Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 220 Goguryeo's Specialties
Li Shimin felt that when Li Tai was in Chang'an, he had governed Gaoling for almost three years and had successfully won high praise.

It has been so long in Youzhou now, and Li Tai has even started to think about training his personal guards, so Li Tai must have freed up his hands, not to mention Youzhou, at least Tianjin must have developed very well.

Under such circumstances, I asked Cen Wenwen to see how Li Tai managed Youzhou.

Li Shimin still attaches great importance to Li Tai's governance.

Needless to say, it is Li Tai's Gaoling alone. Although Li Tai is gone, the foundation laid by Li Tai is still there.

At least when paying taxes, Gaoling is the county town that pays the most taxes in the entire Gyeonggi-do. In addition, the people of Gaoling have a characteristic, that is, most of them can redeem themselves for corvee, which shows the wealth of the local people.

If Li Tai can also create such a place in Youzhou, Li Shimin feels that he will only need to dispatch supplies from the local area instead of Luoyang, Chang'an.

So since the thirteenth road watch wind envoy is patrolling the whole country, then by the way, send someone to Tianjin and Cangzhou area to check it out. I think it will be a little rewarding.

To be honest, the court harvested Li Tai's things not once or twice.

Needless to say, isn't the water transportation plan that the Weihe River will be operated now, and then the Grand Canal will be developed, and now, far from it, at least the Yongji Canal has been fully operated under the efforts of Du Ruhui.

Now look at Li Tai's Tianjin City, at least two plans were smashed at the beginning, now it depends on the harvest!

At the same time, with the arrival of the eighth year of Zhenguan, all the officials in the world know that the imperial court has sent thirteen wind-watching envoys to patrol the world.

For a while, there was more or less turmoil everywhere in the place, not to mention clean and honest governance, but at least superficial.

To be honest, if during this period, there are still corrupt officials who come out to tyrannize the common people, then either he is too stupid or he is too bad.

This kind of person is caught by the patrolling people. After all, no matter whether he is too stupid or too bad, if he bumps into the muzzle of a gun during the crackdown, he is really looking for death, which is an unforgivable crime!

For Li Tai in Tianjin City, although he knew the news about this vigorous inspection team, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Because Li Tai felt that no matter how much this thing was inspected, it would not inspect him.

Not to mention that he is not corrupt or indolent, even if this year's tax goes up, Li Tai feels that he should get a good evaluation no matter what!

Yes, although Li Tai did not produce any impressive results in the first and second years of coming here, but from the third year onwards, with the reclamation of farmland, the corn plantation in the entire Youzhou has been turned into wheat Planting, it should be a bumper harvest in May.

Not to mention, the most important thing in Tianjin is not agriculture, but commerce, and Tianjin Port is starting to make money.

Although the most important thing is not the direct commercial tax, but the city rent, it is a reasonable tax no matter what.

Of course, the most important thing about these rent increases is that the number of business travelers in Tianjin City has gradually increased in the past two years.

The Yongji Canal was completely dredged by Du Ruhui, and the number of ships passing by was becoming more and more dense. The local government also felt the dividends from the reduction in shipping costs. Therefore, in winter, the local government saw that the Grand Canal was gradually freezing. According to the trend, corvees will be organized to cut ice on the canal, so that ships can pass quickly.

Because if a large number of ships are piled up in one place, it is hard to say whether it is lucky or unlucky for the local government.

If you can bear it, you will naturally earn a windfall, but if you can't bear it, then the aristocratic families represented by these ships, and even the royal relatives, may cause turmoil in the entire local officialdom.

It is more serious, and it is not impossible to even cause civil uprisings in the local area.

It can be said that the land through which the Yongji Canal and its associated rivers flow naturally attracts the population from the north.

As for the Grand Canal, the lifeline that runs through the north and the south, with Du Ruhui dredging the Yongji Canal, some clues to the future have already been seen.

As for the other side, Goguryeo and Datang opened a treaty port, and the special products from Goryeo were also sent to Tianjin along with the ships.

The most important things are fur, medicinal materials, and gemstones like topaz. Li Tai is not surprised by these things.

Fur is a luxury in this era, and it needs a fairly broad market to digest these animal furs, and the whole of East Asia is nothing but Tang Dynasty.

As for the medicinal materials, Li Tai asked for them by name, and even began to consciously charge high prices for Korean ginseng.

Whether the effect of these ginseng is really better than the ginseng from the Central Plains, Li Tai doesn't know.

However, Li Tai's subsidy to medicinal materials to a certain extent is to allow the people of Goguryeo to cultivate more medicinal materials and less food.

After a few years of mutual trading in the medicinal material market, so that the two parties have a meager trust, they can take the initiative to sell low-priced food to them if they want.

When they attacked Goguryeo, they directly cut off the other party's food supply, and used Datang's huge economic system to completely destroy Goguryeo.

As for topaz, which is the top yellow wax stone, Li Tai really has nothing to do with it.

Chinese people play with jade, just as Romans wear silk as a matter of course.

Especially as the country gradually stabilized, how much jade naturally flowed into China, it would be able to digest it.

Not to mention, the Yalu River yellow wax stone in Dandong is almost the top yellow wax stone.

It has the color of Tianhuang, the hardness of jadeite, and the warmth of Hetian jade, which combines the advantages of beautiful jade into one.

In ancient times, apart from ginseng, it was a necessary tribute to the Central Plains in the Koryo region. Even when the Qing Dynasty was still there, there were records of offering topaz stones.

And Goguryeo came to harvest the IQ tax of the Chinese people. To be honest, there is nothing I can do about this kind of thing.

So I can only choose a few top-quality topaz to start with, so that I can give it away later.

However, Goguryeo did not come here to buy any iron utensils or cattle and horses for farming for the people at the bottom.

What they mainly bought in Tianjin were precious metals such as gold and silver, and high-grade textiles such as silk and satin, mainly luxury goods and valuables.

Another thing that Li Tai didn't expect was that they would come to buy some stones with special shapes.

To be honest, it was very strange to sell these stones to Li Tai. I didn’t expect that the Goguryeo merchants would feel like they had picked up treasures and take the initiative to buy these special shaped stones back.

After all, the materials of these stones are not rare materials, they are just ordinary stones.

Later, Li Chunfeng told Li Tai that Goguryeo's stone craftsmanship is relatively developed and has its own stone carving art.

Some natural shaped stones, in the hands of some top stone carving craftsmen, can often show incredible stone carving art.

To be honest, Li Tai couldn't understand it, but he felt that since they liked it, they should come to Datang to buy more.

Anyway, Datang may not have enough other things, but for stones, there are really not too many!
For Li Tai, collecting shopping information of Koguryo merchants is a very important thing.

Because merchants are the most sensitive group, when the upper echelon of Goguryeo intends to struggle intermittently, what the merchants buy must be practical.

When the upper echelon of Goguryeo intends to continue to sell badly, the things that the merchants buy must be mainly luxury goods.

These things are the most difficult to hide, because if you want to develop a country, you must buy a lot of production equipment.

If you want personal pleasure, then you must buy a lot of luxury goods, which is difficult to hide even if you want to.

Therefore, through such a window, the purchases of Goguryeo merchants are carefully recorded.

Even though Li Tai was in Gaoling, he could clearly know the general situation in Goguryeo.

"In this case, I need to build up my team faster. With a boat, I can go directly to Goguryeo to buy and sell grain, and gradually take the grain of the Goguryeo country into my own hands." Li Tai felt a little bit in his heart. calculation.

After Liu Rengui finished his conversation with Li Dejian, Li Dejian dispatched a ship to Liu Rengui as a training ship for Youzhou Academy.

And Li Tai's shipyard also started to act based on this ship.

The first thing is naturally to get a thorough understanding of this ship. When the technology of this ship is fully understood and he can build a similar ship, then Li Tai will be able to study ocean-going ships by himself.

After all, Datang only imposed restrictions on armor and crossbows, and they were not allowed to manufacture them without authorization, but they didn't say that they couldn't make ocean-going ships!

All in all, with the establishment of a treaty port, Tianjin began to conduct gradual trade with Goguryeo.

There aren't many things Li Tai needs to do now, the first thing is to stabilize, don't waste time, just continue to develop!

Then, Li Tai approached Wang Xuance and said to Wang Xuance, "How many cattle will be released this year?"

"There can be [-] heads!" Wang Xuance replied to Li Tai,
"Lu, Wei, Zu and other Youzhou aristocratic families have borrowed cattle from me for spring plowing, and these have been distributed.

If you, King Yan, also need cattle for spring plowing, I can also put some cattle rings on the cattle that are used for food.

Although it will be a bit awkward to use it a little bit, it can also be used as a farming ox! "

"Continue to find ways to increase production!" Li Tai nodded, "I won't compete with these people for spring plowing.

But in autumn, the demand for farm cattle will further increase. I need you to find a way to increase the production of farm cattle. "

"The area around Tianjin City in Youzhou and Cangzhou have started to plant wheat, so the current cattle should be enough!" Wang Xuance wondered.

"Don't forget, the whole of Henan was flooded last year, flooding many people, and we took in many people from Henan.

Therefore, the lack of manpower in Henan is inevitable. The demand for cattle in Henan is far beyond your imagination! "

"I understand!" Wang Xuance looked serious, and after hearing Li Tai's words, he understood the heavy responsibility on him.

However, Wang Xuance asked Li Tai again, "But is wheat also cultivated in the land of Henan? Can we wait until autumn?"

"Yes!" Li Tai replied with a nod, "After the flood last year, a large number of agricultural school students established an agricultural society in the local area, and the main teaching was wheat planting.

Therefore, after the harvest in May this year, we will continue to teach farming techniques locally.

And in order to ensure the cultivation of the local people in autumn, I will allocate a certain number of cattle to the Agricultural Society to help the people plow the fields! "

"Helping the common people plow the fields?" Hearing this, Wang Xuance was a bit taken aback, but he also sighed, "King Yan is kind."

"Yes!" Li Tai nodded, "I just hope that the Agricultural Society can take root in the grassroots and speak for the people."

"But can it be done?" Wang Xuance was a little dazed when he heard Li Tai's words.

"It's up to people, just do it slowly!" Li Tai shrugged and said,
"It is necessary for the Agricultural Society to have a certain degree of capital, otherwise it is impossible to help the people at the bottom.

Farming cattle are the best medium to help the people. I believe that any common people with fields and acres will not refuse farming cattle. "

"But if it is used by the common people for free, I'm afraid there will be a fight against Mi En and promotion of Mi Engrave!" Wang Xuance said with a frown.

"So, these farm cattle are mainly leased, and I didn't say that they should be given to the people for free!" Li Tai said frankly.

Hearing Li Tai's words, Wang Xuance nodded, but didn't say anything more, just said,
"I know my important task, and I will definitely provide enough cattle before autumn comes!"

Li Tai said, "Then please!"

Li Tai did not follow Wang Xuance to specifically raise further questions about the Agricultural Society.

One is how to ensure that the farm cattle can be used by the people at the bottom, instead of being directly used by those rich households with money, first for themselves and then for ordinary people.

The second is that if the students of the agricultural society use the cattle as a rare commodity, they will squeeze the people and use their power for personal gain.

These things are all problems for Li Tai.

But now I don't even have a simple supervisory agency, I just hope that the idea of ​​speaking out for the bottom-level people they learned in school will make them resist for a while.

But Li Tai knew very well that if the sugar-coated bullets could be resisted only by ideological awareness, the world would have already entered a communist society, and more needs to be found to prevent the gradual progress.

It's just that the agricultural society has just been established and developed, and I need them to grow wildly in the local area.

After all, we need to wait a few years, until the Agricultural Society has grown to a certain level of barbarism, and then carry out a comprehensive rectification campaign to cleanse the degenerate elements in the team to make an example of others. It is best to choose a serious corruption crime and directly implicate the whole family.

Finally, the corresponding system will be promulgated according to the trend, so that the entire agricultural society can be standardized.

After all, if I take action to rectify the Agricultural Society now, it will feel like I have learned from no one.

Sometimes, even if you know something will definitely happen, you can only watch it happen, and then you can work smoothly.

Only in this way can there be a favorable time, place and people in which the world and the earth are all in the same force. Otherwise, it will be like going against the trend, and doing things will only get twice the result with half the effort.

(End of this chapter)