The most arrogant in history

The kind-hearted Jiang Yourong always thought about others even after becoming the queen.

Ye Kun shook his head: "They don't have it. This is a sample. I brought it back for you. In a few days, the new product will come out and everyone will have it."

Jiang Yourong smiled and said, "Then please ask them to come and have a look. If they like it, each of them can take one."

"No, there aren't enough glass mirrors now. If someone can't get one, they'll cry." Ye Kun shook his head and said with a smile, "Let's wait a few days until the new product comes out."

The next day is the Great Court Meeting.

Ye Kun demonstrated the latest glass mirror in the Imperial City Conference Room.

All the officials were amazed.

Wu Qiong asked, "Your Majesty, a mirror like this must be very expensive, right?"

"Of course it's expensive. An inch of mirror is worth an inch of gold." Ye Kun smiled:

"However, I have always taken care of you all. I will give you the internal price. One ounce of gold and a small mirror, so that everyone can afford it!

The first batch of mirrors only has 500 pieces. A portion will be kept in the palace, and the rest will be sold to you at an internal price."

The officials all felt that they had gotten a great bargain and were grinning from ear to ear.

Within a few days, the first batch of small round mirrors came out, the size of a bowl.

A mirror cost one ounce of gold, and the officials all scrambled to get it.

Because every official has a woman at home.

Women have no resistance to glass mirrors.

Two days later, it was said that the transfer price of the glass mirror on the black market had reached as high as ten taels of gold.

There were even merchants from India and Rome who were willing to pay twenty taels of gold to purchase a batch of glass mirrors.

Ye Kun whetted everyone's appetite and continued to sell at a high price, saying only that production was difficult and the output was insufficient.

Liu Yuejuan and others all have their own glass mirrors. They dress up in front of the mirror every day with a smile as beautiful as a flower.

There was a bumper harvest of wheat and rapeseed in early summer, and good news came from all over the country.

Ye Kun was bored, so he took Qin Chou to the countryside to inspect agricultural production and understand the people's conditions.

In just three years, the people have regained their vitality and smiles are back on their faces.

The housing project proposed by Ye Kun has been basically completed, and every household now has a brick and tile house.

Previous wars caused great destruction, but there are still many bricks and tiles left over from the people, which can be used again after some cleaning.

Together with the newly built brick kilns in various places, the needs of the people were finally met.

This is also because the total population is too small and the resources are abundant.

After all, there are only more than 20 million people and more than 4 million households in the country.

Qin Chou said: "I feel that there are too many rotary kiln factories. Now every family has a brick and tile house, and the bricks and tiles will gradually become unsaleable in the future."

Ye Kun nodded:

"That's no problem. If there are really too many bricks and tiles, we can close down a number of brick kilns owned by the imperial court. Private brick kilns will adjust themselves. This is called a market economy.

In addition, our population increases by two to three million every year, so there is still a demand for bricks and tiles.”

After taking over Liaodong and Goguryeo, the total population will be almost 30 million.

The baby boom is coming.

Because people in ancient times got married early.

Although Ye Kun advocated that women should be at least 16 years old to get married, it was still very common for women in the folk to get married at the age of 14 or 15.

The two men let their horses run wild and randomly checked a few villages.

The lives of ordinary people are relatively affluent, and they can basically afford to eat meat and broth occasionally.

Ye Kun also liberalized the oil pressing technology and proposed that each town and village should build an oil pressing plant to ensure that everyone could have sesame oil.

When it comes to clothing, linen is still the main fabric used by the people.

I can't afford cotton clothes or quilts.

Every year, everyone sells the cotton harvested.

Ye Kun asked Qin Chou: "Our cotton production is increasing every year, so why can't ordinary people afford cotton clothes?"

"Your Majesty, you have sent all our cotton to the army. Do you know how much cotton clothes and quilts are needed for an army of 300,000 people every year?"

Qin Chou smiled slightly: "You also gave away quilts and cotton clothes for free to orphanages, nursing homes, and Gonglie Village. In the southern Yunnan and Myanmar areas, you also vigorously promoted masks and mosquito nets... Tianzhu and Rome also purchased a large amount of our cotton cloth. So how much cotton can be put into the hands of ordinary people?"

Ye Kun sighed: "In the Yunmian and Jiaozhi areas, mosquitoes spread the virus, so mosquito nets and masks are necessary. The troops stationed in the northern border must have cotton clothes, which are indispensable.

Otherwise, we should suspend the export of cotton cloth. I feel that there is already too much gold and silver in the country. "

Qin Chou shrugged: "The emperor should ask Wu Qiong about this matter. I guess he won't give up such a profitable business."

"There are so many profitable businesses that don't rely on just the cotton industry."

"That won't work either. If ordinary people have cotton cloth, they will sell it to vendors, and it will flow into the hands of foreign merchants."

"We can just strictly check at the customs and not allow cotton cloth to leave the country, right?"

"Your Majesty, let's just let nature take its course and take our time." Qin Chou said with a smile:

"The sweet potatoes you mentioned have been successfully planted in Jiaozhi. They will soon enter the second round of promotion. Once sweet potatoes and corn are promoted, we can reduce the grain planting area and increase the cotton planting area, and there will be no problem."

Ye Kun shook his head: "We have no shortage of land to grow cotton, but the yield is still low."

With such a large territory, there are only more than 20 million people.

There is too much land.

There was no time to develop the land in the hills in the Jianghuai area, so they were directly turned into pastures for raising cattle and sheep.

Qin Chou said: "This is also because there is a shortage of manpower. In ordinary people's families, young and strong men have to serve in the army or do labor service. The rest are old and young, and farming is also very tiring."

Ye Kun silently calculated that there were about 12 million men in the country.

Excluding the elderly, the weak and the disabled, about half are young and middle-aged people.

His own army, factories, mines, and officials at all levels number more than one million.

Come to think of it, it is a bit warmongering.

Qin Chou looked at Ye Kun's face and whispered, "How about dismissing a group of workers from the coal and iron mines and letting them return to their hometowns to do production?"

Ye Kun finally nodded: "Okay, let's go back and discuss it."

Two days later, at the meeting of the Nine Ministries, Ye Kun brought up Qin Chou's suggestion and asked everyone to discuss it.

Wu Qiong said:

"The Jianghuai and Xuzhou areas have the smallest population and are the poorest. Xuzhou was massacred twice by Xiahou Chang and has not recovered yet. The Jianghuai area is similar, with a large amount of land left idle and turned into wasteland.

I suggest that Xuzhou and the Jianghuai region stop conscription for three years so that they can rest and recuperate. "

Ye Kun also followed suit and nodded:

"Reduce the number of workers in coal and iron mines by one-tenth, and let them go back to build their hometowns. In the southern part of Qi and Lu, Xuzhou, and Jianghuai, there will be no conscription in the past three years.

But the labor service in these places cannot be stopped. Each town and county government should organize laborers to build water conservancy projects, reclaim wasteland, plant fruit trees, and build roads and bridges during the slack season.

Yan Ju asked, "Can we stop the war and construction in Jiaozhi and Yunmian?"