Chapter 212 Cotton Harvest
This time, when returning to Bingzhou, there is no need to go through Liangzhou to reach the territory.
Chu Yan could reach the vicinity of Guanzhong from Shangjun via the Qinzhi Road, and then take the mountain road to attack Gaoling. Qiao Yan could naturally return to Bingzhou via the same road.
Guo Jia and Xun You, who went with the army to war, were temporarily left in Chang'an by her. The person who returned to Bingzhou with her was Jia Xu.
There was also an explanation for bringing Jia Xu back to Bingzhou.
Because this person was an official under Liu Xie's command, he could not take any action without a suitable position before Liu Xie was found.
But if he was left in Chang'an, conflicts would inevitably arise.
Liu Yu has always been tolerant and kind, so it is possible that he would reinstate Jia Xu just because of the good things he did in Chang'an.
It would be better to send him to accompany Li Ru, Dong Zhuo's adviser who was captured two years ago.
Placing him in Bingzhou and having him personally looked after by Qiao Yan's men would nominally allow him to be reunited with his wife, which was obviously the best of both worlds.
But Jia Xu was not treated as a prisoner. On the carriage returning to Bingzhou, he was transferred to the same carriage as Qiao Yan on the pretext of being called in for questioning.
What others thought was an interrogation was actually just a casual chat between the two of them.
Qiao Yan stepped into the room and asked, "Sir, have you decided what position you will take when you return to Bingzhou?"
As soon as she mentioned the position, a crack appeared on Jia Xu's originally calm expression.
The meaning of this expression is simply - why do you have to start working so soon?
According to Jia Xu's calculations, this trip to Chang'an, in which he had to deal with Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and the old ministers in the court, was very tiring for him. Now the credit was given to Qiao Yan, and he had a suitable reason to take a temporary break. He should rest for a year or so.
But it seemed that Qiao Yan had no intention of letting him rest at all.
Think about how Cheng Yu has already started to cultivate the land around Chang'an, and how he needs to plan when to advance to the other half of Sili. Think about how Xun You directly transferred from military advisor to take over Xun Shuang's position. Think about how Xi Zhicai took over Cheng Yu's work in Bingzhou, and there are many general affairs in the state. Think about how Guo Jia needs to plan the arrangements for the Qiang people in Liangzhou and the Xiongnu and Xianbei people in Bingzhou, while he is now in Chang'an to keep an eye on the situation in Jingzhou for her...
Jia Xu suddenly felt that his treatment was pretty good.
At least under the current circumstances, it is impossible for Qiao Yan to directly appoint him as the military advisor of Youzhou.
As a human being, you can feel happy just by comparing yourself with others.
He moved the chess piece in his hand and asked, "What task do you plan to assign to me?"
Qiao Yan replied, "Sir, choose one: be with Li Ru, live in seclusion in Leping Mountain, or be exiled to Shangjun?"
At first glance, these three really sound like punishments for betrayers.
But what is the reality?
The subtext of keeping Li Ru company is to let him find a way to persuade Li Ru to work for Qiao Yan.
Living in seclusion in Leping Mountain is equivalent to letting him temporarily take charge of all the work in the fortress in Leping Mountain.
It was hard for Jia Xu not to suspect that Qiao Yan wanted him to be a teacher for the children in Leping Academy. For example, the Qiao sisters, who were chosen by her to take over the intelligence organization, needed his ability to speak lies.
As for the statement of exile to Shangjun... perhaps it could be said so two years ago, but after the situation of the Xianbei outside the Great Wall plundering Bingzhou no longer existed, Shangjun was no longer a barren land far away from the control of Taiyuan County, but Qiao Yan's cotton planting base and a channel connecting Liangzhou and Bingzhou.
With Qiao Yan taking over half of Sili, Qin Yu's work will inevitably shift towards coordinating the agricultural affairs of the three states. Replacing Jia Xu here not only meets his temporary "retirement" needs, but also can be regarded as entrusting him with an important position.
In the short term, the expansion of cotton planting and the maintenance of confidentiality are Bingzhou's top priorities.
How to further open up the traffic between Liangzhou and Bingzhou, due to the existence of Ziwuling, is also something that needs to be planned.
Jia Xu was a smart enough subordinate, so he could naturally understand the intention behind Qiao Yan's arrangement.
He pondered the comparison between the three jobs of dealing with people with equally smart minds, teaching future pillars of society, and being a supervisor, and chose the third one without hesitation.
But what even such a shrewd man had not expected was that on the second day after arriving in Shangjun, he found that he had a new neighbor, who was none other than Li Ru.
"..." Jia Xu and Li Ru looked at each other in silence for a moment before they heard the other speak.
Li Ru: "Qiao Bingzhou asked me to change the farming environment."
Then I moved here.
In fact, we should thank Qiao Yan for not insisting on him changing his name from Li Ru to Li Meng and completely getting rid of his connection with Dong Zhuo as she had said to him when she found him before he went to Liangzhou.
But this does not seem to be good news for Jia Xu.
It cannot be said that Qiao Yan did this in order to let Li Ru exchange farming experiences with him.
Jia Xu soon discovered another tragic fact.
In Leping Academy, the children who were identified by Qiao Yan as those who could be developed into second-generation confidants were required to come to the cotton fields in Shangjun regularly to work, which meant that he would most likely have to take on the second job among the three options.
Qiao Yan asked him to choose, and he directly chose a three-in-one.
When he saw Qiao Yan, Jia Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly: "My Lord, you are really..."
You are really good at arranging work.
Qiao Yan continued frankly: "I really need people, so I can only hope that you can do more work. Besides, you don't need to be cautious when dealing with your own people, so it can be regarded as a leisurely rest for you."
It’s hard to say whether Jia Xu can get a rest, but he really has something to say about the shortage of people.
"There are some people that you should be able to use. It may not be as you say that you are short of people."
As he followed Qiao Yan towards the cotton fields of Shangjun, he said, "For example, Zhuge Xuan, an old official of Liu Biao, I heard that he resigned because he wanted to take care of his deceased brother's nephews, and came to Leping for the educational environment of Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Jin and others. He seemed to be planning to return to Jingzhou, but Liu Jingsheng sent his eldest son to Chang'an. If you want to keep him, it shouldn't be difficult."
"There are still some who slip through the net even in Bingzhou, not to mention in Sanfu. Let's not talk about the several people from Fufeng Ma's family who have already been used by the princes. Let's just talk about Zhang Ranming from Liangzhou Sanming. In his early years, in order to get promoted, he changed his native place from Dunhuang to Guanzhong, but he was still demoted because of the Dou Dajiang case and returned to his hometown, where he taught and wrote books. His sons Zhang Zhi, Zhang Chang, Zhang Meng and others are either good at calligraphy, or good at literary theory, or good at commanding troops and practicing martial arts. They are indeed talents that can be used."
"Your Excellency wants to avoid taboos and uphold justice, so you let Liu Yu be the new emperor, but the matter of selecting talents from Chang'an must not be entrusted to others."
If this is the case, I am afraid that the new emperor Liu Yu will turn the fake play into reality.
Qiao Yan nodded: "I know the situation well."
What she can use next is definitely not just Zhuge Xuan and Zhang Huan's three sons. With the gimmick of Liu Yu, the number of people she can recruit from Yingchuan, Nanyang, Hanzhong and other places near Sili will definitely not be small.
But after arriving at Sili, whether these people obeyed Liu Yu's arrangements or became her subordinates was still up to her.
She also has the confidence to make people distinguish between her and Liu Yu!
However, all this would have to wait until she returned to Guanzhong, and also until Liu Yu was persuaded by Huang Wan to enter Guanzhong.
Before that, let’s take a look at the growing cotton.
The last time Qiao Yan left Bingzhou, they were still in the seedling stage.
But now, as the harvest season approaches in October, all you can see is a scene of piles of white cotton.
This is also a scene that is rarely seen by the Han people today.
The cotton that originally grew in foreign lands finally bloomed and bore fruit after being carefully cared for on the land of the Han Dynasty, forming a spectacular sight.
Jia Xu couldn't help but stop by the field, a look of shock on his face.
He was taken to Chang'an by Yan Xing at the turn of summer and autumn last year, but Xu Rong and Ma Teng returned from the Silk Road at the beginning of this year.
The most direct benefit he saw from the Silk Road trade was the cavalry team led by Lu Bu. The difference between the Dayuan horses they rode and the Central Plains war horses was huge.
But when he saw the cotton field that was about to be harvested, he realized more clearly why Qiao Yan valued cotton far more than BMW.
People have to survive first before they can consider more things.
A war horse can develop slowly, but it only has one life.
With the advent of cotton, this wintering process of reducing casualties became possible.
Even though this is only the first year of running this business, it is not difficult to see the potential.
Because the plants in the cotton fields mature at different times, the cotton in one field has been picked by hand and sent to a workshop not far away.
When Qiao Yan and Jia Xu arrived, the cotton had already undergone the first stage of processing using the cotton seed separation machines available there.
It is now being sent to the next step for loosening.
The boxes of cotton that Xu Rong had brought back earlier, in addition to assisting in the construction of these processing machines, also allowed the people operating the two processing steps here to have a clear understanding of them. As a result, the subsequent production of cotton coats and sewing of quilts were all in an orderly state.
It was not until a cotton coat was delivered to Qiao Yan that their immersive observation of the place was interrupted.
Jia Xu took the cotton coat from Qiao Yan, rubbed it to see how thick it was, and asked, "May I ask, sir, if we take into account the cost of growing cotton, how much should this cotton coat cost?"
Although Jia Xu came to Bingzhou after Qiao Yan took up the position of Bingzhou Mu, it does not mean that he knew nothing about Qiao Yan's past.
For someone like him who understands the prince's ambitions, he basically knows everything he needs to know.
Besides, some of them are not really a secret.
When Qiao Yan was still in Leping, he saved up his first pot of gold by selling mulberry and leather clothes.
Since mulberry bark clothing is made of tree bark, its main function is to keep out wind and keep warm, so its low price is completely understandable. However, cotton-padded clothes cannot be lump together with mulberry bark clothing.
In Bingzhou, a linen coat costs one hundred coins, and a mulberry coat costs twenty coins. This was the price that had been set when Qiao Yan started selling these items, and it has never changed since then.
Although there are still many people engaged in this business today, they dare not raise the price due to the existence of the governor Qiao Yan. The most they can do is to develop some decorative features and charge additional fees.
So, how much should cotton-padded clothes be priced at?
Qiao Yan replied, "It doesn't make much sense to just talk about cost pricing. The number of cotton clothes in this first batch is too small, and most of them are for soldiers engaged in military defense in Liangzhou and Bingzhou, especially in Yanmen, Dingxiang, Yunzhong, and the four counties in Hexi. The severe cold in winter is too deadly, so they should get the cotton clothes first."
"In addition, I have an idea. Those who have the merit of beheading people in the army can buy cotton clothes for their families at the price of 100 coins each. The maximum purchase amount is three. What do you think, sir?"
Jia Xu thought for a moment and replied, "If that's the case, there won't be many cotton clothes left."
Judging from Qiao Yan's performance, the price of one hundred coins per garment should not make her lose money. She also obtained a lot of cotton seeds in this harvest. By next year, when she is more familiar with the planting process, she will be able to further expand planting and production.
This year, priority is given to providing it to the soldiers and their families, which is undoubtedly a move of returning home.
only……
"Your Excellency, I'm afraid you can't prevent one thing. Someone will use the soldiers' purchase quota to collect a batch of cotton clothes and resell them."
Qiao Yan shook his head: "I don't necessarily need to guard against these things, but I can make them happen. People who really need winter clothes will not sell their hopes of survival for a hundred five-zhu coins. Those who sell these things can have a good year with the money. As for those who buy cotton-padded clothes at a high price, they must always explain the source of these things when they sell them for the second time, which is to promote us."
It is said that joining the army under the command of Bingzhou Mu is a good place to receive benefits.
With the expansion of territory and the increase of food, the number of soldiers she can afford will naturally increase, and it is also the time to carry out subtle propaganda.
Qiao Yan added: "Perhaps some merchants will send cotton clothes to places outside Bingzhou, such as the neighboring Jizhou."
Those who get this item first must have extra money in hand. It is impossible to satisfy their appetites just by relying on the money that flows out. But by next year, when the number of cotton-padded clothes is enough to cover more people in Bingzhou, she plans to start a household registration real-name purchase system.
By then, she would need people besides soldiers.
The one she stole from her neighbor!
She said to Jia Xu, "I know you want to take a break recently, but cotton is related to the people's livelihood in Bingzhou. Please pay more attention to the subsequent management."
This is not just a simple planting, production and sales thing, but also involves psychological games. She would feel most at ease to leave it to Jia Xu who is temporarily unemployed.
As for the small amount of cotton cloth made by twisting cotton into cotton thread, Qiao Yan gave it to Princess Yang An.
She has been in Bingzhou for two years, and it is time for her to play a role.
While Qiao Yan was busy with various matters after the cotton harvest, Bingzhou also welcomed a special guest.
This person is Tian Feng.
After the autumn harvest and planting in Jizhou, Yuan Shao, unable to reach a cooperative relationship with Qiao Yan, sent Tian Feng to Bingzhou to investigate and learn from him as planned.
So at this time he had arrived at Shangdang County from Wei County.
Shangdang's special geographical location made border screening extremely strict. Fortunately, Tian Feng looked like an unremarkable middle-aged man, and Yuan Shao had prepared a disguised household registration and travel pass for him. According to the name on the household registration, he should be called Yuan Feng, and there is no obvious connection between him and Tian Fengtian Yuanhao. In any case, it was much more thoughtful than the pseudonym used by Xi Zhicai at the time.
As soon as he entered Bingzhou, he found that what Shen Pei had said during the meeting, that the conditions of the farmland in Bingzhou were somewhat different from those in other places, was by no means false.
At this time, two years had passed since Shen Pei's last visit to Bingzhou, and the differences between the two places separated by a mountain became even more obvious.
What's even more terrifying is that Wei County east of Taihang Mountain is under the feet of the emperor, while the area west of Taihang Mountain where he is now is even just a mountain village.
This made Tian Feng shocked, but it did not show on his face.
As he looked around, he saw the farmers walking back and forth between the fields with peaceful smiles on their faces, which made him feel as if time was out of order, and this made him even more frightened.
It was at this moment that two children ran past him.
As they ran, the wind from the door blew up a message in his ears: "Run faster! If you're late, we won't be able to get the front row seat to listen to Mr. Chang's monthly report presentation!"
Tian Feng keenly caught one of the words and subconsciously stopped.
Monthly report?
What is this?
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