Chapter 292: Books for Food
But no matter what new tricks Qiao Yan was playing, even Yuan Shao, who had never been very fond of her, had to admit that——
She was so well prepared for the drought.
Full to...
It makes people sleep poorly.
The sales method of soy sauce and newspapers even quickly flowed from the three states to Jizhou. At most, it was because of the inconvenience of transportation and the fact that the internal market of the three states was not yet saturated. Compared with the other side, the sales quantity was still quite small.
Later, a large part of it was bought by Yuan Shao for research, so that only a few of them were circulated.
But even this leaked part caused some voices in Yecheng that made Yuan Shao unhappy.
Those people were wondering why Guanzhong was making such preparations for possible droughts and locust plagues, while Yuan Shao did not seem to take it seriously.
These remarks made Yuan Shao even more angry.
If Qiao Yan hadn't sent people to intercept Zheng Xuan first, the number of people in their Imperial Academy in Yecheng would not have been so limited.
If the scale of the Imperial College could be raised to a higher level, he might have the opportunity to control the propaganda like Qiao Yan.
No, it's not enough here.
There has to be enough paper, enough...state rights.
This is a top-down set!
"Most of the soy sauce production workshops have aristocratic families behind them, and now they can only transport and sell to other countries and are not allowed to open workshops outside the three states. This has already tied them and Qiao Bingzhou into a community of interests, and now there are the added bonus of newspaper giveaways and large-scale printing." Xin Pi looked at the newspaper in front of him with a serious expression.
This was obviously not good news for Yuan Shao or for them.
As someone who came from a noble family, Xin Pi could certainly see clearly the game of interests going on in Guanzhong at the moment.
Regardless of whether Qiao Yan is gradually expanding her voice through the various cultural invasions she has carried out, at least she is doing one thing right.
Those who have already joined her side may suffer a reduction in power in some areas, but they can make up for it in other areas, and even get more important feedback to them in terms of reputation, which is what scholars value most.
This turned her originally somewhat dangerous action into a way out of the predicament.
This new batch of soy sauce newspapers were brought by incoming merchants. Seven or eight days have passed since Yuan Shao received the news from his subordinates, and during this period there has been no news of any internal unrest from Chang'an. This is enough to prove it.
As for why it is dangerous?
Yuan Shao had enough newspapers in his hands to ensure that his advisers could see the trick.
These newspapers are all mass-produced in the same manner.
"It's not just newspapers." Yuan Shao looked at everyone present and continued.
He actually wanted to conceal the news, but he knew very well that this move would not only not gain him any advantage, but would also create rifts between him and his subordinates during such a special period. It would be better to announce it frankly.
"There is another piece of news from Chang'an. The seven classics and compiled books in the collections of various households will be registered in the form of book numbers in the name of the court. After the people's livelihood affairs of drought and locust plague are completed, they will be issued one by one to show the orthodoxy of the Han court."
"Replace... the Xiping Stone Classics."
When Yuan Shao said this, he was already gritting his teeth.
If Qiao Yan was competing with him for the hearts of the people when he was promoting the method of fighting locusts, then now with the establishment of the status of this orthodox classic, he was digging up his foundation!
Why did the Yuan family of Runan enjoy such an outstanding and transcendent status among the scholars?
In addition to the high official positions of three generations of officials, which allowed them to promote countless scholars over a period of decades, thus forming a complex network of personal connections, a considerable part of the interpretation of Confucian classics was also dominated by aristocratic families like theirs.
It was for this reason that his uncle Yuan Wei married the daughter of the great Confucian scholar Ma Rong.
These are the rules of the game they have.
But now, although Qiao Yan seemed to have not mobilized any troops, he stabbed him with the most ferocious knife!
If she really were to establish the orthodox position of the classics with her numerical advantage as she had done by spreading the Leping Monthly, not only would the reputation of the Yuan family of Runan plummet, but even the aristocratic families in the territory he controlled would more or less become alienated from him.
Yuan Shao secretly complained in his heart that her decision was really vicious.
It was so poisonous that he didn't even have the energy to complain. Was her move going to turn the originally lofty books into gifts like soy sauce and salt, just like newspapers?
It sounds ridiculous to say this.
He just looked at Xin Pi who had just spoken. Seeing that this strategist from Yingchuan, whose brothers both served under him, did not show any strange expression at this time, he felt a little relieved and asked, "In Zuo Zhi's opinion, in order to counter the actions of Chang'an, do we also need to try to mass-produce documents?"
Seeing Yuan Shao reveal such an intention, it would be impossible for Yingchuan scholar representatives such as Xin Pi and Hebei scholar representatives such as Shen Pei not to be tempted by this.
But after thinking it over in his mind, he replied: "I don't think it's appropriate."
"Let's not talk about whether you have the extra manpower and resources to devote to this task right now, given the current drought. Let's just talk about the difficulty of this task itself."
"The only way for a document to be exactly the same as mine is to copy it out from a template. But have you learned what such a template is made of? Do you know how the other party's paper, which is both cheap and of stable quality, is made?"
They could not obtain these papers through large-scale purchases because the laws of the Guanzhong court stipulated that the number of papers sold by each bookstore at a time must not exceed 100 sheets. Otherwise, the buyer's identity information would need to be registered, and violators would be subject to the five punishments.
However, this amount of paper is just a drop in the bucket for promotional paper of a scale like Guanzhong.
The rubbing template seems to be much easier to study than things like allicin, but whether this is actually the case may still require further testing.
Xin Pi continued, "In addition, such a key measure must have been implemented after Chang'an reached a consensus with all the great scholars and important officials in the court. When the book number 1 appears in the world, it will definitely be promoted by all parties. Can you guarantee that when we want to promote this method, we can get ahead of them?"
Xin Pi's three consecutive questions were more heartbreaking than the last.
Even though he knew that he was analyzing the current situation, Yuan Shao still felt as if his eyes were darkening.
The first question is actually just about determining the materials, and at most it is just a matter of making more attempts.
The paper with the second question was the one that Yuan Shao had been trying hard to decipher since the first year of Jian'an, or the first year of Yonghan on their side. But till now, the paper produced still looks like the inferior product that was available on the market a few years ago.
Either the price is high or the quality is poor; in short, it is impossible for them to be put into large-scale applications.
The last question not only revealed the fact that Yuan Shao had no one to stabilize the situation, but also pointed to one point.
If Yuan Shao continued to develop in this way of plagiarizing others, who would think that the books he published could be called orthodox Confucian classics?
"I agree with George's idea." Ju Su said, interrupting Yuan Shao's somewhat autistic inner struggle.
"If you put the most important thing behind just to compete with the opponent, it would be putting the cart before the horse. I think you should be very clear about this."
Ju Su raised the Leping Monthly Report in his hand and said, "Will droughts occur more frequently in the north, or even to the point where they are out of control? There are already some signs. In your opinion, how likely is it that a locust plague will occur?"
No matter how little experience Yuan Shao had in farming, he knew one thing: as a rule, drought and locust plagues were inseparable. Even if these two disasters caused more people to starve to death, it might further trigger an epidemic.
Yuan Shao frowned and said reluctantly: "I'm afraid there will be."
"Then our most urgent task is to prevent and control drought and locust plagues."
Ju Su's expression did not look good when he thought about the combination of these two disasters, which might cause the people who had lived a relatively peaceful life in the past few years to return to dire straits.
Fortunately, the bad news at hand can also be said to be good news.
"Some measures can be implemented in accordance with Guanzhong and Bingzhou."
As for why there is no need to consider Liangzhou? It is because the altitude of Liangzhou causes the temperature to be relatively low. This environment will greatly inhibit the hatching of locust eggs in most cases, so it is difficult for locusts to cause infestations.
At most, the drought situation will become more severe.
Another place with the same situation is Youzhou. This is due to the geographical location being too far north.
They can save some time and effort in negotiating with Gongsun Zan.
Yuan Shao listened to Ju Su's judgment and looked at the Leping Monthly Report in front of him again. "Gong Yu, you should first arrange for people in Jizhou and Qingzhou to... re-cultivate the land."
This is an action that will not cause any loss regardless of whether these two disasters occur.
The reform of agricultural tools in Bingzhou in the past could no longer be kept secret as the number of merchants engaged in trade increased.
But what can I say? Now Qiao Yan no longer cares about these things being leaked out. Anyway, the advantage of being a step ahead will become increasingly difficult to make up in the later stages.
For example, something like an iron rake may look simple, but it actually consumes iron ore.
It just so happened that the iron rakes in Bingzhou and Liangzhou were basically made in the early years, and at that time the Chang'an court and the Yecheng court had not yet entered the stage of confrontation. This part of the initial investment was completely within the acceptable range for Qiao Yan.
But for Yuan Shao today, this is something he needs to divide up from his war supplies!
Even in a climate that showed signs of drought, he couldn't ask the people under his rule to pay for harrows, but he couldn't offer too high a price.
The worse the conditions, the more consumption is restricted.
Yuan Shao certainly saw this drawback when he made the decision, but unfortunately, compared to purchasing Leping Monthly Reports from Bingzhou on a large scale and distributing them to the people of the two states, and compared to starting the large-scale construction of the canal in March -
The loss in making farm tools is relatively small.
Cao Cao, who was in Yanzhou, was not in as difficult a situation as Yuan Shao.
He did take the position of Governor of Yanzhou by expanding first and then legitimizing himself, so he had some friction with the scholars in Yanzhou in the subsequent cooperation. However, he was not like Yuan Shao who had a Yecheng court in the territory as a burden. Secondly, he also had people like Chen Gong who gradually eased the relationship with the scholars in Yanzhou.
However, when it comes to how comfortable he can live in the face of the coming drought, it is obviously not to this extent.
Throughout history, whenever there was a drought, Yanzhou would suffer more than places like Jizhou and Qingzhou. The advantages of climate, soil, and farmland would instead become disadvantages here.
What can I do? Locusts love to eat...
Cao Cao was so worried that he lost a lot of hair. It is not impossible to use a variety of beans and alfalfa for prevention and control, but the prerequisite is that there must be enough market for these two things.
Although beans are one of the five grains, I have never heard of anyone using beans as a staple food for a long time. At most, they can be eaten with millet and wheat. Therefore, if too many are planted, consumption will become a problem.
Not to mention alfalfa, which requires a much more stringent growing environment than beans, and there are not enough war horse resources in Yanzhou to feed it.
"I don't think we need to think about sending them to Sili for sale after growing them," Cao Cao held his forehead and flipped the newspaper in front of him again and again, "This kind of publicity will definitely cause the prices of beans and alfalfa in the three states to drop sharply. Taking into account the travel expenses, we will lose money."
In other words, the problem can only be solved within their own territory.
However, even so, Chen Gong, who was present here, could see that facing the difficulties brought about by the heavy responsibility, Cao Cao did not regret taking the post of Governor of Yanzhou, but was still actively looking for a way out. From this point of view, Chen Gong felt very relieved.
Under this pressure, Cao Cao even had a frank talk with Yanzhou scholars such as Bian Rang who had some opinions about him, and made it clear that either they worked together to overcome the current crisis, or they would lose the support of the people and their lives would be in danger. In short, any opinions should be expressed after the disaster was over.
For the sake of this progress during the adjustment period, Chen Gong also felt that he had the responsibility to cooperate with Cao Cao to overcome this crisis.
Since the natural order of things has its own laws and cannot be changed according to human will, we can only do it from a human perspective.
In addition to the methods given in the Leping Monthly Report, Chen Gong suggested: "In the three western states, the Marquis Qiao set an example himself, so the people no longer have a fear of locusts. The Dongguan Hanji even revised the statement that locusts flew into the sea and turned into fish and shrimps. However, most people in Yanzhou do not know this. If a locust plague occurs, the governor will immediately set an example and catch locusts himself."
Cao Cao nodded, of course he would do that.
"In addition, we can try the method used by Marquis Qiao to drive away locusts. We can exchange locusts for food and kill them with fire. We can also issue an imperial decree that if anyone destroys a field by catching locusts, the field will be exempted from tax."
Cao Cao was about to speak when Chen Gong said, "I know what you are worried about. Under such circumstances, it is inevitable that some people will deliberately trample on the land to avoid taxes, so strict supervision and inspection are needed. I would like to recommend a person to you. His surname is Man, his name is Chong, and his courtesy name is Bo Ning. He once served as a supervisor in the county and did his duty in investigating bandits. He also served as a county magistrate in Gaoping County. Because the county supervisor was corrupt, he arrested and tortured him, causing the supervisor to die under torture. So he resigned and returned home."
"Extraordinary times call for people with extraordinary skills!" Cao Cao's eyes lit up and he replied immediately. "I don't know where this person is now. I will go and invite him immediately."
Chen Gong replied, "He is from Shanyang County. Since the Lord has this intention, just send someone to Shanyang Changyi."
This was just a doubt. Cao Cao thought about it and asked again: "But if we want to exchange locusts for food, we don't have enough food. What should we do?"
They cannot offer someone a price that cannot be fulfilled, but the exchange amount cannot be too low either.
Although the harvest was good last year, a considerable portion of the grain was still used by Cao Cao to exchange for cotton clothes for winter use.
The current government treasury is enough to last for a normal year or two, but it will not be enough if a disaster like this happens.
Chen Gong decisively replied: "Send someone to Chang'an to ask Marquis Yu Qiao——"
"Are you willing to exchange the rare books in Yanzhou for food?"
Cao Cao was stunned, "How could they bear to do that?"
Chen Gong shook his head. "They may not be willing to take out all the books, but if they can get a bunch together, they will be willing to do so. They can also think more about the choice of books."
"What is more important? At this critical moment, we have to decide who is more important."
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