Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1396 Dancing Together

"There are hundreds of millions of fish coming from overseas, and the square mouth of the upstream is the head of the squid. So far, there is a red mark on the abdomen, and it was once said that the lonely east entered the imperial boat." Shao Shude wrote a poem with a splash of ink.

Secretary Lang and Daxia champion Cui Wei were a little surprised.I have never heard of this poem before, and it describes salmon. It is almost impossible to be written by a literati in the Central Plains. Could it be written by a sage?Or written by people from Bohai?
As far as the poem itself is concerned, it is fairly neat, and it uses local idioms.

For example, the local Bohai people who can speak Han Er dialect call salmon "Fangkou Shotou".

"Gudong" is a transliteration of "Guoduo".

Just as the Mohe people called the salmon "Qilaishi" (Dauimaha), they called the salmon jumping out of the water "Guoduo".

There is also a legend in the poem, that is, why there are red marks on the abdomen of salmon?

According to the legend of the Mohe people, when the king of the Tang Dynasty marched eastward, because there were too many salmon, he jumped directly onto the boat. The purple mark is still left today.

There is another legend about the Eastern Expedition of the Tang King.

It is rumored that when the king of Tang came to the edge of Heishui, it was the white dew season, and he was besieged by the enemy, with no reinforcements outside and no food and grass inside.A minister suggested that the king of Tang follow him by using fish to save hunger as a tribute to God.Soon, a black dragon came to the black water with a salmon. After eating the salmon, the horses and horses doubled their strength and won a complete victory—horses don’t eat fish originally, but this is a fish in the sky...

These legends, Da Xia's monarchs and ministers thought it was a bit nonsense when they first heard it.

Who is this "Tang King"?When did you go to Heishui?Obviously, this is fabricated.It's just that the local savages have a low level of culture, so they firmly believe in it.

However, it can also be seen from the side that the "Tang King" has a profound influence on both sides of Heilongjiang.Back then, in order to deal with the Bohai people, Heishui Mohe sent envoys to pay tribute with untold hardships until Tang Dezong was completely conquered at the end of Zhenyuan.

Now that the Bohai people are weakened and their country is subjugated, they can't hold back anymore and want to get rid of the Bohai people's rule.

Shao Shude had a hunch that from now on, there would still be a legend of "King Xia" on both sides of the Black Water—even if there wasn't one, I would have to create one for you.

In the past few days, some clan leaders have come one after another, most of them are local or nearby. Shao Shude hosted a banquet near the mouth of the Tuomen River to enhance their relationship.

"You are busy all year long, maybe you can have enough to eat?" Shao Shude sat on the tiger-skin chair, watching the soldiers and palace people busy.

Black pigs were slaughtered on the spot, and the screams were earth-shattering.

The big iron pot was set up, the hot water was gurgling, kombu and pork appeared from time to time, and the aroma was tangy.

This time I used real kelp instead of fake kelp like goosefoot—kelp is not native to China, and the Sea of ​​Japan is its hometown.

The fish can be cooked raw, grilled, or boiled in various ways.

There are also some hunting rabbits and deer, grazing cattle and sheep, all in all very rich.

But the leaders of the various clans who came to face the saint stared intently at the steamed cakes and mustard cakes that came out of the cage.Obviously, food is more attractive to them than fish.

"Your Majesty, you can still have enough to eat in a good year."

"If there is very little prey, or if there are too few fish, you will not be able to eat enough."

……

The clan leaders said a lot, basically in line with Shao Shude's expectations.

In fact, no matter fishing, hunting or grazing, life is not stable enough.For example, is the rounding up of salmon really stable?What if there are suddenly fewer fish migrating to the Tuomen River in a certain year?
Don't think it's impossible.Fish are also animals, and they can get sick and have natural disasters.

Later generations of Norwegians artificially raised salmon in the sea. A major problem is that the growth density of fish has increased, and diseases are more likely to spread, and antibiotics have to be used in large quantities.Later, the effect of antibiotics was not very good, and the seawater pollution intensified, so they had to go to other places for artificial breeding. There are large broken islands in southern Chile, which are convenient for hanging nets, and the seawater is relatively cold, which is suitable for the growth of salmon. There are also local Very strong ocean currents wash away the excrement and pollutants produced by intensive artificial farming, keeping the seawater clean.

Agricultural planting is unstable, but generally speaking, it is still more stable than grazing, and grazing is more stable than fishing, hunting and gathering.Which is better, needless to say.

"You have also seen that a boat casts a net to catch fish, and each net can range from dozens to hundreds of fish. How does it compare to yours?" Shao Shude asked again.

"Your Majesty, can you sell us some fishing gear?"

"Selling fishing gear is not enough, so what if you catch more fish? There are only so many days in the fishing season every year."

"Yeah, you can't live a good life just by fishing, you still have to find a way."

"Hold on!" Shao Shude smiled and said, "But I have a way."

Having said that, he stood up, pointed to the sea to the east, and said, "Actually, this sea area is not frozen for a long time in winter. Not far to the south, there is also an ice-free port. The annual fishing season starts as early as July." , as late as September, during this period of time. The Ministry of Internal Affairs needs a lot of people to slaughter, clean, pickle, air-dry, and ship the fish after it is caught. You can come to help and provide food on a daily basis. How about it? If you don’t want to eat Fish can also be exchanged for food. Not only fish, rabbits, wild boars, deer, etc., can be used for food. It is not even limited to fish, leather, dog head gold, medicinal materials, and wild products. Can……"

Even the population is fine——Shao ​​Shude didn't say that.

The essence is trade.Processing seafood requires a lot of seasonal labor, and this time conflicts with the time of grain harvesting. Local people may not be able to come to work, so it is best to use these tribal populations.

The salmon fishing season starts and ends at different times, mainly because the environment and climate of each river are different.But it doesn't matter, it will be September at the latest, and it will take a month to complete the processing. In October, the port is still not frozen, and it happens to be northwest wind again, so the fleet can be transported away in one wave.

When the fleet arrived in Denglai, Hebei, and even Jianghuai, the earliest batch should be in October, and the latest in November and December, which can be regarded as the late autumn and mid-winter season in the Central Plains, just in time for the peak sales season of the Spring Festival.

When the southeast wind blows next year, the fleet can carry all kinds of goods to the port and sell them to the local people. If you have enough sailing experience, you can also choose not to wait for the monsoon and try to monopolize the joy of the market.

In this trade process, the money is actually made twice.

The first time, the Liaodong goods were sold to the Central Plains.

The second time, sell daily necessities and production tools from the Central Plains to Liaodong.

Substantial profits from start to finish!
Shao Shude once deduced that at the beginning it mainly depended on the price. For example, a salmon weighing ten catties now sells for three hundred yuan.

But as a large amount of sea fish is brought back and floods the market, the price can no longer be maintained, and it is possible that it will be hit to [-] yuan or even an unbelievable [-] yuan.

The price trend of spices in history is like this. At the beginning, it was comparable to gold. Later, with the continuous development of Southeast Asia by various East India companies, the output of spices increased sharply, and the price kept falling. Finally, it became very close to the people, even cheap.

But it doesn't matter, the total profit has risen greatly at this time, because the sales volume has gone up.

Sea fish is mainly air-dried salted fish, which can be stored for a long time, and the season of transportation is late autumn and mid-winter, so the possibility of spoilage is greatly reduced, which creates good conditions for large-scale sales.

Don't think that sea trade can only develop with high-value items.

How did Amsterdam get up?It started as a logistics center.Wool from England, cheese and wine from Italy, mutton and salt from Portugal, fish and whale products from the North Sea, cattle from the Jutland Peninsula, soda ash and handicraft products from Germany, wheat from France, etc., are distributed here.

After the logistics center took shape, it gradually became a wholesale center.After the wholesale center developed for a period of time, the Dutch, who had accumulated initial capital by fishing in the early days, began to provide financial services and gradually became a financial center.

The most profitable is never a luxury, but a bulk of daily necessities.Of course, the premise of all this requires the support of a developed shipping industry.

But everything is gradual, and the early Dutch were not so awesome. At that time, the distribution center was even in Bruges and Antwerp.

Shao Shude glanced at the clan leaders who were thinking hard, and sighed secretly: If it wasn't for fear of your rebellion, would it be worthwhile to introduce you to jobs and improve your living standards?It is the bravery of your descendants in history that has brought you the value of the united front.

He didn't bother to deal with people who had no value in the united front. He would rather sleep with a woman in his arms than bother.

"Okay, this is a big matter, so don't rush to reply to me now." Shao Shude smiled and said, "Drink and eat meat first."

Everyone's faces are bright, drinking and eating meat, who doesn't like it?
Shao Shude looked at them with a smile, and picked up a bag of pearls casually.

This bead was born in the body of an old freshwater mussel.The beads are silvery and come in white, yellow-white, light yellow, gray-black and other colors, and even colorful ones.

In previous years, a small amount flowed into the Central Plains, which is called "Northern Pearl".The large north pearls can reach half an inch each and weigh two taels. No matter how many aspects are used, the "southern pearls" donated by the five tubes are perfect, but they are not well-known, and the trade is intermittent, which is rare in the Central Plains.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, this pearl was called "Dongzhu", and its reputation gradually increased.In the Qing Dynasty, it was even more brilliant, sweeping the luxury goods market.

He intends to prohibit private mining of this kind of thing, and it will be included in the scope of exclusive commodities of Liaodong Road like fur and sea fish.

With these three things, it is enough for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make a good start. At that time, it will be a matter of course to attract people to join in and establish the Bohai Trading Company—yes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will eventually withdraw from the monopoly market, and the Bohai Trading Company will obtain a monopoly operation license for a period of 30 years. Year.

More than 30 years are enough to make profound changes in the appearance of Liaodong.

At that time, if the Bohai Commercial Company wants to renew its license, it will have to tear it apart with the civil servants, and the imperial court can also get a share.

It doesn't matter if the license can't be renewed. After more than 30 years, their channels have been very stable, and they still have great advantages. They just need to compete with the rising upstarts.

If you don't want to face the brutal competition, then find a way to open up a new land.In order to protect the interests of pioneers, there is still a monopoly period of 30 years or even longer, it all depends on how you choose.

The wine in the camp was half drunk, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Someone jumped into the arena and danced.

Shao Shude laughed loudly, became excited, and also danced a section of Hu Xuanwu, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.

This is what life should be like.

You fish, hunt, gather herbs, work in workshops, and earn money.I sell you food, daily necessities, and tools at a reasonable price, and I can earn money.

Trade sometimes does not directly increase productivity, but it can rationally allocate resources to benefit those involved and improve their lives.

Life has improved, everyone dancing together, isn't it better than fighting?
(End of this chapter)