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Chapter 384 More money is needed!

Using businessmen's capital to build border war preparation roads for the imperial court is just waiting for the Mongols to wake up. Since they will fall out sooner or later, early preparation will definitely have a higher winning rate than sharpening their guns before the battle.

Some people have said that the smoother the road, the better it is for the nomadic cavalry. That's right. This statement is correct, but it is not comprehensive.

The smooth roads not only facilitated the movement of cavalry, but also brought benefits to the march of infantry. In comparison, infantry has greater benefits, which means that the speed gap between infantry and cavalry is narrowed in disguise.

As thermal weapons gradually enter the stage of war, the infantry will also be reborn. In the past, the situation where it was difficult to move forward without cavalry protection will be greatly changed. Pure infantry can already confront cavalry on various terrains and win.

But no matter how weapons change and tactics evolve, there is one thing that is still inseparable, and that is logistics. Compared with the army that uses cold weapons to fight, the hot weapon army not only has no progress in logistics, but also becomes more dependent. Without sufficient supplies, the combat effectiveness will be weaker than the cold weapon army.

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. When it comes to Hong Tao, it becomes that if you want to fight, you must also build roads first. The first step is to repair and smooth the roads between the border towns and the passes of the Great Wall. Not only must there be roads, but also a network must be formed.

But the imperial court did not have so much money, and Hong Tao did not want to recruit too many laborers. What should he do? Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, now that neither the scholar-peasant group can count on it, the only thing we can do is trouble the industry and commerce.

And this also has the advantage of hiding people's eyes and ears. Businessmen will definitely not build roads in a big way. It is normal to dig a small bag of earth today, fill a small pothole tomorrow, and then dig a small cliff the day after tomorrow. It moisturizes things very quietly, let alone Mongolians and Jurchens. Even if the locals don't experience it carefully, it is difficult to detect the change.

"Xuan Mansion is too close to Datong Mansion, which is the territory of Tumote. Kalaqin often had disputes with Tumute because of mutual trade issues. His Majesty chose the locations of Gubeikou and Xifengkou for his foresight. admire."

It seemed a bit weak for the emperor to manage the exchange market by himself. At this time, Ye Xianggao, the chief minister of the cabinet, met the emperor's eyes and immediately had to step forward to assist, and he had to be well-reasoned and not just flattering.

So, it is not easy to be the emperor's lackey, puppet, or rubber stamp. It requires a high level of political literacy and cultural level. Being able to do this job well without letting colleagues join forces to attack it requires flexible political skills.

An official who can do a good job as a lackey, as long as he does not allow his behavior against his will to become abnormal all day long, will definitely be able to be released to manage a province, and he will definitely be able to stay in the court and serve as prime minister.

"Oh! What Great Scholar Fang said is wonderful. If officials in the DPRK and China had your level of insight, I wouldn't have to work hard every day until midnight. Well, now that you have seen the crux of the problem, the matter of mutual trading can be solved Leave it to Ai Qing to supervise the matter, Shanhaiguan General Soldier, Governor, Jin Yiwei, and Royal Horse Supervisor to assist!"

But this time Ye Xianggao's assist came a bit slowly, allowing Fang Congzhe, another cabinet scholar, to take the lead. Upon hearing this, Hong Tao immediately raised his eyelids with a look of joy on his face. It's like Bo Ya met Zi Qi, Bo Le saw Chollima, and not only praised him greatly but also gave him a substantial reward.

"I will definitely live up to the emperor's favor! I just don't know where your majesty plans to locate the woolen mill?" Fang Congzhe, with a serious face, stood up and gave a big thank you, as if he had taken over a heavy burden.

"..." This scene not only made the six ministers and nine ministers present dumbfounded, but even Wang An was a little distracted. Fang Congzhe was suddenly entrusted with an important task by the emperor. Who would believe it if it was a coincidence? How could such a big event rely on chance? It can be said that it was planned in advance. As the emperor's most loyal housekeeper, he was not aware of it before the meeting. "Well... I haven't thought about it carefully yet. Do you have any recommendations?" Hong Tao touched his chin and glanced at the red eyes below. Finally, he didn't give this power to Fang Congzhe anymore.

Why are the officials here so concerned about supervising the mutual market? Choosing a location is only one of them. The real big deal is setting up factories. It is not uncommon to use wool to make felt and wool, and sheepskin to make leather boots. Mongolian herdsmen have been doing it for generations, and not only Mongolian herdsmen, but also nomadic people can do it.

But in the past, it was only made by women at home. Just like Han farmers had spinning wheels and looms at home, they would spin some thread and weave some cloth when they were free, make clothes for adults and children, sew quilts, and use the excess to exchange for some money. Subsidize household expenses.

No one has thought about treating wool spinning and weaving as an industry, let alone tried it. In addition to the lack of broad ideas, it is mainly limited by the backward processing methods, and the efficiency of manpower alone is too low.

For daily necessities such as blankets, woolen cloths, and woolen yarns, the unit price will certainly not be too high. Small output means low profits. Small businesses can get away with it, but big capital simply doesn’t care.

But if it can be mass-produced, its meaning will immediately be different. The unit price of cotton cloth is also very low, but it cannot support the large sales volume. It only takes a hundred years from large-scale promotion and cultivation to occupying a certain market share. Now it has replaced silk as the most profitable product, and the market is not huge in scope.

In the same way, blankets, woolen cloth and yarn, like cotton, are all undeveloped new products with a huge market. Anyone who does not seize the opportunity to pounce at this time will really lose several lifetimes of wealth. .

The carding machines, spinning machines and looms designed by Emperor Jingyang can not only turn cotton into cloth, but also can make wool look like cotton after changing a few parts. The efficiency is slightly lower, but it is better than hand-made. Dozens of times faster.

With technology, wool that is originally worthless can be used as a commodity, and the profit is very generous. At the same time, investing in and building woolen mills became another way to make big money after cotton mills.

Youdao is a first-come-first-served approach. The Six Ministries, Nine Ministers, and the cabinet's bachelors were the first to learn about this. There was no reason to let the opportunity to make money slip away.

Everyone, including Weng Zhengchun, a great scholar known for his strict adherence to etiquette and law, was eagerly waiting for the emperor to allocate shares. This time it was really a golden word, every word was worth a thousand pieces of gold!

As for whether they have to agree to the emperor's policies that are not in line with their own ideals and whether these policies will cause harm to the country, they really can't care about it for a while.

No matter how you cultivate yourself, manage your family, govern the country and bring peace to the world, no matter what your ideals and ambitions are, everything in the world, including ideas, has a price. If you don’t sell, it can only be because the price has not been negotiated; if you persist, it means that the price is relatively expensive and you have to pay more!

(End of this chapter)