Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 106: Splitting Yuzhang
At this time, the sugarcane manufacturing technology had not yet been introduced from India to the Central Plains, but sugarcane had already been planted in the south.
In Qu Yuan's "Chu Ci", he wrote "boiled turtle and roasted lamb, with some mulberry juice", "柘" refers to sugarcane, while the word "糖" did not appear until the Han Dynasty.
However, before the Tang Dynasty, local processing of sugarcane was limited to making soup. In the early Han Dynasty, the primitive sugar product "rock honey" could be presented to Emperor Gaozu as a tribute.
After the Tang Dynasty, the powerful Central Plains civilization not only spread its majesty and technology to all directions, but also actively absorbed the technology of surrounding countries, including the sugar-making technology of India. Emperor Taizong even sent envoys to India to study it specifically.
Even in the Ming Dynasty, they pioneered the "yellow mud water leaching decolorization method", which was better than their predecessors. It was possible to easily make pure white sugar from cane sugar.
Bai Tu is now in control of Jiangdong. Yuzhang and Kuaiji are both places where sugarcane is produced. There is still a lot of sugarcane in the treasury, which he will present to the court.
If this thing is not made with the corresponding technology, the boiled water will not be very sweet. The real big guys all drink honey...
Originally, Bai Tu didn't want to do these fancy things before he survived the drought that would start next winter, but so many craftsmen who had signed long-term contracts were idle, and they couldn't be used to dig wells, right? That would be too wasteful...
So Bai Tu started to think about using these sugarcanes. After all, it doesn't cost much to make sugar, and with his own technical guidance, he can easily produce white sugar and rock sugar.
Moreover, the "yellow mud water leaching method" has been developed. The color of rock sugar is so good that people would believe it if it was any jewelry nowadays!
In addition to coaxing children, Bai Tu also secretly sent people to Huainan to sell it - if Bai Tu remembered correctly, a certain eldest son of the Yuan family who did not want to reveal his name liked to drink honey water very much.
Under the circumstance that Baitu can limit the production, rock sugar, this "jewel-like sweetness from heaven", is definitely countless times more valuable than honey. Moreover, although Huainan is currently short of military rations, it has not reached the point of restricting the sale of grain...
As long as the profit is sufficient, the local tycoons in Huainan are willing to secretly resell grain and rock sugar on both sides of the strait in various ports!
Bai Tu decided to help the people of Huainan first. He exchanged the grain from the corrupt and rotten treasury of the rulers and stored it as "relief grain" to facilitate timely relief when a severe drought came in the future!
"Brother, there is something, I..." Sun Ce seemed to find it difficult to speak.
"Hmm? You and I are brothers, what can't we talk about? Could it be that you have taken a fancy to a girl from some family and want your brother to help you propose marriage?" Bai Tu asked.
Zhou Yu curled his lips at the side - You are so good at taking advantage of the situation and even proposing marriage? Dasha's uncle is still alive, so there is no need for you, a sworn brother, to propose marriage, right?
“No, no, no, they are my father’s old subordinates, Uncle Cheng, Uncle Huang and others… When we were in Huainan before, that bastard Yuan Shu suppressed us in every way. Although they have returned to Jiangdong now, my uncles still feel sorry for them and hope to continue to serve me…” Sun Ce said a little embarrassedly.
Bai Tu frowned when he heard this and said, "You and I are brothers, don't you trust me?"
Sun Ce felt even more embarrassed after hearing this, thinking that Bai Tu would have an opinion on this, but at this time, Bai Tu said, "Since you and I are brothers, what's the difference between them following me and following you? Why do you have to act like a little girl, second brother?"
"Brother..." In Sun Ce's eyes, the white map seemed to be emitting a thousand-foot-long light.
"Although I don't have the right to let you open a palace and build a government office in theory, but... the personnel of the prefectural government are appointed, and you can make your own decisions. However, the civil officials must be inspected by the Ministry of Personnel, and the military must abide by military discipline."
"Prefect?" Sun Ce was stunned when he heard this. When he was with Yuan Shu, Sun Ce was fooled several times but he never got the position of Prefect.
After all, the prefect was nominally able to oversee the military and political affairs of a county, and he had his own "family assets".
"Yes, I was preparing to submit a petition to the court to split Yuzhang County into three counties, and then the northern county will be entrusted to you !" Bai Tu said.
However, Bai Tu did not simply "entrust" Sun Ce, but also repeatedly reminded Sun Ce about the Ministry of Personnel's assessment of official administration and military discipline.
However, Sun Ce can recommend specific candidates on his own.
As for Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others, Bai Tu had no intention of separating them and placing them under Sun Ce's command, which would have been more efficient.
Just like Bai Tu had never thought of removing Chen Gong and others from Lu Bu's command.
…
In the first year of Jian'an, Bai Tu submitted a memorial to divide the northern counties of Yuzhang County to establish "Poyang County", with its seat in Poyang, and to divide the southern counties of Yuzhang, where the Shanyue rebellion was most severe, to establish "Luling County", with its seat in Xichang.
At the same time, he recommended Sun Ce as the prefect of Poyang and Zhou Shang as the prefect of Luling.
"Sun Ce... is he Wen Tai's son? And Zhou Shang... Yuan Shu is simply stupid! In vain..." After reading the memorial, Cao Cao's eyes flashed with a puzzled look.
When seeing these names, Cao Cao once again felt something was wrong in Bai Tu's memorial - the first time he felt something was wrong because of Bai Tu was when he learned that he and Lu Bu took office together, and he also heard that Bai Tu asked Lu Bu to be his adoptive father!
What kind of operation is this? Aren't you a great scholar? Are all great scholars so shameless now?
Although we don’t know what tricks Bai Tu will take now, but looking at the two governors who recommended him, we know that the remaining troops of Sun Jian and the Zhou family who surrendered to him have now turned to Bai Tu!
"What do you think?" After Cao Cao told the news, he asked his staff in Sikong Mansion.
At this time, the first scholar on Cao Cao's left hand was wearing a Jinxian crown, and a robe with an indigo lining, black outside and red patterns on the edges. However, one could tell from his hairstyle that he had short hair under the crown, and he looked very young, like a baby - they were the trump cards of the Xun family of Yingchuan, Xun Yu and Xun Wenruo!
At this time, he also read the copied memorial and heard Cao Cao's words and said: "The three-part division of Yuzhang County is reasonable. Now the Shanyue people in Jiangdong are gradually rising, and Yuzhang is the worst among them. If we look closely, the counties in the south of Yuzhang are the worst. The counties in Poyang in the north of Yuzhang are located in the area of Xinjiang and Pojiang rivers. There are a lot of fertile lands. Compared with the stable people's livelihood in the central and southern parts, they can be used as a place for military farming...
Since Lord Bai has already started to promote military farming, it is reasonable to divide Yuzhang County into three parts to facilitate governance and organization in different ways. "
Xun Yu had never been to Yuzhang County, but he seemed to be very familiar with the situation there.
This was very rare in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty had a vast territory, but transportation and communication were very inconvenient at that time, which led to a lack of mutual understanding among officials and people in different regions.
Especially since Jiangdong had not yet experienced the first development of Eastern Wu at that time, in the impression of many people in the Central Plains, this place was "the north can produce some grain, the coastal areas can produce some salt, and the rest is all poor mountains and bad water."
When the Shanyue were mentioned, including most of the dignitaries in the court, all they thought of were the savages and bandits all over the mountains in Jiangdong. However, they did not know the difference between one Shanyue and another, let alone the principle of "divide and rule".
However, although Xun Yu was in the Central Plains, he had a good understanding of the situation in Yuzhang, although he could not say that he could read the situation with his palm back.
