Chapter 157: Big and small money and the agricultural persuasion class (5k)
Su Ze and Princess Chenliu were both smart people. Su Ze asked directly, "Today, the Ministry of Revenue presented Buddhist money. Which ministers were present?"
Princess Chenliu immediately said:
"The Queen Mother summoned me to the palace today to comfort the Imperial Sister. The Revenue Officer Cao presented this string of Buddhist coins to the Queen Mother when she was admiring the chrysanthemums in the Golden Autumn Garden of the palace."
"Presented are the Imperial sister Lanling, the Prince of Qinghe, the Grand Commander Yuan Yao who returned from the Northern Expedition, the Imperial Attendant Cui Liang, the Minister of Personnel, and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat You Zhao, who accompanied us to appreciate the chrysanthemums, and also the palace eunuch, the Grand Chamberlain Liu Teng."
"In order to confirm the authenticity of the Buddha's money, the Queen Mother also summoned Mu Shaoyou, the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household Department, to come and confirm it."
The case was solved. Among the accompanying people, except for the Grand Chamberlain Liu Teng, the rest were almost all core members of the Qinghe King's party.
Su Ze said without hesitation: "Then did the Queen Mother give Buddhist money to everyone who accompanied her?"
Princess Chenliu nodded and said, "The Revenue Department received a hundred strings of Buddhist money, and the Queen Mother gave it to the ministers accompanying her on the spot."
Ze said, "I see. Does Your Highness have an iron smelting workshop outside the city?"
Princess Chenliu nodded and said, "I have an iron shop in Tangmu, but none of my craftsmen can mint coins. Since my father passed away, Cao and Jiangzuojian of the Ministry of Finance have not minted coins again. Because the Taihe Wuzhu coins minted by my father were quite popular in the Luoyang market, the craftsmen who minted Wuzhu coins privately in the past have also left Luoyang."
Su Ze smiled and said, "Your Highness, please do not disturb me. I have brought back a Taoist priest from the north who is good at coin making. Your Highness only needs to find a hidden iron smelting workshop."
Princess Chenliu's eyes lit up. Su Ze actually had craftsmen under his command who knew how to mint coins?
This guy is indeed his most successful "investment" so far.
But when Princess Chenliu heard Su Ze call himself a "subject", her face turned red again. Every time when they were together in private, Su Ze called himself a subject, which meant that he was about to "rebellion".
"You male dog in heat, get down to business first!"
Princess Chenliu quickly hugged the quilt and said, "I don't have many copper coins in my treasury. I have to exchange the things for copper coins as soon as possible, and then recast them into Buddhist coins to use."
Su Ze thought for a moment and said, "When I left Luoyang last time, my followers made paper for Henan Prefecture. There were probably ten thousand coins in the paper mill. In addition, I have some connections with the monks in Longhua Temple, so I asked them to take out some copper coins from the temple treasury."
Princess Chenliu nodded repeatedly. She was becoming more and more satisfied with Su Ze. This guy had secretly accumulated such a huge fortune.
Su Ze added: "If the imperial court orders that Buddhist coins be exchanged for ten coins, then first of all, they must be forced to circulate in the four markets of Luoyang by law. There are only a limited number of people who can mint coins privately. At the beginning, there are not many Buddhist coins on the market, and the value of the currency can be strong for a while relying on the imperial court's decree. However, as time goes by, when the public also participates in private minting, the value of the currency will definitely fall sharply, so it is necessary to exchange it for something as soon as possible while the value of the currency is stable."
This is the advantage of being close to the center of power. Since ancient times, power and nobility have been closely linked.
Take the issue of Buddhist coins for example. Once the imperial court forcibly requires the use of Buddhist coins, the person who first gets the model coins and starts privately minting Buddhist coins will make the most money.
The material used for one Buddhist coin is no more than two Taihe Wuzhu coins. After smelting and casting, including the labor and consumption of fire, the material used will not exceed three Taihe Wuzhu coins.
Three Taihe Wuzhu coins can be used as ten Taihe Wuzhu coins, which is a triple profit deal.
Of course, only the powerful people in the inner circle can enjoy this triple profit, because the market will self-regulate. The government decree can only ensure that the Buddhist coins are used as ten times the value in the initial period of issuance. When there are more Buddhist coins on the market, the price will naturally fall to the level it should be.
Those who enter first eat the meat, those who enter later drink the soup, and those who enter last are eaten.
Most of those present with Empress Dowager Hu today were close associates of Prince Qinghe. They must have done the same thing as Princess Chenliu, searching for craftsmen who could mint coins and secretly altering them to mint Buddhist coins at home.
They were all smart people, and Princess Chenliu understood it immediately. She asked again:
"What can I buy with so much money?"
Su Ze said decisively: "Southern goods!"
"Southern goods?"
"Western merchants only recognize gold, silver, and silk. It is difficult to use Taihe and Wuzhu. Moreover, they are all itinerant merchants. If they don't obey the orders of the court, they can just walk away. Many Western merchants are also envoys from vassal states. We cannot offend them at will."
"Nowadays, merchants from Guanzhong are increasingly selling southern goods. They have goods on hand, and they are all sedentary merchants, so of course the goods come from them."
Princess Chenliu smiled and said, "Is Su Lang angry that these Guanzhong merchants have taken away your imperial army's southern goods business?"
After the last Yulin Rebellion, although the court still retained the power of the Imperial Guards to smuggle and sell southern goods, the implementation of the age limit gave the middle and upper-level officers of the Imperial Guards hope for promotion, and they were naturally unwilling to make trouble with the court over the southern goods trade.
Without the leadership of officers, ordinary soldiers could no longer compete with the powerful merchants in Guanzhong and were defeated in the southern goods market.
Su Ze forced Princess Chenliu to use Buddhist money to buy southern goods from Guanzhong merchants, which might have been a revenge.
Su Ze added: "In addition to southern goods, there is also food."
"food?"
Su Ze said to Princess Chenliu, "Your Highness, please use the profits from my recasting of Buddhist coins to buy more food. When Buddhist coins are issued, the price of money will be low and the price of food will be high. I want Jianyang to store some food to get through this winter."
Su Ze sighed inwardly. The issuance of the ten-coin Buddha coin was probably something that King Qinghe had already planned. Otherwise, the rumor about Fotucheng's secret treasure would not have suddenly spread after the Jizhou rebellion-suppressing army returned to Luoyang.
All of this is to create momentum for promoting the ten-buddha coin.
It has to be said that this was a stupid move by Prince Qinghe.
In order to solve the urgent problems in the court, instead of thinking about how to count the land and free the population and land from the Buddhist temples, he thought about making money by recasting the ten-Buddha coins, thus destroying the currency system that Emperor Xiaowen had spent twenty years to build.
Prince Qinghe might not have done it purely for private purposes, but his actions were like those of a prodigal son. In order to solve a temporary predicament, he sold off the reform achievements of his father, Emperor Xiaowen, and then left a mess for future generations to clean up.
Anyway, just believe in it, believe in the wisdom of future generations.
Su Ze finally understood why it took only twenty years for the Northern Wei Dynasty to reach its current state after the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.
The excessive tolerance of Emperor Xuanwu and Empress Dowager Hu fostered the greed of the Yuan kings. The rulers from Emperor Xiaowen onwards no longer thought about continuing the reforms, but began to rest on their laurels. They did not make changes while the court still had authority, and when the court's authority declined, there was no chance to make changes.
Su Ze knew very well that even if Princess Chenliu sold everything she had and invested in it, she would only be a small player in this currency reform game.
The real big players may have already minted all the Buddhist coins and are just waiting for the court's decree to be issued, and then they will immediately throw the coins into the market.
Even when all the dignitaries in Luoyang have participated in this "feast", those who did not follow suit will become the ones being plundered.
For example, Su Ze suggested that Princess Chenliu buy southern goods from Guanzhong merchants, which was actually using Buddhist money to plunder their assets.
The profit from recasting Buddhist coins could be tripled, and it was impossible for so many nobles in Luoyang not to be tempted. A disaster of price collapse was about to happen.
Su Ze naturally had no way of protecting everyone in Luoyang, so he could only ask Princess Chenliu to buy some food, and then Longhua Temple would provide porridge to help the imperial guards and fellow villagers in Jianyang overcome the difficulties.
Princess Chenliu nodded and said, "Then I will arrange the southern goods and food workshops, and leave the coinage to Su Lang, and leave the money matters to me."
Princess Chenliu suddenly leaned into Su Ze's arms and said:
"I don't want to do this."
"kindness?"
"My memory of my father is very vague, but I often hear the old maids in the palace talk about him. The reign title 'Taihe' is their best memory."
"Now they want to melt down 'Taihe'. If the emperor knew that his descendants did this, how would he feel?"
Su Ze didn't know how to comfort Princess Chenliu for a moment, so he could only hold her tightly in his arms. As an outsider, he couldn't persuade his descendants who didn't cherish their ancestors' achievements. However, looking at the question mark on the system, although he guessed the story of the Buddha's money, the system still did not recognize the completion of the task. If he wanted to complete this task, he needed to dig out a deeper truth.
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The next day, Su Ze asked the Taoist who was good at coin minting to report to Princess Chenliu's workshop outside Luoyang, to prepare to make coin molds in the style of Buddhist coins to melt new coins.
Su Ze, along with his father-in-law Li Tong, Hou Jing, Murong Shaozong and other subordinates, inspected the military farms in Tunqiying.
Neither Hou Jing nor Murong Shaozong had ever farmed. The reason why Su Ze brought them along was that he believed that they would be talents who would serve as general managers in the future. Such talents must understand agriculture, not just know how to fight.
These days, Murong Shaozong and Hou Jing have a good relationship.
Hou Jing was born in a humble family, but he was good at observing people's words and expressions and was very fond of learning.
Although Murong Shaozong was a descendant of the Murong clan of Northern Yan and had inherited military tactics, his family had already declined. In fact, there was no class gap between him and Hou Jing. One was deliberately currying favor with him, while the other was inexperienced. The two sides often spent time together to discuss military tactics. In fact, it was Hou Jing who learned military tactics from his deputy Murong Shaozong.
Murong Shaozong also went to Erzhu Rong's house to visit his cousin, and was favored by Erzhu Rong, who gave him a book on military affairs. He also asked Hou Jing to study with him.
Su Ze pulled them out of the military camp. When they returned to Luoyang, it was already autumn and the harvest season had arrived on the farmlands outside the city.
[A farmer's disciple with excellent hands-on ability] Su Nong led the way in front. At first, everyone looked down on this farmer with simple clothes, but soon everyone discovered that Su Ze was an extraordinary guest.
"My Lord, this land is rather barren and inconvenient to irrigate, so I asked people to plant alfalfa and other forage grasses. After the forage grass is harvested this year, we will plant wheat next year."
Su Ze looked at the grass in the field waiting to be harvested and stored and asked, "Is it crop rotation?"
Su Nong nodded and said, "It is crop rotation. The purpose of granting land in Wei Dynasty is to encourage crop rotation. The Land Granting Law stipulates that the land granted to poor land must be 'doubled', which means that more land should be given to the people for crop rotation."
"But crop rotation does not mean no cropping. Alfalfa and other legumes have the effect of solidifying fertilizer, so wheat can be planted better next year."
"We in the Tunqi Camp also need fodder. Growing fodder is less farm work than tending the fields, so I will arrange for some strong women to do it."
After the grass is harvested, it must be dried before it can be stored for a long time, but horses cannot eat only hay.
Su Nong led everyone to a pasture and said, "This is cold-resistant forage grass. The temperature in Luoyang has risen in recent years, so I tried to plant some. If it can survive the winter, I can save some soybean powder."
Then they came to the more fertile land, and Sunong said:
"The land near Luoyang is not fertile enough and there are many pests, so I have people rotate millet, wheat and beans to reduce pests."
Murong Shaozong, who grew up on the grassland, asked curiously, "Master Su, why is this?"
Murong Shaozong had already called him Master. He knew very well how respected a person who was good at farming would be in the countryside, just like a veterinarian who could treat livestock.
It’s just that the veterinarian in Captain Su’s army had such a weird temper that Murong Shaozong didn’t dare to get close to him.
Sunong said: "If you grow the same kind of food for a long time, the soil will accumulate insect eggs that specifically feed on that food. Over time, there will be more and more insect pests. Rotating different crops will reduce insect pests because the insects that hatch may not eat the rotated crops."
"Of course, burning Platycodon grandiflorum directly is also a good idea. The flame can kill some of the insect eggs in the soil, and the ash can also be used as fertilizer."
Hou Jing and Murong Shaozong listened with great interest. It turned out that there is so much knowledge in farming!
Hou Jing said: "When I was in the Six Garrisons, only a small amount of land was suitable for cultivation, and most of the time I planted beans. Wheat and millet are so laborious, why not plant beans?"
Sunong glanced at him and said:
"There are indeed many benefits to growing beans. Beans are cold-resistant and drought-resistant, they are not picky about the soil and can fertilize the fields. The harvest cycle is short. Places where famine occurs like to grow beans. However, there is a big drawback to growing beans - low yields."
"On the same piece of land, the yield of wheat and millet is much higher than that of beans. Even if beans can be planted for two seasons, the yield is still far less than that of wheat and millet."
"Growing beans during famine is actually a way of quenching thirst with poison, because during times of turmoil and famine, people cannot wait for wheat and millet to be harvested, so they plant beans, which have a shorter crop cycle. However, beans do not produce as much as wheat and millet, which results in lower food production in famine-stricken areas, making it even harder to feed the hungry people."
"The more you can't wait, the more you plant beans. The more beans you plant, the less you can eat. Finally, when people starve to death, the unrest can be quelled and food and population can get back on track."
So that's how it is. Hou Jing looked at Su Nong with even more admiration. He must be no ordinary farmer to have such insight.
Su Ze was also very satisfied. Sunong was not only farming in Luoyang, he was also breeding and training apprentices.
When the world is in chaos, food becomes a very important issue. The best quality seeds and people who know how to grow them will be very valuable accumulations.
After looking at the farmland, Sunong brought a group of people to the mulberry fields.
Following Sunong's suggestion, the Yulin Army did not raise ordinary silkworms in their mulberry fields this year, but instead raised tussah silkworms.
The tussah silkworm is a semi-domesticated silk-spinning insect. Because of its more diverse diet, it is easier to raise than the mulberry silkworm.
Sunong also decided to switch to raising tussah silkworms based on the situation. The climate and temperature in Luoyang were not very suitable for raising mulberry silkworms.
Tussah silkworms will not spin cocoons indoors, so at this time the military dependents in the Tunqi Camp were picking cocoons from mulberry and mulberry trees.
The cocoons of tussah silkworms are slightly larger than those of mulberry silkworms, but this kind of silk is not as delicate and smooth as that of mulberry silkworms, and its glossiness is relatively poor, so tussah silk is also called coal silk. The silk woven from tussah silk is considered to be miscellaneous silk, and its price is lower than that of ordinary silk.
Although the price is low, it is better than raising silkworms without any harvest in the past.
The land policy of classical agriculture always has an unrealistic fantasy of self-sufficiency. For example, the land grant system of the Northern Wei Dynasty clearly stipulated the allocation and use of farmland and mulberry fields, and forced the people to plant jujube trees, attempting to allow each household to form an independent and self-sufficient family farm with men farming and women weaving.
The taxes levied by the imperial court on the people also included in-kind taxes on grain, silk and dried dates. With the poor grassroots administrative capabilities of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the taxes that could be collected could only be wishful thinking. This complex taxation model itself had countless possibilities for manipulation.
For example, officials can start with the grade of grain, saying that the collected grain does not comply with court regulations and ask the people to collect more grain.
Or, under the pretext that there would be losses in transporting grain to Luoyang, they would conscript the people to transport grain to Luoyang themselves, or they would levy an additional tax on the losses.
Due to all these reasons, the powerless small farmers naturally cannot survive. They either seek refuge from the big farmers or simply give up growing crops and flee.
The collection of grain alone is a mess, and they also require every household to pay silk and dried dates, without even checking whether every place is suitable for raising silkworms or planting date trees.
The people who cannot grow jujube trees or raise mulberry silkworms can only go to the market to buy them when the government collects taxes. The unscrupulous businessmen who collude with the government will raise prices at this time and rob the people.
Sunong led everyone to the edge of the woods where tussah silkworms were raised. In a shed, things were bustling with activity. The women cut open the cocoons of the tussah silkworms they had just picked, then dragged the half-emerged silkworm pupae out of the cocoons, squeezed out the residual urine in the pupae, and put them into the oil pan next to them.
The silkworm pupae are quickly fried into a golden color, releasing an enticing aroma.
After a while, a woman brought fried silkworm pupae to Su Ze.
Hou Jing and Murong Shaozong were a little afraid of eating silkworm pupae and took two steps back. Su Ze picked up the fried silkworm pupae and took a bite. It was indeed delicious.
Sunong introduced: "Tussah silkworms are different from mulberry silkworms. Mulberry silkworms are directly reeled and spun with boiling water. Tussah silkworm cocoons are cut open to take out the silkworm pupae. The cocoon shells of tussah silkworms are broken, which is called 'cut cocoons'. However, the silkworm pupae are very delicious and nutritious. I asked someone to take them to Luoyang City to sell them, and they can also sell them at a good price."
Su Ze nodded with satisfaction. The silk made from tussah silkworms may not be very good, but it can be used to make silk quilts. Su Ze planned to ask Princess Chenliu's mansion for a few embroiderers. If he used Shu brocade on the quilt cover, it could also be sold at a good price.
Su Ze watched the woman squeezing the silkworm pupae and asked in confusion, "Why do you have to squeeze the pupae first and then fry them?"
Sunong said: "There is residual urine in the belly of the silkworm pupa, which must be squeezed out before frying."
Su Ze suddenly thought of the male silkworm moth wine that was popular before he traveled through time. Some merchants claimed that squeezing the liquid in the silkworm moth's belly into the wine could enhance sexual performance. Isn't this the urine in the silkworm moth's belly?
Suppressing his nausea, Su Ze ended his inspection. He led everyone to Longhua Temple, the ancestral temple of the imperial guards.
Today is also the day for 18000 updates. I owe 10000 and have already paid back .
(End of this chapter)