Chapter 2012 The Gold of the Western Regions, the County of South Central


    The sky over Chang''an is still gloomy.


    In the mansion of General Hussar''s Mansion, the room is full of glory.


    This kind of brilliance is not some sunshine candlelight, but golden light.


    A piece of golden light.


    The reflection makes people''s eyes a little dizzy.


    On the table, there are large and small alluvial gold, or bright or dull gold, which directly hit people''s eyes and people''s hearts.


    Fei Qian brought Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang down the high platform, turned into the government office, and then sent someone to present the latest batch of Western Region gold sent here.


    Golden sand is washed out from the silt of the river bed. Generally speaking, it is relatively fine and can even be stained on fingers, just like the golden light falling from the stars all over the sky.


    Half gold and half stone are mixed gold mines. On the exposed surface, natural gold crystals can be seen, forming many reflective surfaces. Even if there is no sun today, it is still shining and dazzling.


    And with strange shapes and structures, it is the dog''s head gold of different sizes. Although the purity of this kind of gold is generally not very high, it is also yellow and heavy, showing a kind of power called wealth.


    Money is not everything, but without money, many things can''t be achieved.


    『These things are all the gold of the Western Regions! 』


    Fei Qian has seen these golds before, and he has also seen many big scenes in later generations. After all, in later generations, if you walk into a large-scale gold shop, you will inevitably undergo a test of shining, so the tone is relatively smooth.


    『If it’s as expected...the gold from the Western Regions should be worth a million taels...』


    『One million taels! 』Pang Tong was holding a piece of dog''s head gold with both hands, his eyes were rolling around, as if he wanted to stuff a piece into his sleeve while Fei Qian was not paying attention, and he would not let it go.


    Although the little radish-headed Zhuge Liang still looked a little cold and restrained, his breath was a little unstable in front of so much floating money.


    The weight of a catty in the Eastern Han Dynasty was about a little more than two hundred grams, or sixteen taels per catty, so the million taels of gold that Fei Qian said was actually not much. Converted into the unit of later generations, it looks like more than ten tons.


    In fact, the gold reserves contained in the Western Regions far exceed this value. More than a dozen tons may only be the gold production of later generations for one year, at most two years.


    After all, during the crustal movement, there are a lot of non-ferrous minerals in areas such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Therefore, Fei Qian sent people to search along the Kunlun Mountains, and the possibility of finding various minerals was greater.


    Now I only found the Kunlun Mountain area, and the Altun Mountain hasn’t gone yet...


    You must know that later generations call the Zhungeer Basin a basin inlaid with golden rims, which is not just casual talk.


    Fei Qian looked at Zhuge Liang, "Kong Ming, if you have all this gold, what should you do?" 』


    Zhuge Liang seemed to have noticed something, he also raised his eyes to look at Fei Qian, and began to frown and meditate.


    Pang Tong was holding the Goutoujin, his eyes were rolling, and he still refused to let it go.


    Fei Qian turned his head and glared at Pang Tongtong, "Shi Yuan, stop pretending!" If you really want to be greedy for money, you have to fix your eyes on it, the kind that you can''t even move! Why, in my case, I still have to defile myself to protect myself? 』


    Pang Tong laughed, and casually threw the Goutoujin on the table, making a dull, gold-specific crashing sound, "Hi! It''s too familiar, I can''t even pretend...No, I still have to pretend, my lord, give me a piece later, I want to take it back...』


    "Row! Give you the biggest block! ’ Fei Qian also knew what Pang Tong meant.


    Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, obviously feeling very comfortable and relaxed in this atmosphere, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Does the general want to use gold as a guide to stir up the sediment?" 』


    Gold, excluding its properties of gold, does not mention its use in the industrial field. Its economic properties, or money, of course cannot be eaten directly, but it can produce many additional effects, even in later generations. , In the age when banknotes were the main currency, gold was still an indispensable precious metal with unique utility in the economic field.


    Gold is very heavy and heavy. Once it is thrown into the pass, it will fall into the pool like a heavy shell, stirring up all the sediments at the bottom of the pool...


    Fei Qian nodded, and said with a smile: "This matter... has already been done by Gongda... However, since Kong Ming is free these few days, he might as well draw up a strategy to see... Mainly for the Guanzhong area... 』


    Now under Fei Qian, Pang Tong mainly focuses on supervising personnel, while Xun You focuses on economics, but Fei Qian can''t let Yingchuan''s people focus too much on economics, so he trained Zhuge Liang earlier on economics. Ability is the current topic.


    Zhuge Liang obviously understood a little bit, so he didn''t say that he was ignorant of his knowledge, but he responded happily.


    Fei Qian pointed to the gold on the table and said, "Actually, there is not the most gold in the Western Regions, and there is gold in the Western Regions but less silver...It''s a pity that Yuyang is not available for now..."


    Feiqian sighed, "There is a vast ocean to the east of Yuyang, and there are islands like giant snakes in it, and silver in it...well, about twenty million taels..."


    As for the silver in the Americas, there are naturally more, but if it is said that it is barely possible to cross to Japan, it can still be done, but it has to go through the Pacific Ocean, this, for the time being...


    Ok? If during the Little Ice Age, the area of ??the ice sheet expanded, would the Bering Strait be connected soon?


    However, this is also troublesome. There must be a lot of warm clothes, food security along the way, and transportation is also a problem. Forget it, it can only be left to future generations, otherwise the silver reserves in America alone are almost four or five times that of Japan.


    Navigation...


    『Twenty thousand taels of silver? After hearing the number Fei Qian said, Pang Tong touched his chin subconsciously. The amount doesn’t seem to be that big. In addition to the loss of travel, if it can be doubled a hundred times, or ten times, then it can be said that it is worth sending troops to the east. ...uh, wait, something doesn''t seem right?


    "How many? Is... two, twenty million? 』


    Pang Tong stretched out two chubby fingers, a little confused.


    『Just a lot more, twenty million taels. 』Fei Qian confirmed again.


    『Twenty million? Is it twenty million taels? ! 』Even Pang Tong, who is used to having a lot of property on hand, was still a little horrified by the number Fei Qian said, and his heart beat wildly for a while.


    China produces copper, but there is still a large amount of copper shortage. One of the big reasons is the copper standard currency system, which makes copper not enough all the time, causing money shortages to occur from time to time, and then forcing the courts of all dynasties to make excessive payments Coins, minting a large number of "Dang Ten", "Dang Bai", and even "Dang Qian" coins, so that it caused the depreciation of the coins, and at the same time caused greater social turmoil.


    If silver and gold are added as a buffer, such troubles will be greatly alleviated. Just like in later generations, if there is no currency with a large face value, ordinary people can only use one-yuan coins, and then gold and silver can only be used by dignitaries, which is naturally extremely inconvenient. Of course, if all the coins are in large denominations, they will be worth "hundreds" or even "thousands" at every turn, which will greatly disrupt the social economy.


    『In addition, there are also gold mines, about ten million taels... 』Fei Qian continued, 『Ah Yuyang...sooner or later we still have to mine...sooner or later...』


    Pang Tong swallowed his saliva and nodded silently.


    Before Pang Tong heard that Fei Qian had mentioned it a little bit, but he didn’t have any specific and detailed values. He thought it was a general gold and silver mine. Then there are gold and silver mines in Luliang, and there are gold and silver mines in the north of Yinshan Mountain, so Pang Tong didn’t pay much attention to it. , but now that there are specific values, it cannot be measured with a general concept.


    Such a large amount is ten years, no, maybe within a hundred years there is no need to worry about the shortage of silver and gold.


    Zhuge Liang on the side was also surprised, but also a little puzzled, that is, how did Fei Qian know these things outside the East China Sea?


    Is there any book about it?


    『What the general said, is it the "Yuyu Mountain" of the Dongshan Classic? Zhuge thought for a moment, then suddenly asked.


    Fei Qian froze for a moment.


    『After the Juhei Mountain, go southward for 900 miles, and it is called the mountain of the corner. There are many grasses, trees, gold, jade, and ocher on it. There is a beast, its shape is like a cow with a ponytail, its name is Jingjing, and its cry is from 訆..." Zhuge Liang looked at Fei Qian, and said, "Or... Qinshan? 』


    Fei Qian laughed, waved his hands and said: "The Classic of Mountains and Seas also has unfinished meanings... There were books in the pre-Qin period in ancient times, but they were destroyed a lot... A certain person once saw a lonely copy in the teacher''s mansion, and mentioned this... 』


    In order to keep Zhuge Liang from getting to the bottom of it, Fei Qian turned around and said, "Although there is a little war in Sichuan and Sichuan today, it has been peaceful for a long time, and the grain, tea, iron, medicine, incense, silk, and silk are stored in the land. , pottery, porcelain, wood, bamboo, etc. are all plentiful, if purchased with gold from the Western Regions...』


    The land of Sichuan and Shu is itself a small China. Although the Central Plains has encountered wars, the relatively isolated Sichuan and Shu have not been greatly affected. Otherwise, there is no way to support Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in history. But these materials in Sichuan and Shu could not be said to be plundered by Fei Qian without a bottom line, so buying with coins can naturally be used as a way to supplement the shortage of materials in Guanzhong.


    At the same time, the addition of gold from the Western Regions can also supplement Fiqian''s originally reduced finances due to the weather, so as not to be in an embarrassing situation that even if Fiqian wants to buy and sell, he can''t get coins.


    After all, the trade around Chang''an is also gradually increasing, and large-scale transactions are likely to cause a more troublesome problem, that is, there is not enough copper coins. Although some merchants are willing to accept checks similar to "Jiaozi" issued by banks under Feiqian for transactions, there are still many merchants who are only willing to accept metal coins and are unwilling to accept Jiaozi.


    With a large amount of precious metals as collateral, Fei Qian''s "Silver Shop" can naturally open more smoothly...


    At the same time, it can also solve the phenomenon of some shortage of coins.


    Because Zhengxi money, this name, because everyone called it that when it was first issued, and now I’m used to it, and the quality is relatively good, so most of the places where five baht coins and Zhengxi coins can be used at the same time People like to use five baht coins first, but it is said that Zhengxi money has gradually replaced five baht coins and has become the currency used in most areas.


    Therefore, here at Feiqian, no matter how many are manufactured, there are some that are not enough.


    This situation often occurs in history, and once the currency circulation is insufficient, it will cause deflation, and the court will not even be able to pay the salaries of officials, and then mint fake and inferior coins, and the gentry will join in the carnival feast together. Crawling on the land of the country and wantonly sucking blood...


    The copper coins, silver coins and gold coins in the weekdays disappeared after being in circulation for a period of time. Where did they go? Most of them were cast into various bronze utensils, silver melons, gold ingots, etc. by the powerful surnames in the countryside, and then stored. So why are these rich and powerful households in the countryside able to accumulate these coins?


    Because of unreasonable taxation, the wealth exploited by these big households cannot flow back in time, but is deposited in the hands of these big households. However, it is not easy to reform the tax system.


    Even if the tax laws of later generations become more and more detailed, a rich man may have to pay a large sum of money according to the tax laws, but he can reduce or exempt in various ways, and eventually become less, or even not pay at all. In the feudal dynasty, these gentry surnames had ways to evade taxes.


    Feiqian''s "Juetian law" is aimed at the fundamental vital points of these rural surnames in the feudal dynasty, but this "Juetian law" will slowly exert its power after a few years, so now, try to reduce it as much as possible. The self-sufficiency of these gentry families forced these people to put money into circulation, which is the most important means at the moment, and it is also the reason why Fei Qian deliberately tried to break the "small peasant economy" of these gentry families.


    Note that it is not a small-scale peasant economy for ordinary people, because for the most basic people, there is no way to achieve the ideal state of the so-called "self-sufficiency of men farming and women weaving". The **** is broken, should I build it myself? When you are sick, do you still drag your body to climb the mountain to collect medicine? Therefore, the idea of ??small-scale peasant economy instilled in the feudal dynasty will always be the big landowners of large manors. Only these people can achieve a certain degree of "self-sufficiency in men farming and women weaving".


    Therefore, once the gold from the Western Regions is supplemented into Feiqian''s economic circle, it can not only cause waves in Guanzhong, but also penetrate into Sichuan and Sichuan. Fei Qian can also hedge with luxury goods such as jade war horses, and can charge more transaction taxes between buying and selling...


    『Besides...』 Fei Qian continued,『Besides Sichuan and Sichuan, there is also Nanzhong...』


    Pang Tong nodded immediately, stroked his palms with a smile and said: "Nanzhong has a lot of cowhide leather and lacquered horns, which are really useful..."


    In history, the south middle refers to Yunnan, Guizhou and southwest Sichuan in later generations, and northern Myanmar. During the Three Kingdoms period, Nanzhong became part of Jihan. In the Tang Dynasty, the Nanzhong area was occupied by the ancestors of Laos, and the Bai people established the Dali regime here. The well-known idiom "Yelang Zida" refers to the Yelang Kingdom, which is located in Nanzhong.


    Fei Qian couldn''t help but look at Zhuge Liang again. After all, the exploitation... well, the co-prosperity of the South Central Circle was due to Zhuge.


    Zhuge Liang naturally couldn''t understand the meaning contained in Fei Qian''s gaze, and after thinking for a while, he said: "In this way, it will be a matter of local consolidation and transfer of people and horses..."


    Fei Qian raised his head to look at the sky, and it was already getting darker, so he nodded and said, "Presumably by this time, Liu Jiaozhou has arrived in Sichuan and is about to enter Nanzhong... Well, there is no rush for this matter... The weather is so dark now." It''s getting late, why don''t you two stay and have dinner together? 』


    『Stick what you want but dare not ask for it! ’ Pang Tong laughed and said, ‘It’s such a weather, let’s cook it with Qiang! Qiang boil! 』


    …ヽ(^o^)丿…


    Just as Fei Qian was planning how to deal with the arrival of Little Ice River in Chang''an, the three Liu Bei brothers were also planning how to enter Jiaozhi based on Nanzhong.


    『Second brother and third brother, look...'' Liu Bei laid out a map in front of him, then pointed to the map and said, ''Now there are five prefectures in Nanzhong...have you noticed that, in fact, this division is very bad...''


    Zhang Fei looked at the map with wide eyes, wanting to see what Liu Bei said was wrong, but he couldn''t see it, and then felt a little dizzy, as if the words on the map began to twist, he couldn''t help raising his head, looked at Liu Bei, Turning to look at Guan Yu again...


    Guan Yu frowned, stroked his long beard slightly, and said, "But because of the region? 』


    『That’s right, that’s right, look at it...』 Liu Bei nodded and said, while pointing his finger on the map, “In the sixth year of Yuanding, we opened Zangke, divided Qiang into a prefecture and set up Zangke County...”


    Liu Bei''s finger moved, "In the same year, Kaiqiong Capital State established Yuexi County..." and then moved again, "Later, in the second year of Yuanfeng, Dianchi was taken as Yizhou County, and part of Zangke County was merged into Yizhou County , and juxtaposed Zhuti County. In the twelfth year of Yongping, Yongchang County was set up...』


    "After Guangwu, the counties in Nanzhong also gradually declined..." Liu Bei stood up straight, and then walked in the big tent with his hands behind his back, saying, "If all the counties are linked together, the county government will be in vain. If you don''t find a unique way, I''m afraid it''s hard to stretch your hands and feet with only you and my brothers...』


    『Brother! You said... ah..." Zhang Fei stood up fiercely, stood up and wanted to follow, but bumped into the knife rest on the side, and was about to fall, so he couldn''t help but frantically went to support the knife rest.


    Guan Yu pressed the map on the table, still frowning, and said, "If that''s the case...what is the plan?" 』


    Liu Bei chuckled, turned around and said, "The five counties are too few, the six counties are about the same, and the eight counties are better!" 』


    Guan Yu pinched his long beard and thought for a while, "This extra county... is the "two peaches"?" 』


    Liu Bei laughed, walked back again, patted Guan Yu on the shoulder, sat down, and said, "What do you think of the second brother?" 』


    『You should give it a try! ’ Guan Yu said.


    Liu Bei nodded, "In addition, I would like to recommend the Cuan family and the Meng family for use. Remember that your attitude will be better..."


    Guan Yu frowned slightly, and a cold smell spread out.


    "Nanzhong has always been a place outside the law..." Liu Bei patted Guan Yu''s shoulder again, and patted off a lot of the coldness that Guan Yu just exuded, "These guys don''t understand what is etiquette and what is ethics. If you say you rebel, you will rebel... But we are different. If we want to establish rules, we must abide by them... If we don''t abide by the rules, no one will listen to our rules in the future...』


    『Emperor Xiaowu destroyed the Yelang Kingdom, because Yelang violated the rules...'' Liu Bei continued, ''But after Guangwu, no one cares about Nanzhong, so these people have gradually forgotten the rules of the big man...』


    Liu Bei turned his eyes to the side of the knife frame that Zhang Fei had just supported, "If it is like an act of filial piety, destroying the country in an instant can also deter Xiao Xiao, but... the two virtuous brothers have also seen the current situation. How many people still remember the mighty Han Dynasty and the stately prestige? 』


    I have to say that Liu Bei is a person who is very good at learning.


    Learned how to fight from the battle with the Yellow Turban, learned tactics from the intrigue of the Shandong gentry, and now learned new skills under the rule of General Hussars...


    『So, you still have to hold a knife in one hand! ’Liu Bei pointed to the knife rest, and then pressed the other hand on the table, ‘You still need to hold a book in the other hand...You two brothers, do you know what’s going on with the Southern Huns? In this way, Nanzhong will be worry-free forever! 』


    (end of this chapter)