Chapter 060: Banknotes Become Waste Paper
Even the prime minister was a little confused. He didn't know what was wrong with the emperor. He got excited as soon as Yibin was touched.
What he didn't understand was who would be willing to be a spineless person? The emperor was also a man, and he always wanted to stand up and do something big. It was just the right time to pick this matter up with him.
The emperor asked him how the tax inspection across the country was going.
We can't keep printing notes endlessly. They depreciate by half a year and will become waste paper in no time.
Shi Xiang said that taxes were approved by the Ministry of Revenue every year, so there was no such thing as so much corruption as rumored outside. The Ministry of Revenue investigated and arrested some people, that's it.
But the notes still need to be printed because we are short of money.
The emperor was unhappy and wanted him to make a big fuss, but the old man just scratched him without any pain, so he might as well let some of his blood flow.
He said that if brewing is banned, the liquor tax will definitely drop significantly next year. Yibin has already reported that the tax next year is estimated to be only 20% of this year's. It seems that the palace's expenses will have to be reduced.
Prime Minister Shi said with tears in his eyes that he had not done his job well and had caused the government to worry.
The emperor said that seeing that the north is gaining strength and causing trouble from east to west, we are still struggling in our own home. This is the rhythm of the country's demise.
Shi Xiang began to tremble. The emperor raised the issue to the issue of the fate of the country and the family. That was not a red line that he could easily cross.
When the last day of 1228 arrived, the entire Cuiping Mountain was decorated with lights and full of joy.
Lu Youpeng handed him a letter with difficulty: Wu Yuqi left without saying goodbye and left with Aunt Li.
He was stunned at first, then stared at Lu Youpeng.
Seeing Lu Youpeng's evasive look, Zhao Yulin thought that this was Wu Yuqi's own choice, so he decided not to ask any more questions. He told Lu Youpeng to send someone to check on her and her daughter, and to send someone to ensure their safety.
On New Year's Eve, a thousand-table banquet was held at Sanjiangkou of Cuiping Mountain. Zhao Yulin's wedding was still held as scheduled, and everyone came to enjoy his wedding. He invited officials from Xuzhou and Yibin to witness it, and held his trendy wedding at Cuiping Mountain's farewell party.
Zhao Yulin brought his two daughters-in-law, Chen Xiaomin and Ma Ling, to kowtow to the elders and serve tea. Holding up the newly made copper trumpet, he first sang a song for his mother, "A Pot of Old Wine", which was later adapted into a song by later generations. Then he sang "New Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Dream" for everyone, which brought the wedding to a climax.
Immediately, firecrackers blasted along the river bank, and colorful fireworks were set off.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Yulin took his two new wives to serve tea to his mother and fourth mother and greet them. He accepted red envelopes from the elders, and accompanied the entire family on a boat up the Jinsha River to Wuzi Mountain.
Lai Chuanfang’s new market has been built, and more than 20 families have gathered at the dock.
Zhao Yulin was drinking with his brothers in a relaxed manner. Lai Chuanfang told him that the Shenwei Army had taken over the Muchuan Village, and together with the Wuzishan Military Village, the team had expanded to two thousand people.
Zhao Yulin said that the brothers came for our unity among officers and soldiers and our strict discipline, so we must choose carefully.
Lai Chuanfang felt that there was no problem with the quality of the soldiers, but the tax source was poor. The faster the army expanded, the greater the economic pressure on Cuiping Mountain, and the money was spent in a rush.
He smiled and said that it was good to know, good steel should be used on the blade, and he should educate his men not to waste it.
The next day, he accompanied his family to see the rape flowers in the valley. In addition to training, the Shenwei Army carried out large-scale construction and helped the people build bridges and roads. People coming and going could ride in ox carts.
Zhao Yulin rode on a horse, smelling the fragrance of rapeseed flowers in the air, feeling particularly refreshed. Chen Xiaomin rode a little red horse and ran around proudly, saying that this place was so beautiful and she wanted to build an oil press so that more people could grow rapeseed.
Ma Linger said that there is no way to make money by brewing wine. It's a pity that the court doesn't allow us to brew wine.
His sister Zhao Sihan said that Xiao Linzi's family had some old grain, and he said that they could make wine in Dali and sell it to make money.
This idea reminded him that he could build an industrial park in Dali to make wine, soap, etc., and produce the goods to be sold to the south nearby.
When his mother saw the high temperature here and the golden colors all over the mountains and fields, she fell in love with it and wanted to live here to retire and was unwilling to leave.
Zhao Yulin said that it was a good opportunity to invite the two elders to open up the wasteland and establish a new market. He put forward the idea of building a new distillery and a handicraft industrial park, which was unanimously agreed by everyone.
The group played for two days, and Chen Xiaomin didn't want to leave as he was enjoying the warm sunshine in the New Market.
He said that this place was going to be expanded into a new town and a new village, and she would have to run away in the future. The family then set off, and when they returned to Cuiping Mountain, he called everyone to discuss the matter. When everyone heard that he wanted to build a winery in the upper reaches of Mahu River, they all agreed with both hands, because it was a turbulent area with tribal ties, and Dali's old grain was sold from the upper reaches, which not only saved them from paying taxes, but also reduced costs.
Then he formed a team to march westwards, with his mother, Tian, as the chief manager, and led a large number of craftsmen to the new market in Zhenwu Mountain to repair the city and build workshops.
Zhao Yulin stayed in Guigu for half a month, and worked with the master craftsmen to develop a new type of oil pressing equipment that used charcoal to roast rapeseed and hydraulic pressure to extract oil. He knew that this method of oil pressing would extract oil cleanly without waste.
When she returned home, Chen Xiaomin said that her father was very anxious and couldn't wait to ask Chen Xian to make three sets of Tianguo, and took Aunt Wu to Xinshi.
Zhao Yulin changed his clothes and went into the inner room, where he found Ma Ling'er hiding on the bed. Chen Xiaomin smiled and said that it was her request that the three of them live together in order to save her husband from running around.
Zhao Yulin murmured to himself, this is not less tiring, it's even more tiring.
He extinguished the oil lamp with a fan and fell asleep with the quilt.
When he woke up the next day, the two girls were still sleeping with their feet on him. Zhao Yulin got out of bed proudly to practice martial arts. Before he could go out after taking a shower and changing clothes, his fourth sister came to find him.
Zhao Sihan said nervously that Xiao Linzi's family had to invest in the new market because it was the land of their Dali Kingdom, otherwise they would go to war.
Zhao Yulin looked at his girl with a strange expression and asked her if she knew that Duan Xiaolin was the Prince of Dali. The girl nodded shyly.
He said Xiao Linzi was afraid and wanted to go back, so let’s go to the White Pagoda and talk it out.
Zhao Yulin took Zhao Sihan out of the city, crossed the river and came to the White Pagoda. As expected, he saw Duan Xiaolin and his four personal guards packing their luggage.
He said he came just in time, so he saw Mr. Duan off in the bamboo forest. Then he ordered beggar chicken and set up a banquet.
After three rounds of drinks, he said that it was okay for him to like my sister , and it didn’t matter how many wives he wanted to marry in the future, but he had to be good to his sister.
Duan Xiaolin immediately agreed with a blushing face.
Then he exaggeratedly said that the Shenwei Army has now expanded to 20,000 soldiers, and ordinary government troops are no match for it. If you want to defeat the Shenwei Army, you must have at least 100,000 soldiers. He will definitely occupy Zhenwu Mountain and will not leave.
Several warriors showed disdainful looks, and Zhao Yulin asked with a smile: "Don't believe it? If you don't believe it, we can show you anytime."
Duan Xiaolin looked at him in a dilemma.
He said that China was originally one family and the land belonged to one family. Now no one is discussing this issue. After the handicraft workshops in Xinshi are built, Dali can send people to participate in the management of the wharf and assist in collecting taxes. How about we split it 20:80?
That is the property of our Shenwei Army.
Zhao Sihan said: It's okay, Xiao Linzi, there are at least three thousand silver coins, and it was my brother who paid for the repairs.
Duan Xiaolin immediately nodded in agreement.
Although he cannot get the land back now, he still gets a share of the tax revenue. When has the Duan family ever earned any income from Zhenwu Mountain?
Because there was a share of the profits and it was also a disguised recognition of the relationship between the land and his family, Duan Xiaolin was not stupid and simply agreed.
Zhao Yulin also didn't want to fight with Dali. With his current military strength, he was not yet in a position to do so, and without an overwhelming advantage, he would not start a war unless it was absolutely necessary.
The two sisters sent Xiao Linzi away and went back. Seeing that Zhao Sihan looked absent-minded, he smiled and teased her, asking if she had lost her soul and asked if she could help him find it back.
Zhao Sihan clenched her little pink fist and punched him, saying that her brother was bullying others.
He said that he was the prince of Dali, and if he really wanted to, he would come again. The little girl fell into his arms without saying a word, and just punched him with her little pink fists.
Three months later, the new town had begun to take shape. A series of workshops including the winery, porcelain workshop, soap workshop, etc. were put into production one after another, and the new town started producing wine.
Zhao Yulin named the fruit wine Ginkgo Fragrance and reduced the alcohol content of the grain wine to below 40 degrees, making it softer and naming it Jinsha Yuye.
When the wine merchants saw in the Cuiping Morning Post that wine was being produced in Xinshi on the Mahu River, they immediately flocked there.
Cross-border trade similar to that of a leased territory was thus opened up in the new town. Zhao Yulin further lowered the prices of goods, and the Mahu River became a busy waterway comparable to the Minjiang River, with money flowing like wildfire.
On this day, Chen Yun and Yang Zhishan from Jiangbei were drinking together. Chen Yun held the Golden Sand and Jade Liquid and sighed that Zhao Yulin was really good at thinking of ways to cooperate with the Dali Kingdom to set up a distillery, and paid a lot of liquor taxes to the Dali Kingdom.
Yang Zhishan said what could be done about it, the grain was Dali's grain, the land was Dali's land, even the tax officials were from Dali, it was normal for people not to pay taxes.
Yang Zhishan quietly told him that he heard that Xinshi was still setting up a government office according to the county-level administrative management, and the boy from the Zhao family was equivalent to the county magistrate.
Chen Yun sighed and said, "He is more than just a county magistrate. When did you see him sitting in the new town?"
The two were in shock when a bailiff came in and reported: The prefect of Jiazhou has arrived.
Chen Yun hurried out to greet him.
Before the prefect even sat down to drink tea, he started yelling at Chen Yun for not managing his subordinates well and allowing Zhao Yulin to violate the imperial ban and use grain to make wine on a large scale. He asked Chen Yun how much wine tax she collected?
Chen Yun said that the winery was built within the territory of Dali Kingdom, so how could he collect taxes?
Chen Yun reported to him Zhao Yulin's lies, saying that he rented land in Dali and bought old grain from Dali to make wine, and that taxes must be paid to Dali, so of course he did not pay production taxes to the Song Dynasty court.
The prefect of Jiazhou was furious and shouted, "It's a rebellion, it's a rebellion."
Chen Yun said that they were operating legally, and every liquor seller in Yibin had to pay taxes. The Shenwei Army abided by the law, so where was the objection?
The prefect breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had not caught Zhao Yulin's weakness, so he said that he had been transferred to Ziyun Mountain to suppress bandits last time, and he had disobeyed the transfer, which was a rebellion and he should have been punished long ago.
Chen Yun asked him: Why didn't Lin'an issue an edict?
