu, Fushan and other places."
"Although the iron mine is not large, it ensures the agricultural tools needed by the people of Ningyang County, as well as the county's demand for steel."
"The coal produced by those coal mines was of decent quality. The coal dust was used to make honeycomb briquettes, while the lump coal was supplied to steel mills."
"The third one, to be precise, should not be called industry, but agriculture."
"Aside from farming, which is no different from other places, Ningyang County mainly focuses on greenhouse cultivation and cellar mushroom cultivation."
"These two types of agricultural planting not only ensure that the people of Ningyang County still have fresh vegetables to eat in winter, but also generate high profits by selling them to Dengzhou and Jiangnan."
"The fourth is the small workshops in the city, which can also be called small handicrafts."
"Like lighter workshops, canning workshops, luncheon meat workshops, compressed dry food workshops, brick kilns, and the like."
"The fifth is the aquaculture industry."
"Raising cattle, horses, sheep, and fish."
"Besides generating profits, the most important thing about the aquaculture industry is ensuring people have enough meat."
"The sixth is workshops for various mechanical manufacturing and the like."
"Like the manufacture of harvesters and steam engines."
Despite his usual annoyances, when it came to serious matters, Yang Shaofeng generously shared his insights on Ningyang County's development with Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, and the other officials.
“In Ningyang County, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, which are fundamental to people’s livelihood, are classified as the primary industry.”
“In Ningyang County, industries such as mining and manufacturing are classified as secondary industries.”
"There's not much to say about agriculture; the key lies in various mining and manufacturing industries."
"The reason why Ningyang County keeps complaining about a shortage of people is because the demand for manpower in the mining and manufacturing industries is too high, even ridiculously high."
"Take this coal mine and iron mine as an example."
“Even a small mine needs several thousand or even tens of thousands of workers.”
“Even the simplest brick kiln involves several steps, such as mud collection, mud mixing, shaping, firing, and transportation. A single kiln requires about dozens of people.”
"And there's also the simplest luncheon meat factory."
"Although the process of steaming luncheon meat does not require many women, the processes of cutting, washing, mincing, mixing with flour, and transporting also require a lot of manpower."
The more Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, and others read, the more shocked they became, and the more they listened, the more overwhelmed they felt.
No wonder Yang the Madman always complained that Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture didn't have enough manpower.
According to Yang Dianfeng, a few small coal mines and iron mines would need tens of thousands or even more young and strong men.
How many able-bodied young people of working age can a county with a population of 30,000 have?
Not to mention all the other miscellaneous industries.
"And that doesn't even include the manpower needed for road and reservoir construction."
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Hu Weiyong, then said with a smile, "Prefect Hu previously said he wanted to copy Ningyang County's approach. I wonder if he still intends to?"