Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

On the outskirts of Chang'an, a team of more than 200 knights appeared, equipped with bows and swords, and behaved in an orderly manner.

The world is not peaceful, even if there are bandits around the capital, the people often have to travel together to protect themselves. But such a large and strong team and the level of armed force are still rare, which attracted the attention of pedestrians on the left, wondering which general was going to the capital?

In the team, Li Tai controlled the Hexi horse given by Yuwen Tai, and felt the awe and vigilance of the pedestrians on the left, and felt quite happy.

Today, he finally has the capital to go out and show off his power, so that he will not be easily ambushed and chased like a dog.

This entourage of more than 200 people is still mainly composed of the strong men in his family's manor, and is matched with several elite veterans left by Heba Sheng as the team leader. They are diligent in daily training and have proper methods. The atmosphere is already quite impressive.

As for the weapons carried by the team, they had recently purchased a batch from some Hedong families. There were quite a few bows, swords and armors, so at least they didn't have to use ordinary hunting bows as before.

Colleagues Pei Han and Xue Shen made great efforts to purchase such a batch of weapons. Although the Grand Secretariat did not strictly prohibit the development of armed forces by the people, it was not something that ordinary people could do to purchase weapons and weapons in batches.

Even Heba Sheng's troops had to return the armor, swords and weapons they had been allocated to the Secretariat after their lord passed away and no longer participated in the front-line river defense military affairs.

Li Tai purchased 500 strong bows, 500 sabers, 100 standard horse lances and liangdang armors at one time, which were all beyond the current production level of his manor. The general rural armed forces rarely made such large-scale purchases, and the price was also very high.

It was also thanks to Li Mu's previous threat to the Mo Cao government office that Li Tai was unscathed in the office, which made his colleagues realize that the Grand Secretariat's appreciation of him might be beyond their imagination.

With such an absolute background and support, the treatment is naturally different. When Li Tai proposed to purchase a batch of military equipment, Pei Han and Xue Shen also responded enthusiastically and helped to contact.

This batch of military equipment was also priced fairly, not overpriced, and of good quality. Although some of them were old items, they were well maintained and did not affect their use.

But even so, Li Tai's current savings were far from enough to pay for this considerable amount of fees.

Although his manor was profitable, his expenses were also large. He had to continue to invest in the manor on Longshouyuan, and he had to support more than 2,000 Heba Sheng's troops, not to mention the affairs of the township channel alliance. He really didn't have much floating wealth and savings.

The reason why those families in Hedong were willing to lend him credit and allow him to pay in batches, in addition to Pei Han and Xue Shen's lobbying as a guarantor, was probably because they valued Li Tai's potential.

In short, Li Tai had just had some more money on hand, but he was burdened with a debt that was not heavy but considerable. This debt-ridden operation was almost seamless.

The troops were armed, of course, not to go out and show off. Fighting to support fighting is a universal truth.

The current scale of farming operations is not enough to support a larger-scale expansion of armed forces, so after taking on new debts, Li Tai was eager to find someone to fight, kill people, rob treasures and materials.

This time, more than 200 troops followed to Chang'an, which was also a marching armed training. Li Tai was still imagining whether there would be blind bandits in the suburbs of Beijing who would stop him on the road and make him try his hand and earn some extra money.

But unfortunately, he did not encounter any harassment all the way to Chang'an. He only hunted some game along the way to add to his meal. It can be seen that the bandits in the suburbs of Beijing are quite discerning.

Before entering Beijing, he stayed overnight in the manor on Longshouyuan outside the city and observed the construction status of the manor.

The management of Longshouyuan Manor is not as grand as Shangyuan Manor. It just replaced the fence that the county government helped to build with a rammed earth wall. There are not many houses in the manor, and most of the troops still live in felt tents.

The land of the manor has been basically reclaimed, and a batch of beans with a short growth cycle have been harvested. Because the land has been barren for a long time and there is a lack of water for irrigation, it can only maintain the state of rotation cultivation in the next one or two years.

Moreover, since there are nearly a thousand troops of Heba Sheng here, and most of them are old, weak, women and children, the proportion of labor force in prime age is not large. The meager income of the manor itself is not enough to maintain the balance of income and expenditure, and continuous subsidies will be required for a long time in the future.

"It's not easy to be a nail household in Longshouyuan!"

Li Tai flipped through the manor account book, and listened to the detailed explanation of the current situation of the manor by Li Xiaoyong, the family member in charge, and sighed in his heart.

Seeing that several earthen kilns for firing pottery had been built in the manor, and many Buddha statues were drying, he could not help but frown and said, "There are many businesses to choose from, why do you do this?"

After hearing this, Li Xiaoyong smiled bitterly: "It is difficult to have a good harvest due to the poverty of the land. If the workers are subsidized, the powerful and powerful families nearby have exquisite craftsmanship, and there is not much demand from outside. On the contrary, these pottery statues are in great demand in the nearby temples. Even if the craftsmanship is crude, they can be made for a long time."

While speaking, he also talked about the current demand for market transactions around the capital. Whether it is official or folk, the worship of Buddhism is popular. Many temples themselves cannot keep up with the production capacity. They need to purchase these pottery Buddha statues from outside and sell them to believers at high prices. A complete industrial chain has been formed.

After learning about this, Li Tai was also quite helpless. Although the market transactions in Chang'an were prosperous, the business environment was basically stable. If there were no special crafts and products, it would be difficult to stir up any waves in this market.

His power and influence in Chang'an is not great, and he does not plan to move some of Shangyuan Village's industries here in the near future. If someone really breaks into the manor and takes away the workers' craftsmanship, there will be no way to pursue and retaliate.

Although his cousin Cui Quan served in Jingzhaoyin, what Chang'an lacked most was high-ranking officials and powerful people. At best, he could only provide limited care and could not provide comprehensive care.

"If it weren't for the fact that Alang was so disgusted with such filthy deeds, I would have donated to build a temple on the village, and invited several ascetics to preside over it and attract believers. Now that these pottery statues are sold, ten of them cannot be exchanged for a piece of cloth. But if the temple teaches the Dharma and gives alms, the profit margin will be more than ten times!"

Li Xiaoyong shook his head again and sighed, regretting that he could not manage this way of making money.

When Li Tai heard this, he was slightly moved. It would be wise to join if he can't do it. But when he thought about the future, if he became a big man, Long Shouyuan would have to live there for a long time. There was really no need to get into bad luck for temporary short-term gains. .

It’s not that he looks down on Buddhism, but today’s Samanas are indeed chaotic and filthy, lacking even basic teaching inheritance. Even some moral people with profound Buddhist principles in later generations would not dare to say that the Samanas of this period were all good things.

The world has been in chaos for many years, the authority of the dynasty is not high, and folk ethics have collapsed. This is also an important reason why ascetics can become popular in the world.

The five barbarians rise and fall one by one, and their respective backgrounds are different. Loyalty, filial piety, and friendship are not the same. After fighting for so many years and wanting to enjoy things, we cannot use a knife to intimidate them every day. Samanas are an excellent tool to shape authority and maintain governance. .

Those who need religious comfort either have no worries about food and clothing and want to engage in some spiritual pursuits, or they have no food and clothing and can only engage in some mental paralysis. Both the upper and lower classes of society have such needs, so Samanas naturally thrive.

Li Tai has never reached the level of engaging in some ideological struggle. If he can destroy gods and Buddhas and depose three or five emperors, why not take advantage of him? Even Xiao Bodhisattva from Jiangdong directly made his body become a saint, cast it into a Buddha statue, and even spent money to redeem it!

But Li Xiaoyong's words reminded him that those Samana Buddhist temples were extremely rich, so weren't they an excellent target for raising soldiers?

The power he has in his hands is not enough to fill the gap between the East and West on the battlefield, but it is quite easy to rob a few Buddhist temples. This can be regarded as fighting to support war, right?

Li Tai suddenly became excited when he thought that there was such a big blue ocean market. However, this kind of thing is not dignified after all. Once it is discovered, it will inflict the anger of everyone in the world.

What's more, even his own tribe has many Samana followers. Even if he can hide his eyes from others, it is not unusual for one or two traitors to appear in his tribe.

If you want to develop this business, the first thing is to carefully visit the sites and select the targets. The second thing is to strengthen the ideological construction of the team. We are robbing Buddhas and benefiting people, and we are not thieves who blaspheme the gods and Buddhas!

So Li Tai no longer said that he was not allowed to make Buddha statues, but instead ordered Li Xiaoyong to continue to expand production. In a few days, he would transport a batch of materials from Shangyuan, striving to make the pottery statue business bigger and stronger, and compete with the surrounding areas of Chang'an. All the Buddhist temples were put online, and I took advantage of the delivery time to visit the places to find out the truth.

As for the ideological construction of the team, it has to be carried out even if it is not engaged in this undertaking, but it can be achieved leisurely and there is no need to rush.

As long as your thinking does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties. After figuring out this way to make money, Li Tai's mood suddenly became cheerful, even though he had not yet seen any real profits.

After resting for a night in the manor, Li Tai took a shower early the next morning and took a few dozen troops to Chang'an.

After entering the city, he did not go directly to visit Li Hu. Instead, he went to his cousin Lu Rou's house first and presented some of the latest products produced in the village, including two large jars of honey. This made Lu Rou and his daughter very happy, and she called her cousin sweetly.

Li Tai told Lu Rou by the way that Li Mu had visited him before and threatened him to marry him. After hearing this, Lu Rou frowned and said: "It is a fact that the world is uneasy and the world is in decline, but Apan It is also right for you to be unyielding to power and strong in character. If this arrogance comes to bother you again, you don't have to confront him face to face and send a letter to tell him that although our martial arts are not as good as those of Zhenren, we still have the right to do so. I will never allow myself to be insulted!”

"Times are changing and we need to be flexible. If there is strong support that is sincere in helping to promote our family's reputation, I won't be mean or rude, but I won't flatter the strong or be unfaithful!"

Li Tai didn't say anything. After all, the money given by Li Mu was not enough. This guy had no intention of paying at all!

When he talked about Li Hu's invitation again, Lu Rou's face became serious: "Li Wenbin, the elder of Beizhen, Ziwang and other barbarians, although I don't know who is calling him, we can't wait for him. Let's go to see my uncle." The government will provide detailed information."

Today I read a book highly recommended by the editor. I will add an update chapter in the early morning. Good night everyone. . .