Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 922 Brothers

"Maybe it was before, but not now!" Yuan Bao laughed and said, "You don't know, I have a secret to governing Cangzhou, and that is not to keep idle people!"

"Don't support idlers?" Feng Sheng was stunned. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Hasn't it been the people who supported the government since ancient times? When did the government support the people?"

"So I said it's different!" Yuan Bao laughed and said, "Xudao, I'm too lazy to talk to him, you talk to him!"

Xu Tuo shook his head helplessly and said to Feng Sheng, "Secretary Feng, Yuan Bao is talking about Jiaozhi City, not outside the city. People outside the city are farmers, so they naturally farm and feed themselves. As long as they know how to farm, it doesn't matter if they don't have any skills. But there are no large tracts of farmland in the city. If you don't have a skill, won't you be a wandering person who eats nothing? Besides, once the port is built, Jiaozhi will not only be the seat of the Jiaozhou governor, but also the starting point for the development of the entire South China Sea: arsenals, shipyards, sawmills, fishing and other industries all need manpower, and they need manpower with skills. How can there be so many wandering people who eat nothing in Jiaozhi City?"

"What about the rich kids in the city?" Feng Sheng asked, "As far as I know, there are quite a few rich kids in Jiaozhi who live on farms outside the city. They may not know a craft!"

"Trade, writing, accounting, and drawing are also considered skills!" Suta laughed, "Most of the children of wealthy families can read and write, right? There are things suitable for them to do. If they really do nothing and just sit and eat, it doesn't matter. Anyway, in a few years, they will no longer be rich!"

Although Feng Sheng didn't quite understand what Sutuo meant, his heart trembled. Yuan Bao, who was standing beside him, saw what Feng Sheng was thinking and said with a smile, "Why? Do you think we will rob their property? You're overthinking. We are not robbers. How could we do such a shameless thing? It's just that others can travel a hundred miles a day, but you can only travel five or six miles a day, so you will naturally fall behind!"

Feng Sheng was still puzzled after hearing what Yuanbao said. Xu Tuo knew that some things would never be understood if they were only explained with words. What Yuanbao just said was actually the problem of the industrial advantages of industry and commerce over agriculture. The production efficiency of agriculture has an upper limit. Under the technical conditions at that time, one mu of land could only produce 400 to 500 kilograms of rice at most. Jiaozhou had a special climate and could harvest three crops a year, which only added up to 1,400 to 1,500 kilograms. But handicrafts were different. With more advanced technology, better production tools, and better management and organization methods, it was possible for handicraftsmen to increase their labor productivity several times or even dozens of times. The upper limit of handicraft production in ancient agricultural society was actually the market capacity. A blacksmith in a village could make a pair of iron plows a day, but there were only a few hundred households in his village and surrounding rural areas. The blacksmith could make two or three pairs of iron plows a year at most. In his spare time, the blacksmith would repair farm tools, change horseshoes, etc., and would not think about how to improve the technology of making iron plows, but go to his own fields to take care of crops.

In the past, Jiaozhi City was just the administrative and military center of the northern part of Annan at that time. It was responsible for the placement of administrative officials, the army, and the storage of taxes collected from various counties. In simple terms, it was a government, barracks, and granaries. In Wang Wenzuo's plan, Jiaozhi City will become a springboard for commercial colonial expansion to the entire Southeast Asia region. The difference from the military expansion of the Chinese country in the past is that the cash flow of this expansion must be positive. The difference between the two is that Jiaozhi City is not only a rear base for military operations, but also a handicraft center, a commercial center, and a transportation hub. Only in this way can the large amount of money invested in military operations be recovered from other channels, which actually greatly increases the local demand for various handicrafts.

Obviously, under this model, Jiaozhi will produce a very large handicraft cluster, and this cluster will also give birth to a large number of factory owners, managers, technical workers, and financial practitioners. The local government of Jiaozhi City will of course artificially lower the cost of handicraftsmen (for example, the government will forcibly purchase the land in Jiaozhi City and surrounding areas for public ownership, and then rent it to handicraft owners at low prices, or impose heavy taxes on landowners to subsidize handicrafts, build roads and ports, and lower the food prices of urban residents through large-scale imports, etc.), so as to prevent landowners from sharing the profits of handicraft commerce through monopolizing land. In this case, it is only a matter of time before the emerging urban class overwhelms the original landlord class economically. Most of the small and medium landlords will have to give up their land and enter the city to become small owners, officials, intellectuals or samurai officers. This set of things has actually been completed or is in progress in Cangzhou. Yuanbao, as a direct promoter, is naturally very familiar with it.

"It's almost time!" Wang Bo said with a smile.

"Yes!" Suta laughed, "I forgot while chatting. Let's go out of the city together!"

"Yes!" Yuan Bao smiled and said, "When I left Cangzhou, many people shed tears. They thought we would be separated for at least three to five years, but they didn't expect to meet again so soon, just in a different place!"

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Outside Jiaozhi City, there is a watchtower.

A horse neigh came from behind him, coming from the mount of an officer on the side of the road. Suta also heard the low whispers of a local official behind him. To be honest, if he were in their shoes, he would also feel uneasy about the sudden appearance of so many "young masters".

Too fast, too fast indeed! This is how Suta felt about his father's actions over the past two years. Although he wrote to his father to suggest sending his younger brothers to Jiaozhi, he did not expect it to happen so soon. In his expectation, it would be good if his younger brothers could arrive next autumn, after all, it takes time to deploy troops, prepare ships, and adapt to the climate. And his father's actions gave him a strange feeling - he was driving these children out of the house to make room for Ah Sheng.

Is it because my father is no longer healthy? That's why he kicked us out? A terrible thought suddenly flashed through Sudatta's mind. He was shocked by his own thought and instinctively drove it out of his mind, but the terrible thought spread like wildfire. He began to recall the last time he saw his father, trying to find a little clue from it.

"They are coming!" Yuanbao said excitedly.

Flags gradually appeared from the ruined villages in the distance, accompanied by clouds of dust. All the way from there to the river, there were only charred tree stumps and broken houses, which were traces of the recent rebellion. So many flags! Did my father send a large army? Sudatta thought to himself. The horse raised its legs and raised the ashes all over the sky, which reminded Sudatta of the scene when the iron horse trampled the formation of the Qisibiyu rebels. It seems that the younger brothers have moved all their assets here. He tried to imagine what this meant, and the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

"Look who's coming?" Yuanbao tilted his head and asked Suta.

Suta narrowed his eyes and observed carefully: "Old Nine, Old Seven, Old Fifteen, no..., it should be Old Seventeen!"

"Forget it, it's too difficult for you!" Yuanbao smiled and shook his head: "How come these bastards put so many tricks on the flags that we can't recognize them. I will kick them hard in the ass later! Forget it, I don't want to wait here anymore, let's go meet them, okay?" He asked Suta.

Sutuo didn't say anything. He kicked the horse twice. Yuanbao rode with him, followed by Wang Bo and Feng Sheng. After the men noticed their movements, they also let their horses run, with their flags fluttering in the wind. Their horn bows, quivers, flintlock muskets, and narrow curved sabers were hung on the ornately decorated saddles.

The women who gave birth to Wang Wenzuo's children came from a variety of backgrounds, including Japanese, people from the three kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula, many ethnic groups in Northeast China and even Outer Northeast China, and even a few dark-skinned women from the Ryukyu Islands. The children they gave birth to also inherited their mothers' facial features. The hard military life in the wild since their youth also gave them rough and tough faces.

Because of the weather, they were almost all wearing single clothes made of ramie, belts tied around their waists, and black gauze hats on their heads. Some of the horses they rode were red, some were yellow, and some were as white as snow. These horses had long and beautiful necks, short backs, round ribs, and round and powerful buttocks. Their limbs were slender, their limbs were straight, and their tendons were well developed. These horses were the latest breeding results of the official horse farm under Wang Wenzuo. They contained the bloodline of Arabian horses, possessed super endurance, swift speed, and courage, and only a few people at the top of the power pyramid could buy them. "See!" Yuanbao complained, "We worked so hard to get the stallions, but we haven't ridden them yet, and these bastards have ridden them first. It's really unfair!"

"We are all brothers!" Suta laughed. "Besides, even if you have good horses here, I'm afraid they won't be able to be raised well. The weather is too hot and too humid. Let's take a boat!"

As he was talking, the rider in the front had already rushed forward. His mount was a black horse with a fiery red mane and tail. The rider was slender, well-proportioned and elegant. He rode on the horse as if he was born to ride it. On his chest was embroidered a Gyrfalcon, soaring with its wings spread.

After not seeing him for more than half a year, he has become even more ferocious! Sudaka thought to himself, but he said, "Welcome, Jumong, you have grown taller again!"

"I don't want to grow any taller! Otherwise it will be even harder to find a mount!" The rider dismounted. Even if he stood on the ground, he was only a head shorter than Sutuo. He bowed to Sutuo and Yuanbao: "How are you, my two brothers!"

"Then give me this horse!" Yuanbao replied with a smile: "You can ride something else, such as an elephant. In Jiaozhou, elephants are much more useful than horses!"

Zhu Meng glanced at Yuan Bao, and a cold light flashed in his eyes: "No, this horse is mine. Besides, no one else can ride on its back except me!"

"Really?" Yuanbao laughed, "Jumong, you are still so arrogant. Forget it, keep your horse! Here, you have to learn how to ride a boat!"

Suta scratched his forehead and turned his head away. Although Jumong was a few years younger than him and Yuanbao, he was tall since childhood. His mother was a noble woman from Goguryeo. He might be the son of Wang Wenzuo with the noblest maternal bloodline except Yanliang and Wang Qisheng. So he was unruly since childhood. He had fought with Suta and Yuanbao brothers on the island. He didn't expect to meet here. It can be said that enemies meet on a narrow road.

At this time, several other brothers also arrived. They dismounted and stood behind Jumong, seemingly regarding him as their leader. Yuanbao frowned and snorted coldly: "Why, did you guys come to Jiaozhou to oppose me?"

Jumong laughed, and his slightly stern long face suddenly became friendly: "How could that be! Father told us before we left that we came to Jiaozhou to wait for brother Yuanbao's orders, right?" He turned around and asked everyone.

"Not bad!"

"Exactly!"

"With my father's military order, how dare we disobey!"

Suta swallowed his saliva. He had lived with these people for at least eleven or twelve years, and they all knew each other well. Although these guys said nice things, he knew exactly what they were thinking. He coughed and stepped forward to smooth things over, saying, "Okay, you've been traveling a long way, so you must want to rest now, right? You should go into the city right now!"

"Thank you, Brother Suta, for the arrangement!" Jumong glanced at Suta and nodded.

"Let's go!" Suta jumped on his horse and nodded to Big Eaton beside him. Then the cavalrymen he brought took action, leading the way in front and heading towards Jiaozhi City ahead.

"Here comes Jumong, along with nine other bastards!" Yuan Bao approached Suta and said in a low voice, "You're giving me a hard time!"

"You can't blame me for this!" Suta said with a bitter smile, "Besides, my father has already made you the governor of Jiaozhou. The position of host and guest has been determined. What are you afraid of?"

"If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but this is Jumong. Have you forgotten how annoying this guy was on the island?" Yuan Bao whispered, "Also, look behind them. They are not alone. These are all powerful dragons!"

Yuan Bao looked back and saw that behind Jumong and the others was an endless column of at least a thousand people, all of whom looked to be excellent warriors. He turned around and smiled bitterly, "After all, they are all our father's descendants, so it is reasonable for them to bring some troops here!"

"Stop playing dumb!" Yuan Bao said angrily, "First of all, we are brothers from the same mother. Secondly, you got these guys here. Don't even think about staying out of this!"

"Ah!" Suta sighed helplessly: "Okay, tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"Help me suppress these bastards!" Yuan Bao said, "I am just like them. I just arrived in Jiaozhou. But you are different. Whether it's the Linyi people or the Jiaozhou rebels, you are the one who pacified them. With military merits in hand, they have to listen to you!"