Chapter 333 No room for eating dog meat

Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

Chapter 333 No room for eating dog meat

The two sections of the road were finally sold at a price of 8,600 taels. At this point, to be honest, there was still a profit of nearly a thousand taels.

According to Xia Yuan's estimate, the cost of building these two sections of road alone would be around 7,700 taels just for purchasing cement.

Does not include labor.

The reason why there is a profit of nearly one thousand taels of silver is because the road is 72 miles long, the construction period is three months, and two hundred people can complete it if they work overtime.

With only two hundred people, these merchants do not need to hire workers at all.

Are they Hongshang, or are they from Beizhili, or are they even known as Hongshang throughout the Ming Dynasty? Who doesn't have a caravan at his disposal?

There may be hundreds of people, or thousands of people.

Even if you don't have to do business, you can still earn money from working.

So these merchants can definitely use these people to build roads, and this thing has no technical content.

Once you know the proportions, just mix it with clay.

This is one of the benefits of subcontracting road construction to this group of merchants. They have many people at their disposal and pay less.

It's probably worth a few hundred pennies.

In this era, a few hundred yuan is a relatively high salary.

Xia Yuan initially set a minimum monthly salary of two taels of silver for his employees because of various considerations.

For example, a high salary to support the family to prevent these people from taking advantage of others, such as the palace's participation in shares, which is worthy of being qualified, or someone who wants to be a conscientious entrepreneur.

In short, no matter what it is, once this high salary is set, it will be difficult to lower it.

If he was allowed to build these two sections of road, a worker would have to be paid at least two taels of silver a month. Including the cost of selling cement, that would be about nine thousand taels.

After bidding on the first two sections of the road, when it came to subcontracting the rest of the road, these businessmen also learned smartly and started bidding spontaneously without any need for support.

All the roads in Shuntian Prefecture of the capital were auctioned in this way, costing a total of 156,400 taels of silver.

As for Beizhili outside the capital, we can only wait. The treasury is poor and there is no money.

Just these more than one hundred thousand taels are the proceeds from selling cement in more than a month. Most of the dignitaries in Beijing have purchased this cement, either to repair their own residences or to pave their floors.

Not to mention, it is really solid and sturdy, and the price is reasonable. It is an absolutely conscientious product.

"At the beginning of the new government, the pace should not be too big. Now we will build the roads in the capital and Shuntian Mansion first. Those who did not win will wait until next time. As for you merchants who contracted the roads, you should first sign the contract to build the roads.

Documents. Come, send these documents to them,"

Hearing this, several clerks picked up a stack of documents on the case. These documents were all printed in advance, and the contents were all similar.

Except for the direction of the road, how many miles long, how many feet wide, and the planned construction period, the rest of the content is the same.

Made in duplicate, stamped with the big seal of Lu Lu Si Yamen.

One copy will be handed over to the Lu Si Yamen for safekeeping, and the other will be given to these merchants.

"There are two copies of the document. At the bottom of each copy, fill in your name and the salary you just promised, and then put your thumbprint."

The merchants who received the document did not rush to sign and stamp it, but read the content of the document first.

The content was not long, only a few hundred words, but it made these people shrink their pupils, and some even raised their heads to look at the governor. Seeing his calm expression, they boldly spoke out: "Sir,

This document."

"Is the punishment too harsh?"

"."

The person who spoke choked. It turned out that this gentleman knew that the punishment was too harsh. This was not only harsh, but also terrifying.

Beheading one's head and ransacking one's home is too scary.

Someone stood up and said bravely: "Sir, this road construction matter is of great importance. It is responsible for the country and the country. I'm afraid it will be difficult for a merchant like me to take on such a big responsibility, and I'm afraid it will harm the national affairs. Otherwise,

It is better to leave this matter to the adults in the court."

The more he spoke, the lower his voice became, until he shut up, but the other merchants seemed to have found a reason and excuse, and stood up and said: "Sir, it's not just a villain who refuses to serve the country. It's actually a villain who is just a junior merchant. You can't take this responsibility."

It is against the dignity of the imperial court to hold such a high position."

"That's right, sir, it's really out of character for the imperial court. We are just lowly and humble people."

"Has it lost the dignity of the imperial court? A low-ranking official? It's a coincidence that when the national policy was first decided, it was planned to adopt a contracting system and hand over the road to merchants for construction. The Gonggun princes in the DPRK also said the same thing. The merchants

If you are a pariah, how can you be worthy of a big position? A businessman is a pariah, how can you be entrusted with state affairs?

Businessmen forget their righteousness when they see profit. In the ancient way of governance, if you value profit, you will be in chaos. If you value righteousness, you will govern. If you rule the country with righteousness, this is the right way. Why talk about profit? How can you talk about profit? How can you talk about profit?"

"Ha" Xia Yuan sneered, with a playful and mocking look on his lips, and he didn't know who he was targeting.

Then he stood up from the chair, walked around the desk and walked down the hall, looking at the merchants sitting next to him and the rich people wearing coarse linen clothes.

"You all have great wealth and are guarding mountains of gold and silver, but you are not allowed to ride in sedan chairs, wear brocade clothes, or have servants. Even when you walk on the street, you have to walk sideways. The country despises you and the people are ashamed. In this regard,

What do you think?"

"."

Some of the merchants moved their lips, as if they wanted to speak, but in the end they fell silent and remained silent.

"Nothing to say? You're used to it. It's been this way for thousands of years, and you've long been used to being a lowly pariah.

I tried very hard to remonstrate with the imperial court, to remonstrate with Your Majesty, to let you take on the national policy of the imperial court, to shoulder the burden of the imperial court, to straighten your back and be a human being, but you no longer dare."

"Or are you afraid that the punishment will come and have your heads beheaded and your homes confiscated?"

"If you say so, can I think that you originally planned to cut corners on this imperial errand and pass it off as good, so as to make profits?"

Hearing this, all the merchants had no choice but to answer, and some even knelt down and kowtowed: "The adults are aware of this, and the villains will never dare to have such thoughts."

"Then what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that you won't be able to do this job? Are you afraid that you won't be able to mix this lapis lazuli? I took you to see how to mix this lapis lazuli with sand and gravel.

This Lapis Lazuli Road has been repaired by me myself, so as long as we don’t cut corners, it will be repaired properly.”

"What's more, it is clearly written in this document. The first inspection found that it was not up to standard, so it was overturned and rebuilt. The second inspection found that it was still substandard, so it was overturned and rebuilt. As the saying goes, only three things can happen. It's only the third time that it's done.

They will behead their heads and confiscate their homes."

"Are you afraid that you won't be able to repair this section of road three times in a row?"

"Then I'm surprised. If you and others are such pig-brained people, how did you accumulate such a huge net worth?"

Having said this, Xia Yuan walked back from the hall and sat down on the chair again, "If the court lets the people do corvee service and gives them some money and food, it will definitely save a lot more money than asking you to repair it.

And I urge the court to leave this matter to you, not only to make you money, but also to allow you to participate in the affairs of this country. If you can do the job properly, you may be able to gain the favor of the country and be promoted.

The status of Gao Er and others means that you, the dog meat, are not allowed to have a seat at the table."

"Come here, if you don't want to, hand over the documents to me, then go out from this main hall, and then go on to become the untouchables you are waiting for."

PS: My uncle was hit by a car. He was busy with this matter the day before yesterday. He was just out of danger in the morning. I worked overtime to finish these two chapters. I had to go to the hospital in the afternoon and my cousin could not rush back from abroad until the evening.

Depending on the situation, I will try to give you three updates tomorrow.

That's it, I'm really sorry.
Chapter completed!