Kim Man-tang is now an absolute legend in the South.

This former salt merchant, the big fat sheep in the eyes of some forces, resolutely went north to find Li Ze, who was still unknown at that time, and firmly tied himself to Li Ze. A large amount of capital investment has made Li Ze's strength in the north improve rapidly in a short period of time, and a marriage contract has made them one.

Today, Jin Mantang's Shenglong Money Village, in fact, is the branch of the imperial court Wuwei Qian Zhuang extended to the outside, sold its own salt transportation system to the imperial court at a price, and then invested a lot of money in shipping, more than a dozen sailing fleets, so that Jin Mantang's economic strength is stronger than in the past.

More importantly, whether it is Shenglong Qianzhuang or Jin's shipping, they are closely linked to the northern imperial court, and the country is prosperous, so Jin Mantang will naturally sit back and relax.

Although this person is not above the temple now, there is no doubt that he has considerable influence on the policies of the northern court.

"We are still very different from Jin Mantang." Ding Ci sighed.

They are naturally different, the Ding clan and the Bai clan are rooted in the big landlord class, while Jin Mantang is the merchant class, and the big landlords use the large land resources in their hands to imprison the peasants on these lands, and control the people by controlling the land, and then form their own intertwined forces.

However, Li Ze's fundamental strategy was to try his best to smash the monopoly of the big landlords on land, and under his rule, owning 5,000 mu of land under his name was the limit. The progressive tax system has also made owning more land a nightmare and unpayable.

This is in conflict with the fundamental interests of the Ding and Bai ethnic groups.

"Father, father-in-law, first of all, we are going to talk about the survival of the family and the continuation of the family." Ding Jian said: "And when we talk about this, we must see deep and far. Can't be short-sighted. Only when the husband survives, can we talk about the glory and honor of the family. ”

"Okay, then let's talk about the problem of survival first, now, how do we face the attack of the generation super? Suppose we follow what you say and go along with Li Ze. Bai Minzhong asked rhetorically.

"Father-in-law, nothing in this world is easy to obtain. As I said earlier, first and foremost, we have to rely on ourselves. Ding Jian's tone was excited: "Jingnan is the land of fish and rice, there are many people, there is a shortage of food and grass, and there is no shortage of weapons, why can't we rise up to protect ourselves?" ”

Looking at the looks of everyone in the room, Ding Jian said sharply: "What we lack is the courage to fight hard. As long as we dare to think and dare to do it, what is the difficulty of Jingnan to gather 100,000 soldiers, and only 20,000 Liang troops, so let us retreat and surrender on our knees? ”

"Da Lang, we don't think like that. In fact, Jingnan has also begun to mobilize! Ding Xiang smiled bitterly.

Ding Jian suddenly laughed: "I know what everyone thinks. In fact, what everyone wants most is to maintain the status quo and let the pseudo-Liang and the north continue to stalemate for a long time, so that our family can still be the emperor of the soil in Jingnan, right? ”

Bai Minzhong coughed dryly a few times, and glanced at Ding Ci with some embarrassment.

"Father-in-law, father, this won't work." Ding Jian said: "Not to mention that the pseudo-Liang has now been beaten, even the imperial court in the north is far away, how can it ever turn a blind eye to the south?" Yangzhou, Yueyang, our tentacles have stretched out, the next step, is to connect these points one by one, the spark of the stars, can start a prairie fire, the next step, we will connect these points into a piece. The general trend of the world is that it will be together for a long time, and everyone knows that it is time for a long time to meet. The court does not move the army, once the army is moved, it will inevitably sweep the world with the power of thunder, now we don't do anything, at that time, people don't need us to do anything. ”

"Da Lang, you are also a high-ranking official in the north, so you can tell me, how can we still live a good life under Li Ze's rule?" Ding Feng said suddenly: "The Xue family and the Sima family in Hedong, as well as those families in the river that were killed by your own hands, but they make us vigilant. ”

Ding Jian laughed: "The real reason why the Hedong families have fallen to this point is that they still have the same idea as you now, and want to become a country of China, how is this possible?" As for the river, colluding with the pseudo-Liang, naturally there is more than enough to die. Father-in-law, father, and Ding Bai want to occupy a place in the future court, and now is the best opportunity. Raise the banner of supporting the Tang Dynasty, firmly occupy Jingnan, and resist the pseudo-Liang, so that when the imperial army comes, this credit will be enough to make the Ding and Bai families stand still. ”

"If there really is such a day, how will we deal with Li Ze's land policy?" Ding Ci asked.

Ding Jian smiled slightly: "Father, Yizhou Cao Xin, Zhenzhou Yuan Zhou, Wang Sili, you all know, right?" In the past, they were all heroes and big landlords, and their families had thousands of acres of fertile land, and now, as far as I know, the land of each of their families is only more than 1,000 acres, and the production of the fields is mainly to support the ancestral hall and family temple. But their family fortunes are still rising rapidly. In the North, relying on land to collect rents to make a fortune has been seen as an act of foolishness. ”

"They're in business?"

"Almost!" Ding Jian said: "After the three of them exchanged the land owned by their family to the imperial court, they used a large amount of money to set up a trading company, and they only did one thing, which was the construction of houses, roads, and water conservancy. They have manpower, money, and many craftsmen. One-third of the construction of the expansion of Wuyi City was completed by their trading company, and every year, they were able to reap millions of yuan in income from these projects. Today, their trading company has expanded to all parts of the north, and their semicolons can also be seen in remote places such as Yinzhou and Lingzhou. ”

"The original Hao Shen Hou clan in Texas, combined with the six families of Texas, put a lot of money into the shipyard, shipping and inland river operations, and now can launch dozens of ships every year, ships all over the north and south of the river, they are also with the state-owned Haixing Shipyard to study large warships, the study of sea ships, become an important ally of Haixing Shipyard, and make millions of profits every year."

"The Gao clan in the river, its political status, strength, was not inferior to our Jingnan at the beginning, the river festival made Gao Lei give up all his interests in the river, the land was exchanged to the imperial court, and then with a huge amount of money, invested in Dezhou, built a large number of workshops in Dezhou, many workshops under its command, is an important industrial chain of the imperial court's military workshop."

"The Yelu clan of Boxing, which used to be just a poor and destitute Khitan dilapidated tribe, now started in Boxing with aquaculture, and its animal husbandry products, woolen products business, to the north and south of the river, but also involved in inland river operations, Haiying, just not long ago, and involved in the northern public transportation, step by step from a small place, to the political center of Wuyi, its family, is now Li Xiang's guest. And those barbarian tribes attached to the imperial court, including the Khitan, all took them as an example and naturally gathered around them, father-in-law, father, this is their political capital. With them, the imperial court would be able to implement the policy of naturalization of the barbarians more smoothly. Do you know how many of the rangers, the most powerful cavalry unit in the Tang Dynasty, are from these barbarian clans? More than half of them. ”

Everyone in the room, when they heard this, was quite moved. These words, if you say these words to another person, they may not necessarily believe it, but this person is the eldest son of the Ding family, and the son-in-law of the Bai family said it, and the credibility is naturally completely different.

"Li Xiang did close one gate with his own hands, but at the same time, he opened another door." Ding Jian continued: "The road to the pinnacle of life is indeed different, but in the same way, we can reach the highest point of our life. Obviously, the latter article is more beneficial for the state. ”

"So, what do you think we can do?" Bai Minzhong asked thoughtfully.

"Father-in-law, our Jingnan is the land of fish and rice, there is the Yangtze River, and there are countless waterways that extend in all directions, and there are too many industries we can get involved in." Ding Jian smiled and said: "The imperial court has opened up the grain market, as far as I know, the next step will be to open up the silk cotton, salt industry, etc., the further it goes, the more markets will be opened." Not to mention anything else, this Yangtze River waterway alone is enough for our Ding and Bai families to eat, as long as we start early, occupy the first-mover advantage. ”

After glancing at Ding Ci and the two, Bai Minzhong continued: "Then let's go back to the original question, how to get through the current crisis." Once we follow what you say, we will inevitably meet with the generation of super soldiers. ”

"The soldiers are coming, and the water is flooding!" Ding Jian said proudly: "As long as we are united, there is no hurdle that cannot be overcome." Moreover, within the pseudo-beam, there are many contradictions, and the dispute between the boss and the third has intensified, can Dai Chao do his best to fight with us? No way. As long as we get through the first battle, the rest of the day will get better and better, which is why I came back. ”

"In other words, there must be a battle!"

"Father-in-law, you were also a battlefield warrior back then, don't you have the courage now?" Ding Jian smiled: "I, Jingnan Warrior, am I really vulnerable?" ”

Bai Minzhong was silent for a moment and nodded: "Since you are back, let's serve as the chief historian in the Jiezhen Mansion first, we need to unify the minds of the entire Jingnan first, so that everyone can understand the next situation, and prepare for the battle wholeheartedly to meet the upcoming attack of the Daichao." ”

"Yes." Ding Jian arched his hand and said: "The son-in-law will definitely live up to the trust." ”