In the second year of Jian'an, it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
It has been a while since the state pastoral office moved to Jinling, and Jinling has become increasingly prosperous. With this New Year, it has become even more lively.
All major aristocratic families have now bought houses in Jinling. Even those who have not yet served in the state pastoral office are still in a separate courtyard, and some have even bought farms directly outside the city...
Although the whole family will not actually be relocated, a group of clan members will be resettled, firstly to show closeness, and secondly to keep them informed.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was the first to buy the bottom, naturally made a lot of money, but it was not a huge fortune.
In the Han Dynasty, the price of land in the city was not much higher, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Even in Luoyang in its heyday, grassroots officials could buy a small house if they saved a few years.
Land prices in the city require prosperous private businesses to take off, and the wealthy merchants of the Han Dynasty were indeed wealthy, but they relied on monopoly and large-scale transactions.
Especially after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the commodity economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty actually regressed compared to that of the Western Han Dynasty.
In order to alleviate the economic pressure caused by foreign conquests during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the budding transportation tax and property tax—that is, "equal losses" and "calculation of losses"—began to emerge.
However, firstly, the steps were too big. At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was already going crazy from poverty. The blood draw was a bit harsh and directly injured his roots. Secondly, in the late Western Han Dynasty, especially Wang Mang's aggressive restoration, the commodity economy almost collapsed.
Although there was a "fangshi" system in the Han Dynasty, housing prices were average.
In the Tang Dynasty, the price of land in the city really took off. Han Yu, who was a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, even wrote in his poem, "I have worked hard for thirty years to have this house." Not to mention Du Fu, who was bullied by a group of children in Nancun.
, we can only build a thatched house in the suburbs of non-first-tier cities...
It can also be seen from here that the commerce in the Eastern Han Dynasty was not perfect. Although there were wealthy families doing large-scale transactions, there was a lack of private businessmen, and the demand for commerce among the people was also very low. The small-scale peasant economy, bartering for daily necessities, was the
Mainstream.
And these so-called large-scale transactions can hardly provide tax revenue for Bai Tu. It's like the Chen family helped Bai Tu transport a thousand cavalry to Jiangdong - even Yuan Shu, who controls Huainan, didn't find their whereabouts, so where would they collect taxes?
Unless one day, Bai Tu can open up stable trade routes, ports, and trading points, making it a trustworthy distribution center and bulk trading location. It will be more convenient than them alone for conducting transactions, and there will be a basis for tax collection.
Otherwise, Baitu can never build a Great Wall to surround Jiangdong...
As for the private commodity economy that is easy to collect taxes, the Eastern Han Dynasty is even more backward than the Western Han Dynasty. Ninety-nine percent of the Han people are completely small farmers and self-sufficient.
This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that Bai Tu will now ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to revise the commercial tax regulations and clear up the source before business develops. The disadvantage... is that for a long time, Bai Tu can't expect commercial tax regulations.
How much subsidy should you give yourself?
Wanting to support oneself through commercial taxes is still just a vision. In recent years, one has to endure the torture of conscience and "exploit" farmers to maintain the army.
Only when food production increases, more manpower is released from cultivated land, and the commodity economy is revived, can the "commercial tax" gradually come into use.
Even not only food, after the food production capacity is increased, the diet structure can also be upgraded...
When the Han Dynasty was in its heyday, especially the Western Han Dynasty, during those powerful periods, meat was not considered a luxury among the people. The frontier troops could each receive several kilograms of meat per month - the general rations for the defenders were staple food and
Salt is transported, and complementary foods are purchased locally through direct allocation of funds.
Only armies fighting abroad will rely entirely on transporting grain and grass.
But obviously this does not include the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Now it is good enough for ordinary people to have enough to eat!
Moreover, even ordinary people in the Han Dynasty mainly consumed chicken and beef as meat. Even if they could not eat meat at all most of the time, they rarely considered pork.
It’s not just a matter of the fishy smell, after all, you can eat tree bark and grass roots if you’re very hungry.
The main reason is that there are not many people raising pigs, and the pigs that have not been gelded are not like the big fat pigs in pig farms. Especially now, the degree of domestication of pigs is far less than that of later generations.
Pigs exercise more than cows!
They are more wild than cattle, which makes breeding more difficult, and they exercise a lot, so they naturally gain weight slowly, making it difficult to make substantial profits...
However, Bai Tu understood that as long as pigs were carefully bred and groomed scientifically, the feed-to-meat ratio of pigs would be much higher than that of cattle. Even if Bai Tu could not obtain corn for the time being, there would still be great potential in raising pigs.
What Baitu wants to do today is to break people’s prejudice against pigs first!
Because there were too many people for the banquet and the main hall was not big enough, Bai Tu set up the banquet directly in the large courtyard of the Zhou Mufu.
Except for Sun Ce, who is still in Poyang, and Taishi Ci, who is still on his way to Liaodong, all the main figures from the other prefectures and prefectures have arrived. Even if they have not yet served in the prefectures and prefectures, there are already representatives of aristocratic and wealthy families in Jinling.
Invitations were sent to everyone, but I just wanted to accompany the last one.
Next to the white picture at the front are Lu Bu's family, Zhang Liao, Gan Ning and other generals who are usually stationed outside, as well as the main staff of the Six Ministries...
Seeing Gan Ning sitting there peacefully, many people also concluded that what happened a few days ago was indeed a rumor.
Even though Sun Ce was not here, the family members of the Sun Quan brothers and even Mrs. Wu were also invited, and Diao Chan was also involved in the crime beside Lu Bu.
In addition to these people, there is also an unexpected guest-Xun You.
Baitu's Talent Recruitment Hall has already "recruited" many famous talents, but Xun You is not included among them.
After all, before he traveled through time, Xun Yu and Xun You's uncle and nephew had already been conquered by Cao Cao. Now Xun You, as an envoy of the imperial court, came to Jiangdong to invite Bai Tu to send troops to attack Yuan Shu!
Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor on the first day of the lunar month, and Xun You had already arrived at Jinling on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. This shows that Cao Cao was really in a hurry.
And... it's better to come early than to come by chance, and Bai Tu can't even bear to part with this bite of meat.
Xun You also didn't expect that as Cao Cao's envoy, even an "angel" in name, he would be dragged to eat pork. If it weren't for the other major Jiangdong generals and staff, he would have really thought that Bai Tu was humiliating him!
In fact, I had known earlier that apart from eating pork today, the other specifications of the banquet were pretty good. Bai Tu was on top. Everyone sat on two sides, with tables set up on each side. There was also a big cauldron in the middle of the courtyard. At this time, there was a lot of chatter.
Burning...
Waves of rich aroma emanated from the cauldron.
Gan Ning had nothing to do. Not only did he not sit down, but he also shouted to Xun You from several seats away: "Don't worry, Mr. Xun, this cauldron is for cooking cheap meat, not for envoys, hahaha..."
Xun You:……
Hua Xin glared at Gan Ning's rude joke, but Gan Ning Quan pretended not to see it.
Although Xun You was not very familiar with Gan Ning, he knew that he must be Bai Tu's confidant, so he had to pretend not to hear and talk to Hua Xin, Wang Lang, Kong Rong and others beside him.
In addition to asking Bai Tu to send troops, Xun You also had other tasks this time, which was to see if he could conquer Hua Xin and others in the name of the imperial court, and at the same time test whether Bai Tu had the ambition to strive for hegemony.