Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 261 Only For One Thing

With such an awkward marriage in the Mi family, the main reason why Yuan Xi was really worried was not Mi Zhen, but Mi Fang.

He is the only one who knows that Mi Fang is a scammer, with such a strange brain circuit, Liu Bei's way of treating people in the future, and the power of three parts of the world will not be able to keep Mi Fang's heart. Yuan Xi feels that with his current strength, he dare not let Mi Fang Doing things in one's own camp, what if the brain goes crazy?
The key opponent is brother Mi Zhen, he can't come up and kill him with a single blow, right?

Otherwise, with Mi Zhen's appearance and character, and Yuan Xi is not stupid, how could he not want it?
To put it bluntly, Yuan Xi just wanted to eat for nothing.

Yuan Xi admitted that he was very shameless, but with his current strength, he really didn't want to plant an unstable thunder in his camp.

The fleet docked at the Haixi Wharf to resupply with fresh water. Yuan Xi took Zhen Mi ashore to meet the current Haixi County Magistrate Zhen Yao.

Previously, Zhen Yao was sent to Youzhou to be the county magistrate. Although he worked hard, he was not familiar with the place and could not make use of his strengths. Some time ago, after Yuan Xi got Guangling, he sent a letter asking Zhen Yao to come down to Haixi.

Zhen Yao was in charge of the Zhen family's commercial road before, and he is much more familiar with the port. Now that he has been in office for more than a month, relying on the Zhen family's financial ability and connections, he opened up the situation, obviously much easier than before.

When Yuan Xi entered the city, his eyes were full of vehicles full of goods passing in and out, a scene of prosperity.

Inside the county magistrate's mansion, Zhen Yao knelt down to Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi and said, "I will see the envoy and wife."

Zhen Mi's eyes were red, and she called out, "Brother." Then she was speechless.

Yuan Xi replied, "Thank you for your hard work, brother-in-law."

When Zhen Yao heard this title, he felt relieved, which meant that at least Yuan Xi still thought of the kinship of the Zhen family.

While looking through the documents in Haixi City, Yuan Xi couldn't help nodding his head while listening to Zhen Yao talking about the situation in the city, and finally said: "If there is any personnel transfer or emergency situation regarding the Zhen family's business route, my brother-in-law can directly contact you. In-law contact, everything is in order."

Zhen Yao quickly agreed.

Yuan Xi said again: "Although Guangling is occupied by me, there are constant military incidents, and it is dangerous to go south."

"Although Guangling City is closer to the mouth of the Yangtze River, it is suitable as a military center, but it is not suitable as a commercial port."

"Haixi is located in the north of Guangling. As the backup for the whole county of Guangling, we should devote ourselves to operating the sea route."

"My idea is to build a shipyard here to build a sea-going ship suitable for commercial operations."

After hearing this, Zhen Yao said: "That's not a problem. There are a lot of shipbuilders here, but there are two problems. One is that it takes a long time and the investment is heavy. The other is that after the fleet is formed, where to open up trade is a problem. .”

Yuan Xi asked Zhen Yao to take the chart, pointed to three places and said, "Here, here, and here."

Zhen Yao asked again: "The first place is Yizhou, the second place is said to be an island country with hundreds of tribes, and the third place is the southernmost Funan country. What kind of goods do you want to trade with them?"

Zhen Yao asked very important questions, Yuan Xi nodded slightly, and said: "There are some interesting crops in Yizhou, and we can trade them with the local aborigines, try to bring some back, and try to plant them in Xuzhou and Youzhou. "

"As for the archipelago dominated by Yamatai, the main shortage is food, soy sauce, etc., which can be exchanged with precious metals and jewelry."

"Although it is backward here, the sea-going ship technology is very interesting, and we can find a way to exchange it."

"But remember not to leak key technologies such as building smelting, we will talk about it later."

"As for Funan, it is also the most important of the three places. I only ask for one thing in exchange for priority."

"cotton."

Yuan Xi explained the appearance and function of cotton to Zhen Yao in detail, "The sooner this matter is the better, it is best to get back the corresponding planting and processing technology."

This is what Yuan Xi values ​​most at present. Cotton has much greater practical value than the kudzu, hemp, and wool that the common people use today, not to mention the expensive silk that only the gentry can afford.

"Nongshu" records: "Its velvet is dense, light and warm, and it can resist silk. Compared with silkworms, there is no labor to harvest and raise them, and there is a harvest that must be harvested. Compared with hemp, it is free of arrest. Work, get the benefit of keeping out the cold."

This is an agricultural crop that is "suitable for both the north and the south, and rich and poor for all people", and can really greatly improve the standard of living.

Before the appearance of cotton products, it was extremely difficult for ordinary people to survive the winter. They could only use some old broken wadding mixed with some scraps left over from reeling as warm fillings, and stuffed them into kudzu linen clothes, also known as "缊". , if the conditions are better, you can wear a dog fur robe, that's all.

Yuan Xi has been inquiring about the news of cotton, but found that there is no rumor of cotton planting in the Central Plains and even the Jiangdong area at this time.

Although there is a record in the Later Han Dynasty that Hainan Island paid tribute to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for cotton, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, cotton planting was always limited to South China and the areas south of it, and the development of related industries was also very slow.

Until the Song Dynasty, Huang Daopo learned the cotton spinning technology of the Li people, combined it with the textile technology of the Central Plains, improved the cotton textile technology, and upgraded and developed a new type of spinning wheel. As a result, China's cotton textile technology began to advance by leaps and bounds, and greatly promoted Promotion of cotton cultivation.

Technological improvement and production complement each other. If textile technology cannot improve, and the income from growing cotton is low, the people are naturally unwilling to grow it, but the amount of planting is not much, and craftsmen have no motivation to improve related technologies.

Up to now, Yuan Xi has never seen cotton in the places he has been to. Even if there is, it may be planted on a small scale in the extremely southern mountainous and plagued areas.

His idea is to introduce cotton seeds to the northern regions suitable for planting. For basic necessities of life, the ancients sometimes even put clothes first. The Gein people can go hungry for a few days, but they can’t live a day without clothes in cold seasons.

More importantly, cotton is so superior that it and the accompanying cotton spinning technology are the key things that can really promote the leap-forward changes in history.

As a necessity of life, cotton is very suitable for independent production by individual families, which has led to the self-sufficient natural economic system of our country becoming more introverted and stable since the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Yikui's "Weavers' Pair" in the Ming Dynasty records: "The helpers in the town are all homeless people from all over the world. There are no less than tens of thousands of people every day. They are all pale and lifeless. Although the food is not sweet, it is not very good. hunger and cold".

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China’s annual output of cotton cloth was about [-] million pieces, six times that of the early days of the British Industrial Revolution. The social and economic structure also changed accordingly, and even led to the emergence of capitalism.

Moreover, cotton not only has huge economic value, but also has great potential strategic value.

The land outside the Northeast Pass is vast and fertile, but until the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for the Central Plains dynasty to establish a stable and long-term rule in the area north of the Liaodong Peninsula.

It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that the population carrying capacity of the Northeast region began to increase significantly with the development of the cotton textile industry, which had a lot to do with the popularization of cotton.

Therefore, even though Yuan Xi granted Youzhou Inspectorate at that time, the princes of the world did not take it seriously, because the basic necessities of life in Youzhou were extremely difficult to reach the level of the Central Plains and even the Jiangnan area, resulting in a population that could not increase.

However, based on the knowledge of later generations, Yuan Xi found two keys to open the gate of Youzhou.

The first is to build water conservancy and plant rice widely to ensure sufficient food.

The second is to cultivate cotton, develop textiles, and achieve abundant clothing.

Once both are available, it can drive commercial development, and the cotton cloth produced by weaving is a high-quality commodity, which can drive the prosperity of the Northland.

That's why Yuan Xicai wanted to occupy the bridgehead of Guangling County at any cost, just to go to sea to find a port for cotton seeds. This was an important part of his plan.

Now step by step, step by step, step by step, he has finally come to this step in a down-to-earth manner.

At this time, he said to Zhen Yao solemnly: "The matter of cotton is the most important matter among the three places, and it is related to the future ten years, and a hundred years' plan."

"I hope my brother-in-law will bring back the cotton seeds no matter what the cost. If there is not enough spending during the period, I will use all the financial resources of Youzhou to help my brother-in-law, just to make this happen."

Seeing Yuan Xi's seriousness, Zhen Yao quickly leaned over and said, "Yao will do his best to live up to the entrustment of the envoy!"

Cotton matter is of great importance, so Yuan Xi put Zhen Yao, his confidant, in Haixi out of the sea port, and he did not hesitate to come and tell him in person, just because he didn't want things to go wrong.

Seeing that Zhen Yao understood the importance of the matter now, he felt relieved, and said to Zhen Mi: "You brothers and sisters haven't seen each other for a long time, let's catch up first, and I'll go to the city for a walk."

After hearing this, Zhen Mi said, "Husband wants to see an acquaintance in the city?"

"Don't you need a concubine to accompany you?"

Yuan Xi laughed and said: "I heard that Kong Beihai has been staying in Haixi, and he is going to go to Sili to meet the emperor in the near future. I think I have something to say to him, so I don't need my wife to follow me."

After hearing this, Zhen Yao hurriedly said, "Your Majesty came a step late, Kong Beihai and his family have already left."

"What!" Yuan Xi was surprised: "How can he walk so fast?"

"Didn't he want to marry his daughter to Taishan Yang?"

"The wedding was held in such a haste that Kong Beihai hurriedly married off his daughter in less than a month?"

He suddenly remembered the scene when he and Kong Rong's daughter parted, and suddenly felt strange in his heart.

Zhen Yao looked at Yuan Xi with a strange expression: "Don't Shi Jun know?"

"The marriage between the Kong family and the Yang family fell through."

"Kong Beihai's family went west along the Huai River by boat half a month ago."

Yuan Xi was even more surprised when he heard this. He and Zhen Mi looked at each other, and a thought came to his mind, this matter could not be related to him, could it?
Zhen Yao thought for a while, and said: "This matter is very troublesome. It is said that Mr. Yuanhua went to the Kong family with the members of the Yang clan, and then the two families broke off the engagement."

"As for the inside story, the two families also keep it secret."

After hearing this, Zhen Mi rolled her eyes: "Didn't your husband do something bad?"

Yuan Xi called out to Qu: "How is it possible, am I like that!"

"No, I have to ask Mr. Yuanhua."

Zhen Yao saw that Yuan Xi was leaving the house in a hurry, and Yuan Xi didn't care about the conversation between Xindao and the envoy. It seemed that the two had a good relationship. Otherwise, in an ordinary family, how could there be a wife who would question her husband like this?

However, if a husband and wife belong to a husband and wife, the favor will change after a long time, especially for a person like Yuan Xi, there is no shortage of noble women around him, and they are all of high status.The little girl still doesn't quite understand.

Thinking of this, Zhen Yao whispered to Zhen Mi: "Although I am not the elder brother now, I still want to give my younger sister a word of advice."

"People's preferences will change, but as the main wife, the younger sister has to consider the issue of children as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Mi blushed and nodded slightly.

(End of this chapter)