Zhang Bojian took Zhang Zhenzhou's letter to Chang'an, and the conquest of Jiangdu and Kunshan made the two understand that Yang Chong's unification war came faster than expected; Zhang Zhenzhou hoped to surrender, but Zhang Bojian was unwilling to give up his ideals, and talked with Yang Chong about the issue of the country. Zhang Bojian hoped to give himself a base in the aborigine-controlled area north of Liuqiu Island, plus more than 30 inhabitable islands in the Liuqiu Islands, to establish the Liuqiu Kingdom.

In the letter, Zhang Zhenzhou agreed with Zhang Bojian's idea, because there are many natives on the Ryukyu Island, and the Ryukyu Islands are full of pirates, and Zhang Bojian's presence can relieve the pressure on the two counties. Yang Chong convened Yuan Wei and others in the political hall to discuss, and agreed to lend a port to Zhang Bojian, and then exchange another piece of overseas land for Zhang Bojian after he established the country; However, Yang Chong asked Zhang Bojian to go to the Champa Kingdom and buy about 50,000 stone of Champa rice to transport to Jiangdu.

Everyone in the political hall has already read the report written by Zhuge Quan and Yu Wenkai, and knows that Champa rice is a high-yielding, early-maturing, and drought-tolerant rice seed produced in Champa, and it only takes more than 50 days from planting to harvesting after the flow is popularized. Zhuge Quan and Yu Wenkai both arranged for people to secretly try planting on a small scale in the remote areas of Yangzhou, which proved that Zhancheng rice can not only survive in Yangzhou, but also be drought-tolerant and adaptable, as long as there is water, there is no need to choose soil for planting.

At present, Kaifeng is a water town, and Jianghuai is a suitable place to plant, Yu Wenkai has personally gone to Yangzhou to preside over this matter, and arranged for Jianghuai to try to plant rice, Kunshan and Danyang to try to plant sugarcane. Si Nong Qing Murong Zheng is arranging for Si Nong Temple to make a plan, once Du Fuwei conquers Hangzhou, he will begin to promote Zhancheng rice in the Taihu Lake Basin, 50,000 stones, which is the number of the government hall that is ready to be promoted to the two lakes.

Zhang Bojian has been to Zhancheng many times, is familiar with the sea routes along the way, knows that it is not a difficult thing, and said with a smile: "If you ask for it, you will have Zhancheng rice, and this time, according to your letter, you have transported 5,000 stone of Zhancheng rice and 400 stone of sugarcane; You still want to enter from Champa because you want to establish contact with them now. Champa rice is excellent, but Champa is cultivated extensively, there are no irrigation facilities, and rice is allowed to grow naturally; 50,000 stones, I'm afraid it's their national output, and all the wild rice has to be counted. ”

Yang Chong said seriously: "Big brother, this matter is very important, you must go on a trip in person, you need to bring those goods, you and Jiu Heng said; If you don't have 50,000 stones, try to bring as much as possible. ”

Zhang Bojian nodded and said: "I know your thoughts, and I am ready to promote it in the Central Plains like sugar beets and cotton; You can rest assured, Champa rice is the best in Champong, but Annam and Zhenla are also rich in this kind of rice, I will first come back with the fleet, and entrust the merchants of Quanzhou to continue to help buy it in various places and transport it to Yangzhou. ”

Cui Kaiyuan and Murong Zhengze breathed a sigh of relief, although the taste and taste of Zhancheng rice were a little worse, they could solve the food dilemma within a year or two; Yang Chong bowed his head and said: "Thank you, big brother, come, let me introduce you, this is Lord Dou Luda, the capital water supervisor." He will go to Yangzhou to consolidate the shipyard in a few days, and when the new sea ships come out, I will send two to my eldest brother. ”

"That's great." Zhang Bojian has absolute confidence in Yang Chong's mechanical technology, and said happily: "I still have two small shipyards in my hometown, and I can also help you build ships." ”

After Zhang Bojian went out with Kou Jiuxuan, Yang Chongcai asked Fang Yanzao about the currency.

The Ministry of Household announced that in order to unify the currency, eliminate the indiscriminate and thin coins at the end of the Sui Dynasty, abolish the original five-baht coin, and replace it with a newly minted five-baht Tongbao. The original five baht to the five baht money in the Kaihuang period is the best, the production is regular, the outline is wide and flat, only because the amount of lead in the coin material increases, the color of the money is white, so it is called "white money"; This time, the five-baht Tongbao money weighs two baht and four tired, and the ten coins weigh one tael, which is moderately light and small, and the circulation is very convenient. The money is written on the text, many people try to write, and the last choice is Chu Suiliang's words, which are neat and strict.

At the same time, the household department decided to set up money prisons in Wuwei, Chang'an, and Luoyang, prohibiting the private minting of money, and those who cast it privately were sentenced to death, and their families were confiscated as official slaves. At the same time as the introduction of copper coins, the banks below the household department launched gold and silver coins, which were round, flaked, and toothed, with the city tower of Chang'an on the front and the number with patterns on the back; The obverse of the coin features a peony pattern, and the reverse side features a square numerals.

The household department rejected Yang Chong's original idea, believing that the amount of money needed by the Great Sui was limited, and only agreed that the bank would issue one or two gold coins and five silver coins. Fang Yanzao said unhurriedly: "The auspicious day has been chosen, these are not things, the key is the army, now we all know that the auction house price of the bank and the money bank is higher than that of the merchants with the army, and the generals have sent the spoils to Chang'an, Luoyang and other places regardless of the long distance, which has increased the expenditure on military spending, and the merchants with the army have also complained that no one will do it for a long time." ”

It is understandable that businessmen who seek profit, especially those who accompany the army, risk death and bankruptcy, follow the army all the way, but make no money; But if you want to say no, Yang Chong is still a little skeptical. The Privy Council and the Ministry of War have repeatedly asked the army to dispose of supplies nearby, and the Hexi Army is not like other armies that indulge in looting, and how much of the army's things are worth transporting to Chang'an and other places; Even if their own caravan is not involved, then Yu Qintao and Jiang Duo should always have some news.

Yang Chong frowned, could it be that his power had reached the point where everyone wanted to hide it from him? The Shaofu Supervisor Fu Qugu coughed and reminded: "Most of the current merchants accompanying the army are arranged by the army generals themselves, and some goods are escorted to Chang'an and Luoyang in the name of the army, and the merchants can save a lot of freight and bodyguard costs." ”

Yang Chong suddenly realized, sure enough, he relied on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water, and the Danqing Ming recorded in the history books that for thousands of years from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, whether it was the high salary of the Song Dynasty or the unforgivable killing of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, it could not stop the corruption and perversion of the law. Yang Chong's face turned dark, and he said angrily: "The household department will discuss it to see if it is possible to implement military tickets." ”

A room full of people was stunned; Yang Chong explained to them that a military ticket refers to a fixed-denomination currency issued by a military institution and mainly circulated in the army. Fang Yanzao said embarrassedly: "In this case, in order to prevent forgery, you can't use paper, and copper coins are not convenient, so you can only customize gold coins and silver coins." ”

Dali Qing Wei Yunqi said with a smile: "This is easy to do, since it is a place to fight, that is, the front line and the enemy-occupied area, you can arrange special people to deal with it, all the gold and silver coins and other types of military tickets in the future are only provided to the merchants who accompany the army, indicating that the military tickets can only be used to purchase war trophies and the army to collect materials on a large scale in the local area, and do not have the nature of circulating currency." ”

(End of chapter)