The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 106 The Silkworm Goes Global

With the daring constable Po Jun right behind them, the exiled caravan dared not stop for a moment and continued their frantic journey.

In order not to waste time.

The officials even allowed elderly women with bound feet and children under seven years old to take turns riding in mule carts for free.

They dragged and pulled each other, and arrived in Xijing City in just one day and one night.

Gan Minglan gazed at the ancient capital from afar, which seemed quite different from later generations, and was somewhat bewildered by the sudden appearance of the Bei Kingdom.

During that night's confession session between husband and wife, Zuo Wenkang truly spoke his mind without reservation.

She finally gained some understanding of the past and present of the Bei Kingdom.

how to say.

The history of China before the Ming Dynasty was largely the same as what she knew from her previous life, spanning thousands of years.

History took a different turn after the Yuan Dynasty.

Bei Taizu, a military champion from a wealthy landowning family, led 128 guards in a rebellion.

It took them fifteen years to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty and drive all the Mongols out of the Central Plains.

The newly established Bei Kingdom adopted and reformed some of the systems of the Yuan Dynasty.

The thirteen provinces of the Yuan Dynasty were retained and renamed Provincial Administration Commissions, with some changes in their titles.

There are also household registration system, military registration system, and travel permit system.

A blacksmith is a blacksmith his whole life.

A military household member remains a military household member for life.

Ordinary people need to obtain a certificate from the county government to travel to other places.

If a person wandering around without a travel permit is discovered by the government or military authorities, they can be arrested and imprisoned at any time.

The royal palace of the State of Bei had many concubines, but unfortunately, the emperors of each dynasty did not have many children.

From birth, the princes basically lived their entire lives in the royal palace in Shangdu.

Therefore, the State of Bei did not adopt the Yuan Dynasty's system of enfeoffing princes.

The powerful and influential families replaced the feudal princes and became the dominant forces in the regions.

Some of the more well-known ancient families with a history of over a thousand years include: the Ni family of Wuyue, the Lu family of Fanyang, and the Li family of Longxi.

The most glorious period for the Li family of Longxi was during the Tang Dynasty.

They are still the family with the most land and the greatest power in the Shaanxi region.

Xijing City was the political and cultural center before the Eastern Han Dynasty, and also the base of the direct branch of the Longxi Li clan.

At the same time, this place was also the starting point of the Silk Road during the Han and Tang dynasties.

For the past hundred years or so, the State of Bei has implemented a policy of isolationism towards foreign countries.

The Maritime Silk Road? Sorry, it doesn't exist!
Only the Western Region merchants who came by land still traveled back and forth on this trade route to Xijing.

The most traditional forms of official trade between the Western Regions and the State of Bei were "tribute" and "gifts in return".

For the first hundred years or so, there were frequent exchanges and the scale of tributes was enormous.

However, as the power of the Bei state gradually weakened, most of these official tribute practices were abolished.

Private trade continues.

The exiled group encountered a caravan of merchants from the Western Regions at a post station outside Xijing City.

This is a large, well-established caravan with over a hundred people and more than two hundred camels.

The postmaster at the inn, gazing enviously at the boxes of goods laden on the camels of the Western Region merchants, was practically drooling with envy.
"They brought so many goods with them when they came. This one deal is enough for Li's Trading Company to live on for three years!"

The lively and outspoken officer chimed in:
"Sir, the Li family trading company can do business with merchants from the Western Regions? What do they buy and sell?"

The official's naive and unsophisticated demeanor successfully pleased the postmaster.

He shook his head, showing off his knowledge: "The Li family trading company naturally obtained permission from the imperial court to trade with merchants from the Western Regions."

What are you asking me to buy?
The Western Regions kingdoms possessed fine horses, camels, sheep, jade, sycamore alkali, sulfur, rare stones, blue squirrel pelts, sable pelts, and so on. As for the goods sold to merchants from the Western Regions, there were even more fine items!

They were mostly items like hemp silk, blue and white porcelain, bronze and ironware, printed fabrics, satin, mercury, and umbrellas.

He did not mention tea because tea was still a trade product under the official control of the State of Bei.

The exchange of tea for horses continued every year.

When asked about selling valuable goods to the Western Regions, the postmaster also said:
"Our Bei Kingdom's brocade and silk are unique in the world. I heard that the price of them when they are transported back to the Western Regions is ten times higher than in Xijing City, and they can even be used as currency."

The officials felt honored to hear this.

Unexpectedly, the Western Region merchant leader who was not far from them turned out to be fluent in Chinese.

He smiled, gave a cupped-hand salute to everyone, and replied in Chinese with a foreign accent:

"No, no! During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Shanshan Kingdom in the Western Regions had already learned to cultivate mulberry trees and raise silkworms. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, Gaochang, Kucha, and Shule, south of the Tianshan Mountains, were also weaving silk brocade."

Anguo, one of the Nine Sogdian Clans, was also an important silk-producing region. During the Tang Dynasty, the Sogdians were renowned for their brocade weaving. Their products were sold as far north as Norway, as far south as Byzantium, and as far west as Persia.

Subsequently, the sericulture and silk reeling techniques of the Tang Dynasty were also introduced to Persia, Arabia, and other countries.

Everyone was so shocked their jaws nearly dropped to the floor.

It turns out that silkworms had already left the country and spread to the whole world more than a thousand years ago!
The Western Region merchant then added:

"The royal families and upper-class nobles of the Western Regions unanimously believed that only silk originating from the ancient Eastern countries was the most authentic, the most exquisite, and the most popular."

It turns out that, throughout history, businessmen have always been able to accurately grasp the consumption psychology of high-end luxury goods customers.

That family deserves to make a fortune!
Gan Minglan heard some interesting news and quickly updated her information database.

Having received a 21st-century undergraduate education, she had always believed that no country other than China could grow mulberry trees or raise silkworms!

I was even enlightened by an ancient person; I was actually illiterate!

I only stayed one night at a post station on the official road outside Xijing City, where I listened to a brief explanation from the postmaster.

Everyone then felt the strength of the Li clan of Longxi.

According to the postmaster:

More than half of the civil and military officials in the various prefectures and counties of Anxi Prefecture had direct or indirect ties with the Li family.

In Xijing City, more than 70% of the shops are owned by the direct descendants of the Li family.

Carriage and horse shops, trading companies, money exchanges, silver shops, silk shops, restaurants, etc., were all under the control of the Li family's collateral branches.

The fields and forests are countless.

The Zuo family, a family with a history of hundreds of years, is like a shrimp facing a behemoth compared to the Li family of Longxi, a family with a history of thousands of years.

It's not even worth mentioning!
Unexpectedly, the head of the Li family, who was envied by the little shrimp, was also tormented by Po Jun to the point that he lost a lot of hair.

In just two days and one night.

More than 200,000 troops have already seized and swept away two-thirds of the farms belonging to the Li clan in the Guanzhong Plain.

They weren't going to help with the rice paddies.

They simply opened the farm's granary.

As long as there is a male member in the family who joins the Po Jun (破军) group, the family will be allocated enough food to last for more than half a year.

This is what it means to buy something for free!
Which tenant farmer would still be willing to work for a landlord?

The rice in the fields had turned so yellow that it was already falling into the ground, and there was no labor available to harvest it.

What worries the head of the household the most is...

He had no idea what Po Jun would do after he had emptied the granary in a few days.

The garrison in Xijing City numbered less than 80,000.

They don't dare to send them out on missions now.

The head of the family gets a headache whenever he hears the name "Po Jun"!

(End of this chapter)