In Jicheng, Youzhou, in the suburbs, and in the farmland, many young and strong people were busy, driving horses and dragging wheels to plow the land.

When I was free, the military academy students who went out for a spring outing were surprised to see the busy horse-drawn plows in the fields: It seems that these are all dry fields, but there is no shortage of water, so why not plant rice?

The military academy teacher who led the team explained to these students from the south: "Growing rice has a demand for water conservancy facilities, otherwise the land cannot be irrigated with sufficient river water. How can rice grow well?"

"So there are many kinds of millet and wheat in the remote suburbs of Jicheng. Because of river water irrigation in the nearby suburbs, there are many rice fields, which is one of the reasons."

"The second reason is that the weather in Youzhou is cold. In spring, the water is very cool, and the hot and cold changes day and night are drastically. The rice seedlings cannot bear it and cannot grow well. Of course, this is related to the rice seedlings."

"It's not that there was no large-scale planting of rice in Youzhou. On the contrary, during the Later Han Dynasty, border guards opened up land in Youzhou and had many rice fields."

When military academy students go to the border for "internship", they not only need to observe the mountains, rivers, terrain, but also understand the local customs and customs. Therefore, the school has always been closely following the reality of the education on "customs and customs".

Since the instructor has given a conclusion, of course, there must be an argument:

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Zhang Kan" records that in the early years of the Later Han Dynasty, when Zhang Kan became the prefect of Yuyang, he "opened more than 8,000 hectares of rice fields in the foxun and persuaded the people to farm, so that they became rich."

Yuyang and Fox Nu are all located in Youzhou area.

Later, Deng Xun led Liyang troops to station fox slaves and also planted rice in paddy fields.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wei general Liu Jing planted rice in Youzhou area, and built a Liling dam at the northwest of Gujicheng. He also dug a truck canal to ensure the irrigation of a large amount of farmland around Gujicheng.

But later, the Central Plains was in chaos, and Jicheng area was affected, water conservancy facilities collapsed, drought and flooding were uncertain, rice fields were greatly affected, and the rice planting area gradually shrank.

"For hundreds of years, rice seeds that can withstand cold water have gradually deteriorated. Now, if you want to grow rice on a large scale, you will not solve the problem of rice seeds. The effect of just repairing water conservancy facilities is limited."

"It's better to plant millet and wheat in the same land."

After a brief introduction, the students gained a general understanding of the current agricultural situation in Youzhou area.

Frontier troops generally have to farm in the local area to minimize the long-distance transportation of food and grass in other places. Therefore, as long as conditions allow, large-scale land reclamation and water conservancy irrigation farmland are inevitable.

There are many rivers near Jicheng, and there are water conservancy facilities that have been continuously improved during the Qi period. There is a foundation for large-scale military farming.

If the next new round of military farming can be successfully deployed, the number of troops in Youzhou will increase further in a few years.

With more soldiers guarding the Yanshan Great Wall, the robbers outside will not sway around the door all day long with misdeed intentions.

Who are the robbers? Turks on the grassland.

During the Chinese New Year, the Turks ran around outside Juyong Pass and went to Youzhou to "intern" in the military academy, fortunate to see what kind of "combat style" these enemies from outside the Great Wall had:

Come and go like the wind, gathering and dispersing invisibly. A small stream of cavalry gathers into a large torrent. Once it moves, its momentum is quite amazing.

The other party has many horses, so there are many scouts. Just like a dog walking in an open area, the movements within dozens of miles cannot escape the other party's eyes, nose and ears.

However, this dog is not a hunting dog that is fearless, but a mangy dog ​​that bullies the weak and is afraid of the strong. Although it is indeed painful to bite people and may even kill people, it is not invincible.

The Turkic soldiers gathered outside Juyong Pass were like robbers trying to rob a wealthy family and would not fight for life and death. Therefore, when the official army attacked and headed the battle with fireworks, the group of people quickly fled in all directions and did not dare to stay.

"It's probably not that their souls will return to their position after several years." The instructor smiled and pointed at the busy figures in the surrounding fields:

"Time is on our side. After more than ten years of peace in the Central Plains, we should take the initiative to attack outside the border and wander on the grassland!"

......

In Kaifeng, Bianzhou, in the noisy tax and customs trading market, the Crown Prince Li Fang, who was on a tour in a vague manner, listened to the tax officials telling about the tax and trading market situation to understand the "market market".

In the beginning of spring, the wind blows in the southeast, and the ridges and counters meet, welcoming a large number of foreign maritime merchants. These maritime merchants imported a large number of rare treasures and overseas incense medicines in exchange for various specialties from the Central Plains.

The Central Plains maritime merchants gathered in Panyu, Guangzhou and Longbiao Port in Jiaozhou, carried these imported products on sea boats and headed north by sea. They soon arrived at Guangling, Jiankang, and Huaiyin in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The imported products arrived in Huaiyin entered the Huai River, Si River, and Bian River, and some of them came to Kaifeng.

The tax officer briefly introduces the quantity of goods passed through customs in the past few months and the growth of tax revenue:

"Because the imperial court sent an official ship to Lingbiao to sell goods and purchased a large number of overseas specialties, there were a lot more imported products transported back to the Central Plains than in previous years, and Kaifeng has relatively sufficient supply of goods."

"Year over the previous year, the overall increase is about 130%. This is the first time that the official ship has traveled to the ridge table. It is not large in scale. And I went to Jiaozhou Longbian and Guangzhou Panyu, but I was actually a businessman."

"If the official ship arrives in the South China Sea in the future, as a businessman, he will take the initiative to purchase specialties from various countries in the South China Sea, and the goods he brings back will increase significantly."

When Li Fang heard this, he asked, "Where is the northern goods? Goods coming from the northern places, such as fur goods from western Liaoning outside the Great Wall."

"Your Highness, the fur from western Liaoning has been equivalent to nothing before, so there is no data for the same period..." The tax official presented a document.

"Since the official army pacified Youzhou, took Yingzhou, and launched border trade with Khitan and Mohe ministries, iron daily necessities such as iron needles and iron scissors were very popular, and they were exchanged for a large amount of fur goods."

"Fritters from the western Liaoning area outside the Great Wall soon grew in Kaifeng, with deer skin, mink skin, bear skin, and tiger skin all in short supply."

"There is basically no unsalable phenomenon. After all, fur goods from outside the border are of good quality and are very popular."

Speaking of this, the tax official also added: "Because the business is about to move to Kaifeng, many merchants hoard high-end fur and are preparing to sell it to wealthy families at that time, so as to make more money."

"So, as long as the goods arrive, they will be sold out, so that the price of fur in the north is rising every day. Now, the price of a good mink has increased by 30% compared to last month."

"It's rising so fast?" Li Fang was quite surprised by the news.

As the crown prince, he didn't need to worry about his food, clothing and expenses. Taifu Temple and Shaofu Temple will naturally solve the problem.

However, his mother told him to look at the account book and expenses, and he had a lot of experience since childhood, so Li Fang was still very sensitive to prices.

He knew that ordinary people would only spend ten yuan in a meal, so they would not waste their money when eating, nor would they specifically pursue delicacies.

He knew that his father had to repair the bedding at home and then, but he didn't buy a new one because the price of a bedding cost more than a hundred dollars, which was a considerable expense for his father who was in a difficult family.

Even now, many people's bedding in their homes are torn and repaired, saving as much money as possible, so they do not pursue excessive bedding when sleeping.

Now, Kaifeng Bank is under construction, and he is ordered to come to Kaifeng to be a "supervisor" and also to understand the prices.

Although the General Taxation Department will regularly count the prices in various places, organize them into books and report them, so Li Fang has been paying attention to the prices in various places, but whenever he goes there, he will go to the tax customs to check out the local material circulation situation in person.

Now, Li Fang noticed a message: minks from the north are now hoarded by merchants in Kaifeng, and the prices have been rising and there is no market price.

Because this is a luxury product, the direct impact of soaring prices on ordinary people is not very big.

However, wealthy families who spend a lot of money to buy mink must pass on their expenses to others. What goes on will eventually be transferred to ordinary people.

One of the specific manifestations is the overall increase in prices, which for ordinary people, is an increase in daily living expenses.

"Someone is hoarding, you guys just watch it?"

Li Fang asked, and the tax officials quickly replied: "After all, the situation has just been opened up in Yingzhou, western Liaoning. The government and the Khitan and the Marine tribes are doing business, but they have only started, and the transaction volume needs to be increased."

"So there are relatively few fur goods shipped to Kaifeng, and they can't stand the rush to buy them. This thing is rare and expensive, so the price naturally rises."

"The tax and customs market cannot limit purchases or price limits, otherwise it will only cause merchants to rush to buy more crazily and increase prices faster..."

Li Fang understood the truth, thought for a while, and sighed: "Well, you should pay attention to the price of grain, just lay out the price. If anyone dares to maliciously raise the price of grain, you must not stand idly by!"

My father asked him to go out to "work business" to deal with more practice and more contact with national economy and people's livelihood.

Now Hebei has been included in the rule of the imperial court, and the price fluctuations caused by the circulation of materials from north to south are also expanding.

As the crown prince, he does not need to participate in specific regulation, but he must understand the "market" and adapt to the new situation.

Otherwise, how can we manage the huge country well in the future?
Chapter completed!