"It's not something that can be described in just one word. Even if Zhao and the Six Nations combined can't finish it all, the fish we catch only account for a very, very small part of the ocean, and it's not enough for the ocean to produce in a day." Zhao Kuo
Said with a smile.
There are no rare fish these days, and the fish sold in Zhao State are never divided into different species. They are caught, dried and packaged directly, and sent to where they need to be.
The two problems that have plagued the development of Zhao's fishery industry have been the difficulty in popularizing it among the people and storing it.
Although the Zhao State captured the seaport from the Qi State and the Yan State, the coastline was not long, and was affected by the impact of the river. The coast was mostly tidal flats, and the scale of private fishing was destined not to develop.
In addition, the cost of fishing is high. Among other things, you must at least have a boat. A boat that can go to sea, no matter how broken, is enough for a better-off family to save for several generations.
If the ship capsizes again, we should not say just in case. The possibility of a ship capsizing in this era is still very high, and the savings of several generations of a family will sink to the bottom of the sea...
As for fishing and fishing... unless one person can feed the whole family without being hungry, whether it can feed the whole family is a problem.
If the coastline of Zhao State is long enough and the scale of private fishing develops, it will not be a problem for everyone to have enough food and clothing, and even to eat meat.
Fishing is much faster than farming.
However, this is not realistic. Just a storage problem limits the scale of fishing in Zhao.
The farthest place Zhao State can fish at present is only near the confluence of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. It's not that you can't go further, but the fish on the boat will be spoiled any further away.
If it is summer, you can only go out to sea during the day and come back in the evening, and then the staff on the shore will take out the fish entrails and marinate them overnight.
Without refrigeration, the best way to extend the shelf life is to salt it. Thanks to the fact that salt is not valuable now, if the price of salt remains the same as before, Zhao Kuo would not be able to do it even if he wanted to.
The benefits of fish and salt began to be developed during the period of Jiang Taigong, and Guan Zhong, the Prime Minister of Qi, also vigorously developed the benefits of fish and salt. Don't they know that there are many fish in the sea?
If you know, what can you do? Even if you can catch more fish, how will you transport and store them?
There is no way to transport and store it, so we can only throw it into the fields as compost, and it has to be a field by the sea. You can't transport it even far away.
That is to say, Zhao State's salt production costs have dropped to an extremely low level, so it can play like this.
It is said that because the price of salted fish is too low, some people along the coast of Zhao State have begun to use salted fish as salt. When making stews, putting salted fish in the vegetables can not only save salt, but also eat meat.
Although the price of salt has dropped a lot, it still costs money, and it is much more expensive than salted fish. The little you can save is worth it.
"Then is there a way for everyone in our country of Zhao to eat fish during the Chinese New Year?" Zhao Ji asked expectantly.
"It's not possible yet. Although there are a lot of fish in the sea, our fishing speed is limited. In addition, transportation is also a problem. We have to wait until the size of the fleet is expanded and all county-level official roads are
It can only be completed if it is repaired. Either no one should give this kind of benefit, or everyone should give it, otherwise the people who have not received the benefit will definitely have objections." Zhao Kuo shook his head.
If Zhao State was like Qi State, surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the transportation was convenient enough, there would be a chance that everyone could eat fish, but Zhao State obviously did not have this condition.
Apart from Qi, the only country in the world that has this condition is Yue, which has a sparse population and a developed shipbuilding industry.
For a period of time, Yue State really relied on fishing to feed more than half of the people in the country. Even now, Yue State has not given up fishing.
The carriage was not traveling very fast, and it stopped and stopped along the way. After leaving Handan, Zhao Kuo had to stop for a while wherever he went.
Even if you don't go into the village and talk to people, you can tell something by standing on the roadside and looking at the crops in the fields.
If the streets are tidy, there are no weeds in the fields, and the edges of the fields are kept clean, then everyone's life will be at least stable, regardless of whether it's good or bad.
On the other hand, if the fields are overgrown with weeds or even deserted and uncultivated, it means that there has been turmoil recently, or the harsh government has become so brutal that the people can no longer survive and have fled to other places.
If there are mulberry trees beside the fields, you can tell that the people here never engage in sericulture.
Whether there are people grazing cattle, or the number of cattle grazing, can roughly tell whether there is an abundance of cattle in the local area.
Where the prevalence of cattle is high, the level of agriculture must be high. This is true anyway.
The construction of water conservancy projects can reflect the governance level of local officials.
…
No accidents were encountered along the way, and no accidents are likely to happen.
Every township and county in the State of Zhao has a post station, and this road is one of the most important official roads in the State of Zhao. You can stop and rest at any time.
"Why do we have to pay to stay?" An Ning asked curiously when leaving the inn.
"Everyone has to pay to stay," Zhao Kuo said.
In addition to being a postal station, the post station also has a function of providing a resting place for officials coming and going.
However, Zhao State's inns can accommodate not only officials, but also businessmen, workers, and civilians.
Of course, you have to pay, but it's not expensive. Places with a lot of traffic are usually full, especially in winter, when several people often have to squeeze into one room, but even so, it's better than staying outside in the cold.
The wind is strong.
The accommodation fee at the postal station, plus the advertising fees on the envelopes, supported most of the money needed to operate the postal inn.
The State of Zhao only needs to put a small amount of money into it every year to maintain the normal operation of the postal station. Instead of investing a lot of money every year like those dynasties in history, the postal station still cannot support it in the end.
.
"Isn't that unfair to officials who are on official business trips?" An Ning said. It makes sense that when people do things for the country, they have to spend their own money in the end.
"They can wait until they get back and reimburse themselves with the voucher." Zhao Kuo shook the voucher in his hand and said.
He didn't invent this. It existed a long time ago. It was just called a deed. It was similar to an invoice in later generations. It was mainly used for buying and selling. After the two parties made a transaction, they had to write down the transaction items and prices on the deed, and then divided them into shares.
Two halves, one half for each buyer and seller.
If there is any trouble later, the deed will be the basis.
Zhao Kuo just pushed forward a little and used it on the inn.
In addition, the time, number of people, and names must also be marked on the inn's voucher.
Officials who are on a business trip will take the voucher back with them. If the time on it coincides with the official time, they will be reimbursed. Otherwise, they will pay out of their own pockets.
This is also to prevent some officials from taking advantage of their powers and occupying resources indiscriminately.
Although there are very few such people, it is not impossible.
We cannot let those who abide by ethics suffer and those who do not abide by ethics take advantage. If this continues for a long time, everyone will develop in an immoral direction.