Chastity Layman

  Chapter 983 Prince

  Chengqian enjoyed the feeling of personally leading the army.

  Thousands of troops and horses are under his control, and the rolling iron flow follows him forward. But in fact, although Cheng Qian thought he was the commander-in-chief of this army, the emperor's envoy to him was only to comfort the ambassador, and he was not asked to lead the army in battle, and he should not even follow in the army.

   It's just that the real commander of this army, Hou Junji, is his father-in-law. Hou Junji takes care of the young prince's request in every possible way, and in many cases, he even finishes things in advance without waiting for the prince to open his mouth. Not only did he make the prince feel that he was the commander of the army, but he even recruited beauties, BMWs, and even hunting dogs for the prince everywhere.

  The blue-tongued chow lion, the huge mastiff, and the slender Guanzhong dog. Along the way, Hou Junji collected hundreds of hounds for His Royal Highness.

   And the Falcon.

   Kites, eagles, eagles, and even Haidongqing produced in Liaodong...

  Chengqian felt that he was leading thousands of troops, and often put on gorgeous golden armor and scarlet gold-woven cloak, and rode his horses in the army.

   It is just the army's marching route, supplies, rest along the way, setting up camp, and even sending out scouts for reconnaissance and other specific matters. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not participate at all.

  In other words, he doesn't know much about it and doesn't want to participate in these small things.

  He only hoped that he could meet Tuyuhun's army sooner, so that he could command thousands of troops to destroy them and earn a fortune.

But after leaving Shanzhou, he still didn't see Tuyuhun people. Although he occasionally encountered some villages and tribes, Hou Junji told him that those were the leaders of Haiyan Prefecture's hereditary land of his uncle Zhao Guogong and his eldest son Wuji. , Most of them immigrated from the Central Plains and other places from the grandson's family, and some were immigrated from Tuyuhun or Dangxiang by the order of the sages, and some were originally from Qiangdi who lived here for generations.

  These people are now the real people of the Tang Dynasty, and they are registered in the household registration files of the imperial court.

  The wild geese flew across the sky, looked at the huge crowd of people on the ground, quickly transformed into a herringbone array, honked a few times, and accelerated away from here.

  Chengqian chased his horse out and shot arrows at the wild geese, but the wild geese left some **** behind and fled in panic.

   "Hou Shuai, come here! I gave it to the barking wild geese and stewed the wild geese for lunch."

Hou Junji was in a bit of a dilemma. Although he was brave and a very sturdy cavalry general, he was good at using horse lances. Although he couldn't compare with people like Yuchi Gong, Qin Qiong, and Cheng Yaojin, he could still be counted as a first-class horse lance master, but When it comes to archery, this is a pain point for Hou Junji.

He is often ridiculed for three reasons. The first is that he does not know a few big characters. The second is that the arrows are extremely smelly. Let alone shooting on horseback, even if he is asked to stand on a horse and shoot at sixty paces, he will sometimes miss the target. It is that he worshiped the prime minister twice, but he has no martial arts and martial arts, so he is not worthy.

  The crown prince asked him to shoot the wild geese flying in the sky, which was embarrassing for Hou Junji. He couldn't shoot it at such a high altitude.

   "Your Highness, the geese are flying far away."

  Hou Junji had no choice but to say so.

   Chengqian glanced at Hou Junji, and then remembered that his archery skills were extremely stinky, so he had no choice but to turn his horse's head, "Forget it, spare the lives of these beasts."

Returning to the team, Cheng Qian looked at the scattered tent shepherds on the side of the road, "My uncle is a dignified prime minister, why is the fief managed so poorly? I remember the fief of Nanwu'an Prefecture in Qinlangling, which is different every year. It is said that the current population has exceeded 100,000 households, and the registered population is about to exceed one million. Qin Lang enjoys one-third of Wu'an Prefecture's tax revenue every year, but it is more than one million."

  Hou Junji thought to himself, there is only one Qin Lang in this world, and there is only one Wu'an Prefecture.

Not to mention how Qin Lang got Wu'an prefecture by **** luck in the first place, just say that when it was awarded the title, Wu'an prefecture really had nothing to praise, a piece of broken land between mountains and seas in the wild south of Lingnan, with a registered population of less than a thousand , not to mention that there were still barbarians on all sides, and the entire Lingnan was still in a state of confinement.

  At that time, even the emperor did not expect that a piece of land that was drawn casually would be so valuable now.

  Who would have thought that Lingnan could settle down so quickly. The local kings such as Feng An in Lingnan back then were no weaker than those barbarian kings in central Guizhou and Yunnan.

   Not to mention, the emperor and the imperial court at that time did not expect that the great prosperity of maritime trade would bring such earth-shaking changes to Lingnan.

   Various reasons allowed Qin Lang to take advantage of the imperial court. His fief is now the largest among heroes with different surnames, and it can even be called the best.

However, it is also Qin Lang who has the ability. He had a good vision at the beginning. After getting this broken land, he immediately invested all his wealth in the development, not to mention Qin Lang also came up with something like a knight fief that was subdivided, relying on this Recruited, how many **** and offshoots of the powerful and powerful Xun Qi family were recruited from the Central Plains.

Qin Qiong's concubine, with a bunch of concubines, ran to the south of the Five Ridges and tossed about. How much money and people he brought with him, he tossed and tossed, beat the barbarians, opened mines, built villages, recruited immigrants, established businesses and opened seaports. Taking advantage of the boom in maritime trade, it took off.

   Now the emperor is regretful, but what can he do, can he still live up to his words?

  The only thing the emperor could do was to be more standardized, no longer giving Qin Lang the opportunity to expand outwards, and even ending the Qin family's pioneering autonomy ahead of schedule, and immediately dispatching court officials to take over the ruling power, and even garrison troops.

  This is the only one.

In contrast, although Zhao Guogong's eldest grandson Wuji is also the prime minister, he is still the favorite minister of the emperor, the emperor's eldest uncle. At the beginning, Haiyan Prefecture was granted to the eldest grandson, which is also a very good piece of land. The Huangshui Valley can be cultivated and pastured , the seal of a hundred miles, the territory is not small.

   In particular, thousands of households were transferred from Dangxiang, Turkic, Tuyuhun and other tribes to Changsun Wuji.

  The imperial court also set up the Shenwei Army on the site of the eldest grandson, built a city and garrisoned troops, to help the uncle solve the security problem.

   Wanting policy is also giving policy.

   But Changsun Wuji's fief until now, can only be said to be in its infancy, with less than 3,000 households and just over 10,000 people.

   It also relies on the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road opened by the imperial court, but it is still developing slowly.

This is because gold mines were discovered in Haiyan in recent years. The gold mining fever attracted many businessmen and gold miners, and a mining town mainly for gold mining was built on the Changsun family's fief, attracting many people. , otherwise, it would be even worse.

  But in fact, Changsun Wuji's Haiyan state fiefdom was the best-developed one after the emperor conferred the twelve meritorious officials in Qinghai Lake East after defeating Tuyuhun and beheading Fuyun.

  Fang Xuanling's family, Du Ruhui's family and other prime ministers and dukes' fiefs here, none of them can compare with the Changsun's family.

"Is it because each family is not willing to invest money? I heard that Qin Lang invests millions of dollars every year in Wu'an Prefecture. It is said that the Weigong Fort he built in Taiping Port took several years, and it took a lot of money. Three million coins."

  Hou Junji smiled helplessly.

  He himself has a fief in Kunzhou.

Next to Dianchi Lake, it is the best piece of land in Nanzhong area. It can be said that the emperor treated his old man very well. Very generously gave him such a large piece of land.

  He has also sent people over the past few years.

   But a few years have passed, and he has also invested hundreds of thousands of money, which can be regarded as a capital investment, but up to now, he has just built a Chen Fort.

This Chen Guogong Castle cannot be compared with the Weigong Castle in Qinlang, Taiping Port, which cost three million yuan. A northern dock wall full of the style of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was not built in Kunzhou City, but rather far away A place surrounded by mountains and lakes surrounded a valley. Wubao was built on the mountain pass and became the center of that area.

   Cultivate wasteland and build manors.

  It was very hard work, and it took several years to barely have the appearance of a fiefdom. A not-so-big fortress, around 10,000 mu of land, two irrigation canals, several mills, and hundreds of households.

  This is a situation that Hou Junji managed to manage after spending a small part of his family's fortune in it for several years.

  Don't say you can't compare with Qin Lang, you can't compare with Changsun Wuji either.

  If you don’t manage your family, you don’t know how expensive it is, and if you don’t manage a fief, you don’t know how difficult it is.

  Kunzhou is thousands of miles away from Guanzhong. Hou Junji is from Sanshui in Guanzhong. He was born in the general family, but his family background is not rich. He didn't have Qin Lang's ability to make money, and he didn't have any way to make money.

  That bit of wealth was mainly obtained through rewards.

Relying on these rewards, it has cost a lot to buy land, build houses, build villas, and take concubines over the years. Fortunately, I also bought some shops and did some loans and other businesses. It can be regarded as a good income every year, but that is also Only relatively speaking.

  Compared with an evildoer like Qin Lang, it is like heaven and earth.

So at the beginning, he didn't really want to go to Kunzhou to manage the fief, but the emperor ordered that the fief would be taken back if you didn't manage it, and the fief was linked to titles, etc. Hou Junji was helpless, so he gritted his teeth and took out half of his family business. He also sent his father, cousin, and other trustworthy people in the family to run the business.

  But the place is unfamiliar and the distance is far away.

  Changsun Wuji is much more powerful than him, and his family is richer, and he has earned a lot of money in these years. He has invested more money in the fief than him, but the fief is also developing slowly.

   In the end, Qin Lang's fiefdom would not have developed so much if it hadn't been driven by the benefits of sea trade and the Taiping Port.

The first bucket of gold that Qin Lang earned from his fiefdom was not farming. They made their first fortune by suppressing barbarians and slave traders, and then opened mines, coal mines, gold mines, copper mines, iron mines, plus The Qin family's profitable business, such as porcelain, wine, glass, perfume, sugar, especially sugar, is of great help to his fiefdom.

  Relying on white sugar, Taiping Port was able to attract so many businessmen and grow rapidly. As a white sugar center, it drove the development of other industries.

  And what do these people's fiefs have?

Although Changsun Wuji's Haiyan Prefecture can be cultivated and herded, it is the first-class good place among the world-renowned heroes in Longyou and Qinghai, but the transportation is inconvenient, remote and remote, and the population is small, which severely restricts it. with development.

  The development of half-cultivation and half-grazing alone cannot take off. The Changsun family has developed faster than other families, because there are gold mines here, and the gold mining industry has driven a lot of development.

But Hou Junji is in Kunzhou, all relying on farming, so much capital has to be invested in the early stage, reclaiming wasteland, building castles and manors, building water conservancy, recruiting immigrants, etc., it is impossible not to invest, although the emperor gave a Queensland governor title, but Kunzhou is the territory of the Cuan family. The Cuan family will not give you Kunzhou city, nor will they give you their own manor fields. They only allow you to come under the majesty of the emperor. , It was much more difficult for Hou Junji than Changsun Wuji to open up wasteland and build castles in those remote and barren places.

  The eldest grandson came to Haiyan, although it was Tuyuhun before, but after all, the imperial court took the land after Qin Lang defeated Tuyuhun, beheaded Khan Fuyun, and then Murong Shun and others surrendered, and then distributed it to the eldest grandson.

  The eldest grandson came here after he was entrusted, and he no longer has a master.

"Your Highness, the Haiyan Prefecture of the eldest grandson's family is already considered to be the best place in the territories of heroes of all ages. It can be farmed and herded, and has fertile Huangshui Valley, and it is also on the Qingshang Road of the Silk Road. , with the benefits of commerce and trade, plus there is a large gold mine, which attracts many traders and workers to come here every year, not to mention that here is on the border of Tuyuhun, and the annual purchase and sale of cattle, horses, livestock, fur and medicinal materials can also benefit a lot. "

  If Hou Junji could have such a fief, he could laugh out loud in his dreams.

   "Gu thought that the territories of the heroes of the world were the same as Qin Lang's." Cheng Qian looked at the desolate surroundings and shook his head.

"Your Highness, even if it is a northwestern gateway like Shanzhou, the imperial court is doing its best to manage it, but your development is limited. Wu'an Prefecture is an anomaly. His Taiping Port is now the third largest port in Lingnan after Guangzhou and Jiaozhou. It surpasses Qinzhou Port, Gaozhou Port, etc., which have been operated by the Ning family and the Gao family for hundreds of years."

  What is the annual trade volume of Taiping Port, and how many merchant ships pass by every year?

In Haiyan, although it is also said to be on the commercial road, the entire Qinghai Road is just a branch of the Silk Road, and Haiyan is just another branch of the Qinghai Road Commercial Road. From Longyou to Qinghai, there are There are three commercial routes, and Haiyan is the north route.

The trade volume of this branch of the Silk Road branch must be limited, and it cannot be compared with Taiping Port in Lingnan. Taiping Port itself has many unique industries, and it is located on the South China Sea Road, let alone Jiaozhou Port. In recent years, the imperial court has flattened Lingnan, opened Nanzhong, and developed Jiaoguang, which has led to an astonishing increase in trade. Wu'an Prefecture has taken too much advantage.

   "Why don't you invest more money in the territory, recruit more immigrants, or buy more slaves to come to reclamation and mining? Wouldn't it be able to prosper soon?"

  Hou Junji doesn't want to answer this mentally handicapped question, and input also needs to talk about output.

Regardless of the slightest return, who would throw money recklessly like this, and how long can he spend it? Changsun Wuji is not stupid, Fang Xuanling is not stupid, and he, Hou Junji, is certainly not an idiot. Speaking of sustainability, even if you lose money and invest in operations, there is a limit.

   "Where is Zhao Guogong's feudal city, and how far is it?" Cheng Qian asked again.

   "It's about a hundred miles away, Duke Zhao's fiefdom castle is built in the center of the territory."

   "Is it with the military city of the Shenwei Army?"

   "Shenwei Military City is located in Niuxindui, the westernmost border of Haiyan Prefecture. It guards the border for the imperial court, and they are not together."

  Chengqian looked to the west, "Let the troops speed up, I can't wait to enter the fief castle of my uncle's family to have a look!"

  (end of this chapter)