February of the first year of Tiantong (564).
Youzhou, Yuyang County, Wanghaitai.
On the endless sea, the big ship slowly approached.
The soldiers on the dock shouted, and someone quickly walked up to the high platform and raised the command flag.
There are many large ships docked at the pier.
There are many buildings on the outside, with people coming and going, and businessmen gathering, which is really noisy.
There were peasants pushing carts loaded with goods, walking back and forth.
The big ship slowly docked on the shore, some sailors shouted, some soldiers raised wooden steps, and a simple aisle was formed with wooden planks on both sides.
I saw two scribes taking the lead to get out of the ship. Both of them were wearing thick clothes. There were soldiers following behind them. They strode off the ship. The soldiers on both sides hurriedly bowed to see them.
An official led many people to pay homage. The official hurriedly came to the two people and bowed before them.
"Prince."
"She Di Gong."
The two people who arrived were Wang Xi and Shedi Xian'an.
Neither of them looked very energetic. After all, they had just experienced a long voyage, especially Xian'an, who looked particularly down and out. His beard was messy and knotted, which was completely different from his past appearance.
Wang Xi looked at the officials in front of him and was about to speak, but was stunned again.
The official in front of him was tall, energetic, and handsome. He looked like an unusual person. Wang Xi always felt that this person looked particularly familiar.
"Who are you."
"I am General Wei's subordinate Cheng, who has come specially to greet the Second Duke."
Wang Xi asked suspiciously: "Have we met before?"
The official raised his head and chuckled, "I've seen it before."
"My lord, my name is Cui Zhan. He once served as Huangmen and followed Duke Yang."
"Oh!! I remembered it! Yang Min's cronies!"
Wang Xi suddenly realized it, but then felt a little embarrassed.
He smiled and said, "Long time no see. How is Mr. Cui?"
Cui Zhan said calmly: "Thanks to the blessing of the second prince, he is still fine."
When Wang Xi heard this, the atmosphere became even more awkward. Xian'an asked, "Why is Mr. Cui at the border fortress?"
Cui Zhan said: "After Yang Gong was murdered, I was dismissed from my official position and returned to my hometown. It happened that General Wei was preparing to rule the world at the frontier. Cui Sima under his command wrote a letter to persuade me to go, so I In the past, General Wei did not regard me as mean and promoted me to a more important position. Now I am doing small things within my ability to repay General Wei's kindness."
Neither Wang Xi nor Xian'an spoke.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a little tense, Cui Zhan said with a smile: "Second Master, please don't blame me. I am the worst at speaking. Please come with me, Second Master."
He invited the two of them to get into the carriage and pass by on the official road.
The bustling scene of people coming and going on both sides gradually broke the awkward atmosphere.
"Is this place so prosperous?"
"This is the largest sea terminal in the Northland at the moment. Every forty days or so, a group of merchant ships will come from the south. There are also regular small merchant ships, all coming to the Northland for trade."
"There are many discounts for new construction in the North. Grain and cloth ships, etc. are exempt from vehicle and ship tax. Municipal taxes are also collected based on profits and are unified everywhere."
Xian'an shook his head, "It's too difficult to implement."
Cui Zhan nodded, "Yes, you see, those are the results of being too difficult to implement."
Cui Zhan opened the curtain and pointed to the distance.
Xian'an looked into the distance and saw many flagpoles erected there. There were human heads on the flagpoles, watching the people passing by.
Xian'an was not afraid either. He smiled and stroked his beard, "Sure enough, in order to govern the world, it is better to have a sharp sword and a swift horse. It's just that sitting in the official office with no sharp sword left and right. Talking and talking is not good governance.
of."
Xian'an seems to have something else in mind.
Wang Xi chuckled.
Cui Zhan didn't seem to hear it at all. He continued: "After these commodities arrive at the shore, they will be sent to Qiushui Wharf, put on water boats, and go all the way to Yandu. From there, they will be sent to various places."
"These large ships and caravans were formed by a certain minister in the temple who took the initiative and organized many nobles, officials, and big families. You don't know how powerful these people are. They can even persuade the Queen Mother's family to participate in this business. These few
During the month, all kinds of food, cloth and silk are shipped here in a steady stream, and they also take the initiative to mine various mines here."
Cui Zhan shook his head, "As expected of a man with sharp blades and fast horses, this way of making money is not easy. Take the war horses, furs, herbs, copper and iron from the north and sell them to the south in exchange for huge profits.
Use those profits to go north and continue to exchange for war horses, copper and iron. They don't even have the cost, all they need is fast horses and sharp blades, they are so rich."
"Both King Pengcheng and King Zhao were unable to suppress them. King Pengcheng sent people to investigate thoroughly before, but none of the people sent came back alive."
Cui Zhan slowly looked at Xian'an, "What do you think?"
"Let me tell you, the people who are best at doing this kind of thing are those who come from a wealthy family like Cui Jun. They are the best at seizing business opportunities. The nobles are all a bunch of reckless people. How can they take charge of such a big thing? At most
Even if someone pushes me forward, I feel that I have earned a lot, but in fact, it is people with your background who take away the most. King Pengcheng is mostly surrounded by people with this background, how can we thoroughly investigate?"
The two looked at each other again, neither speaking.
Cui Zhan was the first to give up looking at each other. He slowly looked into the distance, "It's time for us to get on the boat and cross Qiushui to Yan."
Cui Zhan came here not just to greet the two of them, but to receive the goods. When they arrived at Qiushui Pier, the ships here had already begun to set off, and large ships were sailing on the water, carrying loads of goods.
The supplies came one after another, and there were many small boats on both sides, flying various flags. Xian'an had never seen so many merchants.
They boarded the ship again and headed to Yandu.
The waterway is still much faster than the land route, and the transportation capacity is more powerful. If these things need to be transported by horse-drawn carriages, it will take a long time and require many horse-drawn carriages.
The three of them stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the countless ships ahead. Wang Xi and Xian'an were speechless for a moment.
Xian'an suddenly asked: "Does General Wei have an affair with a southerner?"
Cui Zhan nodded, "Forget it, we sell important strategic materials to those merchants, and most of them go to the South."
Xian'an didn't expect the other party's answer to be so straightforward, and he didn't even know how to answer the question.
Wang Xi finally stopped being silent and said: "General Wei has no choice. Just by killing the big households, we can survive the winter at most. If we want to resettle many people, we have to accept the dead, cultivate land, and mine."
, all need food, a lot of food. Sometimes, in order to achieve great things, you have to do things you don't want to do. It was the same when we assisted Emperor Xiaozhao."
"I admire Mr. Yang very much."
Cui Zhan said nothing.
Xian'an was silent for a moment and said with emotion: "When Mr. Yang was still here, I didn't think it was anything special. It was only after he was gone that I realized how important he was."
"When he first governed the temples, although the various places were corrupt, the temples were still running. On the surface, they were not so bad. There were bad people, but there were also many good local officials, good shepherds, and good county magistrates everywhere.
, there are many talented people in the temple."
"After his death, the scholars all huddled up, as if they had completely given up."
He said helplessly: "The current temple is the best proof. I looked around the temple. Although there are still wise people, they are all from the clan. I can no longer find as many good ministers with foreign surnames as there were in the time of Duke Yang.
"
Cui Zhan's expression softened a lot, "Actually, when Emperor Xiaozhao was still there, Daqi also had a trend of improvement. He opened villages in various places to solve the food shortage and promoted many people. The main reason is that after the Supreme Emperor ascended the throne, it was really impressive.
At a loss.”
"The Supreme Emperor has failed Emperor Xiaozhao!"
Xian'an's expression turned grim when he heard about the Supreme Emperor, and he said: "At the beginning, Emperor Xiaozhao had many confidants and the support of foreign generals, so he could force the crown prince to the throne, but he didn't want to cause any more murders, so he let him
The Supreme Emperor succeeded to the throne, but what did he do after he took the throne?"
"If I had known this, I would have convinced Gao Guiyan to support the crown prince even if I had died!"
Speaking of the issue between Gao Yan and Yang Min, Cui Zhan and Wang Xixian'an will be a little at war with each other.
But once they talked about Gao Zhan, the three people's views began to be surprisingly consistent.
"He reuses a villain who sells his ass, and he will use whatever the villain promotes. Idiots and trash like Gao Anahu can be promoted, but they are actually talented people. He doesn't look down on any of them.
!!”
"Yes, the enemy general came to kill him. The first thing he thought about was how to use the enemy's general to kill his own general!!"
"When he was in Jinyang, when he saw enemies in the distance, his idea was to run! Run??"
"Not to mention Emperor Xiaozhao, even if the King of Jinan is there, he will not run away!!" "Leave the city behind and run away, let your generals fight to the death, and take the opportunity to escape. Is this something a king can do?!
"
The three of them immediately had a common topic of conversation, and they all criticized the Supreme Emperor, not caring whether such behavior was inappropriate or not.
Once the conversation started, the estrangement between each other was reduced a lot, the previous unhappiness was put away, and the few of us had a lot to say.
The three of them got off the boat.
Soldiers had been guarding here for a long time, and some people had begun to carry supplies. Cui Zhan was also responsible for recording and so on. He was unable to accompany the two of them for the time being. He asked someone to take the two of them to rest in Yandu City for the time being.
Wang Xi and Xian'an sat in the carriage, looking at the scenery on both sides.
On both sides of the flat official road, there is continuous cultivated land.
The people on the cultivated land were extremely busy. Some were plowing deeply and others were weeding.
Looking at it this way, we can see that there are densely packed people in the distance, all farmers, old and young, male and female, and there are also children running on the edge of the fields.
Wang Xi walked for at least an hour, and the cultivated fields and farmers on both sides never stopped. They were always there, almost becoming a fixed landscape.
Wang Xi's eyes got bigger and bigger, and so did his mouth. He looked into the distance in disbelief.
“Where did youzhou get so many farmers??”
Places like Yecheng, Cheng'an and other places where the Qing capital was located are also considered to be important cities in terms of population. A city can easily have more than 100,000 people, and a county can have more than a million, which is already very impressive. Can a state here have more than a million?
It’s hard to say, but how come there are so many farmers?
The person responsible for taking them to Yandu was a young official, who was serious in his conduct and had a strange accent.
He replied seriously: "Two gentlemen, there are always many people in Youzhou."
"There are many people in Youzhou?"
Wang Xi was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "There are a lot of people in the frontier fortress, but compared to the Central Plains, they are still a minority. So many farmers? Just now, there are nearly ten thousand people, right?? The population here is
How many??"
The clerk replied: "I am only responsible for running errands and taking notes for Cui Gong. I have no knowledge of the local situation."
Wang Xi said, "Are you from the Cui family?"
"No, I'm from Jinhe."
"Then how to follow Cui Zhan?"
"My lord, I don't know. Cui Gong is on duty in the General's Mansion. The officials of the General's Mansion are directly dispatched, not recruited by yourself."
Wang Xi was very surprised, "What about your salary?"
"It's from the General's Mansion."
Wang Xi looked at Xian'an, who was looking aside. Xian'an was also shocked, "Then where were you originally on duty?"
"My subordinates came from a humble background. My father was once a slave and suffered from hunger and cold. The general conquered Jinhe and saved my grandfather and elder brother. One of my brothers joined the army, and I went to school. Later, I was admitted to Beishuo County as an official.
, I did something, was recommended, entered the general's mansion, and now I am working with Cui Shucheng."
Wang Xi did not ask any more questions, but continued to look at the farmland on both sides.
Xian'an slowly said: "The dead and the hidden."
"There are many dead people all over the world, and those wealthy families have countless hidden people. General Wei must have resettled them all and distributed the farmland, which led to this situation."
Wang Xi suddenly felt very sad.
"The land in Daqi is the most fertile and the manpower is the most abundant."
At the beginning of the founding of the country, Northern Qi defeated the other two countries in terms of population, not to mention grain production. But as time went on, Northern Qi's advantages became less and less. On the contrary, the population of the Puppet Zhou Dynasty began to continuously increase the national strength.
The gap is getting smaller and smaller.
The population of Da Qi decreased, either because too many people died, or they ran away or were hidden. As a result, the population of Northern Qi was a secret for a long time, and it was not clear at all. Officials continued to use the previous
Using the population data of the dynasty to collect taxes was absurd. It was not until the Puppet Zhou Dynasty defeated the Puppet Qi Dynasty and conducted a thorough investigation that the mystery was solved.
Xian'an didn't pay attention to Wang Xi's sadness at the moment. He continued: "In addition, although there are many people in the Central Plains, they have no farmland themselves, and they have no jurisdiction over spring sowing. It all depends on individuals. Did you notice just now? Every few hundred steps.
, you can see officials standing aside, holding documents. If I guessed correctly, these are the field officials responsible for farming and mulberry affairs in the countryside. They have long been in vain in the Central Plains, but they can be really used here."
"The general government organized a large number of farmers to cultivate land with the support of the government, and rationally utilized cattle, cultivated land, and grain seeds."
Xian'an looked at Wang Xi, "Uncle, do you feel that there is something different in Beidi?"
Isn’t this nonsense??
Wang Xi was about to speak, but suddenly realized that there was something wrong with the other person's words. He thought about it seriously, "What do you mean?"
"The Central Plains is too lazy, and the government does nothing at all. All they do is plunder, let the farmland be barren, and let the people die and get injured. The government here is too overactive, even more so than during the reign of Emperor Wenxiang and the previous dynasty.
It’s all done, and what I added is too real and perfect. It’s a bit like ancient times.”
After listening to Xian'an's words, Wang Xi looked outside suspiciously again.
This time, he finally understood where that feeling of dissonance came from.
The square cultivated land is neatly planned. Every few hundred steps you can see a field official, standing there solemnly, dressed simply and with a solemn face. The people in the distance are also well-behaved and fully engaged.
During the work, it was extremely busy. Except for the half-year-old children, no one was idle. A group of young men gathered on the side of the road, holding long sticks, walking back in formation, as if they had just completed the drill.
Every mile along the official road, there will be post officials leading the post soldiers to patrol the roadside.
He then looked at the clerk sitting in front of him. This guy was wearing black clothes and sitting there upright, with a rigid and rigorous look on his face.
Wang Xi reacted suddenly and looked at the other party faintly.
"You just had to comb your crown to one side."
The clerk obviously didn't understand what the other party meant and didn't answer.
Xian'an laughed at this moment, "Do you understand?"
Wang Xi nodded, "I wouldn't have reacted even if you didn't tell me, it's true."
Wang Xi pointed at the young men holding sticks in the distance and asked: "Young men, those civilian men must participate in drills on time. The strong ones among them must be selected to serve as sergeants. The rest will protect themselves on weekdays. If there is a war,
If something happens, he will be drafted out to serve as a civilian husband and follow in the battle, right?"
The clerk nodded heavily, "That's right."
"How did you know?"
"Oh, I've read some books and I know that military households here have titles!"
"No title"
"Oh? If your sergeant here has made great achievements, will his family members receive various preferential treatment? The more people killed, the more farmland will be granted?"
"yes."
"You generals have set a great ambition to capture Chang'an."
The carriage finally arrived at the gate of Yandu City.
Yandu is not in Yanzhou, but in Youzhou.
And Youzhou is not even within the scope of General Wei's governorship, but here it obeys the orders of General Wei's mansion.
The officials at the city gate checked their places of residence and verified them one by one before allowing them to enter the city.
After entering the city, they went straight to the government office.
The person who came to greet them was the governor of Youzhou. His surname was Lu and his name was Lu Minzhi. He was the son of Lu Jingrong, the former governor of Youzhou.
Lu Mingzhi told Wang Xi and others their names, and then talked about what happened in Youzhou.
The current governor of Youzhou is the newly appointed wise king of the clan, King Lanling, Gao Changgong.
He spontaneously wrote to the emperor, requesting to be appointed governor of the northern frontier fortress, and the temple arranged for him to serve as governor of Youzhou to manage major affairs in the frontier fortress.
As a member of the clan, he could escape the restriction of seniority. After all, he had also been the governor of Sizhou in the past, so there was nothing wrong with him and he took office directly.
But at this moment, King Lanling did not come to meet them.
When Wang Xi asked where the governor was.
Lu Mingzhi hurriedly replied: "The governor led his people to the north to build the Great Wall."
"oh"
Chapter completed!