Relying on the family's influence in Xuzhou, the Chen family quickly helped Chen Deng become Wang Lei's official. Chen Gui also warned Chen Deng not to think about getting ahead within 10 years, and to assist Wang Lei with peace of mind.
He knew that although his family was in dire straits, they would definitely suffer disaster if they appeared in front of Xu Wei. Now that the Chen family has entered the officialdom of Daqian, this is already a huge victory. They will lurk for a generation, waiting for Xu Wei after That's when they came into their own.
After Chen Deng's ability became Wang Lei's subordinate officer, he immediately stood out and helped Wang Lei in Xu Wei clean up the city destroyed by the war, repair water conservancy facilities, and restore Xuzhou's agricultural production. Wang Lei quickly discovered that Chen Deng was proficient in all aspects of government affairs. He saved most of his worries with Wang Lei, the governor of Xuzhou, and now he has become Wang Lei's confidant, so he was brought to Jixian by Wang Lei.
Wang Lei heard Chen Deng's words and said with a helpless smile: "Who makes us in Xuzhou still at the forefront of dealing with the Han Dynasty? The government is also worried that the factories that have spent huge sums of money to build will be destroyed by the war. In addition, Yanzhou, Sili, Xiliang and other prefectures and counties The governor said that our states and counties are sucking their blood, and now the government is trying to find ways to balance the development gap among the counties!"
Mi Zhu said angrily: "Our Xuzhou is also being sucked by other states and counties, especially Qingzhou. You must know that Xuzhou had a population of more than 3 million at that time, but because of Cao's thieves, most of the population moved to Qingzhou. Now the population is only There are only a million left.”
Mi Zhu, the largest wealthy businessman in Xuzhou, was also in trouble like the Chen family. After all, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had tricked even the noble families in Xuzhou, and Mi Zhu's merchant family was the most valuable fat pig in their eyes. At that time, the Mi family's property was basically was swallowed up by Cao Cao. Fortunately, Mi Zhu understood the principle of the cunning rabbit's three burrows and still retained part of his family property and caravans in Hebei and Jiangnan. It was because of the family property in these two places that the Mi family did not completely decline.
But even after Mi Zhu's efforts over the years, the Mi family has still not recovered to 30% of its heyday. After all, Hebei businessmen have become stronger with Xu Wei's support. Mi Zhu's competitive pressure in Hebei is extremely strong, not to mention that he is still He was hit hard by princes like Cao Cao. Although everyone sympathized with Mi Zhu's experience, they still beat him up. This is because Mi Zhu was talented in business and was able to withstand this disaster.
After Daqian regained Xuzhou last year, Mi Luan felt that the pressure of doing business in Hebei was too great, so he immediately returned to his hometown and invested huge sums of money to rebuild his business kingdom. Wang Lei also wanted Xuzhou to recover quickly Yuan Qi, with such a big businessman investing in Xuzhou, this naturally attracted Wang Lei's attention.
Wang Lei also tried his best to help Mi Zhu's factory in Xuzhou, and Mi Zhu did not disappoint Wang Lei. In the first year, he invested hundreds of millions of dollars to build a factory in Xuzhou. It can be said that the two parties can now be regarded as allies.
When Wang Lei heard this, he was even more helpless and said: "There is a lack of population everywhere now. If we weren't on the front line here, I'm afraid we would get even less support!"
Chen Deng said with relief: "It's not that we have gained nothing at all. During this year, we have continued to absorb the population of Jiujiang County and Lujiang County. Now the population of the entire Guangling County has increased by 100,000. It is said that Liu Bei is now trying to find ways to reduce the population. The inflow of population has moved all the people north of the Yangtze River to the south of the Yangtze River!"
Nowadays, various places are trying to find ways to compete for population. The states in Daqian are also strictly guarding against such things. Even the states and counties that absorb the population should not go too far. Originally, Wang Lei was also worried about the lack of population in Xuzhou. But at this time, Chen Deng came up with a good idea for Wang Lei. Xuzhou can't absorb the people of Daqian now, but there will be no one to take care of the people of the big Han people opposite.
The method given by Chen Deng was also extremely simple. As long as the people who fled from the Han Dynasty to the territory of Daqian came to Xuzhou, each household would receive 10 shi of food as a settling-in allowance, and Xu Wei would also build a house for each household. , one hundred acres of land!
This naturally caused a stir among the people throughout the Han Dynasty. It doesn't matter what the land is. After more than ten years of fighting for hegemony, there are fewer people and the land is barren. Now, which prince wants to compete for the people's hearts without giving away land, but really giving away food It had never happened before, and the people in Jiujiang and Lujiang counties had already suffered from military disasters at that time. Their homes had long been without food. Now when they heard the news, they immediately ran towards Xuzhou.
Chen Deng also used his family's connections in Jiujiang County and Lujiang County to spread such news, and immediately attracted a large number of people from Jiujiang County and Lujiang County to Xuzhou. Chen Deng also relied on these 100,000 people to be influenced by Wang Lei. Pay attention to.
But Wang Lei still said helplessly: "There are too few people, and it is difficult to do anything. You must know that Xuzhou used to have a population of more than 4 million, but now it only has 30% of the population. Now I divide 100 acres of land for each household in Xuzhou, and there are still a lot of The fertile land has no one to cultivate it.”
Chen Deng and Mi Zhu felt heartbroken when they heard this, because a large part of the land Wang Lei mentioned belonged to them, but now it has nothing to do with them.
After Mi Zhu regained his mood, he immediately said to Wang Lei: "Prince Wang, in fact, there are fewer people and there are fewer people! Xuzhou's environment is unique, the land is flat and fertile, and it is close to the sea. It can connect the entire Daqian and rich prefectures and counties by sea. In Guangling The county also has an extremely large fishing ground, all of which are Xuzhou’s rich capital! As long as there is one pillar industry, Xuzhou will develop quickly.”
Wang Lei immediately asked: "Brother Mi, is there any way you can teach me?"
Mi Zhu smiled and said: "There is no shortage of food in Daqian, and farming is not profitable at all, but growing cash crops is different. I thought of a best-of-three method to speed up the development of Xuzhou!"
Wang Lei asked: "What method?"
Mi Zhu said: "Recently there is a very popular new cloth in our country called cotton cloth. I wonder if Wang Jishishi knows about it?"
Wang Lei nodded and said: "Of course I know. It is said that it was passed down from the Western Regions. A piece of cotton cloth costs more than 3,000 yuan, and the best cotton cloth costs more than 10,000 yuan. It is not much worse than the top-grade Shu Brocade of the Han Dynasty. Although it is expensive, the experience is It took me thousands of miles to come here to work. The price is reasonable, and it is very comfortable to wear. It is suitable for summer wear, and it is worthy of the high price!"
But at this time Mi Zhu smiled and said: "Prince Wang, you have been deceived by the merchants of Xiliang. The cotton cloth in the early years may really be related to the countries in the Western Regions, but the merchants of Xiliang saw that the price of cotton cloth was so high. I tried to find a way to introduce cotton cultivation from the Western Regions, and planted it in Dunhuang. The textile industry I worked in was unparalleled in the world. As long as I changed the machinery a little, the cotton cloth made in Xiliang was better than that in the Western Regions. Over the years, the textile industry I worked in was unparalleled in the world. Cotton cloth is basically woven from Xiliang! And the so-called fine cotton cloth that costs ten thousand dollars is made by Xiliang craftsmen."