A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 647: Sharing the World with the Emperor
Wei Zheng over there was high-fiving. He had always hated Turks and other barbarians, which was completely opposite to Wen Yanbo's sage thoughts. Now Wei Zheng felt really comfortable hearing Wu Huaiyu's remarks.

Seeing that there was going to be another quarrel, Li Shimin coughed twice.

When everyone calms down,
"Thinking about the affairs of the Ministry, I think I will follow Huaiyu's policy and settle Shuozhou nearby and let Zhang Jian be responsible."

The incident in the Sijie Department was established, and several other similar incidents were handled in the same way.

Shi Wannian, the leader of Yiwu City in the Western Regions, was also a Sogdian Hu leader. He controlled seven cities in Yiwu and was the largest force in Yiwu. In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang attacked Yiwu and established Yiwu County and brought it under his rule.At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Eastern Turks took control of this place.

However, Yiwu is [-] miles away from Yumen Pass and [-] miles away from Dunhuang. There is a desert in between. Although Yiwu has always been the outpost of the Central Plains marching into the Western Regions during the Han and Wei Dynasties, after the Sui Rebellion, it has long been the sphere of influence of the Turks. .

Now that Jieli has been captured and the Eastern Turks have been destroyed, Shi Wannian and other Yiwu city lords are also very frightened and unwilling to be controlled by the Turks like Tuoshe and Yugushe and pay heavy taxes, so they also want to surrender. Tang Autonomy.

And there are still many people from the East and West Turks, most of them are losers who have lost their homes after being beaten. At this time, they have no place to go, and they also want to surrender to the Tang Dynasty like the Sijie tribe and others, and even ask the Tang Dynasty for help. Relief.

"Iwu newly established Xiyi Prefecture, and Shi Wannian was appointed as the governor of Xiyi Prefecture. It consists of three counties: Yiwu, Nazhi, and Rouyuan. The prefectures and counties are subordinate to officials. Shi Wannian recommended to the court, and the Ministry of Officials announced body."

Of course, this Xiyi Prefecture is still autonomous for the time being. The imperial court will give a few orders and leave the rest alone. There is no need for Li Daliang, the governor of Liangzhou, to bother allocating grain and grass to provide relief.

Even those Eastern and Western Turkic tribes who wanted to defect to the Tang Dynasty at Yumen Pass were told not to come and to stay in the Western Regions. The imperial court would report them here and grant them official positions such as governor, governor, general, etc. You will be considered the Tang Dynasty in the future. of people,

Anyone who dares to hit you again will not give me the face of Datang.

Of course, you have to strive for your own success. It is really difficult to find a way to produce and save yourself. The imperial court will find a way to contact the merchants on the Silk Road for you and organize them to come over to connect with you. You can take care of the transactions or loans by yourself. manage.

The court can only help so much for the time being.

After these things were arranged, Li Shimin felt relaxed all over.

Letting go of Tian Khan's face also let go of those burdens. It is really relaxing and not so tied up.

What about East Turks, West Turks and Sogdians? Let’s take care of our own people first.

Wen Yanbo sat there, feeling unhappy and feeling that he had lost face.

But the emperor did not comfort him, and even began to feel that Wen Yanbo's ideas were too pedantic.

"My lords, the prince is getting older. I plan to let him start learning how to deal with government affairs. Let's start with listening to complaints.

From now on, if there are any lawsuits and if you are not satisfied with the decision of the Shangshu Province, they will go to Qidong Palace and be decided by the prince.If you are still dissatisfied, please report it to me. "

A few more things were discussed next.

Although it was a hall meeting, the emperor came specially to participate, and many other ministers were present. This hall meeting was actually more like a court meeting, or it was specially for the three prime ministers Xiao Yu and Wu Huaiyu. Designed for return.

After the meeting, not only the prime ministers but also the ministers and ministers attending the meeting were given a meal.

The dine-in meal is pretty sumptuous.

After the meal, there are apricots in season,
After dinner, Huaiyu and Ma Zhou left the palace together. They chatted briefly on the way. Ma Zhou was now the minister of Zhongshu, and he and another minister, Yan Sigu, were in charge of the daily affairs of Zhongshu Province. The two ministers took turns, and within a day Spend a day in other provinces,
In contrast, although Huaiyu is back now, he is relaxed. He has participated in political affairs and paid homage to the prime minister. He has neither served in the three provinces nor resumed other duties.

You only need to make decisions and review them in the Zhengshitang after the court meeting. Although they are not in the three provinces, their power is not small at all. Although the Zhengshitang prime minister is a group prime minister system, he is superior to the three provinces.

"Prime Minister Wen is very angry today. He is not a big-hearted person. He had a fight with Wei Shizhong before and then refused to deal with him. If you have embarrassed him like this today, he probably hates you too." Ma Zhou said with a smile.

"What are you afraid of?"

Fang Xuanling didn't deal with Changsun Wuji, Wen Yanbo didn't deal with Wei Zheng, Wei Zheng didn't deal with Fang Xuanling, and Xiao Yu didn't deal with anyone.

Wu Huaiyu had a good relationship with Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, but he did not deal with Hou Junji and Wen Yanbo. Li Jing did not deal with Wen Yanbo and Xiao Yu, and now turned against his student Hou Junji.
Zhang Liang had a good relationship with Hou Junji and Wu Huaiyu, and was also friendly with Fang Xuanling, but he was at odds with Xiao Yu, Wei Zheng, and Wen Yanbo.

Among these prime ministers, only Dai Zhou was more popular.

It's really interesting to sit in the political hall of the nine prime ministers.

But isn't this the situation the emperor wants?

"This time when the Sijie tribe enters Shuozhou, there are great business opportunities. I am going to send a caravan there to buy their livestock and slaves, lend them money, and even rent land for them to graze and teach them how to farm on land. More than 4 You can earn a lot of money, why don't you invest some money?" Huaiyu said with a smile.

Ma Zhou is not very interested in these things, but he has always trusted Wu Huaiyu in the past few years. If he has money in his hand, he will invest some money without worrying about anything. He just waits for the dividends and gives Wu Yu'e the money to buy land and save. Slave, the family business is quite prosperous.

"Okay," he asked, "how is it that you planted so much cotton this year?"

"It's growing well, and we should be able to harvest it after the autumnal equinox,"

This year, the Wu family not only opened many new cotton plantations in Guanzhong, but also opened many cotton gardens in Longyou, Shuofang, and even Yanbei, Shannan and other places.

Matching cotton spinning machines and even cotton spinning workers have begun to be trained. Compared with small-scale planting and spinning such as Fan Yanglu's, the Wu family is now entering this industry, but it has to be large-scale. .

Not only the scale of cotton plantations, but also the breakthrough and improvement of cotton spinning technology.

"You are trying to bring down the price of white folded cloth. It is originally more expensive than brocade. If you do this, it will be as cheap as plain silk."

"It's not that fast, and the volume isn't that big, but the price will definitely drop a bit, and it's inevitable that it will keep falling in the future."

Ma Zhou reminded Wu Huaiyu, "Now many people are impeaching you for growing cotton, saying that you are using good land to grow cotton and occupying arable land. The Wu family's cotton will eat people. You still have to pay attention to this matter, otherwise the more rumors spread, the more serious it will be to you." It’s not good either.”

"You said this, the prince also reminded me before, and I have already thought of a countermeasure."

"Oh?"

"Now, no matter which province, state or county the Wu family grows cotton, every year, the Wu family will sell five buckets of grain to the Changping Cangbao of the imperial court for every acre of land."
"Where does this food come from?"

"This grain comes from other grain farms of the Wu family, or it can be collected from the market. In short, the Wu family will sell this grain to the prefecture and county where the cotton fields are located and put it into the Changping warehouse based on this amount."

"Growing cotton in the Wu family's fields is no different from growing mulberry and flax. The cotton produced is spun into cloth and made into clothes. Doesn't it still meet the clothing needs of the people?"

Ma Zhou said, "If the Wu family can really sell five buckets of grain per acre of cotton field to the local prefecture and county Changping Cangbao, they can stop the mouths of those people."

"Actually, some people just deliberately took the opportunity to attack me,"

Wu Huaiyu bluntly said that in the past, Guanzhong could not support itself, and there was a shortage of more than one million stones of food a year. This is true, but it was mainly because the war had not yet recovered.

Even if the capital is Chang'an, the capital's population will increase and food consumption will increase every year, but the gap will not be too big.

After Wu Huaiyu began to spread the planting of corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes in the Tang Dynasty, Guanzhong was basically able to be self-sufficient in food. Many people's rations would be mainly coarse grains, and most of the wheat, corn, rice, etc. would flow into the market and flow into Chang'an.

On the other hand, during the period of peace, there were many grain routes into Beijing, especially the water and land transshipment on the Xiazhou side, and after the canal was opened to bypass the mainstay Shaanxi Gorge, the water transportation capacity was greatly improved.

Food from Guandong, Jianghuai, Shannan and other places in the Tang Dynasty, and even Bashu and Lingnan, could be transported to Chang'an.

To really say that cotton can eat people, there must be a premise, that is, when cotton becomes a bulk export commodity, it will be able to eat people and occupy a large amount of cultivated land.And if it is only used within Datang, there is no need to worry about this problem.

What's more, the Wu family's current cotton planting volume is not worth mentioning.

Compared with the current amount of mulberry and hemp cultivation, it is really insignificant. Some people make excuses for the cotton cultivation of the Wu family. In fact, they are just drunkards who do not care about wine and are just using an excuse to attack.

"When the cotton harvest starts, do you know how many money-making opportunities each cotton farm can provide for the people nearby? Picking cotton, playing cotton, spinning, weaving, jacquard, printing and dyeing, each step requires a lot of labor, and it can Increase added value,
The surrounding people can get money-making jobs and increase their income, which is much better than just guarding the few acres of thin farmland.

You also know that if everyone cultivates the land, food will be worthless. Nowadays, a bucket of rice costs only [-] to [-] dollars, and the people are actually very miserable.But the annexation of land by the powerful is even more powerful, and the common people cannot even hold on to their own few acres of thin farmland..."

The tyrannical annexation of land by nobles has never been prohibited in the past dynasties, because land has always been an important means of production. If you have the means of production, there will be a steady stream of income, so wealth will naturally flow into the land, and land annexation will also Keep going.

Wu Huaiyu has been visiting more and more places in recent years.
Even Ma Zhou bought more and more land under his name.

This is true for all other noble officials, even the emperor is the largest landowner in the world.

If everyone desperately annexes land while only growing crops and food, the result will be that this world will always be a serf society. The slave owners of aristocratic manors live a good life, but the vast majority of people will inevitably become serfs.

Part of the labor force must be diverted to other places, maybe to build some workshops or shops, or to build a caravan, or to open a mine,
In the future, we can open up frontiers. In short, the surplus labor force that exceeds the capacity of the land must find a way out, otherwise it will become polarized and be over soon. Of course, under normal circumstances, this cycle will last two to three hundred years, and the cycle will repeat.

Wu Huaiyu still hopes for changes.
Ma Zhou didn't seem to think that far ahead. Instead, he felt that the things Wu Huaiyu sometimes did made him a little worried.

"You should be more than a thousand hectares of land now, right?"

"Well, there are indeed more, but most of them are in the border areas, and they are all worthless things. You can't find people to recruit tenants or long-term workers, so you can only keep slaves, which is very costly."

Ma Zhou said worriedly, "There is no place for the poor to stand up, but now the powerful and aristocratic families in the court have vast territories and even keep slaves. I am very worried."

Huaiyu knew what he was worried about. He had annexed so much land, owned so many slaves, and even engaged in industry and commerce. He wanted land, people, and money. Isn't this a powerful family? When the power becomes stronger, it will naturally pose a serious threat to the imperial court.

The Han Dynasty had always suppressed local tyrants;
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the powerful families dominated the court and stirred up the world.
"Actually, as long as we guide it well and lead this force outward, it will not be involuted, but it will be able to expand its territory and prosper China." Wu Huaiyu said.

As long as we can expand overseas, there will still be a lot of room for buffering between the imperial court and the powerful families.
Ma Zhou felt that this model of co-governance between the emperor and powerful families, that is, the model of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, was not good.

"I know what you want. Is it the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats who rule the world together, rather than the emperor and the nobles and nobles ruling the world together?"

Ma Zhou was surprised that Wu Huaiyu's words really spoke to his heart.

The emperor and the gentry rule the world together, instead of the emperor and the gentry ruling the world. Not only are their identities different, but the word "governing" is missing in the middle, but they hit the point.

"It is not impossible for the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats to rule the world together, but it is generally difficult to expand outside the country. If you want the Tang Dynasty to surpass the old borders of Qin and Han Dynasties, I think it is more possible for the emperor and the noble nobles to rule the world together."

Sharing the world, not governing the world together, has a bit of a feudal feel.

Ruling the world with scholar-bureaucrats must be a civil society, and it must also be a dynasty with internal protection.

"Brother-in-law, I am actually quite willing to let the Wu family become a powerful family."

Ma Zhou smiled bitterly, yes, if there is a chance, who wouldn't want his family to become a powerful family and pass it on from generation to generation.

After leaving the palace, we walked all the way back to Xuanyangfang.

Uncle Lang and I live in the same apartment, so he dropped by and said, "Come and sit at my place when you have time."

"Okay, remember to discuss with my sister about investing money to go to Shuozhou to do business with Sijiebu,"

"Remember it." Ma Zhou rode away, his back seemed a little lonely.

Huaiyu was not in a hurry to go home and walked along the street. The north and east walls of Xuanyang Square were originally owned by the Wu family. Later, the north side was used and transformed into the Longmen Temple. Later, the walls were demolished and renovated. The east and north streets of Xuanyang Square were The Wu family spent their own money to demolish the walls and renovate the shops in the streets.
Now some are for sale and most are for rent.

Most of the shops along the street are open for business, and some are still closed. There are all kinds of businesses, and the business seems to be okay.
The Wu family spent a lot of money to renovate it, but now it is a steady stream of income. Some neighbors listened to Huaiyu's advice and bought shops. Now they are just sitting there collecting rent, and one shop supports three generations.

It only costs two or three cents to pay for a bucket of rice. Farming is a huge loss and it also hurts countless people.

Buying a shop to rent out, or opening a shop to do business, is much better than farming. It’s really like shearing sheep with a pair of scissors.
The world is in chaos, and ordinary people are suffering the most.
Now that the world is unified and stable, I didn't expect that the most miserable people are ordinary people.

(End of this chapter)