A walk in the market today allowed Liu Xin to see that the Western Regions had an urgent need for goods from the Han Dynasty. He must seize this opportunity and let the countries in the Western Regions see that restarting trade routes can bring them huge benefits. Therefore, Liu Xin asked Jia Xu to write a letter to Jushou, informing him that he did not have to wait for the reconstruction of the Western Region Protectorate to organize a caravan, and at the same time canceled the order that silk and white porcelain could only be sold exclusively by the government.
Because silk was exported to the West through the private sector in the past, Liu Xin had decided to give up the wrong practice of competing with the people for profit. Not only that, he also planned to further benefit the people. In the letter, he ordered the research institute to transfer some porcelain-firing technologies to the Selectively teach it to ordinary people who are interested, so that these people can bake some low-end porcelain products. In this way, the porcelain produced by the institute is equivalent to the official kilns of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, while the porcelain produced by ordinary people can be It is a folk kiln.
In the shop in Tuburo today, Liu Xin discovered that there is still a market for various low-priced ceramic utensils in the city of Goni, and in many aspects, porcelain is definitely more practical than pottery. The official kiln whiteware produced by the institute Although porcelain is exquisite, the cost is relatively high, and it is impossible to produce in large quantities, so we can only take the high-end route. If the technology of firing porcelain is spread to the people, it will be equivalent to opening many new kilns in various places, and the output will be natural It can also be multiplied. Of course, the products of private kilns cannot be as perfect as the products of official kilns, but they are low-priced and practical, and can fully meet the daily needs of ordinary people. This will become another fist of the caravan. product.
Although restrictions on the private business of silk and porcelain were relaxed, Liu Xin listed some core technologies in the letter and asked Jushou to clearly order local governments to take back control, and no one could leak these technologies. These core technologies not only involved From porcelain making, paper making, printing, it is also closely related to the production of silk and tea.
Liu Xin clearly remembered that in later generations, the leak of rice paper was often mentioned as a classic case, but in his memory, there was another incident that also impressed him, and that incident was related to silk.[
Legend has it that a long time ago, only the Han people knew how to raise silkworms and reel silk. Therefore, throughout the dynasties, silk has always been the flagship product of the Han people in East-West trade. However, some countries in the West do not just buy silk fabrics, sometimes they also buy They produced a large amount of raw silk and then weaved it themselves. One country even regarded this as the pillar industry of its own country. Later, due to the intermittent Silk Road, they could not obtain enough raw silk and had a lot of weaving work to do, and gradually fell into poverty. In the end, the king of this country had no choice but to send people to go to the East through all the hardships, secretly learned the methods of raising silkworms and reeling silk, and brought back silkworm seeds. From then on, although silk was still the most popular thing in the East, The main trading commodity, but the price can no longer be as strong as before. Liu Xin can no longer remember which country this story took place in, but he cannot forget the profound lesson.
The same thing happened to tea production later. The British used missionaries to steal tea planting and processing technology from China, breaking China's monopoly on tea production in one fell swoop and creating their own tea brand.
Liu Xin is not an internationalist warrior. As long as he can learn foreign technology, he wants to learn it. Just like the farm tools, weapons, and armor that people saw in Tuburo's shop, he will take them all back and use them. Do some research. As for the technology mastered by the Chinese, even if it is only a very important thing, he will keep it as tight as a treasure and will never let foreigners steal it.
Technologies such as porcelain firing, paper making, and printing are relatively easy to keep secret, as long as those workshops and skilled craftsmen are controlled. What is more difficult is how to keep the secrets of planting mulberry, raising silkworms, and cultivating tea trees. However, these issues do not require Liu Xin personally considered it and assigned this task to Jushou in a letter, asking Jushou to formulate strict laws and try to solve it.
When Jia Xu wrote the letter, Liu Xin was not idle. He also wrote a letter to Ma Yun himself. In the letter to Ma Yun, Liu Xin of course had to express his feelings of missing him. Such a letter Naturally, it was inconvenient to ask Jia Xu to do it for him, so Liu Xin had to do it himself. Fortunately, he had practiced calligraphy with Cai Yong for many hours, and his calligraphy was passable. Although Liu Xin could easily understand classical Chinese, he could not write it himself. This letter The letter had to be written in modern vernacular. However, Liu Xin was not worried about other people seeing the letter, because he wrote it in simplified Chinese, and even if others saw it, they would not know what the words meant.
Liu Xin wrote this letter specifically to Ma Yun, of course not just to tell her that she missed her. Liu Xin also had more important things to ask Ma Yun, that is, about the situation in ancient Rome. Although Liu Xin herself He didn't know the situation in Rome at this time, but he believed that Ma Yun must know.
Although the Han Dynasty and Rome are thousands of miles apart, with the level of transportation in this era, except for occasionally sending caravans and missions to each other, no matter how you look at it, there is no interaction between the two countries. So far, the so-called Great Qin Empire seems to be very friendly towards the Han Dynasty in the East. But Liu Xin is a very cautious person. It is not a bad thing to know more about the situation in Rome, not to mention knowing more clearly, for the upcoming sent Missions also have benefits.
In addition to asking about the situation in ancient Rome, Liu Xin also asked Ma Yun if it was possible to open a Han bank in the Western Regions. Of course, Liu Xin also briefly introduced the situation in the Western Regions, including the rampant horse bandits. Broken city walls, weak local army.
After writing these two letters, Liu Xin breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Wen He, it's still early. How about you and I going to the market for a walk?"
Of course Jia Xu didn't have any objections and responded repeatedly: "I obey the order."
In fact, some time ago, Jia Xu had traveled to various countries in the Western Regions, but he only visited the princes and ministers of each country, and did not pay attention to the lives of these ordinary people, let alone go deep into the streets. Liu Xin's approach to understanding the situation today was very It was an eye-opener for him, and Liu Xin immediately made highly targeted adjustments to his original strategies. His ability to deal with problems was evident, which impressed Jia Xu very much. He also learned a lot from it, so Jia Xu Xu is now willing to follow Liu Xin on another trip.
The human market is to the west of Tublo's shop, while the military camp is to the east of Wuni City. Liu Xin and Jia Xu went to the human market and inevitably passed Tublo's shop again. They saw that the shop that was empty just now was now empty. There is a lot of traffic and excitement.
Liu Xin couldn't help but stop and watch, and saw the pair of exquisite plum vases he used for advertising placed in the center of the store, surrounded by a circle of stools. Everyone entering and leaving the store saw this pair of plum vases. The vases were all admired. Very few people came out of the shop empty-handed. They were either holding large pieces of silk or carefully holding a few pieces of porcelain. The lazy waiters just now all looked like this. I was as excited as if I had been given chicken blood.
Tublo was grinning from ear to ear. If the business continues to be booming, he will be able to pay back all the money he owes Liu Xin in less than a day. People who do business are always very sharp, and Tublo is thinking When he could pay off the debt, he saw Liu Xin standing across the street, hurriedly ran out, and saluted: "Master Liu, don't worry, the weapons and armor have been packed, and they are only waiting for your people." Come here and take me away. Do you want to sit in the store again?"
Just after Liu Xin and the others left, Tublo quickly sent a man to the palace to inquire about the situation of the Han army that entered the city yesterday. In this city of Muni, as long as you have money, there is nothing that cannot be done. .A string of copper coins was handed over to the palace guards, and several guards poured out everything they knew about the situation. Now that they knew Liu Xin's true identity, Tublo became particularly enthusiastic.
But Liu Xin waved her hand and said: "I won't sit down anymore. Liu wants to go to the market. He passed by here and took a look. But Tublo, your business is very good."
Tublo chuckled and said, "That's not all thanks to you, Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu is going to the market, so why don't you go with me?"
A shrewd businessman would naturally not let go of any opportunity to get close to a big shot like Liu Xin. Tublo naturally made a request to accompany Liu Xin to the market.
Of course, Liu Xin would like to have a local as a guide. However, looking at the busy scene in Tuburo's shop, Liu Xin hesitated and said: "If you leave, then who will not take care of the business in your shop?" [
Tublo said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, sir. Those guys are very skilled, and I bought these guys from the market. With them watching, there won't be anything wrong."
It turns out that these guys in Tubulo's shop are not his employees, but his slaves. In fact, whether it is the countries of the Western Regions or Dawan and Wusun who claim to break away from the Western Regions, as well as Shendu, Gui Countries like these are still in slave societies. Not only do slaves have no status at all, but they are also strictly registered in the government. If they betray their masters, there is no other outcome except death, even becoming a horse bandit. No one would want it. Since these guys are slaves and everything they own belongs to Tublo, there is no need for them to line their own pockets. Tublo can naturally trust them to manage the store.
Although Liu Xin didn't quite understand the meaning behind this, she was very satisfied with Tublo's enthusiasm, so she nodded and said, "Since you have this intention, Liu will not say goodbye anymore, so please Lead the way."