Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

As soon as the end of the twelfth lunar month, government offices at all levels basically entered a state of fishing.

But the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not been able to catch fish, and their task is very heavy.

Ye Lijingchen, the governor of the government, suddenly fell ill and was bedridden, but his work was not paralyzed. The rest of the officials at all levels gathered in Linshuo Palace to settle their accounts.

In the afternoon, Shao Shude also came over in person.

"Last year, there were three batches of ships returning to Hong Kong. A total of ten ships arrived in Hong Kong, and another ship sank in the sea of ​​whales." Fu Cheng Zhao Zhi said: "A total of more than 57 pieces of furs of various colors, more than 50 catties of meat, and fish were brought back. More than 620 catties, 19 bags of Dongzhu, more than [-] catties of wild products, more than [-] catties of medicinal materials, and more than [-] catties of copper..."

"A lot." Shao Shude nodded in approval after listening.

Zhao Zhi looked happy, and after hesitating for a while, he signaled with his eyes again.

Ma Wanpeng understood, and said: "Your Majesty, in fact, there are still many stocks in Liaodong, which have not been transported in time. If you reduce the amount of meat and fish..."

"No!" Shao Shude glared at him, and said, "Don't just think about transporting valuable things. These more than one million catties of meat and fish can also be sold for twenty to thirty thousand yuan, right?"

"Your Majesty, you can sell so much this year, but next year may not be so." Ma Wanpeng said boldly.

There is a large supply of meat and fish, but the price can still be maintained?impossible.

The most valuable marine fish, which used to have a little mysterious and noble color, is now rotten.The price is like the Yellow River bursting its banks, leaking out.Even if they think of many ways, they can barely maintain it, and they will definitely cut prices next year.

"Don't just count these small accounts." Shao Shude sighed.

In fact, he knew that meat and fish were not difficult to obtain in Liaodong.

The natives have nothing to ask for, and their fishing skills are extremely poor. It is not normal for a large number of salmon to "end their lives" in vain.

Wild animals can be seen everywhere in Liaodong.Especially for huge herds of deer, one moose can produce more than a thousand catties of meat, and five hundred can produce 50 catties of meat.There are all kinds of other animals, that's really more.

Of course he knows that this gift of nature is generally only productive in the first few years.With the intensification of hunting activities, resources such as meat and skin will become less and less, and deer will not be so stupid that they are not afraid of people all the time.But isn't this the beginning of "natural prison" breeding?Production will eventually be maintained at a stable level.

In the early 19th century, the Russians raised the price of salmon from two or three rubles to the kopeck level through fishing without mechanization. Their output was more than ten times that of the natives, and it lasted for more than half a century. There was a strange phenomenon that the price of rye and oats exceeded that of meat and fish. It can be seen that the overall resources are far from being exhausted. What are you afraid of?It's enough to catch them hard, and you can also train soldiers by the way.

"It's true that meat and fish don't make money from skins, medicinal materials, and Dongzhu, but this is just an economic account. Have you ever settled political accounts?" Shao Shude asked back: "I have made the lives of the people in Hebei and Henan better, and this is what money can measure." of?"

Zhao Zhi, Ma Wanpeng and others had nothing to say.

"The people's lives are better, so they won't think so much about rebellion. I call it 'buying the people'." Shao Shude continued: "If the transportation capacity is insufficient, then buy more ships. All the money earned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be invested in shipbuilding and sailor recruitment. , During training."

For 30 years, Shao Shude has been buying people.

There are generally two ways to buy people.

The first is to change the way of distribution. For example, he takes back unowned land and distributes it to each household so that they have means of production and their living standards improve.

The second does not change the allocation method.

To put it bluntly, from ancient times to the present, in most cases, no matter what social system, human beings have generally followed a pyramid-shaped structure, that is, the minority ruled the majority.

This is determined by human nature.I can't exploit others, occupy more resources than others, and gain a higher status, so why should I work hard?Technological progress also stems from this pursuit of desire.

The upper-level exploits the lower-level. The lower-level can be the people of their own country, but another way of thinking is to regard the people of the country as a whole as the upper-level and the people of foreign countries as the lower-level. This model can also be realized.

To put it bluntly, it is colonial plunder, whether it is physical colonization or economic colonization.

Today he is doing both.

As far as the latter is concerned, plundering foreign resources, buying local people, and providing cheap meat and fish is one of the ways of buying.

Buying people can greatly ease the conflict.If done well, it can even create opposition and export contradictions outward.Wouldn't it be great for a ruler? ——The people in this country won't let me plunder you. The decline in your living standards is all due to them. Fuck them to death!

This is what Shao Shude said about political accounts.

Yes, he is an imperialist through and through, but it seems that he is not qualified enough.

If you are a qualified imperialist, you should only plunder and not build, and the only construction is to better serve plunder.

But after all, he is a relatively moderate imperialist, and he still wants to assimilate the natives and turn them into their own people, which will definitely increase the burden in the future-after the plundering is over, he will leave a mess, lift his pants and leave. Increasing any burden is the most efficient method, although there may be backlash.

"Zhigu has also built a shipyard, this year is not enough, next year we can build a few sea shark ships." Shao Shude said: "In addition, what are the shortcomings of the current ship, you have used it for so long, you should know something, Find ways to improve, don’t settle for it.”

"Your Majesty, I feel that in addition to building more ships, I can also build large ships." Ma Wanpeng said: "But there is no keel. I saw a lot of tall and straight logs in Liaodong, which may be used as keels to build large ships."

"The boat workshop in Muzhou has also been built. It is not easy to transport large logs to the Central Plains, but they can be built locally," Shao Shude said.

He was delighted to finally have something constructive to say.

Building a big ship, of course, requires a bigger keel.

There are two ways of thinking about the big keel.

Historically, the British liked to use the technique of splicing keels, that is, splicing small pieces of wood together to make large keels.

But the Spaniards don't like this, they think it is not strong enough, and it is easy to be tossed and broken in the wind and waves.It just so happened that their tropical colony was very vast, so they sent a large number of people deep into the dense forest. Every time they found a tall and straight tropical giant tree, they would find it a treasure. They would cut it down and transport it to the shipyard to be processed into a ship keel.

Shao Shude feels that with the current level of technology, the quality of spliced ​​keels is probably not good, and it is easy to corrode. It is more suitable to choose a whole natural giant wood.

"I obey the order." Ma Wanpeng is still a relatively pure person. He is more like a craftsman than an official, and he is quite obsessed with shipbuilding.

After saying this, Shao Shude asked the officials to continue the discussion, while he listened and looked at the ledger.

More than 3 skins are mixed with a large amount of low-value leather, such as black pigskin.

After the Mohe people knew that pig skins could be exchanged for grain and spirits, they became more motivated to raise pigs.This thing has to continue to be purchased. You can't just buy it because of its low value. It can be made into clothes or even leather armor, and even used in production—these are all consumables.

There are actually two copper mines in the Bohai Sea, and [-] jin of copper were taken from there.

But it's actually not much money.A string of eight hundred coins weighs six catties and four taels. The loss in the coinage process and the base metal mixed with it cancel each other out, and it is only five hundred coins.

The value of wild goods and medicinal materials also fluctuates greatly.To put it bluntly, in the feudal society of small farmers, the demand is relatively stable. If you supply too much at once, the price will be seriously deformed.

Dongzhu and the like are actually similar.

Overall, after deducting various operating expenses, depreciation of fixed assets, personnel expenses and other costs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs earned more than 2 yuan in Liaodong last year.

There is still a lot of room for growth.

"Let more civilian ships next year." Shao Shude said: "Make the account more beautiful."

"I obey the order." Zhao Zhi, who had the highest position present, responded immediately.

"The accounts are good, and I'm going to recruit people into the business." Shao Shude said: "At that time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will separate the personnel, land, houses, ships and other things involved in this part of the business, and I will be of great use."

Accounting is not to collect money from the listing, but to convince "investors".

Next year, he will bring in a large number of people to prepare for the establishment of Bohai Trading Company.The Ministry of Internal Affairs invests in fixed assets, supply and marketing channels, personal connections, and even the technology it owns, and other people invest in money and materials to jointly operate the business.

Jurchen chieftains can also buy shares.

It doesn't matter if you don't understand, let a professional tell you how much money you can make.As long as they have tasted the sweetness, they will spontaneously defend Bohai Trading Company, a colonial company, and become Da Xia's "accomplices".

The profound combination of interests is much more useful than you canonize an inexplicable official with a piece of paper.

In addition to Bohai Trading Company, there will also be Annan Trading Company.

He once thought deeply about why the leaders of these frontier areas rebelled against separatism and even became independent.The conclusion is that no benefit has been obtained, or the benefit obtained is not enough.

Taking Annan as an example, the voices and interests of the local aristocrats and local tyrants have not been taken seriously for a long time, and they have long been dissatisfied.I didn't become independent before, it was because of various concerns, such as fear of being suppressed and so on.But as long as an opportunity arises, after calculating the risks and benefits, they will take advantage of the situation and create chaos.

Now there is an opportunity to sit at home and count money every year, do you want it?

Of course, this opportunity to make money also has a premise, that is, you can't make trouble.

Once you rebel, you will lose the market in an instant, and you will not be able to make money, not only you will not be able to make money, but also the small family that is attached to you will not be able to make money. At this time, you have to weigh it.

This is the purpose of bringing more people into the chain of interests.

Sometimes you don't even need to come forward to be a villain, that's the most stupid.

Annan tyrants would spontaneously whip the local natives. The conflict occurred between the low-level people in Annan and the local tyrants. The Daxia court was an arbiter who stayed out of the matter, with a detached position and did not attract hatred on the surface.

A certain tyrant really made a fuss too much, and the whole people changed, and the imperial court attacked again to punish this person and appease the people.As for the civil uprising, don't worry, other local tyrants will take the initiative to suppress it, because they are afraid of delaying making money.

When the interests are closely integrated, people in the interest chain will also have the subjective initiative to maintain it spontaneously, such as marrying each other, which strengthens the connection between Annan and the mainland.

No matter how timely the imperial court gives some political sweetness, such as quotas for imperial examinations, promotion to officials, etc., it will be more stable.

What Annan peasant uprising?Under this suffocating and dense spider web-like chain of interests, how can the uprising succeed if the local upper class does not cooperate?Do you rely on Gundam?

Perhaps, it will be possible only after the dynasty has completely decayed.But maybe two or three hundred years have passed, the degree of assimilation has been very deep, the national consciousness has been completely stifled, and the possibility of independence has been greatly reduced.

Once the idea is set, the next step is to look for candidates.

On December 26, Shao Shude ordered Jiang Zhiwei, an officer of the Jinghai Navy, to enter the audience.