Anton in summer is extremely beautiful and fertile. The mountains and fields are full of flowers and the trees are full of fruits.
The gurgling river flows towards the sea, and countless fresh fish rush in it.
People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are busy fishing, and the walls of every house are covered with caught fish.
Sima Qian rode a war horse and walked on the country road. Looking at the scenery along the way, he was filled with emotion and couldn't help but praise: "When I was in Chang'an, I once heard that Anton has a vast territory and rich products.
, some people made a song and said: Beat the robe with a stick and scoop out the fish, and the pheasant will fly into the rice pot! Now it seems that the reputation is well-deserved!"
"What my dear brother is saying is..." A nobleman who was four or five years older than Sima Qian rode on a horse and said to Sima Qian with a smile: "If the scenery in Anton was not so beautiful, how could I possibly stay here and count?
Year?"
"Tonight, Brother Yu has prepared some wine for Brother Xian in the mansion to catch the wind and wash away the dust..."
"Hey..." the young noble said with a smile: "You and I are family friends, there is no need to be so polite!"
Sima Qian also smiled after hearing this.
This man's surname was He Rong, and he was the legitimate son of the Qihou family.
Qi Hou is one of the only twenty remaining founding princes of the Han Dynasty. His ancestor Qi Zhen Hou He Fang was a famous general under Emperor Gao. He once led the army to break up the rear during the Battle of Pengcheng and helped Emperor Gao retreat safely.
He made great contributions and killed a general of Xiang Yu.
Therefore, Emperor Gao once praised and said: The son (He Fang) stayed in Pengcheng, held the Guidong and attacked the feathers, and rushed to avoid them!
It was He Fang's key move that enabled the Han army, which suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Pengcheng, to safely retreat to Xingyang, re-build a new line of defense, and have the opportunity to organize the army again.
Otherwise, once Pengcheng is defeated, the Han army will probably be completely defeated.
You know, it is more difficult to retreat in an orderly manner in a defeat than to defeat the enemy.
If you are not careful, it will lead to collapse and destruction.
Xiang Yuhai's next battle is a typical example.
However, as of today, the Qihou family has long lost any momentum.
Among the rankings, it has even been ranked in the bottom three for thirty consecutive years.
However, the other two families that were once at the bottom have now turned around.
The Zifanghou family is now clinging to the lap of the Emperor. Last year on Zifangjihou Yong Shichen passed away. On his deathbed, he ordered his sons and heirs to say: The Emperor is a saint. You should pay your respects three times a day and make pilgrimages every ten days. Don’t slack off!
His son Yongwei complied with everything.
He even did more than his father asked!
In his bedroom, Yongwei had a statue of a god made, which he named: Emperor Han Tian. His appearance was similar to that of the Emperor. When he got up every morning, he would sincerely kneel down in front of the statue and say: "Xinchen Wei worships."
Emperor of Heaven, I beseech Your Majesty for His grace.
When eating, all the Yong family members, young and old, must first kowtow in the direction of Weiyang Palace and say: "I would like to thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty Fu Wei's saintly virtues are known to the world!" Then they can eat.
It is said that even for matters such as having sex or even taking a concubine, Yongwei had to go to the statue of the Emperor of Heaven to pray and divination. If the hexagrams were unlucky, he would not have sex...
After reaching this point, the status of the Zhi Fanghou family continued to rise.
When Yong Shichen was alive, the Zhi Fanghou family was the biggest joke among the Han family princes group, and they were the record holders for the heaviest weight in the history of the Han Empire.
But now, Yongwei has been allowed to "enter the court and participate in political affairs", "attend the court proceedings", "confront the emperor" and other rights that he could not even think of in the past.
Even the people of Fan City, who were once known as one of the Four Great Vajras of the Emperor, could no longer stand the level of his kneeling and licking.
The Wuyang Marquis once sneered in private: "Yong Junhou probably wants to be a national master, and his brain will be damaged..."
Then, Wuyang Hou was invited by the emperor to drink tea...
Later, Wuyang Hou also learned Yongwei's method at home...
The princes' eyes dropped to the ground, and they all sighed, the sycophants' efforts are indeed unexpected!
As for the other family that was also at the bottom, the Song Zihou family, it goes without saying now.
In the contemporary Song Dynasty, Zihou has already assumed the post of Governor of the Andong Protectorate. If everything goes well, he will most likely return to the court and take up the post of Jiuqing in eight years.
Among the top three in the past, only the Qihou family is still in an embarrassing position.
However, Lao He's family obviously doesn't think so.
Their family had the kind of personality where they could settle down even if they were just a little rich. Ever since he saw the tragedy of the bloodbath of Chang'an by the princes and ministers, the then Qi Hou He Chang decided not to interfere in politics again.
Since then, the descendants of the He family throughout the generations were either busy cultivating immortality and refining elixirs, or playing with flowers and plants at home and raising various strange beasts.
Qi Qinghou He Huze of the previous generation suddenly discovered that history books were more interesting, so he began to have close contacts with the Sima family.
The two families got closer. Back then, when Sima Qian was just born, the two families even planned to get married!
But later when the new king came to the throne, when the emperor expressed some special concern and care for the Sima family, Wuyanghou, Chiquanhou, and Zhongshuihou all came to the door with gifts and said: I heard that Jun Qilin'er is willing to marry Qin and Jin...
…
The Sima family was embarrassed.
On the one hand, as historians, they should adhere to neutrality and not have too close contacts with these political families.
Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will cause gossip and be questioned.
On the other hand, Sima has small arms and legs, and none of these people can afford to offend him.
So, I can only drag it.
However, if Sima Qian had to choose, he would actually prefer He Rong's sister, the one who wanted to marry him.
But the problem is, he can't make the decision at all in this kind of thing.
I can only hope that the emperor will grant a marriage in the future...
He Rong obviously also liked Sima Qian as his brother-in-law. He led Sima Qian through the fields and villages to the Qihou Mansion here.
There are 1,400 households in Qihou's food towns. If they are placed with a grant of grace, they can get 2,800 households' land in the food towns.
Each household has 100 acres of land, and the entire feudal country has 280,000 acres.
Of course, as a prince with little status or power, most of the feudal land that Qi Hou received was actually mountains and swamps.
The actual cultivable area is no more than 50,000 acres.
Thirty percent of the 50,000 acres of land was used to build feudal houses and residences.
The remaining land has not been fully developed.
From what Sima Qian had seen along the way, the observation results showed that at most there was about 30,000 acres of land.
To be fair, even if the yield of these lands reaches four dan per acre, the output is at most 120,000 dan per year. After deducting expenses and other consumption, the balance may not be much.
But the Qihouhou Mansion is built in a majestic manner and full of artistic sense.
At the entrance of the house, there are even two stone sculptures of fierce dogs with teeth and claws to ward off evil spirits.
This fierce dog is the most widely believed pet of Guankou Erlang in the Andong area. It is called the roaring dog. Legend has it that the roaring dog is born with supernatural powers and can eat the sun and the moon.
However, Sima Qian knew that in the belief of Guankou Erlang in Shu County, there was no Roaring Sky Dog.
The reason why there are roaring dogs in Andong should be due to the Tuo people, the Wuheng people, the Han people, the Zhenfan people and other tribes.
Because, as far as Sima Qian knew, these tribes and kingdoms had the custom of keeping fierce dogs for a long time in the past.
Especially the Hao people and Wuheng people, the fierce dogs they bred are now very popular in Chang'an.
As for these two stone sculptures, Sima Qian estimated that it would take at least dozens of masons and several months of work to carve them out, and they would be worth at least tens of thousands of dollars!
As for the gate of the Hou Mansion, it is even more grand.
The precious huanghuali wood used is very valuable in Chang'an. A piece of huanghuali wood one foot long and three feet wide can cost tens of thousands!
But here, this kind of expensive pear wood was made into the gate of Qihouhou Mansion.
The wood used for this door alone is probably worth hundreds of thousands!
After entering the Hou Mansion, there is a completely different world.
Throughout the Marquis Mansion, there are pavilions, pavilions, rockery pools, and a large number of servants coming and going in and out of the corridors.
Sima Qian looked at it and sighed: "No wonder my brother doesn't want to go back to Chang'an... This Marquis Mansion is probably more luxurious than the Jiuqing Mansion in Chang'an!"
In Chang'an City, even the residence of Marquis Zhangwu may not have such a large space and so many servants.
However, He Rong laughed twice and said: "A shabby room! A shabby room! Not worth mentioning! Not worth mentioning!"
Sima Qian was filled with doubts in his heart.
Where did He Rong get so much wealth and funds?
Sima Qian remembered clearly that three years ago, when He Rong left Chang'an and came to Anton to develop, he only brought dozens of retainers and slaves with him and only three hundred thousand capital.
In just three years, it has become like this?
I'm afraid...
He Rong seemed to see Sima Qian's doubts and explained with a smile: "I dare not hide it from my dear brother. I am here today thanks to cotton and soybeans!"
As he led Sima Qian to the Marquis' Mansion, he introduced: "Brother Xian knows that Brother Yu's fiefdom is a land of mountains, salt and brine, and there is not much arable land, so Brother Yu has to find another way, which happens to be
Duke Chen, the lord prince of Tangyi, invited him, so Brother Yu followed him and planted some cotton and soybeans, making a small profit..."
"Cotton? Soybeans?" Sima Qian fell into deep thought.
He knows cotton. In the past three years, cotton cloth and quilts have been one of the best-selling luxury goods in the Chang'an market.
Middle-class families and well-off families are competing to buy.
Sima Qian also followed the trend and bought some cotton cloth and made a set of clothes. After putting them on, he was indeed very warm.
It's just that the price is too expensive, twice as expensive as ordinary silk, second only to Shu brocade, and even Sima Qian couldn't afford it.
However, Sima Qian once heard the emperor mention that the price of cotton cloth will continue to drop in the future, and may eventually be lower than silk!
As for the soybeans?
Sima Qian scratched his head. The price of soybeans has always been low and has always been regarded as feed.
In Chang'an market, one stone of soybeans only costs 45 yuan!
This is because the price of soybeans has increased over the years because they can be used to make tofu.
He Rong smiled and said: "The cotton can be grown and sold to the young master, the soybeans can be squeezed and the oil can be sold to merchants, and the bean dregs can be sold to the servants... It is much more cost-effective than growing corn and wheat.
...Brother Yu, by planting cotton and soybeans every year, can earn as little as one million a year, and as much as three to five million..."
As he said this, he laughed: "It's just a small amount of money, far less than other people..."
Sima Qian asked, "Dare I ask, brother, how many cotton fields and soybean fields are there now?"
"There are about 40,000 to 50,000 acres of cotton land..." He Rong replied with a smile: "As for the bean fields, there are more... because even salt brine land can be planted, so there are about 60,000 acres..."
"One hundred thousand acres???" Sima Qian was startled when he heard this. He asked, "Brother, how come there are so many people to take care of it?"
This is the crux of the problem. The Andong region is vast and sparsely populated, and is extremely short of manpower. It may be easier to grow cotton and soybeans than corn, but even if one man can take care of hundreds of acres, these 100,000 acres will still require at least
It would take hundreds of families to take care of it.
From what Sima Qian saw, the entire Qihou feudal kingdom now had at most 500 households!
With such a small number of people, I'm afraid they can barely cultivate those fields of millet and wheat!
He Rong smiled mysteriously and brought Sima Qian into his living room. A Yi Di man in Tsing Yi immediately came forward, knelt down and worshiped: "Master, the banquet has been prepared. Can we serve the food now?"
?”
He Rong stepped forward with a smile, helped the man up, and said: "How many times have I told you! Now you are no longer a Yidi, but a subject of my Han family and my retainer. Don't call me master in the future."
, I should be called your Lord like others..."
"Come, let me introduce to you, this is my family friend, Mr. Sima, the son of the Grand Historian of the dynasty. From now on, in this family, Mr. Sima's words will be my words! Do you understand?"
"Nuo!" The other party said to Sima Qian: "The barbarians of Yi and Di worship the young master!"
"Here he comes again...here he comes again..." He Rong said to him quickly: "You are now a subject of my Han family. Your household registration has been approved. Your surname is He Mingzhong now..."
However, He Zhong still looked submissive and groveling.
This made Sima Qian, who was watching from the side, confused. He couldn't figure out what was going on?
He Rong had no choice but to hold Sima Qian's hand and explain: "Now in Anton, the world is ruled by the Za family. All the distinguished officials of the Za family advocate the abolition of slavery, believing that all human beings are created equal and that treating people as slaves is a bad habit!"
"Through the initiative of the Zajia family, today Anton is a remote and remote place, and there are no slaves in the sea!"
No servants?
So where did the servants and servants of this huge Hou Mansion come from?
Sima Qian was even more difficult to understand.
He Rong also sighed. He knew that it would be difficult for outsiders to explain Anton's current situation clearly.
Let alone an outsider, even he spent a lot of time to understand the twists and turns involved.
So, he took Sima Qian's hand and said: "I know brother Xian has some doubts in his heart, but it is difficult for brother Yu to explain these things to brother Xian for the time being. Why don't brother Yu take brother Xian to a cotton field and a bean field tomorrow?
Observe, my dear brother, you will know what is true and what is false..."
Sima Qian nodded after hearing this and felt that it was right. It is said that hearing is better than seeing once. Listening to other people's words is far more clear than experiencing and observing it yourself.
