Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 460: Food Prices
The current pace of Wei's catching up can be described as faltering, and it is not as fast as the development of Chu. However, it is worth noting that Wei does have the intention to develop.
Similarly, the forces supporting Han, especially Liu Bei and Zhang Yan, also have this tendency. However, compared with the Wei Kingdom that dominated the north, the composition of the forces supporting Han was complex, and the internal friction was much more serious than that of Chu and Wei.
And the only ones who are sensitive to this are Liu Bei and Zhang Yan...
In contrast, although Ma Teng, Han Sui and Yang Feng coveted the military equipment of Chu, they only knew how to buy, buy and buy.
Although Liu Bei owned most of Qingzhou, the important coastline was under the control of the Chu State. Zhang Yan was even inland. The two of them valued technology, but only focused on military equipment and some basic civilian production processes.
Gongsun Du's health was deteriorating, and Gongsun clan was gradually controlled by Gongsun Kang. Gongsun clan had developed some interest in sea navigation because of seeing the warships of Chu State before, but... it was just an "interest".
Gongsun Kang has already decided to mortgage a large number of mineral veins in western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning in exchange for two thousand sets of Chu plate armor.
While rapidly improving combat effectiveness, it also means that the Gongsun family can no longer be distracted by "technology".
In comparison, although Wei was seriously "lame", it was already the force most concerned about technological development besides Chu.
Liu Ye proposed to buy warships, but Bai Tu did not reject it directly. Instead, he talked about the hard work from the Ministry of Industry to the shipyard, and then asked him to talk to the Ministry of Rites...
Just as Pang Tong said, the encryption of wooden sailing warships was poor, and once they were bought, they would be quickly dismantled and deciphered.
However, the "steel Qi battleship", which far exceeds the wooden sailing warship in terms of both encryption and performance and has higher requirements for industrial level, is about to be successfully developed.
To be precise, the "mechanical science" part, from the shape of the ship to the smallest screw, has been designed, and the power part has also been reserved for interfaces. The only thing missing is a true qi machine that can meet the power output efficiency and energy storage requirements...
Once the Qi ship is launched, the wooden sailing warship can be put to rest!
Of course, if Wei State wants it, it is not impossible, but... not only the price needs to be negotiated, but Bai Tu will sell all the ships that are about to be eliminated to him at one time.
This is also one of the reasons why Bai Tu emphasized the "Divine Turtle" before, hinting to Liu Ye - I know you want to decipher the technology, but don't even think about spending just one ship...
First go to the Ministry of Rites to discuss whether the transaction can be completed, and then go to the Ministry of Revenue to discuss how to complete the transaction?
Faced with this familiar routine, Liu Ye's heart skipped a beat - the previous "Chu Jia" had slaughtered the State of Wei badly!
"Your Majesty, Ye has something else to ask, but I don't know whether I should ask it or not." Liu Ye pondered.
"Zi Yang, you worry too much. You are a wise man, how could you not know?" Bai Tu "praised".
Liu Ye: …
Liu Ye had already found that it was difficult to be polite with Bai Tu, so he asked directly: "Your Majesty, for the sake of the people of the world, agreed to open up grain and grass to foreign countries for trade. My Wei State has always hoped to be able to transport grain from Chu State on the sea."
"Yes, I did not impose any restrictions, but you have to do the transaction by yourselves... Do you think the transaction tax of 2 out of 5 is too high?" Bai Tu frowned deliberately.
"No, the transaction tax in Chu is not high, but the price of grain... is much higher than last year!" Liu Ye said resentfully.
"In fact, it is not too high. It is only one-third of the grain price in Wei State. Moreover, this is due to the increased domestic demand of the people in our Great Chu State." Bai Tu presented facts and reasoned.
Last year, even though the Chu State used official salt and other means to indirectly purchase grain, it only stabilized grain prices at the level before the Yellow Turban Rebellion. If the Chu State had not held on, the price would have fallen to a level that would have hurt the feelings of farmers.
As for the Central Plains, even in Xuzhou, which had enjoyed peace for several years, the price of grain was seven or eight times that of Chu. Moreover, these were only the prices among the common people. If one purchased in large quantities, there was no supply at all!
It is only at this time that the people of Chu remember that they are still in a time of war and chaos.
This also made smuggling grain and grass a hot business in the Chu State...
This year, the State of Chu officially began to open up its grain and fodder trade to foreign countries, but it only collected taxes - no other money or goods were collected. Instead, for every five stones of grain shipped out of the border, two stones would be directly deducted. Alternatively, taxes would be paid to the county government at the place of production, and then the tax would be taken to Shouchun, Wancheng, or other trading ports for trading.
The tax is certainly not light, but considering that this is a legitimate trading channel, in fact, for both parties, the benefits still outweigh the disadvantages.
However, this year, the whole nation has begun to be encouraged to practice martial arts. The first national version of the Five Animal Exercises, also known as "A Strong Youth Means a Strong Country", has been fully promoted, and the degree of its promotion has even been used as one of the key assessment items for local officials.
Once you start practicing, your appetite can increase two or three times, especially for teenagers of the appropriate age.
As for the enthusiasm for practicing, Chu State finally chose to start from three aspects...
The first is to use basic Qi as a soft standard for the county’s student source—without Qi, the requirements for admission and scholarship applications will be higher.
Second, after cultivating true qi, each person will enjoy a quota of 20 mu of grain tax exemption...
Third, the Ministry of Industry has established a number of new research laboratories this year, focusing on the development of "civilian Qi machines", including those for harvesting, sowing, and weaving...
It is not a large-scale seeding vehicle or harvester, but an automated, individualized handheld device that mainly directly supplies true Qi to the user!
Now there have been quite a few achievements, which are being distributed for trial use, in an effort to convince the people that the true Qi they cultivate is not just for "taxation" but can also improve their quality of life after being split 50-50 with the court each year.
In addition, for the common people, the grain in Chu State was indeed cheap enough, so many families, especially farmers, had young men who started "practicing martial arts" at home.
According to Lu Bu, when young boys eat the most, it is also the best time to practice martial arts. When they get older and eat less, their practice efficiency decreases.
The several stages when your appetite is reduced are basically the points where your martial arts training efficiency is most affected by age.
The more advanced one's kung fu is, the later this day will come - for example, Lu Bu can eat as much as he wants now and eat an entire cow a day!
Therefore, people's direct consumption of grain has increased a lot. At the same time, because the demand for meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables is also higher, more poultry and livestock are naturally needed , which further increases grain consumption. In addition, the increase in vegetable prices has also led to more fields being used to grow vegetables.
There is no need for the State of Chu to specifically raise grain prices this year, and it is completely possible to keep them stable.
At the same time, although the price of grain seemed to have increased several times, the actual impact was not significant, because it was not a famine year and every household had surplus grain. The grain that was originally "traded" was also the surplus of each household - the vast majority of families in the Chu State were still farmers.
Even if some people go to the city to work in workshops all year round, it does not affect everyone. They all have land in the countryside, and either their family members are farming it, or they will entrust others to farm it - the fine for leaving the land uncultivated is higher than the grain tax for a normal year of farming!
It just didn’t have much of an impact on the Chu State, but it was quite uncomfortable for the Central Plains and the North who were waiting for “low-priced Chu grain”…
