Chapter 334: Expansion of Kunming Town
Zhao Sihan suggested to him that he should implement tax sharing in Shanchan Prefecture and use the money from the palace to repair and expand Kunming Town. Her brother did just that, and slowly his wealth accumulated more and more.
The couple began to plan carefully .
Zhao Yulin sailed on the Minshui River for two days and returned to Cuiping Mountain. After dropping off the two girls, he was about to go to Xinshi to check out Hongmeng Valley. Yangjin was not happy about this and complained that he didn't accompany them when he returned home, but ran away because he couldn't sit still. She insisted on going with him.
Zhao Feiyan immediately put on the post and wanted to go along with him.
Zhao Yulin innocently accompanied the two girls to Jiuzhouba to eat, play and rest. After taking the two wives to meet his parents, he moved to the new town.
There, Duan Xiaolin had already arrived with his sister Zhao Sihan.
The spies of Dali Kingdom found out that Zhao Yulin had arrived in Xinshi and immediately reported it to the Dali Palace. The young emperor had just intercepted the news that General Cao You had heard about Xinshi and was puzzled. Then he received the information that Zhao Yulin, the commander of the Shenwei Army, had arrived in Yibin.
The young emperor immediately panicked, fearing that the New Song Kingdom would take advantage of their fierce battle with the Yue Kingdom to attack from behind and dismember their Dali Kingdom from both sides. He immediately sent a pigeon message, asking Duan Xiaolin to go to Xinshi to investigate the situation.
National affairs are of great importance. Duan Xiaolin is timid and does not dare to be careless at all. He quickly brings Zhao Sihan to Xinshi Town to meet Cao Youwen.
When Zhao Yulin and his companions arrived, Lao Cao invited them to drink together with a smile, and told them that the Prince of Zhennan had come to discuss the purchase of military equipment.
Zhao Yulin said that Dali Kingdom only bought a batch of weapons in the first half of the year, and they have been consumed now?
Duan Xiaolin has been staying at the Xinshi wharf inn for two days, and has not seen any new recruits. He knows that Cao Youwen and Zhao Yulin are not here to seek military advice.
When Zhao Yulin learned that Cao Youwen really came here to recuperate, he also accompanied his wife to recuperate. After the doubts in his heart were resolved, he felt much more relaxed. He also said with a smile that Dali had expelled the Kingdom of Yue, but to completely defeat the Kingdom of Yue, he still needed the help of his third brother.
Lao Cao added: It is enough to drive the State of Yue out of the country. There is no need to continue fighting. It is better for countries to be good neighbors.
Zhao Yulin also sent Duan Xiaolin and his wife away after some kind words of persuasion.
When Yangjin was having dinner with Cao Youwen again, she said that she felt that the King of Zhennan came to Xinshi definitely not to purchase weapons, but might be to investigate our strength.
Lao Cao woke up immediately. Yes, Duan Xiaolin never gave up until he achieved his goal every time he came. Why did he leave after just a few words this time?
Mrs. Cao said with a smile that they didn't just leave after talking, they just left after seeing. Mrs. Cao said that Sihan talked to everyone he met at the dock and in the streets, and it was obvious that he was trying to understand the situation.
Zhao Feiyan told Zhao Yulin that sister Sihan had just asked them why they both came to Xinshi.
Zhao Yulin was laughing at his sister, thinking that a woman who is married off is like water spilled on the ground. For Duan Xiaolin's sake, his sister actually became a spy for Dali, helping Dali to gather information.
Lao Cao was delighted after listening to their talk. He laughed and said that since the two major military giants of the New Song Kingdom had come to Xinshi Town, it naturally attracted the attention of the Dali Kingdom. It was normal for Dali to send the King of Zhennan to find out what was going on, as their troops were still fighting in the south.
He told Zhao Yulin that the hot springs on Zhenwu Mountain were really good for health, and asked him to go and take a bath there. Lao Lu also said that the hot springs in Huanglang were big and good, and asked him when he could go and try them.
Mrs. Cao blamed him for giving bad advice. The two young ladies had just arrived in Xinshi, so they should rest for a few days first.
Old Cao smiled naively and said quickly, "That's right, that's right."
Duan Xiaolin went directly to Yongshan Village and sent a message to his father: Everything is fine.
Zhao Sihan went personally to help inquire. If she were to be a spy, she would definitely be a top-notch expert. She did not ask whether there were any soldiers in Xinshi , but only asked about the fisherman's recent catch.
Ask the grandmother selling vegetables on the street if her business is good?
Don't underestimate these insignificant things. The new town is so small that as long as a few thousand soldiers come, business will definitely be booming and everything will be sold out. Even if the soldiers don't get off the ship, there will be consumption from high-ranking officials like Zhao Yulin, and information can be obtained from just a few words.
And those fishermen must have had a poor catch because of the frequent traffic of large ships on the river.
Zhao Sihan told Duan Xiaolin not to worry, everything was normal. Her brother must have brought his two sisters-in-law to Xinshi Town to take care of the pregnancy. Didn’t you see that Zhao Feiyan’s belly was already very bulging?
After Duan Xiaolin relaxed, he said that his father was too cautious and it was also because of the war in the south.
However, the young emperor still gained something from sacrificing Duan Xiaolin. He forced the Gao family and the Chai family to hand over their private soldiers and sent them to the south to fight. After the Dali soldiers united, they burst out with amazing combat power. They even joined forces with Pagan to drive the Yue army out of the mining area and recaptured their own city.
This is already a very good result.
The next day, Zhao Yulin invited Lao Cao to go to Jiangbei to inspect Hongmeng Valley. The Shenwei Army built a new scientific research and experimental institution powered by steam engines here, and used a large number of steam-powered mechanical equipment.
Chen Xian, the master of Hongmeng Valley, happily led the two of them to walk and see that the various weapon accessories of the Shenwei Army were produced in the form of standard parts in different workshops, and then transported together for assembly. This separated the production and assembly, and the assembly process was divided into three stages, with final assembly taking place at the end.
As a result, very few people know the entire production process of a crossbow or a musket, and it is difficult to obtain accurate production drawings. This ensures the confidentiality of equipment and weapons.
The people in the valley have their own vegetable gardens, grow their own vegetables, raise pigs, and run a large daily necessities store, where they can buy almost all the goods sold outside. Chen Xian said that they have basically achieved an independent life.
Unfamiliar outsiders seldom come in, and strangers who come in can be spotted at a glance. The two adults visiting today are definitely rare guests.
They transferred all the application-level technologies and equipment to Guigu in Cuiping Mountain. The security department only needed to strictly follow the procedures to find clues to the problem without worrying about technology leaks.
When Zhao Yulin saw the rumbling output power of the tall steam engine, which pushed the machine to rotate rapidly, he said happily that in the future he could make a train and build a railway to Jianwei to connect here. Then the coal from Yujin could be transported here quickly by train, and the finished products could also be quickly transported away.
Chen Xian was very happy and said that they were conducting experiments. They wanted to do it as soon as they made the steam engine, but the power output was too small. Later, they felt that water transportation was very convenient, so they did not continue.
At present, the affairs of the court are developing rapidly. In particular, the journey to Tibet and the Western Regions is long, so it would be much more convenient to have trains.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that he would not leave for the time being and would come back to discuss skills with the masters.
Chen Xian was delighted. He knew that Zhao Yulin was an amazing person. With his advice, everyone would avoid many detours and the research work would progress much faster.
In Chengdu, Lord Ding once again convened a meeting to discuss various matters concerning the new year.
In a moment of impatience, he left officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Transport to discuss the issuance of the new currency, but the news leaked.
Qin Qinyao, the third deputy envoy of the Transportation Department, was promoted from the former deputy commander to be in charge of the management of money notes. However, he had long been bribed by Qian Fuxing, the head manager of the Thirteen Shops. How did he hear that the court was going to issue paper money?
After Mr. Ding convened a meeting and determined the strategy for issuing paper money, Qian Fuxing knew the entire content of the meeting that evening.
This guy knows that once the new currency of the New Song Dynasty is issued, let alone issued, once the people know that the court is going to issue new coins equivalent to silver coins, all the currencies in circulation will plummet, and even the exchange rate of silver will plummet.
He immediately called his chief accountant and ordered him to clear out a large amount of money and sell loose change starting from the next day.
The money market in Chengdu became strange. The largest shop in Shisanpu suddenly stopped accepting loose change and copper coins and only accepted silver coins.
Moreover, the consideration for various money-inducing products was also reduced by 10%.
Before noon, the whole street knew about it.
In the afternoon, the Jiuzi Shop also posted the exchange price like the No.1 Shop, which caused other shops to be extremely confused. In the evening, they all went to invite Qian Fuxing, the owner of the No.1 Shop, to have a drink, but Qian Fuxing was just pretending from beginning to end and didn't say a word.
Everyone turned their attention to the owner of Jiuzipu.
Why is Jiuzipu so named? One reason is that this shop opened late and ranked later. Another important reason is that the sister of the shopkeeper of Jiuzipu married Qian Fuxing, the shopkeeper of Diyiwangpu, so the shopkeeper of Jiuzipu became Qian Fuxing's brother-in-law.
Jiuzi and Jiuzi are homophones. Chengdu people love to give nicknames as a joke, but since they are so prominent, it is not easy to call someone "Jiuzi" out loud. So the name Jiuzipu gradually became famous.
Zhao Yulin was the first person in Xinshi to obtain information about the leak of important court meetings, because the money houses in Xinshi town lowered the exchange rate of money notes and silver accordingly.
The captain of the guard reported to him that people were queuing up in front of the money shops in Xinshi Town to exchange their coins. He sent people to inquire and found out that the exchange rates of money notes and silver had suddenly changed, and the change was quite large.
Zhao Yulin immediately called the shopkeeper to ask questions, and found the Thirteen Shops. He knew that the news that the court was going to issue new currency had leaked in advance.
He immediately asked Shunfeng to send a message to Ma Linger.
Ma Ling'er was also struggling.
She talked to Chen Chen on the night of the meeting because she was worried that the news would leak out due to too many gossips. The two of them had just returned from a trip to Jiading, which meant that she had only just learned about the issuance of the new currency and had not yet formed a strategy for issuing the new currency.
When she received Zhao Yulin's warning letter, rumors had already spread through the streets of Chengdu: the court was about to issue new currency, which would not require money to coin.
The court doesn't have enough money.
The imperial court is going to use a new round of money to take away our silver, just like Jiangdong did.
All kinds of rumors have come out, making people dizzy and not knowing what to believe.
The money market where Shisanpu is located is the busiest. People coming and going carry large and small bags of money or money notes on their backs. Every day, the game of turning paper into silver and silver into paper money is played.
More and more people were running towards Shisanpu like crazy.
