I don't know how many times the plum blossoms bloomed that night.

After Lao Taishan asked about sexual intercourse, Ning Xiu officially put the work of creating a human being on the agenda.

But this kind of thing is not something you want, and Ning Xiu can only work harder, do his best and leave his destiny.

The next morning, Ning Xiu returned to Xiangshan County.

There was nothing important about the affairs of the yamen, so Ning Xiu focused more on the training of the village soldiers.

Of course, he could not have sent rural soldiers who had not been systematically trained to Wuzhushan Island for garrison. Such soldiers were no different from old military farmers, and had no use except for being cannon fodder.

The training process was boring. Under the command of Qi Wen and other instructors, the recruits repeated simple movements.

Ning Xiu trained them completely in the way of the Qi family army, focusing on practicality and cooperation, and abandoning all fancy things.

In fact, he wanted to be equipped with more spearmen and musketeers.

After all, in the face of large-scale cavalry charges, spearmen and firearms are good choices to line up and shoot.

No one knows better than Ning Xiu in Liaodong, a fishing and hunting tribe named Jianzhou Jurchen is rising and will become a major concern of the Ming Dynasty in thirty years.

Although it is a peaceful era now, it is always good to prepare for the future.

But the equipment of muskets is a problem at the moment. Although Zhao Guangning has found quite a few Folang Ji people to guide the production of muskets, due to the limitations of raw materials, the output of muskets has not increased.

Musket guns were used to make quite a lot of steel, while the steel output of the Ming Dynasty was not high.

Guangdong itself has very high technology in making steel, but the output is also limited.

This gave Ning Xiu a headache.

The Ming Dynasty still used the steel filling method to make steel, and of course this method could not guarantee the output of steel. Although Ning Xiu was a doctor of chemical engineering, he did not know much about steelmaking and was at a loss for technological upgrading.

Therefore, Ning Xiu could only wait until the muskets were equipped with almost the same before reorganizing the musket team.

His prediction is to ensure that the entire unit is equipped with 50% of the firearms, so that he will not be at a disadvantage when facing the cavalry.

Of course, the musket team must not be allowed to face the cavalry directly, and must be covered with spearmen.

These spearmen act as flesh shields. Without solid shields, the spears cannot exert their power.

Training in the army is not a day, Ning Xiu should still maintain sufficient patience.

His idea was to train this army into a strong army with a force that was subject to orders and had strong combat effectiveness in half a year.

Qi Wen and others were very keen on training troops, and Ning Xiu was happy to be a hand-off manager. The specific training matters were left to Qi Wen and others. After a month of basic training, these people could be stationed on Wuzhushan Island to prepare for the next step of sea-going business.

Ning Xiu now has two big lucky ships and one small lucky ship. The number is slightly smaller, but it is barely enough.

He found Zhao Guangning to inquire about matters related to the sea trade.

Zhao Guangning has been mingling with the Florians for a long time and is well aware of the trade in Southeast Asia. He himself has many industries in Southeast Asia.

Ning Xiu mainly asked about the routes, risks, benefits, etc. Zhao Guangning patiently answered them one by one.

With Zhao Guangning, Nanyangtong, Ning Xiu gradually felt confident. He was originally blinded by this, but now he was like a guide to the direction, and he was much more confident.

Therefore, Ning Xiu decided to subdue Zhao Guangning and let him use it for my own use.

On this day, Ning Xiu called Zhao Guangning to the county government office, and after some greetings, he got to the point.

"Runtian, please tell me quickly. If I want to go to sea, what kind of trade is best?"

Zhao Guangning was very excited when he heard Ning Xiu shouting his words.

Lord County Master treats him as his own person.

Zhao Guangning calmed down a little, cleared his throat and said, "I have reported to the county magistrate, and traded to Southeast Asia with some ideas. Silk and lacquerware are the best, and tea is the second best."

Ning Xiu nodded and said, "Where is the porcelain?"

The porcelain of the Ming Dynasty was famous all over the world. Europeans were proud of owning a set of Ming Dynasty porcelain tea sets, and porcelain was even more luxurious in Europe.

If you export porcelain to Nanyang, you will probably make a big profit, right?

Unexpectedly, Zhao Guangning shook his head and said, "The county master doesn't know that although this porcelain is good, it is not easy to transport, let alone long-distance shipping. It would be nice to ship ten pieces of porcelain to Nanyang for sale and save two or three pieces intact. The profit is not as high as lacquerware when spreading it."

"Oh? The profits of lacquerware are so high?"

"Of course, my lacquerware in the Ming Dynasty is the best in the world!"

Zhao Guangning said passionately.

Ning Xiu couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

Later generations were proud of owning a set of Japanese lacquerware, probably because Japanese lacquerware was extremely exquisite. However, they knew that the rise of Japanese lacquerware was after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass. Before that, the Ming Dynasty lacquerware was the best in the world.

As for silk, let alone. A piece of Su silk can be sold at a sky-high price in Southeast Asia. Even the second-rate Lu silk is unimaginable.

According to Zhao Guangning's estimate, if the three lucky ships are equipped with silk and lacquerware, the net profit of traveling to the sea at one time is about 200,000 taels.

This number surprised Ning Xiu.

You should know that the profits of his other industries are only about 200,000 taels a year, and the income from going overseas once was offset by him.

If Ning Xiu could have a fleet of thirty lucky ships, the profit would be two million taels per trip.

Two million taels! This is the total tax amount for the Ming Dynasty in the year!

It is said that maritime merchants are rich enough to compete with countries, Ning Xiu understands it!

The most terrifying thing is that these money merchants will use to develop fleets and expand faster.

Like Zheng Zhilong, a famous pirate in the late Ming Dynasty, started his business through smuggling. In Fujian, the route from Xiao Liuqiu to Nanyang was almost monopolized.

When Ning Xiu thought of this, he felt heartbroken.

In the middle and early Ming Dynasty, three or four out of tens of the national tax amount could be received, but in the later period, even one or two out of tens of the tax amount could not be received.

On the one hand, this is due to the collapse of the Lijia system, and on the other hand, the deeper reason is because of the imperial examination.

The core of the imperial examination system is to study and pick up scholars, and the ones you take will transform into big landlords.

The officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty were not distinguished. The land under these officials' names was naturally exempt from taxes, which would also lead to relatives and friends and tribesmen to contribute. In this way, a large part of the land at the grassroots level became tax-free. The remaining taxes were self-cultivated farmers.

How much tax can self-cultivated farmers bear?

For political achievements, officials could only collude with the local gentry and allocate the shortage to these self-cultivated farmers. In the end, the pressure on self-cultivated farmers became increasingly greater and they were overwhelmed and eventually went bankrupt.

This problem was particularly obvious in the late Wanli period and even in the late Ming Dynasty. After the Liao Dynasty was added, the pressure of self-cultivation farmers reached its peak, and many people could not bear the oppression and eventually rose up and became bandits.

This is the fundamental reason why bandits broke out in the late Ming Dynasty. Natural disasters are only part of the cause, but man-made disasters are the most important.

......
Chapter completed!