Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 174: Catch
"General Gan, thank you for your hard work." Pang Tong stepped forward and helped Gan Ning jump off the boat.
Of course, considering their physical conditions, this is completely confusing behavior...
Gan Ning soaked in the sea for three days and threw away his military token. After he came ashore, he could beat ten Pang Tongs!
Lu Kang noticed that the two seemed to have exchanged some information at this time, and then Pang Tong's eyes flashed slightly.
Lu Kang frowned, instinctively feeling that someone was about to bleed, but he didn't say anything, not even to remind Lu Da.
Seeing Pang Tong praising Gan Ning exaggeratedly, and the latter's look of "I spent so much effort fishing, how can you not buy some?", the representatives of the wealthy families present all put on business-like smiles and expressed hypocritical concern about the amount of fish caught.
"Hahaha, it seems that everyone is waiting for this prefect's fish? You are in for a treat this time! I have already cooked fish soup and grilled fish on the boat. The fish caught by this prefect is definitely the most delicious you have never enjoyed!" Gan Ning spoke half truthfully and half nonsense.
Bai Tu actually does have a better way of cooking it, but... the gong has already been used. Although Bai Tu will try his best to prevent it from spreading and will ban it in the future, he will not let the yellow croaker become so popular. Otherwise, wouldn't the yellow croaker be repeatedly on the brink of extinction?
"I will not blackmail you. Ten pounds of meat and one stone of rice, is that fair? Of course... there are also these dozen or so noble super goldfish. I will present the heaviest one to the lord, and you can bid for the others!" Gan Ning said.
Gan Ning was more business-minded than expected. He picked out a dozen yellow croakers, or "goldfish" as he called them, that weighed more than 30 kilograms. The largest one was probably 50 kilograms.
Thirty catties in the Han Dynasty is roughly equivalent to fifteen catties today. Such a large yellow croaker would be worth at least hundreds of thousands of dollars today, and it is not impossible for the largest one to be auctioned for a million.
Of course, if Gan Ning wanted to sell it at such a high price in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it would be impossible unless he took action.
When the wealthy families heard the saying “ten catties of meat for one stone of rice”, they were relieved - in terms of weight, the ratio was about 1:10, which was the usual price of meat!
Of course, given the current drought situation, even though Wu County, which was well protected by Bai Tu, was not short of food, the price of food was still very high. In addition, due to the drought, many livestock were slaughtered early due to lack of water. Ten kilograms of meat could not be exchanged for one stone of rice this year.
But before that, they were prepared to be blackmailed.
Now it seems that Governor Gan is not that difficult to talk to - after all, in their view, although the fleet is not small, with more than 30 ships carrying forty or fifty sailors, it is far beyond the reach of ordinary fishermen, but... at most a few hundred or a thousand kilograms of fish.
Although the price of grain is relatively high now, just a few hundred dan of rice is something that anyone here can easily take out.
After all, the dozen or so "most noble" fish should be the highlight - although most of them don't understand the word "show" now, they understand its meaning.
In the eyes of many people, Gan Ning's personal fishing was just a show, expressing that the local officials of Jiangdong were taking personal action to fight the drought.
And after this "show" was put on, these wealthy people would feel embarrassed not to follow suit.
However, at this time, Pang Tong said: "Gan Taishou, the price of grain is not low this year, otherwise... it's better to buy 20 catties of meat and one stone of rice."
When Gan Ning frowned upon hearing this, Zheng Xing took the initiative to shout, "Gan Taishou has worked hard and made great contributions. It is only right that he should be given ten catties of meat and one stone of rice!"
"That's right, we will never lower the price of Governor Gan's harvest..."
"Gan Taishou, leave one of those big goldfish to my Wei family. We will pay ten thousand coins... no, one hundred dan of rice!"
Just "ten pounds of meat and one stone of rice", everyone acted very generously.
The young master of the Zhao family also came to see the world today, and couldn't help but shout: "Today, all the fish for Governor Gan will be bought by my Zhao family..."
Fortunately, his uncle at the side pulled him down and whispered to his nephew that he should not be too prominent at this time, otherwise it would seem that he was "not giving other families a chance" and he would be hated by others.
"Hahaha, great! We Jiangdong people are so enthusiastic. I would like to thank you all on behalf of our fellow countrymen who suffered from the disaster in Huainan." Gan Ning said happily and exchanged a glance with Pang Tong implicitly.
That's right, I'm not blackmailing you. You set the price yourselves. If I don't sell it to you, wouldn't that be looking down on you?
Gan Ning specifically started the bidding for the distinguished yellow croaker first, because Gan Ning had already said that the largest one would be presented to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion, so the others had no taboos.
Lu Kang also signaled to Lu Dan with his eyes that it was okay to ask for a higher price...
Whether he really wanted to show off or to give Gan Ning face, these fourteen noble big goldfish alone amounted to more than two thousand stones of grain.
Then the fleet began to "unload". When two "hills" were piled up at the beginning, everyone was a little surprised - it seemed that Governor Gan had put in a lot of effort.
However, what happened next was disturbing.
The third, the fourth...more and more goldfish were piled up by the sailors coming and going!
And if you look closely, it seems that all of them were unloaded from the first four ships, and there are still... nearly thirty ships behind.
"My lord, your method is indeed effective. Today's harvest is good, about 300,000 kilograms in total. You can all subscribe for it! Hahaha." Gan Ning laughed a lot today.
After all, no one annoyed him today, and everyone seemed very enthusiastic. No one even bargained for the price. Just one day's catch was exchanged for 30,000 shi of grain.
As for the harvest of 300,000 kilograms...is it a lot?
It is recorded that in the 1950s after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a fleet of four to five hundred people would go out to sea and catch hundreds of tons of fish each time, most of which were yellow croaker.
Gan Ning's 300,000 jin is only a few dozen tons...
Gan Ning's fleet was no smaller than the fishing boats at that time. In fact, there were small boats cooperating when fishing, but the small boats did not need to stop at the port. In fact, the number of fleets dispatched by Gan Ning this time was much larger than that of a fishing club.
Manpower is even more abundant. After all, it is half fishing and half training. Normal fishing does not require so many people on a boat.
The reason why the harvest is a little "small" is mainly because of lack of skill...
Although the expressions of the representatives of each family now, looking at the piles of "fish mountains", are like the salted fish in "Looking Up at the Stars", but... it's only a few tens of thousands of stones of grain, and so many families have to share the burden, and no one wants to offend Gan Ning's regret.
After all, this fish is indeed real...
Young Master Zhao, who was about to pay for all the food today, was now thankful that he was stopped by his uncle. Otherwise, 30,000 dan of grain... Although the Zhao family was not unable to provide it, it would be so painful that his father would beat him to death.
But they really couldn’t understand why Bai Tu could create both salt and fish?
Was the sea that their ancestors had been eating from a fake one? Was it consecrated after Bai Tu came?
Seeing that all the families had subscribed to the goldfish in a harmonious manner, Gan Ning smiled once again.
At the same time, he "comforted" her: "Don't regret if you bought less. In the future, during the disaster years, as long as conditions permit, we will go out to sea every day to ensure that everyone has a healthy diet! This time, I am a little unskilled, but it doesn't matter... The first time is new, the second time is familiar!"
Every day...it's still a new and familiar experience, Zheng Xing suddenly felt a little liver pain.
According to this calculation, Gan Ning felt that if he worked harder and expanded his fleet five times, he could produce as much grain as the six counties of Jiangdong in one year by going out to sea and fishing every day...
Of course, in reality this is just a dream.
Regardless of whether it can last long or whether it can go out to sea every day, the most important thing is... the fact that the meat can be sold at the usual price today is entirely the result of each company trying to brag about its wealth. The price will definitely not be so high in the future.
Poor storage methods limit the price of bulk fish.
Most of the fish that the wealthy families bought "with tears" today were actually given to the nearby common people, just to gain a good reputation, but... the price they spent was hundreds of times more than they imagined.
This "show" is a bit expensive!
Afterwards, everyone held a fish banquet on the spot. Gan Ning directed his officers and soldiers to light a bonfire and cook fish soup. Looking at the IOU totaling 30,000 dan, Gan Ning felt that his service should be better.
"Ahem, Governor Gan, the price of fish should be a little lower from now on." Pang Tong said at the right time.
"This... well, it's not impossible. After all, this prefect is shortening his life for disaster relief. I can't turn all the people of Jiangdong into a disaster just to save my compatriots in Huainan, right? Hahaha..." Gan Ning laughed.
So you really want to bankrupt us?
Zheng Xing took a sip of the fish soup viciously...it was so damn delicious!
"Master Gan, will there be so many fish every day in the future?" Young Master Zhao, who almost paid the bill, asked weakly.
"As long as we are not unable to go out to sea, in disaster years, we can do so most of the time," said Gan Ning.
This made many people think - today, they were definitely taken advantage of, but according to Gan Ning, the price would not always be the same, and it would be an equal transaction... It was said that officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs would come to negotiate, so there was no need to worry about Gan being unreasonable.
If this is true, then it might be a way to make money...
But they still haven’t understood why Gan Ning emphasized that there would be so many fish only in “disaster years”!
"I wonder what method Mr. Bai gave you to catch so many fish? This fishing method...are you selling it?" someone asked curiously.
"Bah! Haven't you heard that it will shorten your life? My lord said that this method is likely to be punished by heaven. Even in the general's mansion, it will only be used in years of disaster. Don't even think about it! Otherwise, if the Dragon King takes revenge one day and overturns your boat with a hook and you die in the sea, don't blame me for not reminding you." Gan Ning said.
One hook overturned...Did the Dragon King use a hook? It was obviously you!
At this time, Lu Da quietly stepped aside and asked Pang Tong if he could buy a second share of the salt package!
Ordinary people only saw the fish, but what Lu Da saw was... salted fish.
At this catch rate, storage will be a big problem, and the solution is simple - salt.
He was a little worried before, because it takes time to expand sales channels, and whether the salt price will fall in the short term while the salt production will surge. Now it seems... the General's Mansion has also prepared a combination of punches, and a major salt user will be here soon!
There were quite a few people with quick minds present, and several of them approached Pang Tong at this time, obviously they all had a growing interest in salt...
