Chapter 883 Fusion

Chapter 883 Fusion

Chapter 883 Fusion
Guanqiu Lu didn't meet Wang Que'er immediately because he went to Gaoliu Town.

When they hurriedly arrived at Gaoliu Town, Wang Que'er led another 5,000 soldiers westward to Wuzhouchuan.

After secretly cursing his bad luck, Guanqiu Lu was about to return, but he found that there were many manors under construction on the south bank of Dunshui (Baideng River).

"Whose manor is this?" Guanqiu Lu asked, looking from afar.

Accompanying him here were the shogunate's military official Du Chen and household official Jiang Tan.

These two people were both officials of the former Nanyang State. After the state was abolished, they were transferred to local areas. Last year, they were selected to be sent to Pingcheng, in charge of the military department and the household department respectively.

"There are more than one family, most of them are owned by Yang Zhen and the chieftains of Dai State." Du Chen, a military official, said, "For example, the house that has been built belongs to the general Da Xi Heruo of Zhenbei. Yang Zhen and Duan Fan reported that the Da Xi family is one of the ten Tuoba clans, a vassal of the state, and lives in Dongmugen Mountain in the north. They have fought against the bandits several times and made great contributions. Therefore, a manor with more than 100 hectares of land and 300 slaves was established here as a reward to the Da Xi family."

"But the first person to come here and build a manor was the assistant prime minister Su Zhongyi. Gaoliu Town originally had more than 10,000 people, and now has nearly 20,000 people. He is good at managing industry and is skilled in farming. When the Xianbei nobles heard about it, they rushed here to build houses and learn from him. Zongru, look over there, aren't there a lot of millet fields?"

"It seems so." Guanqiu Lu nodded.

"People in the Central Plains plant millet, and few plant sorghum. This trend has not changed since we came here." Du Chen said, "The Xianbei nobles set aside a portion of their land and learned to plant millet, while the rest continued to plant sorghum. The land official Pei Lingshi also came several times to teach the Xianbei nobles how to plant orchards and vegetable plots."

"The Daxi Manor is backed by a mountain and faces a river. The mountain behind the manor is lush with vegetation. It was originally a hunting ground. Now a part of it has been converted into an orchard, with apricot, pear, chestnut and other trees transplanted. We just planted them this spring, so there are not many, but if we persevere, it will be a good income in the future."

Guanqiu Lu seemed to understand something and said with a smile: "I heard that Dongmugen Mountain is a little unstable. If all its nobles have properties in the three counties in the south of the mountain and have a good income, it will not be so easy for them to rebel."

Du Chen smiled but said nothing. He just cupped his hands and said, "This is all thanks to the king."

Guanqiu Lu suddenly realized that King Liang really liked to do this.

He often took the chiefs of various tribes to hunt, drink and eat meat together, and sometimes even dance when he felt like it. He was also very brave and his behavior was very much to the taste of the nobles of the grassland.

If we help these people to buy property in private, so that they can gradually escape from their hard life and even enjoy the good life now, things will be much easier.

Use kindness and loyalty to win them over, lure them with benefits, and educate them. This is actually the best strategy that can be implemented when people's hearts are not yet attached.

A group of people stood by the river pointing and talking, and a large group of people had already come out from the direction of Gaoliu Town.

There were only a thousand soldiers left in the garrison, but many gray-haired old men or teenagers aged fourteen or fifteen were recruited to assist in the defense.

There is no room for comfort in the border areas. All men have to learn the art of fighting, and even some strong women have to learn how to ride horses and shoot arrows.

Among the garrison troops that were reorganized from the original Heilongjiang Right Camp, there were two to three thousand people who had not yet married. In the past six months, four to five hundred of them have started families, and most of them married women from the Xianbei, Wuhuan, Xiongnu or other mixed Hu tribes.

Many of these women can ride horses and shoot arrows. Influenced by their parents, many of their children will practice riding, shooting and martial arts. Over time, just like the tribes on the grassland, everyone is a soldier and is hardworking. In fact, they are a very good source of soldiers.

After negotiating with the caravan, these people allowed them to cross the wooden bridge over the Dun River and trade on the north bank of the river.

Guanqiu Lu brought more than one hundred carts of goods, thirty of which were pulled to the vicinity of Gaoliu Town, mainly to sell to the families of the soldiers in the town, and he also collected leather, medicinal materials, honey, wax, bird feathers, animal tendons, livestock and other items from them.

The caravans brought mostly daily necessities from the Central Plains, which were in great demand here.

In just a short while, all the goods they brought were sold out. The best-selling one was a strong liquor from the Central Plains called "Jiuyun Liquor".

Jiuyun is a brewing method. The original Jiuyun Spring Wine was invented by Guo Zhi of Nanyang and was presented to Emperor Xian of Han by Cao Cao.

Zhang Hua, the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, studied the method of brewing wine - he was really bored - he looked for good raw materials everywhere, and after many experiments, he improved the brewing technology of Jiuyunchun wine.

Among them, Xuan came from the Western Qiang and Qu came from the Northern Hu.

Zhang Hua heard that winemakers in the Central Plains were going to the Qiang and Hu people to learn how to make rice wine and koji, so he sent people to get Qiang rice wine (malt) and Hu koji, and used the Central Plains winemaking techniques to brew a new Jiuyun wine. It had a higher alcohol content and was easy to make people drunk, so it was called "Xiaochang wine". Later, he thought it didn't sound good, so he called it "Xiaochang wine".

Zhang Hua was quite generous. In his book, he specifically noted that the techniques of making rice dumplings and koji were learned from the Qiang and Hu people, and that his brewing method was his own. While inventing, he also gave due respect to the Qiang and Hu original creators - this wine and Sangluo wine were known as the two famous wines of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

However, the Qiang and Hu people had no written language, and their grain production was not high. Once the few advanced technologies were learned by the Han people, the strong liquors of the Han area would be dumped there...

Jiuyun wine is also a famous wine in the Hu people's territory and is very popular.

Jiang Tan, the official in charge of the household department, read through it calmly, and then said, "Protector Wang intends to set up a military market in Gaoliu Town. The market will have a commander who will be in charge of all matters. The rent from the market will go to the shogunate, but the money will not be used and will be used for the Gaoliu Town military. The clan scholars can trade freely this year, but they will have to sell their goods in the military market next year."

"Oh? Military market?" Guanqiu Lu was a little surprised and a little confused.

Military markets existed during the Warring States Period, and also existed during the Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties, but they were mostly set up in frontier areas and rarely seen in the interior. The last time a military market was set up in the interior was during the reign of King Sima Xuan.

He set up a military market in Chang'an, and all merchants, big and small, had to go to the military market to do business. The military market marquis (the official in charge of the military market) collected rent (taxes) to use as military supplies.

Among them, the largest number were merchants who transported grain to Chang'an, then obtained the qualifications to buy and sell goods in the military market, took out another part of the grain to pay taxes, and finally left with the goods.

To be honest, it is similar to the later Ming Dynasty merchants who transported grain to the border and then obtained salt permits.

The only difference is that there was really not much profit to be made from salt at that time. In fact, until the Tang Dynasty, the Hedong Salt Lake was jointly taken by officials and civilians. Salt became really expensive during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the price skyrocketed again, so that the Western Xia green salt was smuggled and dumped into the Song Dynasty on a large scale, making a lot of profit.

The military market has a certain monopoly nature. Many commodities can only be bought and sold in the military market, and after being transported to the inland, they can be sold to the outside world at several times or even ten times the price, so some merchants are willing to transport grain to the military market.

Military markets certainly have many disadvantages, but to be honest, they are still quite feasible in border areas.

The soldiers' income will be increased, and they can be supplemented by private grain transportation (the bulk of which will come from local farming). Weighing the pros and cons, we should choose the lesser of two evils. Therefore, military markets should not be set up in inland areas, but they can be set up on border areas.

"If Zongru doesn't want to come to the military market, he can go to the East Market of Pingcheng. There will also be a military market in Wuzhou Town. Merchants from far and near can only trade in these three markets. Those who violate the order will be fined and their goods will be confiscated and they will be caned 100 times." Jiang Tan said: "This is also a lawless thing. This is a bitter and cold place, and the people are poor and destitute. If it is not done this way, there will be no way to inspire the morale of the army."

"After the military market is established, the lives of the soldiers in Gaoliu and Wuzhou will be much better." Guanqiu Lu said with a smile, "How can I ruin the country for a few things? Don't worry, the goods under my name will be divided into three parts, and Gaoliu, Pingcheng, and Wuzhou will all be sold to meet military needs."

Jiang Tan bowed and said, "Zongru is very wise and righteous. I admire him."

"Baa, baa..." A large group of sheep were driven across the wooden bridge.

The caravan members immediately stepped forward and collected it.

This was the "payment" they received, which was very cheap, costing an average of 30 or 40 coins per piece. In the Central Plains, such a fat sheep could be sold for more than 200 coins.

For merchants, the mutual trade actually allows them to make money twice, namely, selling goods from the Central Plains at high prices and purchasing goods from the grasslands at low prices.

"Why didn't those people buy it?" Guanqiu Lu suddenly pointed at a group of Hu chieftains wearing fur coats and seemed to be preparing to go out hunting, and asked.

Jiang Tan took a look and said, "There are always some people who resist a good life. Ignore them. Over time, they will change."

The people he was talking about were obviously Xianbei nobles who adhered to tradition.

It goes without saying that the Xianbei people are widely distributed and have a large population. They have established their own country and culture. Their values, aesthetics, way of thinking, and behavioral styles are different from those of the Han people. After a long period of sedimentation, they are often deeply rooted in the soul and form a subconscious existence - to use a high-sounding word to describe it is "nationality."

To them, Central Plains culture is a heterogeneous culture, different from their native culture.

This heterogeneous culture is certainly advanced and attracts many people's yearning, but when it impacts local culture, it will cause a subconscious backlash.

Some people can overcome this mentality, while others cannot.

Back then, Tuoba Shamo Khan had been a hostage in the Central Plains for many years and had been heavily assimilated into the Han culture. As a result, after he returned, he was disliked by many nomadic tribes. In addition, Wei Guan bribed him, so they attacked him and killed Shamo Khan with the tacit consent of Tuoba Liwei.

Why did they dislike Sha Mo Khan? In addition to the struggle for power among Tuoba Liwei's other descendants and Wei Guan's bribery, the trigger was that Sha Mo Khan was too "Han" and incompatible with them.

Today, the Tuoba Dai Kingdom, with Pingcheng as its capital, appears to be submissive on the surface, but there are actually undercurrents surging inside and it is not very stable.

Although the country is dominated by new factions, there are still many old factions, such as the tribal nobles who graze in the Dongmugen Mountain area.

Even among the new school, perhaps not everyone is willing to completely sinicize and completely abandon their own culture - from this we can see that the sinicization move of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei in later generations really took great determination, perseverance, and courage, and the backlash must have been considerable.

Guanqiu Lu couldn't imagine it so deeply, but he had some vague understanding. After this trip to Dai State, he felt it even more deeply.

First, Pu Gu heard about the "body seizure" by the State of Jin, and later there was the resistance of the Hu chieftains outside Gaoliu Town, which is very telling.

But if we think about it from another perspective, Daiguo is actually moving towards the direction of integration with Sinicization, provided that this process cannot be interrupted.

If possible, Helan Aitou and Tuoba Yihuai, uncle and nephew of Shengle, must be eliminated as soon as possible because they are powerful people who uphold the Xianbei traditions.

Their very existence is a problem.

(There will be another chapter in the evening. Please vote if you have tickets. Thanks.)
(End of this chapter)