A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 435 Taoyuan Alliance
In the cherry orchard.

Wu Huaiyu was full of guests, and today Wu Huaiyu specially invited Mingjing Scholars from Xinke to the banquet, which flattered all the scholars.

Although it is said that all of them stand out from the crowd, and they are all outstanding, but the Ming Jing A class is at most from the qualifications for conferring officials from the ninth rank, and the Jinshi is from the lower rank.

At this time, they have only passed the imperial examination, and there will be a re-examination by the Ministry of Officials later. If they pass all of them, they will get a formal background. According to the selection method, they have to participate in the selection. Thousands, thousands of people lost the election and had to continue to be candidates.

After choosing all the way, it is just a ninth rank, and most of them are going to be released as county captains to start their careers.

It is really a thousand miles away from Wu Huaiyu, Duke of the Yi Kingdom who is winning the holy family in the court.

No one would be excited to be able to invite them to Duke Yi's cherry banquet, and then there is a bit of bragging rights. In Chang'an, I was also a guest at Duke Yi's cherry banquet.

If he can be appreciated by Lord Yi at the cherry banquet, he will worship under Lord Yi like Shangguanyi and Li Yifu. Even if he has the name of a registered disciple, it will be of great help to his official career.

Even if some Xinke Mingjing Scholars have already been arrested by some nobles, they are still willing to have a relationship with Wu Huaiyu. It is really that this person is too powerful now.

"The angel is here!"

The banquet is about to begin, and the palace envoys come.

Unexpectedly, it was the eunuch Zhang Anan who came in person, this eunuch of the Shangzhu Kingdom and the county, wearing a purple robe and jade belt, with his hands in his sleeves, smiling all over his face.

Huaiyu and others came forward to meet him.

"The sage was very happy to receive a tribute from Duke Yi of cherries today. It just so happened that the cherry orchard south of the imperial garden was also ripe, so he ordered our family to pick a basket and bring it over. He also said that Duke Yi would share it with everyone."

There are also many cherry trees in the Cherry Garden of the Royal Royal Garden. Every year, the emperor basically invites some courtiers to visit the garden when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. When the cherries are ripe, they will also hold a cherry feast and give the courtiers cherries.

Those who can go to accompany the king to enjoy the cherry blossoms and participate in the emperor's cherry banquet are all people of high status and very trusted. Even if it is a gift of cherries, not every Beijing official has a share. Generally, it is only for regular officials of the fifth rank or above. share.

If it is below the fifth rank, it is absolutely enviable to get a cherry gift, and it is even a sign of promotion and reuse.

Today Wu Huaiyu held a cherry banquet, and the emperor even sent someone to pick cherries in the cherry orchard to give them as gifts. This surprised all the guests present, because the royal cherry banquet has not been held this year.

Was the first basket of cherries given to Wu Huaiyu?

"Your Majesty also specially rewarded Duke Yi with twelve pairs of glazed cups,"

Buttermilk cherries are a perfect match for Liulizhan.

Put bright red cherries in a transparent glass cup, then pour in frozen cheese, and pair it with a golden spoon, which is indescribably exquisite and elegant.

There are only twelve pairs of glazed cups bestowed by the imperial court, except for Wu Huaiyu and his wife, those who can use this cup at today's banquet are naturally distinguished guests.

A group of new scholars, seeing the chief executive talking and laughing with Wu Huaiyu and his wife, they are very envious. There are good and bad reviews of Wu Huaiyu in the public. Some people also praised Wu Huaiyu very much, thinking that he was young but extremely capable. He was capable of writing and martial arts.

Even if his reputation among noble officials is so mixed, apart from envy and jealousy, those who attack him are mainly because of Wu Huaiyu's current policy propositions, which make them suffer and suffer damage, such as the full implementation of free warehouse grain and two liters per mu. The aristocratic officials felt that they had suffered a great loss and paid a lot of food for an extra year.

The cancellation of public funds has also attracted many people's attacks, even because the imperial court issued new regulations on lending under Wu Huaiyu's suggestion, stipulating that those who use property for public and private use will be allowed to rely on private contracts, and the officials will not take it for granted. The profit shall not exceed six points, and even though the accumulated days are many, it shall not exceed double, and those who violate it shall be forfeited.

Moreover, it is stipulated that it is allowed to repay the wheat millet when borrowing wheat millet, and repay the money and silk when borrowing money and silk.

This regulation is to draw a red line for lending.

Even if the interest rate exceeds six percent, that is usury, which is illegal, and even if the loan interest is for a long time, the interest cannot exceed double the principal at most.

At the same time, interest cannot be compounded.

Although there are policies and countermeasures for this kind of regulation, it is better than nothing.

The six-percent interest line is still relatively high, but it is much better than before. Before, the public money was eight cents a month, let alone private private loans.

In fact, Wu Huaiyu initially suggested that the monthly profit be divided into four points to draw the red line, but in the end the court only set six points.

Although many officials believe that private private lending is the business of both parties, there is no bottom line for this kind of thing, and it will cause great social problems, which will ultimately be borne by the court.

In any case, the promulgation of this policy has indeed affected many lenders, especially those big temples, nobles and landlords, because they are the main force of lending, borrowing food and borrowing money, and the interest rate is double or triple. .

The interests here are huge, and the water is extremely deep.

Wu Huaiyu's proposal is of course positive for the country and society, but for them, they will earn a lot less money in the future, even if they use other methods, they are exploiting loopholes and there are legal risks.

Based on interest transfer, falsely establishing a loan agreement is a crime.

At the same time, with regard to debt settlement, it is emphasized that officials should seek justice, and it is forbidden to forcibly seize the debtor's property and replace it with one's own body.

Even debt contracts with more than ten strings must be officially registered and exchanged.

All kinds of new regulations are still aimed at reducing social conflicts, maintaining stability, and protecting the interests of the people at the bottom.

Li Shimin clearly realized that when the Sui Dynasty collapsed, the wealth of the world did not decrease much, but was transferred and gathered in the hands of a smaller number of nobles and powerful people. Liao and famine were used as introductions, so the world was in chaos.

Land annexation has always been an important reason for the collapse of dynasties, but land annexation is actually just a concrete manifestation of the polarization of the world between rich and poor.

The collapse of dynasties in the past was essentially a huge polarization between the rich and the poor. In the end, most of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few people such as nobles, officials, gentry, and powerful landlords.

Therefore, Li Shimin also believes that in order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the world, at least the poor must have basic security, food, clothing, housing, and work.

Not to mention how good everyone's life is, but if the most basic food, clothing and clothing cannot be met, it will be difficult to talk about stability.

The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty depends on the shortest board. This short board is the foundation of how tall the barrel of Datang can be. That short board is the people at the bottom.

But now the harm of usury is no less than the harm caused by land annexation. Countless people have nothing because of debts, especially usury, and they have even been completely reduced to slaves of nobles and powerful people.
This is digging the foundation of Datang's country, and it is also digging away the foundation of Datang's national finance and taxation.

Land annexation and usury, these are the two most profitable knives of the nobles and tyrants. Those people who can be cut with a knife go bankrupt and are eventually annexed by them.

Wu Huaiyu herself is also a high-ranking nobleman, but now she is still taking the lead in promoting such a policy, which is a bit crooked, but if there is no benign and healthy development direction and abnormal development, accidents will still happen sooner or later.

Furthermore, Wu Huaiyu is a newcomer, in those fields he couldn't compete with those old aristocrats and nobles, so it would be better to cut a few knives, and everyone will retreat to the same starting line.

In fact, Wu Huaiyu also knows that although the policies introduced by the imperial court are good, the actual implementation by the people will definitely not be so good.

But if you draw a line, you don’t need to say that you can really and completely abide by it, but at least it will be much better. Most of the people who scold him are nobles, powerful and even monastery bald donkeys, but there will definitely be more common people and merchants who will be grateful to Wu Huaiyu. of.

If you play with those old nobles and old gentry, if your background strength is not as good as them, then modify the rules.

Wu Huaiyu is now also a big noble and big landlord. There are more than a thousand hectares of land under his name, 10,000+ mu. Unfortunately, most of them are in the border areas of Lingwu Shuo, and the capital is only a few thousand mu. There are some in other places.

Except for the frontier land, the others are all scattered, with a hundred acres here and a few hundred acres there, nothing compares to those old-fashioned elites, nothing compares at all.

Even the samurai family mainly used slaves and other slaves for farming, and also hired people near the manor to do long-term and part-time jobs, which was really incomparable to those aristocratic families.

"Please raise your glasses together, and thank the sage for rewarding Vermillion Fruit!"

Wu Huaiyu raised the glass cup, and all the guests in the garden stood together and thanked the north.

The atmosphere of the cherry feast is very good.

The guests and hosts had a great time, and those who could be invited by Wu Huaiyu, except for those scholars from the Xinke, most of the rest were Wu Huaiyu's in-laws and allies.

Because everyone has more common interests, the impact of some of Wu Huaiyu's policies on everyone is not so important.

Compared with unscrupulous loan sharking, then using debt to annex land, or even forcing people into slavery, which is quite immoral, Wu Huaiyu is doing a lot of things now, which are actually more profitable. The problem is that there is no moral burden.

It's like Wu Huaiyu is now leading allies to Shaozhou for great development.

The gold, silver, copper, iron and coal mines were mined, and the smelted iron was pulled to the side of Cen Shuidan Spring in Shaozhou to establish a water method copper smelting plant, and the copper produced at that time was sold directly to the mint of the imperial court.

It is also possible to transport the frozen iron along the Pearl River to Guangzhou, where an ironware factory is established to produce iron pots and iron pots, etc. The main business is foreign trade, and it goes to sea through Guangzhou Port. He has investigated this business and the profit is extremely high.

If they only engage in production, there is no risk. The main risks are cargo owners and ship owners. The risk of going to sea is high, but the profit is also large.

Regarding the method of leaching iron in Danquan to smelt copper, it is not a secret. Wu Huaiyu only said that there is this thing, and the imperial court has already started this project. Now the Wu family has also obtained a license to smelt copper in Danquan, and is willing to share it with you.

The samurai family provides licenses and technology, and other families provide money and people. Everyone goes there to mine, smelt, and make money together.

Get rich together.

The cherry banquet finally turned into a high-end private fundraising meeting. Wu Huaiyu sat under the cherry tree with a group of allies, and he convinced them with only a few diagrams.

These chart PPTs are simple, vivid and clear, so convincing.

Especially the big and bold keywords that two catties of four liang of iron can be smelted into one catty of copper attracted everyone's attention.

Now that the imperial court has officially established a project to build a gallbladder copper factory in Cenwen, Shaozhou, why are you hesitating?
Wu Huaiyu's credit has always been good, and no one will doubt it.

In mining and smelting, the most restrictive thing is not technology and capital, but policy and manpower. These are industries that require a lot of labor. Although technology and capital are important, policy is the biggest risk, and sufficient workers are whether they can do it. Get up, what is the biggest shortcoming of what you can do.

If you want to rely on the Wu family alone, you can only do small things, and he can't get many people in Lingnan. This requires not only miners, but also managers. Miners can buy slaves, but what about managers?

The Qin family, the Cheng family, the Fan family, the Qiu family, the Li family, the Yang family, the Wu family, the Doulu Huai Rang family, and even the local tyrant Su Lie’s family were all willing to join. These powerful nobles have many trustworthy management teams.
Each family mobilizes manpower, mobilizes slaves, recruits workers, and can quickly pull up a strong team in Shaozhou, which can be scaled up directly.

At that time, we will unite with the barbarians of the local mountain tribes, share some benefits with them, and recruit them into the group. If there is a conflict between the uncivilized barbarians, we don’t have to worry about facing all the barbarians. At that time, we can let the barbarians Let's take the lead.

"Dry!"

It's done.

Wu Huaiyu raised the glass cup and toasted together.

Scoop up a spoonful of cherries topped with cheese and put them in your mouth,

Sweet and juicy first-ripe cherries accompanied by slightly sour, moist and smooth natural cheese,
Wonderful.

(End of this chapter)