Chapter 434: The King's Uncle Wants to Become an Official
Zhao Yulin decided to build an industrial base in Zhengzhou. She asked Chen Xian to select a large number of craftsmen to come here. They would select ores in Anyang and make steel in Zhengzhou. Anyang was indeed too close to the Mongolian occupation area and did not have a relatively safe protection depth. It would be safer to put the steel smelting in the Funiu Mountain west of Zhengzhou.
He wanted to utilize the water energy of Funiushan Mountain and transport the mature hydraulic machinery and equipment from Cuiping Mountain to build a basic industrial base here to meet the urgent needs of the Shenwei Army for the production of arrows and other military equipment and the daily necessities of the people.
From last year to now, after some efforts, the appearance of the entire recovered area has changed.
Zhao Yulin did not come up with any new tricks, he just organized the common people to work. During the slack season, the common people could participate in repairing ditches and roads to earn some money to buy the necessities of life. This quickly made the lifeless society active and they rushed to the town to find work to do, and the big chess game came alive.
Behind this was the powerful financial input of the New Song Dynasty. Chengdu directly sent 20 million strings of new currency to support various expenditures of local governments. In order to open up border trade, Cao Cao also specially approved 5 million strings of silver coins as a bottom line.
Zhao Yulin set up five markets along the ferry crossing of the Yellow River to do business with the Mongol Empire. People smuggled horses , which made him very happy. The New Song Dynasty also accepted all the small things made by the people in the north, as long as the merchants were willing to pay.
But there is one rule: don’t sell them new tools with high technological content.
The Shenwei Army's crops were abundant, and glasses, soaps, scented soaps and perfumes were all sold at a reduced price. Merchants from the opposite side flocked to the army, and the common people who bought their desired things were extremely happy. They talked about the Shenwei Army's righteousness and might, and began to yearn for the better life in the New Song Dynasty.
Those porters and merchants who had been to Kaifeng and Zhengzhou returned with great pride and recounted the changes in Song territory. The merchants proudly told their colleagues: Wow, it's only been less than half a year, and those common people have money to spend. They hold in their hands the exquisite new coins of the New Song Dynasty, which rustle when they flick their fingers. They are all hard currency.
The porter was even more envious, and asked his brothers around him: "You haven't been to Kaifeng yet, right? There is gold everywhere, and it's easy to make money. The worst tavern is Chen Yi Shao, where the shops are full of Wu Gu Feng and Gu Jing Yu Ye, and they only sell for five strings of money. This time, our shopkeeper bought goods worth a thousand strings of money in one go, so how much money did he make?" Hehe.
There were also spies of Hubili who mingled among the merchants and travelers. They would go back and report to him what they saw along the way, which also surprised Hubili greatly.
The spy told him that the roads had changed. The potholes in the past were now filled up. Soldiers were repairing the bends and steep slopes, straightening the bends and building bridges over the water to make it easier for the people to travel. The docks on the waterways were also being cleaned up and renovated. Kaifeng was also going to build a new earth and cement dock on the Bian River that would not be washed away by a once-in-a-century flood.
Everyone on the busy streets has a smile on their face, and people are humming little songs as they walk.
Hubili was already fascinated and looked at the spy who reported to him with suspicion.
The spy immediately changed his tone 180 degrees and said "but" to him as well.
The spy said worriedly: However, the inspections along the way are very strict. Merchants and travelers have designated routes, and their accommodations, and even places to eat and play are all posted with signs. Those without a sign and no guarantor will be treated as spies of the enemy country. The lighter ones will be imprisoned in a repair team and given three years of re-education through labor, while the heavier ones will have their legs and hands broken or even beheaded as a warning to the public.
Damn, what kind of criminal law is this, Zhao Yulin?
Hubili was stunned for a moment.
The spies continued to report that the passes along the way were being reinforced and renovated with huge stones, becoming tall and majestic, and the wooden fence-like passes we built in the past were all gone.
Damn, this is a powerful trick.
If it was made of wood, he could burn it with fire. But Zhao Yulin changed it all into stones and bricks, so he had to use Huihui cannons to blast it open. How many people would be needed to do this? The technology was much more difficult.
Hubili couldn't believe his ears. He leaned forward to the spy and asked: How much manpower is needed to do this? How do they do it?
Say, don't brag.
The spies reported to him: craftsmen were working everywhere, soldiers were also involved, and generals were working hard. Even the people who were doing corvée labor could receive a subsidy after working every day. Farmers who had no farm work all went to work, and their pockets were full of valuable new coins of the New Song Dynasty.
Hubili sat back in the chair and said, "Huh." He let out a long breath, "That's all, that's all." He, Zhao Yulin, could do it, but this king could never do it.
I just can't ask those princes and generals to work like coolies, not to mention paying those poor bastards.
The grassland empire had already divided the people in this world into four classes. The sons and daughters of the grassland were all noble upper-class people. How could they work with those lowly southerners? They were born to hold seals and be rulers.
These are two different outcomes. When the grassland empire came to the Central Plains, they burned, killed, and looted, treating the Han people as inferiors, exploiting, oppressing, and killing them. Naturally, the Central Plains became a barren land with no sun.
When the Shenwei Army arrived, they treated the people here as their own family, as close as brothers and sisters. Naturally, the people's faces were filled with joy and their enthusiasm was high.
In addition, after the Shenwei Army opened up water and land routes, a large amount of food and daily necessities were transported in, ensuring that the people would not go hungry. This caused a burst of strong energy, and many seemingly impossible things were quickly becoming a reality.
Zhao Yulin arranged the affairs in Kaifeng and took Hulan on a boat south to Jiankang Prefecture.
Spring has returned to the earth. The grass on both sides of the canal has grown out of the ground, and the branches have sprouted new leaves, and everything is green. He easily pulled Hulan up to the bow to watch the scenery, but the woman below was still indifferent and looked around listlessly.
He knew that the knot in Hu Lan's heart had not been untied yet, so he did not try to break it up. He just accompanied her to eat, play and have fun as they drifted downstream.
At the Danfeng Garden in Chengdu, Mrs. Danfeng, Kuang Sisi, was happily playing with her little grandson.
Zhao Feiyan has officially taken over as the king, and something that Kuang Sisi never dreamed of has actually happened to her daughter.
Originally, her great dream was for her daughter to become a princess of the Song Dynasty in a legitimate manner, and she would die without regrets. But she never expected that this good girl would not only become the only princess of the Song Dynasty, but also sit on the throne of the ruler of the new Song Dynasty. Kuang Sisi felt as sweet as if she had drunk authentic Yanfeng honey, and she was laughing happily in her dreams.
The old woman was just cheering happily when the guard outside the door reported that a man named Kuang Siying, who claimed to be her elder brother, was outside the door shouting and demanding to see Madam Danfeng.
When Kuang Sisi heard this, her face turned very ugly. After a while, she ordered someone to come into the garden to talk.
After a while, the guard led Kuang Siying into the living room. When he saw Kuang Sisi, he knelt down, crawled in front of Kuang Sisi, kowtowed, and cried, saying that he sold his sister to a brothel because he really couldn't live anymore.
Now, the younger sister has turned a disaster into a blessing, so she no longer talks about family affection and takes care of her eldest brother. She asks her younger sister to let her niece be appointed an official to help her eldest brother. The Kuang family also wants to make the family name more glorious.
Before Kuang Siying finished his nagging, Kuang Sisi, who was sitting on the seat, had already burst into tears and kept screaming at her brother to go away, go away quickly, saying that she did not recognize this marriage.
The old servant Luo Mingqiu rushed over immediately after hearing the guards' story, and just happened to hear Kuang Sisi's crying. How could that be possible?
Eunuch Luo immediately picked up Kuang Siying and dragged him out.
This guy kept shouting: He is Madam Danfeng's elder brother, and the uncle of the current ruler. Who dares to touch him?
Luo Mingqiu has been protecting Madam Danfeng for a long time. Now that he is alone, he has already developed a crush on the still charming Kuang Sisi. How can he tolerate this person talking nonsense?
In a hurry, he didn't care about Kuang Siying's identity. He just slapped him twice and told him to shut up. Anyone who dared to insult Madam Danfeng's reputation was seeking death.
Kuang Siying was immediately dumbfounded and shut up.
Then, Luo Mingqiu pushed Kuang Siying off the steps of the gate with one palm, told him to get out as far as possible, and ordered the guards not to let him in again.
When she got back, Kuang Sisi asked while sobbing: Has that person left?
Luo Mingqiu saluted from a distance and reported quietly that he had driven the visitor away and ordered the guards not to let him into the mansion.
When Kuang Sisi saw that the two eunuchs, Eunuch Liu and Eunuch Li, one old and one young, had come over, she asked them to sit down and recounted the events of the past with a sigh.
It turned out that Kuang Sisi was the daughter of the Kuang family, a famous silk merchant in Qiantang. In her early years, her father could not compete with his peers who were close to the old prime minister of the Shi family, and did not get the right to weave silk that was tribute to the government, which led to the decline of her family. However, the rival did not let go of the Kuang family as a competitor and continued to suppress her family's livelihood.
In the end, her father could not bear it and was forced to death, and the family was taken over by the eldest brother Kuang Siying from the first wife.
Her elder brother Kuang Siying was just a lazy young man. How could he support a family that was being suppressed and destroyed by others? All he had to do was to live by selling his belongings and borrowing money.
Kuang Siying first sold his gold, silver, jewelry, famous calligraphy and paintings, then sold his workshop and real estate, and then sold his own houses and land.
Later, when he couldn't find anything to sell, he set his sights on the clever and pretty little sister of the second wife, Kuang Sisi. When she was eight years old, the eldest brother Kuang Siying coaxed Kuang Sisi out to buy her candy figurines and secretly sold her to a brothel near the West Lake...
Luo Mingqiu and the others knew what happened next. If she hadn't been diligent and studious, and hadn't become the top performer in Lin'an's nightlife and won the favor of the government, she would have died now, and the weeds would have grown so high. Woo, woo, woo.
Kuang Sisi told the story with tears and snot, and then sobbed and sobbed.
The three old men were guarding on both sides but they were at a loss as to how to deal with the situation. Luo Mingqiu's eyes were blazing with fire as he nervously tried to persuade Madam Danfeng to take care of her health and not to be too sad and ruin her body.
Eunuch Liu also tried to persuade Kuang Sisi in a tearful voice not to think about the past, and told someone to give some money to Kuang Siying to bring him back to Qiantang. If he really wanted to be an official, he could ask Princess Feiyan to make arrangements.
