Zhuge Liang skipped the topic of how to separate the relationship between the aristocratic family and the landless refugees, and returned to the issue of sugar cane plantations.
Although Zhuge Liang still feels that it is a risk for the aristocratic family to possess sugar-making technology, under the current circumstances, Zhuge Liang has to admit that it is definitely not possible for the Shuzhong aristocratic family to willingly invest money and food in Nanzhong without giving them enough benefits. No way.
However, we still cannot let the aristocratic families continue to complete primitive accumulation, otherwise once the central government's control over the local areas is weakened, Yizhou will be turbulent at any time.
Zhang Xi also saw that Zhuge Liang was still worried after all, worried that the family would become powerful because of this, so he had to drag Zhuge Liang to his secret testing ground.
Since Zhang Xi thought of letting Nanzhong plant sugar cane and reap the benefits of sucrose, it was impossible not to do research on the sucrose industry.
Sugar cane these days is not the specially cultivated sugar cane of later generations. Many of it is wild sugar cane. The sugar content is not actually high. It is only because the ways to obtain sugar in this era are limited, so it is sought after by the nobles.
Zhang Xi once tried to extract sucrose, but what he got was only some gray-black sugar cubes, which were not very sweet and even had a slight bitter taste.
This is probably what later generations called "gray sugar".
Zhang Xi plans to teach this sugar-making technology directly to the aristocratic families who come to Nanzhong to cultivate sugar cane gardens, because even if you don't teach them, they can learn it by themselves.
It's just a matter of heating the pot, removing the water, and being careful not to let the syrup scorch while frying.
What Zhang Xi really wants to master is the technology of decolorizing gray sugar, removing impurities, and producing white sugar.
This technology is said to have appeared in the early Tang Dynasty and matured in the Ming Dynasty. It is also recorded in the black technology encyclopedia "Tiangong Kaiwu".
The "yellow mud drenching method", "carbonization sugar making method", "plant ash sugar making method", all the methods that Zhang Xi had heard of in his previous life, were tested one by one in this small experimental field.
But the effect is very average.
To be honest, it really cannot reach the level of industrial sugar of later generations. The industrial sugar of later generations is really as white as snow, but the white sugar made by Zhang Xi using existing tools and technology, even the whitest batch, is white in the middle. It also has a slight yellowish tinge.
Zhang Xi doesn't know if there is something wrong with the craftsmanship in his memory, or if his experiments are incomplete. But this is the idea, and the craftsmen can continue to improve and try.
After Zhuge Liang saw the gray sugar and "white sugar" made by Zhang Xi and tasted the difference in sweetness and texture between the two, he immediately understood Zhang Xi's intention.
We can leave the general techniques of making gray sugar to the aristocratic families, but the appearance is better and the sweetness is better. Looking at the higher-end "white sugar" production process, we keep it ourselves.
As long as Liu Bei Group always masters the white sugar production process, the sales of gray sugar in the family will be completely under the control of Liu Bei Group.
If the aristocratic families are obedient, then Liu Bei Group's white sugar will be just a higher-end luxury product, and the output will be controlled. It will not compete with the aristocratic families' gray sugar. Everyone will have their own sales and make money together. .
But if the aristocratic families are disobedient, then Liu Bei Group's white sugar can become a weapon to squeeze the sales of gray sugar from the aristocratic families.
During this period, Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Xi carefully and found out the conversion rate from gray sugar to white sugar, and he suddenly gained confidence.
It is true that from gray sugar to white sugar, a part of the gray sugar's sugar-water solution will be lost, but this loss is within an acceptable range. Even if the price of white sugar is set at more than twice that of gray sugar, the family will suffer.
With the trump card in hand, Zhuge Liang is not worried about the family becoming powerful. He even has a prototype plan in his mind, how to use the price advantage of sugar to squeeze the family and steal money from the family when necessary.
Zhuge Liang, who was confident in his heart, no longer had any concerns about Zhang Xi's ideas, and agreed with Zhang Xi's idea of developing Nanzhong and turning the Nanzhong area into a sugarcane production base.
But Zhang Xi still had other ideas.
Planting sugar cane in Nanzhong is just a way to attract Yizhou families to invest money and grain in Nanzhong, stabilize Nanzhong, and create profits at the same time.
To truly stabilize Nanzhong, we cannot rely solely on this approach. We must find a suitable breakthrough from the outside to stabilize grain prices in Nanzhong.
Otherwise, if those aristocratic families really wanted to blame others, Nanzhong would be the first to cause riots due to lack of food.
Therefore, Zhang Xi set his sights on Shi Xie from Jiaozhou.
To be honest, in fact, Nanzhong is not the best place to grow sugar cane. The best place is the southwest of Jiaozhou, but that is Shi Xie's territory, and Shi Xie is regarded as the back garden by Sun Quan.
But Zhang Xi thinks that in Jiaozhou, the Shi family is simply wasting land and manpower.
The Shi family occupied Jiaozhou, but basically only controlled the northeastern area of Jiaozhou. There was a large plain, high food production, and a relatively concentrated population. In this era, controlling such an area was an inevitable choice for a prince.
As for the southwest of Jiaozhou, there are more mountainous areas and are not suitable for growing rice. Therefore, Shi Xie did not pay attention to it at all. He even ignored the mountainous areas after they were occupied by the barbarians.
Zhang Xi felt heartbroken when he saw it. That was the territory of the Han Dynasty, and no one could give it to the barbarians who were not convinced by the king. Furthermore, who said that place was worthless? Those places were the best sugar cane growing areas.
So, Zhang Xi actually had the intention to occupy Jiaozhou, or at least the southern part of Jiaozhou, to grow sugar cane.
But Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said he couldn't do this.
One is because Sun and Liu signed a new covenant.
At the beginning of this year, Zhuge Liang went to Baqiu in person to cooperate with Xu Shu to deal with Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao in Jiangdong. After constant intrigues and bargaining, the two sides reached an agreement again - Jiangxia County was used as the compensation condition. Renew the covenant.
This treaty was negotiated by Zhuge Liang on behalf of Liu Bei, and Liu Bei personally agreed to it. The Liu Bei Group is different from the Jiangdong Group. Liu Bei is a man who wants to show off. In this case, Zhuge Liang doesn't think it is appropriate for Zhang Xi to want to deal with Jiaozhou. .
The other one is keeping Shi Xie around so that things can be done more easily.
Although it is not advisable to capture Jiaozhou by force, it is not impossible to use other means to make plans.
Zhuge Liang has never been pedantic. When Sun Quan used the civil strife in South China to cause trouble for Liu Bei, couldn't Liu Bei use the same method to get it back to you? !
Although Shi Xie, on the surface, surrendered to Jiangdong Sun Quan, that was because Shi Xie was not strong enough. If he had enough strength to protect himself, Shi Xie, as a prince, would not be so easy to mess with.
You can't attack Shi Xie's territory forcefully, as this will only make Shi Xie completely turn to Sun Quan, but you can use inducements.
Zhuge Liang instantly came up with an idea - he could exchange the copper and iron mines in Nanzhong for grain and sugar cane in Jiaozhou.
This idea came to Zhang Xi's heart instantly.
Originally, Zhang Xi's plan for finding a way out for Nanzhong included the idea of seeking external food, and his target was Shi Xie.
There is no other way. Who told Shixie's Jiaozhou that rice could be harvested three times a year? That place produces grain.
Now when Zhuge Liang mentioned the exchange, Zhang Xi suddenly became excited, and the two of them got together to calculate.
What Zhuge Liang meant was to exchange the copper mines and iron mines in Nanzhong and the Shixie from Jiaozhou for rice and sugar cane.
Even if Sun Quan knew about this kind of thing, he would probably turn a blind eye.
On the one hand, Shi Xie still had certain independent rights in Jiaozhou, and even Sun Quan could not stop him.
On the other hand, didn’t Sun Quan lack copper ore and iron ore? !
Of these two things, iron ore is better, and there are still some in Jiangdong, but copper ore, Sun Quan was so short of it that he almost cried. Otherwise, he wouldn't have issued a "Daquan as Thousand" after the financial collapse. That thing is better than Liu Bei's straightforwardness is still ruthless for a hundred dollars.
But the question is, among the princes in the world, who would give him these two things, copper and iron, Sun Quan? !
Therefore, if Shi Xie could find a way to get copper ore and iron ore from Liu Bei, Sun Quan might not object and would mobilize the excess grain and grass from Jiangdong to let Shi Xie buy more.
As for sugar cane? This was Zhuge Liang's method to induce Shi Xie to plant sugar cane.
Once the cane sugar market opens and the price is so expensive, it is impossible for Shi Xie not to realize that he will definitely plant a large amount of sugar cane in southern Jiaozhou.
After all, sugarcane does not have high requirements on land, but high requirements on light and temperature. Southwest Jiaozhou is not suitable for growing rice, but it is suitable for growing sugarcane.
Shi Xie and Sun Quan may have some concerns about exchanging grain and grass for copper and iron ore, but this sugar cane is useless except for making gray sugar. Wouldn't it be better to exchange it for copper and iron ore? !
Moreover, as a middleman, Shi Xie would not necessarily tell Sun Quan that sugarcane could be exchanged for ore. Wouldn't it be good for him to secretly exchange a batch of it for weapons and coins to expand his power? !
In this case, the relationship between Shi Xie and Sun Quan will become increasingly discordant sooner or later.
With the population and economic size of Jiaozhou, in the current situation of three pillars, the ability to be independent is not enough. If you don't have ambition, that's it. If you have ambition, then there will be a good show.
The Nanzhong area in the north of Jiaozhou is full of mountain roads and filled with miasma. It is not easy to fight here.
The south of Jiaozhou is the sea. Unless Shi Xie knows in advance that there is a large island opposite and wants to develop there, Shi Xie will never look south.
As for the western part of Jiaozhou, in this era, it was the real place where barbarians and savages lived. Shi Xie was from a Han family and would not coexist with barbarians.
Then the only thing Shi Xie can do is to develop to the east, fall out with Sun Quan, and attack Jiangdong.
At that time, Zhuge Liang can sit back and watch the success or failure while watching the show, and look for opportunities to intervene in Jiaozhou at any time.
Otherwise, Zhuge Liang is a bad person.
(End of chapter)
