Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 45: Using Technology for Military Rations (Seeking Follow-up Reading)

On the tenth day of September, Lu Jingang met with the craftsmen and took the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive survey of industry and agriculture to understand the industrial and agricultural levels of that era so that he could formulate corresponding policies.

On September 11, the day when Yu Tingyu conquered Lu'an, Lu Jin also asked Bao Heng to call the four grain merchants in the city to come and fight them personally!
Hefei has always been an important agricultural center in history with abundant grain production. It is not only self-sufficient in grain, but also able to export it. Whenever there is disaster relief in the surrounding areas, Hefei is the one that provides grain.

Champa rice was introduced here during the Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, rice in Luzhou could be harvested twice a year, with an output of about 320 kilograms per mu.

The local dietary habits of Luzhou were originally based on eating rice.

However, with the Little Ice Age in the Southern Song Dynasty and the migration of people to the south, a large number of northerners moved here, bringing with them the habit of growing wheat and millet. Due to the cooling climate, the two-season rice crop was changed to a rotation of rice and rapeseed, and this habit continued until the Yuan Dynasty.

The end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty was a typical period of warm climate. Logically, double-season rice planting could have been restored, but planting double-season rice was time-consuming and required a large amount of labor.

This is what we call the "double rush" in modern times, the rush to harvest and the rush to plant, racing against time with God. The summer harvest is the busiest time, as right after the rice is harvested, the soil must be turned over and rice seedlings must be replanted.

However, the Jianghuai region has suffered successive disasters in recent years, killing many people, and there is no longer enough labor to support two-season rice planting. Therefore, the Hefei area has now switched to a rotation of late rice and winter wheat.

After harvesting wheat in the summer, we planted late rice. At the end of August or the beginning of September in the lunar calendar, we harvested late rice and then planted winter wheat. Now it is mid-September, which is the time when winter wheat planting has just been completed.

In other words, from now until next summer harvest, we only need to water the wheat fields a few times. These six months are basically the slack season for farming, which is just the right time to use work instead of relief to build the city wall.

Early in the morning, Bao Heng invited the four grain merchants in the city into the government office. Lu Jin asked the guards to bring chairs and asked them to sit down. Then he apologized and said that he had official business to attend to and asked them to wait for a moment. Then he assigned work tasks to Bao Heng in front of them.

Lu Jin explained that since this was work-for-relief, they could not just give two liters of rice per person per day, as that would only be enough for them to eat. They should give more, such as giving a certain amount of rice to take home if they worked for ten days, and so on.

Bao Heng took the opportunity to complain that there was not enough food and he had to use it sparingly.

But Lu Jin still insisted on asking for more money, otherwise how could he call it work-for-relief and how could he win the hearts of the people.

Several grain merchants were listening nearby, looking at their noses and their hearts, pretending not to hear anything.

These people had discussed privately before. After all, Lu Jin occupied Luzhou City, so they had to show respect to Lu Jin. If Lu Jin wanted food, each of them would give a few hundred or a thousand dan. Tens of thousands of dan? That was impossible.

Merchants are profit-oriented. If you let them empty their assets, you might as well kill them.

After talking about food, Lu Jin went on to say that this time, mobilizing the people to build the city would be a good opportunity to register the people and find out the population and land situation of each village.

Bao Heng also complained about the lack of manpower and officials.

This time, the grain merchants did look up, but did not react much.

There are some educated people in their family, but they don't dare to follow thieves easily.

After all, Lu Jin had only captured one city. When the imperial army came, it was not certain whether he could hold out. At this time, except for those who really wanted to rebel, who among the ordinary people and the centrists would dare to surrender easily?

They will only help whoever wins!
Fortunately, some officials were captured before. According to Lu Jin's suggestion, Bao Heng was asked to deal with them. Those who had bullied the people in the past were sent to do hard labor. They would be allowed to work on the city construction this time, and they could go mining in the future. Those who were diligent and capable would be retained, but there were only five of them in total, including Bao Heng himself.

In addition, there was a shortage of errand runners, so Lu Jin could only agree to transfer a team of soldiers to serve him first.

After Bao Heng left, Lu Jin sat in the lobby and began to edit a book, Gongshu Secret Classic. He first made an outline and then filled in the content one chapter at a time.

They sat there for four hours. If Lu Jin didn't move, the four grain merchants naturally couldn't move either.

The key point is that the marshal didn't even give them tea or talk to them. He just wrote and drew, and no one knew what he was writing.

They didn't even dare to disturb him, for fear that he would be found guilty and their homes would be ransacked and people would be killed. They continued to suffer like this, becoming restless.

This is a show of force!

It was almost noon when Lu Jin put down his pen and looked up. He saw the four grain merchants suddenly stunned, as if they had forgotten they were still there.

Lu Jin quickly stood up and apologized to them, "I'm so sorry, I was so busy that I forgot about time and neglected you gentlemen."

When he looked at the people again, he found that they didn't even have tea, so he hurriedly scolded the guards around him.

"How come you don't have any sense at all? If I don't tell you, don't you know how to serve tea to the gentlemen? Why don't you go quickly?"

"Yes."

The four grain merchants stood up immediately upon seeing this. The leader, who was about 40 years old, had a beard and was wearing a brocade robe, said immediately, "The Marshal is busy with all kinds of affairs, and he is serious and selfless. He is really a role model for us. How can we say that he is negligent? It is us who have delayed the Marshal's work."

"Yes, yes, we are not thirsty. Marshal, please do not scold the soldiers for this, otherwise it will be our fault." The others also quickly echoed.

Lu Jin asked them to sit down again and waited for tea to be served before speaking.

"My Marshal's Office is newly established, and we have limited financial resources. We don't have any good tea. I can't afford the tea made in the Song Dynasty. This stir-fried tea is easier to brew and cheaper. It has a unique flavor. Please don't dislike it, gentlemen."

The later kind of directly brewed fried tea probably appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously promoted the method of frying tea. He disliked the troublesome and slow method of making tea in the Song Dynasty, so he encouraged direct brewing. This made the way of drinking "brewing tea" popular among ordinary people.

Instead, the Song Dynasty's tea-making method was learned by the Japanese, who created matcha and the Japanese tea ceremony.

The grain merchants didn't dare to reject it. They took a sip and praised it repeatedly.

Besides, the tea-frying technology at that time was indeed quite mature. If it was really unpalatable, how could it be promoted even if Zhu Yuanzhang issued a forced order?

After putting down the cup, the leader boldly asked, "The Marshal is very busy. I wonder what you want from us merchants today?"

The show of force was over, so Lu Jin just laid his cards on the table.

"Then I'll be frank. I'm short of food. Would you gentlemen be willing to help me with the money?"

Several people were prepared, and the leader immediately expressed his position, "Marshal is doing justice and standing up for our Han people. I, Fan Ben, admire you very much. I am willing to provide 1,500 dan of military pay to relieve the Marshal's worries."

"I, He Hongzu, will also offer 1,500 shi to help the Marshal relieve his worries."

"My Qin family doesn't have the wealth of the two of you, so we can only offer 800 stones. I hope the Marshal won't despise it."

"I, Hu Shikuan, am willing to donate 1,200 dan of grain to help the Marshal relieve his worries."

Lu Jin was neither happy nor angry when he heard this, he just stood up and turned around.

Bao Heng had already told him the details of the four merchants. Among the four, the Fan family was considered an old and powerful family. How old was it? The Fan family could probably be traced back to Fan Zeng, Xiang Yu's uncle.
But this is also normal. Shouxian and Anfeng in the northwest of Luzhou are the places where Yang Jing said he was going to recruit soldiers. They were called Shouchun in the past and were the capital of Chu State in the pre-Qin period. It is normal that there are several descendants of Chu nobles nearby. If the Fan family is considered a local tyrant, then the He family is the largest merchant in Luzhou, with a wide range of business, including grain, private salt, cloth, and basically any profitable business.

The Qin family is slightly weaker. It is said that its main clan is a wealthy family in Chao County, where poetry and literature are truly passed down from generation to generation. The Qin family doing business in Luzhou is just a branch of that family.

The Hu family moved here from Xuyi a generation ago. It’s only one or two generations ago, so their roots are not solid, but they are also very rich.

But Bao Heng told him that these four families together had at least 140,000 shi of grain, and even the poorest Qin family was estimated to have more than 20,000 shi of grain in stock.

You guys are worth a few hundred bucks each, but you're treating beggars like this. This little stuff is not even enough to feed Lu Jin's army for a month, and you still have the nerve to ask for financial aid?

"Hahahaha." Lu Jin suddenly laughed and said to several people.

"You are too petty. This one thousand or several hundred dan is just a drop in the bucket for you. How can you give it away?"

Hearing this, Fan Ben wanted to speak immediately, but Lu Jin quickly raised his hand and interrupted him.

“No need to explain. I know your concerns very well. You are just worried that I cannot defeat the Tartars. If you help me, you will be punished by the Tartars.

"But in this world, is there any business that can make a profit without taking risks? Even farming depends on whether God will give you food, don't you think?
"I am a very reasonable person. I will remember whoever helped me and will not treat him unfairly. Since you are unwilling to help, I don't blame you. It is human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm.

"In that case, how about we talk business?"

Several merchants blinked their eyes when they heard this, not understanding how Lu Jin, a rebel leader, could discuss business with a group of merchants like them.

"Do you know my name?" Lu Jin suddenly asked

Fan Ben immediately clasped his fists and replied, "I don't know, I only know that the marshal's surname is Lu."

"That's right. My surname is Lu, my given name is Jin, the Jin in splendid mountains and rivers, my courtesy name is Xuanji, and my clan name is Gongshu."

As soon as these words came out, all four of them were surprised. Gongshu clan? Apart from Lu Ban, no one had ever heard of this surname again. Gongshu clan actually had direct descendants?
Lu Jin turned back to the table, picked up the Gongshuzi he had just written in the morning and handed it to them, "Take a look first."

The four of them immediately came over to take a look and found that it was actually a handwritten book. The handwriting was not bad, but the strokes were sharp and sharp, with a murderous intent. In fact, it was written with a hard pen.
The contents inside were what Lu Jin had talked about with Zhang Yunxiu yesterday, but it only recorded Gongshu Ban's biography. The following "Materialism" and "Methodology" only had names, and the content had not been written yet. Lu Jin had not yet compiled "Gongshu Ban's Thoughts and Ideas".

But just these were enough to surprise a few people. They did not expect that the rebel marshal in front of them was actually the direct descendant of Gongshu Ban.

Of course, this is just Lu Jin's one-sided statement. Whether to believe it or not is another matter, but Lu Jin didn't expect them to believe it just by reading the book.

After several people had passed it around, Lu Jin clasped his fists toward the sky and said.

"My ancestor Gongshu Ban was the ancestor of all craftsmen. All the things he created throughout his life were tools that benefited the country and the people. I, Lu Jin, am the direct descendant of Gongshu Ban, so I cannot bring disgrace to my ancestor's name.

"I am not a talented person, but I have mastered the art of public transport machinery and have made several instruments that benefit the people. I am looking for someone to cooperate with me to promote it, which will also benefit the people of the world. Bring it up."

Immediately, a soldier brought two pieces of clothing, both of which were spare shirts that Lu Jin brought with him on business trips, one made of pure white mercerized cotton, and the other was a casual, ancient-style modified linen shirt.

After placing the two pieces of clothing in front of the people, Lu Jin said, "Gentlemen, please take a look at these two types of fabrics. How are they? If they can be produced, can they be sold?"

The four of them were all wealthy businessmen who had frequent contact with fine materials. He Hongzu even ran a cloth shop, but they were still quite surprised to see these two pieces of clothing.

Especially the white mercerized cotton shirt. They didn't even recognize what material it was made of. Judging from the sheen, it was clearly a characteristic of silk. How could cotton or linen have a silk-like sheen? But it certainly wasn't silk when touched!
And the linen shirt was also woven extremely finely and firmly. Although it was obviously linen, its weaving quality was even better than the coarse cotton cloth of that era.

After all, it was the Yuan Dynasty, and China's cotton textile industry was just starting out.

He Hongzu was the first to speak. He held the mercerized cotton white shirt in his hand and spoke immediately.

"If such cloth can really be produced, it will naturally be in short supply. However, I have been engaged in the cloth business for many years, but why can't I tell what this cloth is made of? It is not silk, but it has the luster of silk. Marshal, can you explain this to me?"

"This cloth is woven from kapok, also called mercerized cotton or pearlescent cotton. What do you think, Mr. He?" Lu Jin immediately revealed.

He Hongzu was immediately shocked. "Is this kapok? It doesn't look like it. Why is it so delicate and has a silky sheen?"

Hu Shikuan also picked up the linen one and said, "This one looks like linen, but not like ramie. Marshal, may I ask what this one is made of?"

"Sesame, also called flax, is the kind that Zhang Qian, Marquis of Bowang in the Western Han Dynasty, brought back from the Western Regions." Lu Jin explained.

"I see."

Fan Ben also looked at the two pieces of clothing, and combined with Lu Jin's previous words, he immediately understood the general idea.

"Marshal, do you mean that we should use money and food to exchange for the production methods of these two kinds of cloth?"

Lu Jin nodded and said, "Since we are talking about business, let's just talk about profit and nothing else. I have many ingenious skills in my hands. It depends on what you have to offer in exchange."

As soon as this was said, He Hongzu was the first to speak up, "Marshal, I have a lot of money, and I am willing to exchange 30,000 dan of grain for the weaving technique of this mercerized cotton. I only ask that you do not pass it on to other families."

Fan Ben looked at the two pieces of clothing and said, "But there are only two kinds. Since the Patriarch of the He family wants one, there won't be enough left."

Hu Shikuan immediately said, "Since this is business, of course the one with the highest bid wins."

Lu Jin smiled and said.

"There's no need to fight for it. I've said before that I have many skills that are beyond compare. Do you know the Hualou loom that weaves Shu brocade?"

The four of them were all businessmen, so they knew what was going on and nodded immediately.

Fan Ben even said, "Shu brocade is worth its weight in gold and is well-known throughout the world. How many people don't know about the Hualou that weaves Shu brocade? However, no matter which dynasty it is, it is a tribute to the royal family and ordinary people are not allowed to make it privately. Even if the Marshal can really get the craftsmen to make it, I'm afraid..."

Lu Jin interrupted Fan Ben before he finished speaking.

"Mr. Fan, have you forgotten that Luzhou is my territory? There is no royal ban here. I can weave if I say so.

"Moreover, I can have the craftsmen make better flower towers, without the need for manpower, at a high speed, driven by a waterwheel, and able to weave Shu brocade at a very fast speed. I wonder how much grain you are willing to give?"

I'm a little stuck, let's transition first

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(End of this chapter)