Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 215 Mastering Youzhou
Following Liu Rengui's departure, Li Tai let this matter go.

Because Li Tai knew that since Liu Rengui did it, there would be room for a detour between himself and the Bohai Navy, so Li Dejian would definitely be willing to escort the ship here in Tianjin.

In the final analysis, what I want to master is not military power, but just the shipbuilding industry.

The sensitivity between the two is naturally not the same, and Li Tai believes that Li Dejian will still give him such a face.

"But when it comes to military power, the soldiers of King Yan's Mansion have to practice too!" Li Tai narrowed his eyes involuntarily.

When the autumn harvest came, Li Tai bought grain from the big and small families in Youzhou as usual, so the grain in Tianjin was still sufficient.

These Youzhou aristocratic families either invested in Cangzhou or joined the grass planting plan, and when Li Tai came forward to buy grain, they would more or less sell some to Li Tai.

After all, although the weather in Youzhou has not been smooth in the past few years, at least there have been no major problems.

These aristocratic families can also see that Li Tai will let Chang'an transport food every year, especially as the Yongji Canal is gradually opened up under the leadership of Du Ruhui, as long as Li Tai makes up his mind, there will be basically no shortage of food in Tianjin City .

Under such circumstances, instead of piling up the grain in the warehouse, it would be better to sell it to Li Tai for a transaction.

And in such a large transaction, things like food stamps naturally began to circulate in Youzhou.

Because the main currencies in the Tang Dynasty were grain, cloth, and gold, of which gold generally only circulated in the upper class.

The main currency in circulation is still cloth, but although Li Tai has been letting peacocks to get cloth, no matter whether it is hemp or silkworm, the industrial foundation is not in his own hands, and he has no way to form a complete industrial chain.

It would be enough if it was only worn by the subordinate forces, but if it was to be used as a transitional currency, it would not be enough.

In contrast, grain prices are relatively stable, because during the Zhenguan period, the price of food in the imperial court was stable at about three or four coins per bucket, but the price in the border areas was a little higher, reaching about five coins, but it was only at this level. relatively stable.

For example, when I buy a large amount of corn in autumn, I can basically collect all the grain in Youzhou for just three cents.

This price can be regarded as a very polite price during the harvest. Basically, the aristocratic families will be willing to sell the money and food to Li Tai after they have saved enough food for their own consumption.

Of course, some aristocratic families are unwilling to sell to Li Tai and sell to others, but Li Tai will not take him to play with him.

This aristocratic family will find that the farm cattle that were planted first will no longer be provided to him. No matter how high the price is, no one will rent them out.

Secondly, they couldn't buy the salt in the Youzhou market, no matter whether it was coarse salt or refined salt, as long as it was Li Tai's salt, they couldn't buy it.

In the officialdom, those aristocratic families who participated in the "Seed Project" began to reject them. After all, everyone is not in the same circle, so how can they play happily.

And those aristocratic families who participated in the Cangzhou Project would not offend Li Tai because of him.

After all, the "Seed Project" family has already seen the harvest, but they haven't seen any harvest yet!
If his family's investment was in vain because he hated Li Tai at this time, then he would be wronged!
And from the Youzhou family's point of view, Li Tai's purchase of their grain was not a forced sale.

Although the price is a bit low, it's not that there is no profit, it's just that the profit is not big, but at least the warehouse is vacated.

At that time, no matter whether you invest in animal husbandry or Cangzhou, you will not lose money, so there is no hesitation.

And Li Tai didn't leave any food to the family. In fact, even if the family saved the food and didn't sell it, but just cultivated the land and ate it, then Li Tai wouldn't pay too much attention to it.

But as long as they conduct large-scale and large-scale food transactions in private, after Li Tai finds out, these families will be suppressed to some extent!

These Youzhou aristocratic families naturally know that Li Tai is controlling the food prices in the entire Youzhou, but if the large and small families in Youzhou unite, they may be able to compete with Li Tai, but now the entire Youzhou aristocratic family is falling apart.

A group of people are focused on the "Seed Project", waiting for the cattle to be exported to the Hedong area next year, waiting to collect money.

A group of people are spending money and food, and they are giving up their homes for the country to build Cangzhou, and they are putting a lot of money on Li Tai.

A group of people were suppressed by Li Tai, but they were also well appeased by Li Tai. At this time, they were reluctant to part with their jobs.

Therefore, these aristocratic families who are unwilling to trade grain to Li Tai in Youzhou really cannot organize enough people to resist Li Tai.

However, the entire Youzhou aristocratic family did not form a unity. For Li Tai, the aristocratic family could not pose a threat to him.

After all, I didn't think about the fate of the family, I only wanted their food.

By the way, as for why a group of people were suppressed by Li Tai, it was mainly because after Li Tai successfully produced coarse salt, he also started selling salt in Youzhou.

In the Tang Dynasty, before the Salt Discussion Law began, the price of table salt was actually relatively low, about ten cents a bucket.

Because of its proximity to the ocean and its own salt production, the price of table salt in Youzhou is a little lower, about nine cents a bucket.

And Li Tai produced coarse salt by drying the salt method, and immediately started to mess up the situation.

Coarse salt worth five cents a bucket began to run rampant in the market, and the entire salt industry in Youzhou was forced to die.

For a whole year, the Youzhou salt-making family was really steadfast and unyielding, full of wisdom and strategies, and even the price wars went all the way to bankruptcy, in order to keep the family's market share, but after a year, they basically failed. pounced.

It's just that Li Tai's table salt mainly uses the way of drying salt, which is basically a blow to the traditional salt cooking industry.

Moreover, the material for boiling salt gradually changed from burning wood to burning charcoal, and it was provided by the coal that Li Tai led the workers to open.

Instead of raising the price of coal, Li Tai lowered the price of coal to make them feel at ease in a price war with him.

After one year, these big and small salt-making families also realized that the Youzhou salt industry was about to change.

So they asked Gao Jifu to admit defeat to Li Tai, and said that he begged King Yan to give them a way to survive.

This is normal, after all, Li Tai and them are just rivals in business competition, not life and death enemies.

The status of the two parties is not on the same level. I begged Li Tai to do a good job so that they can keep their main business of salt production. As a family, they would definitely not care about face, but Li Tai also came back to his senses and started to deal with the salt industry.

To be honest, in Li Tai's view, it is a matter of course for Li Tai to kill the salt-making family in Youzhou who used the salt-boiling method.

It is the crushing of productivity, anyone who changes can kill the other party, so Li Tai didn't put much thought on it at all.

Because no matter how long the other party is an old brand, for the people at the bottom, one is ten renminbi nine renminbi, and the other is five renminbi, so they will know what to choose by voting with their feet.

Then according to the rules of the aristocratic family, he asked Gao Jifu to come over to make peace, which was also expected by Li Tai.

After all, these big and small families are all aristocratic families. They have land and knowledge in their hands, and some even hold positions in the imperial court.

If you really can't go on, it is absolutely possible to find an official to come to Li Tai to talk about it.

As the saying goes, one official is connected, and the official is connected, and it is the same in modern times.

If you are alone, it is basically unrealistic to try to get acquainted with the imperial court, but as long as you know someone who is an official, then through the other party, even if the other party is not in charge of what you need, the other party will eventually be able to find what you need official.

This principle is even more normal in ancient officialdom.

And Li Tai used Gao Jifu to gather these salt families, saying that he would rectify the entire salt industry in Youzhou.

From then on, all Youzhou table salt can only be purchased from himself, and the price of the purchase is ten yuan, and the selling price is seven yuan.

Hearing this, everyone was dumbfounded, they looked at Li Taina as if they were crazy.

After all, these days, there are people in the business of killing people, but no one is willing to do the business of losing money.

Some Youzhou aristocratic families even looked at Li Tai with bloodshot eyes, they felt that Li Tai was playing with them.

However, Li Tai went on to say that I will make a certificate of the salt industry in the future. The salt industry with this certificate will give you a subsidy after verification here with the sold bill. Do you want to do business or not!

Hearing this, the present salt-making family looked at each other in blank dismay, calculated carefully, and felt that there was a lot of money to be made.

It seems that the cost is only five cents, the selling price is seven cents, and the profit is 40%. This business is already considered a huge profit.

After all, table salt is a necessity, as long as there are still people, there is basically no need to worry about sales.

Of course, Li Tai himself knows that this must be beneficial to him, and the most important thing is that he doesn't need so many large and small salt farms.

By integrating the salt industry, raising the entry threshold, and completing the annexation of the salt industry, not to mention completely eradicating private salt, but at least suppressing private salt to the point where others will definitely lose money if they dare to trade it.

If there is any problem with salt in the future, I can directly find the corresponding family through the salt license, and I can always find the target immediately.

Facing the choice given by Li Tai, these aristocratic families hesitated for a while, and finally chose to give in.

Li Tai then said that he wants to purchase all the coastal salt fields in the Youzhou area at a price one level higher than the market price, so as to complete the unification of the salt industry.

Faced with Li Tai's words, the big and small aristocratic families in Youzhou must be somewhat unwilling.

But in the end, they all agreed.

After all, before the sun-dried salt method was developed, but only boiled salt method, although people attached great importance to the seaside salt fields, they did not pay as much attention as they do now. Most of the seaside salt fields are undeveloped.

They naturally knew that what Li Tai did was to cut off their future development in Yantian and completely control them.

But they knew better that if they disagreed, they would not be able to get the benefits that Li Tai gave, and they would completely turn against Li Tai, the prince who somehow controlled them.

What's more important is that things like the drying salt method seem simple, but do they have the technology, manpower, and early investment?

You must know that they have been fighting a price war with Li Tai for a year, and they couldn't hold it anymore, so they asked Li Tai for peace.

Now that Li Tai has a way out, he must push his family into a desperate situation!

It can be said that if they reject Li Tai's suggestion of accepting Yantian now, they may have to leave Youzhou!
Therefore, although these salt-making families struggled, they finally chose to sell their Shangyan Yantian to Li Tai.

And Li Tai successfully mastered the salt industry in this way. After mastering the salt industry, Li Tai decisively started to buy grain from families of all sizes in Youzhou, and completed the control of Youzhou grain. After mastering these two things, Li Tai was able to I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Food and salt, after two years of hard work, these two basic resources of Youzhou are in my hands!"

Li Tai continued to think, "At the same time, the coal industry has also begun to take root in Youzhou.

Although there is no collision with the big and small families in Youzhou, briquette and silver charcoal have gradually replaced the traditional firewood and started to enter thousands of households.

Mastering these three things is also considered to have mastered the foundation of Youzhou. Next, I have to find a way to train my own soldiers.

Not to mention training them to become elites on the battlefield, but killing a bloody path for themselves when needed is not too much.

Although An Shou is a good security guard, he is not a general after all!

And now the Youzhou General, seems to have to go to Su Lie, I don't know if he is willing to help me train my own soldiers! "

Perhaps because of his successful rebellion, Li Shimin did not allow the palace to train soldiers.

Of course, the palace has its own soldiers, but at most the soldiers regard this as a job, and it is unrealistic to expect them to work hard for Li Tai.

What's more important is that they serve once a year, and next year it might not be this group of government soldiers who will serve.

However, because of Li Tai's assassination, Li Shimin gave Li Tai 500 personal soldiers, and because he came to this bitter cold place in Youzhou on his own initiative, and because there were mixed dragons and snakes of different races, the number of personal soldiers was increased to [-]. To protect Li Tai's personal safety.

The [-] soldiers were allowed by the imperial court, but the money and food had to be taken care of by themselves, and Li Tai had never formed one.

When he was in Chang'an back then, Li Tai didn't think it was necessary to form a group. After all, the so-called assassination was just because he wanted to make things bigger.

As for when I first came to Youzhou, I felt that I really had no money, so I didn't intend to form a personal army.

Now that I have completed the mastery of Youzhou and formulated the development of Youzhou, I need more time to settle my plan.

In other words, now that I have money and leisure, I can naturally try to train a bodyguard that completely follows my own wishes.

However, since he is going to train this personal guard, his goal must be aimed at the talent of the war department.

As for the person I know who can stably train the talents of the war department, the only person I can get in touch with seems to be Su Lie.

Thinking of this, Li Tai didn't hesitate, and went to Su Lie decisively.

(End of this chapter)