Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 122 Messenger

In the second year of Jian'an, it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

It has been a while since the state pastoral office moved to Jinling, and Jinling has become increasingly prosperous. With this New Year, it has become even more lively.

All the big families and rich families have now bought houses in Jinling. Even if they haven’t worked in the prefectural pastor’s mansion, there is no difference between a different house, and some even bought farms directly outside the city...

Although the whole family will not be relocated, a group of clan members will also be resettled, firstly to show their closeness, and secondly to be well-informed.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was the first to buy the bottom, naturally made a lot of money, but it was not a huge sum.

In the Han Dynasty, the price of land in the city was not much higher, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Even in Luoyang in its heyday, grassroots officials could buy a small house if they saved a few years.

Land prices in the city require prosperous private businesses to take off. The wealthy merchants of the Han Dynasty were indeed wealthy, but they relied on monopoly and large-scale transactions.

Especially after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the commodity economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty actually regressed compared to that of the Western Han Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to alleviate the economic pressure caused by foreign conquests, the budding transportation tax and property tax—that is, "equal loss" and "calculation of losses"—began to emerge.

However, firstly, the steps were too big. At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was already going crazy from poverty. The blood pumping was a bit harsh and directly injured his roots. Secondly, in the late Western Han Dynasty, especially Wang Mang's aggressive restoration, the commodity economy almost collapsed.

Although there was a "fangshi" system in the Han Dynasty, housing prices were average.

In the Tang Dynasty, the price of land in the city really took off. Han Yu, who was a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, wrote in his poem, "I have worked hard for 30 years to have this house." Not to mention Du Fu, who was bullied by a group of children in Nancun. We can only build a thatched house in the suburbs of non-first-tier cities...

It can also be seen from here that the commerce in the Eastern Han Dynasty was not perfect. Although there were wealthy families doing large-scale transactions, there was a lack of private businessmen, and the demand for commerce among the people was also very low. The small-scale peasant economy and bartering for daily necessities were the key to success. mainstream.

And these so-called large-scale transactions can hardly provide tax revenue for Bai Tu. It's like the Chen family helped Bai Tu transport a thousand cavalry to Jiangdong - even Yuan Shu, who controls Huainan, has not discovered their whereabouts, so where can they collect taxes?
Unless one day, Bai Tu can open up stable trade routes, ports, and trading points, making it a trustworthy distribution center and bulk trading location. It will be more convenient than them alone to conduct transactions, and there will be a basis for tax collection.

Otherwise, Baitu can never build a Great Wall to surround Jiangdong...

As for the private commodity economy that is easy to collect taxes, the Eastern Han Dynasty is now even more backward than the Western Han Dynasty. Ninety-nine percent of the Han people are completely small farmers and self-sufficient.

This way, there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that Bai Tu will ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to revise the commercial tax regulations now and clear the source before business develops. The disadvantage... is that for a long time, Bai Tu can't expect commercial tax regulations. How much to subsidize yourself.

Wanting to support oneself through commercial taxes is still just a vision. In recent years, one has to endure the torture of conscience and "exploit" farmers to maintain the army.

Only when food production increases, more manpower is liberated from cultivated land, and the commodity economy is revived, can the "commercial tax" gradually come into use.

Even not only food, after the food production capacity is improved, the diet structure can also be upgraded...

During the heyday of the Han Dynasty, especially the Western Han Dynasty, during those powerful periods, meat was not considered a luxury among the people. The frontier troops could each receive several kilograms of meat per month - the general rations for the defenders were staple food and Salt is purchased locally through direct allocation of funds for transportation and food supplements.

Only armies fighting abroad will rely entirely on transporting grain and grass.

But obviously this does not include the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Now it is good for ordinary people to have enough to eat!
Moreover, even ordinary people in the Han Dynasty mainly consumed chicken and beef as meat. Even if they could not eat meat at all most of the time, they rarely considered pork.

It’s not just a matter of the fishy smell, after all, you can eat tree bark and grass roots if you’re extremely hungry.

The main reason is that there are not many people raising pigs, and the pigs that have not been gelded are not like the big fat pigs in pig farms. Especially now, the degree of domestication of pigs is far less than that of later generations. Pigs exercise more than cows!

Wildness is stronger than that of cattle, not to mention the difficulty of breeding, and a lot of exercise, so it will be slower to gain weight naturally, so it is difficult to make considerable profits...

However, Baitu understood that as long as the pigs were selected for breeding and the pigs were bred scientifically, the feed-to-meat ratio of pigs was much higher than that of cattle. Even if Baitu couldn't get corn for the time being, there was still a lot to be done in raising pigs.

What Bai Tu needs to do today is to break people’s prejudice against pigs first!
Because there were too many people at the banquet and the main hall was not big enough, Bai Tu set up the banquet directly in the large courtyard of the Zhou Mufu.

Except for Sun Ce, who is still in Poyang, and Taishi Ci, who is still on his way to Liaodong, all the main figures from the other prefectures and pastoral offices have arrived. Even if they have not yet served in the prefectural pastoral office, there are already representatives of aristocratic families and wealthy families in Jinling. Invitations were sent to everyone, but I just wanted to accompany them to the last seat.

Next to Bai Tu in the front are Lu Bu's family, generals like Zhang Liao and Gan Ning who are usually stationed outside, and the main staff of the Six Departments...

Seeing Gan Ning sitting there peacefully, many people also concluded that what happened a few days ago was indeed a rumor.

Even though Sun Ce was not here, the family members of the Sun Quan brothers and even Mrs. Wu were also invited, and Diao Chan was also involved in the crime next to Lu Bu.

In addition to these people, there is also an unexpected guest-Xun You.

Baitu's Talent Acquisition Hall has already "accepted" many famous talents, but Xun You is not among them.

After all, before he traveled through time, his uncles and nephews Xun Yu and Xun You had been conquered by Cao Cao. Now Xun You, as an envoy of the imperial court, came to Jiangdong to invite Bai Tu to send troops to attack Yuan Shu!

Yuan Shuchu declared himself emperor on the first day, and Xun You arrived in Jinling on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, which shows that Cao Cao is really urgent.

And... it would be better to come early than to come by chance, so Bai Tu couldn't bear to part with even this bite of meat.

Xun You didn't expect that as Cao Cao's envoy and even an "angel" in name, he would be dragged to eat pork. If it weren't for the other major generals and staff from Jiangdong, he really thought that Bai Tu was humiliating him!

In fact, I had known earlier that apart from eating pork today, the other specifications of the banquet were quite good. Bai Tu was in the upper position. Everyone sat on two sides, with tables set up on each side. There was also a big cauldron in the middle of the courtyard, which was buzzing. Burning...

Waves of rich aroma emanated from the cauldron.

Gan Ning had nothing to do. Not only did he not sit down, but he also shouted to Xun You from several seats away: "Don't worry, Mr. Xun, this cauldron is for cooking cheap meat, not envoys, hahaha..."

Xun You: ...

Hua Xin glared at Gan Ning's rude joke, but Gan Ning pretended not to notice.

Although Xun You was not very familiar with Gan Ning, he also knew that he must be Baitu's confidant, so he pretended not to hear, and chatted with Hua Xin, Wang Lang, Kong Rong and others beside him.

In addition to asking Baitu to send troops, Xun You has other tasks this time, which is to see if he can conquer Hua Xin and others in the name of the court, and at the same time test whether Baitu has the heart to fight for hegemony.

(End of this chapter)