Xiao Rui winked at Su Lie. Su Lie understood and immediately walked out of the living room, "The whole house is on alert. No one is allowed within a hundred steps of the living room."
"Got the order!"
Looking at the well-trained Anle guards, Chai Shao finally had a good look on his face, and walked directly to the main seat and sat down, "Tell me, you guys will explain everything clearly today, or else Don’t even think about asking me to do anything special to protect you in the future.”
Xiao Rui smiled, "Madam, uncle is here, don't be stunned, hurry up and serve tea."
The gentle and polite Wei Yanran smiled and went to pour tea.
Xiao Rui began his explanation: "Let's start with raising cattle. The beef restaurant's excuse is just an excuse for me to paralyze the Khitan people. Killing cattle is a crime in the Tang Dynasty, and the consumption of beef is prohibited. I opened a beef restaurant to compensate for my death. ?The real intention is to farm cattle."
"Farming cattle? What kind of cattle? Aren't all the buffaloes you bought? There are no cattle in Khitan." Chai Shao was puzzled.
"I have figured out a way to tame the bison. Just follow the method. No matter how fierce the bison is, it will have to plow the ground in less than three days." Xiao Rui said proudly.
"Really?" Chai Shao couldn't sit still and stood up suddenly, his face full of shock.
"It's absolutely true! But you can't tell the Khitans about this, or even dare to leak it. Otherwise, they may worry about us getting bigger and stop selling cattle to us, or they may raise the price. The current purchase price of a cow is Two hundred coins. It’s more than ten times cheaper than the Tang Dynasty. Tsk tsk, if the Khitan knew the details, they would stop selling to us or raise the price, haha, it would be a huge loss.”
"The reason why I hid this from my uncle was not to make a fortune in silence, but because this news cannot appear in Youzhou, which is too close to Khitan. I sent all the bison I bought to Luoyang, which is our hinterland, and There is a lot of cultivated land around, and the most urgent need is cattle."
Chai Shao nodded: "Yes, you are cautious. How much will you sell for this cow in Luoyang?"
Sell for money?
Xiao Rui shook his head and said: "No money! I'm not doing it for private business. The money to buy the cattle was earned from Anle. Now Anle's business is the government-run chamber of commerce. The money earned provides the self-sufficiency of the guards. The extra money When buying cattle, it is all public money. Including the cost of transportation to Luoyang, it all comes from here."
"At that time, the government will act as a guarantee and tame the bison, and then one cow will be paired with a new plow, and will be distributed to the people in need on a contract lease basis to encourage farming. When the people become rich, they will be able to use the low cost of two taels of silver to Buy it back. This way it won’t hurt the original cattle buying market, it won’t delay farming, and you won’t lose anything inside or outside.”
Hiss...this method is really, really...how does your kid's head grow? Are you thinking so long-term?
"How much can you buy with the money you earn from Anle City? If it's not enough, I'll find a way to squeeze some from Youzhou to give you some? This is a major event to promote agriculture, and the court should be allowed to get money from the treasury!" Chai Shao said seriously.
Xiao Ruixin said that this uncle was capable of handling things and would really come forward if something happened.
"Forget it, uncle, we are not outsiders. Who doesn't know that the national treasury is tight? The hundreds of thousands of taels of silver stored in the treasury were obtained by me by ransacking my house and offending someone. In addition, half of my business income went to the national treasury. Do you want the treasury to come out? Water from afar cannot quench the thirst of the nearer, but it is convenient for me, Angle City."
"Don't underestimate this city. We drove away the five surnames and the seven kings. After the government took over, all the supplies passed through our hands and we got a commission. We can make a lot of money every day. It is more than enough to buy a thousand cattle a day. Considering the Khitan There are few people and the land is small, so if I buy too much, they may not be able to supply it, so I negotiated another order with Shi Wei."
"Anle's funds are enough for the time being. I'll talk to my uncle when I'm short of money."
Chai Shao pinched Yahuazi and laughed and scolded: "I heard it. You kid has obviously made a fortune, and Anle's income has not been reported. You are saying that I will support you if you are short of money in the future? Support is nothing, you kid is not as big as me." The governors all have money. There is no money in the national treasury, but do I have money in the treasury of Youzhou? I am just as poor."
Chai Zhewei covered his mouth and couldn't help laughing.
Chai Shao glared hard, but seeing that his son seemed to be more mature, he said with relief, "Do you understand? Your brother-in-law takes one step at a time and takes three steps at a time. He does his best to serve the public and does not care about his personal interests. He is a capable and ambitious man. You should learn more and follow your brother-in-law as an example."
Chai Zhewei saluted respectfully: "If you know your father, your child will definitely study hard."
Chai Shao asked: "Who in the imperial court supervises the raising of cattle? Is it reliable?"
Xiao Rui recalled for a while and said: "The cattle matter was personally supervised by Grand Secretary Nong Su Dan. As for Luoyang, it was originally said to be entrusted to the veteran Qu Tutong, but the old general was in poor health and passed away last month. Your Majesty re-sent The old prince Li Shentong.”
Chai Shao smiled: "Okay! The king of Huai'an is prudent, and the chief agricultural officer is also a practical person. The two veteran generals can't go wrong. If the farming is prosperous, you, the boy, should take the first credit!"
Xiao Rui waved his hand and said: "Forget it, I don't care what the credit is, as long as I can trick the Khitan into getting all their bison before the matter spreads. Even if they understand by then, our cattle will be gone." I’ve almost bought enough.”
Because of the chaos in the late Sui Dynasty and the Zhenguan period in the early Tang Dynasty, the total population was only more than 12 million, which was almost a historical low. If there are four people in a household, that is three million households. One cow per household requires three million head.
If Khitan and Shiwei can keep up with the supply, then they can buy 60,000 cattle a month, which is more than 700,000 a year, tsk tsk...
It's a pity that these are all wild, and there are probably not many of them. If you can buy them successfully for a year, it will be enough. The final gap will have to be cultivated, or after you get them, you can cultivate and breed them in people's homes.
Chai Shao patted Xiao Rui's shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry about this. What you do is up to you. Just try your best. Your Majesty and the court will not forget your contribution. You didn't call me here secretly this time. Are you talking nonsense? Is it because of the war? Are you afraid of a Turkic counterattack?"
"I expected it, so I have ordered to assemble five thousand soldiers and horses and wait for the Turks to come again. I will personally lead the team to support them."
"The Turks will definitely take revenge, but they should not dare to launch such a big war. Ten thousand troops will not come, but a few thousand troops are possible. The Turks' little Turkic Khan is not an easy person, so be careful and go west more Send scouts.”
After hearing Chai Shao's words, everyone couldn't help but admire this general. He was worthy of being able to guard Youzhou. His vision and courage were remarkable.
The military system of the Tang Dynasty government means that when there is free time, they farm the fields at home, and when there is a war, they gather together to fight. Generally, the city defense army is mobilized for corvee service, and everyone takes turns to come and be on duty. During the Tang Dynasty, people who came of age were forced to work at home, ranging from 30 to 50 days of forced labor every year. Joining the army to defend the city can also offset the corvee.
And summoning five thousand people to stand by secretly means that they need to be kept alive and ready to go to war at any time. If there is no war, Youzhou will have to pay for it.
Although Chai Shao, as the governor, had the right to recruit troops temporarily, he also needed local financial support. Everyone knows about Youzhou's finances. It's a bitter cold place. If you can do this, you must be tightening your belt.
So Xiao Rui was very moved!
"I asked my uncle to come over for this very reason. In order to deal with the enemy's next counterattack, I'm going to come up with a straw boat and borrow a horse plan..."
