Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1435 Community of Interests

On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the ninth year of Jianji, Qian Chuanjuan entered the palace for the second time to face the saint.

In Changqiu courtyard, Shao Shude is grilling meat with his own hands.

"A Baoji was severely beaten once, and fled north again." Shao Shude skillfully put the raw meat on the iron plate, roasting it until it was sizzling, and said at the same time: "I came to report from the camp in Rouzhou, and beheaded more than three thousand people. More than 30 people were captured, including [-] cattle, sheep, horses and camels. Abaoji has almost vomited the results of his looting. I think the Wugu and Yuren tribes have some objections to him. They went out to plunder, and some The result of the battle is hello, hello, hello everyone, but if you lose your money, you will feel resentful in your heart. Ah Baoji, I think he is also very embarrassed."

"If your Majesty wants to completely solve this hidden danger, you have to organize an army to conquer it." Yue Liduo took out a piece of marinated raw meat from the jar. The color was very attractive, fat and thin, and it was suitable for frying.

Xiao Chonggon, Xiao Shiwuniang, Yelv Zhigu and other new favorites in the past two years are surrounded by them. Whether they want to or not, they must show a positive attitude to help.

The only decent woman, Zhong Shi, was slowly cooking seaweed pork rib soup, glanced at the saint from time to time, and then sighed faintly.

She doesn't ask the saint to favor her so much, she only worries that the saint will be hurt by women.

"Let him be free for a while, now there is no time to talk to him. The system I established in Liaodong needs time to stabilize. Before winter, there was a rebellion in Longquan Mansion, and people from Jizhou, Muzhou and other places raised troops to respond. What is needed now is time. You can't be led by the nose by A Baoji." After Shao Shude finished speaking, he took the meat from Yue Liduo and praised: "This meat is well marinated, it should be very tasty."

Generally speaking, the palace will also pickle vegetables, meat and fish after autumn, most of which are produced in their own gardens and gardens, but they are mainly supplied to court ladies, guards, eunuchs and the like.If the emperor wanted to eat fresh green leafy vegetables, he even had a way, let alone fresh meat, which could be slaughtered directly.

But Shao Shude wanted to taste the taste of the meat marinated by the people before winter, so he asked the imperial chef to send some over and cook it himself.

"The pepper covered up some of the taste, but if you smell it carefully, it's still there." Shao Shude put the meat in his nose and sniffed it lightly, and said.

"Your Majesty, if there is no pepper to cover it up, the smell will be even stronger." Xiao Chonggon said with a smile.

"I'm used to eating milk, Chonggun tastes the best." Shao Shude laughed.

The bacon was placed on the iron plate, and there was a "chi" sound, green smoke rose and the aroma wafted up.

In fact, if the cured meat is boiled and some seasoning is added, it should be able to completely cover the peculiar smell.He now finally understands why Europeans have been desperately looking for pepper in history. It's really hard to do without this thing.

After the Agricultural Revolution, Europeans entered the era of simultaneous farming and animal husbandry, and the production of livestock increased sharply, and a large number of livestock needed to be slaughtered every year.For them, pepper is just what they need.

Some areas of Daxia also have this taste.

He remembers the three hundred farmer households at Longxing Temple in Lingzhou as a pilot and implemented the three-crop crop rotation system for the first time.At that time, it was stipulated that 60 mu of the 20 mu of land should be planted with pasture and 20 beef cattle should be raised.How long does a cow live?It seems to be about ten years.After a long time, it is inevitable to slaughter beef cattle every year.

Lingzhou had a large-scale cured ham workshop many years ago, which is the result of a surge in the maintenance of farmers' livestock.

In the coming summer, pepper will also become a rigid demand, because it has the best effect of covering up the smell of cured meat.

Um?Thinking of this, he remembered that there were still people waiting outside to enter the pilgrimage.

"Let Qian Chuanjuan come in." Shao Shude said, concentrating on frying the meat.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. Long live my emperor!" Qian Chuanjue bowed as soon as he entered.

Mushy!Others shout long live once, and you shout three times.

Without raising his head, Shao Shude asked directly, "I have a question for you."

"I know everything." Qian Chuanjuan replied.

"If you take a boat from Haizhou and land behind Huainan, is it safe?" Shao Shude asked.

He knew that Qian Liu had played cross-sea landings in history, and his troops suddenly appeared in front of the Huai army. By surprise, he turned the tide and resolved the crisis, so he asked him.

Qian Chuanyu's forehead was sweating, how could such a thing be accurate?Sailing is all about pinning your head to your trouser belt. Level is important, but so is luck!
How to answer this time?If you say no, will you offend the saint?He has asked this question, and it must not be aimless.

If you say yes, if something happens, you will still offend the saint.Thousands of forbidden soldiers fed the fish, who can bear the responsibility?
But it's even worse not to answer, that's pure suicide.

In desperation, Qian Chuanjuan could only say vaguely: "Your Majesty, this matter cannot be generalized..."

"Look at your bear!" Shao Shude laughed, and said, "Am I such an ignorant person? Well, I won't embarrass you. Let's talk about sea trade. How are you doing with Japan recently?"

"After autumn, there are ships passing by every month." Qian Chuanjuan said: "But they are all local merchant ships, only one or two."

"Why not send more ships?" Shao Shude asked.

"Businessmen dare not bet all their wealth." Qian Chuanyu said: "Navigation is dangerous, and even a single ship can make a lot of money. What's more, the Japanese don't have so many commodities to sell to the Central Plains."

"Can't the Japanese give gold and silver?" Shao Shude asked.

"Your Majesty, in fact, Japan does not have that much gold and silver." Qian Chuanjuan said: "I heard that two ships from the Ministry of Internal Affairs landed in Japan last year. They sold a thousand pieces of leather, and Japan bought them with gold and silver. In fact, that time really It’s an exception, usually they don’t trade like this.”

"What happened at that time..." Shao Shude recalled for a while, and was almost amused.

When the Bohai Sea was destroyed, some people from the Bohai Sea had already fled there by boat, but when the boats from the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived, the Japanese pretended not to know, and put on a picture of the heavenly kingdom, pretending to be strong.

"Forget it, what I really want to do is to establish a route." Shao Shude shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty, please clarify." Qian Chuanjuan replied.

Shao Shude clapped his hands and asked for a map.

Pugu Chengen quickly came over with a map.

"Here!" Shao Shude pointed to the southernmost point on the map and said, "Jiaozhou."

Qian Chuanjuan's heart moved, as if he knew something.

"Annan's pepper production is getting bigger and bigger." Shao Shude said: "Jing Haijun entered the Zouyuan and reported that the people planted pepper trees wantonly on hillsides and beside rivers and lakes, and some even destroyed good fields to grow pepper. Inside The pepper produced in Lu is transported to the sea by river, and then transferred to Haizhou, Mizhou, Dengzhou, Cangzhou, Dezhou, Beipingfu and other places by sea ships, with an annual sales of tens of thousands of peppers."

Qian Chuanjuan was a little surprised when he heard that.

He does know that pepper has been sold very well in the past two years, and the sales volume is astonishing, but he really doesn't know that it is such a big market.However, the price of pepper is not cheap, and the sales of 10,000+ min may not necessarily have a few shipments of pepper.And in the future, more pepper will be planted, and the price will plummet. Can it really make money for a long time?

"It's been eight years since the establishment of the pole. There must be more pepper sales this year." Shao Shude said with a firm tone: "As long as there is no war in the Northland, the sales of pepper will increase every year. This money is earned by the big cannibals." Big head, doesn't Qian Qing feel sorry?"

"Your Majesty means..." Qian Chuanjuan seemed to understand.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs is now specialized in business in Liaodong, so I don't have the energy. I plan to form another fleet and gradually take over the pepper business." Shao Shude said, "But we can't gather so many ships and manpower for a while. As an important sea trade town, don't you have any ideas?"

"If your majesty is short of manpower, all you need is a decree..." Qian Chuanjuan said.

Shao Shude directly interrupted with his hand, and said with a smile: "I never make people work for nothing. Let's make it clear today, Fuzhou Wang Shenzhi is willing to send out boats and people, and Quanzhou is ready-made. If Yuhang County Wang wants to , can also send some people and ships, and the court will send some more to jointly form a fleet to specialize in the pepper trade route from Annan to Hebei, what do you think?"

In fact, is the imperial court really short of sailors and ships?not necessarily.

The reason for doing this is not to benefit the local forces in Fujian and Zhejiang?
Doing business is the most taboo to eat alone. This will not end well, and it is easy to make yourself a loner.

Earn money together, pull more people into a circle, and unite with interests, this is the kingly way.

The pepper trade is still in its infancy.

The price of pepper itself is a bit expensive, which makes it unaffordable for some people.If you want to make the cake bigger, you have to lower the price so that more people can consume it.

To reduce the price of pepper, we must start from two aspects together.One is the source, that is, to expand the market and increase supply; the other is to reduce the huge profits of intermediate links such as transportation, wholesale, and sales, which can also reduce prices.

Daxia's business, why let the big cannibals make a lot of money?If they want to participate, that's fine and welcome, but they can only make reasonable profits, not sudden profits.

But it's not easy for people to succumb to your empty words.After much deliberation, competition is the most effective way.

Not only will the imperial court participate in this pepper trade route, but local forces in Zhejiang, Zhejiang and Fujian can also join in as the targets of the united front. As the source of production, the Annan local power faction can also take share benefits.

Even, in Shao Shude's vision, local distributors can join in places where a large amount of pepper is consumed.He thought so for a while, but later found that it was too complicated, and it was a bit troublesome to operate, after all, there was no concept of joint-stock company in this society.

But he really wants to promote this kind of thing to the whole society.

The total share capital of the company is [-] shares. As the largest wholesaler in a certain place in the north, how many shares can Zhang San own? How many ships and sailors are familiar with the sea conditions, and how many shares can they hold...

Unite everyone into such a profitable joint-stock company. If you cooperate, you will benefit both, and if you divide, you will lose. If you have any conflicts, sit down and discuss it yourself, and don't rebel at every turn. Such a community of interests is relatively stable, and it also takes into account all aspects. Interests.

"Your Majesty's love, I am grateful." Qian Chuanjuan didn't understand for a moment, but he still responded.

"Liu Yin will not grow up any longer, and will be wiped out sooner or later." Shao Shude said: "The general trend of the world is clear. It is time for the King of Yuhang County to make a decision. Qian Qing should return to Hangzhou as soon as possible. To tell this matter, my patience is running out."

"The minister complies with the order." Qian Chuanjuan's heart suddenly jumped, and he immediately responded.

(End of this chapter)