Chapter 522 21. Opening up Hamamatsu in the Old Year

Let's review the handicraft workshops that have been established since Kobayakawa started his business.

The earliest mint could produce 1,200 kan per month, and 200 kan were needed for coin materials, fuel, and labor. The main reason was that it could not expand its scale because it did not produce copper.

Then there was the wood wax workshop, which produced 150,000 sticks per month, each worth 7 coins, totaling 1,050 kan, and the cost of labor was about 100 kan.

The iron cannon workshop could produce more than 50 short-barreled cannons on horseback per month, and about 35 ordinary iron cannons. One iron cannon cost 12 kan, but most of them were armed to the army of the Yamanouchi family, and a small number were sold to retainers and people in the territory, which can be ignored. It is already very good to balance income and expenditure.

The wild mountain burdock fine wool tinder did make a lot of money, but unfortunately it was the income from the Yamanouchi samurai reserve fund, which was used to help poor Yamanouchi samurai and could not be included.

Persimmon lacquer has a long production cycle, but now it has begun to show results, with an annual income of 15,000 kan and a cost of 2,000 kan. Half of the profit goes to the Yamanouchi family's government office, about 6,500 kan per year.

Although the shell ash from Totomi is sold in various countries, it is only twice as expensive as lime, and only 5,000 to 6,000 kan can be made in a year.

Hamamatsu stacking is famous, with a large-scale government-run workshop, strong strength and orderly management. The tatami produced is no less than old brands such as Tsuyama and Usuki, and can also bring in a huge income of 15,000 kan every year.

It can generate 56,000 kan of Yongle money cash for the Yamanouchi family every year. This is why the Yamanouchi family, with only 130,000 kan of territory, can have 400 directly subordinate hatamoto samurai under the 13th division, 4,000 regular iron cannons and bows, and the confidence to mobilize up to 30,000 people at the maximum.

The income of more than 50,000 kan made the Yamanouchi clan, which originally had only more than 1,000 regular foot soldiers and more than 100 hatamoto, expand to such a point like a snowball.

Where did the money go?

More than 50,000 kan to support more than 400 officers on horseback and 4,000 regular soldiers, isn't it cost-effective? In Japan, there is no other place to find such cheap and relatively combat-capable troops.

People always ask how Xiaoping worked so hard to make so much money? In fact, Japan has such a small market, and after more than ten years of hard work, he has made such a big family business.

It is estimated that other time travelers will laugh to death after seeing this. After more than ten years of hard work, in the end, there is only this little industry. Getting up early and going to bed late, working day and night, and finally only earning more than 50,000 taels of silver a year.

This is the reality of Japan today. The domestic market is small, the consumption power of ordinary farmers is low, and the consumer population of the urban class accounts for only 10% of the population. Domestic consumption is insufficient and it is difficult to expand. Without developing foreign trade, it is impossible to make huge profits.

It's difficult!

Only by opening the window of foreign trade, trading with Europe and Ming Dynasty, exporting various handicrafts and mineral products with huge output, and importing food that is in short supply in China (Xiao Pingtai stipulated that the ballast of the Nanman ship must be one-third to one-half of the load capacity of Thai rice, I wonder if anyone still remembers it?). Introduce advanced weapons manufacturing technology and various machinery from the East and the West.

Improve the political governance internally and open up to learn from the outside world. As long as you can maintain your own military power, you will not be in danger of collapse.

The road is still very long and the future is uncertain.

…………

Jozoemon brought dozens of pieces of pine wood, some of which cost 20 or 30 kan per piece, all of which were the best ones picked by Xiao Pingtai.

But Xiao Pingtai sawed it into eight pieces without saying a word, which made Jozoemon bleed with heartache. Such a large piece of wood is worth dozens of kan in its entirety, but it is firewood after being cut, which is worthless.

Stopping Jozoemon with a question mark on his face, Xiao Pingtai revealed the truth and prepared to make ink sticks.

In this era, almost all ink was monopolized by Yamato Kofukuji Temple and its lower houses, and the merchants who sold it were not Naya. It's useless to glare at them, it's a monopoly, it has nothing to do with you.

If the Yamanouchi family starts making ink, the monopoly of the monopoly is another way to make money, which should not be underestimated.

"Ink? If you use Korean red pine to make ink, the cost is too high." Sukezaemon has been a big man in the business world for more than ten years, and he feels a little unreliable.

"It's just an experiment, not a must-use." Xiao Pingtai certainly knows that the cost of importing red pine from the Joseon Dynasty and bringing it back to Yamanouchi to make ink is simply unimaginable.

"Is Shinano pine unusable?"

"I haven't tried it yet."

"How to try it?"

"It's being sawed off."

The first process is to add loose oil to the sawn pine to prevent the oil content in the ash from being too high and causing adhesion. "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" has a detailed description of the process.

The pine oil extracted is also a good thing. It can be used to make ink. One pound of oil can produce three or four coins of oil smoke, and the return rate is not too low. It’s just that the ink made is not as good as the smoke ink. It was quite popular in the Qing Dynasty.

The remaining pine wood is used to build a smoke kiln more than ten feet long, slowly burn it, and finally scrape the ash.

The result is beyond the expectations of Xiao Pingtai and others. The more it grows in the north, the finer the wood grain and the harder the wood, the less ash it produces.

The miscellaneous pines that grow in the south and cannot be used as building materials, on the contrary, produce fine and abundant ash, and the pine oil is also quite pleasing.

The best building materials, the first-class building materials used for beams and rafters, such as Sado red pine and Korean red pine, are expensive, but the return is completely less than the investment.

In Kii, Yamato and other countries, the climate is relatively warm, with long sunshine and abundant rainfall. Many of the pine trees growing there are not straight (no need to compete for sunlight upwards), the wood grain is not fine, and the material is not hard enough. But they are rich in oil, grow fast, and are cheap (who said they can't build houses).

No wonder the more northward the pine trees are distributed, the less people will make ink. Cutting them down and selling them directly is more profitable than making ink, and only fools will make ink. The miscellaneous pines in the south are not good materials, so Nara produces ink. The natural environment also has a huge impact on local industries.

The Shinano pine trees in Yamanouchi are neither north nor south, so they are neither up nor down. They can be used to make ink, but the cost is too high. On the other hand, the pine trees in Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga and other countries on the Pacific coast are crooked, but rich in oil and can be used.

If they want to make ink, they can only set up a workshop in Hamamatsu, taking advantage of the convenience of nearby materials and the geographical proximity to foreign ports. The plan is to sell to big cities such as Sakaimachi in Kinai, and the Ming Dynasty on the other side.

Xiao Pingtai suddenly thought that when the father and son Yamanouchi Yoshiharu and Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu were there, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu expanded Hamamatsu Castle and the seaport on a large scale and managed the Tenryu River. At the same time, he inspected the land and opened the port in Hamamatsu to enrich the town under the Hamamatsu Castle. Hamamatsu Castle is right in the center of the sea route and the main road to Kyoto.

Did the father and son have the idea of ​​moving the city to Hamamatsu?