Chapter 1017 Gold flowing in the fields

Chapter 1017 Gold flowing in the fields

As a famous figure in the Southern Dynasty, Liu Zhongli was captured and became notorious in Handong, Sui and Lu after being publicly criticized by Li Tai. However, he was still treated with a certain degree of courtesy after entering the court of the Western Wei Dynasty.

After all, Liu Zhongli had been famous for a long time. Wang Sengbian, Chen Baxian and others were all his juniors, and even Heba Sheng had suffered a setback when fighting with him, so he was also quite well-known in Guanzhong.

At that time, Yuwen Tai did not directly use Liu Zhongli, but Yuwen Hu summoned him to his command, and when he was in charge of Hedong later, he also relied on Liu Zhongli. Liu Min had complained to Li Tai before that Liu Zhongli had been domineering in Hedong Township by relying on Yuwen Hu's momentum.

However, in Liu Zhongli's narration, there was a different version. According to his own account, when he was recruited by Yuwen Hu and served in Hedong, he was hated and slandered by the villagers for promoting his political orders and suppressing local illegal tyrants, so he did not settle down in his hometown afterwards, but followed Yuwen Hu back to Guanzhong.

According to Li Tai's understanding of the nature of both parties, he felt that what both parties said was probably true, but at the same time, there must be some water in each of them, and it was not the whole truth. However, he was too lazy to pursue it, but was more curious about why Liu Zhongli settled in Xihe County.

After following Yuwen Hu back to Guanzhong, Liu Zhongli was appointed as the governor of Fuzhou, which was changed from Fucheng County, and Fuzhou happened to border Xihe County and was located in the south of Xihe County. According to him, when he was in office, the local scholars in the jurisdiction were grateful for his governance, so when he left office, he gave him a property in Xihe County, and he chose to settle in Xihe County because he liked the folk atmosphere in northern Shaanxi.

As a big rat who had just landed, Li Tai certainly understood what Liu Zhongli had not mentioned. As a governor of a place, it is too easy to build some industry for yourself.

Liu Zhongli took the initiative to resign from the post of governor of Fuzhou after entering Guanzhong at the end of last year, which was quite sensible. After that, he probably worried that he would be retaliated by the villagers if he returned to Hedong after losing his backing, so he simply settled in Xihe County.

After listening to Liu Zhongli's self-narration, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh that the times have changed and the phoenix that has fallen from the frame is worse than a chicken!

But if Liu Zhongli could have been more effective in rescuing Jiankang and prevented Hou Jing's rebellion from expanding and deteriorating, he would have been a well-deserved loyal minister and the first general of Southern Liang. Why is he so embarrassed now that he has almost no place to stand?

So people always feel that they will not be punished immediately for doing evil, so they lower their moral standards again and again, but the accumulated evil consequences will eventually come in some form.

Li Tai originally wanted to find a farm to see the specific operation situation. Since he met an acquaintance like Liu Zhongli, he suggested to go to his home to take a look.

After hearing this, Liu Zhongli's face suddenly turned pale. Especially when he saw the fully armed guards around Li Tai, he was so scared that cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He was probably worried that Lord Tang would still not let him go and wanted to kill his entire family.

Seeing him so scared, Li Tai smiled and said, "Lord Liu has been in the country for several years, and he must have heard of my deeds. As long as he abides by the law, there is no need to worry about being killed by the government for no reason. The Liang family's national undertakings are all in the past. What old grudges can't be resolved between Lord Liu and me?"

"Thank you, Lord Tang for your kindness and grace!"

After hearing this, Liu Zhongli's expression changed several times. Then he knelt down with excitement and choked up, and then stood up and led the way in front, heading towards his home.

Liu Zhongli's manor is located not far from the southwest of the county town. It has convenient water and land transportation, and the environment is quiet and livable. It can be seen that he was very careful when choosing it.

The entire manor building, together with the cultivated land and mulberry fields, covers an area of ​​about ten hectares. The scale is not too large, but most of the land is flat and fertile irrigated land, plus dozens of mulberry trees growing well in the ponds. With such a good farming and weaving foundation, it is no problem to support one or two hundred people.

Because the personal soldiers entered here for patrol and alert, when Tang Gong arrived here, Liu Zhongli's family was already standing in front of the manor to greet them. There are more than 30 men and women in the household. In addition to Liu Zhongli's wife, children, brothers and other relatives, there are more than 20 men and women of the military. The number of family members is about the same as when Li Tai first entered Guanzhong.

Therefore, in ancient times, especially in the Middle Ages, it was said that some families fell into poverty and left their hometowns, but they were not really poor. It was extremely difficult for a truly impoverished family to even obtain a registered household registration and become a self-employed farmer, let alone become successful.

The most reliable way to achieve class leap is to join a powerful family and become a slave with courage and strength. If you can get to the level of Liu Taozhi in Northern Qi, you can be called an absolute winner in life.

Li Tai was not very interested in the population of the Liu family. He kept asking Liu Zhongli about the details of the operation of the manor along the way.

Liu Zhongli did not dare to hide anything about this and gave a detailed introduction: "Thanks to Tang Gong's water conservancy and farming, the two sides of the Kuli River have become fertile fields. In a year of hard work, millet can be harvested more than two stones per mu, and beans can be harvested three stones. The Han family owns nearly nine hectares of land. After deducting grain seeds and food for people and livestock, it can still harvest more than 700 stones at the end of the year. Two hundred stones of grain are stored for famine prevention, and the rest can be delivered to the government. You can get salt permits of 200 catties or more. If you sell them in the market, you can get more than 100 stones of millet..."

The main crops grown in northern Shaanxi are millet, sorghum and various beans. Liu Zhongli's family has a population of more than 30, and they also raise several cattle and horses. Their annual food consumption is estimated to be thousands of kilo, after deducting crop seeds and other consumption. Nine hectares of land can still yield a profit of 700 shi per year. Such a harvest is very good. Basically, after three years of farming, you can have two years of savings.

Ancient books say that if you farm for three years, you will have enough food for one year. With the development of the times, farming technology and yield per mu are also improving. In addition, Liu Zhongli's family is not an ordinary homesteader. Most of them live in seclusion, with labor but no rent. Such a harvest is considered relatively normal.

Salt is divided into long-term and short-term, which are distinguished by the distance of transportation and sales. The farther the salt can be transported, the higher the price and profit will be, and vice versa. But not everyone will sell salt after getting salt. For example, it is not enough for Liu Zhongli's family to make a hundred kilograms of salt. So it is better to sell it directly to the big salt merchants, which is also a source of income. .

But the Liu family's manor was obviously more than just farming. As far as Li Tai could see, it covered more than ten hectares. In addition to the nearly nine hectares of cultivated land, there were also several hectares of mulberry fields and orchards.

The commodity economy in the Southern Dynasties was relatively developed, and many dignitaries were open to talking about business, and even personally ran estates and merchants. Therefore, Liu Zhongli introduced his family business in a very orderly manner.

"With three years of mulberry, one year old can harvest 30 kilograms of leaves and 50 kilograms of harvest. Planting an acre of mulberry plants can vary between 20 kilograms. The mulberries can be used as food and the leaves can be used to feed silkworms. One acre of mulberry can produce five cocoons. Ten kilograms, more than twenty kilograms of silk..."

Liu Zhongli answered Tang Gong's question in great detail, but he didn't know that his detailed answers had touched upon Tang Gong's knowledge blind spot.

Although Li Tai also endured hard times, he really couldn't be as familiar with all the output and data in the manor as Liu Zhongli. Converting it according to the data he could understand, it was one acre of mulberry trees and silkworms. The amount of silk produced is about twenty pieces per year.

Of course, the actual conversion is definitely not that simple, especially since each process consumes a lot of time and manpower, so it cannot be equated to twenty bolts of silk from one acre of mulberry.

Even when the government collects household transfers, there are options such as silk, cotton, cloth, and linen for people to choose from. This is because many households with equal land simply do not have enough labor and time to weave cotton and linen into silk. Only semi-finished products can be turned over for household adjustment.

Although Liu Zhongli's family also had a large number of slaves, they did not plant all the mulberry fields with mulberry trees because they were too busy raising silkworms and weaving. If they just sold semi-finished products such as silk and hemp, the profit would not be as good as planting other crops. Crops with higher economic attributes. Among them, Liu Zhongli focused on introducing his tea garden.

"The common people used to live in Xiangmiang. Because they had a disease of drinking tea, they thought that they would distance themselves from this tea after leaving their hometown. Unexpectedly, many people in Beizhou were also fond of this tea. Therefore, I asked someone to find a few good tea trees in Hanzhong. , transplanted in this manor, although time and space were lost, resulting in a very short sweetness and long bitterness of the tea leaves, but there are very few local varieties, and the harvest and market are profitable! "

Liu Zhongli led Li Tai to the tea garden, pointing to the dozens of tea trees in the garden with different growth styles and introducing them. Although he resigned at the end of last year, the management of this manor was not just for a short period of time. It was precisely because the management was quite successful that he simply settled here after resigning.

After Li Tai heard this, he couldn't help but pointed at Liu Zhongli and said with a smile: "Why should you praise Tao Zhu when you praise someone? Marquis Liu is also very capable in governing affairs! Not long after the tea drinking trend spread in this town, Marquis Liu has already Investigate and benefit from it.”

Although the practice of drinking tea has a long history, it did not flourish until the Sui and Tang dynasties, and tea as an important foreign trade commodity was not established until the Song and Ming dynasties. When Li Tai was building Shifo Temple, he had already intended to use religious rituals to promote the custom of drinking tea among Jihu, and it had achieved some results in a few years.

When he was in Shannan, he had already started planting and improving tea varieties, and was also promoting it as an important commodity to Guanzhong and other regions, not only for the sake of pure profit, but also in the hope of strengthening regional ties. exchange of cultural customs and eating habits.

Unexpectedly, in Xihe County, Liu Zhongli also sensed this trend without any teacher, and has already launched localized operations for the purpose of profit. It must be said that this business sense is also very sensitive.