Chapter 1306 Encounter

Chapter 1306 Encounter

Chapter 1306 Encounter
Gao Wu went to the Liang Palace on the first day of the winter month.

Emperor Liang was in the hall, and the Minister of Rites Pei Xia read out the edict, appointing Gao Zhao as the King of Goguryeo and bestowing him with a crown, a seal, a military axe and other items, but no map.

Gao Wu was a little confused. Could it be that the Liang Dynasty was just established and the systems were rough, so no maps were distributed?
After accepting the enthronement, the Honglu Temple originally planned to keep him for a while, but Gao Wu insisted on leaving, so they let him go.

By the time they arrived at Qingzhou Haipu, it must have been the twelfth lunar month. There might have been small pieces of floating ice near the coast by then, so it was still a question whether they could go out to sea. There was a high probability that they would be stranded in Qingzhou.

Of course, Gao Wu was not that stupid. He went back by land, heading north through Youzhou, and then returning to Goguryeo through the territories of his long-time allies Yuwen Xianbei and Buyeo.

Before leaving, Gao Wu put away the imperial letter and the personal letter from Emperor Liang, and prepared to buy some goods and even books from the Central Plains to bring back.

Especially the latter, when he heard that the price of books in China and North Korea had dropped significantly, although he didn't know the reason, he thought it must be a good thing, so he had to spend most of the money.

Gao Wu’s first stop was Bianliang Bookstore.

This is a place with a shop in front and a workshop in the back, that is, the front yard sells books and the back yard makes books. Gao Wu looked carefully and was a little disappointed. There were not many kinds of books.

He picked up the book closest to him, which turned out to be a book called "Agricultural Records".

Gao Wu took a closer look and thought it was quite useful, so he asked, "May I ask, sir, how much does this book cost?"

The owner was an old man with scars on his face and only one hand. The sleeve on the other side was empty. He first looked at Gao Wu and saw that the crown on his head was short and the ears were very large, almost covering his ears, which was somewhat different from the Central Plains style. So he asked, "Where are you from?"

"Goguryeo." Gao Wu raised his head and spoke in a calm tone as much as possible.

When the old man heard this, his expression changed and he said, "Three pieces of Chenliu mixed silk, or one thousand Kaiping Tongbao coins."

Gao Wu was secretly happy, it’s not expensive!
But he already knew that the price of Chinese and Korean books had dropped, so he bargained, "Maybe it's cheaper? I'll buy other books."

The old man said impatiently, "Isn't this cheap? Look how thick this book is? How good is the paper? If this book was written on rattan paper thirty years ago, it would have taken several months to copy, proofread, and bind. It would have been worth ten pieces of silk, and it might not even be sold."

In the past, books were not widely circulated and there were very few copyists, because literate scholars were not necessarily willing to do this job. Even if they copied books, they were for their own collection. They were rarely circulated on the market, and the prices of books were shockingly high.

Of course, it is not so much that books are expensive, but rather that monopolized knowledge is expensive.

People always say that poor students are so poor and have to work in the fields, but the knowledge they have mastered is already a huge fortune, it's just not easy to cash in.

Even though there is woodblock printing now, people still print and copy books at the same time. Although the price of books has dropped sharply, it is still out of reach for ordinary people.

This is the case with books, and people who master the knowledge in books will only be more expensive. This is one of the difficulties in popularizing education.

Gao Wu naturally knew that books were valuable, so it was normal for them to be a little expensive. However, since it was a matter of money, he still asked, "How about five hundred coins?"

The old man didn't seem to have a good temper either. He said coldly, "If you can't afford it, don't buy it. People in a poor and remote place like Goguryeo who eat raw meat and drink blood also want to study?"

Gao Wu's face was filled with anger, and he said, "Goguryeo is a big country in the east of the sea, its people eat grains, and there are millions of households. Isn't it that the old man Zhang is looking down on us?"

"One million households?" The old man laughed. "One hundred thousand is the maximum. And they still grow grains. Is it possible to grow crops in such a cold place?"

Seeing him like that, Gao Wu suddenly became too lazy to explain.

The Central Plains scholars he met might be very polite and courteous, but their unintentional words and actions always exposed their ignorance of Goguryeo, and they almost treated them as savages.

A while ago, I had a chat with Xun Xu, the Minister of the Honglu Temple. During the meal, he mentioned that the rich families in Goguryeo had four-pillar granaries to store grain. Xun Xu thought he was exaggerating and said that "The Records of the Three Kingdoms" recorded that Goguryeo had no good farmland and the people could not afford to fill their stomachs, so the custom was to diet.

Gao Wu was very angry after hearing this, and could only try his best to explain that sometimes after planting crops, frost would occur and the harvest would indeed be poor, and the grain would not be enough to fill their stomachs, but they usually still grazed cattle, sheep and raised pigs. In addition, there were many mountains and rivers in the country, and the fish catch was extremely rich. After the autumn harvest every day, as long as they had free time, they would go fishing and hunting, and make dried fish, jerky and meat sauce in preparation for the winter.

The fact that Goguryeo had nearly 100,000 households is a clear proof of this, while during the Han Dynasty there were only 30,000 to 40,000 households. The population more than doubled in a hundred years.

But people still don't believe it, there's nothing we can do about it.

Gao Wu asked someone to bring a string of coins, threw it on the table, and said, "A copy of 'A Collection of Agricultural Affairs'."

The old man's eyelids twitched, but he didn't say anything and just handed him the book.

Gao Wu asked his followers to pack up the books, and then he picked out a dozen books from other categories before leaving the bookstore.

******
At noon, the group returned to the inn to have lunch, and then came to the outside of Bianliang Market.

The concentrated trading period of the market town has ended, and now most of the traders entering the market are individual merchants, filling the market to the brim.

Gao Wu entered from the south gate of the town wall and suddenly saw the hustle and bustle of traffic and people.

"Sun Datou, where is my armor? Is it ready?" A loud shout came from not far away.

Gao Wu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a burly man squeezing into the crowd, causing dissatisfaction among everyone.

One of them taunted, "Chen San, where's your armor? Did you lose it on the battlefield?"

The strong man didn't bother to pay attention to him, and only explained to the others who were looking at him: "That armor is quite old, and it is badly eaten by insects. I threw it to my family. Come here to buy a new one."

Everyone suddenly realized and stopped talking.

People who come here either buy new armor, repair old armor, paint leather armor, or buy small items such as nail plates, belts, buckles, etc. to replace them themselves.

The Zuo Jinwu Guard has been established for many years, and now it is divided into different levels according to financial resources. Some people can use iron armor, while others can only use leather armor. The raw materials of leather armor are divided into pig skin, cow skin, sheepskin, deerskin, etc., and the prices are also different. In short, it is very complicated.

It cannot be generalized that you should purchase corresponding equipment according to your financial resources.

"Chen San, please wait another seven days for the new armor." As he was speaking, Sun Datou, who was selling leather armor, came out and said.

"You've already pushed it once, why do you still want to wait?" Chen San was a little unhappy.

"You can't blame me. These buckles of mine were made by the villagers in Kaifeng County. However, a lot of young men were conscripted in September to transport supplies to Youzhou, and they only came back a while ago." Sun Datou said, "There are fewer people working, what can I do?" Chen San was speechless.

He bought the leather armor in order to go to war, and the young men in Kaifeng County were conscripted for the purpose of fighting.

To be fair, the young men don't want this to happen either.

After autumn sowing until the following spring, there is generally little farm work, which is often a good time for them to earn money to supplement their family income.

Some people build houses for rich families and earn money by working hard.

Some people have skills and can take on some odd manual jobs to make money.

But once you are sent to war, not only will you have no time to make money, you will also have to invest money, which is a huge loss.

So he just muttered: "Don't miss the winter exercises."

"It's not a mistake. I don't even know when you will do it," said Sun Datou.

Chen San was speechless. He didn't even know when the Zuo Jinwu Guard would start fighting, but Sun Datou actually knew. This...

Everyone burst into laughter and said, "Although Sun Datou is ugly, his daughter is very pretty and was favored by the military officials."

Sun Datou cursed with a smile, then turned and went into the house.

Gao Wu left silently.

It seems that Liang State's expedition against Murong Xianbei is not empty talk, the arrow is on the string and must be fired.

He then walked along the two intersecting streets in the market and bought anything he found interesting.

After strolling around for a whole afternoon, as the sun was setting, he prepared to leave the market.

The entourage followed behind, and the mule cart borrowed from the Honglu Temple was loaded with goods from the Central Plains.

He discovered something very interesting. Just like what he saw in the leather armor shop at noon, many things were made by farmers in nearby villages.

They can only make one small item, not the whole thing. But if Village A makes Part A, Village B makes Part B, and Village C makes Part C, their craftsmanship is usually not bad - they may be ordinary at first, but they will become proficient after doing it more.

The most important thing is that this method can produce more goods quickly and at a very low price, which is much cheaper than a craftsman completing the entire product from start to finish.

If there is no work for a while, it doesn't matter. It is done during the slack season of farming, and people don't rely on it to make a living. If there is work, do it. If there is no work, do your own things, or just do nothing.

Long insight!

Gao Wu walked out of the market while thinking about this.

A group of carriages and horses came from the front, followed by hundreds of young men who looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old.

The leader was riding a big horse. When he saw Gao Wu, he bowed on his horse.

Gao Wu hurriedly returned the gift.

He had seen this man before, Shao Yu, the King of Yan from Daliang, who had been serving in Youzhou for many years.

Out of a subtle emotion, Gao Wu quickly took his men away.

Shao Yu withdrew his gaze. He actually had some subtle emotions and vaguely regarded Gao Wu as an opponent.

In the past few days, he had discussed with his father about the management of Pingzhou since the Han Dynasty. He mentioned why he could only occupy Pingzhou but not advance northward. He was very puzzled and his father was a little hesitant at first. Later, he suddenly realized something and wrote down the three words "frost-free period" and explained it in detail.

According to my father, Goguryeo's territory is located in the north, and even if the weather is good, the first frost will generally occur in August or September every year, and the last frost will not occur until March or April of the following year. If you really count it, there may be only 140 days of frost-free period, or 150 days at most.

In this case, there are few crops to choose from because the growing season is only four or five months.

The frost-free period in Lelang and Daifang counties in Pingzhou is about 40 days longer than that in Goguryeo mainland, and in some coastal areas it is even 60 days longer.

My father said that the frost-free period in Liaodong County is similar to that in Lelang and Daifang counties, and the frost-free period in several counties in the southern half that are across the sea from Qingzhou is even longer.

Because his father experienced frost when he went to Yinshan Mountain, Shao Yu agreed with this.

So, now the truth is clear: this is why the Central Plains dynasties have only controlled the Pingzhou counties since the Han Dynasty.

The Goguryeo people only had four or five months to farm, so they could only choose millet, sorghum and the like - the same millet usually took five or six months to grow and be harvested in the Central Plains, but the Goguryeo people had to harvest it in four months at most. Obviously, the varieties were different, so the yield per mu was naturally different.

From this perspective, the Goguryeo people had a strong urge to move south, and Liaodong County was simply a treasure land in their eyes.

After collecting his thoughts, Shao Yu dismounted his horse outside the city wall, and then entered the market surrounded by the crowd.

The two officials of the Shaofu ran around, helping to purchase equipment - if available, they would buy it on the spot; if not, they would pay a deposit. They would purchase hundreds of sets at a time, including armor, swords, guns, bows and crossbows, etc., even bran bags, military boots, cotton-padded clothes and the like.

The young men were in high spirits. Most of them were from the left and right cavalry guards and most of them knew how to ride horses. Many of them had even practiced cavalry warfare since childhood.

He only recruited more than 300 people from more than 14,000 companies. It seems small, but quality is more important than quantity. At least these people are willing to follow him and risk their lives, so they are not lacking in courage.

Heavy snow fluttered down, covering the bow and sword.

Shao Yu gently stroked a heavy lance as if he was caressing a beautiful woman.

(End of this chapter)