In the blink of an eye, it was early November.
Balipu, located in the mountains, has already had two snowfalls.
When the snow stops, the toll station organizes bandits and road thugs who have undergone labor reform to clean the road.
The Balipu toll station controls a road stretching 25 miles in front and 25 miles in back, totaling 50 miles.
They had to ensure that the snow on the 50-mile cement road was cleared as soon as possible so as not to delay the merchants' journey.
If the road collapses or cracks appear, report it immediately.
When the weather improves next year, a construction team will come to repair the road.
The toll station manager, Niu Lao Da, is not here. He went to the provincial capital for a meeting and study, and has been gone for four days.
In his absence, the toll station was managed by two deputy station chiefs.
One is in charge of money and the other is in charge of accounts.
"The snow stopped yesterday. The stationmaster should be back by now."
"Maybe. I'm just worried about being delayed on the road."
"I'm back, I'm back."
A toll collector shouted outside.
The donkey cart from the toll station came towards them swayingly, and sitting on it was Boss Niu who was going to the provincial capital for a meeting.
Behind him, there were two carriages.
"The accountant is here too, hurry up and prepare the account books."
Both deputy station chiefs were busy.
There are two of them, one is in charge of the account books and the other is in charge of the money.
If the money doesn't add up, both of them will be in trouble.
Boss Niu got off the donkey cart and invited the accountant to the toll station for tea.
The accountant said, "Let's check the accounts first, and then have tea. It's almost the end of the year, and the boss is waiting for us to hand in the account books and estimate next year's profits. The boss is pressing us, so we have no choice but to urge you. The account books are all recorded according to the format, right?"
"Yes, yes, we did the accounting according to the methods taught in the training class." Boss Niu said hurriedly.
Several accountants brought their account books and money and sat in the signing room to start doing the accounts.
Boss Niu and two deputy station chiefs were waiting outside in case the accountant wanted to question them.
Boss Niu was impatient with the waiting, but he couldn't leave, so he sat on a bamboo chair. The room was warm and he fell asleep in a short while.
He had a dream. In the dream, he returned to the northwest and returned to the Sirius Army.
He joined the army at the age of eighteen and served for twelve years.
He worked in the Sirius Army for nearly five years and made many contributions.
It wasn't until he was thirty years old that he was ambushed and injured his left arm.
Although his left arm was saved, he couldn't use the strength in it, which meant he was half-crippled.
In addition, I have suffered countless injuries of varying sizes over the years, and I get sick every winter.
However, the Sirius Army fought more battles in winter than in summer, and they were all tough and difficult battles.
There was no choice but to retire.
General Pei personally handed him twenty taels of silver as retirement allowance.
It was very uncomfortable at that time.
General Pei asked him, "What are you going to do when you return?"
He chuckled and said, "Just eat and wait to die."
"You bastard!" General Pei was about the same age as him, but he called him a grandson.
After cursing for a while, General Pei took a sip of water and said, "There's a job here. It pays three taels of silver a month, and there's a bonus if you do well. But the prerequisite is that you pass the exam. You should attend a training course to prepare for the exam."
He had prepared a lot of words to object, but before he could say a word, he was taken to the training class.
Also going to the training class were hundreds of brothers from the Sirius Army who had retired together.
That was last September, and it was already quite cold in Northwestern Jinzhou.
They were a bunch of rough people who had never even held a pen, yet they were required to learn literacy and arithmetic from the teacher, with exams every month.
There is no reward if you pass the test, and if you fail, your food rations and money will be deducted, and you will also be beaten with a stick.
Studying is so hard! It's even more tiring than fighting in battle.
Those days were truly miserable.
A bunch of rough guys who want to rebel against the master.
As a result, General Pei descended from the sky and hundreds of people were punished according to military law and almost beaten to death.
Since then, they have calmed down.
Literacy and numeracy are really not easy.
Niu Lao studied for nearly a year before he passed the job exam and was hired to work at Balipu as the stationmaster of the Balipu toll station.
This is his dark history, and he won't tell anyone about it.
He would never tell his subordinates that he studied for a whole year before passing the exam.
He wanted to maintain a dignified image in front of others, so naturally he couldn't expose his weaknesses.
Naturally, the comrades who came to Balipu with him would not expose his shortcomings.
If they dare to expose his shortcomings, he will dare to expose everyone's shortcomings.
There are thirteen people in the Balipu toll station: one stationmaster and two deputy stationmasters.
The other ten people are all toll collectors.
Half are veterans and half are local recruits.
Even the two deputy station managers came from different places and different training classes.
Thinking of the happy things, Boss Niu laughed in his sleep.
"Boss Niu, Boss Niu, wake up..."
Someone pushed him.
"Who? Damn it, who pushed me?"
Boss Niu opened his eyes and blinked before he saw clearly that it was the accountant.
He chuckled and scratched his head, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, sir. I accidentally overslept. These bastards didn't even know to wake me up."
All the bastards that Boss Niu mentioned started laughing.
It's a rare opportunity to see Boss Niu's jokes, so of course I can't miss it.
The accountant said, "The accounts have been checked, and the money is correct. You and the other two deputy station masters sign and seal here, and we will take the account books and the money away."
"oh!"
Ever since he learned to read, Boss Niu has been extremely careful with documents. During meetings, he repeatedly emphasized that everyone should read the contents carefully before signing.
After making sure that the content was correct, he picked up the pen to sign and stamp.
Then came the two deputy station chiefs.
After completing the handover and drinking tea, the accountants carried the account books, a box of silver, and two baskets of copper coins and got on the carriage, ready to go to the next toll station.
After seeing off the accountant, everyone at the toll station breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm so nervous! I'm worried there might be something wrong with the accounts."
"As long as everyone follows the rules and records every transaction truthfully, there will be no problems with the accounts."
"That's what the stationmaster said."
…
A few days later, in the capital, three hundred miles away.
Located outside the south city gate of Xinmin County, a magnificent mansion was newly built next to the county government office.
This house is the headquarters of Sihai Trading Company.
It's very lively here today, with a row of luxurious carriages parked in the yard.
The cement road from Beijing to Luozhou was fully opened at the end of September.
In October, twenty toll stations were fully deployed and the toll collection project was launched at the same time.
The accounts of twenty toll stations for ten months are the most intuitive examination of the value of this cement road.
Look at the account book and see the future.
To see whether this cement road is feasible or not, we need to look at the account books for October before we can draw a conclusion.
The reason why there are twenty toll stations in a distance of 800 miles is that not all toll stations are set strictly according to the distance of 50 miles.
A toll booth must be set up on major traffic routes or near freight terminals.
In these places, the distance between two toll stations may be only thirty or forty miles.
All shareholders who could come to the round table conference room came.
Those who could not make it were also sent to observe the trial.
Gu Jiu sat in the main seat, silently flipping through the account book.
The meeting room was noisy.
Cheng Enbo Zhu Ci personally attended the shareholders' meeting.
He just wanted to see if his original judgment was correct and whether this path was the goose that would lay golden eggs in his mind.
"Madam Zhao, when can the accounts be released?"
Someone dared to ask.
Gu Jiu tapped the table lightly. "I wonder how much everyone is looking forward to the October accounts?"
"In October, we should have at least three thousand taels of revenue. Twenty toll booths employ so many people. Without that much revenue, this road would be pointless."
"What do you mean there's no point? There are only a few people at the toll booth. How much does it cost to support them?"
"It's not cheap to keep those toll collectors. Twenty toll booths, and a month's labor costs, food expenses, charcoal costs, and so on, are at least one or two thousand taels. We also need to set aside a portion of the revenue for road maintenance. I did the math, and if we make less than three thousand taels a month, we'll be losing money on this road."
Many people present nodded.
Three thousand taels is the bottom line.
If the profit in October is less than three thousand taels, we will have to re-evaluate the value of this road.
Everyone was arguing, but Gu Jiu did not refute what they said.
Cheng Enbo Zhu Ci snorted secretly and muttered to himself: "A bunch of ignorant fools."
Even if the profit in October is less than three thousand taels, this road is still a golden road.
In October, snow had already fallen in many places. The weather was very cold, and with few business travelers on the roads, it was understandable that toll booths were collecting less revenue.
When the weather warms up in the spring of next year, the number of business travelers on the cement road will definitely more than double.
"Madam Zhao, there's no point in us guessing. Why not just announce the result directly?"
Gu Jiu nodded and signaled Deng Cunli to preside over the meeting.
Deng Cunli bowed and accepted the order, clearing his throat.
"Twenty toll booths, starting from Luozhou, report the bills one by one."
"That's good. It's clear at a glance."
Deng Cunli picked up the account book and began to report the expenses.
As he announced the numbers one by one, the shareholders present frowned, were shocked, looked sad, and were pleasantly surprised.
Very rich expressions.
The accounts of the twenty toll booths were quickly completed.
"The toll stations with the highest revenue are the Jingcheng Toll Station outside the capital, and the Luozhou Toll Station in Luozhou. These two toll stations took in 3,721 taels of silver in October alone."
boom!
The atmosphere in the conference room was lively.
Deng Cunli continued, "The toll station with the lowest revenue is the Wuliba Toll Station in the mountainous area, which collected a total of 98 taels and 2 qian of silver in October.
There are eight toll stations with revenues ranging from one hundred to two hundred taels, including the Balipu toll station... There are six toll stations with revenues ranging from two hundred to three hundred taels.
Two toll booths earned between three and four hundred taels, while another toll booth barely broke five hundred taels in October.
The total revenue from all toll booths in October exceeded expectations by more than 7,000 taels, totaling 7,127 taels and 7 qian of silver."
boom!
The meeting room was in an uproar again.
"Did it really exceed seven thousand taels in October?"
"How come the revenue at the toll stations in Jingcheng and Luozhou was so high in October? Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the accounts?"
"The Beijing toll booth is only thirty miles away from the south gate of the capital. All goods heading north to Beijing must pass through here. How can the revenue not be high?"
"The situation in Luozhou is similar."
"These two toll booths are bustling with traffic from morning till night, and there are three times as many toll collectors as elsewhere, so it's normal for them to earn so much."
"The income in October is 7,000 taels. That means the total for the year should be 100,000 taels."
"I'm afraid it's more than 100,000 taels."
"After deducting costs and road maintenance fees, the remaining money doesn't need to be invested in other projects. It can all be used for dividends. At the end of the year, it can be quite a lot of money. It won't take more than a few years to earn back the investment."
"It won't take years. Don't forget, last month was October, and many places were covered in snow. The number of caravans on the road decreased by more than half. And many people don't even know the concrete road is complete. By next year, I'm afraid we'll be earning tens of thousands of taels every month."
"Haha, that's great."
The shareholders were extremely excited.
I thought I could just raise money to build a road and gain a reputation, but I didn't expect there would actually be dividends.
For many people, this is definitely a pleasant surprise.
Seeing that everyone had almost finished discussing, Gu Jiu gave Deng Cunli a wink.
Deng Cunli nodded and distributed the copied account books to each shareholder.
It not only records the accounts of each toll station in detail, but also provides data analysis.
The cement road from the capital to Luozhou is more than 400 miles long, all of which is located in mountainous areas.
Fortunately, it was built along the official road, so it was completed within a year.
These toll stations located in the mountainous areas have one thing in common, which is that they are extremely far away from the docks, with the closest one having to walk more than a hundred miles.
This means that caravans traveling by water will not disembark at these places and switch to land transportation in order to avoid checkpoints.
This also limits the development of these toll stations.
Being able to earn one or two hundred taels a month is already very good.
All other toll stations with an income of more than 200 taels have relatively flat terrain and not so many mountains.
In these places, people's livelihoods and economies are relatively good. Some toll booths are relatively close to docks, and caravans often pass through to avoid water transport checkpoints, so the toll booths naturally earn higher revenues.
Gu Jiu knocked on the table.
The noisy meeting room suddenly became quiet.
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