Steel Dynasty - Chapter 42

[Chapter 42 Slave Trader]

Qingzhou.

The winter snow has been falling intermittently for twenty days, and it was not until this morning that a touch of crystal-like blue emerged from the gray clouds.

The golden sunshine broke free from the clouds and fell down, coating the white snow with a layer of bright gold.

“Your Highness, it’s been about twenty days since Li San left. Do you think the perfume and Drunk Qingzhou have tempted the Queen and the Emperor?”

Luluo stretched out her little hand, warming it on the briquette stove while supervising the yard. The servants distill rice wine.

“Calculating the days, it’s time to come back.” Xiao Ming was wrapped in a thick blanket. The deeper the winter went, the more unbearable the cold weather in the north became.

Especially when sitting still, the cold feels like invisible hands wandering around the body.

“Humph, I don’t know if he has left behind the things he was told to purchase.” Lu Luo was still thinking about her maltose.

Xiao Ming knocked Lu Luo’s head, “You, you just like to eat.”

“Hehe.” Lu Luo squinted her eyes and laughed, as if she was looking forward to Li San’s return, and her saliva was drooling.

Xiao Ming tightened the felt on his tight body and looked in the direction of Chang’an, which was the political and economic center of Great Chongqing. Thinking about it with his buttocks, he also understood that few people who could live in Chang’an were good people.

He only hoped that Li San could bring good news and try to avoid any troubles.

Although he didn’t know the news about Li San, the news about Qin Mu came very quickly. Zui Qingzhou was very popular in Chang’an. Literati, wealthy businessmen, nobles and nobles all rushed to buy it after tasting it.

The price of Zui Qingzhou exceeded the twenty taels of Ner Hong in a short period of time, and even doubled. Now a jar of Zui Qingzhou can be sold for forty taels of silver.

Even so, Zui Qingzhou was seriously out of stock. After all, Xiao Ming had only distilled a hundred jars.

For this reason, Qin Mu couldn’t wait any longer, so he sent a fast horse directly, and brought the news back within five days. Qin Chuanyun learned of the news, and personally came to ask Xiao Ming to increase the supply of Zui Qingzhou, and at the same time promised to Zui Qingzhou’s cost price increased to thirty taels per jar.

The profit of a jar of ten taels made Qin Chuanyun, an old fox, deeply realize the benefits of cooperating with Xiao Ming. This piece of Liang family shipyard was also given to Xiao Ming directly as a favor, which was also an exchange of interests. .

The fiefdom was in ruins and waiting to be revitalized. What Xiao Ming was currently lacking most was money. Naturally, he would not refuse this proposal.

At that moment, he asked Chen Qi to make nine more sets of stills for him, and directly transformed the side hall of the palace into a small factory. Zui Qingzhou’s production volume suddenly increased from ten altars a day to a hundred altars a day.

At this scale, Xiao Ming did not dare to continue to expand, because in the Qingzhou market, Xiao Ming needed green ant wine, and this grain was purchased in large quantities to make wine. The price of staple grains rose a lot for a while. If the scale was further expanded, the people would The days are becoming more and more difficult.

This winter was originally a difficult time for the people. As a vassal king and the parent of the people of the six states, he had to consider the lives of the people.

Therefore, he thought about building a whole brewing facility and setting up a government-run winery, but the grain would no longer be purchased from his fief, but from places with abundant grain.

When the people in the fiefdom have enough food, he will purchase it in the fiefdom to promote the economic development of the fiefdom.

“By the way, Your Highness, when Sister Ziyuan went to Haizhou this morning, she said that our palace did not have enough manpower. She asked me to tell you whether I want to buy some slaves.” Luluo remembered something and said suddenly.

Zi Wan was sent by Xiao Ming to purchase cattle from King Wei’s fiefdom today.

Compared with the five million households on the fiefdom, the shortage of cattle is too big. Spring will start in three months. If the production tools cannot keep up by then, it will definitely affect the next year’s harvest.

The old fox, King Wei, seemed to have realized that he had a huge shortage of cattle, so he raised the price of cattle in his fief by three taels. Now a cattle cost twenty taels of silver, which really gave him a headache.

He also wanted to go to other places to buy cattle, but the distance was too far and the transportation risks were still not cost-effective.

“Buy!” Xiao Ming said decisively.

Li San has been thinking about development issues these days when he went to Chang’an. In this era of backward technology, people are production resources. In previous wars with barbarians, the purpose of many battles was to plunder the population.

Because the conversion of these populations into slaves will greatly promote various productions.

Xiao Ming is facing the same problem now, one is insufficient money and the other is insufficient labor force.

Now that the fiefdom is limited, four to five million people can only be used to resume production, but the workshops require a large number of workers.

In the modern West, a large part of the early accumulation of industrial wealth was due to the slave trade. According to approximate data, approximately 20 million black slaves were sold during the slave trade.

This is also one of the reasons why the capital world can rise rapidly.

Xiao Ming knows that he is not yet able to participate in the black slave trade because he does not even have a decent ship, and he does not have the heart of the Holy Mother at this time.

To live in this era, one must do things that conform to the development laws of this era, so he is not opposed to the slave trade. For him, this is even a necessary condition for the revival of his fiefdom.

“If Your Highness wants to buy it, Sister Ziyuan said that there is a slave trader in Qingzhou City. He has a slave market in the East City.” Luluo said again.

Xiao Ming was shocked. If Zi Wan hadn’t mentioned this, he would have delayed the slave matter for some time. He said: “Zi Yuan should be careful. You ask Zhao Long and Zhao Hu to go to Dongshi and bring the slave trader with him.” Come here.”

Now Xiao Ming has gradually adapted to his identity and understands his supreme rights in the fief.

In order to develop as quickly as possible, he said not to use the power of his lord flexibly.

Lu Luo said yes and went to find Zhao Long and Zhao Hu. Within half an hour, a man with a sinister eyebrow and a ratty eye was brought to Prince Qi’s Mansion.

“Liang Dahai, a common man, has met His Royal Highness King Qi.” Liang Dahai bowed his head and did not dare to breathe.

When Zhao Long and Zhao Hu appeared, he was frightened, thinking that the government wanted to arrest him. After all, no one in the slave trade was clean.

“Excuse me, are you Liang Dahai?” Xiao Ming was sitting upright in the center of the main hall, half of his face reflected in the red flames of the furnace.

“Exactly.” Liang Dahai looked at Xiao Ming carefully and said.

Xiao Ming said solemnly: “This king asked you to come here not for anything else, but for your business.”

Liang Dahai turned pale and immediately knelt on the ground, “Your Highness! The slaves sold by the common people are all voluntarily sold, or Those bought from other places all have a deed of sale, and none of them are kidnapped. “

(End of Chapter)