Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 583 Bull Market
It is well known that changing where people live leads to changes in their living habits.

The first thing to change is the dress, the second is the language, and the last is the eating habits. This point has been perfectly confirmed in Lingzhou.

The Tibetans who migrated here first took off their furs, and then changed their hair accessories.In the daily interaction with the people around, slowly learn Mandarin with the characteristics of Northwest dialect.Over time, even eating habits have changed, with Hubing, steamed cakes, soup cakes, and corn rice as staple foods.

However, we all know that assimilation also includes acculturation, and some stubborn living habits are not so easy to change. Maybe they will not be able to become a complete Tang Dynasty in this life, and they will slowly lose their own in the next generation. cultural identity.

A new group of people arrived today, mainly Heyao Dangxiang from Fengzhou and Shengzhou.

The eight counties of Lingzhou "bleeded" a lot in terms of population.The great migration of the family members of the Tielin and Wuwei armies was a loss of 10 people to Lingzhou.

Last year, more than 2 armed forces from Chishui, Wuxing, and Guzhen moved to Jinjiang, which was also a loss of 10 people.

As soon as these five armies left, Lingxia directly lost more than [-] people with the most consumption power, and the devastation to the local economy was simply devastating.

Although the shogunate sent [-] households of rebels from Hezhong Prefecture to Shengzhou for emergency relief, and then distributed [-] to [-] people from the three prefectures of Jin, Jiang, and Pu to Feng and Sheng. In terms of population, the two prefectures of Gufeng and Sheng have not lost much, and are basically the same. In terms of economy, the loss is actually still very large. After all, the rich people left. the poor.

Lingzhou is at a loss.

They recruited some Heyong Dangxiang from Feng and Sheng to settle here. Because of the good conditions in Lingzhou and Heyong Dangxiang's farming, they have always been docile, so they attracted more than [-] households.In addition, they also attracted some Tatar, Uighur, Sogdian, Tuyuhun, and Dangxiang tribes from Shaqi, totaling more than a thousand households.

After such an operation, the population of Lingzhou has dropped significantly. So far, it is less than 30, with only about 5.5 households and more than 29 people.And similar to Feng and Sheng, those who had a lot of wealth left, and a lot of suffering came.

The three states of Ling, Sheng, and Feng felt hollowed out.

At this time, in the 24 counties of the 2300 prefectures in Guanbei, on the books, there are more than 122 households and more than 8800 registered households.There was also a large loss of unregistered Tibetans. At this time, there were only about 30, less than 40.

In other words, there were about 160 million Fan Han people in the "Xia Kingdom" at this time.Shao Shude, the king, was a bit shabby, but not bad.Dong Chang dared to proclaim himself emperor in those states in eastern Zhejiang.

Qianjin Yiyi drove Li Si to Fangshi, and he planned to see if the beef cattle here were cheaper than those in the countryside.

Huaiyuanfang City is much weaker than it was in its heyday.

First of all, the shortage is people, followed by goods, which will eventually be reflected in business taxes such as Moqian.

In order to stimulate transactions, a bull market has recently opened next to Fangshi, and the transactions are still booming.

In other words, a large number of beef cattle have flowed into the market in Lingzhou in recent years. Especially this year, a large number of sergeant families have moved away, and many people are eager to sell their livestock for money.

Coupled with the explosive increase in the number of beef cattle raised under the prevalence of the three-field system, the market is flooded with too many beef cattle of different ages and sizes.

There is no doubt that the price has plummeted. Now it has fallen below [-] yuan, and the price of sheep has also dropped, which stunned the Tibetans who drove a large group of livestock to sell.

"This cow..." Outside the gate of Fangshi, Li Si blinked his eyes, looked at the skinny beef cattle, and asked in surprise, "Where did it come from?"

"Shaqi." The Tibetan with braided hair and fur coat replied worriedly.

He came to the Lingzhou cattle market for the first time to do business. He brought hundreds of beef cattle with great interest. He planned to exchange them for daily necessities and bring them back to the grassland to make another fortune.

But when he entered the bull market, he was hit in the head.

The city magistrate looked at his bony beef cattle, and arranged them directly in the temporary fence outside Fangshi, which was jokingly called the "lean meat market".

"Didn't go to the fattening land?"

"What is fattening land?"

"Weicai's grassland. The cattle that come from the grassland usually arrive there several months in advance, are fed for a summer, and in autumn they will be fat and strong enough to be sold."

The Shaqifan people didn't expect this kind of doorway, and they were a little dumbfounded.

Li Si gave him a sympathetic look, and entered the gate of Fangshi.

These days, long-distance transshipment of livestock is like this.After walking for a month, even if hay is provided along the way, the cows will be skinny and skinny when they reach the field, and the fat in their stomachs will be completely exhausted. They must be fed for three months before they can recover.

This is true for cattle, as are camels, sheep, and horses.The war horses that have just been transferred are absolutely unusable. They must be fed with concentrate for several months before they can recover and can be ridden to fight.

Every time livestock migrate long distances, they must negotiate with people in advance about the supply of hay and grain on the way. After arriving at the field, they must have pastures to "fatten up".Wei Cai controlled more than one such "fattening grassland" and made a lot of money.They don't even have to come down to do livestock business in person, they can collect money by sitting on the ground.

A grassland will generally only supply one family, after all, the amount of pasture is limited.

Wei Cai's pastures are very popular, and only they know how much money they make every year.But judging from their daily lives, they are definitely rich and powerful families: they built a mansion in Lingzhou, lived a luxurious life, and had many servants.

But no one has made any plans for them, because often more than one prostitute in the family is sent to serve King Xia, and the backing is very strong.In the past few years, they have also spent a lot of money to train the children of the clan to practice martial arts and study. One after another, the young people were sent to serve in the army, or they tried to find a way to study classics.

And merchants who sell sheep in Guanzhong usually pass through the Hengshan pastures of the Wuzang family and the Yeli family, and they can also sit on the ground to collect money and share the benefits.

These Qiang and Hu nobles are completely different from those when Xia Wangchu was in Xiazhou.In terms of family background, even in Han, there are few who can compare with them.

Therefore, they are sincerely supporting King Xia.If anyone on the grassland or in Hengshan wanted to rebel, they would kill them first—the head was made into a wine vessel, which was very barbaric, but very deterrent.

After Li Si entered the bull market, all he saw were fat and strong beef cattle.Needless to say, they are all local cattle.

Li Si has lived in Lingxia for many years, and now he understands a fact: Once the place where grain is grown and livestock are raised, the grassland is completely incomparable.

This mainly refers to quantity.

The advantage of grassland livestock is that it is cheap, and the pasture is grown by itself instead of being planted by itself like in Lingzhou.Moreover, grassland people are generally poor, and there is still a market for them who are willing to sell at low prices.

I looked at a few beef cattle at random, and they were all under [-] yuan, which is supposed to be very cheap, but after thinking about it, Li Si became a little greedy and wanted to see if there were any cheaper ones.

If it doesn't work, then go to the thin cattle market and bargain with those foreigners, maybe you can get a price that surprises him.

"Li Si, I see that you have been wandering around here for a long time, and you don't want to buy it. What's your reason?" A loud voice sounded from behind, and everyone in the market looked over.

"So it's Captain Lu." Li Si turned his head and looked overjoyed.Pao Ze, who used to be in the army, retired when he got old and became a marshal in the bull market.

In a square market, there are generally one city orderer, two city assistants, two Shizuo, and one city marshal, depending on the size of the market.

The city order is the largest, and everyone is his subordinate.The city marshal is responsible for maintaining order in the city, and usually has about twenty village braves in corvée, armed with swords and guns.

The monthly salary of the city marshal is thousands of dollars, which is not comparable to when he was in the army, but the income is also satisfactory.

"Don't call the team deputy anymore." The city marshal waved his hand and said with a smile, "Why, do you want to buy a cow?"

"I want to buy cattle." Li Si replied: "Qianjin Station has recently received a lot of Hu merchants to stay. These people are generous and like to eat beef, so they want to buy two."

"Follow me." The city marshal beckoned for Li Si to follow.

Li Si's heart moved, and he followed.

"This is Fan Erlang. His family happens to have two cows to sell. One cow costs 1800 yuan, which is very cheap." The city marshal directly led Li Si to a person and said.

Li Si looked carefully at Fan Erlang's cows, they were a little old, and he might have to pull them out and sell them because they had reached the end of their lifespan.

Generally speaking, he is reluctant to buy these old cattle that are likely to live for as long as ten years.However, he didn't know the relationship between Fan Erlang and the mayor, and the deputy of the mayor, Captain Lu, was a former military officer, so he really couldn't lose face, so he planned to buy the two cows.

Fan Erlang observed his words and expressions, and he was very happy.

3600 yuan for two cows, this year's tax should be quite a lot.

The last time I heard a scholar say that in the heyday of the country, a household paid three dendrobium millet, less than three bolts of silk, and 250 Wen coins a year, which amounted to more than [-] coins.

After hardships, the tax is rising steadily.There are wars everywhere, exploitation everywhere, and the annual household tax, land tax, young crop money, taxes, etc. added up, if calculated as money, it is about [-] yuan.

Now that Marshal Shao is fighting in other towns, he collects less tax from Shuofang Town, because if he collects too much, he may not be able to transport it.But no matter how lightly the tax is paid, seven thousand dollars is still required.

Farmers who implement the three-crop rotation system can sell two old cows a year if they raise twenty cows, worth 3500-4000 yuan.Another eighty-nine dendrobium barley is enough to make up for a year's tax.

The 40-mu grain field harvests more than 20 dendrobium wheat and 37 dendrobium miscellaneous grains and beans a year. If the family of five eats two meals a day, then they will eat [-] to [-] dendrobium millet and wheat a year. If they eat three meals a day, then It costs [-] eight dendrobiums.

After deducting the tax, the millet and wheat are almost enough to eat, and the remaining 20 dendrobium of miscellaneous grains and beans can be sold.There are other places where money is used in the family, such as clothing, farm tools, household utensils, etc. 20 hu is definitely enough for miscellaneous grains, and there are even a lot of surplus.

There are also 18 cows, most of which are dairy cows, which produce milk every year, and there are still a lot, which is also money.Make it into crisps and cheese, and you will be hungry if you eat it, so you can eat less grain-if the milk production increases again, the life will be unimaginably prosperous.

Unknowingly, from more than ten years ago, the common people had to rely on bran vegetables, melons and fruits to satisfy their hunger every year, and went through the most difficult period. Now there is a lot of milk and grain left over a year, and a large amount of it is exchanged for money in the market. Then repair or even rebuild the house.

The changes in the past ten years are really huge!
Today's land of Lingxia——

The chieftain of the tribe was very satisfied, and offered his daughters to serve Commander Shao and his children to serve in the army, in order to maintain his power and wealth.

The people in registered households are very satisfied. After paying taxes, they have a lot of surplus food and start to improve their housing needs. Even depending on their family conditions, if they live frugally, they can support a child to practice martial arts and gain further possibilities for the family.

The workers in the city are very satisfied. Some rich families hire servants. If you are diligent enough and have a good reputation in the dental office, "the servant will cost 15 yuan", including food and lodging, that is, 20 yuan a month, and [-] yuan a year. Thousands of dollars can buy [-]-[-] dendrobium millet.

Not to mention the sergeants, no matter which town in the world, no matter how hard the people are, the sergeants cannot suffer.

This "Xiaguo" is indeed already a bit of a weather.

However, Xia Guo’s experience can be obtained in Lingxia, Helong, or even in Heyang, Henan Prefecture, Ruzhou, etc. It is difficult for other places.It is very difficult to achieve [-] mu of land for one household. There are even only a few mu or more than ten mu in the south of the Yangtze River, and the paddy fields are intensively cultivated. Experience cannot be copied.

But no matter what, with the adoption of advanced agricultural production methods, it is possible to greatly increase the output of grain, meat, milk, fur, and wool in the northern region. If the grassland economy is integrated, it can even be rich, and everyone's life can be improved. It can be improved, provided that the war is ended and a unified policy is implemented as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)