The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 197 Establishment of Municipal Shipping Department

As the meeting ended, Liu Tai's entire administrative machine began to operate.

First, Cao Yi became the governor of Youzhou. He and Guo Pu completed the separation, and Guo Pu was responsible for continuing to widen the river from Bohai Bay to Linzi.

Cao Yi began to build Jinkou based on the prisoners and retired soldiers of Wang Jun's army. As for the canal from Jinkou to Youzhou City, it naturally requires some knowledgeable people to be responsible for surveying and planning, and he has not yet started directly.

Therefore, Cao Yi first went to build the city of Jinkou and completed the preliminary planning.

Originally, Cao Yi built this small town of Jinkou with a population of 5, but Liu Tai thought about it and felt that this city would probably become the economic center of the north after the canal was opened, so he asked Cao Yi to build it with a population of 20. standards to build.

Cao Yi expressed doubts that Jinkou would become such a big city, but he believed in Liu Tai's vision and chose to do it.

Liu Tai knew that until now, there had never been a recorded city with a population of one million in the entire world.

But productivity is still developing. Youzhou and Jinkou, the prototypes of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic circle, will definitely accommodate more than 100 million people in the future.

It's just that because of these troubled times and the people are displaced, the population is somewhat sparse.

But as time goes by, it shouldn't be difficult for the population to return to around 200 million.

In contrast, my own Qingzhou even includes Taishan County. If I hadn't insisted on letting Zhang Song continue to buy people, I'm afraid it would still be far away from the 200 million population!

At this moment, Cao Yi sent people to many counties to recruit people. Some people directly held the most attractive banner in the world, "Food and housing included" to seduce the people of this era.

At this time, those people who had land and land naturally ignored this. After all, no matter what signs Cao Yi played, it was not as practical to them as the fields that their families were still cultivating.

In particular, the government rents a large number of iron farm tools. For local people, there is no reason to give up spring plowing and go to Jinkou to work.

But in this world, let’s say goodbye to those aristocratic families who have invaded large amounts of land. Even if the middle class only has a few acres of land, they will not be the majority in this troubled world. Most of them are tenant farmers without houses and land.

Especially after Wang Jun's defeat, the mainstay of the family either became a deserter or was captured, and the family had to find a way to survive.

Therefore, Cao Yi began to win over this group of people, and these people finally fell into the trouble of happiness:
"Would it be better for me to help the wealthy family with spring plowing, or to work with Cao Yi and have food and shelter covered!"

I have never seen such a beautiful life in my life. For a time, sharecroppers and destitute gangsters were troubled by choices.

The vast majority of tenant farmers still chose to stay in their hometowns and continue to help the noble families with their spring plowing.

After all, in any era, people are poor when they leave their hometown. As long as they can find a way to survive locally, then who would want to leave their hometown!
Under such circumstances, the effectiveness of Cao Yi's recruitment cannot be said to be bad. It can only be said that it will take time to gain people's support.

Liu Tai did not urge Cao Yi to build Jinkou quickly, but only asked Cao Yi to build the dock and port first, and open the waterway from Youzhou to Qingzhou first, so that the supplies between the two places can be smoothly circulated. This is the business.

I have to mention that even though Liu Tai completely occupied Youzhou and Jizhou this time, Liu Tai did not cancel the gate fees in the two places.

Therefore, ordinary people were still confused at this time and had no idea that the opportunity to change their destiny was coming.

But businessmen with a keen sense of smell found that if they passed through Jizhou from Youzhou to Qingzhou, not to mention that Jizhou had just fought a big war and deserters were everywhere. No one dared to guarantee their safety on the journey. .

But taking the waterway is different. Not only is safety more guaranteed, but it must also be worth mentioning, even the city gate fees that originally need to be paid when passing through each county seat, as well as the various food and drinks required by the city gate order. Yes, it seems that it can be avoided.

Businessmen who suddenly sensed business opportunities began to pour into Jinkou, a small town that was not even built yet.

Tian Tian even kindly built a shop selling gourds next to the port. As long as the gourd is tied to his body, even if he accidentally hits a rock or encounters turbulence and capsizes, his things may be lost, but at least he can save his life. Come.

To be honest, this waterway is generally only used by merchants, and merchants only have two types of boats to choose from.

One is a relatively rare large ship with a sealed cabin and damage control personnel. Even if it hits a rock, it can at least drive to the shore.

The other is a private boat type, so no one can guarantee that they will be able to reach the other side alive.

After all, as long as there is a gust of wind on the sea, everything on your boat may be completely capsized by the strong wind.

But even so, after Cao Yi built the docks and piers, small private docks sprung up one after another like mushrooms after a rain.

No one encouraged this walk from Youzhou to Qingzhou before, and there was no corresponding infrastructure along the way.

For example, ports, houses, food, manpower, etc. are all indispensable for merchants.

But now, all the docks built by Liu Tai on the shore have been converted from military use to civilian use, and supporting facilities have been quickly built in coastal states and counties.

The merchants briefly calculated the speed of their own transactions, and then calculated the costs of their own transactions.

Compared with the risks posed by the Bohai Sea itself, or the small probability of one's own cargo capsizing in the sea...

As a qualified businessman, what risks should you not take for the sake of profit?

As businessmen with the most sensitive sense of smell, everyone began to desperately want to take a bite of profits.

"These merchants used the port to reach Qingzhou directly, allowing Jizhou to evade a lot of taxes!" Cao Ni frowned, "Zhang Song sent me a message about this matter, asking me to severely crack down on these merchants who use sea transport! "

Liu Tai was not surprised when he heard this, because it is unrealistic for the business class to want them to spend large sums of money to invest in infrastructure, because it is not in line with the nature of businessmen to pursue profits, and even big businessmen may not be able to maintain this. profit.

Infrastructure can only be led by the government, from ship construction to channel exploration, from dock construction to port facilities.

At least in this era, these things require basic investment from the government. Once the basic investment is established, businessmen will come to take advantage of the country when they see profits.

In fact, it is not only because Cao Yi built Jinkou and built wharves and docks, it attracted merchants.

Even in modern society, as long as a road is completed and the government has not yet stated that the road is open to traffic, cars are often already driving on this road, and everyone hopes to take advantage.

The same is true for Cao Yi's current port. As long as you build some infrastructure to a minimum, then businessmen of this era will definitely come and take advantage.

Not to mention that if shipping costs are significantly lower than land transportation, it would be strange for these businessmen not to choose this route. "Well, after the merchants chose to take the waterway, Jizhou, which was originally a transfer station between Youzhou and Qingzhou, would naturally suffer a bit. This is determined by its geographical advantages!"

Liu Tai was not surprised by this and said to Cao Yi, "In the future, all ships sailing must first go to the port to count the goods, put all the goods into boxes of uniform specifications, and then collect taxes according to the boxes.

For the convenience of calculation, let’s just use one cubic meter. As for the specific fee, you can work out a unified specification.

As long as the tax is paid, they will be given a flag and a bill for the goods to ensure their safety in the Bohai Sea.

The flag will be taken back after it reaches the shore. After the toll receipt arrives, the goods will be counted again to see if there is any entrainment on the road! "

Because Liu Tai created a mercury column from mercury and winter ice, he had already come up with the unit centimeter.

The kilogram was calculated through the conversion of water density, so Liu Taijun's measurement units have been unified into meters and kilograms by Liu Tai.

"Those who don't buy or sell our flag, do I need to find someone to do it for them!?"

When Cao Yi heard Liu Tai's words, he couldn't help but his eyes lit up.

Obviously, no matter how much Cao Yi cultivates his character, there are several good guys who followed Wang Mi in the army. He is really self-taught in doing this kind of dark work.

"Uncle Cao, we are officials now, don't do such shameless things!" Liu Tai looked at Cao Yi and said,

"You arrange for people to keep an eye on these guys who haven't paid. If they get on the boat, quickly notify Tian Zhen to maintain the waterway.

Ships without our flag are not protected by us. If they are transporting non-prohibited materials, they will be arrested on charges of tax evasion and smuggling. The goods will be confiscated and the person can be released.

If you transport materials that are expressly prohibited, we will directly encircle and suppress them in the name of rebellion! "

Liu Tai looked at Cao Yi and said, "In short, we need to ensure that only our people can sail in the Bohai Sea. Others who want to evade taxes are our enemies and we must not let them go!"

After hearing Liu Tai's words, Cao Yi nodded, indicating that he knew what to do.

However, Cao Yi said: "This matter involves Qingzhou. Shouldn't a special agency be set up to manage the affairs of the states?"

"Then let's establish a municipal shipping department and put it under the name of the navy. After all, the navy is needed to patrol, combat smuggling, and maintain waterways.

One-quarter of the money and food earned by the Municipal Shipping Department was handed over, one-quarter was used to supply ships for the navy's constantly changing ships, one-quarter was used for the construction costs of Jinkou and the North Canal, and the remaining one-quarter was As a shipping company itself! "Liu Tai said.

After thinking about it, Cao Yi didn't think there was any problem with this. After all, the navy was different from the army. The training cost of the navy was really much higher than that of the army.

And having a shipping department that specializes in supplying money to the navy can also make the navy more active in combating smuggling and opening up waterways.

Now that there is a municipal shipping department that specializes in civil affairs to coordinate across states, it will be relatively easier and more convenient to handle affairs.

It has to be said that after receiving Liu Tai's advice, Cao Yi took action immediately.

After all, he had built a city from scratch, so as long as he found the right direction, there was no doubt about Cao Yi's ability to execute it.

Not to mention that the city of Jinkou has not yet been fully constructed, but it has already made money. It may even be possible to cover a large part of the cost of the canal from Youzhou to Jinkou in the future.

It can be said that with the establishment of the Shibo Department, Cao Ni's mental energy completely increased.

Naturally, his Jinkou City began to work in full swing, and as this period of time settled, time slowly passed the spring plowing. As the busiest period passed, aristocratic families and wealthy families no longer needed so many tenants to help. .

These tenants, who have had nothing to eat but have had nothing to eat, might be better off if they were recruited as slaves by aristocratic families or wealthy families.

But the problem is that this land is now controlled by Liu Tai. Liu Tai does not object to the recruitment of slaves by aristocratic families and wealthy families, nor does he propose equality for everyone.

Liu Tai just wants money, collect taxes!
As long as you hire slaves and are not serving in the imperial court, you will have to pay taxes!

To be honest, when Wang Jun was here, they gritted their teeth against Wang Jun, but now that Liu Tai is here, they find that he is not as good as Wang Jun!

At least Wang Jun won't collect any corvee tax or Qianda tax, but now Liu Tai is collecting taxes at every turn!
"Since the founding of the Han Dynasty by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, there has been no reason why nobles have to pay taxes when hiring a servant!"

"The Eastern Han Dynasty may have failed its relatives, the common people, the eunuchs, and the clan, but at least it did not fail the nobles.

When faced with Cao Wei's dominance, the noble clan chose to rely on them, while the Sima clan chose to join the trend when they became emperor. Tell me, what's the use of your family's inheritance?

So from now on, the nobles will collect taxes. If you are not convinced, try to see if the sword in my hand is sharp! "

Faced with Liu Tai's vicious words, these wealthy families all chose to cease activities.

Even if you grit your teeth, you still have to pay taxes if you should.

In contrast, Liu Tai's decision had little impact on the people at the bottom and Liu Tai's army.

Because the people at the bottom can clearly feel that with the arrival of Liu Tai, society has become more stable. As long as they are willing to spare their efforts to move bricks for Cao Yi, they can survive even more than those who worked as tenants for a wealthy family in the past. Get some pennies.

For the army, becoming a member of the army is the ladder to heaven for most ordinary people in Youzhou.

Because the most direct thing is that besides having the best food for the army, the most important thing is to directly give land to those of you who have families.

Fifty acres of mature farmland or a hundred acres of reclamation quota, either way is enough to drive the people of Youzhou crazy.

After becoming soldiers of the government, those who still wanted to make progress took Han Shu in their hands and read it, and consulted military history more diligently.

Because they also want to become captains or centurions, the backbone of the middle class.

Therefore, facing the support of Liu Tai from the bottom, the aristocratic families had their teeth broken, but looking at the surrounding forces, no one dared to stir up trouble.

What can I do? I can only accept Liu Tai's policy!
(End of this chapter)