"Freshly sheared spring white wool costs 30 cents per pound, 25 cents per pound, and 20 cents per pound."
"A fur collar costs 400 coins for the top, 350 coins for the second, and 300 coins for the next."
"One foot of purple ripe cotton silk has 66 lines on the top, 65 lines on the bottom, and 64 lines on the bottom."
There is a poem that says, "In May, there is snow in the Tianshan Mountains, but there are no flowers, only cold." This is true in May, let alone April.
But in Yinzhou, where Tianshan Nanlu is located, spring has already begun, and the first wave of grain has been harvested and stored in storage. In fact, the climate throughout Xinjiang is diverse and cannot be generalized. During the Lantern Festival, northern Xinjiang experienced heavy snowfalls.
Turpan and Hami are already ready for spring sowing.
Yinzhou is Hami, and it is also located in an independent geographical unit: the Hami Basin.
In a sense, this is an individual version of the Turpan Basin.
The terrain is also high in the north and low in the south. There is also a central depression, Lake Shaer, and wells and canals have been built to irrigate farmland.
But since ancient times, the population of Hami has been smaller than that of Turpan, and the reasons are very complicated. It is not only related to terrain and climate, but also related to politics and history. It is difficult to explain clearly——
In history, in the fourth year of Qianlong's reign, after a large number of immigrants, there were only 9,600 people, which was not as good as during the Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties.
By the 26th year of Qianlong's reign, the number had increased to more than 12,000.
In the middle period of Daoguang, there were nearly 20,000 people.
At the beginning of Xuantong, it fell back to 13,000.
Of course, Eastern Xinjiang and Northern Xinjiang were relatively good, but Southern Xinjiang was even more helpless. Because the Qing government implemented a strict "Han-Hui isolation" policy and prohibited people from the mainland from migrating to Southern Xinjiang, the local area was full of "Uighurs", which later became the
The Aquba Rebellion planted the seeds of cause and effect.
…
On the first day of April, Zhao Zaiqing came to Yinzhou.
He did not celebrate the New Year at home this year, and he was very "enterprising". At the end of the first year, he gathered together the wives he hired in Dunhuang, took more than 2,000 camels, and a large number of military equipment, and headed towards Gaochang.
The reason behind such desperate efforts is heart-warming: Zhao Zaiqing was eager to find the saint to congratulate him.
"A poor place." The old man of the caravan was okay. When the newcomer saw the shabby earth city and the narrow streets filled with the smell of sheep dung, he was immediately disgusted and joked: "I'm afraid it's not the same as the earth city on the grassland.
Not much different.”
"Why are there so many weird things?" An old man slapped him on the ear and neck, and then said mysteriously: "There is a prostitute who sells her goods next to the sheepfold with a half-hidden door. She is full of filthy odor. Are you going to go?"
The newcomer's eyes lit up and he said: "Go! Why don't you go! What you want is this smell! Hu Ji, I haven't played it yet."
"That's right." The old man smiled and said, "It's just a place to rest and have fun. How can it be so particular?"
The caravan stayed here for two days. Zhao Zaiqing gave others a day off and let them have fun on their own. He went to visit the governor's house and brought many goods to the consort Zhao Feng that could only be purchased in Luoyang and Chang'an.
"The saint will probably not leave for Yinzhou until next month." Zhao Feng immediately made a pot of tea with his own hands. After a few sips, his face was full of intoxication. After a while, he opened his eyes and said.
"Why next month?" Zhao Zaiqing asked.
"You shouldn't ask this, but it's okay to tell you." Zhao Feng said: "It's very simple. When the snow in Tianshan Mountain melts, summon the Beiting generals to deploy combat missions. After that, they will return east. Even, he
The old man may stay in Gaochang for a while to see if the plowing goes smoothly this year."
"That's it." Zhao Zaiqing murmured.
"What? The money is not enough? Didn't I give you a batch of goods?" Zhao Feng asked.
He should be referring to the fact that the sage sent a batch of Yunnan goods at a low price to the four big tycoons Zhao, Kang, Tuoba, and Zhuge. It was considered a disguised subsidy.
"That batch of goods made a lot of money." Zhao Zaiqing said with a wry smile: "But the family has a big business, and the expenses are also big. Among other things, my family is in Ling, Liang, Gan, Su, Gua, Sha, Yin, Xibazhou
Each warehouse is set up to transport grain, equipment, and military supplies, and more than thousands of people are employed. Although the court pays for freight, how can that little money be enough? "
"It's boring to say that." Zhao Feng said with a smile: "Everywhere you go, you sell goods in a big way, and you make a lot of money, right? For example, in the city, one foot of purple-ripened cotton silk sells for more than 60 yuan.
, is it what you sold? There are also Feishu Mianling, Yizhou half-arm section, Feigao cloth section, etc. Oh, by the way, you will probably not be empty-handed when you return, right? You have traveled thousands of miles.
When you come here, will you bring some goods from the Western Regions? Shipping them to the Central Plains will be extremely expensive."
Zhao Feng was not exaggerating at all.
It's just ordinary people in Yinzhou. Those who have a little money and want to live a different life have to ask these businessmen to buy things, such as those silks and satins.
After hearing this, Zhao Zaiqing's expression did not change at all, and he continued to complain: "The Western Regions are in such a terrible state, how can we get so many goods? Moreover, many goods come from Persia, Dashe and even Tianzhu. But today there are still a lot of goods from Zhu.
Yes, in Persia, the food supply is intermittent, which is greatly affected. Moreover, the people selling the goods have changed from Persians and Sogdians to Uighurs (Khazar Uighurs). With one more hand, the profit will be smaller."
"What you said is indeed true." Zhao Feng nodded and said: "Don't worry, I heard that the saint has obtained a lot of female slaves and wants to sell a batch to the four of you at a low price. Don't crowd them together in Luoyang and go south.
, take a boat to Yangzhou, Suzhou, Runzhou, and Hangzhou, where there are many wealthy people doing business, and you may be able to sell them at a good price."
Zhao Zaiqing was overjoyed, but still looked a little sad.
Zhao Feng glanced at him and said, "Stop hiding it, tell me, what's the matter?"
"Is there any wasteland that is convenient for you to use?" Zhao Zaiqing asked.
"There must be some, but why do you ask?" Zhao Fengqi said.
"Last year, the saint conquered Shule and obtained all kinds of treasures from the palace. He sold them to merchants and asked them to deliver the grain." Zhao Zaiqing said: "Some people thought that it was not cost-effective to transport grain over long distances, so they convened a group of township parties and went to Gu.
Mozhou secretly found a land and grew his own grain. After harvesting, he transported it to Shule and sold it to the court, making a huge profit."
"This..." Zhao Feng was a little surprised when he heard this. How could he still play like this?
In fact, during the Western Expedition of the Qing Dynasty, many merchants did this.
In the beginning, they also transported food over long distances, but they didn't expect this.
But one day, a "little clever guy" suddenly figured out that all the court wanted was food. I transported food thousands of miles from Lanzhou, and the cost was high. Instead of doing this, it was better to go to the west and find a place to hire some workers.
People grew grain and reaped huge profits - in fact, it wasn't just businessmen who grew grain. Zuo Zongtang also encouraged soldiers to find places to grow grain and buy all the proceeds at market price.
Of course, this situation can only exist if the court uses real money and silver to buy grain. If they want to have free prostitution, then it's no use.
The Qing Dynasty's Western Expedition was quite special. The imperial court's own transportation capacity was mainly used to transport military supplies.
Due to the extensive use of firearms, logistics and transportation tasks have increased dramatically, far beyond what was possible in the cold weapon era.
During the Napoleonic period in the West, 4,500 four-wheeled carriages were prepared to provide logistical supplies to an army, of which 2,500 were used to transport ammunition, which is evident from this.
But in the era of cold weapons, consumption was much smaller. Besides food, the largest consumable was lost arrows, but most of the lost arrows could be reused and carried by individual soldiers.
Gao Xianzhi was able to bring an army of 70,000 people back and forth between Qiuci and Talas freely, but the firearms force was not that simple. This was also an important reason why Qianlong's Western Expedition exhausted the treasury - if he still wanted to buy food from merchants for free
, then let’s just stop fighting.
"Not in Yinzhou. Although there are still wastelands, they are all owned." After thinking for a while, Zhao Feng said: "If you find it troublesome to transport food and want to grow food in the west, I think you can go to Beiting."
"Beiting?" Zhao Zaiqing was a little surprised and asked, "Are they going to fight there too? On my way to Yinzhou, I saw that all the soldiers from Anton and Fengzhou had gone home."
"The government soldiers have left, but Fu Cunchen, Wang Yanzhang, Zhu Jin and others have not left." Zhao Feng said: "Liaodong will recruit 3,000 government soldiers this year to go west and join the Beiting camp, under the command of Fu Cunchen. After June
, they will definitely make big moves."
"Then let's go to Beiting." Zhao Zaiqing decided and said.
Zhao Feng was thoughtful.
In fact, the imperial court's purchase of grain from merchants was only temporary. After capturing Gaochang and Shule, they sold the robbed palaces, officials, and wealthy households' properties, and then robbed Bakhna and made another windfall. But windfall is windfall after all.
, it is not a steady stream of income. After consumption is completed, naturally you will not buy again.
But this matter—it’s actually very exciting!
Zhao Feng's mind was racing at high speed. Wouldn't it be better if the imperial court used part of the money to pay the merchants in Luoyang and let them bring all the necessary supplies to farm in the Western Regions?
Although the food grown in this way is very expensive, it is still cheaper than foolishly transporting food from Lingzhou, Liangzhou, and Lanzhou, right? It's so damn cheap, isn't it?
Of course, the cheapest one is the military camp, but this matter...
The second cheapest option is to immigrate to reclaim wasteland and then collect taxes. However, in the early stage of immigration, the expenditure on food and other materials will increase sharply.
Therefore, hiring merchants to grow grain can still make a profit for several years.
The more Zhao Feng thought about it, the clearer his ideas became.
It is a fact that warriors do not want to farm. So are there people who love money who are willing to grow grain and sell it? You must know that the enthusiasm of military camps is very low and the output is not high. It is completely different from volunteering.
Now is not the time to worry about expenses, because everything is cheaper than transporting grain thousands of miles, and much lower.
This year is the first year of Tongguang, and the people of Helong will suffer for the third year. After three years, they will definitely be a little tired and need to slow down. If the saint still wants to immigrate on a large scale, he must have new methods and new ways.
Thinking of this, Zhao Feng has decided to sort out his thoughts and report them to the saint, maybe he can win the holy scroll.
******
After Zhao Zaiqing left Zhou Yamen, he quickly left the city.
He noticed that there were many people near the base of the city wall, and they were dusty, but there were not yet when he entered the city.
Upon further inquiry, it turned out that they were new immigrants from Henan and Hebei: two hundred households each from Zhenzhou, Weizhou, Bianzhou, and Songzhou. They were waiting for the state government to distribute them to various counties to settle and reclaim wasteland.
He heard Zhao Feng mention that Yinzhou was sparsely populated, and a group of Bukhan craftsmen, craftsmen from the Central Plains, and families of Huainan rebels had just arrived. The total number of households was only 2,300, with a population of more than 11,700 - the household registration of the pre-Tang Dynasty had just been restored.
After returning to the inn, the remaining caravan members were also discussing the matter.
"The scale of immigration is pitifully small. It's not like the large-scale opening-up and opening-up in Liaodong."
"To be honest, given Yinzhou's conditions, it can only feed a few hundred households, not more."
"Haha, it's a poor place, that's what it is."
"Speaking of which, the saint has been fighting against Liaodong these years, almost twenty years, right?"
"If you don't tell me, you still can't remember, is it really twenty years? Alas, twenty years ago I was still peeing and playing in the mud."
Zhao Zaiqing was a little startled when he heard this.
Spending twenty years and persevering in one place, the saint is really dedicated to Liaodong.
Based on Zhao Zaiqing's knowledge, he felt that no one in Liaodong could afford to make waves.
The Khitans can’t do it, the Bohai people can’t do it, and the Jurchens can’t do it either!
Guarded by so many arrogant and capable generals who don’t need to spend any money from the imperial court, in a few decades it will be like the Central Plains outside the Pass.
To be disrespectful, by the end of the Xia Dynasty, there should be no barbarians entering the Pass from Liaodong. Even if there were, they should be Han troops living in a bitter cold land and still maintaining a certain fighting capacity - entering the Pass to suppress the "rebels"
.
The understanding of traditional Han Dynasty should be updated.
And since Liaodong does not require the court to invest a lot of money, what about the Western Regions? Will it be a new generation of Liaodong?
The methods should be a little different, but judging from the saint's dedication to the border areas, they should be essentially the same.
Some people are well versed in the past and think they are omniscient and omnipotent. When they mention the arrangement of the sage in Liaodong, they are very disdainful and think it is a huge defeat. The wise kings of all dynasties would never do it - it is not that they cannot do it, but they are unwilling to do it.
Their core argument is that the government soldiers should be kept under their noses, because once the control of the imperial court declines and its majesty is lost, this will be the source of disaster.
But Zhao Zaiqing felt that the saint's mind was bigger than theirs. Wouldn't it be a waste of time if he didn't hear that "a gentleman's glory will be cut off after five generations"?
During the Pre-Tang Dynasty, there was never any active forced large-scale immigration to the Western Regions. They either distributed criminals or recruited sergeants and their families, which were all passive actions.
Is it because the national strength is insufficient? Of course not. The Luoyang Mingtang built by Empress Wu was enough to accommodate 100,000 households in the Western Regions.
To put it bluntly, they still don't pay attention to it and subconsciously feel that the place can be abandoned.
On the contrary, after the Western Turks were defeated, the remaining 70,000 people of Husseluo Khan immigrated from the Western Regions to the Central Plains. Empress Wu ordered the states and counties along the way to pay for their expenses...
The Western Region should be the next Liaodong, and all kinds of business can still be done.
Two days later, on the third day of April, Zhao Zaiqing took the supplied team westward and arrived in Gaochang in early May.