Reborn in the late Northern Wei Dynasty

Chapter 201 Salt Field Salt Soldiers
"Don't melt it! Disrespecting the Buddha will be condemned by God!"

"No matter how compassionate the Buddha is, he will not allow you to insult me ​​like this!"

Near Jianchun Gate, soldiers transporting Buddha statues were blocked by a group of believers.

The soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay, and many flinched because of the intimidation of the believers.

It turned out that the five baht coin of the general issued by Gao Cheng was very popular with the people because of its heavy weight. Because it was weighed on the hanging scale in the market, it was called the five baht on the hanging scale.

Gao Cheng also ordered his cronies in charge of the mint to expand production, but problems also emerged: the reserves of raw material copper were seriously insufficient.

Although Gao Cheng has recovered old and bad coins in various places and melted them, but they cannot be transported to Luoyang immediately.

So he thought of his old friend, Buddhism.

The golden paint was scraped one by one, and the dull Buddha statues were moved out of the temple to be transported outside the city to melt new coins.

Such banditry also angered the fanatical believers. They did not dare to attack the Bohai Palace and the Zhongshu Provincial Government Office, and chose to block the road to prevent the transport team from leaving the city.

The escort was Xue Hu'er, who had recently been transferred to the cronies capital. Seeing that the brothers were afraid of the Buddha's wrath, Xue Hu'er shouted:

"The wrath of the Buddha is like the wrath of a great general!"

One word shocked everyone and made the scene quiet.

Someone came galloping behind him on horseback, it was Gao Cheng's favorite general Gao Jishi.

It turned out that Gao Cheng had already received news from the monitoring department in Luoyang that some Buddhists were connecting with him in an attempt to prevent him from casting Buddha statues.

Qi Jiguang, who came to take the order, immediately shouted:
"Little general casts new money not for selfish desires, but for the benefit of all people in the sky. The Buddha once cut meat and fed it to eagles. Flesh and blood can be given up, but bronze statues have no regrets! This is not the case with animals, let alone people!"

When everyone heard the words, if they didn't understand, they dispersed one after another, and the escort team was able to leave the city.

Those words were really taught by Low Cheng. I just told Qi Jiguang a story about the Buddha cutting meat to feed the eagles.

Although Qi Jiguang is simple and straightforward, and has read many books, but I am actually a good person, know a lot of small truths, and I can be called a profound understanding of small righteousness.

It's just that that small righteousness contains loyalty to Yuanshi on the outside.

In the looting of low-level and weak robbers, the [-] temples in Luoyang only lost land, money, monks, and temples. At the beginning, they even guarded the Buddha statues, which can be regarded as being robbed by me.

But King Dadi's appetite was only for Luoyang. The temples in all the states and counties in the sky were abolished, and their Buddha statues were all time-consuming and labor-intensive to be sent to Luoyang City.

Gao Cheng would rather reduce the cost and give the local minting rights.

Even local states and counties do not have the right to mint coins, let alone private minting by individuals.

Low Cheng, who enjoys the reputation of being narrow-minded and benevolent, treats private minters, regardless of whether they are heavy or mixed with impurities. Low Cheng always uses the method of beheading to warn the world.

And the family members are rarely implicated. Gao Cheng's logic is very complicated. The other party minted private coins for profit, and those family members are also the enjoyers of that benefit, so why can they be spared.

Although it is to be executed together, but at the same time as being a slave and handmaid, it is also stipulated that all within the seven uniforms are allowed to participate in the scientific examination.

That measure immediately bluffed the smallest group of private coins, the Shijia clan.

Being able to be an official is different from cutting off our roots. Compared with it, minting coins for profit is very important.

Competing to restrain the children of the clan is to allow us to get involved in that industry again and compete with Gao Cheng for food.

Although what Gao Cheng has destroyed recently are only some large private workshops, but who knows if I will really start with myself.

The powerful official who dared to use his official position to name coins grandly has nothing to do yet.

Between knowing and realizing, the world's views on Gao Cheng have long since changed. They used to regard me as the son of a powerful minister, but now they really treat me as a powerful minister.

Di Huan, who is far away in Jinyang, seems to have been banished from the inner circle of power.

That's not surprising. When the East and West ceased fighting for their own reasons and sought development, the focus of power would shift from the military to the administration.

Seeing that the gentry were restraining, Gao Cheng accepted it as soon as it was good, but ordered people to confiscate the copper materials stored by those families, and did not pursue their past crimes.

I am very vague. I cannot suppress the gentry, but I can eliminate the gentry. Those people will play an important role in the process of Sinicization of the Xianbei nobles in the future.

That's why Gaocheng wanted to move his capital to Hebei. Before I inherit Kanto, there will inevitably be two power centers, political and military.

Maybe there will be fewer capital cities in the future, such as Xijing, Nanjing, Tokyo, and Beijing, but there can only be no real power center.

Once the center of power is set in Hebei, it is extremely unlikely that the sinicized Xianbei nobles will merge with the Hebei gentry, and thus a Hebei clan similar to the Guanlong clan will emerge.

That's what Low Cheng would like to see.

When Gao Cheng was working hard on reforms, Yuan Yuyi, the son of Li Huibo, the governor of Southern Qingzhou, was finally sent to Luoyang.

Afterwards, Luo Shansheng, who had been slow to get started because of seven men waiting to give birth, finally got his wish.

In the joy of being quiet and noisy, he was taken from Sun Teng's mansion to Bohai Palace by Gao Cheng.

Yuan Bin, who was dressed as a servant, was placed in the crowd, allowing me to take a good look at Yu Wentai's glory.

Afterwards, Di Cheng turned to Li Yuanzhong's mansion.

Li Yuanzhong was sent to Jinyang, and Yuan Yuyi temporarily lodged in the mansion of the patriarch of the family.

Back to the palace, after the evening ceremony, if Qi Jiguang hadn't stopped the wine for me during the banquet, I'm afraid I would really be drunk by a group of friends and old friends.

When Gao Cheng went to Yuan Yuyi's room first that night, dealing with Yuan Yuyi, who was not a human being, was much less nervous than being squeezed by seven men.

When I left, Gao Cheng was still full of energy. I originally planned to take Yuan Jingyi outside Luo Shansheng's hospital, and the habit of sleeping with the two sisters would change or drop soon.

But after thinking about it, it was Yu Wentai's wedding night, and it was nothing more than marrying and sharing the glory with others. It seemed a bit too much to not share with his sister at the end of the night.

Only then did Gao Cheng resist the impulse, did he call Yuan Jingyi over?

I talked to Yuwen Taiyi when we performed the ceremony of husband and wife, and you also received more dedicated service from you.

On the seventh day before the wedding, whether Gao Cheng indulged in the gentle country, reformed the law and weakened the country, it was up to you.

In fact, the Eastern Wei Dynasty was not good enough to advance. With the current national strength, with Gao Cheng in charge of the army, I have no confidence in overthrowing the Western Wei Dynasty.

After all, during the Battle of Shayuan, the road was blocked by Gao Cheng, and Gao Jishi had Fadong bled back. The national power was far inferior to that of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and only [-]% to [-]% of the population remained.

Nowadays, Gao Jishi is even more embarrassed. Even because of spring plowing, building new gates, reclaiming fields, etc., the soldiers and people are exhausted and need to rest and recuperate.

Judging from the current situation, Gao Jishi, who has the ability to replenish the population, is already waiting to die. Without Yubi City, once I conquer the Western Regions or enter Sichuan, I will be able to use Yubi as a bridgehead to dig out the old nest in Guanzhong .

But Gao Cheng was satisfied with unifying the two Weis.

Xiaoliang in the south, Goguryo in the northeast, Tuyuhun in the west, Rouran and Turkic in the north, those are the targets of Dicheng.

If you want to realize the grand blueprint of Qihai Weifu, you must lay a solid foundation. This is not the case with Gao Cheng's current reforms in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

First establish the system in Kanto, which is completely controlled by yourself, and every time you seize a place in the future, you cannot directly incorporate it into that system.

Instead, it is necessary to bother to adjust the interests of all parties before reunification, and then to make reforms.

Difficulty between the two is comparable.

Before standardizing the money market with the little general's seven baht coins, Gao Cheng also finished continuing to deepen economic rectification and reform.

The primary target will eat salt.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and salt is undoubtedly a profitable industry, otherwise there would not be so few private salt dealers throughout the ages.

The Eastern and Western Weis, which inherited the Northern Wei, both faced a slight problem, the flood of private salt.

Thanks to the governance of Hu Taiqian, Erzhu and others, the economy of the Northern Wei Dynasty was in a mess, and so was the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

Did Gao Cheng immediately crack down on private salt? In the final analysis, the production of official salt is obviously sufficient, and private salt is needed to supplement the market.

In response to that phenomenon, Gao Cheng imitated the original owner and drafted a decree, specially setting up officials in the seven prefectures of You, Ying, Cang, and Qing around the Bohai Sea to take charge of salt affairs and cook salt by the sea.

It is estimated that 740 seven stoves will be installed in Cangzhou, 770 stoves in Yingzhou, 140 in Youzhou, 770 in Qingzhou, and seven in Handan.

If it is intended, the annual output will be as low as 70 dendrobium seven liters, which is enough to finance the needs of the military.

Among the seven prefectures, Cangzhou has the least salt stove, which is lower than the sum of the other eight prefectures, and Gaocheng is also the most important.

That place is my lair, although Xu Juvenile has never set foot there, but I was the first to stop meddling in local government affairs, and I didn't bring more than [-] Xianbei women and children to Cangzhou for resettlement.

As for the candidate to be in charge of the Cangzhou Salt Affairs, Gao Cheng decided to adjust Zhang Dexing to take up the position after thinking hard.

The rest of the Eight States also tried their best to select capable officials who were cautious and honest from the shogunate.

Considering that we might be involved in the salt business, Gao Cheng recruited veteran salt cookers from small private establishments and hired them with low salaries.

While explaining to the eight aides, he also specially sent people to Yecheng to send a message, asking Zhang Dexing to listen less to the opinions of the old craftsman, and not to intervene too little, just pay close attention to production and prevent no one from taking advantage of it for profit.

At the same time, Gao Cheng ordered the governors of the seven prefectures to fully cooperate with the cooking of salt by the sea, and sent soldiers from the prefectures and counties to guard the salt fields, so as to prevent selfish salt dealers from being greedy for profit and destroying it.

There is really no mistake, but killing a few people can make up for the loss.

Dadi King hates killing, but very rarely I have to kill.

When sea salt can be put on the market, we will start to crack down on illegal salt.

At the same time, Gao Cheng has not yet made up his mind. When the salt farms officially end production, it will be my eighth time to inspect Hebei.

Hebei is the foundation of the Low Clan. Di Huan once told Gao Cheng that he would often live in Yecheng temporarily.

In the past two years, Gao Huan has been busy with the Western Expedition, and the Western Expedition will advance and needs to appease the morale of the army in Jinyang.

Because of the war on the Western Front and the Reformation, the father and son hadn't set foot in Hebei for a long time, waiting for the salt farms in various places to settle down. Gao Cheng also took this opportunity to visit Cang, Ying, and Youba prefectures.

As for Qingzhou, which belongs to Hebei, Gao Cheng is not worried, because the governor of Qingzhou is the core scribe who is deeply trusted by me, Zhao Yanshen.

With no worries in mind, Gao Cheng also stopped thinking about how to deal with private salt.

Being a private salt dealer in the Eastern Wei Dynasty was not a good deal, because it inherited from the rotten Northern Wei Dynasty.

There is a lack of salt among the people, and the government also acquiesces in the existence of private salt, at least eating less and asking for it.

But it can also greatly underestimate our combat effectiveness and interests. The fight for the salt field is mostly a fight with weapons.

Li Changyi loves the unpretentious Yiwu miners who fight with weapons all the year round.

It is not the right way to use state and county soldiers to guard the saltworks all the year round. Inspired by Luo Shansheng, Gao Cheng also wondered if he could not use the banner of guarding the saltworks to form a salt soldier himself, recruiting simple but honest soldiers from outside the private saltworks. Salt workers who have the courage to fight with weapons.

So far, there are no private mines everywhere, so will I recruit miners to form miners in the name of guarding the mine?

Although those people are known as guarding the saltworks and mines, but with strict training, they may become the seventh main force under their command besides the Gyeonggi soldiers.

Not thinking that way, Gao Cheng first wrote to Gao Huan, explaining his measures to rectify the salt business and increase taxation, and asked Gao Huan to allow me to recruit salt soldiers from among the salt workers on the grounds of guarding the salt farm.

Let's put the matter of the miners aside for the time being, so as not to make the old man overly sensitive.

Gao Cheng suspects that Gao Huan will definitely refuse. First of all, the profits brought by the saltworks are enough to tempt me.

The second is that Di Huan, who relies heavily on Xianbei in the eight towns, actually thinks the combat effectiveness of the Han army is too low. Only Di Ao Cao's trilogy can make me look at it differently. The rest of the state and county soldiers only have the ability to defend the city. , and can only be used as an atmosphere group, or consume defenders' arrows when attacking a city.

In fact, the father and son agreed on that point, but Gao Cheng did not use Li Changyi's deeds as an example. I understand that the simple and perennial salt workers and miners are not comparable to the state and county soldiers.

After the rise of the Han army, Sinicization was extremely difficult. Gaocheng set up salt soldiers, and set up mining soldiers before, just to satisfy his own selfish desires and to prepare for the future.

After sealing the envelope, Gao Cheng immediately ordered someone to send it to Jinyang for Gao Huan to review. Since the father and son had agreed that Gao Huan would lead the army and Gao Cheng would be in charge, even if it was such a big event as setting up salt soldiers to guard the salt farm, Gao Cheng would not Will ask my father for instructions.

Although I have little power in my hands, my arrogance is more and more on par with the original owner, but the cautiousness in my bones has changed.

Before the messenger left, Gao Cheng wrote another letter to Zhao Yanshen, the governor of Qingzhou, asking me to pay attention to the salt workers in the illegal salt factories in the country, to see if they could be used as I thought, and trained another weak army.

If it is because of the courage to fight for the salt field, Gao Chengyou will have to haggle with Gao Huan no matter how small it is, and the rest of the states will also set up salt fields, and there are only seven states near the sea.

Another benefit of recruiting salt workers as soldiers is naturally to weaken the resistance of the salt dealers.

Who knows that no one will take out fourteen poles outside to make trouble.

Whoever has no family background but can guard the interests of private salt is a brave person.

It's funny to say that King Dadi has everything he wants from the elites of the gentry, and he doesn't care about our power at all.

But for those lowly salt sellers, we must think carefully.

In terms of strength, influence, social prestige and status, these salt dealers think our hands are dirty when they carry shoes for the nobles.

But those people really dared to rebel.

Bare feet are afraid of wearing shoes. We are so cheap that we don't have so few scruples from aristocratic families.

Therefore, when dealing with those salt dealers, Gao Cheng must be cautious.

　About the eighteen pole poles, it refers to the story of Zhang Shicheng who started his business with eighteen poles at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

　　I finally went home today. Although I was a little late, I finally managed to catch up. I will post 4000 words tomorrow, which will not be counted in tomorrow's update. I am really sorry for being so late.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)