Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 1084 Taozhou's way of making money

In the past half a year, the changes in Taozhou can be described as earth-shaking. The state city has been built, and the construction of three subordinate counties has begun. The conversion of more than 20 Tubo people has basically been completed. Everything is on the right track. I initially recognized the existence of the government and got used to the government's governance.

In addition, what Zhang Bo has done in the past six months has shown that he is not only a competent and diligent official, but also a good money-maker.Take Buddha Mu Festival this time as an example, Ye Chen's will was just a little hint, so he drew inferences from one instance, and before the Buddha Mu Festival started, he made a lot of money and poured it into the treasury of Taozhou.

The money given by the big nobles of the Tubo tribe is enough to hold the Mufo Festival.As for Zhang Bo, the more than 20 Tubo people in Taozhou were organized according to different regions. The main venue was outside Taozhou City, and seven branch venues were set up to celebrate the Mufo Festival.And each venue is surrounded by boards, and each board is clearly marked as an advertising space by him, allowing various chambers of commerce and merchants to write their shop names, addresses and other information on it.Of course, each of these advertising positions has to be paid, and the better the position, the higher the advertising fee.

At the same time, Zhang Bo secretly found a lot of people in Taozhou, and even nearby Lanzhou, Minzhou, and Xizhou to promote the excitement of Mufo Festival, such as the sheep hunting competition, Tubo singing and dancing, etc.In short, how to attract people, the people he sent will spread the word everywhere.As a result, in just half a month, the Tubo Mufo Festival held in Taozhou became a hot spot among Xiangfu people in the southern states, arousing the interest of countless people.

Ye Chen finished his inspection tour of Lanzhou City. His guard of honor walked through the street, looking at a peaceful scene on both sides of the street through the carriage window, and the people kneeling on both sides of the pilgrimage. Thinking of what he saw and heard during the inspection these days, Ye Chen There was a contented smile on Dust's face.

Not long after, the convoy left the city, heading towards Taozhou, along the newly built official road, at a neither fast nor slow speed.In the past few days, the official road leading to Taozhou has been overcrowded, and there is a lot of traffic.These people are all Lanzhou people who are going to participate in the Taozhou Tubo Mufo Festival. Among them, some big merchants are driving carriages, bringing their own goods and signs to arrange before the Mufo Festival starts.

Ye Chen did not enjoy the privileges of the emperor, and he did not give way to any vehicles or pedestrians along the way, but just followed the flow of people.From time to time, on both sides of the official road, there will be guards in yamen uniforms patrolling the road to prevent any disputes or accidents. Seeing that although there are many people, everything is in order, Ye Chen can't help but praise: "Zhang Bo's affairs are really tight. "

In the evening, the tall city wall of Taozhou, which had just been built not long ago, gradually appeared at the end of the world. After taking down the Tubo Kingdom of Hehuang, Ye Chen divided the more than 60 Tubo people into three and moved to Taozhou, Liangzhou and Qinghe respectively. State.Among them, Taozhou has the largest number of people, with nearly 30 people.In addition, the strategic location of Taozhou is also the most important.Therefore, the headquarters of the White Tiger Legion was in Taozhou. In addition to the [-] elite soldiers of the White Tiger Legion, there was also a brigade of city defense troops that had just been formed.

Because most of the people are Tibetans, Taozhou City is also different from other cities. For example, in addition to the main house, ordinary people also built rows of auxiliary houses to feed livestock.As a result, Taozhou is already a medium-sized city in terms of population and land area, but amidst the sounds of cows roaring, horses neighing, chickens crowing and dogs barking, the countryside is full of characteristics.

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Zhang Bo, governor of Taozhou, Han Tao, head of the White Tiger Army, and other local civil and military officials, as well as Ying Cheng, Lin Buchi, Zheri Shimu, who had arrived from Xiajing more than ten days ago, greeted them in front of the city gate.

Tomorrow is Mufo Festival, and the whole Taozhou has become lively ahead of time. A large number of people have poured into Taozhou City. The inns in the city are already overcrowded. Fortunately, Zhang Bo has already prepared and arranged a large number of people's homes as temporary inns. Charged accommodation is open to outsiders.In this way, not only did the foreign population not sleep on the streets, but also the local Tubo people in Taozhou earned some extra money. In addition, it also prevented the Tubo people from feeling disgusted by foreign people who came to participate in their Mufo Festival.

After seeing the ceremony at the gate, Ye Chen and his party were welcomed into the city and came to the temporary Xingyuan.

Along the way, Ye Chen affirmed and praised Zhang Bo's achievements in Taozhou many years ago without hesitation, and finally mentioned what he did on the Mufo Festival.

But contrary to Ye Chen's expectations, Zhang Bo opened his mouth and was still crying: "Your Majesty, it is expected to earn a full 30 taels of silver this Mufo Festival. However, the roads inside and outside Taozhou City need to be paved, and more than a dozen roads will need to be paved. Elementary and middle schools need to be built, and after these things are completed, there is not much leftover. However, for the more than 50 mu of land reclaimed this winter, some irrigation canals and wind-powered waterwheels have not yet been built, which also requires a large sum of money. money, and the money given by the court to the ministers is not enough."

Ye Chen knew that Zhang Bo wanted money, so he just nodded without replying.Although Xiangfu Kingdom has experienced a rapid increase in commercial taxes in the past two years, and the profits of various workshops controlled by the imperial court such as cement, red bricks, firewood, toothpaste toothbrushes, glass, etc. have been increasing by double digits. The income of the Xiangfu Bank and the huge profits of the Xiangfu Bank have made the various incomes of the court of the Xiangfu Kingdom surpass the Liao Kingdom, a major northern country, and are not much different from those before the Song Kingdom was divided.

However, Xiangfu country's various expenditures are the largest among all countries. The increase in military strength and higher military pay than other countries, coupled with the fact that each soldier is equipped with excellent equipment, makes the military expenditure always a big one.While the states are developing rapidly, there are more and more places to use silver, and the demand is also increasing.To be honest, if Ye Chen hadn’t played a big role in the list of benevolent people, many wealthy businessmen, chaebols, and grain gentry rushed to pay for road repairs, school construction, etc., saving the court and government of Xiangfu Kingdom a lot of money. For expenses, Xiangfu Kingdom's money is even more insufficient.Although Jia Xian, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is very good at managing money, he still feels that the money is far from enough.

Ye Chen remembered the cotton he was extremely optimistic about, and said, "I ask you, what is the situation of your cotton planting promotion in Taozhou?"

Zhang Bo hurriedly said: "Your Majesty! Under the tireless promotion of the ministers, more than half of the Tubo people have planted cotton in the fields these days, but less than one percent of the Han people in Taozhou are willing to plant cotton."

Regarding the promotion of cotton planting, if Ye Chen had not had absolute authority in the court of Xiangfu Kingdom and had a high reputation or prestige among the common people, not many people would have planted this kind of plant that had never been grown before.But even though the imperial court vigorously promoted it and even implemented many preferential and subsidy policies such as tax reduction and exemption, there were still very few Han farmers who were willing to grow cotton. Instead, it was the Uyghurs and Tubo people in the Hexi Corridor and Hehuang area who were coerced and lured by the imperial court. Under the circumstances, at the beginning of spring these days, cotton planting began vigorously.

In the original history, cotton cloth in the Ming and Qing Dynasties has almost completely replaced the silk and linen that was commonly seen in the 1000 years from the Han Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and became the most commonly used fabric among the people at that time.Since history has already proven it, Ye Chen is extremely confident in promoting cotton planting.But self-confidence belongs to self-confidence. Ye Chen can never say that he came to this era after 1000 years. Therefore, when most Han farmers were unwilling to grow cotton, Ye Chen was a little emotional, but under the persuasion of Han Xizai, Ma Wentao and others Next, there is no further promotion.

In fact, cotton is a very suitable crop for people like Tubo and Uyghur who are not very proficient in farming, because growing cotton is much simpler than growing mulberry and grain. A mulberry tree needs to be able to extract a large number of leaves, at least three times. For five years, growing grain requires high field strength, soil and water.Cotton, on the other hand, does not have such harsh conditions, and it is easy to take care of, and as long as it is cultivated well, it can be harvested in the same year.And compared to silk linen, after the cotton is processed into thick cotton cloth in the next step, it is more useful in the long winter and extremely cold northwest.And as long as a certain scale is formed, the benefits obtained by the people who planted it and the court of Xiangfu Kingdom will be incalculable.

Ye Chen nodded. The results have been reported by various states and counties these days. The situation in Taozhou is a little better, but the situation is limited. After a little thought, he said: "Tell me about the areas around Taozhou and Qingzhou that can be used for production. money way."

Zhang Bo thought for a while and said: "Back then, the Tubo people in the Hehuang area traded with the Han people. In addition to cattle, sheep fur and horses, it was the few mouths near Qingtang that actually made the most profits for the Tubo people. Salt Well. A day’s production is worth at least a dozen horses, and the income of 100 taels of silver can be calculated as a yearly income of one million taels of silver. This was the basis for the Tubo people in Hehuang at that time. Thirty percent of the private salt in the country came from the salt wells in Hehuang. However, when it comes to the flood of private salt in the Song Dynasty, it was because the Song Dynasty court was too greedy only to collect more salt taxes, so it set the salt price too high. The reason. As far as I know, the price of salt in the Song Dynasty has increased a lot last month, with an average of 37 renminbi per catty, and the taste is far worse than our Xiangfu salt, which is bitter and astringent. But private salt It only sells for more than a dozen coins per catty, and the quality of private salt produced in the Hehuang area is much better than that of the official salt of the Song Dynasty.”

Zhang Bo sighed, and said: "So, the Song State suddenly suppressed our smuggled salt in the Hehuang area to enter the Song State's Longyou Qinfeng Road with all its strength, but it is a big loss to us. Now that Taozhou and Qingzhou have just been established, it is with money At that time, and this matter was related to the peace of the two states, and although the court had money, I knew that His Majesty had already begun preparations for the war and the army needed a lot of money. At this time, I really shouldn't ask the court for money, but now I really tried my best, if there is no money, road construction and school construction can only be slowed down."

(End of this chapter)