With the Mi family's marriage so awkward, the main reason why Yuan Xi was really worried was not Mi Zhen, but Mi Fang.
He is the only one who knows that Mi Fang is a scammer, and his brain circuit is so strange. Liu Bei's way of treating people in future generations, and even the power of three-thirds of the world, cannot keep Mi Fang's heart. Yuan Xi feels that with his current strength, he does not dare to let Mi Fang
What should I do if someone goes crazy while doing things in my own camp?
The key opponent is brother Mi Zhen, so he can't just come up and kill him with a knife, right?
Otherwise, with Mi Zhen's appearance and character, and Yuan Xi not being stupid, how could he not want her?
To put it bluntly, Yuan Xi just wants to eat for free.
Yuan Xi admitted that he was very shameless, but with his current strength, he really didn't want to plant an unstable thunder in his own camp.
The fleet docked at Haixi Pier to replenish the goods with fresh water. Yuan Xi took Zhen Mi ashore to meet Zhen Yao, the current magistrate of Haixi County.
Zhen Yao was previously sent to Youzhou as the county magistrate. Although he did his job conscientiously, he was unfamiliar with the place and could not make full use of his strengths. After Yuan Xi got Guangling some time ago, he sent a letter asking Zhen Yao to come south to Haixi.
Zhen Yao had been in charge of the Zhen family's trade route before and was much more familiar with the port. Now that he has been in office for more than a month, he has opened up the situation relying on the Zhen family's financial capabilities and connections, and is obviously much more comfortable than before.
When Yuan Xi entered the city, he saw vehicles filled with goods flowing in and out, a prosperous scene.
Inside the county magistrate's residence, Zhen Yao knelt down to Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi and said, "I'd like to see you and your wife."
Zhen Mi's eyes were red and she called out, "Brother." She was speechless.
Yuan Xi replied: "Thank you for your hard work, brother-in-law."
When Zhen Yao heard this title, he felt relieved. This shows that at least Yuan Xi still cares about the kinship of the Zhen family.
Yuan Xi was looking through the documents in Haixi City while listening to Zhen Yao talking about the situation in the city. He couldn't help but nod his head, and finally said: "As for the Zhen family trade route, if there are personnel transfers or emergencies, my brother-in-law can directly contact him.
If you keep in touch with your wife, everything will work out for you."
Zhen Yao quickly agreed.
Yuan Xi added: "Although Guangling is occupied by me, the war continues, and the further south you go, the more dangerous it will be."
"Although Guangling City is closer to the Yangtze River Estuary, it is suitable as a military town, but it is not suitable as a commercial port."
"Haixi is located to the north of Guangling. As a backup area for Guangling County, it can fully invest in the operation of sea routes."
"My idea is to build a shipyard here to build sea-going ships suitable for both commercial and combat purposes."
Zhen Yao listened and said: "This is not a problem. There are many shipbuilders here, but there are two problems. One is that it takes a long time and requires a lot of investment. The other is that after forming a fleet, where to open up trade is a problem.
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Yuan Xi asked Zhen Yao to take the chart, pointed to three places and said: "Here, here, and here."
Zhen Yao asked again: "The first place is Yizhou, the second place is said to be the island country of the Baishi Tribe Islands, and the third place is the Funan Kingdom in the south. What goods do you want to trade with them?"
Zhen Yao asked very critical questions. Yuan Xi nodded slightly and said: "There are some very interesting crops in Yizhou. We can trade with the local indigenous people and try to bring some back and try to plant them in Xuzhou and Youzhou.
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"As for the archipelago dominated by Yamatai, the main shortage is food, soy sauce and other items, which can be exchanged for precious metals and jewelry."
"Although this place is backward, the sea-ship technology is very interesting and we can find ways to exchange it."
"But remember not to leak out key technologies such as construction and smelting. We will talk about it later."
"And Funan is the most important place among the three places. I only ask for one thing to be exchanged first."
"cotton."
Yuan Xi told Zhen Yao in detail about the appearance and function of cotton, "The sooner this matter is done, the better. It is best to exchange it for the corresponding planting and processing technology."
This is what Yuan Xi values most at the moment. Compared with the kudzu, hemp, and wool used by the common people today, cotton has much greater practical value, not to mention the expensive silk that only the nobles can afford.
"Nongshu" records: "The pieces of it are made of velvet, dense, light and warm, which can be as good as silk. Compared with silkworms, there is no effort to raise them, and the harvest will be harvested. Compared with hemp, there is no need to arrest them."
Work and get the benefit of keeping out the cold."
This is an agricultural crop that can truly significantly improve living standards.
Before the emergence of cotton products, it was extremely difficult for ordinary people to survive the winter. They could only use some old broken wadding mixed with some leftover scraps from reeling silk as warm fillings, stuffed into Geyi linen clothes, also known as "犊"
, those with better conditions can wear dog skin robes, that's all.
Yuan Xi had been inquiring about cotton, but found that there were no rumors of cotton planting in the Central Plains or even Jiangdong at this time.
Although there are records in the books of the Later Han Dynasty about Hainan Island's tribute of cotton to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, cotton cultivation was always limited to South China and the south, and the development of related industries was also very slow.
It was not until the Song Dynasty that Huang Daopo learned the cotton spinning technology of the Li people and combined it with the textile technology of the Central Plains, improved the cotton spinning technology, upgraded and developed a new spinning wheel. From then on, China's cotton textile technology began to advance by leaps and bounds, and greatly promoted the
Promotion of cotton cultivation.
Technological improvement and production are complementary to each other. Textile technology cannot improve, and the income from growing cotton is low. Naturally, people are unwilling to grow cotton, but the planting volume is not large, and craftsmen have no motivation to improve related technologies.
Until now, Yuan Xi has never seen cotton anywhere he has visited. Even if he has, it may be grown on a small scale in the Shanyue Miasma area in the extreme south.
His idea was to introduce cotton seeds to the northern regions that were suitable for cultivation. The ancients sometimes even ranked clothing first. The Gein people could go hungry for several days, but without clothing in the cold season, they could not survive a day.
More importantly, cotton is so superior that it and the accompanying cotton spinning technology are the key things that can truly promote leap-forward changes in history.
As a daily necessity, cotton is very suitable for independent production by individual families. This has led to my country's self-sufficient natural economic system becoming more introverted and stable since the Ming Dynasty.
It is recorded in Xu Yikui's "The Weaver's Couple" of the Ming Dynasty: "The servants in the town are all homeless people from all over, no less than tens of thousands of them every day. They are all pale and expressionless. Although the food is not sweet, it is not very good.
Hungry and cold".
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China's annual output of cotton cloth was approximately 600 million pieces, six times that of the early British industrial revolution. The socio-economic structure also changed accordingly, and even led to the emergence of capitalism.
Moreover, cotton not only has huge economic value, but also has great potential strategic value.
The land outside the Northeast Pass is vast and fertile, but it was difficult for the Central Plains dynasties before the Ming Dynasty to establish a stable and long-term rule in the area north of the Liaodong Peninsula.
It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that with the development of the cotton textile industry, the population carrying capacity of the Northeast began to increase significantly, which was closely related to the popularity of cotton.
Therefore, although Yuan Xi was appointed governor of Youzhou at that time, the princes in the world did not take it seriously. This is because the food, clothing, housing and transportation in Youzhou are extremely difficult to reach the level of the Central Plains and even Jiangnan areas, resulting in a population that cannot increase.
But Yuan Xi found two keys to open the door to Youzhou based on the knowledge of later generations.
The first is to build water conservancy projects and plant rice extensively to ensure sufficient food.
The second is to cultivate cotton, develop textiles, and achieve abundant clothing.
Once both are available, it can drive business development, and the cotton cloth produced by textiles is a good product, which can lead to the prosperity of the Northland.
That's why Yuan Xicai wanted to occupy the bridgehead of Guangling County at all costs in order to go to sea to find a port for cotton seeds. This was an important part of his plan.
Now step by step, link by link, he has finally reached this step in a down-to-earth manner.
At this time, he said to Zhen Yao with a solemn expression: "The cotton issue is the most important issue among the three places. It is related to the next ten years and a hundred years of planning."
"I hope that my brother-in-law will bring back cotton seeds at all costs. If the expenses are insufficient during this period, I will use all the financial resources of Youzhou to help my brother-in-law, just to achieve this."
Seeing Yuan Xi's solemn words, Zhen Yao quickly leaned over and said: "Yao will go all out to live up to the entrustment entrusted to you!"
Cotton was of great importance, so Yuan Xi put Zhen Yao, his confidant, at the Haixi port and came over personally to give instructions, just because he didn't want anything to go wrong.
Now that he saw that Zhen Yao understood the importance of the matter, he felt relieved and said to Zhen Mi: "It's been a long time since I last saw you brother and sister. Let's catch up on old times first. I'll go to the city for a walk."
Zhen Mi heard this and said, "Husband, you want to meet an acquaintance in the city?"
"Don't you need my concubine to accompany you?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "I heard that Kong Beihai has been staying in Haixi and is planning to leave for Sili to meet the emperor in the near future. I want to have something to say to him personally, so I don't need my wife to accompany me."
After hearing this, Zhen Yao hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is a step too late. Kong Beihai has already left with his family."
"What!" Yuan Xi was shocked: "Why is he walking so fast?"
"Isn't he going to marry his daughter to the Taiyang family?"
"The wedding was held in such a hurry. In less than a month, Kong Beihai married off his daughter in a hurry?"
He suddenly remembered the scene when he and Kong Rong's daughter parted, and suddenly felt something strange in his heart.
Zhen Yao looked at Yuan Xi with a strange expression: "Don't you know?"
"The marriage between the Kong family and the Yang family fell through."
"Kong Beihai's family took a boat and went west along the Huaihe River half a month ago."
Yuan Xi was even more surprised when he heard this. He and Zhen Mi looked at each other, and a thought came to his mind, could this matter be related to him?
Zhen Yao thought for a while and said: "This matter caused a big fuss. It is said that Mr. Yuanhua went to the Kong family with the Yang clan, and then the two families broke off the engagement."
"As for the inside story, both families keep it secret."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi rolled her eyes: "Didn't your husband do something bad?"
Yuan Xi called out to Qu: "How is that possible? Am I that kind of person?"
"No, I have to go find Mr. Yuanhua and ask."
Zhen Yao saw Yuan Xi going out in a hurry, and thought to herself that Yuan Xi didn't care that the little sister and the envoy were talking like this. It seemed that the two of them had a good relationship. Otherwise, in an ordinary family, how could a lady question her husband like this?
However, husband and wife are husband and wife, and their favor will change over time. Especially for people like Yuan Xi, there is no shortage of noble women around him, and they are all of very high status. My little sister still doesn't quite understand.
Thinking of this, Zhen Yao whispered to Zhen Mi: "Although I am no longer the eldest brother, I still want to give my little sister some advice."
"People's preferences will change, but as the head wife, I have to consider the issue of heirs as soon as possible."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi blushed and nodded slightly.