Chapter 9 How to make money In the sea area along the southwest coast, Tian Ze rode on a small boat and, under the protection of Dian Wei, embedded the last jade talisman into the node of the formation and injected a wisp of spiritual energy. After spending nearly a month, the "Spirit-Fixing Array" was finally completed. As the formation operated, the waves on the sea suddenly became smaller, and even the sea breeze became much gentler. Dian Wei, who had been looking unhappy due to seasickness, felt this the most and breathed a long sigh of relief. Seeing this, Tian Ze smiled slightly and patted Dian Wei's shoulder gently. "Elai, thank you for your hard work. But you also need to practice your water skills more." Dian Wei nodded with a slightly bitter expression, his pupils a little dilated. Tian Ze was extremely happy. Who would have thought that Dian Wei, who was invincible in land combat, would be so seasick. Although Tian Ze could relieve Dian Wei's discomfort, he did not do so in order to train him.
After all, he will need to take the boat many times in the future, and Dian Wei must adapt slowly. In fact, with Tian Ze's level of cultivation, he doesn't need Dian Wei's protection at all. Unless the spiritual energy in his body is exhausted, no one in this world can hurt him. But spiritual energy is extremely precious, and Tian Ze doesn't want to waste even a bit of it. And with Dian Wei by his side, he can also help him get rid of some annoying flies. Since embarking on the path of cultivation, Tian Ze cannot easily attack mortals. Otherwise, he will suffer the backlash of karma, and he will need to waste a lot of spiritual energy to offset it. As for those who are very lucky, even sending people to assassinate them is not allowed because the backlash is too terrible. If not for this, he would have already taken action against his two fellow disciples, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan. Both of them have the potential to be latent talents, and it is impossible for them to be under someone else for long. Although Liu Bei was generous and Gongsun Zan was loyal, they had to die because they hindered their cause of immortality. Unfortunately, the rules of this world don't give Tian Ze any chance to exploit loopholes, so he can only fight for dominance through normal means. After the formation is completed, Changxing Island will no longer have to worry about natural disasters such as tsunamis and strong winds. Instead, the weather will be good and the problem of soil erosion will be alleviated. Tian Ze, who had consumed more than a hundred strands of spiritual energy, also found some comfort. Since he started operating the island, nearly half of the spiritual energy he had painstakingly accumulated over the past three years has been squandered. But Tian Ze did not hesitate or regret at all, because there will be gains only if there is investment. Although he had gained a lot of spiritual energy over the years, most of it was just a one-time gain due to the reputation he gained from helping to protect the border residents. Now that their foundation has been established, the people of Changxing Island are able to produce spiritual energy stably. As long as everything is on the right track, he can go to the border or Qingxu to recruit more refugees, and the output of spiritual energy will inevitably increase dramatically again. If you repeat this cycle over and over again, it won’t be long before your spiritual energy will increase like a snowball. ……
Inside the Changxing Island Fortress, Jia Xu was busy with government affairs. After Tian Ze formulated the development plan, he just left it alone, leaving Jia Xu extremely busy. Although there are not many people to manage, Tian Ze wants to do too many things, and he has very few scholars under him. It is already very good if he can equip all ten villages with literate village chiefs. There are few scholars in this era, and even fewer who are willing to stay on such a small island. These scholars were either saved by Tian Ze or trained by him since childhood. They were loyal to Tian Ze, so they were willing to follow him. Due to their limited abilities, it was not a problem for them to implement ordinary government orders, but it was simply impossible for them to meet Tian Ze's requirements, so Jia Xu had to do it himself. At this time, Jia Xu was in his prime. Although he was cautious and lazy by nature, he knew that this was a crucial period of development for Tian Ze and he must not take it lightly. If you put in a little more effort now, you can achieve more in the future. As long as this matter is handled successfully, he will not only live a life of wealth and glory without worries, but will also be able to bring blessings to future generations. Faced with many government affairs, he couldn't help but use some of his real skills. All matters were arranged very properly, and many tasks were progressing in an orderly manner. After Tian Ze came back, he listened to Jia Xu's report and nodded repeatedly. "Wenhe, you have worked hard. Ze knows that you don't like government affairs. Just hold on for a few months. When the imperial court's appointment documents are issued, I will recruit some scholars to do these jobs and make new arrangements for you." Tian Ze has now learned all the rhetoric that his boss used to fool his employees in his previous life. It’s one thing to draw big pie in the sky, but as long as it can be achieved, it’s fine. Jia Xu rarely smiled. This was exactly what Tian Ze wanted to hear. Suddenly, Tian Ze saw that Tian Zhong, who was in charge of assisting him, looked a little sad. "Uncle Zhong, what's wrong?" Tian Zhong sighed: "Young Master, the income and expenditure estimates for this month have been calculated." As Tian Ze's chief steward, Tian Zhong is in charge of many of his industries. "How is it?" "At present, because the grain on the island has not been harvested yet, and you have requested that the nearly 300,000 shi of grain and fodder stored should not be used, we have to purchase about 30,000 shi of grain from outside every month, enough for people to eat, horses to chew, and livestock to feed." "In addition, we also purchased war horses. These two aspects accounted for the bulk of the expenditure. Add in some livestock, tree species, etc., and the monthly expenditure is about 20 million yuan." "As for income, the livestock and crops we raise are not yet mature, and according to your request, they can only be used for ourselves and not sold to others, so there is no income in this regard. Salt and iron can only be sold by the government, so our main income still comes from brewing." "Then there's soap and sugar, which, like winemaking, have a small market." "Adding the other businesses of the company, excluding transportation and other expenses, we can make about tens of millions of dollars every month." Tian Ze frowned and said, "That means we still have a loss of nearly 10 million yuan every month." Tian Zhong nodded tiredly. As Tian Ze's money bag, he was really anxious seeing his savings over the years being spent like water. "How much money do we have left?" Tian Zhong glanced at Jia Xu who was drinking tea, hesitated for a moment, and said, "The initial expenses for purchasing materials and hiring construction personnel were huge, especially in terms of grain storage and warhorse purchases. All the expenses added up to about 200 million coins."
"Cough! Cough!" Jia Xu, who had not yet swallowed a mouthful of water, choked and kept stroking his chest. Although he knew that the construction of Changxing Island would cost a huge amount of money during this period and had made a rough estimate, he was still shocked when he actually heard the number. You know, at that time, the annual tax revenue of the imperial court was only about 400 million coins. This amount of money was enough for 20,000 troops to fight for a year. "Apart from some assets, we only have less than 300 million yuan in cash available. Alas!" Tian Zhong sighed and his face looked a little older. "Cough! Cough!" Jia Xu, who had just calmed himself down, suddenly started coughing violently again. "Wenhe, are you okay?" Tian Ze asked with concern. "My lord, I'm fine." Jia Xu waved his hands quickly, his face distorted. Even though he had already made an overestimation, he still underestimated the financial resources of his lord. Tian Zhong said worriedly, "Although this amount of money can sustain for a few years, I'm afraid that the young master will not be able to recruit refugees and develop Wen County and other places in the future." You know, this is just the beginning. With the speed at which Tian Ze spends money, it is really hard for him to be assured how long this money can last. Tian Ze hesitated for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be a big deal. After this batch of crops is harvested, the island will be self-sufficient in food, and there will even be a lot of surplus." "But will you sell the extra food and fodder? And you don't intend to stop buying war horses, do you?" Tian Zhong asked. Having served Tian Ze since childhood, he understands the young master's thoughts very well. Tian Ze frowned slightly: "The wine business cannot be expanded, otherwise it might cause trouble. Besides, we are pursuing a high-end route, and if we have more, we probably won't be able to sell at a high price..." Although he still has some ideas for making money, he really doesn't have the energy to put them into practice, and he's afraid that it will be difficult to see results in a short period of time. After thinking for a while, Tian Ze seemed to suddenly think of something. "Yan...Yu...Wenhe, how much salt can we produce by using the method of drying salt?" Jia Xu said: "Because we have limited manpower now, we can produce about 500 shi per day. Excluding the amount used and stored, we can conservatively estimate that we can produce 10,000 shi per month." "Young Master, selling contraband salt is too risky, isn't it?" Tian Zhong said cautiously. "Who said we are going to sell illegal salt?" Tian Ze smiled slightly. “We sell pickled vegetables and salted fish.” Jia Xu understood immediately after hearing this, and stroked his beard slightly, saying: "My lord is indeed smart. Although there will be a lot of loss in pickling vegetables and sea fish with salt, the cost of our salt production is low, so the profit is still sufficient." "The cost of the salt and fish we have is extremely low. Even with some losses on 10,000 shi of salt, we can still make at least tens of millions of dollars in profit every month. And as the number of manpower increases, the output will be even greater," said Tian Ze. Unlike high-end consumer goods such as fine wine and soap, salt is a necessity with a huge market and can be sold out easily. "My lord, I'm afraid that's not possible." Jia Xu couldn't help but pour a bucket of cold water. "Ten thousand dan of salt per month is enough to supply nearly one million people. Selling it to You, Ji, Qing, and Xu should be OK. After all, the court is not strict in cracking down on it. But if there are more, it will not work." "In addition, Xu suggested that we add more impurities such as soil into the salt we sell to the public, so as to avoid being discovered by others."
The salt-drying method developed by Tian Ze is relatively mature. Even if the refined salt that has undergone multiple processing is not sold, the salt that has undergone simple processing is snow-white. This is a complete dimensionality reduction blow to the mainstream crude salt on the market. Once discovered, it will definitely attract attention. Tian Ze nodded when he heard this: "Wenhe is right. We should keep a low profile." Since ancient times, the most profitable industries have basically been written into the law. The Han Dynasty previously made salt, iron and wine state-run because of the huge profits. Although the state-run wine industry was later abolished, salt and iron were still retained. What Tian Ze did was to take advantage of a loophole, but the cost of this loophole is too high, and most people would not do it. But it will ultimately harm the interests of the court. Even though the court's control over the world has declined, if it goes too far, it will inevitably arouse the covetousness and attacks of others. "That's enough. With an income of nearly 20 million yuan per month, that's more than 200 million yuan per year." Tian Zhong said excitedly. He seemed to see Tianze's small treasury swelling again. (End of this chapter)