I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 257 Liu Yu's Achievements in Qingzhou
Unlike Queen Mother He, Dong Zhuo's letter to Liu Jian was not a complete fool. Although he did not promise Liu Jian an official position or title, he granted Liu Jian a special arrangement for the remaining Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou in the name of the prime minister's mansion. At the same time, it ordered the state, county and county departments of all parties to fully cooperate.

For Liu Jian, this is what he needs, but Dong Zhuo is very discerning.

As for official titles and titles, Liu Jian no longer needs them. His current official titles are completely sufficient. The position of General Zuo in this timeline has a higher gold content than the four towns and four expeditions.

Liu Jian felt that it didn't matter even if his military position didn't get promoted in the future.

As for the so-called general, let others sit down, he just needs to take the truth.

After Liu Jian wrote a private letter to Dong Zhuo, he wrote another letter to Lu Qiang, replying to Queen Mother He's solicitation.

The content of the reply is simple and direct, anyway, it is a show of loyalty!

I will show my loyalty to anyone who comes to win me over, anyway, I will not offend anyone now.

After writing letters to Dong Zhuo and Queen Mother He, Liu Jian asked Zhang Fei, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Xu Rong and others to cooperate with Guan Yu and Gongsun Zan to take over the more than 170 million Qingzhou Yellow Turbans.

And Liu Jian himself, together with Liu Bei and Zhao Yun, went to Donglai County to meet Liu Yu.

The danger of the Yellow Turban in Qingzhou was resolved, and Liu Yu was finally able to get away. Even if Liu Jian didn't come to see him, I'm afraid Liu Yu would come to see Liu Jian.

Liu Jian and his party came to Huang County and met Liu Yu.

As the lord of the eastern part of Qingzhou, Liu Yu's clothes are very simple, his demeanor is friendly, his manner is elegant without losing his demeanor, and he is approachable, giving people a feeling of spring breeze.

After meeting Liu Jian, Liu Yu immediately grabbed Liu Jian's hand without saying a word, and it was so tight.

"Deran, if you hadn't come to Qingzhou, the consequences would be unimaginable! Qingzhou depends on you to be preserved!"

Liu Jian said: "Da Sima's words are too serious. Da Sima governs in Qingzhou. Whether it is his reputation or his virtuous government, he is praised by all people!"

Liu Yu waved his hand and said, "Deran's praise is too much!"

Liu Bei behind Liu Jian said respectfully: "It's not that the praise is too much. When Bei was in Luoyang, I also heard that since Da Sima arrived in Qingzhou, he has kept a lenient government, persuaded and supervised farming, and opened up the benefits of the northern and southern commercial markets. East China Sea Salt Lee, Min Yue Nian Deng, Gu Shi Thirty, "

"Even though Da Sima is a Shanggong, he is frugal by nature. He wears clothes and shoes, has no food and meat, and is far and near a handsome man who is arrogant and extravagant. He will change his mind and return to his heart."

After hearing Liu Bei's praise, Liu Yu was not only not happy, but felt guilty.

"Although I have the civility and morality to govern the people, I have no merit in martial arts. I can't put down the chaos in the local area, so that thousands of people have been tortured! How can I have the audacity to take credit for it?"

Speaking of this, some tears even flashed in Liu Yu's eyes.

Liu Jian hurriedly said: "The achievements of the great Sima are well known in the world, so don't underestimate yourself." '

But Liu Yu waved his hand, and said to Liu Jian: "Now that Deran is here, I will give up Qingzhou counties, and only you can keep Qingzhou!"

Liu Jian and Liu Bei looked at each other in surprise.

Even if the two of them were geniuses, they would never have imagined that once Liu Yu saw the two of them, he would say that he would give up Qingzhou.

Of course, Liu Yu is only the shepherd of Dongqingzhou. In name, the area under his jurisdiction is only from the east of Beihai, so he can only give way to the east of Beihai.

However, in this Yellow Turban incident, Li Sheng, the governor of Qingzhou, and several county guards and ministers in the west have all died for the country. Therefore, judging from the current situation, although Liu Yu bears the name of Dongqingzhou Shepherd, there are people in front of him. Take power over a state.

Liu Jian just hesitated for a while, and then said: "Isn't Da Sima testing me? Do you suspect that I have the heart to seize Qingzhou?"

Liu Yu waved his hands hastily after hearing this.

"There is no doubt about the morality. Yu Fei is a villain who plays tricks and shows off his scheming. I want you to take charge of Qingzhou on my behalf. It is really sincere!"

Seeing that Liu Jian and Liu Bei were still suspicious, Liu Yu said to them, "Deran, Xuande... Since your brothers have come, follow me around the counties in Donglai County these few days. , After the turn is over, you will understand!"

Liu Jian said: "Since Da Sima kindly invites us, we brothers are willing to accompany you!"

……

For the next few days, Liu Jian accompanied Liu Yu on inspections in the places under the jurisdiction of Donglai County, such as Yi, Pingdu, Yuli, Changyang, Buye, Yangle, Yangshi, and Xuxiang.

This is not an inspection, but it's okay. Under this inspection, Liu Jian and Liu Bei's admiration for Liu Yu began to grow infinitely.

Liu Yu is not only a master in governance, but also in terms of economy and industry, he is definitely a top existence in the Han Dynasty.

He has not been in Qingzhou for a long time, but he has done many commendable things.

Like Liu Jian, Liu Yu implemented the farming system in Qingzhou under his jurisdiction. Although it was not as big as Liu Jian’s actions in Jizhou, the scale of farming in Qingzhou should not be underestimated. The grain output has maintained the stability and tranquility of the region.

But farming is only one aspect. What Liu Jian and Liu Bei admire the most is that Liu Yu used Dongnae County as an experimental point to engage in various industrial economies.

The most important one is that as soon as Liu Yu took office, he reorganized Qingzhou Salt Affairs.

Dongnai County is also called the Shandong Peninsula in later generations. This area has had one of the largest industrial benefits since ancient times, and that is the sea salt industry.

In the Han Dynasty, salt was a symbol of wealth, and the benefits of salt were unimaginable to many people.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented a salt and iron monopoly. Although there was suspicion of competing with the people for profit, it also reflected how huge the profit of salt was from the side. It is a national monopoly.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the salt and iron affairs were sometimes released and sometimes controlled, but overall, the salt and iron affairs were still released to a certain extent. Although several monarchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty wanted to shrink the salt Iron controls the power, but the market economy is constantly improving and evolving with the progress of human beings. Some things cannot be reversed. After the Eastern Han Dynasty could not monopolize it, it could only impose heavy taxes on salt and iron to control it. affairs, but overdeveloped local forces and families.

However, this is only reflected in the political level, but in terms of practical use and economic level, the business of salt and iron has always been the industrial pillar of the entire Han Dynasty.

In the Han Dynasty, the types of salt were sea salt, pool salt, well salt, rock salt, etc. Qingzhou was the state of Qi in history. .

Since Liu Yu arrived in Qingzhou, in order to increase the local finance and salt tax in Qingzhou, he began to control the local salt affairs. One is to control the financial resources and income, and the other is to start a government-private alliance to control the stability of the sea salt industry.

The reason why salt business was a very profitable industry in the Han Dynasty was mainly because it was still relatively difficult to extract.

In Qingzhou, the main way to obtain salt is to use brine as raw material, and to refine table salt by burning with firewood.

The method is to scrape the sea salt and drench the brine, then take the brine and burn the firewood to boil the salt. This process consumes a lot of firewood and is laborious.

A lot of manpower and firewood were wasted. The extracted salt is naturally extremely precious, and because of the large production capacity, the overall price cannot be lowered. In addition, the total amount of salt production in the Han Dynasty is still not enough for the population. So much, so the local private salt business families took advantage of this to make huge profits. The families who dealt with salt in Qingzhou became the local tycoons and riches, and controlled huge resources in the local area by virtue of the salt business.

Liu Yu wanted to govern Qingzhou, so he had to compromise with them on certain matters.

Of course, Liu Yu will not give all the benefits to these families in charge of salt affairs. He has demarcated benefits with them as the state shepherd, so that each family can make the local county The county can also collect enough salt tax, and at the same time, the people can also obtain certain benefits by dedicating their labor in the process of making salt.

At the same time, Liu Yu also reached a consensus with the local ethnic groups in Qingzhou, requiring that the market price of salt in Qingzhou must be set by the animal husbandry department, so that the people under his jurisdiction can afford as much salt as possible.

Of course, Liu Yu couldn't control the exact level of salt prices in other states.

However, compared to the previous officials who secretly colluded with the local salt tycoons and used the salt business to make huge profits regardless of the lives of the people, Liu Yu's ability to achieve this level is already very commendable.

After Liu Jian and Liu Bei visited the private salt-making workshops in various counties and listened to Liu Yu's narration, they both expressed their admiration for his achievements.

Under the circumstances that the productivity could not be changed, Liu Yu did take care of the interests of all parties from a political point of view and handled the matter to the best.

But there is a premise for this matter, that is, "under the circumstances that the existing salt production in Qingzhou cannot be changed".

Liu Yu has no way to change the current production capacity of sea salt in Qingzhou, so he can only compromise, and through communication and coordination, try to let people from all walks of life get a certain amount of benefits in the salt business.

Of course, even if people from all walks of life can benefit, the biggest vested interests of Qingzhou Salt Affairs are the rich and famous families who operate and manage the salt production in the local area.

They are all Haoyou who have been operating the salt business in Qingzhou for many years. Although they pay salt taxes to the government regularly, Liu Jian knows without guessing that they will definitely not be able to escape in terms of tax evasion by various illegal means.

Moreover, taxation is only one aspect. Regarding the salt production and external sales pricing rights that are related to people's livelihood, the government office has to continue to negotiate with them, and the initiative is not on the local government office's side.

The reason for the correction is that things are rare and expensive, the higher the cost of making salt, the more manpower is consumed, and the more cumbersome the process, the easier it is for this kind of thing to happen.

But now, the time is ripe, and Liu Jian feels that Qingzhou's salt affairs can be changed.

The method of reform is very simple. As long as the overall salt production in Qingzhou can be increased, the cost of salt production can be reduced, and the production can be expanded, then the right to speak of the old rich and right clans in charge of salt affairs can be naturally squeezed out.

Whether it is ancient or modern, the reason why many nobles, famous families, and aristocratic families are so powerful is nothing more than that they have mastered rare and precious resources!

This resource may be books, population, or land or salt.

But when the resources they control become no longer precious and become rotten high-end goods, in fact, there is no need to use too much political means, and their advantages will collapse in an instant.

Regarding the salt affairs in Qingzhou, Liu Jian already had an idea in mind.

As long as the sun-dried salt method is popularized and the output of table salt is greatly increased, the highest initiative can be controlled in Qingzhou.

This method was popularized in the Northern Song Dynasty...but now, the time has come to get it out in advance.

(End of this chapter)