Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 116 Aren’t they victims of the disaster?
The breeze brought wisps of heat, but the people working in the fields were already sweating from the wind and couldn't help but shirtless.

Lu Duan looked around and saw that the endless fields were already covered with green plants. The fertile fields seen along the way were all planted with green rapeseed. Although they had not bloomed yet, they looked equally beautiful. At least there is absolutely no sign of decay.

What's happening here?
"Come on, come on, let's drink a cup of herbal tea to calm down the heat. Drink tea, drink tea. It's getting a bit hot now. You still have to pay attention to avoid the heat."

Turning around, Zhao Guangmei was wearing a huge straw hat and carrying a huge gray teapot. He still looked like a sunny and cheerful boy. Lu Duan was even a little infected by him.

Just thinking about the things that His Highness the King of Qin has done, he is so cheerful and cheerful!

After all, he had a low status before, and Zhao Guangmei usually hated going to court and even hated going to work, so this was the first time he met Zhao Guangmei and got to know him, and he had such a temperament that felt both serious and informal at the same time. Feeling shocked.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Well, this tea tastes weird."

"Put in some licorice, plums, etc., herbal tea, haha, it won't be good for heatstroke."

Lu Duan drank the herbal tea in his hand, and then asked cautiously: "I heard that people in Suzhou seemed to be in chaos, and rebellions were happening everywhere. But now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I know that the rumors may not be true. "

"Huh? Rumor? How could it be a rumor? Didn't you send me a quick report to my eldest brother? It's all true. I just stopped it. You don't know. Last month, I was all in chaos. What's going on? I heard people say that there is a Yellow Turban uprising in that village, which is scary, but things will get better this month."

"Ah this..."

Lu Duan was also restrained by Zhao Guangmei for a while.

Last month it was like the Yellow Turban Uprising, but this month, peace has returned?

How can this be?

Could it be that the whole of Suzhou is peaceful here, while other places are still in chaos?But he didn't feel anything when he came all the way from Yangzhou. He even felt that the public security in Suzhou seemed to be better than that in Yangzhou.

Seeing his troubled expression, Zhao Guangmei said with a half-smile, "How about I take you around again?"

"Ah, ah, Your Highness has treated me so kindly. This, this, is my wish, but I don't dare to ask for it."

"Come on, let's go. One person's plan is short, but two people's plan is long. Look around and give me some advice."

"Yes."

Lu Duan was naturally very grateful, and he bowed and thanked Zhao Guangmei repeatedly, knowing in his heart that Zhao Guangmei was giving him face, giving him steps, and could even be said to be giving him face.

In fact, with Zhao Guangmei's intelligence, how could he not have guessed that he was actually here to raise an army on behalf of Wang Pu to investigate?
In fact, when Lu Duan saw the scenery of Suzhou, his whole body went numb. What a ridiculous crime!

Originally, he was a small seventh-rank official who came to question Zhao Guangmei because he felt guilty. Who didn't know that His Highness the King of Qin was famous for being overbearing and domineering?Even if you pull out the Hidden Dragon Sword and slash him, it might not be impossible.

The only thing he could rely on was that bit of righteousness, that is, his ability to take things into consideration. As a result, he prepared all the words he had thought about along the way and swallowed them all along with the sip of herbal tea.

He is not blind. How can he not see that all the people working in the fields are laughing from the bottom of their hearts?
So now Lu Duan only had doubts in his heart. He really couldn't figure out how the King of Qin did it?
There is actually a legend in the Hanlin Academy that His Highness the King of Qin never follows common sense when doing things. He is often very different from ordinary people, but he has his own set of self-consistent logic and skills, but the final results are always unexpected.

According to those old Hanlins, ordinary mediocre people cannot even understand what His Highness King Qin does. If you can roughly guess His Highness's purpose, you are already a hero. If you can understand five points of what His Highness is doing, Then he is already a great talent in governing the country.

After all, he is a new Jinshi, and he has never been in contact with Zhao Guangmei. In the past, he only thought that these words were too exaggerated. Now that I have the opportunity to work with him, I realize that these words are really true.

This King of Qin is simply evil.

But it seems...it's not that difficult to get in touch with him. Although he's not a polite corporal, he's still quite respectful.

Of course, Lu Duan must not know that giving him a good look is really just a filter. It is not directed at his brother, but at himself. After all, he is the one who even the great man once said "Lü Duan is a big deal" Not confused" comment, so Zhao Guangmei was also curious to see if he was really not confused when encountering big events.

Soon, Zhao Guangmei led Lu Duan to Suzhou City and the Oil Pressing Factory, and immediately shocked Lu Duan.

"Your Highness, that...that...is that Suzhou City?"

"Yes what's the matter?"

"City, where's the wall?"

"Oh, I took it apart."

"Tear it down? Why, why."

"I think the city wall is in the way. As you know, Suzhou used to be a small city. Our firm has made too much investment here. In the future, more and more people will move into the city, turning from villagers into Guo Min, the original city was not big enough, and I didn’t have time to do urban planning, so I demolished it first, and then I will consider building it after the industrial aspects are improved, or it would be better not to build the city at all.”

"Ah, how can we stop the bad guys and bandits without a city? Besides, this place is a border area after all. If this city has concentrated population, workshops, money and food, but there is no city wall, wouldn't it be a big problem for Southern Tang? Fat? Moreover, if there is no city wall, how to distinguish between Guo people and villagers, and how to manage the people? Wouldn’t the villagers just go to the city if they want to, and wouldn’t the spies of the Southern Tang Dynasty also want to come in? Just come in?"

Zhao Guangmei didn't take it seriously and said: "Southern Tang, Li Yu, if I, the Song Dynasty, don't fight him, he should kowtow to my eldest brother in the direction of Kaifeng every day. How dare he take the initiative to fight? Who gave him the courage? ? Besides, if he wants to take Suzhou, he must first pass through Gaoyou and Yangzhou. Is this possible?"

"As for some bandits, there is nothing to be afraid of. The folk customs of our Song Dynasty are fierce and the people are martial. This Suzhou City is built around the trading house. The trading house is an extension of the Forbidden Army. I really don't believe what a few bandits can do. thing?"

"As for the difference between Guo Township and inconvenient management, you don't have to worry about this. Suzhou will be the territory of the trading company from now on. The trading company will naturally have the methods of the trading company. If the spies of the Southern Tang Dynasty really sneak in and want to cause damage, it will not be that easy. ."

Lu Duan was confused and shocked, and his whole body was stunned.

A city that is obviously going to be built on a large scale does not build a city wall and allows the city to communicate freely with the outside world. It does not even distinguish between the villagers and the people. If anyone else did this, it would be like a lunatic or bullshit. It doesn't make any difference if you don't know how to slap your head and act blindly.

You know, Guo has Guo tax, and township has township tax. Guo people and villagers don’t pay the same tax at all. This thing is much more powerful than the household registration in modern society. According to Zhao Guangmei’s approach, the entire Suzhou I'm afraid the tax base will be messed up by him.

And it's not just a matter of taxation. Free circulation will inevitably lead to a greatly weakened household registration ability to control the people's people. However, we must know that the ancient court's personal control over the people was based on the household registration. Although the Song Dynasty had strict control It is the weakest in all dynasties, but it doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

Without household registration, how could the court manage the people?Doesn't this completely negate the foundation of the dynasty?
Lu Duan said he couldn't understand it, but he was shocked.As for when he mentioned Southern Tang, the disdain in Zhao Guangmei's eyes almost came to his face. He was obviously extremely confident, but Lu Duan actually didn't feel much arrogance in Zhao Guangmei.

He seems to be really confident and confident that he can control everything.

And it seems that it is at least temporarily successful. This Suzhou City without city walls can still see its prosperity from a distance.

A city that had just suffered from a flood and a military disaster that had just been calmed down actually gave Lu Duan the first impression of prosperity.

This kind of strong violation, strong counter-intuitiveness, strong repeated shouting of impossibility in his heart, but seeing is believing and the fact is louder than eloquence, all shocked him deeply.

I heard from the eldest brother that His Highness the King of Qin and Emperor Shizong seemed quite similar. He had never met Chai Rong, but when he saw Zhao Guangmei, he was really shocked. He even really wanted to do his best for him. impulse.

When I got closer, I could see that Suzhou City at this time was clearly a huge construction site. Construction was going on everywhere and everyone was busy. Of course, when I got closer, everything in the city was in ruins. He has a very rough feeling.

For example, those houses are still half-finished, so that people with nothing to do are sitting on the floor, and everyone looks dirty. For example, the women washing clothes by the river, all of them look disheveled, and even Some of them exposed most of their chests, almost shirtless like men.

The city seemed to be littered with hammers here and there. Domestic garbage, especially sewage, seemed not to be handled well. In many places, Lu Duan could smell a distinct stench every time he walked by.

Obviously, the small city of Suzhou has expanded so fast that most details are still very rough.

However, what really shocked Lu Duan was that every citizen in the city seemed to have a smiling face, and as long as Zhao Guangmei was discovered walking by, no matter what the people were doing, they would immediately stop what they were doing. , kneeling respectfully on both sides of the road with a particularly excited attitude, and even subconsciously wiped the ground in front of Zhao Guangmei's feet with his own clothes.

Then Zhao Guangmei kept saying with a smile that there was no need to kneel down, and no one got up.

Everyone in this city knows His Highness King Qin, and everyone seems to respect His Highness King Qin immensely.

Halfway through, Lu Duan realized belatedly that there were not many guards following Zhao Guangmei at all!

Year of great disaster

It seems that these victims were revolting last month, right?
His Highness the King of Qin actually dares to go out with only three or five guards?
How did he do that?
What happened in Suzhou in the past month or so?
"Look, Lu Duan, over there is the oil mill built by our firm in Suzhou. It should be said that the entire Suzhou city is currently built around this large oil mill. It's big, it's equivalent to the original oil mill. It’s half the size of Suzhou County.”

"Look at that one again. To the left of the oil pressing plant is the warehouse we are building, and to the right is the breeding farm. The surrounding land is all the land in the countryside. Look at the opposite side. That is the commercial street I planned. When the time comes, the food here will be Shops, restaurants, ready-made clothing shops, there are all kinds of shops anyway. They are under unified construction, unified bidding, and unified management. Although they have not been built yet, I will be the owner of most of these shops. It has been sold and a lot of money has been made.”

"Can Suzhou, a small city, open such a large-scale shop?"

"Yes, why not? Besides, I promise that in the future, the daily salary of all jobs in Suzhou City will never be less than fifty cents. When these people have money, they will naturally consume. If they have consumption, the money will naturally be used again. The money will be returned to the hands of the trading company."

"Hey~, this involves the concept of economics. You are not from the third company. I won't tell you. I will wait until the time is really ripe. I have a whole school dedicated to business. If you are interested, you can come and listen. , let’s go, I’ll take you to see the oil pressing workshop first.”

With that said, he took Lu Duan to the oil pressing mill, which was actually still far from being completed, but was barely ready for trial production. Anyway, no one checked the environmental protection and sanitation these days.

Seeing countless strong men, bare-chested, digging into the giant tree that was nearly a century old, the three of them hugged the thick tree like a battering ram, and even he was filled with male hormones. The breath was shocked.

"Rape matures quickly, and it only takes less than two months from planting to harvesting. The women in the family are responsible for picking the seeds, frying the seeds, and making oil cakes, while the men are responsible for grinding, beating, and extracting the seeds. After a few months of busy work, it is almost time to harvest the beans again. At that time, the beans will be harvested and processed according to the law, and the soybean oil will be beaten again. When the soybean oil is beaten, the oil press will enter the off-season. They need to make some tung oil, sesame oil and the like. Odd and small jobs, or... who knows, I'll think about it again and try to keep everyone from losing their jobs during the off-season."

Lu Duan frowned and said, "I heard that the entire cultivated land in Suzhou is now owned by commercial banks?"

"How is it possible that they are all? I can only say that most of them are."

"........."

"Don't you think it's weird?"

"Yes, I really can't figure it out, how on earth did you do it?"

"It's very simple. Almost all of them are soldiers now."

"Bing...Binghu? Are they all soldiers?"

"Yes, didn't they all rebel last month, and then they were recruited again? With each move, they naturally became soldiers. Of course, they were not soldiers of the Forbidden Army. I wanted to come I want to go again, but I don't want them to get involved with the Gaoyou and Lianshui armies. I have already asked my eldest brother to set up a new army. For the time being, I will lead their regiment training envoys, and I will replace them later. "

"In other words, they are soldiers?" Lu Duan couldn't laugh or cry: "What kind of soldiers are these? I haven't seen a single weapon for a long time. Do you still expect them to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty? Huh? No, if they are soldiers If so, then, will they pay taxes?”

"No, but they have to pay land rent to the commercial banks, and the commercial banks have to purchase and sell the rapeseed, soybeans, and rice grown in the fields."

Lu Duan: "…………"

Bullshit soldier!You are just trying to steal tax money from the Ministry of Accounts!

You almost robbed half of the Salt and Iron Department’s money, and now you’ve even robbed the Ministry of Accounts?Although the trading house and the imperial court belong to your old Zhao family, but...but...but is it too much?
"By the way, there is a market over there. I'll take you to have a look. Don't tell me. There are a lot of delicious things in Huainan. There are many things I have never tasted before, such as fresh fish and thick clams. , sweet lotus root, fat crab, it is no exaggeration to tell you that the food I eat here is better than in Kaifeng, and the osmanthus rice wine sold by the widow Zhang, hey, why is it so delicious, I want to drink it. Please go to Fan Lou. Really, I feel that it is no worse than Meishou. It has a unique flavor. You must try it and have a couple of drinks with me. My mouth must have been a wine gourd in my previous life. Why am I so greedy? Here’s the wine.”

"The market His Highness is talking about...this...is the kind where money is spent, that kind of market?"

"Yes, it's so fresh. Don't you spend money to buy things?"

Lu Duan: "…………"

Aren't they all disaster victims?

Where did the money come from?

Shouldn't you have to work hard to eat, yet you are so rich and have leisure time to go shopping?

(End of this chapter)