A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 864 The Crown Prince

"Do you like Jiangzhou?"

"like."

On the banks of the Xunyang River, Huaiyu and his son went fishing together after finishing their morning exercises. Huaiyu occasionally likes to hang two poles in his free time. It is not an addiction, but he can also enjoy the tranquility of immersed in fishing.

"Aye, will Jiangzhou really belong to our family from now on? Will it be passed on to me in the future?"

Seven-year-old Chengsi asked. His hair hangs down naturally. Preschool children don't need to tie up the corners, so he is also a droopy child.

Huaiyu gave him a small pole and made a nest. The little ginseng strips were very noisy, one at a time. Although the ginseng strips were only about the size of one or two fingers, the child was very happy and enjoyed it.

Wu Huaiyu used a different hook and line, fishing deeper to catch big fish, but it was always quiet. What he wanted to catch was mandarin fish, but it was not easy.

Historically, the imperial decree was eventually withdrawn after a few years. None of the heroes led by Changsun Wuji were willing, so the emperor had no choice but to withdraw his decree.

The current situation may still follow the same old path, but there may also be some changes. For example, Wu Huaiyu was not there before, but now there are not only more of him, but actually more than a dozen. It turns out that the Shifeng Governor is only eleven. Moreover, it was not until the eleventh year of Zhenguan that he was ordered to be appointed as the governor.

Now several years ahead of schedule, the number of vassals has more than doubled.

Wu Huaiyu was even urged by the emperor to seal him immediately, so he looked impressive.

Seeing that Wu Chengsi liked him very much, Huaiyu didn't say much, "Who told you what?"

After all, the child couldn't hide the matter, so he said that his uncle Fan Xiuyi and his adopted brother Shi Shouxin had told him on the road that Jiangzhou was very good, with land and water docks and a Yangtze River fortress, and that Jiangzhou would be passed to him in the future. , inherited from generation to generation.

"My uncle said that Jiangzhou used to be very big, with eleven counties."

"Well, when Sima Zhong, Emperor Hui of the Western Jin Dynasty, was in power, seven counties were separated from Yangzhou, three counties were separated from Jingzhou, and Jiangzhou was newly established. Later, three counties were separated from Wuchang County and Lujiang County and Xunyang County was established, so Jiangzhou was The state has eleven counties and has become a large state on par with Jingyang."

At that time, Jiangzhou's jurisdiction included the entire Jiangxi and Fujian, as well as the Huangmei area in Wuchang, Hubei, and the Chenzhou area in Hunan. The original intention was to weaken the strength of Jing and Yang states.

By the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiangzhou began to shrink again. In the Chen Dynasty of the Southern Dynasty, only the Jiangxi territory was left in Jiangzhou. When the Sui Dynasty withdrew the counties and merged them with the state, only the northwest of Jiangxi was left in Jiangzhou.

Even with the Yangtze River as the boundary, the Huangmei area on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which originally belonged to Jiangzhou, no longer belongs to it.

Today's Xunyang County in Jiangzhou actually moved from the north of the Yangtze River to the south bank in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Jiujiang has been very important since ancient times.

The important town of Penkou, in the middle of the river, built the city where Wu and Chu were meeting. Not only did the safety of the right side of the river depend on the priority of Jiujiang, but the power of the upper reaches of the Huainan River was shared by the left and right sides of the Huainan River. Is it true that the land is very dangerous?

Economically, it is also a national commodity integration hub. Xunyang has six roads in the south, leading to the Wuling Mountains, and the Yangtze River in the north. It can travel to Minhan and attract merchants, and it is also a city.

These days, big rivers are equivalent to highways and railways, and they are very important for the circulation of goods.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is connected with the Ganjiang River-Meiguan Road-Pearl River, forming a water and land transportation line running from north to south.

Jiujiang is located right at the interface of the Yangtze River, so it is difficult for it not to prosper.

Shi Shouxin was born in Northwest Maike, but he has been with Wu Huaiyu for several years. How could he not understand this? As for Fan Xiuyi, his hometown in Anlu is not far to the north of Jiangzhou. This can be considered half of his hometown.

The two of them accompanied the eldest son along the way, and they often told Chengsi about Jiangzhou, a treasure land. At such a young age, Chengsi also knew some things that he seemed to understand.

The Grand Canal, the Yangtze River, the Gan River, and the Pearl River are the most prosperous trade routes today. The hereditary governor of Jiangzhou is really a cornucopia of money trees.

"My uncle said that the imperial court is going to set up Jiujiang Banknote Pass in Jiujiang to collect customs duties. He also said that our Wu family can share one-third of the customs duties?"

This kid, Huaiyu smiled,

The imperial court indeed planned to set up banknote checkpoints and collect customs duties at Shanhaiguan Pass, an important place in the country, such as Guangzhou Pass, which was the customs.

Jiujiang will also set up customs. The main objects of collection are naturally the important nodes on the golden trade routes of the Yangtze River and Ganjiang River. The main objects of collection are of course merchant ships transporting goods from south to north and east to west.

This Jiujiang Pass is not only the border of Jiangzhou, but actually connects Jiangxia in the upper reaches and Jiangning in the lower reaches. A long section of the Yangtze River line is all within this pass.

Last year, more than 5,000 large and small ships entered Guangzhou Port, but more than 50,000 large and small ships passed through Jiujiang, with an average of more than 100 ships every day.

Although these river ships are not as good as sea-going ships, if Jiangzhou's currency customs is complete, the customs duties can be about 600,000 guan a year.

Although this is an ideal tariff, there are actually many cases of evasion and concealment, but even half of it is 300,000 guan, which is very scary. At least 1,000 guan of tariff is charged in one day.

The important industrial and commercial wharf towns on the Yangtze River such as Jing, Yang, Jiangxia and Jiangning will still be able to levy a lot of tariffs. If we add in the tariffs of Jiaotong, Guangzhou, Hangdeng and other ports, plus the tariffs of important towns along the Grand Canal, Su Changrun, Chu Si, Xu Bian, Zheng Luo, etc.

Tariffs may collect several million a year.

It was so tempting that Li Shimin couldn't help but be moved.

The emperor was also short of money;

Otherwise, Tian Khan would have promised the military generals in the DPRK to attack Tuyuhun, Xue Yantuo, or even Goguryeo and the Western Turks.

After all, he is still short of money, and the emperor is still saving money, so now he seems to have a good temper, with a saintly and compassionate look on his face. He is always polite to the barbarians, and even makes peace with them.

"If Jiujiang Pass is built and the imperial court wants to distribute taxes to the localities, then I suggest that one-third should go to the national treasury, one-third should be retained in the governor's office, and one-third should be retained in the prefectures and counties. Even if our Wu family is still the governor of Jiangzhou, we will not be able to do it. Regardless of the money,"

"Can't I have this money?"

Cheng Si was puzzled. Although children did not have a clear concept of money, the young men and women of the Wu family began to receive monthly money from birth. The Wu family even received some welfare dividends every year. He There is no shortage of money, but I also know that money is a good thing.

"Jiujiang has unlimited potential in the future. It will actually become the national food, bamboo, salt, tea, and Beijing-Guangzhou department store dispensing center in the Tang Dynasty. Wu, Chu, Bashu, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangdong will be able to collect goods, and its status will not lose to places like Jingzhou, Hankou, Yangzhou, and Jiangning. .”

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads, and Jiangzhou’s doorstep is the Yangtze River and Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake. Countless goods, money, and business opportunities are flowing, and they are all rushing to embrace it.

This is purely because God is chasing after me to feed him.

From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the Ganjiang trade route from Jiujiang to Guangzhou was the most critical reason why Jiangxi became rich for so many years.

Jiangzhou banknote customs will definitely be established, and the tariff of five to six million yuan a year is not a problem, and there will be more and more in the future. Even if Jiangzhou has a one-third tariff, it will be tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of yuan.

The imperial court said it would give such a large amount of money to the Wu family. How dare the Wu family take it?

During the Wu De Dynasty, the annual household tax was only 400,000 guan, and the money was not enough. A large tax of 800,000 guan was levied every three years. Now a Jiangzhou tariff is 600,000 guan a year. The Wu family dares to share one third of it. ?

Wu Huaiyu wanted to exchange Jiangzhou for Liuqiu before, but he actually had some selfish motives. He felt that the world-wide seal of Jiangzhou was unsustainable, and he might take it back after a few years. It would be better to trade Liuqiu Island, even if it was a deserted island. , but after all, it is so big and has great potential for development. It is better than being happy in vain.

The two of us fished for half the morning.

Chengsi caught a flat basket of ginseng skins, except for a few crucian carp, while Wu Huaiyu only caught two mandarin fish and a bream.

The harvest was not bad. What Huaiyu liked was the calmness of immersing himself in fishing. Chengsi was simply happy because he caught a lot of fish. He didn’t care whether the fish he caught was big or small, expensive or cheap. He just saw that he caught so many fish with his own hands. Very satisfied.

This satisfaction may even be greater than the uncle and adopted brother who said that the entire Jiangzhou will be his from now on.

Return to the governor's mansion in the city.

Huaiyu also took his son to collect the catch himself. He cut open the belly of the ginseng skin, removed the internal organs and gallbladder, and dug out the gills. There was no need to remove the scales of the fish if they were small.

Marinate the ginger, green onion, salt and cooking wine for a while, then heat the oil in a pan and fry slowly over low heat.

Pan-fried small ginseng fish, the bones and scales are fried until crispy.

Chengsi was quite patient, maybe because he caught the fish by himself, or maybe because he was tired of studying every day, so he brought him all the way to Jiangzhou. There were more smiles on this kid's face and he was jumping up and down. He was active, and Wu Huaiyu also specially gave him a holiday. He no longer asked him to study or do homework these days.

The two of us had pan-fried ginseng strips for lunch and steamed mandarin fish for dinner.

After dinner, he went to the Fan Building incognito for a meeting, and finally went upstairs to the center building to listen to the matchmaker's intelligence report.

Jiangzhou is very lively recently.

The issue of Jiangzhou's examination and award of officials caused a sensation in the whole city.

Huaiyu just took a casual look at the collected and screened information and showed no interest in it. Instead, he is more interested in collecting business intelligence.

In the past three years, Jiangzhou Wharf has continued to expand, with many warehouses and stores added, more merchant ships coming and going, and more goods being transferred in Jiangzhou.

The service industry alone has just experienced explosive growth.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that there is feasting and feasting,

The prosperity of this service industry also illustrates the development of today's industrial and commercial economy. Jiangzhou, a commercial port and wharf, is really prosperous.

The third largest rice market and the fourth largest tea market in the country.

Other commodities such as salt, wine, sugar, cloth, medicine, etc. are also available in huge quantities here. In addition, Jiangzhou's shipbuilding and ship repair industry has also improved a lot.

Not only have many banks and pawnshops come here, but even escort agencies have sprung up here.

The ceramics and textile industries have also grown to some extent.

The five three-story restaurants in Fanlou can accommodate thousands of guests at the same time, and there are even one to two hundred prostitutes accompanying them. The business is full every day.

In addition to Fanlou, Jiangzhou has several high-end restaurants, and the business is also very good. There are also many other teahouses, restaurants and small restaurants. These all illustrate the popularity of Jiangzhou now.

The prosperity of these industries and commerce even far exceeds that of agriculture in Jiangzhou.

Wu Huaiyu looks more and more serious these days.

If he were the emperor, he would not be willing to entrust Jiangzhou to meritorious officials. Although Jiangzhou is only Zhongzhou with more than 17,000 households, in terms of importance, it is even more important than Hongzhou next door.

Even if the emperor will definitely send his younger brother or prince to Hongzhou in the future and serve as the governor of the town, he can't compare to Jiangzhou.

Maybe Li Shimin hasn't realized the potential and importance of Jiangzhou yet, but with this situation, the emperor will understand sooner or later. By then, Jiangzhou of the Wu family will definitely be handed over, or its title will be changed.

So after understanding this, I actually felt a little disappointed.

After all, you can't keep such a cornucopia in your arms.

From this point of view, there are some things that Wu Huaiyu does not need to worry about at all now, such as protecting the army, marriage affairs, internal affairs, and state officials. There is no need to spend energy on them.

It would be better to take advantage of the fact that Jiangzhou Wharf is still developing at a rapid pace and get the first opportunity to build buildings near the water. It is better to quickly lay out and seize some opportunities here, including rice, tea, salt, cloth, as well as shipbuilding, shipping, and banking and pawnshop finance. Can seize market share.

(End of this chapter)