The New Year is approaching, and the people in the countryside have gradually ended their busy year and begun to prepare for the festival.
For most people, they are lucky to be able to live another year safely. Towards the end of the year, taking a break from the busy schedule, sleeping a little more in the morning and eating a few more mouthfuls at dinner is already a rare enjoyment, and they really don’t have the energy or financial resources to go out of their way to do it.
What to prepare for the festival.
But there is one place that is an exception, and that is Shangyuan, located on the east bank of Luoshui River and under Wuxiang County.
Today's Shangyuan is a well-known wealthy town. In terms of prosperity and liveliness, it is not far behind the city of Huazhou.
Even the most inconspicuous houses in the countryside are large brick houses with three bays, with one or two side rooms on both sides. One of them must be the weaving room of the housewife, and the other may be the storage room.
Cars and horses, or farm tools.
As for the more luxurious houses, they can be entered in two or three directions, and the halls and halls are accumulated. A family of more than ten people can live in a comfortable house, and there are also several male and female slaves.
The living environment in the countryside is already so grand, and the supply of various people's livelihood supplies is even more abundant. The Shangyuan Grand Market offers all kinds of fashionable goods from all over the world, with a wide variety and a dazzling array. It not only satisfies the various needs of the people of Shangyuan.
Due to the demand, there are many merchants coming here to buy goods even in the prefecture, Chang'an and even further places.
People in the Shang Yuan Dynasty also had various ways of making a living. The middle-aged men and women either worked in various workshops or farmed, weaved and raised livestock.
No matter what they do for a living, the annual income of a couple is enough to maintain the family's living and rent, and there is still a surplus left over from the rent. Moreover, the men and women who work in the workshop are also given a part of the money by the owner of the workshop, and the union is responsible for the rent.
Let Shi Wu solve it.
Li Xiao rode his horse on the clean gravel road in the countryside, looking frequently to both sides. The surprise on his face could not be concealed: "In the early years, I only heard that Guanzhong is a small place and the people are poor and their livelihood is difficult. But when I really came here, I was surprised.
I didn’t expect it to be so rich and beautiful. Hebei used to be called rich, but in comparison, it’s far inferior to this town!”
Wu Jingyi, who insisted on leading Li Xiao's horse, heard Li Xiao's emotion, looked back and said with a smile: "The old news about Ming Gong is not false. Before Shang Yuan, it was indeed a poor village in a narrow countryside, and the livelihood was not prosperous. But under Lang Jun
After settling in the country, everything changed..."
When it comes to the changes and benefits Li Lang brought to Shangyuan, any Shangyuan citizen can talk endlessly. No matter how many words he talks, there is only one meaning in summary, that is, without Li Lang, there would never be Shangyuan.
Shang Yuan today!
Therefore, soon after Li Tai and his father returned to Huazhou, the villagers repeatedly urged Wu Jingyi and other old relatives who had stayed in the hometown to invite Li Tai and his father back to their hometown.
What Li Xiao had seen before was only the warm welcome of his son by the people in Kansai on human occasions. Today when he went to the countryside, he actually saw the various contributions Li Tai had made in the countryside. He was very happy in his heart. He looked at Li Tai and said with emotion:
"When I heard my son's arrogance before, I was still a little uneasy. But now that I see how rich my hometown has been, what else do I have to worry about?"
Shangyuan City is now larger, and at the end of the year, people and goods gather all day long. In order to avoid unnecessary commotion, Li Tai had specially told Li Zhusheng to the villagers not to hold too grand a welcome ceremony.
The villagers wanted to celebrate the reunion of his father and son, so they set up a flowing table in his village and just came in to have a drink.
After leading his father to visit Shang Yuan, Li Tai and his entourage returned to the manor. At this time, there were already a large number of people in the manor to congratulate them. The county magistrate Zheng Man and the county officials personally presided over the situation.
I was so busy that I was sweating all over my forehead.
"How is this going?"
Li Tai saw a large amount of dried candied delicacies and other various ingredients piled on one side of the shop, and asked.
Li Zhusheng, who returned to the village first, came up and explained with a wry smile: "They are all gifts from the villagers. I have tried to persuade them many times, but I just can't stop them."
Li Tai knew that although the living standards of the villagers had greatly improved, they only had enough food and clothing. These delicacies were nothing to him, but when placed in the homes of the villagers, they could prepare a rare meal, so he
I plan to distribute it back to the staff.
At this time, Party leader Zhao drove another ox cart, which was also full of dry goods.
After the car stopped, Party Leader Zhao got out of the car and said with a smile: "Although the people are clumsy in words, they are deeply affectionate. When they learned that Lang Jun finally came back from his visit, he was deeply happy for Lang Jun, but he was also afraid that Ming Gong
I don’t like the local customs here, so I each prepared local flavors and sent them. I hope that one of the hundreds of flavors will make Ming Gong appreciate and miss me, and I will fall in love with this hometown from now on!"
Hearing Party Leader Zhao say this, Li Tai also laughed and announced that the flowing water banquet in the village will last from today until the seventh day of the first month of the next year. During this period, all villagers can come to the village to eat.
After hearing this, people in Zhuangzhong Township also high-fived and cheered to express their thanks, and some even started singing and dancing.
The banquet in the village soon got under way. Li Tai saw his father also being affected by the atmosphere, with a smile on his face. He was far more relaxed and comfortable than when he had a banquet with the masses in Huazhou City earlier, so he also asked his father
Let me introduce the villagers here and ask about some interesting things about the village.
Li Tai accompanied his father to a banquet for a while, and then asked party leader Zhao and others to continue to accompany him. He invited Li Zhusheng, Wu Jingyi and other leaders of the Qu League into the village to discuss matters. After Zheng Man was promoted to the county magistrate, although he no longer
He served as the head of the Qu Alliance, but he was still very concerned about the affairs of the Qu Alliance, so he also went inside to discuss matters.
Today's Qumeng is no longer limited to rivers, canals, bridges and other matters, but is a comprehensive civil union covering several nearby states.
Although the construction and maintenance of private rivers, canals, weirs and other fortifications are still its main business, its side businesses have also penetrated into all aspects, the most important of which is lending.
Qumeng's lending is divided into two forms, one is for ordinary small households' sericulture, silk and hemp looms and other businesses, and the other is lending for various workshop owners. The former provides production raw materials and tools, and returns silk cloth and other items.
The latter provides a series of support such as cash, technology and marketing. As long as it can meet the production scale and product standards required by the channel alliance, it can even waive interest.
Li Tai did not operate the Qumeng as a profit-making organization, but as a platform to integrate local resources from various parts of Kansai, and all he did was promote the development of productivity.
Today, there are more than 50,000 looms registered in Qumeng, and each loom returns hundreds of pieces every year. This is a cash flow of more than five million pieces of silk every year, although 70% of it is returned to the weaving industry in the form of goods.
Although there was a gross profit of more than 1.5 million pieces of silk, Gao Aocao was becoming increasingly worthless to him.
However, the management costs and initial investment of so many weavers are also very high, and as the scale increases, the attrition will also increase. The profits that really fall into the hands of the channel alliance are not as much as they seem. And the most important thing about this business is
, which is to provide Qumeng with a large amount of cash flow every year, which can be used to develop in other industries.
At the beginning, there were not many workshops supported and invested by Qumeng. It was just a few families in Shangyuan and the surrounding areas who wanted to test the waters. What they took over were some upstream processing that Li Tai had ceded to him to ensure a steady profit.
After all, the current concept is still based on farming and weaving, industry and commerce at the end, and a thousand horses of floating wealth is not as good as three hectares of Susukada. But among the hard-working and serious people, who will borrow money to survive? What kind of famine is really going to happen again? Those products in the workshop
It is not used as food or clothing.
However, due to the age of Omin in Kansai, and the increasingly prosperous trade in Shangyuan and other places, there are more and more products on the market, and the self-sufficient manor economy is becoming increasingly uneconomical in comparison.
There are even small ordinary households that only rely on a few looms to weave diligently and have enough food and clothing for one year. In the second year, they take the plunge and borrow money to set up workshops, space, technology, labor, etc., all relying on the supply of Qumeng.
Pay back the capital in half a year and see profits in half a year. After calculation, the income is actually more than the income from several hectares of fertile land!
Last year was a year when the number of Qumeng's workshops exploded. Qumeng invested in dozens of workshops just for making bricks and pottery. People in Shangyuan could afford to build big brick houses, and quite a few of them could.
therefore.
As for other types of handicraft workshops, they are also very prosperous, such as oil extraction, paper making, ink making, etc. Basically, after Li Tai's own manor industry has matured the technology, they gradually handed over various processes to other industries cultivated by Qumeng.
Workshops are used for production, thereby increasing production capacity and obtaining more products.
Nowadays, Li Tai's own manor no longer produces various daily necessities. Even the original core industries of soap and fragrance have been gradually released to the outside world, establishing a complete production supply chain. Li Tai's own manor still retains
, leaving only the two cores of military industry and scientific research.
Of course, not all technologies were shared by Li Tai selflessly. For example, he never leaked the big water conservancy spinning wheel to the outside world. Now, even the one erected along the Luoshui River has been dismantled.
Although this tool is surprisingly efficient, it is not suitable for use in Guanzhong, where the water conservancy environment is relatively fragile. Once word spreads, it is foreseeable that powerful powers from all over the world will rush to build dams on rivers. Li Taineng is looking for goods everywhere to satisfy some of the people in Shangyuan.
If you want to change jobs, if you really want to play like this throughout Guanzhong, it will be a lot of fun.
So today, one of the core discussions that Li Tai convened with everyone in the Qu League was to move the Qu League southward and transfer Guanzhong's funds to Mianbei, Jianghan and other places, where both geographical resources and development prospects would be better than today's Guanzhong.
The leaders of Qumeng have been accustomed to following Li Tai's instructions in the general direction for several years. It is an obvious fact that Qumeng is developing rapidly. Although they have never even been to Miobei, when Li Tai proposed to go south to Wuguan
When planning, they all nodded in agreement, and each said they would start preparations next.
Zheng Man, who also had full confidence in Li Tai, looked at Li Tai pitifully and said: "Last year, I followed my husband to this village. The scenery in the village was getting better and better, but I didn't see my husband. It was really miserable. My husband will return next year."