At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 286: The Shangjun Prefect and Hu Hai’s plea for help
The baggage train continued to move forward and soon entered the boundary of Shangjun with thousands of ravines. The fields here are sparse, and there are high mountains and ravines everywhere. Among these ravines, there are groups of sheep gnawing on the grass leisurely, and beside the sheep, there are a few shepherds in rags looking at these ravines curiously. side.

Hu Hai was surprised and said: "This Shangjun is too poor. I thought the villages in the Qinling Mountains in Guanzhong were already poor enough. But what if I thought it would be even poorer here, with not much land in sight?"

Li Zheng Jiang Tao rolled his eyes at Hu Hai and said: "At first glance, he looks like a prodigal son who has never seen the world, otherwise he would not have said such words as Guanzhong Qiong."

"You must know that Guanzhong is one of the most fertile lands in the world. At its peak, the yield per mu is six stones and four buckets, which is unmatched by any place in the world. However, with the reputation of the land of abundance, there is no place in the world richer than Guanzhong. Even the poorest Lingnan village in Guanzhong is much better than here. "

"When I was building a straight road here in Shangjun, it was difficult to see a village for dozens of miles, and you couldn't find anyone to buy food. Now it's a little better here. The further north you go, the poorer the people are. When you get to Jiuyuan County, the local people The common people are just like the barbarians.”

Hu Hai didn't believe it and said: "Li Zheng, you are lying. Regardless of the Qin Dynasty or the Han Dynasty, land is equalized. One household can be divided into 640 acres of land. Calculated based on six stones and four dou, one household can harvest 190 stones of grain every year. Calculated according to the 450% tax." , only shi of grain are turned over to the court every year, and everyone can still keep shi of grain. With such a high income, everyone in Chang'an City is a high-class family, how can the people in Guanzhong be so poor that they can't even afford clothes. "

Li Zhengjiang Tao almost laughed and cried: "You are indeed a son of a noble, and you don't want to live in the world. The land of six stones and four buckets has no share for ordinary people like us. It belongs to the imperial court and has nothing to do with us.

You don’t want to think about the First Emperor. Every time he sent out an army, hundreds of thousands of people fought, and basically every one or two years, he had to send out an army. Where did the food and grass come from? It’s not all the grain collected by Zheng Guoqu.

We ordinary people only get 150 to 200 shi of grain a year, and more than half of it has to be taken away by the court. If we can leave 50-60 shi of grain, it is already a good harvest year. The mother-in-law at home should be more diligent. Weave some cloth, and when there is no corvee work, I will do a part-time job, and the whole family can eat dry food for half a day and drink water for half a day.

"How can 50-60 shi of grain be enough?" Hu Hai asked in surprise.

Jiang Tao said: "Of course it's enough to eat. Add a little more wild vegetables and a little more water. Even if you can live like this, it's good."

Then he smiled bitterly and said: "It's a pity that there are not many good days like this. The First Emperor is so good at handling people, treating people like cattle and horses. He has fought more battles in ten years than I have seen in the five generations of Qin kings.

The world has finally been unified. No wars have been fought, but he is still not satisfied. He still wants to fight the Huns and Baiyue people. He also asked us to build straight roads, Chi roads, and the Great Wall. Although the world is unified, our lives have become worse. It’s getting worse and worse. I’ve lived for most of my life, and I’ve never seen the King of Qin so tormented. Finally, he also tormented the Qin Dynasty and subjugated the country. "

In the end, Jiang Tao said with a smile: "It's a good thing if the Qin Dynasty is destroyed. If the country is not destroyed, how can I live like this?"

Jiang Tao's words silenced Fusu and Hu Hai. This was the first time they heard the voices of the people in Guanzhong so deeply. No wonder Da Qin has established unprecedented achievements, but no one in the world misses Da Qin, even the current Old Qin The same goes for people.

Every major project their father carried out was consuming the people's recognition of the Qin Dynasty. In the end, even the old Qin people did not care about the survival of the Qin Dynasty, and eventually evolved into the old Qin Dynasty, welcoming the king of Han.

Fusu sighed: "The world belongs to everyone in the world, not to one person."

My father regarded the world as belonging to one person. In the end, everyone in the world abandoned this world that did not belong to them.

After a few people were silent for a long time.

Hu Hai saw the strange scene and laughed: "What's going on with this sheep? It's bald. Where did the hair go?"

At this time, they saw a group of sheep in front of them, heading in the opposite direction of their team. What was surprising was that the wool of these sheep had been shaved clean, and the sheep looked one size smaller.

Behind the flock of sheep were hundreds of herdsmen driving the sheep, while beside the herdsmen there was a group of soldiers guarding the herdsmen. These herdsmen were driving the sheep toward Guanzhong.

Jiang Tao saw this scene and said with a smile: "These are Huns captured by the Han. They are going to the land west of Hexi and given to the various princes of the Han as common people. These sheep are their rations."

The county guard here is extremely stingy and claims to be able to pluck the feathers off an iron rooster. These Huns passed by Shangjun and asked for food and grass from Shangjun. The prefect of Shangjun was unwilling and thought he had not received anything in return, so he ordered his men to shave the wool off the sheep. It was said that the wool seemed to be able to make money by weaving. Because of this matter, the prefect of the county got a nickname, "The sheep has been plucked." "

"This prefect of Shangjun is really one of my generation." Hu Hai admired this kind of spirit of plucking sheep's wool.

Fusu shook his head and said, "The Emperor of Han was a great leader. How could he use such subordinates? If this reputation spreads, it would not only make the prefect of Shangjun look bad, but also the Emperor of Han."

Jiang Tao said, "Prefect Cao has done a good job. No one has starved to death in Shangjun since he took office. In this barren land, you can tell he is a capable person just by looking at it."

Fusu said: "I also know that Governor Cao is a good official, but he can do better. Why do he need money and be shameless like this? He is not a merchant, and this makes the court look very embarrassed."

Hu Hai disagreed and said: "Brother, this is called pragmatism. This obviously shows that Cao Cao is the one who got the true inheritance of the Han Emperor. Brother, don't look at the Han Emperor. The name of benevolence and righteousness is known all over the world, but as long as there is benefit, the Han Emperor will immediately abandon it." reputation.

For example, when they conquered Korea, the Korean nobles were willing to surrender to the Han Emperor and only asked the Han Emperor to help them regain their country. However, the Han Emperor immediately suppressed the Korean nobles and directly occupied Yingchuan County.

There is also the Eastern Chu State. Xiong Xin is the direct descendant of King Chu Huai. However, for the sake of the two counties of the Eastern Chu State, the Han Emperor directly refused to recognize the Eastern Chu State and the identity of King Xiong Xin. After he captured Guanzhong, he immediately He sent troops to capture the Eastern Chu Kingdom.

Also, in the name of rescuing the Zhao State, he formed a coalition army, but in the end he directly annexed the Zhao State and forced King Dai to exchange the land of Dai County with Handan. You see, this is called pragmatism, and only a big man can do it. There is such a vast land now. "

When Fusu thought about it, this was really the case. Emperor Han was not like the white lotus he imagined, which made him feel like his idol had been shattered.

Fusu helplessly said to Hu Hai: "You have made enough money, go back, it is not safe outside."

Hu Hai said disapprovingly: "Brother, you have to admit the management level of Han officials. I have encountered more thieves than bandits, so there is no danger."

Then he smiled and said: "Shangjun does not have a strong workshop area to provide goods. It will be more difficult for the people here to accept food stamps. If you come to Shangjun, you can earn more."

Hu Hai came to Fusu just by chance. What he really wanted to do was to go to Shangjun to exchange for food stamps.

After all, he was one of the first batch of financial people. He had accumulated a lot of experience in finance during more than half a year of running business. Although it was extremely primitive, it had already made him stand at the forefront of this era. Hu Hai was already in a daze at this time. I feel that the quantity of food stamps is directly proportional to the goods.

However, the number of food stamps issued by the Han court was not like this. The poor Shangjun and Jiuyuan counties had more civilians. They were employed by the Han for longer and received more food stamps. However, Shangjun and Jiuyuan counties were In a poor place with insufficient goods, food stamps in Shangjun will depreciate even more than in Guanzhong.

Although he didn't have the word yet, he could already feel that it would be more profitable to buy food stamps by himself in Shangjun, so his instinct drove him to run here.

Fusu advised, "As long as you have enough money, practicing businessmanship has a bad reputation after all."

Even Jiang Tao also persuaded: "We and other farmers should still focus on the fields. Look at how many things happened in Chang'an City and how much trouble you caused for your elder brother, but you still stay in Zhaoli and live a peaceful life."

Hu Hai said disapprovingly: "With my status, what else can I do besides trying to make money?"

Fusu was really speechless. If Hu Hai only dealt with money, maybe the Emperor of Han would not care about him, but if he engaged in other things, his life would be in danger.

So he ignored Hu Hai.

As the team continued to move forward, they began to enter the wealthy areas of Shang County. There were more and more fields on both sides of the straight road, and the villages became more and more dense.

Hu Hai rode his horse and left the baggage team and said: "Brother, I am going to make money. I will go home after the autumn harvest. At that time, I will give each nephew a piece of rock candy."

Fusu could only look at Hu Hai's figure and shake his head.

Jiang Tao smiled and said: "You are actually quite capable. You are considered a young and promising young man in Shilibaxiang. But you are too out-of-the-box and not stable at all. Also, you have very bad luck."

Fusu thought that he could still live so freely after he came down from the position of Qin II. Compared with other kings who had lost their country, he couldn't help but sigh: "His good luck in this life has been exhausted long ago. Now let's count it down." Mold is also normal.”

Hu Hai left the baggage team, then rode his horse into a village next to the straight road and said: "Fellow, would you like to exchange for food stamps? I'll give you cash."

The fellow who was stopped by Hu Hai said warily: "How to change?"

As soon as the fellow villagers saw Hu Hai, they felt that he was not a good person and worried that they would be deceived.

Hu Hai said: "A food stamp can be exchanged for 81 coins."

The fellow villager immediately said happily: "You wait." But Hu Hai was no longer Xiaobai, and he immediately said: "I will wait at the entrance of your village."

Then he revealed his long sword intentionally or unintentionally. At the same time, the entrance of this village is near the Qinzhi Road. Because of the need to transport grain, grass and weapons, the straight road is now extremely busy. Although it is not a constant stream of water, a heavy train will appear every once in a while, which is a densely populated area. .

After the experience of Qinling, especially after the trial by the county magistrate, these villagers were dug out and wanted to kidnap him to borrow money.

He knew that he had to be a deterrent to these fellow villagers, otherwise they might become bandits and rob him. After all, if they could say "you can borrow money based on your ability, why should you pay it back?", Hu Hai really didn't have high expectations for them.

Hu Hai, who was waiting at the entrance of the village, soon saw several villagers bringing food stamps to trade.

Maybe it was because of the shock of Hu Hai's long sword, or maybe these villagers were honest people, and the transaction between the two parties went extremely smoothly without any problems.

The fellow villagers got the genuine Qin Banliang, Hu Hai got the food stamps, and both sides completed the transaction with satisfaction.

Hu Hai then traded along the straight road of Qin, and every village gained a lot. Hu Hai was right as he expected. Compared with the people in Guanzhong, the people in Shangjun had less trust in the court, and they were even more hesitant about the food stamps in their hands. Even though the court said that these food stamps could be exchanged for goods, the goods in Shangjun were insufficient, so they said they could deduct taxes, but they were worried that the court would not acknowledge it.

It is really difficult for them to recognize the value on paper with the light white paper. Now there is an enemy who is willing to exchange. Of course these fellow villagers are willing to exchange.

Moreover, the farther away the villages are from Guanzhong, the higher the profits. At first, Hu Hai said that the exchange would be 90%, and these farmers couldn't wait. Hu Hai felt that he was at a loss. Later, he negotiated for 80%, 85%, etc., and all the villagers were willing to exchange. This made Hu Hai's profits increased significantly.

The money he brought over was quickly converted into food stamps, and then he hurried back to Chang'an City to exchange them. Then he returned to Shangjun with the copper coins. Every time he made a profit of tens of thousands of dollars, he was completely immersed in the hope of getting rich.

On the other side, Fusu and the others walked on Qinzhi Road step by step, carrying provisions and grass under the scorching sun.

Many civilians fell down due to heat stroke during the journey, so that the Han officials in charge had to change the time of the trip, rest for two hours at noon, and increase the traveling time in the evening and early morning. This solved the problem of heatstroke among the civilians.

After walking for more than ten days, the baggage team finally entered Fushi County, the seat of Shangjun.

Fushi is said to be the administrative seat of Shangjun, but it is just a dilapidated county town built with loess, and its prosperity is not even as prosperous as the towns in Guanzhong.

The population here is not large, but there are a large number of merchants leading caravans here. Fusu and the others also saw Hu merchants, and it looked very lively.

Fusu was a little surprised and said: "Shangjun is not considered a general town, its products are not rich, and its goods are even poorer. How can there be so many caravans?"

He didn't know much about Fusu in other places, but he stayed in Shangjun for several years and knew more about it.

He could clearly feel that there were more merchants and more vitality in Shangjun now than during the Qin Dynasty.

But Fusu soon understood the reason. Their team passed a workshop. Although they did not enter, they could hear the clicking sound of spinning even though they were standing outside the workshop.

Outside the workshop, there was a line of carriages. The carriages entered the workshop and came out filled with cloth.

Jiang Tao was surprised and said: "There are dozens of carriages here. They are all loaded and thousands of pieces of cloth are not allowed to be taken away. How big of a textile workshop must this be?"

Fusu said: "I'm afraid there will be thousands of textile looms."

Jiang Tao said with envy: "How many pieces of cloth can be woven?"

In this era, cloth can be used as a general equivalent. Each loom is equivalent to a money printing machine, which is why Jiang Tao is so envious.

Fusu asked strangely: "Han officials attach great importance to merchants, so it is not surprising that they can build such a large workshop, but where do they get so much yarn? There is not so much yarn for weaving in the barren Shangjun?" "

Weaving also has an industrial chain, and Shangjun obviously does not have such yarn to maintain such a large textile workshop.

At this time, a carriage entered the textile factory. The carriage was piled with gray-white objects. It was so full that the outline of the carriage could not even be seen. Then a smell of sheep came out, causing the people around to avoid it.

Fusu suddenly realized when he smelled this smell and said: "No wonder they don't even let go of the passing wool. It turns out that this textile factory can spin wool into cloth."

Shangjun is a semi-farming and semi-grazing area. We saw too many sheep along the way to Fusu, several times more than a few years ago.

Fusu still wondered why there were so many sheep in Shangjun. Now he finally understood that it was the prefect of Shangjun who discovered the function of wool.

At this time, Fusu finally admitted that the ability of the Shangjun prefect had exceeded that of most Qin officials.

Of course, this was because Fusu was interested in this textile factory. Others just regarded it as an interesting anecdote and ignored it.

At this time, they were more concerned about delivering all the food to the Shangjun Granary and ending this hard work.

The baggage team transported the grain into the Shangjun granary. Both parties counted it clearly and there were no mistakes.

The warehouse official wrote a letter with the amount of grain and grass received and gave it to them, recording when they transported the grain to the granary, and stamped it with the seal of the county.

Fusu and the others had finally completed their mission, and they returned to Guanzhong. With this letter seal, the Guanzhong government office exchanged enough food stamps for them.

After the handover was completed, the Han official who led the team smiled and said: "Everyone has a day's rest in Fushi County. Although it is not as prosperous as Guanzhong, you can still have a good stroll. We will gather at the south gate tomorrow at midnight and we will go home together."

Their baggage team has now completed its mission, and there is no need to be so nervous next time, so the leader of the team asked everyone to relax.

"promise!"

Jiang Tao smiled and said: "The corvee in Da Qin back then would not have been so easy."

Fusu could only nod.

At this time, two children beside the granary road shouted: "Zhao Fusu, who is Zhao Fusu?"

Jiang Tao asked curiously: "Your family also has relatives in Shangjun?"

Fusu shook his head and said, "No?"

Fusu said loudly: "Kid, my name is Zhao Fusu, what do you want from me?"

Two children ran over and said, "There is a brother named Hu Hai who asked us to find you and asked you to rescue him. He also said that as long as we inform you about this, you will give us ten dollars."

Fusu was surprised and said, "What happened to Hu Hai?"

The child said: "He was arrested by the Han officials."

Jiang Tao was surprised and said: "How could he be arrested by the Han officials?"

The two children shook their heads. If they didn't know about this matter or didn't care about it, they reached out to Fusu.

Fusu reacted immediately and took out 10 yuan and handed it to the two of them.

(End of this chapter)