"Xianggong, Zhao Zhizhou has a letter."

Jia Rudao raised his head, and his eyes flashed. He heard the excitement from the voice of the staff, so this 'Zhao Zhizhou' must be Zhao Jiaren.

While the staff was speaking, he hurriedly delivered a letter to Jia Rudao. Jia Rudao did not open the letter after receiving it, but threw it on the table.

The staff was stunned for a moment, and then listened to Jia Rudao and asked coldly: "Have you found out, how did the public land in Jiaxing Mansion pay enough food?" ”

Jia Nidao promised Zhao Jiaren that he could engage in cotton work in Jiaxing Mansion, but Jia Nidao would not promise Zhao Jiaren to take charge of the entire Jiaxing. The public land of Jiaxing Mansion is managed by Li Boyu, the governor of Jiaxing Prefecture, and the local public land should not be less than a pound of grain. When the public fields in various places were suffering from great problems, Jiaxing Prefecture not only did a very good job in cotton work, but also paid the amount of grain in the public fields.

When things go wrong, there must be demons. When the public land law was in a mess, the only Jiaxing Mansion that could operate the public land reform normally made Jia Yidao extra vigilant. He believed there must be something wrong with this.

"Xianggong, this matter has been investigated. Li Boyu helped Zhao Jiaren to change land in Jiaxing Mansion. The staff hurriedly returned the results of the investigation.

The public land reform was almost a land grab, and the landlords were reluctant to sell the land, so they sold the worst land possible. In the Great Song Dynasty, an agricultural country, the land was very distinct. The irrigated land with good soil quality is naturally the high-grade field, and the proportion of this kind of land is about one-tenth of the land in the Great Song Dynasty.

However, Zhao Jiaren's eldest brother Zhao Jiaxin married the daughter of the first land advocate in Huating County, and with such a long-term cooperative relationship, Zhao Jiaren actually persuaded the locals to divide the land into three classes.

The superior land grows grain, pays the grain of the public land, and provides rations to the local people.

Cotton is grown on medium land, and cotton on the same area as the public land belongs to the large households who provide the superior land.

Although the inferior land is also in the name of growing cotton, it can not be taxed. In fact, there is no way to grow cotton on those lands. These lands are cultivated with alfalfa, which can be eaten by people and fed to livestock. Zhao Jiaren made full use of the land in Jiaxing Prefecture to engage in animal husbandry, raising a lot of chickens, ducks and geese, and it is said that there are also pigs, sheep, cattle and other livestock.

Like other areas that have carried out public land reform, Jiaxing also requires the payment of white rice. Zhao Jiaren has built a water-powered rice mill on the banks of the Songjiang River, and the rice is processed under the water power, which does not make the people feel embarrassed at all.

When he said this, the voice of the staff couldn't help but bring out a feeling of admiration. The area of Jiaxing Mansion is not large compared with Liangjiang Road and Liangjiang Road, and in the Great Song Dynasty, the areas near the sea are relatively poor places. In such a seemingly insignificant place, Zhao Jiaren actually accomplished feats that could not be accomplished elsewhere.

"These are all Zhao Jiaren's operations?" Jia Rudao asked coldly.

"Yes." The staff gave a very clear answer.

Hearing this answer, Jia Rudao said angrily: "Then Li Boyu is really a corpse vegetarian meal!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the staff was stunned. Judging from previous experience, when Jia Rudao said this, the next step was for Yushitai to impeach the official until the official was impeached and removed from office. However, this Li Boyu is the only bright spot in the Gongtian reform area, and if this impeachment is removed from power, what should officials in other regions do?

Just looking at the staff's expressions, Jia Yidao knew what the staff was thinking. He forcibly suppressed his anger and picked up Zhao Jiaren's letter. should have opened the letter to read it, but Jia Rudao didn't have the courage to open it. Because he was worried that he would be even more angry because he read Zhao Jiaren's letter.

No matter what others think of Jiaxing Mansion, in Jia Yidao's view, Zhao Jiaren has taken advantage of the rebound of local landlords in Jiaxing Mansion to complete the current achievements. If there is no public land reform to suppress it strongly, why should the landlords take out the land and listen to Zhao Jiaren's arrangement.

Moreover, Zhao Jiaren, a treacherous boy, knows how to keep a hand in doing things, and everything he does in Jiaxing Mansion is temporary. If Jia Rudao did something that made him feel that he couldn't persist in Jiaxing, Zhao Jiaren could leave Jiaxing Mansion and run away immediately. At that time, Jia Rudao had no way to take over the system established by Zhao Jiaren.

The system that can produce 80,000 stone rice and 1.2 million copper coins a year has always been firmly in Zhao Jiaren's hands, and no matter how much Jia Yidao covets it, he can't get a little bit from Zhao Jiaren's hands. For such subordinates, Jia Rudao couldn't find any other feelings in his heart except for indignation.

However, Jia Nidao is Jia Nidao after all, and he knows that what he should do at this time is to cooperate with Zhao Jiaren. It's like the two of them working together ten years ago. From then to now, the cooperation with Zhao Jiaren has not brought any loss to Jia Yidao. The Battle of Ezhou was the peak of the previous cooperation between the two, and it was also the cornerstone of Jia Rudao's ability to achieve today's status.

No matter how cunning Zhao Jiaren is, his contribution to Jia Yidao in the reform of Gongtian has surpassed that of other regions, and it can even be said that it exceeds the sum of the entire Liangzhejiang Road and Liangjiang Road. The better Zhao Jiaren does, the more stable Jia Yidao's phase will be.

Jia Yidao actually knew his heart, and his anger was half jealousy, half unbearable greed. Zhao Jiaren has too much wealth in his hands, if he can control such wealth, Jia Yidao feels that he probably has no regrets in his life.

The mood finally calmed down, and Jia Rudao opened Zhao Jiaren's letter. There is nothing particularly unusual about the contents of the letter. Zhao Jiaren only said that he wanted to continue to be the governor of Fuzhou, after all, he had always hoped to be able to reform the Left Wing Army and prepare for the ongoing war. If Jia Rudao didn't agree, Zhao Jiaren felt that he could do nothing.

As for Qingyuan Mansion, Zhao Jiaren said that it was impossible for that place to produce cotton worth 100,000 guan a year, so it was impossible for him to expand his business to Qingyuan Mansion. However, if Jia Rudao can accept the condition of increasing by 10,000 guan a month, Zhao Jiaren can expand his business to Qingyuan Mansion. And let the Qingyuan Mansion provide the public land grain handed over in full.

Putting Zhao Jiaren's letter on the table, Jia Rudao felt that his mind was a little lively. Judging from the current situation, Qingyuan Mansion cannot complete the grain that should be paid for the reform of public land. The annual tax paid by Qingyuan Mansion is not 120,000 copper coins. If Zhao Jiaren can really make Jiaxing Mansion and Qingyuan Mansion a stable source of money and food, it will not be a good thing for Jia Yidao. At this time, it was the war stage, and even if you wanted to clean up Zhao Jiaren, you had to wait until after the war was over.

Thinking of this, Jia Rudao also began to calm down. After the failure of the last Mongol invasion of the south, Jia Rudao took advantage of the free time after the end of the war to solve many political enemies. He couldn't count the number. As long as this war is over, Jia Yidao can free up his hands to slowly clean up Zhao Jiaren. Let Zhao Jiaren work hard to contribute to the war now.

So Jia Rudao dictated a letter, not only Qingyuan Mansion, but also Gusu could also let Zhao Jiaren run it. However, the price is to increase the total amount of grain to be paid for the public land in the three places by 50%. As for the money for cotton affairs, Zhao Jiaren has to pay an extra 50,000 yuan a month.

A month later, Jia Rudao received a letter with very ungentle wording. The content of the letter is not long, and the gist of it is 'If you do this, Jia seems to be looking for whoever you like to do.' Anyway, Zhao Jiaren is not waiting. ’

The tug-of-war between the two sides continued until July, and in the end, Jia Rudao compromised. In the end, the two sides increased the grain supply by 15,000 per month to ensure the supply of grain to the public fields of Jiaxing, Qingyuan, and Suzhou. Xu Yuanzhi was completely incomprehensible to such an agreement. He immediately asked Zhao Jiaren why he signed such an agreement with Jia Yidao.

"It's okay for Qingyuan Mansion, but you can still rectify the land. The relationship between the landlords in that place in Gusu is intertwined, Zhao Zhizhou, even if you let Sima Kao go to Gusu, I am afraid that there will be no way to appease the local people. After saying his opinion, Xu Yuanzhi stared at Zhao Jiaren, waiting for him to give a reasonable answer.

"I don't think the purpose of intervening in Gusu is the local land. Jia Rudao is very wary of me, and of course he will not let me do whatever I want in Gusu. However, the local landlords and gentry in Gusu resented Jia Nidao so much, and the land was damaged. They always need a place to go with their money. Gusu has always been wealthy, as long as thirty percent of the money in their hands can be invested in us, what a situation it is. Zhao Jiaren gave Xu Yuanzhi an answer happily.

Xu Yuanzhi was speechless, he knew that Zhao Jiaren's thinking had always been imaginative, but he didn't expect to be able to jump to such a point. However, Zhao Jiaren took full advantage of the local backlash against the public land reform. This is true in Jiaxing, in Qingyuanfu, and in Gusu.

As a native of Gusu, Sima Kao was entrusted with important tasks. The Jinshi of the Great Song Dynasty not only represent that their knowledge is enough to pass the examination, but as long as they are admitted to the Jinshi, they are local influential figures. The ups and downs of the Jinshi of the Great Song Dynasty are the norm. As long as you can be admitted to the Jinshi, you already belong to the local existence that cannot be ignored.

Therefore, when Sima Kao returned to Gusu, he was not blinded because he was forced to become a minister, because of the results of the Gongtian reform, Jia Rudao's reputation in Gusu was too bad. Knowing that Sima Kao was persecuted by Jia Nidao, his recognition of him soared.

Soon, a banquet was held in Sima Kao's old mansion. Everyone thought that the banquet would be a traditional dish after another, but they didn't expect the banquet to be very simple. Some unknown dried meat was placed on the table, a table of four, a copper pot was placed in the center of the table, and I didn't know what was ordered under the pot, only a light blue flame could be seen. Inside the pot was something white, and it looked very sticky. In addition, there are a lot of fruits on the table, one of which is a red and bright fruit that everyone has never seen before.

As the white stuff in the pot gradually heats up, a sweet smell comes out. There is a milky flavor in this taste, and there is a bit of a sweet feeling.

Sima Kao said to everyone, "Everyone, this is a cheese fondue. You don't have to be polite, whatever fruit you like, just clip it directly and dip it in cheese to eat. ”

It was the first time everyone saw this thing, and they felt that there was no spectrum in their hearts, so they tried to do what Sima Kao said. When the mouth was full of fragrance, everyone was fascinated by the smell. No one doesn't like sweets, the difference is just in sweetness and sweetness. For the people of Da Song, this refined dairy product has enough sugar added to it to give diners a sense of euphoria.

Cheese fondue is eaten with fruits, slices of bread, etc. dipped in melted cheese. In July, although the fruit is already on the market, the fruit is still relatively sour. With the combination of sweet cheese, the weakened sourness stimulates the appetite even more.

As for beef jerky and rum, it has also been recognized by most Gusu people, and after this meal, everyone feels that it is really refreshing.

After successfully arranging the score with fresh food, Sima Kao then began to lobby the participants, "Ladies and gentlemen, the silk in Gusu should have sold much better in recent years than in the previous years. ”

The participants looked at Sima Kao, and many people were slandered in their hearts. Sima Kao's family has been the main force in buying Gusu silk in the past two years, and it can be seen that this guy has found a way.

Sima Kao did not shy away from talking about this matter, and he even decisively explained the matter to the participants. "Originally, the South China Sea route was in the hands of big food merchants, and in order to make more money, they deliberately brought less things to and from both sides each time. Scarcity is expensive, and they bring less things, so they can naturally sell them at a high price. Since Zhao Zhizhou mastered the trade routes, the total amount of trade between the two sides increased greatly. As you know, the price of spices has been declining in recent years. That's because of my efforts......"

After listening to Sima Kao's explanation, the local rich people in Gusu asked a question, "Sima Guanren wants me to invest money in it, but we understand." But I would like to ask, if the business is bigger, the lower the price of spices. Wouldn't we make less money? ”

Because everyone in the room understood that scarcity is precious, this question was echoed by the other participants.

After hearing this, Sima Kao smiled, and he asked with a sympathetic look: "If you engage in the means of making things scarce and expensive, you will not have the opportunity to invest in the trade of navigation." It is because Zhao Zhizhou wants to make the business bigger and bigger, that you have the opportunity to invest money here. Otherwise, it would be enough for this Gusu to have me alone to do this business. ”

was ridiculed by Sima Kao so much, and the rich people suddenly realized. However, they are also quite skeptical about this, and even if Jinshi Sima Kao is very credible, they are also very cautious about investing.

Sima Kao didn't want to force these people in the first place, so he invited them to Fuzhou and Quanzhou to see the fleets with his own eyes. Only when you really see the size of those fleets can these people know how much room there is for investment.

In August, the group arrived in Mawei. After visiting the three-story building and the artificial fountain that supplies water, the visiting group couldn't help but shout. This kind of building is really an eye-opener. You don't even have to look at Fuzhou, you don't have to look at the fleet. Just looking at the number of rich people raised through maritime trade, the visiting group of the rich people in Gusu understood how profitable sailing really was.

The total area of the new urban area in Mawei is 20 square kilometers, of which 10 square kilometers are residential areas, and there are about 9,000 three-story buildings on one square kilometer, that is, 90,000 households. There are now an average of six or seven people per household, with a total population of 600,000. These 600,000 people, even by the standards of Gusu, have entered the ranks of the rich.

The Nautical Guild's explanation of the investment model was clear, and the delegation figured out where their opportunities were. Zhao Jiaren's business is simple and bright, that is, volume. The solid color of silk and satin was sold to the big food merchants and the Tianzhu merchants, who could process it however they wanted. The handicraft industry in Gusu is very developed, and the processed goods such as embroidery can probably be supplied openly.

After listening to the advice of the wealthy people in Gusu, Yuan Hongjie, the secretary general of the Navigation Guild who was in charge of hospitality, also expressed his opinion bluntly, "Whether this kind of embroidery can be sold at a high price, we don't know ourselves." As for what kind of patterns and patterns those big food merchants and Tianzhu merchants like, we have never cared about them over the years. If you are willing to cooperate, you may wish to send someone to Tianzhu and Dashi with us this year to have face-to-face contact with local businessmen. And we can't guarantee whether your embroidery can be sold at a higher price. Let's talk about the model of investment and sharing, and then we can cooperate! ”

Looking at the embarrassed expression on the face of the rich man in Gusu, Yuan Hongjie threatened in a cheerful voice: "Everyone, we have to go south every October, and now it's August." Hurry up, a month will pass quickly! ”

When money is involved, things go fast. By October, business representatives from the Gusu embroidery industry had boarded the ship with a large number of embroidery samples and went south with the fleet full of unease.

When these embroidery representatives left Gusu, it was the second year of Xianchun, and in May of the third year of Xianchun, they returned to Gusu. Everybody's tanned, everybody's got a little thinner. However, everyone was extremely excited when they returned to Gusu and reunited with their local relatives and friends.

Having seen the truly exotic scenery, these far-flung travelers have countless things to say to their own people. They rode elephants, and they saw a cross-shaped constellation in the far southern sky. And to see that Southern Cross, you have to sail far enough south. There, all seasons are the height of summer. There are all kinds of strange flowers and plants that have never been seen in Gusu, as well as a variety of different fruits. Of course, there are all kinds of foreigners in fancy costumes.

As for investment, those embroideries, especially large ones, do lead to a lot of purchases in foreign countries**. Some earth kings even offered high prices, and they made the pattern and asked the embroidery master of Gusu to embroider it. The price given by these people is much higher than the price that the same embroidery can be sold in the Great Song Dynasty. There is also a large number of patterns and embroidery that can be mass-produced, and there are also a lot of buying and selling as long as the pattern is changed slightly. There was also a certain particularly wealthy earth king, who even offered a high price to buy a large number of embroideries with a whole set of patterns.

In the distant Tianzhu, it is really a good place to make money.