Chapter 1050 Selection

Chapter 1050 Selection

Chapter 1050 Selection

At the beginning of May, Shao Xun went to West Market, Henan again.

This time he came alone.

Hu Tou was sent to Yi Yang, while the other children studied and practiced martial arts in the palace. Shao Xun brought Yu Hua to the Imperial Princess's Stage, where he handled a few government affairs and then listened to reports.

At this time, the closed-door trading in Henan West Market had ended, but the big merchants had left, and a bunch of small and medium-sized merchants came to continue selling. However, they were just traditional commercial trade forms, no longer bookkeeping bulk wholesale.

"The Records of the Grand Historian - Biographies of Merchants says, 'No one sells wood at a distance of a hundred miles, and no one sells millet at a distance of a thousand miles.' There are grain merchants in Yecheng who sell grain to Luoyang, and then they see that the grain price here is still high, so it is profitable." Shao Xun said, "However, I am curious, how far can grain be sold now? A thousand miles?"

"In times of peace, at most a hundred miles." Yu Hua had a reputation for being greedy for money and was very interested in money. He immediately said, "If there is a disaster, even if it is hundreds or thousands of miles away, there will be profit. If there is a severe famine, as long as the goods are transported here, no matter how expensive it is, there will be profit."

"That's true." Shao Xun said with a smile, "During the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasty, how far did the grains go?"

"I don't know much about Shu, I only know about Wei and Wu." Yu Hua said: "During the Wei and Jin dynasties, Luoyang set up a 'grain market', which relied on grain from other counties. The farthest was from Jizhou, and most of it was transported to Yecheng via Baigou. Big merchants distributed it there and then transported it to Luoyang by river."

"How much does shipping cost?"

"There are two types of grain ships, small and large. A small ship can carry 1,500 hu and needs two boatmen, while a large ship can carry 3,000 hu and needs one more boatman." Yu Hua said, "When the water is flowing smoothly, no boatmen are needed. When the water is calm or against the current, seven or eight boatmen or even more than ten boatmen are needed. They need to be paid nine liters of grain a day and their salary varies from five to ten coins."

"Salary" means "firewood" and "water", which is equivalent to a subsidy. Later, it was extended to mean daily expenses and even wages.

"The cost of water transportation is really low." Shao Xun sighed: "If we use ox carts, the freight cost will probably be dozens of times higher."

"That's right." Yu Hua said, "When Quan Rou was governor of Guiyang, he sent Zi (Quan) Cong to Wu with several thousand bushels of rice to trade."

"Selling rice from Changsha to Jianye..." Shao Xun was speechless. How far is it?

"This is only possible in Dongwu." Yu Hua said: "After all, the water transportation in the north is not as good as that in the south. The wealthy families in Dongwu have fields spread over thousands of miles, thousands of merchant ships, and tens of thousands of rotten grains."

"Yu" means open-air barn, which means that the wealthy families in Dongwu calculated grain using barns as units, which is similar to the way the Qu and You families in Jincheng calculated cattle and sheep using valleys as units.

"My fields cover thousands of miles, but that might be an exaggeration," Shao Xun said with a smile.

Yu Hua smiled apologetically and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

"So the key lies in shipping," said Shao Xun.

Business in the Middle Ages was inseparable from canals because they had such great cost advantages.

Compared with the cost of land transportation at a few tenths, long-distance resale has become possible.

This is the main reason why after the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties ended, Bianzhou surpassed Luoyang and became the largest metropolis in Guandong, because the city was located at the node of water transport.

Similarly, as important water transport towns, Pengcheng and Yecheng also quickly became prosperous.

Luoyang's locational advantage is ultimately not as good as Bianliang, because after the fleet arrives in Bianliang, it has to enter the Yellow River and then into Luoshui, which adds two extra procedures.

"Bianliang is the eastern capital of the country. I have to find an opportunity to live there for a few years." Shao Xun said, "Let's not talk about this for now. You have also been walking around Henan West Market for a few days. Do you have any insights?"

Yu Hua seemed to want to talk but stopped himself, obviously not wanting to say anything.

"Speak directly if you have anything to say."

"Measuring the land is useful, and the government soldiers are also very useful." Yu Hua sighed.

"How to say?"

"There are 80,000 soldiers in the country, including their families, which is nearly 400,000 people." Yu Hua said, "Food, clothing, housing, transportation, birth, aging, illness and death, and even training martial arts and going to war, all need to be purchased. Every New Year, winter, cold food, double ninth festival, funerals, weddings, etc., the market will be empty."

Eighty thousand soldiers released 400,000 consumers, almost creating two large consumer cities and expanding the market.

To put it bluntly, many consumer goods rely on people to consume, and the consumer population under the manor economy is still limited. Even if the manor owner and his staff spend like crazy, how much can they use?
Small landlords with military merits, such as the Fubing, are the most suitable consumer group.

Yu Hua actually already understood this truth.

So Shao Xun immediately asked: "This year, I want to continue to measure the land. Which counties do you think are more suitable?"

"The land in Guanxi has not yet been measured, so we can do this on a large scale," Yu Hua replied.

"The situation in Guanxi is complicated. Not every county can measure the land." Shao Xun said, "Yu Qing, please tell us."

"Fengyi County has rebelled several times, and the Di and Qiang bandits have long been frightened. Now that we have the Three Military Offices to suppress it, we can focus on farming." Yu Hua said.

Shao Xun nodded and said, "Not bad."

He didn't want to measure the land in Fengyi County before, because the Di Qiang were too powerful. Once the land was measured, they would definitely rebel, so he didn't do it. But now they have rebelled again and again, and the Four-horned King and Xuchu clan have been hit hard, so it seems that this can be done.

The worst that can happen is that there will be another chaos and Jin Zheng will go and kill people again.

Things like rebellion will only be very powerful at the beginning, but will become less and less powerful as time goes by.

"Jingzhao County is the garrison of the General of Zhenxi, the heartland of Liu Han. Although there are many large families, they have been invaded and plundered many times. Maybe we can measure the land there. Fufeng County has the fief of the King of Qin. The household registration has been checked, so we can also measure the land there."

"Just these two counties?"

"Fengyi, Jingzhao, and Fufeng, a total of three counties." Yu Hua said.

The seven counties of Beidi, Xinping, Shiping, Anding, Diaoyin, Xinqin and Shang were not mentioned.

As for Qinzhou, Yu Hua did not think it was suitable for land measurement, at least not now. "Although it is a bit timid, it is a wise and prudent statement for the country. Regarding the land measurement in Yongzhou, I will follow your advice," Shao Xun said.

It’s not that the other seven counties didn’t measure the land, but they are not suitable for the time being.

Generally speaking, Shao Xun's strategy is to do the easy things first and then the difficult ones.

The first batch of land measurement targets were the twenty counties of Liang State. After repeated plowing and checking, the household registration results were truly astonishing. Now it has become the most stable area under the rule of the Liang Dynasty, the area with the largest tax supply and the largest population.

The second batch of 19 counties had either experienced the ravages of war, or suffered serious disasters, or the power of the wealthy families was not strong enough, so the resistance to land measurement was relatively small.

After checking these 39 counties, it was found that there were not many places with easy farming, and we will enter deep waters from now on.

According to Shao Xun's idea, the third batch of land measurement targets will be those counties and prefectures that have certain powerful families but whose united front value is not great enough.

To put it bluntly, you opposed me and even rebelled because of land allocation. Although I am unhappy, it does not mean that I cannot kill you. You are targets that can be cut off.

Of course, after so many years of land measurement turmoil, the "encircle three and leave one" strategy, as well as support in business, the attitudes of some scholars have softened, and it may not be as difficult as imagined, but compared with the previous 39 counties, the resistance will definitely be greater.

"What about Sizhou and Bingzhou?" Shao Xun asked.

"There are only three counties left in Sizhou, namely Hedong, Shangluo and Guangping. I think we can handle them all at once." Yu Hua said with his head down.

"Go to Luoke, but not Hedong and Guangping." Shao Xun said without hesitation.

"Your Majesty is wise." Yu Hua said, "There is still Kelan County in Bingzhou that has not been surveyed. I think we can postpone it. The survey of Shangdang is not thorough. I think we should not ask about it either."

"go on."

"In Jizhou, there are six counties, including Zhao, Julu, Anping, Bohai, Pingyuan and Qinghe, that have not yet been surveyed. These are densely populated areas and can be surveyed and cleared. However, there are also military towns and Hu people's pastures mixed in, which makes it quite complicated. I think we can deal with it step by step." Yu Hua said.

"Does Mr. Yu intend to temporarily postpone the land measurement in these six counties?" Shao Xun asked.

"Your Majesty wants to attack the south, so there must not be any chaos in the rear." Yu Hua said, "Among these six counties, you can choose Zhao, Anping, and Bohai as the three counties to do so. Qinghe, Pingyuan, and Julu will not be measured for the time being."

Shao Xun did not comment and asked, "What about Qing and Xu states?"

"The five counties of Qingzhou, Qi, Chengyang, Changguang, Beihai, and Le'an, can all be measured for farmland."

"Why not mention Xuzhou?"

"The Prime Minister has great influence in Qing and Xu states, especially in Langya, Dongguan, Lanling and other counties. I think the Prime Minister has worked hard and made great contributions, so the land measurement can be postponed for now," said Yu Hua.

Shao Xun suddenly laughed.

Yu Hua was puzzled, and Shao Xun did not say much, only saying: "Lanling County can measure the land."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "If you have anything else to do, you can leave."

Yu Hua bowed and left quietly.

Shao Xun thought about it again. He only had half of Xuzhou. He had already taken the two counties of Donghai and Pengcheng. The rest were either not in his hands, or he and the enemy each occupied half, or they were mostly occupied by the gentry, and they were the core group that supported him. He could indeed postpone it. So in the end he only chose the five counties of Lanling.

There were still four counties in Yanzhou, namely Taishan, Jiyin, Dongping and Gaoping, which had not yet been surveyed. After much deliberation, Shao Xun decided to take action against Gaoping and Dongping counties, because there were local soldiers and the power of the gentry was not exaggeratedly strong.

As for Yuzhou, he chose Lu County.

All the sixteen counties will begin to measure the land from the second half of this year. According to the old rules, the land occupied after the Yongjia period will not be counted and will be cleared out one by one.

In other counties, the land has either been surveyed or is not suitable for intervention for the time being.

This was the tacit understanding between Shao Xun and the aristocratic officials in the court.

The sixteen counties selected this time are also a silent dialogue between him and the aristocratic families. It depends on the subsequent reaction.

He is very determined.

At this point, he was even willing to postpone his southern expedition and engage in a civil war with those who opposed land quota control.

In history, the Northern and Southern Dynasties never managed the land well, so that the foundation was in vain and the flags on the city walls changed.

When Shi Le occupied Hebei, it is said that he conducted a census and found that there were 10,000 households in one county, which was simply ridiculous.

The demise of the Later Zhao Dynasty was not unjust in history. Even if Shi Hu had not committed such evil deeds, the dynasty would not have lasted long.

As soon as the news came back from the front line that "our army was defeated", the flags on the city walls in the rear immediately changed.

Overnight, the wealthy families stopped sending troops and men, stopped delivering food and military supplies to the front lines, and just sat back and watched the outcome. Who could stand this?
Even if there was a sudden reversal at the front line and the battle was won, the only thing we could do to these wait-and-see nobles was to give them a light punishment, punish a few of them as examples, and then appease the rest.

If you do this, they will just wait and see next time instead of fully supporting you.

May passed quickly, and by the beginning of June, the order to measure the land in the sixteen counties was finally issued.

Although there were opposing opinions in the court, their voices were not very loud, but it was not certain at the local level.

At the same time, Shao Xun decided to complete the last piece of the Imperial Guards puzzle: forming the Black Shadow Camp.

(End of this chapter)