Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1356 Manpower
After hearing Yuan Xi's words, the elders of the Xianbei delegation naturally could not appreciate the essence of the slight teasing contained in them, so they were all moved and praised loudly, while raising their glasses to congratulate Yuan Xi.

Over the years, Youzhou's wine-making technology has undergone several generations of improvement. The original wine has become more mellow after being refined and purified. The wine now used to entertain the Xianbei delegation is the best of the best, far superior to the Xianbei's mixed alcohol mixture of strange crops. Therefore, when the elders took the first sip, their eyes lit up and they sighed that the trip was worthwhile.

Seeing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "This Youzhou pure wine, brewed with a brand new method, is a secret of our Jin State. The nobles of the world are willing to pay a high price for it. Although the Youzhou caravans sell it to various places every year, it is often out of stock. Some people even privately offer to buy it for dozens or hundreds of gold coins."

After hearing this, everyone felt that the cups in their hands had become much heavier. Those who were impatient and wanted to finish the drink in one breath could not help but slow down and savor it carefully.

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "If you like it, you can take some back when you leave. Although there is not much of this wine, I can still afford to give each of you a few jars."

After hearing this, everyone hurriedly thanked him. However, some of them thought that no matter how expensive the wine was, it would eventually run out. If they got addicted, they would have no choice but to ask Jin for more. If Jin took the opportunity to negotiate terms and threaten them, wouldn't the Xianbei be restricted in every way?

Yuan Xi seemed to see through their thoughts and smiled, "It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. If you can stand together with the Jin State, then I will teach you the method of brewing wine."

Everyone was shocked to hear Yuan Xi's words. You know, throughout the dynasties, winemaking has always been a highly profitable industry, and the method of winemaking is strictly controlled. Not to mention spreading outside the Great Wall, even in the Central Plains it is strictly guarded to prevent others from knowing it.

And now the Emperor of Jin actually said that it can be transferred. You know, no matter which Xianbei tribe gets it, they can turn it into a way to make money and thus strengthen the tribe!
Someone asked in a hoarse voice: "What does your majesty need us to do?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "You all know that I have everything I need. What I want now is to unify the world and become the greatest emperor in history."

"Since the Xianbei claim to have the same origin as China, then the Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Goguryeo, and even the Three Han and Wa Nu Islands, which once claimed to have the same origin, have all been incorporated into China. And you all have seen that I treat them all equally, without distinction."

"I can allow the Xianbei tribe to be incorporated into the Jin State on the premise of preserving their traditional customs, and enjoy the same treatment as the Han people, including being able to serve as officials and engage in trade."

"Of course, I also know that you can't make a decision, but you just need to convey these words to your Chanyu and tribal leaders. I will wait for your response."

"The method of brewing wine is only one of the methods. If we can combine them into one, and also the methods of farming, fishing and mulberry, etc., our Jin State will also teach you everything we know."

After hearing this, everyone quickly said, "Your Majesty has summoned us, and we will report back to you, Lord Chanyu!"

Yuan Xi thought that the bait had been thrown out, and it all depended on how attractive these things would be to the Eastern Xianbei.

Wine-making technology is now regarded as a treasure by people in the world, but it is actually nothing to Yuan Xi. Wine-making technology needs to be promoted by the progress of purification technology and chemical technology. It is not possible to make wine by just teaching the method.

Moreover, brewing wine requires a large amount of grain. For the Xianbei outside the Great Wall, if they want to drink wine, they can either buy grain from the Jin State or engage in farming. In this way, they will gradually transform from a fishing and hunting nation to a semi-farming and semi-hunting nation in the future. Eventually, they will find that the cost and risk of farming are much lower than fishing and hunting, so they will gradually transform into an agricultural nation and eventually be tied to the land.

As long as their connection with the land deepens, they will be no different from the people in the Central Plains. If they can grow crops and have enough food, who would go out to plunder?

Of course, the north is bitterly cold, and suitable crops are fewer than in the Central Plains. In fact, the few crops that are most suitable for the bitterly cold north do not appear in the Central Plains.

To solve this problem, we need to go to the most difficult to reach places in this era and look for several crops that can greatly increase the population limit, which can be said to be a gift from nature.

The amount of preparation required was so much that Yuan Xi doubted whether such a thing could be accomplished in his lifetime.

After Yuan Xi finished the banquet and sent the envoys back to the post house, his mind was full of thoughts about the ocean voyage, so much so that he was a little absent-minded when two tribal elders from the envoys came to pay a private visit to him.

But when he heard about the tribes these two people represented, he immediately asked someone to invite them in. After the two came in to pay their respects, he asked, "When did the Murong tribe and the Yuwen tribe stand together?"

"Does Suli know?"

The two people who came were the elders of the Murong and Yuwen tribes. At that time, the Murong tribe was much more powerful and the Yuwen tribe should have been its vassal, but the two men met in private, obviously wanting to discuss something without telling Suli.

The two elders did not hide anything. The elder of the Murong tribe immediately said, "Your Majesty should know that the current situation of the Eastern Xianbei is that the tribes are separated and no one can suppress the other."

"The climate has become increasingly severe in recent years. If we only rely on the Eastern Xianbei territory to survive, I'm afraid that more than half of us will die."

"But internal strife is not what our Murong tribe wants, so we have come here shamelessly to beg the king to give us a chance to expand the territory for the Great Jin, so as to avoid conflicts with Lord Suli over territory."

Yuan Xi knew that the elder had put it quite euphemistically. In fact, it was the rise of the Murong clan that posed a threat to the Suli tribe, so the Murong tribe tried to establish connections in the State of Jin and take another route.

Yuan Xi turned to the elder of the Yuwen tribe and asked, "Does the Yuwen tribe think so too?"

The elder of the Yuwen tribe smiled bitterly and said, "Our tribe is weaker, we just want to find a way out."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi raised his head and thought for a while, then said, "If you want to seek outside, there are only three directions."

"First, it's an extremely cold place in the north. I guess few people would be willing to go there."

The two elders laughed dryly. According to the legends of their ancestors, further north of Xianbei Mountain was the legendary Five-Colored Land of Death for the Xianbei ancestors, which was the location of the Arctic Circle in Siberia in later generations. Naturally, they would never go there.

Yuan Xi added, "To the west is Kobineng. I am fighting him. If you are willing to help, I welcome you. I will naturally reward you according to your military achievements." The two elders came for this purpose. When they heard Yuan Xi's promise, they were naturally relieved. However, the Yuwen tribe couldn't help asking, "What about the third item?"

Yuan Xi thought about it and said with a smile: "The third one may be even more terrible than the first one. Do you really want to hear it?"

The two elders looked at each other and said in unison: "Please tell me, Your Majesty."

Yuan Xi walked over to a piece of linen and said to the two men, "According to the legends of the Xianbei people, what does our world look like?"

The elder of the Yuwen tribe said: "We have similar views to the Central Plains. Our ancestors said that the sky is round and square, the sky covers the earth, and the earth carries the sky."

Yuan Xi asked aloud: "What about the sea?"

Yuwenbu said: "The land floats on the sea, yes."

He couldn't continue here. Yuan Xi knew that he had reached the limit of the cognition of the entire era, so he said: "I learned from ancient books that our Central Plains China is not the only piece of land, there are several more in the outer seas."

The Xianbei tribe elder said: "Isn't this the same as the saying that Qin Shi Huang was a Taoist priest from an island in the outer sea?"

Yuan Xi said: "There are some differences, but there are also similarities."

"It is said that on a fairy island somewhere in the outer sea, there are crops and grains suitable for growing in the bitter cold land of the north. The yield is much higher than the current rice and millet."

The two of them subconsciously asked, "How much higher?"

Yuan Xi thought about it and said, "Several times or even dozens of times, it's all possible."

The two were shocked, "Isn't that a fairy fruit?"

Yuan Xi suppressed his laughter and said, "Maybe, but it is also very difficult to find it. It is possible that we may not find it for more than ten years. The risk of going there and never coming back is very high."

"But if we can find a way to cultivate it, we can plant it on a large scale, thus solving the problem of food. The North no longer needs to fight for land to survive."

"If you are interested, you only need to provide the manpower and I will provide the ships."

"Of course, it is also possible that we may not find it for more than ten or twenty years, and many lives may be lost. It is a huge gamble."

The two looked at each other, and Yuan Xi said, "The two paths are not in conflict. You can go back and think about it. Whoever finds it and brings it back, my reward will be very generous, and I may even make him a king or a marquis."

The two were shocked, but when they thought that this was comparable to Qin Shi Huang's quest for elixir, they were able to accept it for a while.

After the two men said goodbye to Yuan Xi, on their way back, the Xianbei elder said to the Yuwen elder, "Do you think what the King of Jin said is true?"

The elder of the Yuwen tribe hesitated and said, "There shouldn't be any need to lie to us, right?"

"Besides, we still have people. We have more than a dozen ships and only need several thousand strong men. We are short of everything except people."

The old man from the Xianbei tribe said, "That's right. There's no loss anyway. At most we can fight Kobinen while providing manpower to go out to sea."

After Yuan Xi and the other two left, he stood in front of the map and thought for a long time, then began to look through the technical books of the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Works was specially established by Yuan Xi. During the Han Dynasty, the people in charge of craftsman affairs were Shangshu and Mincao. These people were originally from aristocratic families, and most of them were not proficient in technology. So Yuan Xi simply added a Ministry of Works to facilitate the recruitment of officials who were proficient in craftsmanship and technology.

He searched for a while, but found that the shipbuilding volume he wanted to read was nowhere to be found, so he asked Master Bu Lian in the outer room, "Have you seen the shipbuilding manual of the Ministry of Industry?"

Bu Lianshi thought for a moment and said, "A few days ago, His Majesty asked Sister Cao Jie to take the books back and rewrite them because she was organizing the Ministry of Works' books."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "Go and ask her to bring all the classics here. I want to take a look."

Soon, Cao Jie came in with a basket full of books on her back, following Bu Lianshi, and said, "Your Majesty, I haven't finished sorting them yet."

Yuan Xi said, "It's okay. I have a few questions in mind. Take out the shipbuilding scroll and let's take a look at it first."

After hearing this, Cao Jie laid out the bamboo slips about shipbuilding one by one to explain. When he got the scroll about pumping water, Yuan Xi said, "This is it."

(End of this chapter)