North and South groceries

In addition to the identity of Peng Er, there are also several translators accompanying him this time, who also said something.

These translators were all students of Changle Academy, but they were not the first batch, but were recruited by Tang Jian later in the local area.

Some of these people are from a higher family background, and some are from ordinary people. What they learn is also different. Some people want to study diligently, learn literature and martial arts, and their intention is to become an official. Acquire a foreign language, and do translation with others on this business path, and the income will be very good.

Earlier, their academy was originally supported by the Changle County Government. Tang Jian asked Luo Yong for money every time, and he didn't feel guilty about it. After all, Luo Yong also had a share in the establishment of the academy.

Later, Bai Yimao came over to be the county magistrate of Changle. Bai Yimao is also a rare young talent, and he is the eldest son and grandson of a big family like the Bai family. It is reasonable to say that he should be a small county magistrate. It's a shame.

But when it comes to making money, this Bai Yimao is really far behind the previous coffin board, but he is also a big-hearted person, and he wants to build a new city and lay railroad tracks all day long. The storeroom in the county government office was like washed water, so Tang Jian couldn't bear to ask him for money again.

Besides, the nature of Changle Academy is a bit embarrassing, and I don’t know who is in charge of it. If it is under the supervision of Guozi, Chang’an City does not allocate funds to this school like Guozixue Taixue.

If it is under the control of the local government, the local government can't control it, and there is no such precedent before. The local schools are nothing more than some basic medical studies.

After much deliberation, Dean Tang finally decided to privately run Changle Academy to a public school. The so-called private school management means charging tuition fees from students.

Students in this era originally had to pay tuition fees, called Shuxiu, which generally stipulated how much meat and how much cloth to give, but even so, public schools still paid for it.

Dean Tang didn't want to pay, so he naturally had to charge a little more tuition fees. In order to allow more families who can afford to pay tuition fees to send young people to school, the enrollment standards must naturally be lowered. Not as much about origin as in the past.

Ordinary people, merchants and craftsmen, as long as they are young people with good qualifications in their families and can afford the tuition fees, they can be sent to Changle Academy to study.

In recent years, some people have called the four states of Tingzhou, Yizhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou the Golden Four Corners. A large number of merchants and goods from Yanqi, Kucha and other places in the Western Regions have gathered here.

In such a big environment, talents who are proficient in foreign languages ​​are very popular. As soon as Changle Academy started recruiting foreign students, it ushered in a large number of students, which immediately solved the financial problem of the academy.

Dean Tang's private school was very successful, and some rich merchants were willing to donate a lot of money and silk to the academy in order to allow their sons to study in Changle Academy.

The County Magistrate Bai Yimao Bai, who looked poor and useless, was very envious. It turned out that the academy was paid for so much.

These things were also reported to Chang'an City early in the morning, and some people in the court also mentioned them, but it didn't cause any waves.

Many people in the court sympathized with Tang Jian's experience. Thinking of how much he was a dignitary, a founding hero, and made many contributions back then, he almost said something that he shouldn't have said because he was competing with a saint. Just lost his life.

Later, because of some complaints in his heart, he drank and reveled all day long, and had no interest in government affairs. In the end, because he accepted a few lambs from others, he was demoted to Doctor Guanglu, that is, a idle job with no real power and no specific work.

Now he is running a school in Longxi and enjoying himself, so let him go, it's not a big deal, he's always holding on to what to do.

Regarding this matter, the emperor didn't say much. He didn't know if he felt a little guilty about what happened back then, or because he didn't want to be honest.

Another thing is that the twelve students who went to the Western Regions in the past two years finally got news recently, and they got it from those refugees.

A refugee carried a picture book with him, but it was a gift from a few Tang men, and he said that when he met them, there were no more than twelve people.

After receiving this news, Luo Yong, Hou Lin and others were very happy, and the family members of the other young people who were frightened by the rumor earlier could finally breathe a sigh of relief this time.

As for the painting book, Guo Xiaoke’s men exchanged some food and cloth for it, and sent it to Chang’an City through the post station. On the morning of the first day, the saint passed it to the ministers for circulation, and Luo Yong took a look at it at that time. , it was the picture book that I asked Qiao Junlin and the others to bring.

After reading it, all the ministers felt: "This must be written by the county magistrate Luo."

Luo Yong’s picture books all have an obvious feature, they are not serious picture books, they are actually propaganda books, no matter how wonderful the story is and how beautiful the pictures are, they cannot conceal the essence of their advertisements.

With such a distinctive personal style, Luo Yong doesn't know whether he should be happy or worried.

According to what the Hu people said, it was more than a year ago that they met Qiao Junlin and others. came back.

There was no news for more than a year after that, where they went and what happened to them, I don't know at all.

Some people say that Dashi and Persia are at war, and the Persians can't fight. The business road was cut off by the Dashi people. It is as difficult as ever to pass through Dashi from Persia to Datang. Nowadays, many Persian businessmen are There are many Persian merchants on the Lingnan Road with large ships carrying goods to and from the east along the coastline.

That's why some people speculated that Qiao Junlin and the others might return by sea. The sea is stormy and there are sea passages, so the journey is not easy.

In autumn, Erniang came back from the south of the Yangtze River. She also said that there were many tourists in the south of the Yangtze River. Many ships landed on the southeast coast, exchanged spices, gold, silver and utensils from the locals for silk and satin, and shipped them to sea.

He also said that in the Jiangnan area, the price of those peppers and the like is much cheaper than that in Guanzhong, and all kinds of exotic goods are not expensive.

In Luo Yong's impression, at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the foreign trade along the southeast coast had not been greatly developed, and the famous ports in later generations basically did not develop much at this time.

The reason why it was developed in advance this time should have a lot to do with the appearance of the compass. In addition, Datang has produced a lot of rare things over the years, and it has also attracted many overseas people. , will form a driving effect.

Just like those merchants in the east of Chang'an who are active inside and outside Chang'an City, many of them have never even been out of their own prefectures and counties before, and never dreamed that they would be able to go to Chang'an City one day.

Later, the commercial roads became unimpeded, and more and more merchants from various places in Hedong went south to buy and sell goods, and they were naturally motivated to travel to and from Chang'an City. Today, it is common for many merchants in Hedong.

In the past, there were random tolls on this road, but now it is rare, mainly because there are too many pedestrians and goods. Once something happens, the trouble will quickly expand. It's easy to get a job.

Furthermore, with more people traveling this way, the income of each checkpoint will naturally increase. It is no longer necessary to stare at the three or five passers-by as before, always trying to scrape some more money from them. Even with the normal fees now, these levels are all very rich.

The more closed and barren a place is, the more chaos there will be, making it difficult for people to move forward.

And once this place prospers, under a strong force, many chaos will be swept away.

This is true at home, and so should it be overseas.

Erniang has been in the south of the Yangtze River for the past few months, and she has set up her towel workshop, and the equipment used in the workshop is still old-fashioned.

This time when I return to Chang'an, I will go to the machine workshop to transport the new sets of looms that she ordered earlier. When the time comes, her towel workshop will be hand-made and machine-made in parallel.

"...Those fanciers are very quick to buy goods. A box of one hundred towels, they often buy hundreds of boxes. My workshop can't produce it at all, and now I have accumulated a lot of orders."

Erniang happily told Luo Yong and others about her workshop in Jiangnan. When she went to Jiangnan earlier, she did not expect that the business would go so smoothly.

"Then you won't sell white folds?" the aunt asked with a smile.

The aunt in the south of the Yangtze River is also familiar, and the two sisters have a common language this time. In the few days since Erniang came back, they always sat and talked together.

"Indeed, I opened a shop, and the white folded cloth was made here in Chang'an, and it was directly shipped to sell." Er Niang replied.

Shipping goods by water is from upstream to downstream, and the freight cost is quite low. In addition, the white cascade flowers originally came from Hexi, and if they want to be transported to Jiangnan, they have to go through Chang'an area.

"Is the labor over there cheaper?" the aunt asked again.

"Right now it's a little cheaper than Chang'an City, but it may not be so in a few years' time," Er Niang said.

Speaking of which, when Er Niang came back from Jiangnan this time, several Jiangnan gentry accompanied her, and these Jiangnan gentry brought along many ladies who were good at weaving.

Now that the foreign trade in the Jiangnan area has been developed, there is a great demand for silk in the market, and there is a new type of loom in Chang'an City, which can greatly improve the efficiency of weaving, so they naturally thought of using this new type of weaving Machine woven silk.

In the past few months, Luo Erniang's development in Jiangnan can be said to be smooth everywhere. Apart from the accumulation of auntie in Jiangnan earlier, and the little prestige of their Luo family, it also has a lot to do with some Jiangnan gentry.

These people want to learn new textile technology and buy new machines. The easiest way is to go through Luo's family, so they make convenience with Er Niang everywhere and try their best to make friends with her.

Since these people have sold favors to their Luo family, Luo Yong is naturally very good. He arranged some of the weavers they brought to the machine workshop, and some to the newly established textile school. Five of these youths from Jiangnan gentry families were recruited to study engineering.

For the five places in the engineering school, someone in the court impeached Luo Yong again, saying that he used power for personal gain.

Luo Yong was also prepared for this. At that time, the machine-made white folded cloth had an impact on the traditional weaving industry in the south of the Yangtze River. If it cannot be helped now, many silkworm farmers and weavers will lose their livelihoods in the future.The new textile machine of engineering may improve the old silk weaving technology. It is hoped that these young people can benefit the village after they complete their studies.

In the past few days, Luo Yong has been dealing with those Jiangnan people, and he has indeed discussed this issue with them.

There are also courtiers in the court who care about the people's livelihood in the south of the Yangtze River. Even if someone accepts Luo Yong's words, after several discussions, the previous impeachment against Luo Yong has nothing to do with it.

In fact, when it comes to using power for personal gain, Luo's use of this matter is not very self-seeking, at most it is just taking advantage of the convenience of his position to open a door of convenience for others.

For those who hold power, this is also a common thing. When they are powerful and powerful, they don't want to pave the way for themselves. Do they still expect someone to help them when they lose power in the future?

The appeals of these Jiangnan gentry are actually very legitimate, but they couldn't get in in the past, so they tried every means to catch Luo Yong's thread.

After all, wealth, knowledge, and opportunities in this world have never been distributed fairly and equitably. It doesn’t mean that your reasons are just enough to be owned. They are always in the hands of a few people, and those who hold power are always more It's easy to get.

And this court, it is not only the heart of this country, but also the battlefield of power.

This time, Luo Yong gave some of the achievements he gained from this battlefield to these Jiangnan gentry, thanking them for taking care of Erniang, and also hoping to help the weaving industry in Jiangnan.