Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 284: Source of Wealth!!
The way to obtain funding from the upper level was cut off, but Su Yun did not intend to give up.

Reform has always been extremely difficult, and Su Yun had been mentally prepared for this. If it were easy, then why had the Song Dynasty remained in such a mess for the past 120 years, and was getting worse and worse?

On the second day, Su Yun entrusted all the affairs of Fuyan Road to Zhang Yu, and he went to Mizhi with hundreds of cavalry and some craftsmen.

Generals such as Qi Keyong thought that Su Yun had given up on military reform and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

……

Suddenly, like a night of spring breeze, thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloomed.

The cold wind from faraway Siberia blew southward, and heavy snow fell overnight in the Hengshan area, turning the area into a blanket of white.

Yanjiabao completed the repair of the fortress before the snow fell and took in many homeless refugees. Not only did Yanjiabao not fall into disrepair, but it became more prosperous than before.

Because of his meritorious service in reporting intelligence, Yan Zewen was appointed as the lord of Yanjiabao. He had previously led tens of thousands of people across Hengshan and returned. Thousands of people were grateful for his kindness, and probably because their homes had been ruined, they simply moved to Yanjiabao. After that, more refugees came to join the movement, so there were nearly 10,000 more people in Yanjiabao than before the war.

Today, Yanjiabao has not only repaired the original fortress, but also expanded an outer city, which is several times larger than before. It can be considered a large fortress.

However, Yan Zewen has been worried recently.

More people is a good thing, but it is not a very good thing either, because more people means more food is needed.

The imperial court allocated a lot of grain for them to build the fortress, but the grain would eventually run out, and the remaining grain would hardly last until the spring.

When Yan Zewen thought of the nearly 20,000 hungry mouths in Yanjiabao, he could no longer sleep or concentrate on reading.

The Song army won a great victory and seized a lot of land from Western Xia, and a lot of this land was given to Yanjiabao.

Yan Zewen did organize the people to plant wheat before the snow fell, but now they had to wait for the rice to be cooked, so how could they wait until the wheat was harvested?
Yan Zewen wanted to borrow food from other fortresses, but this approach was not feasible either. Not to mention the question of whether others would lend him food, the only issue was whether they had the food.

After the great war, the land was devastated and no one had any surplus food. Moreover, at a time like this, who knew when another war would break out? Who would dare to lend food out?
However, Yan Zewen did not wait or rely on others. Braving the heavy snow, he organized the people to start hunting and digging various edible rhizomes, grass roots and the like. Although it was only a drop in the bucket for 20,000 people and could not last for a few days, they still managed to survive for as long as they could.

In addition, a caravan was organized and funds were raised to go to Suide City, Yanzhou and other places to buy food. At this time, there was definitely no surplus food. Not only was it scarce but it was also expensive. However, we had to buy some back, otherwise people would really starve to death in the winter.

As for where the money came from, when the Western Xia army was defeated before, Yan Zewen heard about it and organized young and strong men to ambush on the road that must be passed, killing hundreds of Dangxiang soldiers. The head of a Dangxiang soldier could be exchanged for several strings of money, so he saved up several thousand strings of money, which was just enough to buy food.

But even if all kinds of methods are used, according to Yan Zewen's calculations, this winter will still be very sad!
Just when Yan Zewen was worried about singing Qinqiang, hundreds of cavalrymen came to the outside of Yanjiabao, which made Yanjiabao quite nervous. When he heard that they were people from Yanzhou, Yan Zewen quickly hung in the basket and went down. He saw that the leader was an extremely handsome young man, and he immediately had some guesses in his mind.

Yan Zewen quickly bowed and said, "I am Yan Zewen, the master of Yanjiabao. May I ask who you are?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "Fortress Lord Yan, I have a connection with you. You must have seen me during the battle at Fei Tingsheng's camp, right?"

Yan Zewen was immediately startled and asked, "Are you Mr. Su Jinglie?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "That's right. I came here today to discuss something important. I wonder if I can come into the castle to meet you?"

Yan Zewen was pleasantly surprised at first, then he looked at the knight on Su Yun with some embarrassment. Su Yun immediately smiled and said, "I will go in with you, and the rest of you will stay outside."

Soldiers don't enter the city. This is the rule now.

Yan Zewen was relieved, and hurriedly greeted the fort, opened a small door, and apologized to Su Yun: "Sir Su Jinglie, it's not that I don't trust you, but I am responsible for the safety of 20,000 people in the fort, so I have to act so cautiously."

Su Yun didn't care and smiled, "No need to explain these, I understand them all."

Yan Zewen invited Su Yun into the castle and then to his home. Although this branch of the Yan family was in decline, they were still a wealthy family. The four-courtyard house was quite elegant, but it could be seen that many places in the courtyard had been recently renovated.

After entering, the home furnishings were also somewhat shabby. Yan Zewen said somewhat sadly, "The documents and ancient books left by our ancestors were swept away by the Xixia people. Fortunately, this house was not burned down, which is a blessing in disguise. But now, our family is really broken up."

Su Yun had also heard about Yan Zewen's deeds before he came, and he comforted him, "You are the only one left in your branch now, so you have to cheer up and pass on the family tradition."

Yan Zewen smiled and said, "You are right. I don't know if you have any instructions for coming here today. Just tell me. As long as we in Yanjiabao can do it, we will definitely do our best."

Su Yun nodded and said, "You should know about the nearby Wolf Mountain, right?"

Yan Zewen thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes, it's about ten miles away from our Yanjiabao. There is no grass on the Wolf Mountain, which looks like a wolf lying on its side, so it's called Wolf Mountain." Su Yun nodded and said, "The reason why there is no grass on the Wolf Mountain is that there is a large amount of salt in the rocks, which is rock salt. I have the technology to extract it."

Yan Zewen was shocked when he heard this: "Rock salt? How does this salt compare to salt?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "It's much better than salt solution. I have the technology to make this rock salt even finer than green salt."

Yan Zewen showed a look of surprise and asked anxiously, "What does Mr. Su mean?"

Yan Zewen was very surprised.

The Northwest is actually not short of salt. There are many salt lakes in the Xia territory that produce salt, called blue and white salt. When the salt market is open, the Northwest usually does not lack salt. But if a war breaks out and the salt market is closed, the Northwest will fall into a situation of salt shortage.

The imperial court sometimes banned blue and white salt from entering Song territory in order to sanction Western Xia. As a result, the northwest region naturally suffered from a shortage of salt.

Of course, the imperial court would also allow merchants to transport the salt to the border areas of Shaanxi and sell it at low prices, but merchants are profit-driven, so how could they be willing to do something that has no benefit?

So although the price of Jie salt was low in name only, when it actually reached the hands of the people, the price was so high that people could not afford it, so the border residents had to risk breaking the law to buy the blue and white salt.

Therefore, if this rock salt can really be refined, it would be a very considerable source of income!

Of course, it is impossible for Yanjiabao to occupy Wolf Mountain, and Yanjiabao naturally cannot compete with Su Yun, the general manager. But if General Su wants to boil salt, he will always need manpower, right?
Apart from Yanjiabao, where else can we find so many people to cook salt?

If Yanjiabao could take on this job, not to mention anything else, just the wages would be enough to provide food and drink for the 20,000 people in Yanjiabao!
Su Yun smiled and nodded, saying: "The Fuyan Road Army is currently lacking in income, and I want to open up the mountains to boil salt, which requires a large number of manpower, so I would like to borrow the manpower from Yanjiabao.

But I want to tell Lord Yan first that our Fuyan Road Army values ​​the close relationship between the military and the people. We will not force you to participate in the salt mining, but will recruit you for work and you will be paid every day."

Yan Zewen was even more delighted when he heard this. If this was true, then the food crisis in Yanjiabao would be over!

But Yan Zewen immediately frowned.

Su Yun saw this and asked, "What's the matter? Is there any difficulty?"

Yan Zewen said quickly: "There is no problem here at Yanjiabao, but I am a little worried about Xixia. My Yan family has been in the northwest for many years, so we are more familiar with what is happening here.

"Ban the salt and control the Xia" was the strategy of our Song Dynasty to control the Xia. During the Chunhua period, salt was also banned. At that time, Emperor Taizong issued an edict: "From Shaanxi to the west, anyone who dares to privately buy blue and white salt from the Rong people will be sentenced to death."

However, this salt ban had two major consequences. The Rong people who were not subject to the border launched large-scale border raids. More than 10,000 cavalry from 42 tribes raided Huanzhou and even massacred the Xiaokang Fort at that time.

Secondly, Li Jiqian also successively invaded Gyeongju and Wonju because this infringed on the interests of Western Xia.

Blue and white salt is the largest commodity when Xixia trades with us. If there is no blue and white salt, Xixia may not have anything else to trade.

Therefore, they will definitely find ways to destroy the rock salt, and then..."

When Yan Zewen thought about the time when Yanjiabao became the target of invasion by the Xixia people, his face was suddenly filled with worry.

Su Yun smiled when he heard this and said, "Don't worry, once this rock salt is successful, it will be the biggest source of income for the Fuyan Road Army, and we will definitely not let the Xixia people destroy it.

I can also make you a promise. If the Xixia people really come, I will allow you Yanjiabao to run towards the Suide Army, and you don’t have to guard the salt field. "

Hearing this, Yan Zewen finally relaxed and said quickly: "If this is the case, there will definitely be no problem with Yanjiabao."

Su Yun smiled and nodded, looked towards the direction of Langshan Mountain and chuckled.

All industries in the northwest are in decline, and it is really not easy to make some money. Su Yun investigated for nearly a month before he found a breakthrough.

The salt in the northwest is basically occupied by the inexpensive and high-quality blue and white salt, but if he can come up with better and local rock salt, then he can naturally drive out the blue and white salt. By then, the salt wealth of the entire northwest will be in his grasp, and supporting a Fuyan Road Army will be a piece of cake.

As for whether Qingbai Salt can be defeated, hehe, the market is in Bao'an Army, and Bao'an Army is under the jurisdiction of Fuyan Road. Whether Qingbai Salt can be allowed in or not is just a matter of one's own words.

As for whether the Xixia people are willing or not, haha, we won't tolerate them. Either they will fight again, or they will accept my blackmail...ah, no, cooperate.

Haha, it’s not impossible for your Qingbai Salt to enter the Song Dynasty’s market, but we have our own local salt. Why should we need your salt? You have to give me a reason, right?
(End of this chapter)