Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 409 Hayek and the Open-Central Method
Xiao Yan already had a candidate in mind for this "child emperor".

King Yuan Hao of Beihai presented the important city of Xuzhou to Southern Liang. He was very flattering and submissive to Xiao Yan, and was a favored minister of Xiao Yan.

Chen Qingzhi wanted to escort King Yuan Hao of Beihai to the north, so Xiao Yan also wanted to listen to his opinion.

Xiao Yan said casually:
"When King Yuan Hao of Beihai fled south, he asked me to borrow troops to fight in the north. His words were heroic. What do you think?"

Chen Qingzhi frowned. If it were in the past, as a close minister who knew Xiao Yan well, he would definitely obey Xiao Yan's proposal.

However, this Northern Expedition was of great importance, so Chen Qingzhi could only bite the bullet and say:

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Demon Queen Suo Nuo once sent Yuan Hao, the King of Beihai, to Guanzhong to quell the rebellion, but he became passive and decadent after the defeat at Shayuan, and was later easily defeated by Su Ze."

"I think this person has great ambitions but little talent, and has no perseverance. He is not the best choice."

Chen Qianzhi said this at a huge risk.

Although Emperor Xiao Yan seemed very tolerant towards his subjects, he also seemed willing to listen to their opinions and follow their advice.

But in fact, these were things that happened at the beginning of his reign.

As he sat on the throne for a long time, Xiao Yan became less and less willing to listen to the voices of advice and remonstrance.

However, compared with those neurotic emperors of Southern Qi, Xiao Yan was indeed quite kind. For those ministers whom he disliked, he would either drive them out of Jiankang and let them lead a region, or support them with high positions and generous salaries. In addition, he was in good health, so these old ministers gradually died. Now no one in the court was willing to advise Xiao Yan anymore.

However, Xiao Yan was also concerned about his reputation. If there were any suggestions that might have a bad impact, he would ask his subordinates to put forward them, and then he would pretend to agree to them.

Zhu Yi is such a character. In fact, many state affairs are Xiao Yan's thoughts, but they are put forward through Zhu Yi's mouth. If there is a problem in the implementation, Xiao Yan only needs to punish his ministers and maintain his image as a Bodhisattva Emperor.

Chen Qingzhi looked at Xiao Yan's face carefully, and sure enough, there was a gloom on Xiao Yan's face.

Chen Qingzhi lowered his head quickly and said:
"I am not familiar with government affairs, and I am not as good as Your Majesty in judging people. I am making a rash comment on important matters!"

Xiao Yan's face looked better. Chen Qingzhi was also a trusted general that he relied on. Xiao Yan still showed a conciliatory attitude and just pulled him aside and said:
"Ziyun (Chen Qingzhi's pen name), who among the talents in the court today is not one that I have discovered with my keen eyes? Aren't you also one of my discoverers?"

"Although Beihai King Yuan Hao suffered some defeats, he was the first among the Yuan clan who fled south to express his intention to march north. His determination is commendable."

"This time, with your mutual support, you and Yuan Hao will surely achieve great success in the Northern Expedition!"

Chen Qingzhi knew that his advice was useless and could only agree "with gratitude".

After coming out of the palace, Chen Qingzhi found Zhu Yi's house again. Xiao Yan gave the task of preparing military supplies and logistics to Zhu Yi. The weapons and armor were already in place, but the military rations had not arrived yet.

As the expedition was imminent, Chen Qingzhi knew that he could not delay and had to go to Zhu Yi's house.

Chen Qingzhi had been to Zhu Yi's mansion a few years earlier, but this time the mansion was bigger and more magnificent. The original houses around Zhu Yi's mansion had been demolished and incorporated into Zhu Yi's mansion.

Chen Qingzhi lowered his head. This close minister of Xiao Yan was said to have tens of thousands of slaves in his manor and countless rare treasures in his mansion. His lifestyle was as extravagant as that of a prince like Xiao Hong.

Chen Qingzhi was led into the mansion by the steward, from which came the sound of music and banquet. When he arrived at an exquisite courtyard, Chen Qingzhi saw Zhu Yi, who was still wearing loose clothes in the middle of winter, and was drinking and writing poetry with a group of guests.

The guests all behaved like famous scholars like Zhu Yi. Some even took off their clothes and danced in the cold wind, regardless of the chill of the spring just after the New Year.

Chen Qingzhi understood that this was the medicine he had taken.

After taking Wu Shi San, the body will feel very hot. If the heat is not discharged from the body, death may occur due to "poor circulation".

There are many ways to "disperse". Drinking and eating a lot is one way, blowing cold wind is another way, and even sexual intercourse is a good way to disperse.

Chen Qingzhi was a soldier, and he hated taking Wu Shi San. Fortunately, Zhu Yi heard that Chen Qingzhi was coming and knew that he was here for serious business. He said goodbye to all the guests and took Chen Qingzhi to the study for receiving guests.

"General Chen, the Secretariat has already replied to you about the food and fodder issue. We must have it ready before the expedition. Why are you urging us to do so?"

Zhu Yi also showed a hint of displeasure. Chen Qingzhi did not dare to offend this powerful official, so he had no choice but to say:

"Prime Minister Zhu, Su Ze of the Northern Expedition once said, 'Before the troops move, the food and grass must go first'. This saying is the essence of the art of war. If the army does not have enough food and grass to march north, it will be difficult to succeed."

Seeing Chen Qingzhi's anxious look, Zhu Yi also sighed and said:

"General Chen, please give me some time."

Chen Qingzhi asked doubtfully:

"Last year, the weather was good and the harvest was good. Is there no grain left in the Jiankang government warehouse?"

Zhu Yi then said:

"It's true that the weather was good last year, but the court had a lot of expenses. In recent years, there has been little grain growing near Jiankang. Just to supply food to the military and civilians in Jiankang, it has to be transported from other places. It took a lot of effort to raise this batch of military rations for General Chen."

Chen Qingzhi still remembers that a few years ago, the granaries in Jiankang were almost full, and at that time Xiao Yan still took out the old grain to donate to the people.

How come in just a few years, the huge government granary was empty? Even the food for the people of Jiankang had to be transported from other places through the canal.

Zhu Yi saw the reason clearly, and said: "General Chen, don't worry, this is actually a good thing."

Good thing? Chen Qingzhi really couldn't understand it. How could it be a good thing if the great Liang Dynasty couldn't even provide food for 7,000 soldiers to go to war?

"People living near Jiankang either grow mulberry and hemp or go to Jiankang City to work, and the income they earn is higher than before."

"The price of grain in Jiankang is naturally higher than elsewhere. Therefore, the food for the people of Jiankang is transported from other places by merchants."

"The people have food to eat and the merchants pay taxes, which is a great thing for the country and the people."

"It's just that the general left in a hurry, and the food shipped from other places hasn't arrived yet, so we just need to give it a few days."

Chen Qingzhi always felt that what Zhu Yi said was not entirely true, but he did not understand the art of business and could not find any loopholes in what Zhu Yi said.

But Chen Qingzhi knew one thing, that is, the quality of soldiers near Jiankang was getting worse and worse.

Those good family sons who were good at fighting in the past are no longer available for recruitment.

Those who could join the army in Jiankang were either bad guys in the market, or bankrupt farmers who could not make a living, or even escaped slaves and overseas Chinese who moved from the north to the south. Moreover, even those who were willing to join the army were far inferior to the previous soldiers in terms of physical fitness and discipline.

Since Zhu Yi had said so, Chen Qingzhi could not continue to force him and could only return from his house in disappointment.
-
Wuyuan New Town.

Wei Xiaokuan was in the caravan receiving the grain shipped this month.

Although the Hetao region where Wuyuan City is located is also an agricultural area suitable for farming, it takes time to open up wasteland, grow crops, and produce grain. Moreover, Su Ze did not send them to Wuyuan to farm, so grain still needed to be transported from the rear.

The leader of the caravan, Su Tan ([The Talkative Western Region Merchant]), was the follower summoned by Su Ze. Wei Xiaokuan still checked the grain meticulously before stamping it with the official seal of Wuyuan County Government and accepting the batch of grain.

Wei Xiaokuan received the food and chatted with Su Tan:

"You transported food to Wuyuan City, but you didn't accept any money or goods?"

Wei Xiaokuan found it a little difficult to understand. Merchants are profit-oriented, so how could there be merchants who transport grain to the government for free?
Su Tan smiled and said:

"Wei County Magistrate, what we want is not money, but this."

Wei Xiaokuan looked at the receipt he had issued and asked doubtfully:
“Can this be exchanged for money?”

Su Tan said:

"This thing is called a salt permit. With it, you can exchange it for salt from the government salt field."

Wei Xiaokuan once worked in the liquor business, and Su Ze had been monopolizing salt and liquor since he established the shogunate.

Unlike liquor, which only controlled the production of koji and allowed private brewing and sale by the people, salt was firmly controlled by the government.

The salt fields are all government-run, the salt ponds are all controlled by the county government, and the checkpoints are also responsible for inspecting private salt. Once private salt without official certificates is discovered, it will be confiscated.

Su Tan explained: "The county government will post a notice every month to issue a certain number of salt permits. If you transport grain to the designated area, you will be able to get the salt permit."

"With these salt permits, we can exchange them for salt at the government-run salt fields."

Now Wei Xiaokuan understood that this was to encourage merchants to help the government transport grain in exchange for the right to participate in the salt trade.

Salt is a daily necessity for the people, so merchants can definitely make money by exchanging grain for salt.

If the previous method was used, transporting grain to Wuyuan City would require corvee labor, which would not only be a waste of money and time, but would also cause great resentment among the people. Spring plowing was about to begin, and no one wanted to leave their hometown to perform corvee labor at this time.

Merchant transportation also has the advantage of low cost.

Su Tan's eyes turned and he said:
"County Magistrate Wei, I want to do a business with Wuyuan County."

Wei Xiaokuan immediately became alert. He had a bright future ahead of him and naturally didn't want to have anything to do with these businessmen.

Su Tan immediately said:

"The cost of transporting grain from Guanzhong is still too high, so we want to lease wasteland in Wuyuan. We will organize people to reclaim the wasteland, and the grain grown will be directly transported to you in exchange for salt permits."

Wei Xiaokuan looked at the large amounts of wasteland and felt that land was not a problem at all.

What is this? A commercial village?

If you think about it carefully, it seems feasible. The merchant group only rents the land for a long time, and the reclaimed land still belongs to the government.

There are no small problems when it comes to land. Wei Xiaokuan thought for a moment and said:
"As this is about the Land Grant Order, I still need to consult the Government Affairs Office before I can reply to you."

"Of course, of course, but County Magistrate Wei also knows that the business settlement is a win-win situation, so please say a few good words."

"This is natural."

(End of this chapter)