Datang: Acting as a celestial mystery at the beginning

monopoly!

Economic lifeline!

It was the first time Fang Yucheng heard such a word, but after thinking about it, it was not difficult to understand what it meant.

Such a description is also very delicate and vivid.

The aristocratic family, especially the five surnames and Qiwang, their power and resources are equivalent to monopolizing many things that are indispensable to the people of the Tang Dynasty, that is, they control the economic lifeline of the society.

What they monopolize are not only goods, but even scholars, who have to go through the aristocratic family to be recommended. Ordinary poor scholars can only raise and wash horses for the aristocratic family in exchange for a recommended place.

Monopoly, what a terrible word.

Once the lifeline is controlled by others, you will lose your autonomy, and you have to listen to others no matter what, which is tantamount to being choked by others.

"Then what are we going to do?"

Fang Yucheng asked again, he still didn't quite understand what the husband was going to do.

"Antitrust."

Li Yi'an said: "Our backstage is the imperial court. Although His Majesty does not dare to directly conflict with the five surnames and Qiwang, it is not impossible to use another method to turn the conflict into various small ways to break their monopoly. possible."

"You come with me!"

They walked to the hall, Li Yi'an took a pen and paper, and drew some detailed sketches on it.

Fang Yucheng looked at it, but couldn't understand what it was.

It's normal for him not to understand, because Li Yi'an's paintings are Huang Daopo's spinning wheel, loom, etc., as well as a machine for removing seeds from cotton.

"Treasurer Fang, do you have any connections in Western Regions and other places?" Li Yi'an asked.

"I used to do business in the Western Regions often, and I knew some local people." Fang Yucheng said.

"Then do you know something called cotton? It grows on trees. When it opens, it looks like a snowball. There are black cotton seeds inside, and silk can be pulled out." Li Yi'an briefly described it.

"Sir, are you talking about Baidie? Of course I know that there are quite a lot of them in the Western Regions, but not many people use them." Fang Yucheng said.

Baidie is the name of cotton in this era.

"That's right, it's Baidie."

Li Yi'an nodded and said: "If possible, please help me find someone to go to the Western Regions first, I want to buy a large number of clean and usable white stacks, and I also need seeds."

Fang Yucheng asked puzzledly: "Sir, what's the use of this thing if you want it?"

"Weaving cloth, making clothes."

"Can white stacks be used for weaving?"

"Of course you can. If you take out the white fold, it becomes silk thread. Isn't it the same as silk? It can also be used to stuff clothes inside to keep warm in winter. It has many uses."

Li Yi'an simply explained that before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were almost no records of cotton use.

In the early Yuan Dynasty, Huang Daopo learned cotton spinning technology from local Li women in Yazhou, Hainan, which is now the Sanya area, and improved various cotton spinning machines to promote cotton planting before it developed.

"Our current clothes, aristocratic families wear silk, ordinary people wear hemp, no matter what kind, it is basically monopolized by the aristocratic family."

Li Yi'an continued: "If we want to break the monopoly, the possibility of using silk and linen is very small, because they even have a monopoly on raw materials. If they know that we want to weave cloth, can they give us the raw materials?"

Absolutely not.

Fang Yucheng nodded solemnly. Since the family decided to suppress Li Yi'an, they would never give him a chance to breathe.

"Since this is the case, we can make a breakthrough in raw materials. If you buy Baidie back, our first step will be considered complete."

Li Yi'an said again: "Since he wants to cut us off from cloth, grain, salt, wine, etc., then we will attack them one by one from all aspects, and cotton cloth is one of them."

Fang Yucheng said: "Mr.'s analysis makes sense. The white stacks from the Western Regions are as worthless as Turkic wool. I will arrange for people to go to the Western Regions to buy them later."

Li Yi'an pointed to those papers, and continued: "There are still these, we have to make a batch. The shop before was not smashed, right?"

Fang Yucheng smiled bitterly and said: "The day after that little lady from the Cui family left, the store was smashed, and then I closed the door and never opened again. She kept asking people to come to me, but I drove her back. Got smashed several times."

The shop will be smashed, as expected by Li Yi'an: "Clean it up, in a few days, I have to use that shop, and help me find someone with a clean identity. It's best that no one can find out that it's from your Fang family. There are other uses."

After listening to Mr.'s words, Fang Yucheng unknowingly let go of the worries in his heart.

"Do you have any other orders, sir?"

Fang Yucheng asked again.

"There are only these for the time being, if I think of others, I will come to you again."

Li Yi'an shook his head: "It's not too late, you go back first, I have to plan carefully for the next thing."

After watching Fang Yucheng leave, Li Yi'an thought in his heart that the paper mill was completed, and there was basically no need to worry about printing. He owned the saline-alkali land and could use it for production at any time. Now the cotton was not sent to Chang'an.

Cotton is not the most important thing, but if you pass on Huang Daopo's improved loom, you can also earn a wave of experience points.

Li Yi'an's current focus is still on paper and printing, there is no shortage of clothes and salt, he is not good at wine, and food is enough for several years, even the people of Wannian County do not lack these things.

He decided to open up a new situation with books first, and then study the matter of salt with Li Langjun when he came.

He is almost ready for the follow-up arrangements.

"Lang Jun, are you really all right?"

Li Changge said worriedly: "They are very powerful. If I go back and ask Ah Weng for help, he still has some prestige."

Li Yi'an gently took her hand and said with a smile: "Don't bother, you don't want to go back to that place, how can I be willing to let you go back? Although I have a good relationship with Li Langjun, I will definitely not because of him, And let you be wronged."

The matter between him and Li Shimin will not affect Li Changge, this is his bottom line.

"I see, you are so kind!"

Li Changge lowered his head gently, and asked again: "Do you still remember that night when you said that I was a red luan star? Actually, I only saw you that day."

"I figured it out!"

"You figured it out, and still teased me like this, hum!"

"We were not close at that time, and such an embarrassing thing happened, and we could get closer by making fun of it."

"I'm ignoring you."

Li Changge turned his back, felt his cheeks were hot again, and even the back of his ears were red, and continued: "Our ancestors rule that the same surname cannot intermarry, what shall we do in the future?"

Li Yi'an hugged her, and before he could respond, Yu Wenyan's voice came from behind.

Cough cough cough...

"Sir, Chang Ge, you go ahead, I just passed by and didn't see anything."

Yu Wenyan was about to go out, when she suddenly thought of something, she quickly turned her head and said: "By the way, I have contributed to the matter between you and Changge, sir, is it considered a kindness?"

This girl is really naughty.