Wife, you didn't really drug me, did you?

Chapter 423 The terrifying potential of Huangzhou Prefecture!
In the backyard of Huangzhou Mansion, the sun was shining brightly, and the warm sunlight shone on the two lounge chairs in the backyard.

The two most distinguished women in the palace were basking in the sun there.

Su Yunjin was lying on a recliner at this time, her face still a little pale. She had experienced a caesarean section last time. Although Chen Jiusi used his life force to help her repair the sequelae of the heavy bleeding.

Bai Wenjing also gave her many blood-replenishing prescriptions, but Su Yunjin was still hurt.

But fortunately, with Bai Wenjing's support and Chen Jie's current status, all kinds of tonics were sent to him for free.

Therefore, Su Yunjin's damage is slowly being repaired, but it takes time. After all, illness comes like a mountain falling, and goes away like a thread being pulled out. You can't be impatient or rush.

Sitting next to Su Yunjin, also basking in the sun, was Chen Jie's second wife, Mrs. Huang, Huang Wan'er.

She was also basking in the sun, wearing a red robe, which could not hide her unparalleled beauty.

She is different from Su Yunjin. Su Yunjin likes plain colors and does not like to be ostentatious, so most of the clothes she wears are solemn. Now that she is sick, solemnity is not necessary, so she changed into a pure white dress.

Huang Wan'er loves dressing up, and she knows how to exude her femininity. She has to dress up carefully every day before going out, because she doesn't like others to see her in a disheveled state.

Because she had been in such a miserable state so many times. Although she had been with Chen Jie for a long time and had lived a good life for so many years, deep in her heart, she would never forget the humiliation she had suffered.

She was so miserable at that time, but now that she had the conditions, she wanted to dress herself up beautifully. Besides, she didn't know when Chen Jie would come back, and she didn't want her husband to see her in a sloppy state when he came back.

So she would dress up carefully whenever she left the house.

Not far from them, there were two big maids preparing tea and looking after the young master in their own room.

Not far in front of the rocking chair, there were two small cradles with two cute little babies in them. They were very adorable.

One is a little older and looks to be over a year old.

One is smaller and looks only one or two months old.

At this time, the sunlight shone on the two children. Yin Hongmei, the head maid in Su Yunjin's room, and Du Juan, the head maid in Huang Wan'er's room, each held a fan to block the two children's faces to prevent the sunlight from hurting the eyes of their own master and young lady.

That’s right, these are Chen Jie’s two children. The older one is a girl born to Huang Wan’er, named Chen Luoning.

The younger one is Chen Jie’s eldest son, born to Su Yunjin and named Chen Li.

The two children fell asleep comfortably in the sunshine, feeling very peaceful.

Not far away, there was a stone platform with several snacks and seasonal fruits on it. Cui Ju, the second maid in Su Yunjin's room, and Du Juan, the second maid in Huang Wan'er's room, were making tea at this time.

However, the teas prepared by the two of them are different.

Su Yunjin is weak, so she doesn't like drinking green tea. Therefore, Cui Ju wants to make Dahongpao from Wuyi Mountain for her mistress. The tea is mellow in color and is the best for health.

However, Huang Wan'er was not used to drinking black tea. She liked to drink the pre-rain Longjing tea from West Lake. Therefore, Mudan made Huang Wan'er the top-quality pre-rain Longjing tea that had just been transported from West Lake by the caravan this year.

The two ladies each drank tea of ​​different flavors.

This is also because the Chen family’s conditions are now good, their lives are thriving, and their wealth is increasing.

Therefore, Chen Jiusi's family received the highest treatment. If they wanted to drink Wuyishan Dahongpao, they could drink Wuyishan Dahongpao. If they wanted to drink West Lake Longjing, they could drink West Lake Longjing.

If this were in the past, there would be no such treatment.

Thinking about the past days of Chen Jie and Su Yunjin in Xiantao Village, Mianshui County, it was worth being happy at that time just to have a bowl of white porridge.

You still want to drink Wuyi Mountain Dahongpao or West Lake Longjing? That’s just a dream. It would be great if you could just have a sip of tea leaves.

But now it is not a problem at all. The standards of the Chen Mansion have been gradually improving over the years.

From the hungry people in Xiantao Village at the beginning, to the well-off families in Mianshui County, and then to the wealthy class in Huangzhou Prefecture.

The changes in the Chen Mansion are still very huge, and the reason for this huge change is that as Chen Jie's strength increases, his influence also increases.

Chen Jie's power is now expanding rapidly, and as his martial arts improves, he is becoming more and more capable of controlling the situation.

Chen Jie's power now directly encompasses six prefectures, namely Huangzhou, Qianjiang, Tianmen, Huanggang, Xianning, and Xiaogan. By the way, Chen Jie's power is also infiltrating towards Suizhou and Jingmen, and is very effective. It can be said that Chen Jie now basically controls half of Hubei's territory.

With such a large territory, Chen Jie's army is also expanding rapidly.

After this period of military reorganization, the number of troops under Chen Jie expanded to 30,000 elite troops and 100,000 reserve troops.

The elite are the three major armies in Chen Jie's hands, the Azure Dragon Legion, the White Tiger Legion, and the Suzaku Legion.

Each legion consists of 10,000 elite soldiers, all of whom were carefully selected.

The other 100,000 reserve troops were mainly responsible for the defense of each city. They belonged to the city guarding corps and were mostly selected from good families. Some were government troops originally in the city who were retained after being incorporated by Chen Jie.

In addition to these people, Chen Jie has several thousand disciples of the Fishing Gang in each city, which add up to about 40,000 to 50,000 people. These disciples are currently doing the work of yamen runners and are responsible for local public security.

In this way, the task of protecting this huge force was completed, and the local people also had enough power to rest and recuperate.

In addition to these, Chen Jie carried out large-scale construction and reclaimed land for cultivation in his territory. Last year alone, the six directly-administered prefectures under Chen Jie reclaimed more than 300,000 acres of land, which were distributed to local people with good performance.

The people got the land, and they were all very happy. They supported Chen Jie's rule even more.

These are all Chen Jie’s die-hard core base.

Then Chen Jie also built a large reservoir for irrigation in each natural village. The construction of the reservoir was definitely a feat.

You know, before there were no reservoirs, these villages had no place to store water, which resulted in floods during the summer rainy season.

When it doesn't rain, it is a drought year. In short, a lot of water resources are wasted.

So Chen Jie started a water storage project in every village, and built a huge reservoir in each village, so that water could be stored during the rainy season, and the water in the reservoir could be used for irrigation in drought years.

This greatly solved the problem of rain and its impact on grain production, allowing Chen Jie's territory to have a bumper harvest every year.

The people did not have enough food to eat, and Chen Jie's taxes on the people were very low. When the people had extra food, Chen Jie purchased the food in the name of the government.

Part of this grain was displayed as military rations, and part was stored as war reserve food.

When the people sold their grain, they had spare money in their hands. With spare money, they had purchasing power and were able to consume.

This directly revitalized the business in the six prefectures of Chenjie.

Let me say here that most of the money Chen Jie used to build the reservoir was earned from business, that is, the money Shen Wansan earned from business over the years.

Shen Wansan is worthy of being called the living god of wealth of this era. He has a great business mind. Through his operation, the economy of the entire Huangzhou Prefecture developed, and various commodities were abundant, especially the cotton industry, salt, and sugar. These products, which were purified by later technology, were sold like hot cakes outside.

The profits earned were enough to support the armed forces, and there was even a surplus.

Chen Jie deeply understood that silver was just scrap metal in his hands, so Chen Jie took it out to gain fame, so that he could revitalize the local economy.

Building reservoirs can greatly increase grain production and can also enable diversified operations. Fish can be raised in the reservoirs, and chickens and ducks can be raised around them. These are all official businesses. Once the fish, chickens and ducks are raised, they can be sold to the people for food.

Just this alone allowed Chen Jie to earn a lot of money, which could definitely make up for the taxes that Chen Jie had not collected.

More importantly, these fish, chickens and ducks are all high-quality proteins. When people eat them, they can improve their physical fitness and lay a solid foundation for Chen Jie's future reserve of troops.

Because of this, when you walk into Chen Jie's Huangzhou Prefecture, you can clearly feel that the people here are very different from people in other places. Their physical fitness is much better than that of people in other places, their eyes are particularly bright, and they look very energetic. This is part of Chen Jie's plan to enrich the people.

People's lives have improved. Not only do their families have surplus food, but they can also eat meat. Therefore, everyone is quite satisfied with their current good life.

Furthermore, they were also grateful to their leader, Lord Chen Jiusi. Some families built a shrine for Chen Jie and worshipped him as a god at home.

Chen Jie knew about this, but he did not stop it. He even organized training courses for the people. He asked the Huangzhou government to send people to give political lessons to the local village chiefs and village heads. The content was to publicize that without Chen Jiusi, they would not be able to live such a good life. By the way, he calculated the accounts for these village chiefs and village heads, telling them how much money Chen Jiusi spent on building reservoirs and roads for their villages. Sometimes, these people who had studied every year did not understand the big principles, but they could understand the accounts.

Now, if we give these bills to the baozheng and the village heads, they will know how much contribution Chen Jie has made to the local area. This will subtly let the baozheng and the village heads know how much they owe Chen Jie, so they will feel a sense of guilt.

And this kind of gossip cannot be hidden. When it spreads from one person to ten people in the village, and from ten to a hundred people, how can your reputation be ruined?

When it comes to irrigation and autumn harvest, when the people in Chen Jie's territory cannot irrigate the seedlings because there is no reservoir built, they will say, "Thanks to Lord Chen. If he hadn't spent money to build a reservoir for us, our land would have to be like the neighboring village, without water for irrigation."

Ordinary people will definitely have questions. They are just one village apart, so why is there such a big gap?

As soon as they thought about it, they knew that the neighboring village was Suizhou Prefecture, and Suizhou Prefecture was not under the jurisdiction of our Lord Chen, so there was no money to build a reservoir, and naturally there was no water for irrigation. The fact that they had water was all thanks to Lord Chen’s great grace!

At this time, the people would remember the data brought back by the village head, that Lord Chen spent thousands of taels of silver to build a reservoir for us.

"That's not all. We still have to travel. Once we go on vacation, we'll have spent at least two or three thousand taels of silver."

"Isn't it? You said that they built the reservoir for us, and when they asked us to help, they paid us for our work. Now we are the ones who benefit. How can there be such good people in this world?"

"That's right, that's right. Look at the people in the neighboring village. Because they are not under the rule of Lord Chen, they have no money to build a reservoir. Now, this year is a year of severe drought. We have water for irrigation but the harvest is delayed. They may starve to death!"

"That's right. We are only one village apart, but the gap is too big. Do you think we can live on like this for a few more years?"

"Li Gouzi, what do you mean? Are you dissatisfied with Master Chen?"

"How dare I? Besides, Master Chen has been so good to us. If I am still dissatisfied with him, am I still a human being? I mean, our Master Chen was not appointed by the court, but seized the world by himself. I am afraid that one day the court will invade us, and we will have to live a life worse than pigs and dogs again, right?"

After hearing this, all the common people fell silent. When Chen Jiusi and his men first occupied the city, they were worried that Chen Jie and his gang of gangsters would do something bad to them, increase their tax burden, and make their lives difficult.

However, after one or two years of governance by Chen Jie, they discovered that this group of bandits were the real heavenly soldiers and generals. Under his governance, their place was prosperous, and the taxes were only one-third of what they had when the imperial court was in power. He also built reservoirs and roads for them. Now not only did every family have surplus food, but they also had some spare money in their hands.

He could buy some cloth to make new clothes for his wife, or buy some meat for his children to enjoy a good feast. Looking at the smiles on their wives and children's faces, how could they not be grateful for Chen Jiusi's kindness?

Think about what life was like in the past. The taxes imposed by the imperial court became more and more, and heavier year by year. Apart from taxes, even food became a problem for the family. They could only dig some wild vegetables and tree bark to fill their stomachs every year. They were lucky if they didn't starve to death. What hope was there in such life?

But now it is different. There is surplus food at home, and the family does not have to eat tree bark and grass roots. There is even some spare money. Many people are even considering going to the market to buy some chicks and ducks, and raising some chickens and ducks next year so that the family will have eggs to eat.

They also heard that the imperial court was going to build a salt mining plant in the village. They could work in the factory during the slack season and earn some money. Maybe they could even renovate their house in a few years and find a new wife for their son in the future.

This beautiful day is about to come, and now you tell me that the imperial army is coming.

Don’t they know about that group of Mulan dog officials?

When they come, they will try every possible means to take away the properties in your hands, and your current good life will certainly disappear. You will have to pay high taxes, do endless labor, and live like pigs and dogs.

No, we cannot be treated like this, we must defend our beautiful life!

We must not go back to being slaves, no, never!
No one can take away the wonderful life I have now. No one can. If anyone wants to take away my wonderful life, I will fight him to the death. Yes, I will fight him to the death!

Thinking of this, the people's eyes turned red.

A man with a simple and honest appearance, who looks like the kind of honest man who can't even fart if beaten with three sticks.

But at this time his eyes turned red as he said, "Whoever dares not let me live a good life, I will kill him. If the imperial court dares to come, I will fight him to the death! I would rather die than let them take away my good life!"

After hearing this, everyone looked at him in surprise. No one expected that he, who had a bad temper, would say such cruel words. Everyone looked at each other and said with a fixed gaze: "That's right, whoever doesn't let us live a good life, we will fight him to the death!"

"Yes, that's right. If anyone doesn't let us live a good life, we will fight them to the death. When Lord Chen recruits soldiers again, I will let my son join the army to fight these Mulan dogs!"

"Yes, fuck the Mulan dog!"

Without ever seeing the light, they could still endure the darkness. But after Chen Jie gave them the light, no one could endure the darkness anymore. If you now want to take away what they have gained, then these people will really fight you to the death.

And this is the hope that Peng Yingyu sees in Chen Jie's territory.

When the common people are willing to protect their own property on their own initiative, Chen Jiusi's regime is the most stable. If you want to destroy Chen Jie's regime, you cannot destroy Chen Jiusi unless you eradicate him completely. Otherwise, you will never be able to destroy Chen Jiusi. These people are Chen Jiusi's strongest fortress!
And it is not just the small village before us that has such an idea. This small village is just a small microcosm of the six prefectures of Chen Jie. Many people actually have such an idea.

This is Chen Jie's rural power. In addition to agriculture, Huangzhou Prefecture's commerce was also extremely developed under the stimulation of Chen Jie's policies.

As the Minister of Business Development appointed by Chen Jie, Shen Wansan has expanded Chen Jie's business throughout the south of the Yangtze River and even the north with his strong business skills and personal connections.

Nowadays, cotton cloth, refined salt, white sugar, glass, tea, etc. in Huangzhou Prefecture are all in-demand goods of this era, and business is dying out everywhere.

Among these, refined salt and white sugar are especially the favorites of the wealthy in Suzhou and Hangzhou.

These improved products from the refined salt factory and sugar factory under the Ministry of Industry of Huangzhou Prefecture have become the ultimate enjoyment pursued by the wealthy in the entire Jiangnan region.

You have to know that the salt purification technology of this era was very poor. The coarse salt produced had large salt grains and tasted bitter. When added to dishes, there was always a bitter taste. Therefore, at Chen Jie's request.

The Ministry of Industry of Huangzhou Prefecture began to purify refined salt using modern methods under the new refined salt purification method proposed by Chen Jie, and finally obtained the refined salt that has no bitterness today.

This immediately became the second most in-demand item in Huangzhou Prefecture, in addition to cotton cloth.

However, after showing this thing to Shen Wansan, Shen Wansan also called it a good thing, but this thing cannot be sold on a large scale, otherwise the price will depreciate immediately.

So Shen Wansan directly used hunger marketing, mixing refined salt into the bulk coarse salt business.

Moreover, this kind of refined salt is not for ordinary people. It first became popular on Yangzhou flower boats and gradually entered the homes of wealthy people. In the end, guess how much this small can of refined salt was sold for.

A small jar of salt, less than a pound, cost eight cents of silver.

And the cost? Twenty cents, including the small pot, which was made by a master craftsman. A small pot costs fifteen cents, and the remaining five cents is the cost.

Just this business made Huangzhou Prefecture earn a lot of money. Although it was not as good as the cotton cloth business, this refined salt business also brought Chen Jie huge wealth.

Chen Jie then started the second technology, white sugar. There was no white sugar in this era. There was only the most rudimentary maltose and sucrose, which lacked sweetness. However, after Chen Jie taught the yellow mud filtering method, Huangzhou Prefecture produced the first batch of white sugar.

When the sugar came out, Shen Wansan was overjoyed. He was even more eager to market it, causing the price of sugar to reach as high as twenty taels of silver for a small jar.

Twenty taels, this is already a sky-high price. You have to know that an ordinary family’s annual income may be only one or two taels of silver.

Under Chen Jie's rule, the people of Huangzhou Prefecture lived a better life, with no more than four taels of silver a year, while this small jar of sugar cost more than twenty taels, which was equivalent to five years' income for the people of Huangzhou Prefecture and nearly ten years' income for people in other places.

This horrific profit shocked Chen Jie, who paid more attention to martial arts. He felt that the wealth of the wealthy in Jiangnan was beyond his imagination.

It is also said that the sugar was packaged by the wealthy people in the south of the Yangtze River, put into top-grade white jade bottles, and sold to Dadu at the price of fifty taels per bottle. The supply was even insufficient to meet the demand, and the sugar was sold at a low price.

It has to be said that it's not that there are no rich people in this world, it's just that ordinary people don't have money. Fifty taels of silver may be a lifetime income for an ordinary farmer, but in the eyes of the rich, it's just a jar of seasoning.

This shows how huge the gap between the rich and the poor is in this world.

But it was precisely because of the gap between the rich and the poor that Chen Jie made a lot of money.

The money Chen Jie earns now is equivalent to half of the taxes in Jiangnan. With this money, Chen Jie directly turned the six prefectures of Huangzhou into a prosperous place on earth.

Agriculture and commerce have been introduced, but there are actually some things that have not been introduced, such as the Ministry of Industry. That is where Chen Jie developed all kinds of items that were ahead of their time, and the chief officer of the Ministry of Industry was Tao Sheng, also the Flying Wanhu in history.

The chief commercial officer was Shen Wansan.

In addition, in the area of ​​education, Chen Jie also invested a considerable amount of money to build the Huangzhou Prefecture College, and opened county schools in every county town and village schools in the countryside. People could send their children to study and have a free lunch.

This is very attractive to ordinary people.

Chen Jie took advantage of the time of running the school to instill his new ideas into these children, and constantly instilled in them the need to be loyal to Chen Jiusi, Lord Chen. Over time, these people became Chen Jie's die-hard fans, and they were also Chen Jie's future talent pool!

When Chen Jie unifies the world in the future, these people will be the talents that help Chen Jie govern the world!
(End of this chapter)