Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 361 Recruiting Soldiers and Buying Horses, Making Huge Profits

Besides those charitable weaving workshops, another industry that Zhang Dai placed great hopes on was the canal transport fleet.

"Since the young master returned to the capital in the late spring of the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, we were first hired by Duke Dai of Caozhou to transport people and goods to and from Caozhou. In the second half of the year, we went to Bianzhou..."

After the Yizao Weaving Workshop finished speaking, Nan Jiyun quickly stood up and reported to Zhang Dai on the current status of the canal transport operation: "Currently, the fleet has thirty-three grain ships and twelve cargo ships of various sizes, with more than 1,600 boatmen, polemen, and other crew members, along with more than 7,000 families, residing in Weizhou, Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, Caozhou, and other places. Last year, the income from hired laborers was more than 53,000 strings of cash, the income from civilian transport was more than 31,000 strings of cash, and the wages paid to laborers were more than 60,000 strings of cash..."

The fleet initially consisted of only a dozen or so cargo ships gifted by Li Daosui, the governor of Caozhou. Now, it has grown to forty-five ships of various types, a size that is considered medium-sized on the Bian Canal.

However, Zhang Dai was different from other canal boat owners in that, in addition to the boats, his team of boatmen also belonged to him.

To save costs, other ship owners often only owned the ship themselves, and then employed dozens of servants, or simply had themselves and the men of their clan escort the ship. As for the other boatmen, they would simply recruit them, which greatly reduced costs.

Zhang Dai not only maintained the boats but also employed the boatmen. While working on the boats, the boatmen received wages between eighty and one hundred coins according to the canal transport standards. When they went ashore to rest, they received an additional twenty coins per day to maintain their basic living needs.

Last year, the fleet mainly undertook tasks for the government and hired laborers.

According to official and paid prices, the freight cost for water transport was one hu (equivalent to one shi of rented rice or other goods). The cost for a boat traveling 100 li upstream against the current was between 15 and 20 qian, while the cost for downstream was between 6 and 10 qian. On average, the cost for transporting one hu of goods for 100 li was usually between 11 and 12 qian.

Zhang Dai's fleet mainly shuttled back and forth on the Bian Canal, which was more than 1,300 li from the Huai River to the Bian Canal gate in Zhengzhou. The cargo capacity of the ships was usually between 1,000 and 1,500 hu, and the freight cost for a single ship to make a one-way trip on the Bian Canal was only about 200 guan.

The official and hired freight rates are relatively low. After deducting labor, ship maintenance, and expenses along the way, the profit is very limited. Zhang Dai's labor costs are high, and he would lose tens of strings of cash for each trip by hiring someone.

However, the freight cost for privately owned ships is much higher, usually reaching more than 300 guan per trip. If the goods being transported are in high demand, the freight cost will be even higher.

If the ship owner also engaged in cargo transportation and sales, the gross profit per ship could reach more than 500 guan. With a fleet of 45 ships like Zhang Dai's, a single trip fully loaded could generate a gross profit of more than 20,000 guan. Even after deducting other costs, the ship could still maintain a net profit of several thousand guan.

Therefore, relying on the canal is truly profitable. Zhang Dai's fleet spent most of last year running and hiring boats at a loss, but the few times he transported private goods brought in the entire year's profit, leaving him with 20,000 strings of cash after deducting all kinds of expenses.

"This year, we will continue to expand the fleet and strive to acquire more than sixty ships! We should not refuse any requests from the government or hire any ships we can, as this will both serve the country and hone our skills!"

After learning about the fleet's operations, Zhang Dai was in high spirits and immediately issued orders to continue expanding the fleet.

Although there would no longer be such severe disasters as those around the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, requiring the transportation of supplies from various regions for relief, the demand for grain transport in the Tang Dynasty continued to increase year by year. Not only was the bureaucratic class in Chang'an growing larger and its consumption increasing, but the unfolding of wars on the borders also required an ever-growing amount of material allocation.

Today, productivity in the Jiangnan region is also rapidly increasing. Moreover, due to the convenient transportation along the Yangtze River, goods from both banks of the Yangtze River are gathered in places like Yangzhou downstream, and then travel north from there to Huai River, continuously flowing north through canals such as the Bian Canal.

Since the prefectures and counties along the canal also needed to ensure agricultural production and maintain tax revenue, they could not frequently conscript people to participate in the canal transport. Therefore, the inland canal transport increasingly needed relatively professional transport teams to maintain its capacity.

The local government of the Tang Dynasty was a ruling model based on the equal-field system and maintained by the rent, labor service and tax system. It did not have the ability to form professional canal transport teams, so private canal transport teams sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Zhang Dai, of course, also seized this historical opportunity and established his own canal transport team based on the Bian Canal.

Forty-five transport ships and more than 1,600 boatmen were still a bit too few. In Zhang Dai’s view, at least one hundred transport ships and a crew of more than five thousand boatmen were needed to be considered a small success.

For these industries, Zhang Dai didn't care whether they made money or not. All he needed to do was quietly expand the industry and, while maintaining organization, quickly increase its scale and size.

The reason he was so bold was because he held a cash cow in his hands: Bianzhou Feiqian and the Bianzhou Industrial Park built on Feiqian.

Previously, wealthy households in Bianzhou had purchased numerous properties acquired through the ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials. These properties were then leased back to Zhang Dai. Over the past few years, through exchanges and consolidations, an industrial park covering hundreds of hectares has been established within Bianzhou.

This industrial park primarily focuses on logistics while also incorporating certain processing and production functions, distributing goods from the Central Plains to various parts of the country. "Last year, the park's trade exceeded 500,000 strings of cash, while the granaries received over 60,000 strings. Various businesses in Bianzhou shared profits of over 300,000 strings, of which 250,000 strings were used for interest-bearing loans, generating 370,000 strings in profit, of which 50,000 strings were distributed to Weizhou..."

As Zhang Yi began reporting on the transaction volume of the Bianzhou Industrial Park and the profits of Bianzhou Feiqian, everyone else shut their mouths, no longer daring to boast about the status of their respective departments.

Since the advent of trade, financial services have become an extremely profitable industry. Although Bianzhou Flying Money, after being separated from the original Flying Money of the two capitals, was not as profitable as the original two capitals, it was still quite considerable once it developed and got on track.

After all, the two capitals were the areas where the wealth of the Tang Dynasty was most concentrated. Although Bianzhou had a well-developed logistics system, the development of its financial industry still needed to be nurtured.

Currently, the profits from the flying money in Bianzhou are mostly taken by the wealthy households in Bianzhou, which is unavoidable.

It should be noted that Zhang Dai himself did not make any large investments. The deposits he paid were all secured by the properties of these wealthy households. Before sufficient funds were accumulated, this situation of large-scale profit outflow would continue for some time.

Once he has accumulated enough capital, he can stop making such large dividends and simply pay the park's rent at the current market price.

Now, these wealthy households in Bianzhou are providing him with initial capital, and he only enjoys the right to share in the profits, but he cannot participate in the development and operation of Feiqian. This situation is very cost-effective for Zhang Dai.

From a broader perspective, the money distributed as dividends doesn't simply disappear; a portion of it flows back through waterways and logistics parks. Furthermore, once you know where the money is, you can't be sure whose it actually belongs to.

Zhang Dai didn't need to hoard all the money; he only needed to ensure he could get money when he needed it.

Even though Tianbao amassed so much wealth in the later stages of the Tianbao era, he was still wiped out by An Lushan in the end. And An Lushan himself ultimately died without spending any of his money!
These are Zhang Dai's core businesses at present, and they are all operating well. As for other things like the Changshou Temple monastery and selling insurance in the Luoyang palace, these are just small-scale operations within the capital. He only needs to check on them when he returns to Luoyang during holidays to make sure that the overall direction is not off track.

After completing his report, Zhang Yicai presented Zhang Dai with a total of 80,000 strings of cash in flying money vouchers. This was the net profit after deducting last year's expenses and this year's reserved funds, which was handed over to Zhang Dai for his own consumption.

Zhang Dai flicked a few tough, glittering gold flying money tickets with his fingers, and couldn't help but think about how to spend the money.

He had originally planned to use the 80,000 guan to buy a house, but after all the trouble, someone else took care of everything from the land to the materials. He only needed to pay for the labor, so he obviously didn't need the 80,000 guan.

Zhang Dai himself had no hoarding desires, nor was he keen on saving money. He even felt that saving money was a waste of money. If money couldn't be spent, it was better to give it away to those in need.

Eighty thousand strings of cash is no small sum; most people would never be able to accumulate such a large amount of wealth in their entire lives. If used for business, it could certainly accomplish many things and benefit many people as a result.

Recently, Zhang Dai has been planning to lease a mountain to plant tea. This is something he has been thinking about for a long time, but he has never had the time and energy to seriously prepare for it.

In the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, Tibet contacted the Turks to jointly attack the Tang Dynasty. However, the Turks betrayed Tibet and reported the news to the Tang Dynasty, which eased the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. The Tang Dynasty resumed trade with the Turks in the Western Surrender City, with hundreds of thousands of bolts of silk traded between them every year.

This opening of the border trade was not only for the official purpose of increasing the Tang Dynasty's warhorse reserves and improving the cavalry's combat capabilities, but also for many old money merchants from Guanzhong to get involved and make huge profits.

Zhang Dai was also eager to get involved. Whether he made money or not was secondary; he wanted to cultivate tea into a competitive commodity for trade with nomadic powers. Compared to traditional trade goods like silk and even ironware, tea had far more advantages.

If he's going to do this, he won't do it on a small scale; 80,000 strings of cash would be enough to keep him busy for a while.

How to spend the money is another matter. After reporting on all the matters, it was already afternoon. So he immediately stood up and said with a smile, "I'm afraid you all don't like the dull scenery here. Let's head to Pingkang Lane and spend the night in a gentle tent!"

"Your Excellency is so generous!"

Upon hearing this, everyone clapped and laughed.

(End of this chapter)