"These are the wealth you are talking about?"
Li Daozong was stunned, Chai Shao was dumbfounded, and even Li Jing was silent.
Obviously, Xiao Han's explanation of wealth completely subverted their understanding.
"Yes, this is wealth!"
Xiao Han looked at the few people, nodded confidently and said: "Wealth is not as you think. It is like a basin of stagnant water. Use it a little and get less! It is changing and growing all the time! Farming can increase wealth. Doing business can also increase your wealth. Even fighting can also increase your wealth!"
"Hey, what did you say? Fighting can also increase wealth?"
As soon as Xiao Han finished speaking, Li Daozong, Chai Shao and others all took a deep breath! Four or five pairs of eyes stared at him, as if asking for advice from a teacher: "Isn't fighting a waste of national strength? How can wealth be increased? Where does this wealth come from?"
Xiao Han seemed to be very satisfied with the humble gestures of several people. He placed the wine jar in his hands on the ground, then clapped his hands and said with a smile: "You want to know where the wealth comes from? Then let me ask you first, why are we fighting? "
"To conquer the disobedient land!" Chai Shao frowned and replied. This question is too simple. To put it bluntly, fighting is to beat up the disobedient guy and make him obedient in the future.
"It's to conquer the unsubordinated land!" Xiao Han nodded and asked: "Then the conquering is over? For example, now that we have captured Jieli and destroyed the Turks, what are we going to do next?"
"It stands to reason that the next step is to take over their land and population." This time it was not Chai Shao who spoke, but Li Daozong.
He seemed to understand what Xiao Han wanted to say, but he still shook his head and smiled bitterly: "But Xiao Hou, you also know that the grassland is too far away from us, and those herders live from grass to grass, not fixed in one place.
Therefore, even though our Tang Dynasty nominally owns the land and population, we still have no way to manage it and collect taxes. If you want to gain wealth from it, you will end up losing your pants too! "
"Hehe, maybe even the crotch cloth will be lost..."
Just as Li Daozong finished speaking, there was a low chuckle from beside him.
Everyone knows that the living habits of the Tang people destined them not to live on the grassland for a long time!
Moreover, even if there are Tang people who have great perseverance to live in the grassland, they want to collect taxes from the herdsmen who move around all day long? That is also a dream!
This shepherd is not a Tang native with deep rural values who would not leave home even if beaten to death!
I heard you are coming to collect taxes? I promise to pack up my things and drive the cattle and sheep away that night! If you have the ability, come and chase me! In the huge grassland, people are herding sheep and playing hide-and-seek with you. Try to see who can't carry it first!
“Who said wealth must be generated through taxes?”
Xiao Han glanced at the sneering guy and found that it was Chai Shao. He couldn't help but rolled his eyes and said, "Land is not wealth? Cattle and sheep are not wealth? Are shepherds not wealth?"
When Chai Shao saw that he was discovered, he stopped hiding it. He simply opened his mouth and said with a smile: "What kind of wealth are those things? The land cannot be cultivated, and cattle and sheep are worthless on the grassland. The cost is higher than their own price! And it’s not like you haven’t seen those herdsmen, they can run faster than wild donkeys! If you have the ability, catch them and bring them back!”
"What about the mineral deposits on the land?" Xiao Han rolled his eyes and said to Chai Shao angrily: "Did you know that there is not only a salt mine on this grassland, but also the largest coal mine in the Tang Dynasty!
Everyone knows how useful charcoal is now, right? Everyone knows how severe the coal shortage in Chang'an is now, right? I’m not afraid to tell you that if a little bit of that coal mine is mined, even one percent, it will be enough to burn Chang’an for eighteen hundred years!
Also, don’t rush into convulsions yet, let me tell you! In addition to these two things, there is another most precious thing on the grassland, stone paint!
My God, things like stone paint can actually form a river on the grassland! Do you know how valuable that thing is? ! "
Chai Shao was a little annoyed by what Xiao Han said with a gun and a stick, and the smile on his face disappeared. He could only whisper in a low voice: "Stone paint? What's so good about that stuff? It's sticky, and you can't wash it off if you rub it on your body. If you drop it, it’s of no use. It can only be used as a tinder during a battle, and it often fails to light..."
"Bullshit! If it doesn't work, you don't know how to use it!" Xiao Han heard his muttering, stared and shouted: "Do you know how useful it is... Forget it, you won't understand even if I tell you! Let me tell you something now, in a few years, whoever has this thing in hand will have the right to speak, and whoever has unlimited money!"
Chai Shao was completely speechless by Xiao Han's rebuke, and his face turned green.
When Li Daozong saw this, he quickly stepped forward to smooth things over. He pulled Chai Shao and said, "Ahem, Xiao Hou, what you said sounds interesting, but what about cattle, sheep, and population? What kind of wealth are those things?"
"Hmph..."
The more Xiao Han talked, the happier he became. He was like a rooster that had won a fight. He raised his neck and snorted twice, expressing his extreme disdain for these country bumpkins. Then he continued: "About the flesh, bones and skin of cattle and sheep, these I won’t talk about it! I’ll just talk about something that is ignored by everyone, wool, this is a good thing!”
"Wool? How good is that..." Hearing this, someone next to him laughed again, but after seeing the green-faced Chai Shao, he immediately reacted and hurriedly covered his mouth.
Xiao Han glanced at the man covering his mouth, sneered, and continued: "Do you think wool is garbage? Are they all useless? Do you know that as early as when cotton was used for spinning in Sanyuan County? Someone has already set their sights on wool! Since cotton can spin thread, why can’t wool spin thread?”
"Did he succeed?" Next to him, Li Jing, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly asked the first sentence of the night!
From this point, we can see that Li Jing, the military god, is different from other generals.
While others were still stunned by the various mineral deposits on the grassland, Li Jing was keenly aware of the unique significance of the little wool in Xiao Han's mouth!
If we say that the salt mines, coal mines, and the unknown stone paint mines he mentioned before can all be measured in money! Then this most inconspicuous wool is no longer something that can be measured in money!
Wool is waste!
This is something everyone knows!
If this wool, which is like waste in the eyes of the world, can regain a lot of value in Xiao Han's hands, what will happen to the herdsmen on the grassland?
You don’t need to think about this to know: almost all the herdsmen will spontaneously gather together and sell their waste to Datang!
And once this kind of behavior becomes a tradition, how will it be different from today's Tang people? The difference is probably that one looks for output in the fields and the other looks for output from sheep.
