Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 236 Luo An Line

In April, at Luoyang Railway Station, blond-haired merchants from Central Asia lined up for inspection.

Dangerous materials must be stored separately. Flammable and explosive materials are prohibited. Firearms and ammunition are also prohibited.

Sixty-five-year-old Alexei looked at the signs near the aisle, pondering what constituted flammable and explosive materials.

It's a good thing that firearms and ammunition can't be carried; Alexei wouldn't want to encounter colleagues who are carrying guns either.

After walking past this sign, Alexei walked another ten steps or so and encountered another sign.

Selling or hawking goods on trains is prohibited. In public places, please consciously abide by basic moral principles and avoid harming or inconveniencing others.

Alexei couldn't understand why he couldn't sell goods on the train, which was clearly a great place for socializing.

But when faced with the red-lettered slogan, Alexei knew very well that what he needed to do was not to question, but to comply.

After walking a few more steps, just as we were about to reach the train platform, we saw the red slogan again.

[Sexual activity is strictly prohibited on trains. This is a public place; anyone caught doing so will be executed! Seven people have already been executed!]

Alexei was very supportive; he had seen this behavior many times before, but he could not dissuade him.

The train journey was too long, so I would look for something to do when I got bored.

Some people bring women into their carriages, while others bring servants; both methods solve the problem.

Alexei was glad he had been careful all along.

"My God, this is a public place, and it's King Wu's carriage. How dare they?"

Alexei couldn't help but smile, not out of schadenfreude, but because King Wu had stepped in to uphold the rules and maintain the moral bottom line.

If King Wu hadn't intervened, trains might have truly become those mobile transportation options in the future.

There are ticket inspectors at the platform entrance. They sit on a chair and register the tickets handed to them by the crowd.

After the inspection was completed, everyone lined up to board the parked train.

Alexei led his servants to the cargo hold and watched as they loaded packages of goods into the wagon.

The other merchants who had purchased annual passes stood nearby, all supervising their servants as they loaded their goods into the carriages. They would only enter the passenger carriages to rest after the conductor closed the doors.

Everyone needs to be present when you get off the train before the train conductor will open the cabin door.

This prevents theft and also prevents situations where someone loses goods and has no way to explain themselves.

There was no theft; at most, people couldn't find their goods in the chaos.

Under King Wu's authority, most things were able to maintain basic order.

Occasionally, someone will cross the line and be stopped by the mountain farmers.

Although not every mountain farmer is a mountain farmer, you can often see mountain farmers in Luoyang and in public places.

Alexei found his usual spot, sat down, and took out a newspaper to read.

Not long after, a man in his thirties walked over and sat down opposite him.

"Li Kexie, what kind of business have you been doing lately? Still the fruit business?"

Alexei looked at the Arab merchant Li Shuya opposite him.

Every foreign merchant has a name associated with the Mountain Farming Kingdom, and this name is used for registration.

Alexei's Shannong state was named Likshe, Li being a common surname, so it was used casually.

"Yes, I'm transporting fruit from the south. What about you?"

Li Kexie looked at Li Shuya, who had taken out a lunchbox. Li Shuya had arrived five or six years earlier than him and knew more about Shan Nong Kingdom.

Li Shuya smiled and said, "I'm in the stone business. Road construction requires a lot of stone, and I'm responsible for using horse caravans, chariots, and boat fleets to transport the stones for building roads and palaces to where they are needed."

"Luoyang no longer needs large stones. I'm going to Qiongzhou to see what's going on there."

Alexei said earnestly, "That's really great. There are so many businesses here that make money."

“That’s right.” Li Shuya handed over a roasted chicken leg. “Have some. I’ve heard some inside information that five more trains will be added this year, and two have already been produced.”

Alexei took the chicken leg, but just held it without eating it.

"All five trains were on the Luo'an line?"

"Definitely not." Li Shuya smiled, took a bite of chicken leg meat, chewed a few times, and then slowly said that he wasn't in a hurry.

"One vehicle was responsible for transporting seafood to Qingzhou Dongdao Port."

"Two trucks were responsible for transporting materials for road construction to the Western Regions."

"The first grain depot is responsible for the operation of the northern circle. The last one is for the Luo'an line, and it is used to transport official supplies, such as officials going to their posts and tax reports."

Upon hearing this, Alexei remarked, "That has nothing to do with us business people."

Li Shuya laughed and said, "How could it be unrelated?"

Alexei looked at Li Shuya with a puzzled expression.

Li Shuya smiled and said, "With fewer officials using this, and no longer needing to perform public duties, we can ride it more often and carry more goods."

Upon hearing this, Alexei suddenly smiled and said, "That's true."

Once the officials and soldiers had their own dedicated trains, they would no longer compete with them for them.

As the number of trains increases, the system will become more and more standardized in the future.

Li Shuya and Li Kexie ate and drank together.

The other seats in the carriage were just as lively, with the merchants who bought annual passes making a lot of money and being very generous with their food and drinks.

The food and drinks were not expensive, and the merchants from the Central Asian countries would often gather together to celebrate and exchange information.

"His Majesty doesn't seem to like eating fruit. It's said that he only tastes it and then doesn't eat it. Most of the time, he gives it to his servants as a reward."

Alexei recounted the information he had gathered: "His Majesty seems to prefer chicken, pork, and fish, and doesn't seem to like beef, mutton, or venison as much."

"I provide seasonal fruits to the palace and many people in Luoyang. Although the palace consumes a lot, it has never needed any special replenishment. It seems that the people of Jinzhou like to eat noodles?"

Li Shuya shook his head. "His Majesty is a mountain farmer, not a Jinzhou native. His tone and manner of speaking are quite peculiar."

Alexei asked curiously, "What's so strange about him? What does His Majesty look like?"

"It's hard to say." Li Shuya didn't want to say too much and said in a low voice, "But it's very easy to identify. If you see a young man under thirty years old in Luoyang City, and he stands there and one look at you makes you feel like you're about to die, that's His Majesty King Wu."

Alekshe still didn't know what King Wu looked like.

However, it is clear that some dangerous topics are not suitable for further discussion.

The two of them do business along the Luoan route. Merchants along this route are all on the same line. What distinguishes them is probably the type of business they do, but not their skin color or nationality.

Both Han and non-Han people can do business, and the Mountain Farmer Kingdom has many local merchants.

Shannong Province was inhabited by merchants from Jinzhou and Shanzhou; Pingyuan Province was inhabited by merchants from Jizhou, Liaozhou, and Goryeo; and Huanghuai Province was inhabited by merchants and officials from the capital under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department.

Merchants must have powerful backers; the merchants of the three provinces are the top merchants in the Mountain Farming Kingdom.

Alexei and his ilk were merely idle maritime merchants who were able to earn a living only because of King Wu's emphasis on Lingnan and other regions.

Before King Wu focused his attention on this region, the merchants from Anhui, Zhejiang, and Quanzhou in the southeast, along with the port of Guangzhou, were the most important commercial ports in the south. King Wu, however, chose to prioritize its development.

As a result, merchants from Quanzhou, which was two or three thousand miles away, merchants from Guangzhou, which was seventeen or eighteen miles away, and merchants from Jiangnan, which was four or five thousand miles away, all came here to do business.

Not only is train transportation convenient, but the most important thing is that there is a lot of business here.

A large number of merchants gather here, and a lot of manpower and resources are invested here. To do business, you can only find a market where there are people.

The more people there are, the more business opportunities there are.

Annam province needed to transport grain from Anzhou to Luoyang, and King Wu needed to transport manpower and resources from Anzhou to Qiongzhou to build palaces. A large number of people traveled back and forth along this route.

The entire population of the south is concentrated along this line, one end of which is the capital! And the industrial heartland of the agricultural province!
The country of Shan Nong has never lacked food; rice from Annam province is only supplied to a small portion of the population.

All resources are available internally, and there is no dependence on external resources.

Apart from fruits and some seafood, the three northern provinces are basically self-sufficient and do not need to transport goods from outside.

Similarly, the three northern provinces did not export supplies. Firearms and ammunition were only provided to a few hereditary lords and government offices, and other machinery and technical products were basically not sold to other places.

Fruits and some luxury goods require speed, so they cannot be shipped by sea.

Since sea and water transport is prone to shipwrecks, trains were the safest transportation route for merchants.

The Luoan Line also passes through areas such as Nanzhao and Jiangxia in Sichuan, supporting a population of over ten million in the south.

The people of Jiangnan are not bad because of the geographical location, nor because they are greedy for enjoyment and unwilling to endure hardship, nor because they lack business acumen.

The only problem is that nobody in the government speaks up.

***
"Your Majesty, I wish to request a railway for the people of Jiangnan!"

Li Tangqing knelt before Beijiwu, displaying a fearless and indomitable spirit.

Beiji Wu and the other ministers present remained silent in tacit agreement.

Sang Yang'an felt very uncomfortable. He had come here to report on his work, but instead, they were making a mess of things.

Li Chengren felt that this guy surnamed Li must have taken money; he was either stupid or idiotic.

Beijiwu was too lazy to get angry with this kind of person, so he said directly: "My focus is on the south, not Jiangnan. Before the Eurasian Railway is completed, the Jiangnan Railway will not be built."

Li Tangqing immediately said, "As long as His Majesty is willing to give Jiangnan a railway, the people of Jiangnan are willing to donate money to build the railway, without His Majesty needing a single penny!"

Beijiwu looked at his son.

“You guys tell me why I’m focusing on developing Lingnan, rather than Jiangnan.”

When the princes saw their father questioning them, they all lowered their heads and stammered, unable to speak.

Arctic Martial Arts did not make things difficult for these ten-year-old children.

“Lingnan and Jiangnan have two different rules.”

“The Jiangnan region has an inward-looking economy based on agriculture and handicrafts, and its rules are the imperial examination system, officialdom, and local customs.”

"These rules are difficult to change without killing anyone."

"Don't say anything silly like 'patiently persuading' or anything like that. I see things more clearly than many of you do."

“Lingnan is a new territory that I have opened up. It is a globalized economy based on industry and finance, and the rules are international trade, capital, contracts, and the rule of law.”

"It is a hub that radiates throughout Southeast Asia, controls Annam and Nanyang provinces, and is also a trading port for merchants from Eurasia."

"A whole host of new things, such as banking, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, and municipal management, will be tested there; that's my laboratory."

"There are almost no locals there. For both businessmen and migrant workers, it's a new starting point. This is why there is more inclusiveness. That's why we didn't choose Jiangnan, where there is a strong ability to form groups."

"Whether it is control over the southwest region or control over the Eurasian and Southeast Asian regions, from an economic and political perspective, the Lingnan region is more valuable to me for development than the Jiangnan region."

Beijiwu looked at Li Tangqing.

“I didn’t think you were being offensive before, and I don’t think asking this question is offensive either, but you’re too stupid. You’ve been governing in Xia City between the Luoan Line and the South for the past two years, and all your tasks and political affairs have been related to the South. As a result, you’ve focused on Jiangnan instead of the closer Lingnan.”

"Resign, and I'll give you a dignified resignation."

"I'm not asking you to resign because you're helping the people from Jiangnan. I just think you're too stupid. It's not a good thing for Jiangxia or Lingnan."

Li Tangqing realized that he didn't understand Arctic Martial Arts at all. He also couldn't see through Arctic Martial Arts Arts' plans and thinking.

"Your subject obeys the decree..." Li Tangqing also realized that he was no longer suitable to be an official, as he simply did not have the ability to be a high-ranking official.

Beijiwu looked at his sons who were standing silently to the side and said helplessly, "Fine, I'll spare your life. Go down. I'll kill those who were behind your manipulation."

Li Tangqing kowtowed and said, "Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty! I am deeply grateful!"

Beijiwu was somewhat disappointed in his three sons who dared not speak, and his mood soured.

However, the thought that these children are only ten years old makes me reluctant to argue with them.

"You may all leave. I don't want to talk anymore."

In a foul mood, Beijiwu canceled the meeting and watched as a group of obsequious ministers withdrew.

The question of succession was one of the most difficult issues for emperors and rulers throughout history.

Arctic martial arts are not immune either; they also need to solve this thorny problem.

Fortunately, it's not a very important matter. I'm not even thirty yet, so it's not too late to think about it when I'm fifty or sixty.

If there are no suitable sons, then look among the grandsons. With hundreds or thousands of sons and grandsons, you're bound to find one who's acceptable.

Now, this country just needs to develop slowly and stabilize the newly built framework. It's not suitable for loyal ministers, treacherous ministers, capable ministers, or foolish ministers to cause trouble.

Power doesn't necessarily have to be centralized, but there must be a regulator at the top, otherwise the newly built building will tilt.

The emperor's authority needs no questioning, nor does it need anyone to influence it.

People from Jiangnan are trying to influence the perspectives of Arctic martial arts practitioners and their children.

They did it!
"Investigate and kill them all."

Arctic Martial was in a bad mood.

Those who upset Arctic Martial Arts must pay the price.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The nearby eunuchs responded cautiously, not daring to breathe loudly.

After a two-second silence, Beijiwu said again, "Investigate whether Li Tangqing's wife and daughter-in-law accepted bribes in this incident. If they did, kill them all."

"According to the order!"

After waiting for two or three seconds, the eunuch bowed and took his leave, carefully departing from the angry King Wu's side.

Li Tangqing will not die, but he will definitely learn his lesson and understand how strict the Shan Nong people are with the definition of the harem's prohibition against interfering in politics.

"The rules have been explained a thousand times, but I still can't remember them."

"Learn from this now."

The Embroidered Uniform Guards were busy again; even in peacetime, there were still cases of people being confiscated, imprisoned, and killed.

(End of this chapter)