Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1067
When Master Feng walked out of the Baekje embassy, ​​he put a few more gold leaves in his waist, and the smile on his face was even more overflowing.

The accompanying officials of the Honglu Temple all had ruddy faces, and the Lord Feng received the gold leaf and silver collars, and they each gained something.

Of course, apart from the ones that everyone put in their pockets, the people of Baekje are still very good at coming, and they prepared another gift for Honglu Temple, and now the money in their pockets is more at ease.

"Master Feng, you said that these feudal envoys are quite nourishing. They came to our Daqin and brought hundreds of boxes of local goods. As a result, as soon as the West Market changed hands, they became all kinds of good things. Pull them back In Baekje, you can earn several times the profit if you make a move, no wonder I heard that these vassals are all vying to be an envoy."

Another little official said a little strangely, "Why does the Baekje Kingdom pay tribute to so many virgins? There are so many vassal states, one family has hundreds of others, and then our palace will be full of barbarians." House servant? Is this not very good?"

Master Feng twitched his beard proudly, "What do you know, this is a great power strategy, do you understand? I also heard from the people above that it is like asking Baekje to donate five hundred boys and girls, plus ten thousand plowing heads. Eight thousand cattle and horses, do you think our court is really short of these things? No, but why ask them for it? It’s very meaningful to ask for these things.”

"How do you say it?" Several petty officials came over and asked curiously.

"Let me tell you, what are the tribute from Baekje and the goods brought by their envoys?"

"Mine fur, ginseng, deer antler, lacquer, hemp, paper, gold, silver, and rice are all local products of Baekje."

"That's right, local products, but what is our Great Qin rewarding? Think about it?"

"It seems to be gold and silver utensils, porcelain, silk, tea, wine, scriptures, etc. Oh, yes, there are two boats."

"See something?"

A few small officials pondered carefully, and they really figured out something.

Whether Baekje people pay tribute to beauties, tribute rice, mink fur and ginseng, etc., they are basically self-produced specialties, while Daqin rewards are all processed products, or more importantly, they are all luxury products. The things of the Lord, not the goods of the people's livelihood.

Gold and silver utensils are for nobles to enjoy, and porcelain, silk, tea and wine are not things that ordinary people can use. Even the boat is expensive.

You can even think about it from another angle. Baekje people paid tribute to Daqin gold and silver, and Daqin processed the gold and silver into gold and silver jewelry, and then sold it back to Baekje people, making a lot of money in the middle.

Not to mention, the rice, lacquer, paper and hemp that the people of Baekje paid tribute to were all necessities for people's livelihood, and gold and silver could also be used to mint currency, which was very useful for Daqin.

It seems that the Baekje people can make a lot of money in the tribute trade with Daqin, but the crux of the problem is that the people who make money are the Baekje king and nobles, and the common people do not benefit at all. It's just to buy back a boatload of Daqin luxury goods to go back.

This is like in history, when the Spaniards discovered the New World, they dug up countless gold and silver from the New World and transported them back to the country. However, Spain did not actually become stronger because of this, but it was only declining more and more. The reason is that what they got was only gold and silver. Then the gold and silver belonged only to noble officials after they got their hands. They took the money and enjoyed it to the fullest. They didn't develop their own industry, commerce and agriculture, etc., but just went to Europe to buy and buy. It's just that the rising prices have caused the people to suffer a lot.

The final result is that Britain, France and other countries immerse themselves in making money from the Spaniards, and then cultivate their own industrial system little by little, with a mature industrial system and mature industrial workers, but in Spain, the people can only bear extremely high costs. The prices, the nobles and the merchants were drunk and dreamed, so in the end Spain was wiped out by the British.

Making money is a good thing, but it depends on where the money ends up going.

Luo Cheng's trade with Baekje is not at a loss. The main export is high value-added commodities, whether it is ships, gold and silverware, or porcelain, wine, etc., and even deliberately sells high-end swords and armor to the nobles of Baekje. Wait, these are precious collection-level gadgets. For the entire Baekje army, there will be no change. They are just used by the nobles to show off, but the money Daqin earned from it is not a bit or two.

Moreover, Luo Cheng made money, and in turn asked Baekje to pay tribute to boys and girls, asking them to pay tribute to cattle and horses, as well as rice, hemp, lacquer and other things.

Cattle and horses have always been valuable production materials. Baekje people exchanged gold and silver wares with Qin people for silk for tea and wine for armor and other luxuries. The deep-seated purpose here is to weaken Baekje little by little. real national strength.

After all, national strength is not equivalent to money.

"Okay, let's go to the Silla embassy." Lord Feng laughed. Luoyang City now has more than 100 vassal embassies. Chance.

"I just don't know if the Silla people are as generous as the Baekje people." Several small officials also laughed.

Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Royal Weaving Bureau, in the name of the royal family, naturally belongs to the royal family, to be precise, it belongs to the emperor's private property.

The Royal Weaving Bureau gathered a large number of the best silk weavers. The silk brocades they produced were perfect. More than half of these workers were originally slaves from various countries. After a long period of training, each of them became Excellent professional workers.

The other half of the workers are hired workers, most of whom are people from Luoyang and its surrounding areas. They are basically female workers, mainly young girls. They have less family concerns and are recruited and hired. The annual contract, board and lodging are all in the workshop of the Weaving Bureau. There is only one long holiday every year during the Chinese New Year. Usually, one day is off every ten days, and the wages are not bad.

Therefore, although the working hours are long and hard, but the wages are paid once a month, and I can bring a lot of money home every year when I go home, which is very satisfying.

The emperor came to inspect today, and an eunuch in charge of management introduced it to the emperor.

"This time when all nations come to the court, the silk products of our Royal Weaving Bureau are very popular. Many Hu people have placed deposits to book, and the stock is long gone. Now our orders have been lined up until the end of the year. This servant thinks that we should expand the Weaving Bureau We will also set up weaving bureaus in the other five capitals to recruit more female workers, so as to ensure the output.”

The emperor was very satisfied with what he heard. This is the advantage of scale, lower cost, and more advantages in technology. "I will leave this matter to you. The female workers are paid according to the price, but the wages must also be reasonable. We can't let female workers work hard, but they can't get much money in the end. No matter how much hard work and sweat they put in, they have to get as much hard-earned money, especially they can't deduct money, and they can't find reasons to fine money. Of course, we must also ensure everyone's rest Even female slave workers should be given appropriate incentives, and they should also be given piecework wages. Although it is lower than the wages of hired female workers, they should be given to them. At the same time, they can be told that they can save the money after they get it. Then you can redeem yourself.”

"But after the redemption, we have to leave. These are the skilled female workers we have cultivated with great difficulty."

"Even if they redeem their freedom, I believe that not many people are willing to leave. After all, there will be no better opportunities outside than here. Of course, after they are free, they can earn the same wages as hired female workers. !"

(End of this chapter)