Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Hearing what Li Qianzhe said, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh.

People are very complex. It is difficult to generalize whether they are good or bad, virtuous or foolish. As far as the Xiao family is concerned, Wuling King Xiao Ji is really quite good. The fact that he has been controlling Shu for more than ten years and there has been little chaos in Shu is worthy of praise.

In the early days of the Southern Liang Dynasty, Shuzhong was by no means a land of abundance. Various contradictions emerged one after another, and civil uprisings and struggles occurred one after another, so much so that it earned the reputation of the Shu people as being greedy and rejoicing in misfortune.

Luo Yan, a native of Shu, once said: The accumulated shortcomings in Shu are actually not caused by one dynasty. A hundred families form a village, but only a few families have food. Nine out of ten people are in poverty, and twenty-three out of ten are in bondage. Greed, chaos and pleasure in misfortune are nothing to blame.

The people of Shu are greedy and happy for misfortunes not because of their temperament, but because of the huge gap between the rich and the poor and the heavy burden of taxes and labor. This is a real situation where the government is forcing the people to rebel. If they don't rise up, they will die without a burial place!

Since the founding of Xiao Liang, the governors appointed to Shuzhong were all talented people, but it was still inevitable that there would be frequent turmoil.

This situation was greatly improved when King Wuling Xiao Ji came out to control Shuzhong. People's livelihood and commerce have been greatly developed. During his tenure in Shuzhong, civil unrest rarely occurred. This It shows that various conflicts have been alleviated. When he went out to fight in Shu, he brought in more than 10,000 kilograms of gold alone, which shows that the financial situation in Shu is very good.

But the wonderful thing about character design is that you never know when it will overturn. At least before this year, Wuling King Xiao Ji still had a good reputation in Nanliang. Perhaps in the eyes of many people, even if Hou Jing kills Xiao Yi, the king of eastern Hunan in Jiangling, the king of Wuling who is in the middle of Shu is qualified to become the last hope of the whole village.

But what can I say about Xiao Ji's move to become emperor? It's really a bit stinky. Not to mention what the people in Nanliang thought about this, even Li Tai and others from neighboring countries would have to say something contrary when talking about this, because there is no legal basis to follow! Either you are the successor, or you have made great contributions to the country, but now you are neither of them, what is the difference between you and Hou Jing?

Even when many people in later generations talked about history, they were confused about whether the country was upright or not, not to mention that in this medieval political environment, the behavior of King Wuling was an out-and-out one-man thief! Even King Xiangdong looked thicker and cute in comparison.

Judging from the situation described by Li Qianzhe, the people in Shu are generally not optimistic about King Wuling proclaiming himself emperor. This also reflects the success of King Wuling in governing Shu. At least he made the people understand the concepts of family, country and political power, and made them understand that there is a vast world beyond the world in the middle of Shu. They also understood that those who are too arrogant will be beaten. !

"The country originally had a plan to conquer Shu. That was why I returned to the country..."

Hearing Li Qianzhe's question, Li Tai did not hide anything and simply recounted the discussion on this matter after returning home.

Li Qianzhe listened very carefully, and after listening to Li Tai's story, he nodded and said: "Master Lang suggested that it is indeed a good idea not to attack Shu for the time being. Nowadays, many wealthy families in Bashu are worried that King Wuling may make his subordinates disciples." The people are marching out from the east to compete with Jiangling, so they don’t want to join in. Once the country sends a large army to knock on the pass, Bashu will surely be united and swear to defend the pass to stop the plan of going out from the east!"

King Wuling's demands were not the same as those of the Bashu clans, and they were even somewhat contrary. Of course, King Wuling hoped to go east from Shuzhong, defeat King Xiangdong, and become the only heir to the entire Southern Liang Dynasty, so that he could be justified.

But these Bashu clans obviously don't have too strong ambitions. They just want to defend this three-acre area in central Shu, and are not willing to sacrifice the lives of their own children and waste their own money and food for the wild whims of King Wuling.

If the army of the Western Wei Dynasty presses the border and launches an attack on Shuzhong at this time, it will force them to work together and put aside their past grudges. The whole of Shuzhong will be monolithic, and it will be a tough battle regardless of whether they can conquer it or not.

"Now that the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office is about to send personnel to directly negotiate with Shu, our affairs here also need to be slightly changed. We can no longer limit ourselves to obtaining material benefits, but we must also appease people's hearts."

Li Tai knew that once the personnel of the Zhongwai Mansion were in place, he would immediately start interacting with Shuzhong. He was well aware of the high efficiency of the Chinese Foreign Mansion. It is even possible that before Liu Fan and others arrived in Huazhou, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Office had already sent envoys to make preliminary contacts.

As the expedition to Shu entered the formal preparatory stage, Li Tai was no longer satisfied with just exchanging some Shu brocade, and began to discuss further land enclosure plans with Li Qianzhe.

In targeting Shuzhong, the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office mainly engaged in extortion from Yizhou officials, and also contacted and recruited military personnel like Yang Qianyun who held military power and guarded the passes. They did not pay much attention to the lobbying work of powerful people in Brazil and other places, and did not Sufficient energy to carry out such detailed infiltration work needs to be reserved as part of local governance after Shuzhong is captured.

In line with the principle of being the first to do everything, Li Tai decided that he would catch the work that the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office had no time to do. What I discussed with Li Qianzhe this time was to contact the Brazilian powerful people who were used to doing business in the past, organize them, and take advantage of the Western Wei Dynasty's army to join Shu, so as to take the lead in governing Shu in the Western Wei Dynasty. occupy a favorable position under the new order.

After hearing Li Tai's plan, Li Qianzhe couldn't help but frown and said: "But King Wuling has not yet shown his decline, and the Shu people are relying on the danger of Jiange Pass, so I am afraid they will not be easily convinced!"

Being one step ahead in everything sounds nice, but you have to endure treatment that people don't understand, don't pay attention to, etc. In many cases, you will get half the result with half the effort, which is far less smooth than what comes naturally.

Regarding this point, Li Tai certainly understood that King Wuling was a good pastoral official respected by everyone in Bashu. If he wanted everyone to betray him, he would have to pay more!

So he was well prepared. After hearing what Li Qianzhe said, he smiled and said: "The power of the Nanliang country is in turmoil, and the brothers are at war. There is no way to hide the signs of the end of the world. Bashu is closed, and it is difficult for the Shu people to become a country alone. It is inevitable to join our country, it is just a matter of time. If they are willing to join me, I can still try to protect their safety and the integrity of the country. If they remain stubborn, they will only regret it in the end. "

The truth is this, but it's not enough to convince people, especially now that you can't directly send troops to increase your own deterrence, so you still need to find another way. After making this tough statement, Li Taicai came up with his trump card: "What if we add a method of making sugar?"

After Li Qianzhe heard this, he immediately became excited and hurriedly asked: "Does Master Lang really want to teach this secret method to his people?"

"Why not? I made a promise before, and I will never break my promise!"

After hearing this, Li Tai smiled and said that he had used the secret method of sugar production to induce the Brazilian wealthy families to cooperate with them, and also sent protons to Jingzhou.

He wants to dominate the world, not run a canteen. In the past, because the power could not be reached, or because they were worried about the crime, they had to do some technical confidentiality work. However, as their own power reaches a certain level, any technological development that can promote productivity must be promoted as quickly as possible. ah!

The profits from frosting sugar are indeed high at the moment, but compared with the further development of power and further improvement of status, these monetary profits are nothing. What's more, teaching the secret method of frosting to others does not mean that he has given up profits in this area. On the contrary, he has gained broader development prospects and operating space due to the expansion of production scale.

"The method of making frosting can be taught to them, but the prerequisite is that they can unite the masses and show their support. At that time, some people from the army of Shu will go to recruit them. As long as they comply with the agreement, the situation of Brazil's hometown will not be infringed."

Speaking of this, Li Tai looked at Li Qianzhe and said: "The general is a virtuous man with both civil and military skills, but he was trapped in the government affairs because there was no one available and had to temporarily delegate this matter. It is disappointing to have a great talent but a small use." After this incident, I will recommend you, General Li, to join the army to fight in Shu. Once you have accumulated merits, you can take advantage of the situation and sit in the south of Shu to guard the mouth of the gorge. I don’t know what General Li will do?”

"A native of Shannan, an unknown person in the world. Fortunately, Master Lang did not give up, so he came up with a great plan and was given an important position. Master Lang has a mission, and he will not hesitate to die in the end!"

After Li Qianzhe heard this, he was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed and thanked him.

Since he defected to the Western Wei Dynasty, he has been awarded the title of hussar and opened a mansion. Although he was ordered to work hard in Shu and did all the business of merchants, he did not suffer any loss in the power of his hometown. He also had brothers who were pastors of the state. The treatment is second to none among all the Shannan powerful men who joined the Western Wei Dynasty, which is naturally inseparable from Li Tai's care. At this time, Li Qianzhe was promised by his master to take charge of Shunan, so Li Qianzhe was naturally grateful.

Li Tai bent down and helped Li Qianzhe up, and then said with a smile: "There are many barbarians in southern Sichuan. If they don't follow the education, they will inevitably be conquered and suppressed, which may not be a good job. But now that the wealthy families in Brazil have learned how to make sugar, they are also eager to do so." Take the cane and squeeze the sugar, and then the general can use his troops for his own purposes and open up the southern frontier!"

Let these wealthy people from Sichuan charge into battle for King Wuling, they can't help but beat the drum in their hearts, but if it is for their own interests, then they have to roll up their sleeves and work hard!

Brazil is not suitable for growing sugar cane, but southern Sichuan, Yunnan, Huguang and other places are very suitable. Giving these wealthy Brazilians the method of making sugar is undoubtedly to install small motors. They will not forget to explore these places. .

"That's it, it turns out... Master Lang really has a clever plan, and he will be ashamed of himself in the end!"

Li Qianzhe's eyes couldn't help but brighten after hearing this, and he immediately nodded and said.