Chapter 529: Shopkeeper Wu's Daily Life (9)

In theory, the best limestone resources in Zengcheng were in the Paitan and Gaotan areas north of Xiancheng. However, these two places were over fifty li from the county seat. In later generations they would have forest parks and hot springs, but in the Ming dynasty they were truly remote mountain backwaters, with roads in a pitiful state. For now, large-scale exploitation of the local mineral resources was impossible.

So Lei Jian set the early-stage quarry site in the Rocky Desert Seven Shoals area, which was relatively close to Xiancheng. Though the limestone resources there were somewhat inferior, they were still sufficient to support the initial operation of a county-level cement plant.

In the Transmigrators' planning, the cement and mining projects for Zengcheng were to be divided into two major steps.

The first step: the quarry and the cement plant. Once the quarry location was confirmed, the cement plant would be built nearby along a riverbank, minimizing raw material transport costs. One must understand that for a bulk commodity like cement, the greatest commercial sales cost is actually transport. Even in later generations, with airplanes, trains, and highways everywhere, a cement plant's sales radius typically did not exceed five hundred kilometers. Any farther and there was no profit left — all of it went to the Ministry of Transport.

Since the Paitan and Gaotan areas not only had limestone resources but also iron ore, copper ore, tungsten ore, kaolin, and other minerals, the second step — after the cement plant was operational — was to open both land and water routes to the Paitan area and construct high-standard gravel roads and water transport channels.

On a wooden table pieced together from four stools, Lei Jian spread out a precisely detailed, imported, computer-printed color map of Zengcheng, and then laid out the above plan for everyone present.

After Lei Jian finished speaking, the crowd all seemed to nod along. Setting aside this industrial investment plan, in truth, the first point of focus for several Ming gentlemen just now had been this map — such a finely detailed color map did not exist in this era, let alone one that was a large-scale map specifically targeting the Zengcheng region.

The first moment they saw the map, the expressions of two of those gentlemen flickered slightly: if they had such a detailed county map, then naturally they had a map of all of Guangdong, right?

Extrapolating from that, did they have a map of the entire South? The North? Beijing?... This Lord Cao had only just arrived in Guangdong, yet he could already produce such a detailed map of Zengcheng? He must have sent people to prepare it long ago. Truly, his intentions were... deeply schem... no, planning ahead!

In that moment, everyone harbored their own private thoughts.

However, everyone qualified to be present today could be said to be someone who had willingly boarded Cao's boat. These landlords, enthusiastic about industry and commerce, were now under pressure. Although things had not yet reached the point of staking their lives and family fortunes, they — as a minority faction — were undoubtedly in an invisible opposition to the numerous local rentier landlords. So after seeing this map, though some felt complicated emotions, no one on the scene said anything — seeing one leaf and knowing autumn? It was still early spring; too soon.

"Radar God, so many labor and service matters — this is, truthfully, somewhat complicated. I won't deceive you, this student is now completely lost... I haven't grasped the essentials, and I hope you will not begrudge your instruction."

The chubby Master Pan, after listening to Lei Jian's entire municipal planning presentation, was the first to voice the problem on behalf of everyone present.

"No problem." Lei Jian nodded. "I'll give everyone one key investment point."

Just as the early Transmigrators could not understand some of the Ming people's well-known daily habits, by the same logic, the Ming people actually did not quite understand the set of municipal investment bidding practices familiar to everyone in later generations. This had nothing to do with IQ; frankly, it was a matter of exposure.

Hearing Master Pan speak like this, Lei Jian immediately understood his meaning: the gentlemen present did not know how to invest and profit from this kind of comprehensive engineering project.

"Within this entire set of projects, the simplest is investing in the cement plant, the quarry, and the future mines. This is simply forming a joint venture with the General's Mansion — each of you invests silver for shares, and at year's end you just sit and wait for dividends."

"This is the simplest of all. The more you invest, the more you benefit, distributed according to shares. The General's Mansion will not shortchange anyone."

At this point, Lei Jian extended two fingers. "There is another way: taking on engineering contracts. The cement plant infrastructure, the cement plant dock, the quarry road, and the road to Paitan plus waterway dredging — all these labor projects will be divided into bid sections and contracted out to everyone. Any gentleman who has manpower under him and is willing to earn a sum of labor silver from the General, come back later to bid. Once you win the bid, you can receive the mobilization silver."

Master Gu was startled upon hearing this. As the County Magistrate, he knew all too well how official municipal engineering projects operated. Normally, whenever a road or bridge needed building, he had to wear his lips thin going around to wealthy households "urging donations." The dignified County Magistrate, for the sake of a little silver, had to resort to all manner of threats and inducements, and in the end, after reaping a pile of blank stares and cold remarks, only then could he truly accomplish something concrete.

Now, he had paid no attention to anything else, but in Lei Jian's words he had heard a completely new way of building roads: the General's Mansion provides the funds, and local personages contract the work. So he hurriedly asked, "So you are saying, this road requires no grain or money from wealthy households — the General's Mansion bears it all alone?"

"Yes."

Lei Jian smiled at the bright-eyed Gu County Magistrate, then said with certainty, "For all the labor projects mentioned above, the General's Mansion will, without exception, pay in advance — disbursing silver according to engineering progress. If the General's Mansion reneges on its debts, everyone is free to throw down their pickaxes and go home, doing no unpaid labor."

"What words are these, Radar God."

"No, no."

"A man of Cao Jiangjun's caliber — we are certainly able to trust him."

Hearing Lei Jian's promise, the Ming gentry, long accustomed to being milked by the authorities, immediately grasped the crux of the matter: this labor project was different from the past — someone was footing the bill. Coupled with the lavish side of the General's Mansion they had witnessed with their own eyes on ordinary days, the crowd, catching on, hurriedly voiced a chorus of trust in General Daren.

Gu County Magistrate was the happiest among them. This unprecedented "I build the road, you pay the money" model aside, once that road was built, it could not be moved or taken away. No matter who paid, this was all political achievement for this Old Man!

Having figured out the new investment and municipal engineering model, the group of "enlightened gentry" immediately launched into a rather warm and enthusiastic discussion — there was a lot of work this time, and seemingly plenty of opportunities to make money; everyone needed more information to aid their judgment.

Lei Jian then added a supplement: even if not a single person bought shares, the General's Mansion would fully invest in all the above projects. Once the projects began turning a profit in the future, everyone could then invest further depending on the situation... Of course, investing at that time would not be the opening round, and the returns would certainly not be as great as betting in now.

This principle was understood by all the Ming people present: the greater the risk, the greater the reward. This held true no matter what one did, so everyone expressed that they would certainly consider it carefully after returning home.

And so, a Ming-dynasty-style municipal engineering briefing session came to an end. The enlightened gentry in attendance enjoyed treatment equivalent to that of a later-generation county magistrate's brother-in-law, learning in advance the detailed circumstances of the projects Zengcheng County would be launching this year and grasping the highest-quality investment information — all of which would allow them to earn a tidy fortune in the years to come.

Moreover, compared to a brother-in-law, the Ming contractor foremen currently held one enormous advantage — they would never have to worry about the client's project payments. The Transmigrators possessed the wealth of the four seas and would absolutely never delay payment.

After the Shitan meeting concluded, Provincial Graduate Bai and Shopkeeper Wu, who had attended, hurried back to the Bai Residence. They shut the study door and began secret discussions.