Chapter 248 It’s not that the Raptors can’t cross the river
Author: Muzi Blue
Chapter 248 It’s not that the Raptors can’t cross the river
Many people mock Cui Zheng for being poor, but in fact everyone wants to be Cui Zheng.
The behavior of the new aristocrats imitates the old nobles in every aspect, not to mention that they are willing to marry each other even if they have to pay Gao Gao to get married to them.
However, the real direct descendants of the five surnames are still very conservative and stubborn, and they look down on the new rich to the core.
With the emperor's decree, Li Jing took Huaiyu and Su Lie to the Ministry of War.
Li Jing has been leading troops in battles all year round, and is very familiar with the Yamen of the Ministry of War. He is also very familiar with the process of leading troops to sign letters.
Du Ruhui, Minister of the Ministry of War, was a weak scholar, but he is now the supreme commander of the Tang Dynasty military.
Not only was he in charge of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Twelve Prefectures, but he also commanded the tens of thousands of horses and horses led by Donggong Liu. The usually tough generals of the guards also came to terms with this frail Sima.
Be respectful.
This is not only because he is the Minister of War.
Du Ruhui has never led troops to fight, but Fang Duan is not just a casual talk. As early as the Qin Dynasty, Du Ruhui has been Li Shimin's left and right arm. The soldiers charge on the front line, Fang Du strategizes, and even provides military equipment, food and pay.
, are all watertight.
Du Ruhui took the order and read it, stroking his beard and said, "If Marquis Wu has any officers he wants to dispatch, please sign up and I will dispatch them directly to you."
This was also the emperor's special order to Wu Huaiyu.
"Niu Jianwu, Chen Sheng, and Wei Siren from Baiqi, Xu Jizu, Zhao Changsheng, Guo Zihe, Zhao Gui from Qianqi, and Wu Huailiang from Sanwei,"
"Can I transfer people from Longyou? Some of my old troops were there when I fought against the Turks in Longyou."
Du Ruhui asked about it and saw that they were just low-level officers, so he agreed, "No problem."
So Huaiyu reported eight names including Wu Junwei, Chen Xing, Zhao Xin, Xu Siye, Wu Junren, and Wu Xizhe.
These eight people are still Longyou military attachés. They are now transferred to Yanzhou to guard the border. It is not a good job for the government soldiers to guard the border. They have to wait for at least one year. However, they are military attachés. Huaiyu's transfer of them will of course give them the opportunity to perform meritorious service.
.
He didn't transfer all his own people from Longyou. Wu Junbo and others still had some of his own family members left in Longyou. There were many properties in Yanjing Village in Zhang County, so someone had to take care of them.
"Do you have a recommendation from a noble person in the clan, Grand Sima, to go to Yanzhou to help with military affairs?"
Huaiyu was reciprocating a favor. On the surface, he asked Du Ruhui to arrange some of his children to help. In fact, he was arranging positions for the children of the Du family and giving them opportunities to gild.
Du Ruhui hesitated for a while, and finally recommended several people to Huaiyu. In addition to a few people from the side tribes, one of them was Du Wen, the son of his younger brother Du Chuke.
Du Chuke is a strange person with strange moral ethics.
At that time, he was trapped in Luoyang with his eldest brother and uncle Du Yan. Du Yan had a grudge with his legitimate wife because he was born by a concubine, so he took the opportunity to slander Wang Shichong, killed Du Chuke's elder brother, and almost starved Du Chuke to death. Later,
When Li Shimin captured Luoyang, Du Ruhui wanted to kill Du Yan, but Du Chuke tried his best to stop him, forcing his second brother to let his uncle Du Yan go without hesitation.
Afterwards, Du Chuke did not accept the call to serve as an official, but went to live in seclusion in Songshan, Henan.
Du Chuke was relatively talented, but he refused to come out despite being called up several times.
Du Ruhui hoped that Huaiyu could take his nephew Du Wen to Yanzhou. It would be better if he could make meritorious service. Even if he could not make meritorious service, at least it would be a qualification.
He would rather have his brother come out of the mountain, but unfortunately Du Chuke has been in Songshan for five years and refuses to go to Beijing.
"Du Gong, I have an unkind request. I want Du Gong to help me."
Du Ruhui poured a cup of tea for Wu Huaiyu.
Due to his sophistication, as soon as Wu Huaiyu opened his mouth, he already knew what he was going to say next, and nothing could escape their eyes.
Sure enough, Wu Huaiyu said with a smile: "Yanzhou has been occupied by Liang Ni and the Turks before. Now it is necessary to restore Yanzhou. However, Yanzhou has barren land and a large population loss. Restoring it is not easy.
I have been thinking about it these days and feel that if I want to restore Yanzhou, I have to start with the word salt.
There are two counties and four salt ponds in Yanzhou. It is difficult to quickly restore farming in Yanzhou. We can only borrow the ponds of these four salt ponds and exchange salt for grain, and exchange salt for cattle, sheep and horses."
Du Ruhui leaned back slightly and did not speak in a hurry.
Li Jing was drinking tea without any intention of participating, while Su Lie, the newly awarded guerrilla general and Sima of Yanzhou, was just listening.
"It would be too difficult to restore and control Siyanchi by relying on government manpower, money and food. I have restored Yanjing Village in Zhang County, Weizhou before, and have some experience.
I want to restart the production and sale of salt in the official salt field, but also attract more investment and introduce private merchants to make and sell salt. The yamen supervisor will focus on management and make full use of private power. By then, there will be more salt produced and sold.
More can not only be exchanged for more grain, but also provide the people of Yanzhou with work to make a living. They can also exchange cattle, sheep, livestock, grain, cloth, etc. through mutual trade.
In this way, even if the land in Yanzhou is barren, we can still exchange the rich salt for the food, cloth, livestock, etc. we want."
"Wu Hou's idea is very good," Du Ruhui praised.
"I also have a plan. Our salt in Guanlong used to be mainly supplied by salt from Yanxia and Qinwei, but the output was not stable enough, so we would also transport the salt from Jiechi in Hedong to Guanlong for sale.
But when it comes to the solution of salt, it is not as good as the blue and white salt from Yanzhou, nor is it as good as the salt from Qinwei."
Du Ruhui did not interrupt Huaiyu.
"Du Gong, I suggest that in the future, the Guanlong area will give priority to the salt produced by Qinwei in Yanxia. Salt merchants go to the salt fields to sell salt. They cannot directly buy salt with money. They have to transport grain to the border city of Guanlong and then receive the grain.
Voucher, take this voucher and go to the designated salt field to get salt..."
What Huaiyu said is actually the method of opening up salt in later generations.
Salt merchants transported grain to the border and then went to the salt fields to collect salt, which was equivalent to transporting grain to the border for the imperial court. Later, in order to obtain more profits, the salt merchants no longer simply collected and transported grain from the interior to the border, but directly transported grain to the border.
Recruit people at the border to set up commercial villages and cultivate the land, so that you can get food from farming nearby, which reduces transportation costs and even food procurement costs.
This would be of great benefit to the court, as transporting grain to the border would be very costly.
Now Huaiyu also wants to do this in Guanlong. The imperial court controls salt. If the salt merchants want to sell salt, they must first transport grain to the imperial court. The salt merchants will take the vouchers to exchange for salt. When the salt field arrives, they will take the vouchers collected to the Yamen to exchange them.
Money, food.
In this way, the imperial court could transport money directly to the border areas without having to transport grain.
In this process, it would also be convenient to levy a salt tax and crack down on smuggling.
"Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, we have followed the policy of the Sui Dynasty and have not monopolized salt." Du Ruhui said.
"The lower official also knows, but the current situation is special. Troops are stationed in Lingyan Lianglan, Qin and Wei border areas, and the food consumption is very large. Self-sufficiency is insufficient, let alone fighting. Once troops are used to start a war, the consumption will be even greater. The three armies have not moved, and food and grass are not available.
Go first, without food and grass, it will be difficult to move forward."
"Prince Wu, please go back and draw up a detailed schedule for transporting grain in exchange for salt. I will submit it to His Majesty for instructions."
Du Ruhui was surprised and even admired Wu Huaiyu's idea, but this matter was so serious that he had to ask the emperor for instructions.
As for Wu Huaiyu saying that he would introduce private capital to open a salt farm in Yanzhou to make salt, sell salt, and open a market for trade, Du Ruhui was of course very aware of Wu Huaiyu's goodwill.
To put it bluntly, they invited the Du family to go to Yanzhou to divide the interests of the salt farm and redistribute the salt profits of the four major salt ponds, just like Wu Huaiyu and Lu Huai asked Cheng Chumo, Wangda and others to do in Yanjing Village.
It’s just that this time the four major salt ponds in Yanzhou are bigger and the profits will be greater.
Huaiyu is not a solitary person, so it is much more advantageous to have friends. The Qin family, the Cheng family, the Fan family, the Li family, and the Lu family are all involved, and the Du family and the Fang family cannot be left behind. The more people who work together, the safer it will be.
This kind of thing is not illegal, but after all, it involves a lot of interests. Improper operation will always arouse the envy and envy of others.
Du Ruhui personally sent Wu Huaiyu out of the Yamen of the Ministry of War in the Imperial City, which attracted many people's attention.
Returning to the carriage, Li Jing sighed.
"Your idea is very bold. If it is really implemented, it will touch the interests of many people."
Su Lie also looked at this junior brother with admiration. He thought he was just young and handsome, but he didn't expect that he was really capable. He knew very well that if this plan could be implemented, Yanzhou would really not be short of food or money.
And with money and food, Su Lie is still afraid of not winning the war?
Yanzhou has been in the hands of Liang Shidu for many years. It is not that the four salt ponds no longer produce salt, and Liang cannot consume the salt. In fact, the salt from these four salt ponds has always been imported into Guanzhong and even Chang'an.
Liang Shidu controlled the production of salt in salt ponds, but it still had to be traded and sold through people from the Tang Dynasty. Even the bulk of the salt profits still fell to the Tang Dynasty.
These businesses have been divided and firmly divided for a long time. If Wu Huaiyu wants to redistribute them now, it will definitely touch the interests of many people.
"Master, I have also inquired about the secrets here. I am not afraid."
It’s not that the Raptors can’t cross the river.
In fact, Wu Huaiyu also considered not touching the interests inside and maintaining the previous structure, but after researching the previous people, he found that they were not in the same group as him.
It's too difficult to work with them.
It's better to start anew, smash the previous one, gather a group of new allies, and divide the profits. If those people are willing to cooperate, you can also leave some for them.
"Although I didn't intend to go to Yanzhou this time, since I have to go, I have to do my errands well. To do my errands well, the breakthrough point is the salt of these four salt ponds.
There is nothing I can do."
Of course, isn't it convenient to be a good governor and do a good job, and at the same time gain some benefits for yourself and your friends?
"It's too difficult to rely solely on farming. We can only rely on salt to eat salt."
Su Lie smiled and said, "You can still grab it. We have four thousand soldiers in our hands, and that's not a vegetarian."
Huaiyu reminded him, "There are two thousand troops, one thousand town troops, one thousand state troops. The capital will be transferred to Yanzhou, and the other two thousand unified troops are only on paper."
Even if they rob, Wu Huaiyu feels that Master Liang is so poor that he himself will probably suffer from famine by then.
"Erlang, bring the virtue award with you when you arrive," Li Jing said.
"Isn't the Second Young Master in Zhongnan Mountain?"
"I asked Sanniang to bring someone to kidnap him back. It's really lawless. Let him serve as a pawn in your army."
Huaiyu didn't dare to treat the Second Young Master Li as a pawn, so he smiled and said, "Why don't you let the Second Young Master follow Senior Brother Su to lead the army?"
"It's okay," Li Jing was also helpless towards his son.
Li Jing did not refuse Huaiyu's suggestion that Li Jing send some of his family members to Yanzhou to participate in the production and sale of salt in the salt fields. A wealthy family does not just engage in learning or fighting and serving as officials. Naturally, there are countless side branches and concubines who come out with more people.
There are many servants and slaves who seek benefits for them everywhere, annexing fields, doing business and selling goods, lending money and collecting interest,
The prosperity of a wealthy family requires countless money to support it.
It's just that they don't need to take care of these things personally.
"Don't forget the banquet hosted by Cui Shanwei's family tomorrow. Remember to arrive early and don't lose etiquette." Li Jing reminded him that those so-called old nobles cared most about etiquette.
