Chapter 51 Three Thousand Households
It was hard for Qiao Yan not to suspect that, in a sense, Cai Zhaoji had inherited Cai Yong's habit of telling the truth without thinking.
She replied seriously, "How can you say that? Huangjing grows in Taihang Mountain. Although it has never been processed and its quality is just so-so, it is still a spirit from the mountains. Paper mulberry juice has the effect of glue, which can make the wax seal more tight to prevent the things presented to Your Majesty from spoiling. The paper mulberry bark we use to make clothes is just the lowest quality among them."
Cai Zhaoji looked at her and felt that Qiao Yan was obviously an expert at fooling people. After all, even if His Majesty saw this mulberry bark coat, it would be difficult for him to find any flaws in her fallacies.
Qiao Yan then found a thin county resident to test the effect of this mulberry bark coat.
Having experienced cotton and down products of later generations, it was inevitable that her evaluation of mulberry bark clothing was biased. After all, whether in terms of softness or warmth, mulberry bark was far from meeting the standards she knew.
But this is not the case for people of this era.
Most people in the north burn kangs, which has been around since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. By the Han Dynasty, the design of laying chimneys became more and more reasonable, but a good cook cannot cook without rice, and the kang cannot catch fire out of thin air.
A family needs 20 kilograms of firewood a day to keep their kang heated and cook. It is certainly impossible to stay indoors for that long during this long winter.
Once you go out, you will have to endure the cold, and going up the mountain is even more dangerous.
The county resident that Qiao Yan had found put on the strange-looking mulberry bark coat with some skepticism, but he found that although it was not as close-fitting as ordinary clothes, it was very effective in keeping out the wind while keeping the weight of the clothes light.
His physique could not be compared with those cold-resistant warriors like Zhao Yun and Dian Wei. He was shivering a little due to the sudden drop in temperature when he came just now. Now that he had blocked the wind, he stood up straight.
He couldn't help but marvel at this unremarkable piece of clothing.
"I was wondering why you asked people to find the paper mulberry tree. The bark of this thing is very tough and hard to bite. I didn't know it can have such miraculous effects. Fortunately, we didn't eat it last year."
“…”
"Sir?" He noticed that Qiao Yan was stunned for a moment after hearing his answer.
But she soon regained her composure and asked, "What do you think of this dress?"
"It's very good. It's more resistant to cold than linen clothes. It's windproof. You can also put on two more clothes as padding and try going up the mountain in winter." He stretched out his hand and pulled the mulberry bark coat. He found that it probably inherited the toughness of tree bark, so it would not be torn even if pulled like this.
It is also because of this toughness that when there are slightly large movements, although it appears hard, there is no tendency for it to break.
He was becoming more and more fond of this item, and suddenly heard Qiao Yan's answer, "Then you can go wearing this dress."
He looked at Qiao Yan in disbelief, and seeing that the seriousness and determination on her face were genuine, he happily took the mulberry coat and retreated.
Qiao Yan looked at his back, which looked much lighter as he left, and felt a little dazed.
If she had previously tried to make the mulberry leather jacket simply because she did not want the county's population to decrease during the winter, then this necessity would have to be raised even further now.
Under what circumstances would one say what he had said before, that fortunately the mulberry bark was tough and difficult to bite, so it left the raw material for her to make mulberry skin clothes?
But he seemed to have no intention of treating this matter as a big deal at all, and spoke of it in a very nonchalant tone.
He also did not realize how his words shocked the Marquis of Leping County.
Qiao Yan tried hard to suppress the other party's words temporarily in his heart and devoted himself to making the mulberry clothes again.
Once you have a finished product, you will have a rough idea of the direction in which to improve it.
The method of soaking the peeled bark in a pool, the distribution of bark fibers by hammering in various positions on the entire garment, the number of superimposed mulberry barks, and the shape of the entire mulberry bark garment are all becoming more and more optimized as the number of samples increases.
In this matter, the women in the Montenegro labor camp undoubtedly played an extremely important role. Qiao Yan also gave half of the first batch of mulberry bark clothes to them, and the other half was worn by the young and strong people who needed to go up the mountain to chop firewood and continue collecting mulberry bark.
The need for cold protection undoubtedly further improved the labor efficiency of these people. Seven days later, Qiao Yan saw the second batch of mulberry leather jackets.
This is very similar to the paper fur coat used to reward civilians in later generations.
One of the women even tried to put a layer of hemp wool between two layers of mulberry bark during the process of steaming and hammering the bark. Someone else tried to add walnut seed oil to make the hardness of the bark a little less severe.
Qiao Yan vaguely remembered that wood products could also achieve this effect, but compared to that, walnut kernels obviously had a better chance of getting it.
And since this vegetable oil can achieve the purpose, it is obvious that other oily crops can also be used as materials.
By the time the third batch of mulberry skin clothes came out, the model in front of her, which was a replica of the original Leping terrain, had completely become a record of all kinds of crops in the mountains.
Although the Black Mountain bandits had only been entrenched in the Taihang Mountains for a month, as they moved back and forth, they inevitably paid attention to the landmarks of various places.
The most clearly marked area in red at this moment is the location of the mulberry forest. The rest is where auxiliary materials like walnut come in.
Xi Zhicai no longer thinks the map is strange.
To him, using this meticulously crafted map model to record agricultural activities seemed a bit of a waste.
But if we can really use this thing to record every tree and blade of grass in Leping and revive an entire county, then how can it be considered a waste?
He even saw Qiao Yan looking at the terrain model in front of him and smiling knowingly.
"I want to set the price of this mulberry fur coat at twenty coins." Qiao Yan leaned on the table and looked at the red, green and yellow markings in front of him. He suddenly said, "According to the prices in Bingzhou, the cheapest linen coat is about a hundred coins. If a family of five has five mulberry fur coats, it is exactly the price of one linen coat."
"Now that the autumn harvest is over, every family has enough money to buy a new dress with their surplus money. Lord Qiao's estimate is not wrong." Xi Zhicai replied.
Xi Zhicai found that Qiao Yan was a very interesting person.
She was obviously always maintaining a state of mind - giving concessions to the county residents, but at the same time not wanting them to think that she could solve all problems and provide everything for free.
But this has a more subtle influence than showing favor.
It is also more like a special transaction structure.
In this structure, they are not simply paying money to buy clothes, but more like paying a small amount of money to get a chance to survive under Qiao Yan's rule.
Xi Zhicai's vision was enough to see that if this trust accumulated to a certain level, the county residents who had already formed a habit would definitely choose to adapt to Qiao Yan's trading system.
Or, in other words, paying money for one's life is equivalent to paying taxes to Qiao Yan for being in this territory.
Paying taxes in this sense is absolutely not the same as paying taxes to her because "Qiao Yan is a county marquis conferred here by the Han Dynasty."
His thoughts turned around, and he felt that Qiao Yan had some ideas about pricing, but he just continued to ask: "Then according to Lord Qiao's opinion, how should the Black Mountain Bandits be dealt with?"
"For servants in border counties, the monthly wage is 300 coins, provided that the employer provides food and accommodation. Their situation is similar now, but if I really pay them this price, I cannot afford it." Qiao Yan frankly admitted that he is still a pauper.
Even if the price was really set at twenty coins for a mulberry leather coat, with Leping County as her capital, she could only receive a million coins, which would only be a little over a hundred coins after being distributed among the Black Mountain bandits' laborers. This was obviously not in line with the market price.
"But I also packed their clothes and firewood for heating." Qiao Yan continued, "Plus, their food is much better than that of ordinary servants, and they are half-criminal, so I'll charge them thirty coins a month. It's only been more than two months now, so it's still within the affordable range."
"The only two who can be treated differently are the one who proposed to mix hemp wool into the mulberry peel and the one who proposed to use walnut oil to soften the mulberry peel."
"Marquis Qiao is trying to set an example." Xi Zhicai clapped his hands and laughed, "Then I guess they can be restored to good citizen status and be included in the household registration of Leping County."
Under the household registration system of the Han Dynasty, if you wanted to move to a certain place, you had to get permission from local officials, but Leping was a little special.
The county marquis Qiao Yan had real power over local control, as evidenced by the fact that Cheng Li, the prime minister of Leping, obeyed her orders.
Then it is naturally not difficult to issue a certificate of relocation of household registration.
Xi Zhicai had no doubt that the person she treated specially would stay here after this invitation.
The inventory in the Leping granary, Qiao Yan's decision to reduce taxes, and the development of mulberry leather clothing are undoubtedly extremely attractive conditions for people who have experienced hunger.
This is particularly valuable in this environment where, although the uprising has been quelled, it still seems like a chaotic world.
"Not only that, according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the unified household registration will be compiled in August." Qiao Yan retracted his gaze from the model and turned his head to look at Xi Zhicai. "If I set the deadline to August next year and the limit to 3,000, what do you think, sir?"
In August, only 3,000 of the 9,000 Black Mountain bandits were selected to be registered...
As long as she can continue to maintain Leping's current state, these 3,000 households will be like bait placed in front of the Black Mountain bandits, sparking a wave of competition within the originally friendly and benevolent administration.
This undoubtedly brings up a healthy competition.
Very interesting!
but……
"I thought Qiao Hou said something wrong,"
Xi Zhicai gathered his sleeves, suddenly bowed to Qiao Yan and said, "The quota reserved by Leping County is not 3,000 households, so we have to reduce it by one."
When he said this, a hint of surprise appeared on Qiao Yan's face.
Three thousand less for one household!
There seems to be no second answer as to which household is missing.
Although Xi Zhicai had previously suggested the plan for her to plot against the governors of the three counties, and had also agreed on how to express it in the memorial that they later agreed to send to Luoyang, he had only said that he was offering suggestions, and had never said that he would stay here.
But what he said at this moment, that he would become a naturalized citizen of Leping, undoubtedly showed a clear sense of belonging more than his willingness to work here.
Of course, this naturalization does not mean that he will call himself Leping Xizhicai when greeting others in the future. The fact that he can make such a decision is also related to the fact that he is alone and has few connections with his fellow villagers.
But the subtext of this decision is precisely——
He was quite optimistic about Qiao Yan's performance, so he was willing to bet on her.
Even if there is still a possibility of leaving in the future, at least for now, he has tied himself to Leping as a community of interests.
This is not a decision that a visionary and talented strategist would make easily.
At first glance, this sudden boldness was quite different from his usual leisurely and casual appearance of drinking and enjoying himself.
But in Qiao Yan's opinion, there is no conflict in this regard.
For any strategist, hesitating too much in dealing with things is an extremely fatal problem.
Qiao Yan was afraid that Xi Zhicai would regret it, so he immediately replied, "If you are willing to stay, it will be a blessing for Qiao Yan and Le Ping."
"In that case, I wonder how much Ximou's salary is?"
Now that the decision had been made, Xi Zhicai showed a bit of laziness, and his tone seemed to be a bit teasing, "I see that Lord Qiao likes to talk about the law. Does the law mention how a wine lover like me should be paid?"
Since he was not talking seriously, Qiao Yan was happy to reply in a casual tone: "Lu Yun, a common trader can earn 2,000 yuan a month. Most common tradesmen only have one skill, but you can give advice and make wine, so you should be paid two wages. How about 4,000 yuan a month?"
What are ordinary traders? They are craftsmen above the standard level recruited by the government.
Xi Zhicai calculated the current grain prices. If his salary standard was as Qiao Yan said, plus Leping's many welfare systems that provided food and accommodation, it would be exactly the same as the price of six hundred shi.
That is to say, it is only slightly lower than Cheng Li's salary.
Considering the time he had served her and the contributions he had made, this arrangement was obviously reasonable.
But she didn't say it in a serious way. Instead, she said "Luyun" seriously, which sounded magically humorous no matter how you listened to it.
When it comes to career, Xi Zhicai naturally appreciates Qiao Yan's meticulous attitude towards Le Ping. Even this meticulousness, which is almost rigorous, is fully reflected in the model she built.
But if she were a counselor judging his lord, her ability to take jokes would obviously be more to his liking.
Maybe this was a good decision.
However, the next moment he heard Qiao Yan say, "Excuse me, the standard for ordinary merchants is mostly able-bodied men. With your current physique, I'm afraid you're still a little short of that."
“…”
"Yan can't deduct wages, so I can only supervise your drinking and eating in your spare time." Qiao Yan said slowly, watching Xi Zhicai's expression in front of him become stiff. "What do you think, sir?"
What do you think?
Xi Zhicai couldn't help but start thinking, if he said he wanted to withdraw his previous decision, would it be too late?
or--
Can he find someone who can share the attention?
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