Chapter 538: Seven thousand taels (three shifts)

It was early November in a blink of an eye.
There have been two snows in Balipu, located in the mountain.
When the snow stopped, the toll station organized the mountain bandit road tyrants for labor reform to clean the road.
The Balipu toll station manages the pavement of 25 miles before and after each, which adds up to 50 miles.
They have to make sure that the snow on the cement road for fifty miles is cleared up as soon as possible, so as not to delay the travel of merchants.
If the road collapses or cracks appear, report it in time.
When the weather improves next year, an engineering team will come to repair the road.
Boss Niu, the head of the toll station, was not there, so he went to Fucheng for a meeting and study. It has been four days.
In his absence, the toll station will be in charge of the two deputy station masters.
One is in charge of the money and the other is in charge of the accounts.
"The snow stopped yesterday. The stationmaster should be back."
"Maybe. I'm afraid of delays on the road."
"Back, back."
A toll collector shouted outside.
The donkey cart at the toll booth swayed towards them. Sitting on it was the boss of Niu who was going to a meeting in Fucheng.
Behind him, two carriages followed.
"The account room is here too, get the account book ready."
The two deputy station masters are busy.
Two of them, one is in charge of the books and the other is in charge of the money.
If the money and the account are not reconciled, both of them will have trouble eating.
Boss Niu got out of the donkey cart and asked the account room to enter the toll booth for tea.
Mr. Accountant said: "First check the accounts, and then drink tea after finishing the accounts. It is almost the end of the year, and the owner is waiting for us to hand in the accounts and estimate the profitability of next year. The above is urgent, we have no choice but to urge you. The ledger is recorded in accordance with the format."
"Yes, yes, they are all done according to the methods taught in the training class." Niu boss said hurriedly.
Several accountants took out the account book and money, and sat in the signing room to start the settlement.
Boss Niu took the two deputy station masters and waited outside to prevent the accountant from questioning the situation.
Boss Niu was impatient with this waiting, and couldn't leave. Sitting on the bamboo chair, the room was warm again, and he fell asleep after a while.
He had a dream, in which he returned to the northwest and returned to the Sirius Army.
He was a soldier at the age of eighteen and worked for twelve years.
In the Sirius Army alone, he worked for nearly five years and made a lot of credit.
Until the age of thirty, he was in an ambush and injured his left arm.
The left arm was saved, but unable to exert strength, it was tantamount to being half disabled.
In addition, over the years, there have been countless injuries, both large and small, and become ill in winter.
However, the Sirius Army fought more battles in winter than in summer, and they were all bad battles and hard battles.
There is no alternative but to leave the army.
Twenty taels of retired silver, General Pei personally handed him over.
It was so uncomfortable.
General Pei asked him, "What are you going to do when you go back?"
He chuckled, "Eat and wait for death."
"Bastard thing!" General Pei was about the same age as him, but scolded him as a grandson.
After scolding, General Pei slobbered and said, "Here is an errand. There are three or two salary per month, and there are rewards for doing well. The premise is to pass the exam. You go to the training class to prepare for the exam."
He prepared an objection, but before he could say a word, he was escorted to the training class.
Hundreds of Sirius brothers who had retired from the army were also going to the training class together.
It was September last year, and it was colder in Northwest Jinzhou.
They are a group of big bosses, who have never even used a pen, but they want to learn literacy and arithmetic from the master. Take a test every month.
There is no reward for passing the exam, but the ration is deducted directly, the money is deducted, and the board is still used.
How hard studying is! Tired than going into battle to kill the enemy.
That day was really miserable.
A group of big bosses want to rebel against Mr.
As a result, General Pei descended from the sky, and hundreds of people, working in accordance with military law, were almost killed.
Since then, they have been honest.
Literacy and arithmetic are really not easy.
It took nearly a year for Niulao University to pass the job examination and was hired to Balipu as the stationmaster of the toll station in Balipu.
This is his dark history, he won't tell anyone who asks about it.
He would not tell the people below that he had studied for a whole year before passing the exam.
He wants to maintain a majestic image in front of others, so naturally he can't expose his shortcomings.
The robes that came to Balipu with him will naturally not reveal his shortcomings.
If they dare to expose his shortcomings, he dares to expose everyone's shortcomings.
There are 13 people in this Balipu toll booth. One webmaster, two deputy webmasters.
The other ten people are all toll collectors.
Half veterans, half locally recruited.
Even the two deputy stationmasters are from different places and different training courses.
Thinking of happy things, Boss Niu laughed in his sleep.
"Boss Niu, Boss Niu, wake up..."
Someone pushed him.
"Who? Grandma's who pushed me."
Boss Niu opened his eyes and blinked before he could see that it was Mr. Accountant.
He laughed and scratched his head, "Mister laughed, and accidentally overslept. These don't know how to wake me up."
The in Boss Niu's mouth all laughed.
It's rare to see the joke of Boss Niu, of course you can't miss it.
Mr. Accountant said: "The accounts have been checked, and the accounts are correct. You and the other two deputy stationmasters sign and stamp here, and we will take the account books and money away."
"Oh!"
Boss Niu has been especially careful with various documents since he was literate. During the above meeting, I also emphasized repeatedly, read the content clearly before signing.
After confirming that the content was okay, he took the pen to sign and seal it.
Then there are two deputy station masters.
After finishing the handover and drinking tea, the accountants carried the ledger, a box of silver coins, and two baskets of copper coins on the carriage, ready to go to the next toll station.
After leaving the account, the toll booths all breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm so nervous! I'm afraid there is a problem with the accounts."
"As long as everyone follows the rules and registers every transaction truthfully, there will be no problems with the accounts."
"What the webmaster said."
...
A few days later, the capital was three hundred miles away.
Located in Xinmin County outside the Nancheng Gate, next to the county government, a magnificent house was built.
The house here is the headquarters of Sihai Commercial Bank.
It is very lively here today, and there is a luxury carriage parked in the yard.
The cement road from Beijing to Luozhou was fully connected at the end of September.
In October, 20 toll stations were fully rolled out and toll projects were launched at the same time.
The ten-month accounts of 20 toll stations are the most intuitive examination of the value of this cement road.
Look at the books and see the future.
Whether this concrete road has any trouble, you have to look at the October account book before you can draw a conclusion.
The reason why there are 20 toll stations for a distance of eight hundred miles is that not all toll stations are set strictly according to the distance of fifty miles.
A toll station must be set up on the traffic arteries or near the freight terminal.
In these places, the two toll stations may only be separated by thirty or forty miles.
In the round table meeting room, all the shareholders who can come are here.
Those who couldn't come were also sent to listen.
Gu Jiu sat on the main seat, flipping through the books in silence.
The meeting room is noisy.
Cheng En Bo Zhuci attended this shareholder meeting in person.
He just wanted to see if his original judgment was correct. Was this road the hen he thought would lay golden eggs?
"Mrs. Zhao, when can the accounts be released?"
Someone asked boldly.
Gu Jiu tapped the table lightly, "I wonder how much do you expect for the accounts in October?"
"In October, you have to have three thousand taels of income no matter what. Twenty toll booths support so many people. If there is not so much income, then this road is nothing to do."
"What do you mean by not doing it? There are only a few people in the toll booth. How much can it cost to raise these people?"
"It's not cheap to raise those toll collectors. Twenty toll stations, one month's labor expenses, food expenses, charcoal expenses, etc., less one or two thousand taels. You also need to use a portion of the income as road maintenance expenses. An account, less than three thousand taels a month, will make a big loss for repairing this road."
Many people present nodded one after another.
Three thousand taels is the bottom line.
If the income in October is less than three thousand taels, everyone has to reassess the value of this road.
The crowd was noisy and Gu Jiu did not refute everyone's words.
Cheng En Bo Zhu Ci secretly snorted and muttered to himself: "A group of idiots without knowledge."
Even if the income in October is less than three thousand taels, this road is a golden road.
In October, it already snowed in many places. The weather is very cold, there are few business trips on the road, and the low income from toll booths is justified.
When the next spring begins and the weather is warm, the number of business travelers on the cement road will definitely more than double.
"Mrs. Zhao, it's useless for us to guess. It's better to announce the results directly."
Gu Jiu nodded and motioned to Deng Cunli to preside over the meeting.
Deng Cunli leaned forward and cleared his throat.
"Twenty toll stations, starting from the Los Angeles side, repay the accounts one by one."
"That's good, it's clear at a glance."
Deng Cunli picked up the ledger and began to repay.
As he reported a number of figures, the shareholders present frowned for a while, shocked, frowned, and pleasantly surprised.
The expression is very rich.
The accounts of the twenty toll booths were reported quickly.
"The toll stations with the highest income are the Beijing toll stations outside the capital and the Luozhou toll stations on the other side of Luozhou. These two toll stations, in October alone, had revenues of 3,721 taels."
boom!
The atmosphere in the meeting room is very lively.
Deng Cunli continued: "The toll station with the lowest income is the Wuliba toll station in the mountainous area. In October, it received a total of 98 taels of silver.
There are eight toll stations with income between 100 and 200 taels, including Balipu toll stations...There are six toll stations with income between 200 and 300 taels.
There are two toll stations with income between 300 and 400 taels. There is also a toll station with a revenue of more than 500 taels in October.
The income of all the toll booths added up, the October income, unexpectedly, broke 7,000 taels, for a total of 7,127,27 dollars. "
boom!
The meeting room boiled again.
"Surely it exceeded seven thousand taels in October?"
"Why are the revenues of the two toll stations in Beijing and Luozhou so high in October? Are these accounts sure there is no problem?"
"Beijing toll station is thirty miles away from the southern gate of the capital. Goods going northward into Beijing must pass through here. Can the income be high?"
"The situation in Los Angeles is similar."
"At the two toll stations, there are three times more toll collectors from morning to evening, and the income is normal."
"In October, the income is 7,000 taels. After that year, doesn't it have to be 100,000 taels."
"I'm afraid it's more than one hundred thousand taels."
"If you deduct costs, road maintenance fees, and don't need to invest in other projects, you can get dividends. After one year, you can also divide a lot of money. You can make money back in a few years."
"Where does it take a few years. Don’t forget, last month was October. There was snow in many places, and the caravans on the road were less than half. And many people still don’t know that the cement road has been connected. By next year, I’m afraid it will be every I can earn tens of thousands of liang a month."
"Haha, that's good."
The shareholders were so excited.
I thought it would be nice to get a reputation for building roads, but I didn't expect it to get dividends.
For many people, this is definitely a surprise.
Seeing everyone's discussion was almost done, Gu Jiu winked at Deng Cunli.
Deng Cunli nodded and distributed the copied account book to each shareholder.
The above not only records the accounts of each toll station in detail, but also conducts data analysis.
There are more than 400 miles of cement roads from Beijing to Luozhou, all of which are located in mountainous areas.
Fortunately, it was repaired along the official road, and the construction could be completed within one year.
These toll stations located in the mountainous areas all have a common feature, that is, they are extremely far away from the pier and have to travel more than a hundred miles recently.
This means that caravans that take water transportation will not disembark in these places and change to land transportation in order to avoid checkpoints.
This also limits the development of these toll stations.
The monthly income is one or two hundred taels, which is already excellent.
All other toll stations with income of 200 taels have relatively flat terrain and not so many mountains.
In these places, people's livelihood and economy are better. Some toll gates are relatively close to the pier, and caravans avoiding water transport checkpoints often pass through, so the income of toll gates is naturally higher.
Gu Jiu knocked on the table.
The noisy meeting room quieted down in an instant.