Ancestor Bless: I built a thousand-year-old family

Chapter 964 Weapons Smuggling

The spirit soldier cannot speak.

Luosu walked along the eastern coast alone.

From time to time he would lift the car curtain and look outside.

The green and continuous farmland ripples in the wind, the farmers working in the fields are sweating like rain, smoke rises from the orderly villages, the woman washing clothes by the stream hammers hard, and the children's laughter is like the wind blowing through bells.

He still remembered the last time he traveled, during the Daye period of the Sui Dynasty.

Desolate and cracked fields with no grass growing, white bones everywhere in the grass on both sides of the road, villages like ghost villages where rabbits and foxes are infested, countless people with their hands and shackles tied, are being escorted to Liaodong.

The Cangshan Mountains are cold, and the world is weeping with blood. Heavy mourning and darkness shroud the earth. It seems that it will never be possible to see the light after the darkness.

It's great now. All these years of hard work have paid off. If you look at these more, your heart for the country and the people will become purer.

Luo Su walked through Hebei.

Cross the Yellow River.

Ahead is the Huaihe River.

This road was the food producing area of ​​the Tang Dynasty. After Li Zhi and Wu Zhao moved the imperial capital to Luoyang, the political status here has been significantly improved. Half of the Zhechong Prefectures of the Tang Dynasty are now in Hebei and Jianghuai.

After decades of adjustments, Guanzhong returned to its proper place, Shandong rose rapidly through the imperial examination, and Datang transformed from a group with Guanzhong as its core to an empire that truly accommodated talents from all over.

Luo Su came to Yangzhou.

Human talent is more important than hard work, and the same is true for a city.

From the moment a city is built, it has one main function. This function also changes with the changes in the world's situation and changes with the changes in mountains and rivers.

Chang'an used to be the capital, but now it is Luoyang that assumes this function, and its functions have been transferred to Luoyang.

Hangu Pass was once a great pass that could not be opened by one man. It was not the weapons that destroyed it, but the diversion of the Yellow River.

The one now responsible for this function is called Tongguan.

But Tongguan is not as good as Hangu Pass. It will take at least 100,000, or even 200,000 people to defend Tongguan.

As a result, Guanzhong lost its status as a country with four fortresses and as stable as Mount Tai. With the blessing of various factors, abandoning Chang'an was no longer an unacceptable choice.

Among these cities, there are important military towns, ordinary residential cities, natural dangerous passes, and economic cities.

Yangzhou is an economic city.

During the Sui Dynasty, it was in extreme decline, but its geographical location was there. It was one end of the Grand Canal and faced Jinling. Compared with Suzhou, it was not so far south and was too important to the imperial court. It must prosper and it always will.

During the many years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, even if the imperial court did not deliberately rebuild it, it still developed vigorously. It was basically restored in the last years of Zhenguan. In the tenth year of Li Zhi's accession to the throne, the taxes paid once again ranked first in the world.

The era of promoting one and benefiting two is back.

The booming Hebei and Jianghuai made Li Zhi and Wu Zhao make the final determination to move their capital to Luoyang.

In Luoyang, the Grand Canal, which connects the north and south, will continuously deliver supplies from Shandong to the palace at a very low cost.

If the cost of building a palace in Chang'an is 10 million yuan, then the cost in Luoyang can be reduced to 30 million yuan. The advantages of water transportation are not superior to those of land.

Luo Su came here, and then he was known by the Yangzhou officials. When they heard that the imperial master had arrived in Yangzhou, the Yangzhou officials almost swarmed out.

Yangzhou governor.

Shi and Sima, the governor-general of Yangzhou.

These people all wrote a letter and led all the civil and military officials in Yangzhou to request Luo Su to attend the banquet.

Luo Su was very concerned about the development of Yangzhou, or in other words, he was concerned about the development of the entire south of the Huaihe River, but he was not interested in meeting these officials and only selected a few of them.

There are children of Jiangnan Luo family.

There are descendants of the Lu family.

Speaking of the Lu family, they are actually living a very comfortable life now, which is considered very good among the many families in the Tang Dynasty.

When the Luo family was fighting on the grasslands or moving north, the Lu family's large army followed the Luo family, including many members of the main branch and most of the collateral branches.

Many people in the Lu family died, but there were also many who lived.

Some stayed in their hometown in Qidi, and some went to Jiangnan during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, joined the Luo family, and took root in Jianghuai. Later, the Luo family returned south, and a large part of the Lu family in Winter City returned to Qidi.

Lu's is quite special.

The Lu family's daughter has no worries about getting married. No matter whether she is from the royal family or a high-ranking family, no one will think that the Lu family is not a high-ranking family.

Although the Lu family is indeed not a high-ranking family.

Shandong nobles like to ask for betrothal gifts. The Lu family and the Luo family do not like this when they have lived together for a long time. However, the Lu family does not agree with the theory of "water thrown out by a married daughter", so the Lu family will often Interfering with married daughters.

The Lu family's family rules are very strict, which can be called strict. They have extremely strict control over rebellion, conspiracy, and other behaviors that may cause the destruction of the family.

It can be said to be three orders and five orders.

The Tang Dynasty implemented a policy of emphasizing internal affairs over external affairs. Many high-ranking noble families left their hometowns and went to Luoyang and Chang'an to live as guests and seek high-ranking positions. However, the Lu family still deeply cultivated the local area. In Luoyang, they may not be as good as those high-ranking families who pursue generals and ministers, but in the local area Above, he is a real local snake, inconspicuous, but extremely powerful.

The group met Luosu in a carved attic.

Whether it was the Luo family or the Lu family, the moment they saw Luo Su, they all knelt on the ground and said, "Kowtow to the ancestors."

Luo Su raised his eyes and looked up. Every time he saw the Lu family, he felt it was amazing. An ordinary family could achieve this level. This is the most obvious proof that the Luo family has changed the world.

Although there are also scum in the Lu family, Lu family, who has a very strict family tradition, can always take the initiative to eliminate these people. It can be said that he has learned the self-revolution within the Lu family to the fullest.

The Jijiang Alliance started in ancient times, and was carried forward in the era of King Wu and King Su, creating Bangzhou. However, the actual formation of the system was promoted by Luo Su himself.

At first, because the blood relationship between the princes with the surname Ji and the emperor was getting farther and farther, in order to solve this problem, Luo Su creatively proposed the precedent of the emperor marrying his eldest daughter, and other princes marrying sisters. This is called "taking the blood of a different surname to consolidate the surname Ji" From here on, the real Ji Jiang alliance began to frequently marry each other and marry each other.

"The ancestors came to Yangzhou, which made Yangzhou shine. It is said that the ancient saints passed by and created classics. If the ancestors left a few words, thousands of years later, there will be a glorious and sacred shine."

The group of people didn't get up, they just knelt on the ground and spoke sincerely.

Luo Su sat on the chair. The spirit soldier brought the tea and took a sip. He felt that it was sweet and refreshing. "I have some things to explain when I go to Yangzhou this time. You are all members of my family. You are here today." It's an opportunity, let's listen.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, for 1,700 years, the center of gravity of the world has gradually moved south and east. Today, Jianghuai has become the world's largest financial and tax center. This is an indisputable fact.

This trend will not stop in the future, so if the world wants to prosper in the future, the importance of Jianghuai and Jiangnan must be kept in mind at all times. "

The gradual shift of the economy to the south is something Luo Su is concerned about. It is not just about food production. When it comes to food alone, the two great plains of the Central Plains and Hebei will always be granaries. The plains of the Jianghuai River are not enough to support the entire world.

However, with the development of Jianghuai and Jiangnan, the problems of miasma, humidity and wind heat were solved, and the more livable attributes of the south became highlighted. Yangzhou is the most prosperous place for commerce in the world, even surpassing the world's metropolis Luoyang and the former Chang'an.

Not only Yangzhou, but also Lingnan, which has always been considered a place of exile, also has the very prosperous city of Guangzhou.

See Weizhi book.

The reason is very simple, that is, warmth. People's yearning for warmth is hidden in their genes. Even the Luo family migrated from Winter City to Liaozhou. After just over a thousand miles south, it became much warmer.

……

Luosu's destination all the way south was not Jiangnan Luoshi, but Lingnan and Indochina.

Guangzhou in Lingnan is a very prosperous city that seems incompatible with other places in Lingnan.

There are not many indigenous people in Guangzhou. Since its establishment, the Han people were brought here by the Qin Dynasty. Then during the Han Dynasty, a large-scale population migrated here. In addition, during this period, some wars occurred here, many The natives left here on their own initiative.

now.

This is the headquarters of the Annan Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. It is one of the four major protectorates. The Tang court stationed 6,000 troops here.

The purpose of the existence of the Andong Protectorate was not only to frighten the Southern Barbarians lurking in the mountains in Lingnan, but also to monitor the princes and kingdoms who were entrusted here by Li Zhi.

And there is that great kingdom - the State of Song!

Under the four major protective palaces, there are many kingdoms of princes and princes. They were enfeoffed here when the princes were first enfeoffed.

The area under the jurisdiction of the Annan Protectorate was Guangdong and Guangxi and Qiongzhou in later generations. It was covered with high mountains, known as the Hundred Thousand Mountains. With such a complex terrain, the court was racking its brains when it came to dividing the kingdom of princes.

As for the Song Dynasty.

When it was first established, the King of Song had a long hard time. After all, he was a descendant of Queen Xiao and Concubine. Wu Zhao didn't like it. Naturally, it was impossible for him to take all the treasury like King Qin, King Qi and others when they left the town. Empty out of town like that.

However, the imperial court later asked the Annan Protectorate to recruit many people to build the Song Dynasty. Moreover, there were water connections between Lingnan and the Central Plains, which could transport supplies. The Annan Protectorate was the logistics base developed by the Song Dynasty.

After Luo Su came to Jiangnan, he discovered something unusual. Many wealthy people from Jiangnan were flowing in supplies southward. He learned some things from the Luo family in Jiangnan. He was very surprised that the people had already begun to play this way. He went all the way to South, after arriving at the Annan Protectorate, I found that the development of the Song Kingdom was indeed better than imagined.

The war was fought with money and food. The development of the Song Dynasty was better and faster than imagined because of the inflow of a large amount of resources. Not only the big families in the south of the Yangtze River, but also the officials of the Annan Protectorate were doing this. That is In addition to the supplies provided by the imperial court, more food and weapons were sold to the Song Dynasty.

Many of the armors, weapons, etc. that were eliminated by the imperial court were registered and discarded, and then sold to the pioneering nobles of the Song Dynasty, as well as those pioneering nobles in Lingnan.

There are also those big grain merchants in the Central Plains who are selling grain here. It's very simple. There are waterways here, so the cost is lower than buying it inland, and the price of military grain is higher.

This is a very profitable business, and it can be said to be a huge profit without any capital.

This is actually a kind of smuggling, because the court cannot get tax revenue from this. Jiangnan Luo Shi knew it, but did not participate. Luo Shi's grain and medicinal materials were sometimes sold to grain merchants.

A piece of goods will end up in the hands of the person who paid for it.

Therefore, it is uncertain how much of Luo's food and medicinal materials ended up in the hands of these pioneering nobles.

When he learned all this, Luosu was not very shocked, but this pattern made him very interested.

Especially after he learned one thing, his interest almost reached its peak.

This incident is that the King of Song actually sold land to borrow money to fight the war.

A group of businessmen from the south of the Yangtze River, as well as officials from the Annan Protectorate, had their own land in the Song Dynasty, and even had mines and forests.

These things were all mortgaged by the King of Song to these people.

The King of Song used the income from these lands in the next ten, twenty or even fifty years to obtain more benefits.

This kind of thing is very common among the people. This is how private people borrow money to do business and expand production.

But it is surprising that this kind of thing happens to a clan king and some businessmen and officials whose status is completely unequal.

Because according to common sense, there is usually only one final outcome of this kind of thing, and that is for the clan king to eat the evil and swallow everything into his stomach. Because the two sides are completely unequal.

In this social system where imperial power is paramount, it is simply a joke to say something unpleasant, but no one else has the right to speak, and to negotiate conditions.

But the fact is that this transaction was formed.

Luosu was very interested in this matter, so he stayed like this for a while. For a person like him who is the most intelligent person in the world, just a little understanding is enough to see the underlying logic.

How could something like this that goes against common sense happen?

then.

Luo Su was a little confused. This was a collaboration between a group of fools and a bold man and a coward.

On the surface, this matter is logical. If the merchants and the important figures in the Annan Protectorate are collectively called the "Central Plains dignitaries" and the nobles in the Song Dynasty are called "Song Dynasty dignitaries", what will happen to them? The logic is these three groups.

The powerful people in the Central Plains believed that the King of Song was a lost dog who was driven out by the Queen of Heaven. Although he was the king of the clan, he was actually on the verge of death all the time.

King Zong?

If the King of Song dares to resist, the Annan Protectorate will let him know what the Central Plains Heavenly Army is. Psychologically, the Central Plains dignitaries believe that they have an advantageous position in terms of strength.

Then there is the second key. The powerful people in the Song Dynasty are not loyal to the King of Song. Under the enfeoffment system, the King of Song does not have that strong control over the powerful people in the Song Dynasty. These powerful people in the Song State have great interests in dealings with the powerful people in the Central Plains, and there are even many Marriage, internal and external collusion, the Song king suffered great constraints.

But Luosu believes that this kind of checks and balances are false, just like flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water, they scatter when poked.

Does business have power?

Of course there are.

Money is a powerful force at all times.

But in this era, the power of business is weak and the power of money is not enough. Ninety percent of the world's power lies in land.

The people on the land are the force that determines everything.

The princes during the Zhou Dynasty may have resisted the emperor because they had land that was not in the hands of the emperor.

The aristocratic families were able to compete with the imperial power because they had land that was beyond the control of the imperial power.

Regarding the matter of King Song, King Song was indeed worried all day long during the reign of Queen Tian, ​​for fear that one day he would be noticed and be recalled to Luoyang, the sacred capital, and his head would fall to the ground.

But in politics, there is another law, that is, the person who holds power is the one who stays the longest.

The battle between ministers and kings, when they are not at odds or put to death, always ends with the king's final victory, which is the ultimate embodiment of this theory.

The king is like a saint. In a society where the imperial power is stable and the throne will not be usurped, the worst outcome for the king is to lose face and be scolded.

A minister will lose his life if he is not careful.

Once the king is shameless, the outcome of the struggle is doomed.

The same is true for the King of Song. The Song Kingdom belongs to him, he has lived here forever, and his throne comes from the central court, which cannot be shaken by these people.

The queen of heaven is also very old and does not have many years to live.

The newly appointed emperor will not have any great hatred towards the King of Song. That was already a matter of the previous generation. By that time, once the King of Song reacts, the liquidation is destined.

In other words, the current strange balance only appeared because of the Queen's frightening of the princes.

Under such circumstances, anyone who dares to sign a twenty or fifty-year contract is truly crazy.

After understanding these situations, Luo Su could even guess what would happen next.

Once the Song Dynasty tore up the contract, these matters would naturally not be reported to the court. No one dared to mention the smuggling matter, so there was only one option, and that was the Annan Protectorate, claiming that the Song Dynasty had done something wrong, and would even take the initiative to create There were some border provocations, and then the army of the Annan Protectorate was used to attack the Song Dynasty.

If he wins, it will really be possible to control the Song Dynasty in the future.

But if you lose, everything will be in vain.

After studying this model, Luosu no longer paid attention to the formation of all social relationships, which had its own special social background, and he would not interfere in these matters.

It is easy to guess why the Luo family of Jiangnan was faintly involved. The current model has indeed helped the Song Dynasty to develop rapidly. Since ancient times, wealth and silk have attracted people's hearts. When the Jiangnan nobles were excluded from the Central Plains, they turned south to seek Interests and retreats are very realistic pursuits.

That's right.

Luo Su could see that these Jiangnan nobles acquired land in the Song Dynasty, most likely to escape. If Nanyang really developed, they would flee to Nanyang if the Tang Dynasty failed to catch it.

This is similar to how the Luo family fled to Liaodong Winter City when they were unable to sense Queen Su and were worried that the clan would be wiped out after decline.

Things will always change with reality. Once the imperial decree came down, you could only kneel down and wait for death, and there was no place to run.

The only place where you can escape is the grassland, but the grassland was too difficult in the past, and you might die on the road.

Now, as the Tang Dynasty expands to the surrounding areas, it has given many people this opportunity. It turns out that in this world, apart from the Central Plains, there is still land suitable for human survival, and it is so far away from the Tang Dynasty.

After Luo Su came to Nanyang, he looked at the water flow conditions here and the rolling mountains in Guangdong, Guangxi and Kuaiji.

This is actually a natural land of separatism. The water and heat conditions in Indochina are too good to support a huge empire. If this country can still obtain the two provinces, it will be able to obtain a barrier against the north.

but.

Luo Su stood on the high mountain, looking at the continuous land, "No chance."

No chance.

Ever since the Tang Dynasty set foot here, ever since the culture began to assimilate here, there has never been such an opportunity here again.

Luo Su was in Guangzhou and wrote a letter to Luoyang, not to Wu Zhao, but to Taiping. He would not open the letter until Taiping ascended the throne.

Among them is content about preventing the surrounding closed countries from developing a sense of autonomy.

“In the mountainous areas of the southwest of the empire, there are many chieftains who have been passed down for many years. These chieftains are incompatible with the habits of the Han people, thus creating de facto independence here.

Now, the same situation occurs in the enfeoffed countries. If these powerful people stay in the local area for a long time and form a de facto political isolation from the Central Plains, it will inevitably lead to political distance.

This issue should be paid special attention to.

If we don't pay attention to this issue, the split of the feudal country is foreseeable.

Secession and establishment of an independent country is only the first step. After the split, if you are at a disadvantage in the competition with the previous dynasty, you will move to the next step, which is to start to expel everything related to the upper dynasty from a cultural perspective.

Eventually, a set of ideas with localism as the core will emerge. Once such localist ideas appear, they will need to be integrated again at great cost, and the effect may not be significant. "

Losu knew this very well.

After the unification of the states, all the nobles in the world spoke the same words, performed the same etiquette, and worshiped the same supreme god. That was the first great unification.

But in the gradual differentiation, almost all countries began to develop their own nationalism based on local characteristics.

Among them, the biggest changes are in the Wu and Yue countries, which have reached the point of cutting off hair and tattoos.

Among them, the border countries such as Qi, Chu, and Qin have undergone changes to varying degrees. This is still the case where the Luo family holds high the banner of the Xia. Even so, the barriers between people in various countries have become very serious.

The Qin and Han Dynasties integrated the Xia world for the second time and finally formed the Han people.

Why is the Western Region so difficult to manage now, and the centrifugal tendency is so serious? Actually, it is because the Western Region is quite localized, and it is localized from belief to culture, and has blazed a unique Zhuxia path that is different from the Central Plains.

There are temples in the Western Region, so it's not a big problem.

But here in the Song Dynasty, Luo Su felt that there was a big problem. Once they suffered oppression from the north, the rulers from the Tang Dynasty would take the initiative to integrate into the local area.

Although Luosu engaged in enfeoffment, he did not engage in secession.

Even if due to practical reasons, we have to rule this vast land separately, internal communication must not stop, and internal barriers cannot arise.

The former Roman Empire was divided into two parts, East and West Rome, but everyone regarded themselves as the same ethnic group. They called themselves Romans.

Between the two political entities, there are exchanges between officials and emperors, not to mention exchanges among the people. When they revive the empire, they not only want to revive one of them, but both, and the entire territory of Rome. .

In the Central Plains, all divisions in the past were due to wars. Several political and military entities that could not annex each other were competing against each other, which ultimately led to the reality of division.

Such a split, if separated for a long enough time, will really lead to differentiation, and even gradually become two ethnic groups, just like the Han people who went to the grasslands were assimilated into nomads. A hundred years later, who will know their origins? Woolen cloth?

They already have a new name, from Han people to Huns, Xianbei people, or Hu people from a certain Donghu ethnic group.

The six kingdoms were actually a necessary division.

But what Luosu wants is to split the country without splitting the ethnic groups. “When dealing with the enfeoffed kingdoms of princes, strengthening exchanges between the ruling classes is a necessary political means.

At the same time, high-quality officials should be selected from the vassal states to serve in the central court, and even be granted the title of marquis or prime minister. At the same time, officials from the Central Plains should be dispatched to serve as floating officials in the vassal states.

To increase exchanges between the two sides in both directions is a task that the new dynasty should complete, and this is a political task that the suzerain country should accomplish. "

Luo Su came out from Luoyang just to see what the world has become. Many years have passed since the policies were promulgated, and now they have fermented.

Even a saint cannot know what a policy will look like after it reaches the bottom.

Issuance of policies, local implementation, feedback, adjustments, and re-issuance of policies.

This is the way to govern a country.

After coming out this time, what happened in Lingnan and Zhongnan made Luo Su very interesting. It could be said that it was somewhat beyond his expectation.

After exploring the nature of the world, Luosu concluded that those businessmen would eventually fail, but he also had a conjecture about this pattern.

That is, what if one day, the power in the hands of these businessmen exceeds the wealth that the land can produce?

Although agriculture has been the foundation of a country and its survival since thousands of years ago.

Although business brings in money quickly, any wise king or saint knows that the country can only be stable if the people have enough to eat, and most of the country's energy should be focused on agriculture.

But Luosu can naturally see that the proportion of business in taxes is getting higher and higher, and the power held by merchants is getting stronger and stronger. Although the social status of merchants has not improved, in fact, the nobles who once relied entirely on land, Nowadays, businesses are beginning to be used to give families more room for maneuver.

This actually represents a future trend.

When did this trend emerge?

Luosu only recalled briefly and saw the root of everything, starting from the increasing output of grain per acre of land, starting from the construction of water conservancy and the advancement of agricultural tools.

Start by requiring fewer and fewer people to work an acre of land.

It starts with the increasing number of people who don’t need to farm.

What if food production could increase again?

There is a kind of rice in Indochina, which grows in the Song Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)