Li Shimin looked at Wu Huaiyu's secret performance in front of him and couldn't help but utter a sound of surprise.
It's really too surprising.
"Prince Bin, come here and take a look at this."
The emperor handed the secret report to Ma Zhou, who was in charge of the matter, for viewing.
"Isn't this impossible?" Ma Zhou quickly scanned it and said in surprise.
It's not that the emperor and his ministers were making a fuss, but the content of Wu Huaiyu's performance was truly astonishing.
"I originally said that I would ask the Ministry of Civil Affairs to send another batch of money and food to Shuofang. After all, there are so many soldiers and horses in Biangzhen who need to eat, drink, and prepare for war, but who would have thought that Wu Huaiyu really gave me a big surprise?
.”
Ma Zhou was also amazed by his brother-in-law, "Yes, Governor Wu returned to Yanzhou without losing any blood, and he immediately gave His Majesty such a big surprise."
Wu Huaiyu's surprise to the court was that he secretly informed the emperor that he had pre-sold 10,000 hectares of land in Yanzhou, as well as tens of thousands of hectares of pasture and woodland. The price of the 10,000 hectares of land alone reached 100,000 guan.
As long as the emperor approves, the money can be collected immediately.
Moreover, the land is not finished after being sold. Wu Huaiyu has additional conditions for selling the land. From now on, he will have to purchase one dou of grain from Yanzhou for each mu of land at the market price. In addition, he will have to pay two liters of free grain for each mu of land.
This means that the imperial court can purchase 100,000 shi of millet in Yanzhou at a low price every year, plus 20,000 shi of grain reserves for disaster relief and famine preparedness.
Yanzhou is surrounded by border crossings. It used to be extremely expensive to transport grain from the mainland. Not to mention that Guanzhong has never been self-sufficient. Chang'an needs to transport a large amount of grain from Jianghuai and other places to Beijing every year.
If Wu Huaiyu could resume farming in Yanzhou and even complete so many public purchases of grain, it would really solve a big problem for the court.
Not to mention, Wu Huaiyu sold the land for 100,000 yuan.
Then, Wu Huaiyu also allocated 2,000 hectares of unowned land in Yanzhou for army farming. According to Wu Huaiyu, these 2,000 hectares of unowned land could harvest at least 100,000 shi of millet a year if there were no disasters.
The total of 2,000 government soldiers transferred to Yanzhou for garrison, plus the 2,000 local soldiers, are 4,000 in total. If 100,000 stone troops can be collected to collect food, the food for these 4,000 soldiers will be enough to support themselves, and even more
Little leftover.
If you sell land for 100,000 gu, and buy grain, you can use that 100,000 gu each year to buy grain for four to five years.
But Wu Huaiyu said that the money from selling the land was not actually needed because the salt ponds had gradually begun to recover. By then, the official salt produced could directly pay for the public purchase of grain, exchanging grain for salt.
After the salt pond is restored, points can be collected for taxation, salt horse trade can be resumed, and a tax can be collected.
In short, Wu Huaiyu described the current situation and prospects of Yanzhou very well. It is bright and even better than the states in the interior.
I thought that the wasteland outside the Great Wall turned into a treasure trove, but Wu Huaiyu also made it clear that there was salt and resources here.
Not to mention that after Master Liang moved the people away, Wu Huaiyu, the sixth man, rudely turned all the previously owned lands into ownerless lands and took them back to the government, and then packaged them up and sold them at a cheap price.
Although one hundred dollars per acre of land is not very cost-effective, if it is sold in packages of at least 1,000 acres, such a complete large land parcel will be more attractive.
Moreover, slaves are cheap here. The big nobles and powerful people directly own slaves for farming, and they can also be connected to the salt industry. During the busy farming period, they cultivate the land, and during the slack period, they make salt and herd animals. The utilization rate of slaves is extremely high, and the benefits are naturally good.
The emperor sighed repeatedly.
"How long has this boy been out of the capital? On the way, Luo Yi was defeated, and Lingzhou was reorganized. He collected a lot of taxes for the court, and also recovered a lot of fields. Now he has regained Yanzhou without any blood, and he can also bring benefits to the court.
Two thousand hectares of military settlements, one thousand hectares of official settlements, and ten thousand hectares of land can be sold in exchange for so much cash."
Ma Zhou said, "I thought it would be easy to sell the land, but the additional thing is that it must be cultivated so that it cannot be left unused, and it is guaranteed to complete one dou of public grain purchase per acre every year. Two liters of grain from the free warehouse is more powerful."
"Yes, yes, this is very important."
Li Shimin happily stroked his beard and laughed, got up and walked around.
"Since the founding of our country, Yanzhou has existed in name but not in reality. Now that the Zhenguan Dynasty has been restored, we can raise two thousand state soldiers and two thousand united soldiers without spending any money from the court, and maintain the Yanzhou Great Wall and beacons.
Fort border defense, this is amazing."
Raising troops is expensive.
Therefore, the Tang Dynasty implemented the system of government soldiers, giving them a piece of land and ignoring the rest.
However, border areas need to be garrisoned, and the government troops transferred to guard them need to be provided with food, grass, and even subsidies by the court, and each military operation consumes more money and food.
Even maintaining a frontier army of several thousand people costs a lot of money every year. More importantly, as Yanzhou is a frontier fortress, the cost of transporting grain and grass supplies is even greater.
But now, Wu Huaiyu is completely self-sufficient.
"Prince Bin, please reply to Wu Huaiyu on my behalf. I allow him to sell his land, and I also agree with his military, garrison, officer, and merchant garrison strategies."
"By the way, didn't he say he also wanted to buy land in Yanzhou? I'll allow it, let alone fifty hectares. If he just wants to buy more, I'll allow it, as long as it's not embezzlement or corruption."
"My special decree is that Yanzhou will grant him five hectares of land. Forget it, give him ten hectares."
Li Shimin happily took the Shuofang map. Yanzhou was originally very inconspicuous. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Yanzhou Yamen were all located in Lingzhou City. They basically never really controlled Yanzhou. The Lingzhou Prefecture only sent troops to Yanzhou several times.
At one time some forts were set up.
He didn't expect that Yanzhou would become a great treasure in Wu Huaiyu's hands.
Fifty thousand hectares of land is owned by the public. Even if it relies mainly on dry land where it rains, it will still be able to produce food.
I thought that Master Liang came to clear the country and forcibly moved everyone away. Wu Huaiyu would be very sad when he left. Who would have thought that this kid had such a way to break the situation.
"When ten thousand hectares of land are sold, the noble families who bought the land will have to hire people or buy slaves to cultivate and operate it. In this way, Yanzhou will not be empty, and the border will not be empty."
As for the land being said to have been usurped by nobles, Li Shimin doesn't care about it now. After all, Yanzhou will eventually be filled with frontier land, and now after the chaos, there are not so many people to enrich it.
Yanzhou is not Guanzhong or Chang'an. The first consideration is not the issue of preventing annexation, but the issue of developing farming. If it is left uncultivated, it will be nothing. If it is planted, it will be grain, which is the foundation for controlling Yanzhou.
Wu Huaiyu is very smart and sensible.
In his secret note to the emperor, he added a special note: He built ten imperial estates for the emperor in Yanzhou, each with a thousand acres of land, all within the Great Wall, totaling ten thousand acres.
This is a benefit to the emperor, public or private.
There is still a difference between Guantian and Huangzhuang.
The emperor also needs private money from internal funds. After all, private money from internal funds does not need to be used through the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the treasury, and there are not so many eyes watching over it.
Even the four major salt ponds have already reserved a place for the emperor, waiting for him to send someone there.
What emperor wouldn't like to have such a smart and capable minister?
Regardless of whether it's public or private, everything is done so considerately.
"I really didn't expect that Yanzhou is not only important in military terms, but also a golden knot."
Ma Zhou was also moved and happy for his brother-in-law. Things were done so well and the saint was so happy. The future was bright.
Later, Li Shimin called Zhang Anan and asked him to arrange for a few reliable eunuchs to select a group of royal slaves to go to Yanzhou to run the 100-hectare imperial village and participate in the salt production of Wubai Salt Pond, as well as Yanzhou.
Trade matters.
Of course, these chamberlains were not only there to make private money for the emperor, but also had the task of monitoring the civil and military officers and soldiers of Yanzhou as well as the common people and powerful merchants. They were the emperor's other eyes and ears.
Listening to one side will make you dark, but listening to both will make you bright. Wei Zheng always advised the emperor like this. Li Shimin firmly believed that the six doors are the emperor's eyes and ears, but the emperor cannot only have six doors.
Although Wu Huaiyu was the emperor's favorite and confidant, he could not be fully trusted.
When the emperor was happy, Wu Huaiyu was promoted again.
In order to regain Yanzhou, farmland, and restore the salt pond, Emperor Jinwu Huaiyu was promoted from the fourth rank to the rank of senior official, and was promoted to the third rank in a row without the need for selection.
Xue Wanche was promoted to the first rank due to his meritorious service in attacking Hu Zhenfu, and favored one of his sons to be appointed as a Martial Cavalry Lieutenant.
In order to show his favor to Wu Huaiyu, the emperor even sent Yang Jieyu and a female official to the Shouyang Palace. On behalf of the emperor, the queen visited Wu Huaiyu's pregnant wife Fan, and brought her the title of county monarch and rewarded her with ginseng.
Waiting for some precious medicinal materials and brocade silk.
and a pair of silver bottles.
This Yang Jieyu can also be regarded as a relative of the Wu family. Her father is Yang Gongdao, the younger brother of former prime minister Yang Gongren, and the emperor's brother-in-law Yang Shidao is her uncle.
Li Shimin married his brother-in-law's niece into the palace. She was the fourth Hongnong Yang daughter in his palace.
Wu Huaiyu's fourth uncle, warrior Xun Xuxian, was married to Yang, who was Yang Jieyu's cousin. If you really want to say it, she was quite close to her.
On that day, Yang Jieyu went to the Wu family in a grand manner. The emperor even sent hundreds of cavalry and thousands of cattle guards to escort her. As a result, half of Chang'an knew about it.
Then the next day, rumors spread all over the place, saying that Wu Huaiyu had made great achievements in Yanzhou. Then someone spread that the land in Yanzhou was cheap and there were many slaves there. They bought land there to grow grain, and then used the grain to directly salt it.
The state exchanged for salt, slaves, and horses, and then transported them back to Guanzhong, which was very profitable.
For a time, many ladies from Chang'an aristocratic families came to Wu's house in carriages to visit Lord Fan. They presented them with various gifts and at the same time inquired about Yanzhou's purchase of land, slaves, manors, and saltworks.
Even Li Jing's wife Zhang Chuchen and his sister-in-law eldest son came to visit.
Now that Fan Xuanfu's pregnancy is stable, she has begun to walk out of the small courtyard. Although she usually likes to dance with swords, she is very calm when receiving these ladies, and there is no rudeness at all.
"A village with a thousand acres of land connected to it costs only one hundred guan?" Changsun was very moved after hearing this. It was not easy to buy a complete land of one hundred acres in the capital, let alone a thousand acres.
After hearing this, Li Sanniang, who came with her, said, "Then let's go to Yanzhou and buy a few farms, build some pastures, and raise some cattle and sheep. I heard that the Tan sheep in Yanzhou are delicious. From now on, our family will eat sheep directly."
Sent to Chang'an from my own ranch in Yanzhou,"
A farm with only one hundred guan and one thousand acres is really exciting, not to mention there are salt and trade benefits there.
"Sage, maybe our Wu family bought land in Yanzhou and gave us ten hectares of land. My family, Alang, originally wanted to buy fifty hectares of land. I thought fifty hectares was too petty. This opportunity is rare, so I might as well buy a hundred hectares of land. It's only a thousand hectares.
It’s just money. It happened that my sister-in-law’s father, General Cheng, was quelling the cattle rebellion in Luzhou and won a great victory. He captured a lot of cattle as slaves. I just bought some and sent them to Yanzhou for farming, salting and grazing.”
When Fan Xuanfu heard that Li Sanniang was going to Yanzhou, he immediately became vigilant.
But Li Sanniang had already had the idea of going to Yanzhou, "I just happened to go to Yanzhou to see my second uncle."
Fan Xuanfu hurriedly tried to dissuade him, saying that there would be a war there at any time, but Li Sanniang smiled slightly and said, "Last time the Turks went south with 200,000 soldiers, I went to Huining Pass where they were surrounded. I'm not afraid."
