Chapter 170: well salt

Wei Tieniu was stunned for a moment, thought carefully and said: "Your Highness, although Tieniu doesn't know how many such villages there are, there must be quite a few."

"It's not sure that there are many, but the vast majority. They are not as lucky as your Yangshu Village. They have made a lot of money growing potatoes, and they all count on this autumn rice to fill their stomachs. It's just a pity..." Li Yin did not continue.

Wei Tieniu vaguely understood something. It's not that he hasn't heard of the current rumors. "Your Highness, are you talking about farming cattle?"

Li Yin looked at Wei Tieniu with stern eyes, "What do you think? Now that your Yangshu Village is rich, and your family can afford to raise four or five cattle, the price of cattle in the entire Yizhou City has been raised by your Yangshu Village. Yangshu Village is proud of the spring breeze, but Tie Niu must not forget his roots, and he must not forget those poor people like you before just because he has money."

Wei Tieniu's newly bought clothes were immediately soaked in cold sweat. Li Yin had never spoken to him in such a harsh tone and expression before. Li Yin's words were true. The people of Yangshu Village were indeed a lot more impetuous after they had money. He also felt that something was wrong about farming cattle, but seeing that the villagers were like this, he couldn't say anything, and now it finally caused trouble.

"Your Highness, Tieniu will go back and ask the neighbors to sell the surplus farm cattle to other villages at the previous price." Wei Tieniu said firmly. Compared with farm cattle, he cares more about Li Yin's trust. Now that The people don't know that only Li Yin can get potatoes and sweet potatoes. Without Li Yin's protection, Yangshu Village will return to its previous appearance in a few years.

When Wei Tieniu said this, Li Yin's mood eased a little. Shangguanyi came to him not only to talk about farming, but also to tell Li Yin about Wei Tieniu, but he didn't say it clearly. He and Wang Yinlong definitely felt that something was wrong, but they didn't want to punish him directly. After all, Li Yin took care of Yangshu Village many times. They couldn't figure out Li Yin's pulse, they just wanted to see Li Yin's attitude.

"There is no need to sell to neighboring villages, so as not to cause trouble again, you go to Shangguanyi. They will distribute the cattle to you reasonably." Li Yin said.

Wei Tieniu said cautiously: "Yes, Your Highness!"

After saying this, Li Yin asked Wei Tieniu to leave. After coming out of the palace, Wei Tieniu hurried to the official office, his body was chilly, Li Yin was usually approachable, and when he was angry, the majesty of the superior was overwhelming him. Wei Tieniu's understanding of Li Yin has deepened, and Li Yin is familiar with him. But after all, Li Yin is the prince of a country, the master of the ten prefectures in Shu, and he holds the power of life and death over them. Those wealthy and powerful families dare not make mistakes in front of him, let alone a small Yangshu Village. He doesn't understand other principles, but he still understands that obedient children don't get beaten.

The arrival of Wei Tieniu made Shangguanyi and Wang Yinlong smile knowingly, and Li Yin must have heard their implication.

"Shangguan Inspector, just say what you have ordered, and Yangshu Village will definitely follow it!" Wei Tieniu Weng said.

Shangguan Yi said: "In the next period of time, Chengdu Prefecture will establish a rural cooperative, that is to say. At that time, the villagers in each village will be divided into multiple teams. This kind of team is called a production team. Each production team will farm All cattle farm tools are managed by the team, and when farming, the whole production team cooperates with each other to plow the land, no longer only responsible for their own fields, but the fields of the production team. When the harvest is finished, each family will take it."

"That is to say, the land in the whole village is jointly cultivated by the whole village, and the harvest is divided according to the fields of each family?" Wei Tieniu understood the general meaning.

"That's right, but it needs to be divided in more detail. For example, fifty households are divided into one production team. In your Yangshu Village, there are two hundred households, so divide them into four teams. Each team has ten cattle and ten plows. , so as to avoid the waste of oxen, and also allow farmers who cannot afford oxen to benefit from the convenience brought by oxen.” Wang Yinlong continued.

Wei Tieniu nodded, "This is a good idea. Yangshu Village is willing to be the first to establish a cooperative."

Shangguanyi and Wang Yinlong were all overjoyed when they heard the words, Shangguanyi said: "As for the extra farm cattle, the government will buy them at the original price, and you Yangshu villagers will punish you for spending more money. Now you go back and talk to the villagers Let’s talk about it, I’ll go to Yangshu Village in a few days to help you build the cooperative, and when it’s successful, I’ll call Lizhenghe county magistrates from other counties to study in your village.”

"Okay, no problem!" Wei Tieniu said excitedly, asking everyone to learn, how embarrassing Yangshu Village will be.

Wei Tieniu discussed some details with the two of them and then returned to Yangshu Village. The task he took on was not light.

"What! I'm not happy to sell the farm cattle to the government at the price of four pennies!" Wei Tieniu summoned the villagers to tell them about the cooperative. Everything went smoothly, but when it came to the farm cattle, some villagers began to be reluctant. .

"Not happy? That's fine, then I will pay you the price difference of six pennies per head. In the future, your family will not want to grow any potatoes. You should grow rice that used to yield less than a stone per mu!" Wei Tieniu said angrily. It was Li Zheng, who was thinking about the interests of the whole village, and gritted his teeth with hatred for some villagers who only cared about themselves.

"Tie Niu, don't be angry. Who doesn't feel sorry for the loss of six pennies? After all, this is the money we have worked so hard to farm the land, isn't it?" said an old man. He was the former Lizheng of Yangshu Village. The prestige in the village is very high, he said so, and the echoes rose again.

Wei Tieniu didn't expect the resistance to be so great, and suddenly felt a little depressed, and even wanted to leave them alone and let them do whatever they wanted.

"It's heartless to say that." A voice sounded, and Wei Tieniu said, "Mother, why are you here?"

"I heard that some people with no conscience are making trouble here, so they just get angry!" Mother Wei glanced at the old man and snorted, "I want to ask, before my son did this Lizheng, you all What are you eating, and what are you eating now? You said that you earned the money by working so hard to farm the land. Why haven’t you seen you get so much money by farming the land before, huh?”

The old man's face was green and red when Wei's mother said this, "Tie Niu is an honest boy. When he entered Yizhou City and made money by working hard, he thought that he would also let the neighbors in the village have enough to eat. , I had some spare money, so I went back to the village and took you all. His Highness said to find a village to grow potatoes. Originally, he only planned to let Tie Niu try to plant them, but Tie Niu begged His Highness to plant them for you all. The potatoes are harvested, do you have a way to sell them? Didn’t His Highness hold a special exhibition?”

"Mother, stop talking!" Wei Tieniu didn't want to mention these things.

"Mother is going to say, here we are quitting, whoever wants to do it, Tieniu, don't run back and forth between Yangshu Village and Yizhou City to ask His Highness about profitable crops." Mother Wei was about to pull Wei Tieniu went back.

Now the villagers are in a hurry. In this village, Wei Tieniu is the only one who can get to know the King of Chengdu. When other people find the palace, they ignore it. "Tie Niu, don't worry, isn't this being discussed? We're just chattering, and we can't do what you say, so we'll drive Niu to the government office." The old man stopped Tieniu and ate it. Whoever wants to spit out the meat is just complaining, and they dare not really fight against the government.

"Really!" Wei Tieniu made a gesture to leave, but stopped when he heard the words, "That's right, there is nothing wrong with listening to His Highness, the little money lost now will be made back several times in the future."

Wei's mother also breathed a sigh of relief. Wei Tieniu had discussed this drama with her when she was at home. Wei Tieniu knew that the villagers would not be happy to sell their farm cattle at a loss. Li Yin was annoyed, so he planned to persuade him first and play a bitter show.

At this time, those villagers who bought more than a dozen cattle could only shake their heads and sigh. There was no other way but to suffer.

The matter of farming cattle was settled, Wei Tieniu said excitedly: "Let's discuss the matter of dividing the production team..."

The next day, the villagers of Yangshu Village rushed into Yizhou City with their cattle. Shangguanyi bought them at the price of Siguan as promised, and praised the villagers of Yangshu Village. I feel better.

At the same time, Wang Yinlong also began to sanction those businessmen who took the opportunity to raise the price of farm cattle, and uniformly set the price of farm cattle at Siguan. Li Yin also asked Tong Nian to buy farm cattle and other livestock from other places in Datang to ease the pressure on Yizhou farming. shortage of cattle.

A month later, Shangguanyi and Wang Yinlong called all the officials of Chengdu Prefecture for the first time to hold a collective meeting in Yizhou City. The content of the meeting was about the establishment of cooperatives in various villages and counties. After the meeting, they took the officials to Yangshu Village visited the warehouse of the production team and the public cowshed, and explained the composition of the production team and the distribution of work on the spot.

After the meeting, under the overall control of the government, all townships and counties immediately took action, and a new agricultural model began to be promoted in Chengdu Prefecture. The orderly management of agriculture has been achieved, and it is no longer the original small-scale peasant economy.

In addition to new crops, Li Yin also encourages the planting of mulberry, tea, and hemp. Shu brocade is a specialty of Sichuan that cannot be lost, and next year's spring tea Li Yin will use the technique of frying tea. This tea house is about to be completed, and it should be into production.

After rectifying agriculture, Li Min turned his attention to the well salt mine in Yizhou. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the output of well salt in Sichuan and Yunnan was not small, so the treasure was in Li Yin's fief. How could he not use it, let alone hang on With an official name.

In the early years of Zhenguan, the salt industry in the Tang Dynasty was divided into public salt and private salt. It was not an official monopoly, and some salt merchants were only taxed. The salt industry was relatively loose, and it was time for Li Yin to show his strength.