Chapter 58: Building the Water Transport System >
ng at your door wasn't necessarily a good thing.If someone buys tofu, he naturally welcomes whoever comes.But if anyone were to covet his technique for making tofu...He's not going to sell it. At leas...Soon, their party climbed over the hill in front of them and started going downhill.
However, upon reaching the foot of the mountain, there was no river in sight.
When everyone was deeply disappointed, Yang Lin had not given up yet.
Because the cost of water transport is so low, if there's really a river nearby, then the issue of transporting coal can be completely solved!
Jiangxi County has many mountains and water, waterways are often located between the two mountains.
So Yang Lin believed that the river's source must not be too far upstream!
Beyond this mountain lies a desolate expanse, devoid of both villages and roads. The ground is covered in overgrown weeds, resembling an uninhabited wasteland.
The surroundings were desolate and terrifying, but Yang Lin fell in love with the place at first sight.
Located near mountains and water, with great potential for success!
After walking for several hundred meters, I finally heard the sound of rushing water.
Soon, they saw the river.
"Oh, there's actually a river" Liao Hongying couldn't help but be surprised.
"Yes, that's great!" Yang Lin was also overjoyed.
Although this river is only about thirty to forty meters wide, the water flow is swift. It seems the riverbed isn't shallow, and small boats could easily transport goods here.
Zhong Tao, however, said: "This way, the cost will be considerable! From the mountain to here, it's almost more than a mile, there is no road. If you want to transport coal, you have to build a road and buy a boat and hire sailors...just for that coal Is it worth it"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
They all thought that it was not worth paying such a high price to dig up those dark and murky stones!
Yet Yang Lin just smiled.
"Believe me, it's all worth it!"
"But what Brother Zhong said is right, repairing the roads, buying ships, recruiting sailors, and we still need to build warehouses. This will require a lot of people, and we'll have to recruit more later."
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Does he really want to do that
As we all know, Yang Lin's only source of income is tofu making. But now the village needs to cut down trees, mine stones, and build houses! There's also road construction, boat purchasing, and warehouse building!
He doesn't even have enough money to do this.
Not to mention outsiders, even Li Yiy Yao was worried.
What Yang Lin does, it won't make any money. Just transporting coal back and forth, what use is there
He didn't know that Yang Lin held great hopes for these coals!
First comes steelmaking, without coal it's absolutely impossible to succeed.
Moreover, the last time I tried to fire cement, it failed largely because the temperature was not high enough.
And now with coal, cement can be made while simultaneously refining the coal into coke, which is then used to smelt iron.
Even in the future, it will still be possible to melt glass!
These can all be money-making businesses.
Yang Lin led the people around, planning the details of road construction and warehouse building. After everything was ready, he returned home.
On the way back, Li Yuyao worriedly said, "Repairing the road and building a warehouse will cost a lot of money. Now we have so many people to support. At this rate of spending, I'm afraid that more than three thousand taels of silver won't be enough!"
She silently calculated in her heart. Yang Lin was taking on more and more tasks, expanding his business, but the income was still only from selling "medicines" and the tofu workshop's earnings.
If you keep spending like this, and run out of the 3,000 taels of silver, you'll be in the red!
Yang Lin smiled and said, “Silver is meant to be spent. As the saying goes, money is a bastard, spend it and then earn more! If you don't spend money, how can you make money”
Li Yuyao glared at Yang Lin.
She had never heard such a common saying!
"There's one thing I still don't understand. Why did you have to divide all that land What was wrong with the original owner" asked Li Yuyao. Nearly 2,000 mu of land is worth at least four or five thousand taels of silver!
Yang Lin actually gave everyone full marks!
In that case, the silver obtained would likely be less than a thousand ounces.
And the villagers had no money at all, so they worked to pay off their debts. In the end, they didn't get a single penny for themselves!
Such extravagance, even I, who have been emperor, find it unbelievable.
Yang Lin wryly smiled and said, "Has my lady ever thought about why Liu the Landlord would give us these fields"
Li Yuxiang spoke: “You said that he did this out of helplessness, to protect himself.”
"Yes, but that's just one point. The most important thing is that it will be very difficult for anyone to work for his family again!"
Li Yuxi nodded.
She also understood this. Yang Lin paid a high wage, and if he didn't work for the Liu family, he could still support his own family. So who else would go to work for the Liu family
"So these fields belong to the Liu family, they've become a hot potato. They can't hold onto them, and they don't want to let go either. So he passed this hot potato to us."
But, my lady, even if a hot potato was thrown into our hands, it would still burn us!
"Oh" Li Yuxiang was puzzled. "Why"
"Because our foundation is still too shallow! And farming, this tiring and unrewarding work, the profit margin isn't high."
"My wife, have you ever thought about what would happen if we kept those lands and adjusted the wages of both long-term and short-term workers to five coins a day"
Before Li Yuyao could answer, Yang Lin shook his head first and said, "The result is just that much. After a year of tossing around, the money earned is not as much as selling a few days of medicine!"
The investment doesn't outweigh the returns, and we don't need those few hundred taels of silver right now. Why take on unnecessary risks
"Conversely, by dividing up the land, I effectively eliminated the risk of the unknown."
And most importantly, I really don't want to be the host!
In this day and age, land is a person's lifeblood.
Making money by relying on land is exploiting the poor and oppressing the common people.
Although Yang Lin likes money, he would never earn such dishonest money!
Focus on technological innovation, invention and creation to earn the money of the rich and the world. Isn't that appealing
Li Yuxiang seemed thoughtful.
She also felt that Yang Lin made sense, but she just felt that Yang Lin's thinking was different from others...
In the evening, everyone returned to Koushan Village.
As soon as Yang Lin returned home, he saw all the women in the house looking at him with strange expressions.
"What's wrong"
Yang Lin looked at everyone strangely.
Simei said with a smile, "Come inside quickly, the young ladies have been waiting anxiously for you."
"Girl"
Yang Lin stared blankly at everyone.
The honest elder sister hurriedly explained: "It was Liu Di Zhu's daughter, Liu Qiao Yun. She came this afternoon and said she had something to do with you, insisting on staying until you arrived."
Liu Qiao Yun
Yang Lin's heart skipped a beat.
Immediately, I remembered what had happened between Yang Lin and Liu Qiao Yun back then.
Last year, Liu Qiaoyun was forced into marriage by her father and jumped into a river to commit suicide. She was luckily saved by Yang Lin who happened to pass by, and they both developed feelings for each other.
But this feeling hadn't even had a chance to spark before Liu Youcai snuffed it out!
For this, Liu Youcai deliberately suppressed Yang Lin and forbade others from lending him food. Eventually, that thin-skinned Yang Lin, starved to the point of... well, that's how he became the Yang Lin we see today...understood this. Yang Lin paid a high wage, and if he didn't work for the Liu family, he could still support his own family. So who else would go to work for the Liu family"So these fields belong to t...