Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 344
Everyone who walks into the Tang Palace will be shocked by the luxurious buildings with flying eaves and corridors, Zhuzhu carved beams, and fascinated by the rockery, fountains, strange stones, and famous flowers. But that's all.I am used to seeing luxury buildings with tens of floors, hundreds of floors, or even hundreds of floors. When I look back at ancient buildings, it is like looking at the mounds standing on Mount Everest. There is no difference.Of course, there are many precious things in classical buildings, but these are not what he is interested in, so ignore them.Zhu Yujian originally wanted to show off, but seeing his indifferent expression, and thinking about the Nanyang Technical School that was ten times more grand than the Wangfu, he could only smile wryly and give up.

He ordered his servants to prepare food and wine, and then invited Yang Menglong to his study.

Generally speaking, vassal kings don't like reading very much, because reading is useless, and they don't have the right to take exams.Zhu Yujian was an exception. He sat in prison for so long and passed the time by reading books. He studied Confucian classics in his cell, and he could be called a bookworm.In his study room, there are all kinds of classics, including Huang Ming Zu Xun, Ming Hui Dian, Five Classics and Four Books, 21 History, Tongjian Compendium, Zhongxiao Jing, etc. The decoration is extremely exquisite, it is simply a handicraft.Zhu Yujian explained: "These books are all rewarded by the emperor."

Yang Menglong browsed the bibliography and said: "The pretense is good, but unfortunately, such books are useless."

Zhu Yujian was a little unhappy: "These books are the books of sages!"

Yang Menglong said: "I know that these are the books of sages and sages, and those who can write these books are all famous in history, but these books are only suitable for placing on the desk to treat people's tastes, and they are useless in reality...you Don't be unconvinced, let me ask you, do you know how to process potato starch?"

Zhu Yujian blushed and said, "I don't know!"

Yang Menglong asked again: "A well is ten feet deep, and the well water is less than four feet. Do you know how to use this well to irrigate five acres of fields?"

Zhu Yujian said: "I... I can ask farmers to carry more water..."

Yang Menglong said: "It's useless, you can only keep one mu of land at most, and the other four mu of land will either die from drought, or the wheat seedlings will be trampled out. But for me, this problem is very simple, transforming that well into a hand A pressure-suction shaft well, or simply install a screw pump to pump the well water up, and only two people can use the water from that well to keep the crops in the five-acre field!"

Zhu Yujian said: "This...these are all ingenious techniques!"

Yang Menglong said: "It's a strange and ingenious technique, yes, but these technologies can feed more people with less manpower and less land, making the whole country more stable and prosperous. I dare to follow You bet, if the two technologies of hand pressure suction well and screw pump can be promoted in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, the number of homeless people will be reduced by at least half!" Hehe smiled, and threw the 24 histories in his hand aside, "These books of sages can only tell you some general truths, but they can't help you solve any practical problems. The era when half of the Analects of Confucius ruled the world has long passed, boss, if you really want to solve your problems Yes, I advise you to read other books."

Zhu Yujian was confused by what he said, and asked blankly: "Then what book should I read?"

Yang Menglong said: "Agricultural books, medical books, arithmetic books, astronomy, geography...you can read any book, as long as you don't read these sage books. Didn't Lord Yangming say that knowledge and action are one, and knowledge and action are one!"

Zhu Yujian felt that he was despised, and secretly vowed that he would find the books that Yang Menglong said and read them, and no matter what he said, he could not continue to despise him!He said sullenly, "It seems that I didn't invite you here to tell me what books to read! Do you still want the 450 hectares of fertile land?"

Yang Menglong quickly restrained himself and said, "Think, think! Why don't you want to?"

Zhu Yujian said: "If you want it, please sit down and help me come up with a feasible solution!"

Yang Menglong sat down, crossed his legs and said, "Give me the land deed first!"

Zhu Yujian snorted and asked someone to bring the land deed and throw it to Yang Menglong. He then picked up a pen and wrote a few lines to prove that he had willingly assigned the land to Wuyang Wei.Yang Menglong took the Tian Deed and the certificate, smiling so hard that he couldn't see his eyes: "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Zhu Yujian put down his pen, sat down, and said, "Now that I have given you the land, shouldn't you also tell me what to do to increase the income of the palace tenfold and gain a good reputation?"

Yang Menglong rolled his eyes: "I don't even know the specific expenses of your palace, how can I give you advice?"

Zhu Yujian took out an account book and threw it to him.

The account book records the specific income and expenditure of the palace in the past year. Opening it casually, Yang Menglong found that the income of the Tang Palace is really scary. Two to three thousand hectares of fertile land will bring tens of thousands of shi of land rent to the Tang Palace every year. In addition, there are salt imports, mining taxes, a large number of shops, shipping, etc., which add up to an annual income of no less than 20 taels of silver.Of course, these are not big heads. The real big head is the salary issued to them by the imperial court. The salary that the prince deserves every year is 28 shi for grain and rice, 10 guan for banknotes, and a lot of silk, cloth, horses, etc.; The salary is [-] shi for grain and rice, [-] guan for banknotes, and half of the prince for cloth and silk; the county king's annual salary is [-] shi for grain and rice; below the county king are the princess, general Zhenguo, general Fuguo, general Fengguo, and Zhenguo. Lieutenant, Lieutenant Fuguo, Lieutenant Fengguo... Each of them can get a large sum of Lumi.The population of the Tang Palace is quite prosperous, and there are dozens of generals in Guangzhenguo. It is really a star-studded crowd!It is not difficult to imagine how heavy a burden so many royal relatives are to the country and the locality!Although in the [-]th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to reduce the vassal's Lumi by four-fifths, but the vassal king could not bear the birth. A vassal king gave birth to hundreds of sons, and the loss was also made up for.With so many people, the income of the Tang Palace is not enough, because they have to distribute a large amount of brocade, cloth and other items to the large number of Generals Zhen Guo, Fu Guo, Feng Guo, and General Feng Guo every year. Big expense.The most deceitful thing is that even Tang Wang doesn't know how many children and grandchildren those county kings have, so you can only send as many as they report!Yang Menglong grinned, my mother grinned, this family is really capable of having children, and the annual income of tens of thousands of taels is not enough for expenses!

After reading the account book, Yang Menglong knew what was in his mind. He shook his head and smiled wryly: "You guys can really give birth...but it's true. If it were me, I would risk my life to give birth. The country will give a lot of money to give birth to a child!"

Zhu Yujian said with a dark face: "I invite you here, not to make you laugh at me!"

Yang Menglong put down the account book and said: "You have too many people to manage, you don't have enough money, and there is a financial crisis. I understand, I understand!" Putting down the account book, he said seriously: "With your current situation, you have no choice. We can only increase income and reduce expenditure. There is no hope of reducing expenditure, even if you can do it, others cannot, so you have to open source."

Zhu Yujian asked: "How about an open source method?"

Yang Menglong said: "It's simple, change your previous monotonous farming methods, don't work hard to grow wheat, and plant some cash crops such as flax, potatoes, and cotton appropriately. These cash crops can bring more benefits. The income is ten times that of planting one crop of wheat a year."

Zhu Yujian said: "I want to grow flax, potatoes, cotton, etc., but I don't know how to grow them..."

Yang Menglong began to roll his eyes again: "You don't know how to grow, and you won't invite someone who knows how to grow to be a technical consultant? If you have to understand everything by yourself before you can do it, you can do it in your life. What to do? As for the supply of fertilizers, don’t worry, I’m not a person who forgets my roots, you’ve given me so much fertile land, I’m sure I’ll give you back, I’ve got enough phosphate fertilizer, and I’ll send someone to guide you in applying it.”

Zhu Yujian was overjoyed: "Thank you, thank you!"

Yang Menglong said: "You are welcome! By the way, if you grow cotton and flax, you might as well set up a few more textile factories to weave the flax and cotton you grow into cloth. This will not only make more profits, but also provide more for the people. employment opportunities. Of course, wages must be reasonable, otherwise good things will definitely turn bad.”

Zhu Yujian expressed his understanding.No matter how ignorant he was about farming, he knew that the profit of selling a catty of flour was much higher than that of selling a catty of wheat, not to mention that the profit of the cloth business had always been very high.But he was still a little worried: "What if the woven cloth cannot be sold?"

Yang Menglong shouted: "How can it not be sold! Let me tell you, my Heluo new army has thousands of people who have undergone strict training, and a new set of military uniforms will be issued every three months. Think about how big the market is! Wuyang Wei Luoyang Wei and Luoyang Wei add up to more than 2 military households. An adult military household has to distribute three sets of clothes every year, and [-] students in the Wei School receive two sets of clothes each year. This is a big market! I am not underestimated. You, if you don’t plant tens of thousands of acres of cotton or flax, the little cloth you weave won’t even be enough to supply Nanyang and Luoyang!”

Zhu Yujian's petite heart jumped wildly disobediently... Doesn't this mean that as soon as he weaves the cloth, Yinzi will automatically and consciously jump into his pocket as if he had grown legs?This deal is done!Thinking of this, he cupped his hands at Yang Menglong and said, "Thank you General for your advice! I have decided to set aside [-] mu of land for the cultivation of flax and cotton!"

Yang Menglong said: "It's not enough to just plant. We have to build a textile factory, recruit workers, and weave them into cloth! Is it possible that I should bring a lot of flax fiber and cotton back to the barracks and let the soldiers weave their own cloth?" I suggest you plant flax first, the investment in cotton is too high, if you don’t have enough capital, it’s best not to play.”

Zhu Yujian deeply agreed.

Yang Menglong said: "If you plant 50 mu of flax and potatoes, be conservative. It can bring you at least [-] million taels of silver per year. This income has increased. Shouldn't the common people share some of the sweetness?"

Zhu Yujian said: "I will set up porridge sheds in various places in Nanyang and give out more porridge..."

Yang Menglong curled his lips: "It's useless! Can you support them for a lifetime? The best way is to write off all the old debts they owed you, reduce the rent by one, and give them some food and drinks during the holidays... Actually, in my opinion , you might as well clear out all the tenant farmers."

Zhu Yujian was taken aback: "Get rid of all the tenant farmers? You're crazy!"

Yang Menglong said: "Yes, all the tenant farmers are cleared, and then wages are paid to recruit workers. Everyone makes a contract and agrees on how much salary to pay each month. Then they farm for you, you pay them wages, and everyone gets what they get. If you need it, you won’t have to worry about them thinking you owe them anything. Believe me, the enthusiasm of the workers recruited in this way is definitely not comparable to that of tenant farmers. You can save worry and get a higher income, so why not? "

Zhu Yujian was silent.

Yang Menglong asked: "Are you worried that you won't be able to recruit people?"

Zhu Yujian nodded: "Yes, Wuyang Guard is too good at robbing people, he can't rob you!"

Yang Menglong said: "This requires you to give them more benefits. For example, as long as they are farmers who come to work on your farm, their wives and daughters can have priority in getting the opportunity to work in the textile factory you run, and you can open a few private schools to let them If your children go to private schools, these few rules will ensure that all the workers are completely devoted to you! Boss, if you want to do a big business, you can't be worse than worse, better than better!" To put it bluntly, he just wanted Zhu Yujian to turn the farmland into a farm and turn the tenants into farmers. Becoming a worker, although the latter is the same as the former, is exploitation, but it can generate higher benefits and allow more people to benefit.

Zhu Yujian slapped his thigh: "Good idea!" Then he was a little embarrassed: "It will cost a lot to do this, right?"

Yang Menglong said: "Of course! Thinking back, I spent tens of thousands of taels of silver in half a year in order to improve the Wuyang Thousand Households. Don't even think about it."

Zhu Yujian gasped: "A dozen or two hundred thousand taels of silver! You want to bankrupt me!?"

Yang Menglong said leisurely: "High investment, high output, no part of the farm, no part of the harvest, just throwing seeds on the land and wanting to get a good harvest is a dream."

Zhu Yujian clenched and loosened his fists. Although he wanted to revitalize Tang Wang's lineage, he still felt that doing so was too risky, and he might even get involved.But the prospect Yang Menglong described is so attractive. If it succeeds, it will definitely bring fame and fortune!Is he doing it, or doing it, or doing it?

(End of this chapter)