There are large and large ponds near Qujiang Pond, and these lands are basically Du family's land.

As the Jingzhao clan that is on par with the Wei family, the Du family's influence in Chang'an City is quite large.

If Du Ruhui, the man in charge, had not died of illness earlier, the Du family today could even surpass the Wei family.

Not to mention how awesome Du Ruhui is, his great ancestor Du Xiu was a general of the Northern Wei Dynasty; his great-grandfather Du Jiao was the Northern Zhou Yitong Third Division and the prefect of Wudu; his grandfather Du Hui was the governor of Huai in the Sui Dynasty and the Marquis of Fengxiang County; his father

Du Zha, the governor of Changchang in the Sui Dynasty, the governor of Xiangzhou, and various uncles and brothers, all of them were not economical.

It can be said that the reason why Du Ruhui looks so good is of course his own talent and ability, but his family background is also an important reason.

However, it is a pity that the next generation is not very impressive. Both Du Gou and Du He have mediocre talents.

"Brother, the fish in the pond have started to be sold this year, and they are selling very well."

Du Gou came back from outside excitedly.

Ever since it became popular in Chang'an City last year to eat chilled fish transported from Dengzhou, the nobles of Chang'an City have greatly increased their preference for fish products.

Du He, who has been in various wine shops all year round, is quite familiar with this situation. He showed a rare wisdom and allowed the family to vigorously expand the variety of fish cultivated in the pond.

Now, it is time to enjoy the joy.

"Really? As long as it's easy to sell, I'm worried that if I dig so many ponds in one go, I'll be in trouble if I can't sell them."

Du Gou breathed a sigh of relief. In the past two years, the Du family's income situation was not optimistic, especially when they first suffered a huge loss in hoarding fine steel. It took a while to recover.

The income has not increased, but the expenses have not decreased. Naturally, one can imagine the pressure on Du Gou, the family patriarch.

"Brother, my pond is the closest to Chang'an City. Even if other people raise fish and transport them to Chang'an City for sale, a large number of people will die. There is a big gap between the prices of live fish and dead fish.

Big, which rich family would buy a dead fish?"

Du He was secretly happy for his original decision, feeling that he could finally hold his head high in the family and be a good man again.

"That's good. Nowadays, live fish are becoming more and more popular in Chang'an City. Relying on these ponds, our Du family will have a stable income in the future."

"Yes, in my opinion, we can recruit more helpers now, re-excavate some paddy fields around the pond, expand the area of ​​the pond, and raise more fish next year."

Du Gou was not satisfied with the current situation and felt that he should strike while the iron was hot and make fish farming a pillar industry of the Du family.

Du He was relatively conservative by nature, but there was nothing wrong with Du Gou's suggestion, so he agreed to his plan.

…

Autumn is a harvest season.

The tens of thousands acres of rice in the Chu Palace once again attracted countless eyes.

Although the previous rice harvests have given interested people a new understanding of rice seeds from Southeast Asia, after all, it is only a few hundred acres, and many people will think that it is just the result of intensive farming.

But if tens of thousands of acres of rice produce high yields, it cannot be explained by simple intensive farming.

"Your Majesty, the price of rice in the West Market has increased by 10% in the past few days."

Food security is related to social stability.

No matter what time it is, having a full stomach is the most important thing.

Therefore, the price of rice in the West Market only increased by 10%, and Li Zhong specifically told Li Shimin.

"Huh? Didn't Kuan'er plant tens of thousands of acres of rice and there will be a bumper harvest soon? Logically speaking, shouldn't the price of rice in Chang'an City drop?"

Li Shimin is a little confused about the current situation.

The weather is good today, and granaries are being expanded all over the Tang Dynasty.

Why did the price of rice rise?

"Your Majesty, just because tens of thousands of acres of rice have been planted in the palace of His Highness the King of Chu, the people of Chang'an City have paid much more attention to rice than in previous years. In the past, except for people from Jiangnan Province who liked to eat rice, the people from the east and west cities

Basically all the rice is sold to them.

But now many people who didn't eat rice like to buy a few kilograms to take home and taste it. How much is yours and how much is mine, the demand is great, and the rice in Chang'an City basically comes from along the Grand Canal.

Shipping from Jiangnan, this year’s transportation volume is similar to previous years, but the demand has increased, so the price has increased.”

Li Zhong knew that Li Shimin was very concerned about changes in food prices, so he did a good job.

"Is there such a thing as this?"

Li Shimin felt a little speechless.

When did the influence of the Chu Palace become so great?

"It is indeed true. I have confirmed it beforehand. Most of the people buying rice are ordinary people. There is no hoarding by any noble family."

Hoarding food must be effective only in times of war or famine. In this day and age, no noble noble would be foolish enough to commit this taboo.

You won't make much money, but you will get a lot of sex.

The noble family is not stupid!

"Forget it, let's forget about it for now. The rice in Prince Chu's Mansion should be harvested in a few days. You should send people to keep an eye on it to see if the yield is really that high. If it is still the case, I really need to start thinking about lenient treatment."

It’s the further development of Jiangnan Road and Shannan Road that I proposed.”

…

Shi Yang is very happy recently.

The rice in the fields will be harvested soon. Although I don’t know what the final yield will be, it looks definitely not bad.

What surprised him even more was that the grass carp and carp that looked like those in the rice fields were now growing very well and could be caught and sold.

If the rice hadn't been harvested yet and everyone wanted the fish to grow more meat and sell more for more money, they would have caught them and sold them long ago.

"Lao Shi, the Prince of Chu's Mansion has sent someone to inform you that the rice can be harvested starting tomorrow. Once the straw is cut, the fish can be raised for another ten and a half days at most. If it is not sold by then, it will probably be gone.

Lost weight."

Shi Fu is also happy now and has a headache.

"When these fish were released as fry, Manager Wang of the Chu Palace made it very clear that half of the output belongs to the palace. The one who should worry about how to sell the fish the most should be Manager Wang, right?"

Shi Yang is obviously more open-minded than his neighbors.

When Li Kuan initially requested the promotion of a symbiotic planting model of rice and fish, few tenants sincerely supported it.

That is to say, Li Kuan said that he would reduce the rent by half to offset the losses of digging fish ditches and fish pits, and all the fish fry would be provided by the Chu Palace, which made the tenants respond seriously.

Of course, the price is that half of all the fish produced belong to the Chu Palace.

This ratio is much higher than the ratio of land rent.

"The Prince of Chu's family has a great business. Even if these fish cannot be sold, they will still lose money."

"That being said, what I'm worried about is not that I can't sell it. There are more than a thousand fish fry on this acre of land, and I estimate that there are a thousand fish that survive. I have to transport so many fish alive to Chang'an City for sale.

, this is the trouble.”

Although Shi Yang doesn't go to the West Market a few times a year, he does have some knowledge of the fish prices in the West Market.

Normal live grass carp can be sold for five cents per pound, so there is no problem at all.

During festivals and festivals, there are people who sell them for sixty or seven cents.

But if these fish die, the price will have to fall by almost half before anyone will buy it.

Therefore, I heard that around the fish stalls in the West Market, there are often people waiting for the fish in the fish seller's barrel to die so that they can buy it at a low price.

The taste of this kind of fish that has been seen dead is no different from that of fresh fish, but the price is quite different.

"That's right. I'm going to get some information and see if other people have any good ideas."

…

In the carriage workshop of the Workshop City, the carpenters are currently busy making a new instrument.

"Miss Wu, I just tried it myself. This wheelbarrow is really fast. The structure is very simple. Even with the addition of this big wooden barrel and gas transmission mechanism, the cost does not exceed one hundred cents. For many people,

, couldn’t be more practical.”

Wu Meiniang was in charge of the four-wheeled carriage workshop, and the wheelbarrow was a task specially arranged by Li Kuan, so she was naturally very concerned about it.

"How many have been made?"

The rice harvest will begin tomorrow, and at the same time, the fish from the rice fields will also begin to be transported to the city for sale.

This involves the sale of grass carp and carp in the fields of hundreds of tenant farmers, and it also affects whether everyone is willing to continue raising fish in this way in the future.

Wu Meiniang was also worried that she would mess up the task assigned to her by Li Kuan.

"More than a hundred unicycles have been made now. This unicycle is not difficult to make, but the gas transmission mechanism is a little more troublesome. Even so, we can complete the production of 300 unicycles tomorrow, and two more the day after tomorrow.

Hundreds of frames.”

"It's been made today. I'll arrange for it to be transported to another courtyard later. Your Majesty may need it tomorrow."

Wu Meiniang knew that Li Kuan attached great importance to this time's rice harvest and straw fish catching. These specially-made wheelbarrows equipped with large buckets were used to transport live fish to Chang'an City. But when the fish were caught, there was nothing.

Transportation would be embarrassing.

"Don't worry, Miss Wu, these more than a hundred wheelbarrows will definitely appear in the courtyard of Prince Chu's Mansion before dark."
To be continued...