But every autumn, she would always arrange for someone to make a good wine.
Because Xu Chen likes it.
The scarcity of wine also contributes to its unique value.
The wealthy Uzbek people spend money to buy several altars every year.
Especially now that many tribal officers and hunters have received copper coins as a reward for military merit and some private wealth, they are also fond of buying wine. Last winter, a group of familiar officers such as Long and Lei had already made reservations with him.
They ordered the vine fruit wine this fall. Xu Chen gave them 30 yuan a jar, which weighed about ten kilograms. A group of guys placed their orders without batting an eye.
Where there is demand, there will naturally be a market. At the current stage where supply exceeds demand, wine has already had a certain commercial value. Xu Chen feels that this technology can also be gradually liberalized.
One is to meet market needs, and the other is to turn waste into treasure, giving the Muya tribe an additional source of income.
On this large hillside near Maogong Mountain alone, there are probably thousands of kilograms of various berries and wild fruits picked every spring and summer. Selecting the delicious and juicy ones to brew wine can easily produce hundreds of kilograms in a year. Not only will it be huge.
Meeting market demand will also bring huge benefits.
However, Xu Chen did not intend to let the Muya clan keep this money for themselves.
After all, he is the leader in technology. In order to maintain the development of the royal city, tax collection alone cannot fully support it at the moment. It is also necessary to expand fiscal revenue channels. Salt, wine, and copper monopoly will be the future development direction.
Therefore, while teaching the Muya people to pick wild fruits and make wine, Xu Chen also reached a wine-making agreement with the Muya people.
The Ba people provide technology on behalf of the Royal City and provide special wine-making pots. The Muya people are responsible for collecting wild fruits to make wine every year, and transport the brewed wine to the Royal City. The warehouse purchases it at ten cents per jar. In addition, the Muya people can also purchase it at a price of ten yuan per jar.
The amount of ten coins in the altar is deducted from half of the tribe's annual tax.
The entire Muya tribe combined has a current adult population of about 120 people. If each person pays a tax of 10 cents per year, it will be a tax of 1,200 cents. If it is all paid with food, it will be 6,000 kilograms.
It is equivalent to the entire output of 150 acres of farmland. This is a large amount of food. Although the Muya tribe can bear it, the pressure is also very high.
Therefore, not all of the royal city's taxes are on food, and the Muya tribe can also use linen and pepper to deduct part of it.
If these wild fruits, which are not worthless, are used to make wine and half of the tax is deducted, the Muya tribe will only have to pay one or two thousand kilograms of tax grain every year.
In this way, the pressure on the Muya clan will be much less, and in everyone's eyes, almost negligible.
After all, paying taxes to support the royal city is actually done according to the guidance of the gods. This must be done even if you are hungry, because no one wants to go against the will of the gods, cause the gods to be angry and lose the protection of the gods.
Xu Chen used the will of the gods as an excuse to collect taxes, but the greatest significance was to maintain the normal operation of the court of this new country.
Taxes are too high, and these tribes who have just begun to provide food and clothing must be under great pressure, which is not in line with his goals.
But if the tax revenue is too low, the government will inevitably be unable to support its operations and various reforms will not be able to develop.
At present, the imperial court has just begun to be established, but just one forbidden army has already stretched the imperial court's income. If this situation is not changed as soon as possible, future development will be difficult.
Even if they can barely make ends meet by minting money, purchasing charcoal and metals such as copper and tin is still a huge expense, which will eventually all fall on the Ba people. This is not a long-term solution.
If the imperial court wanted to operate normally and grow, it needed to open up more channels for financial revenue.
Daily consumer goods such as salt, metals and wine, which are in high demand and consume a lot, are a very direct and very realistic solution. After all, these have been proven in the history of human civilization.
Therefore, adding more varieties in terms of taxation, and then selling and distributing them again through certain channels by the court, will not only speed up the circulation of coins, but also collect excess wealth for redistribution and utilization.
As for getting drunk and causing trouble or getting into a car accident...
This kind of thing is a matter of benevolence and wisdom. After all, it's all self-inflicted.
The state governs the sky and the earth, but cannot control shitting and farting. It is human nature to have fun after eating and cannot be stopped. With the development of society, the increase of wealth and the increase of demand, this kind of thing will happen sooner or later, and it will not be done in other ways.
The will is transferred.
Since the establishment of the Forbidden Army, Xu Chen has actually been raking his hair out for financial revenue.
Although traveling back to the Ba tribe seems easy, he is constantly observing the development of each tribe and is also actively looking for more financial revenue channels.
After the dream of mining gold in Huangjin River failed to come true, a large number of berries were discovered in Maogongpo to make wine, which could be regarded as a small way to make money, which could solve some financial shortage problems.
In the next half day, Xu Chen carried his son Zilong on his shoulders and led a large group of people including the Muya tribe and the little witch to pick wild fruits in Maogongpo. While having fun and eating, he also taught the Muya tribe to brew more than ten jars of fruit wine.
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However, the Muya tribe did not have many clean large and medium-sized pottery pots, so Xu Chen could only wait until the Huiba tribe arrived and arrange for people to send a large number of new pottery pots before expanding the scale of fruit picking and brewing.
This simple and primitive wine-making technology is not profound, and it will definitely spread in a few years, and each tribe will start making wine on its own.
But the wine is not sold to these ordinary mountain tribes, but to the settled tribes near the royal city.
After all, there are river beaches near the royal city, with only farmland and wasteland as far as the eye can see. There are no wild fruits to make wine. The locals have relatively many income channels and have begun to have a certain spending power. Wine is considered a relatively high-level luxury consumer product.
, there is a certain market among the officer hunter group, and with the development of society, this market will gradually expand, and eventually wine will become a daily-level consumer product, which will bring more income to the court in the future.
After a simple night's rest in the Muya tribe, Xu Chen led the team on horseback and car to the Uzu tribe early the next morning.
Originally it was still early, and he planned to stay in Uzu for half a day to inspect the mining and smelting conditions of the copper mine. However, he heard the news that Mu Ba was seriously ill, so he only stayed for less than an hour and hurried back.
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Muba fell ill after the Mother's Day wedding ceremony.
The condition was still serious, but Mother knew that Xu Chen would be back soon, so no one went to the royal city to inform him.
Up to now, seven or eight days have passed.
In the past few days, the little witch of the Wu tribe will visit the Ba tribe every other day. While holding an exorcism witchcraft ceremony for her mother, Ba, she also made some soups based on some simple prescriptions and medicinal materials left by Xu Chen.
However, Muba's condition did not improve, but became increasingly serious.
Xu Chen quickly rushed back to the Ba clan with a group of people. When he saw the mother Ba lying on the bed in the newly built compound room, his heart suddenly tightened.
However, after not seeing her for more than a month, Muba seemed to have suddenly aged a lot.
The original energetic appearance with white hair has completely lost its shape. The old cheeks are thin and shriveled, the eyes are sunken and the lips are dry. The whole body is like a gossamer and it is almost impossible to feel the breath. Even in the high temperature of more than 30 degrees, it is still covered with a thick mask.
Thick animal skin bedding.
The entire Ba tribe was in mourning.
The two groups of people who arrived first, the poor people and the Pi people, were no exception. Facing the disappearance of the Ba people's compound, they didn't have much interest in observing and admiring the three newly built two-story spacious and bright luxury houses.
, all immersed in sadness.
Over the years, various tribes have come to the Ba tribe several times in spring and autumn every year. Mother Ba and the Ba tribe have treated them well, offering them all kinds of delicious food and drinks. Even the rooms they live in are cleaned and tidied by them every day.
, before leaving, I even gave him the best gifts such as various linen pottery, duck eggs, fish, meat and pickled vegetables.
Mother Ba is older than these witches. Not only is she the longest-lived elder among the Ba people, but among the nine major ethnic groups in the entire Ba country, there are few people older than her.
However, Muba never regarded herself as an elder. Instead, she worked hard every day and led her tribe to carefully take care of all the tribes who came to attend the gathering.
She is a strict and wise elder, as well as a kind and kind patriarch.
Men, women and children of the Ba tribe live under her care and love every day, and all the tribes who have visited also respect and appreciate everything she has done.
But now, the old man seems to be on his deathbed, and he is no longer as healthy and strong as before.
"Chen Ga, my mother has been thinking about you every day. When the poor witch came yesterday, she thought you were back together. She refused to sleep until it got dark, and she hasn't woken up today..."
Grandma, who always had a loud voice, held Xu Chen's hand tightly and cried softly with tears in her eyes.
"Mobaba Gaga, we are back, please open your eyes..."
Ye lay lying in front of the bed, holding her mother's big dry hand tightly and crying.
Xu Chen's eyes were red and his stomach was sore.
Although he was not a doctor, he could tell that Muba's condition had reached a point where it was impossible to save her.
This has nothing to do with medical conditions, but rather that the person has reached the point where his life is running out.
Ye's crying did not wake up the sleeping mother, but instead caused more sobbing and crying inside and outside the room.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, I want to hold a prayer for Mu Ba, hoping that the gods can bless Mu Ba and get better as soon as possible!" the little witch also whispered with red eyes and a sad face.
"good!"
Although Xu Chen knew that this kind of witch blessing was useless, he did not want to offend the little witch's feelings, and it could comfort and appease the tribe.
So soon, the little witch summoned the witches of the Gonghuo Clan, the Five Ghost Clan, the Pi Clan, the Youqing Clan and the Cicha Clan. In the spacious and bright room, she raised her staff and began to sing an ancient song in front of Muba's hospital bed.