Chapter 60 Construction

"Our shop mainly sells salt and grain." Ying Yi said very carefully: "Salt and grain are basic needs. They cannot be indulged. They must be controlled for the time being. At the same time, we must encourage people to open shops - for everything, including food, clothing, housing and transportation. .”

"I don't care how it works here. You can allocate a small valley as a dedicated area for commercial transactions and gather all the shops together, or other things. Anyway, do whatever is convenient for you."

"There are more than 20,000 people in the Crescent Valley, which is not a small number. They have needs in all aspects. If there is demand, there will be sales and commerce...and then..."

Speaking of this, Ying Yi suddenly remembered something and said: "Tax, commercial tax!"

The business of the Ming Dynasty was extremely developed, but the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was very poor. The rich merchants in the private sector had more money than they could use, but the imperial court was so poor that it couldn't even afford several million taels of military pay. Ying Yi remembered a theory that the taxation of the Ming Dynasty was unbalanced.

All taxes are concentrated on ordinary people who farm, but those businessmen who make a fortune are almost free of taxation.

Officials and businessmen colluded to rob and sell the country's interests, saying "competing with the people for profits", which made Chongzhen, the emperor, wear patched clothes.

To be cautious, Ying Yi immediately thought of business tax!

Set rules at the smallest moment to avoid making them difficult to follow later.

"Commercial tax?" Sun Xiucai showed a trace of confusion: "Sir, is it necessary?"

"Of course it's necessary." Ying Yi didn't elaborate, just said: "Taxes must be collected, especially business taxes, but how to determine the regulations, you should think about it after you go down. You follow this idea: the more you earn , the more you collect, the less you earn, the less you receive.”

The scholar did not have a deep understanding of this aspect, but his habitual thinking made him feel that this method of tax collection was quite different from the past. But since it was Ying Yi's order, he would do it.

"We have finished talking about the shop, and the only thing left is to engage in breeding." Ying Yi said: "It is imperative to encourage the people to breed six livestock. Not only must we encourage the people to breed, we must also raise it ourselves. The army cannot just eat food, nutrition I can't keep up, and my physical strength increases too slowly, which delays the training process. When I come back this time, I plan to buy some pigs and sheep from the people. But this is not a long-term solution. With more than 3,000 soldiers and horses, it is easy to eat ten pigs a day. Too much breeding cannot withstand the consumption. You recruit a group of people who are good at raising pigs, sheep and cattle. When the people move in, they bring their families and some livestock in. We pay for the cubs and concentrate them. Breeding and raising.”

He added: "Although there is little arable land in this mountain, it is not difficult to raise livestock. Just circle a hillside and let them graze."

Although food for people is scarce nowadays, Ying Yi has already thought further. Farming in the mountains is not possible, but breeding is not bad. There is no need to use grain to feed the livestock. How convenient is it to raise them? As long as the invasion of wild beasts is prevented, everything else is not a problem.

Ying Yi had never thought about it earlier, but when he was training the army, he experienced it too deeply. If there is no meat to eat, we can only eat grain. However, if the oil and water of grain are insufficient, we need to make up for it in quantity. After a day of training, the soldiers were physically exhausted, and all of them became pot-bellied. The amount of food they consumed began to exceed Ying Yi's expectations.

Ying Yi felt that this was not the solution and he had to supplement his diet with meat. Firstly, it slows down the consumption of food, and secondly, eating meat also increases strength, which is beneficial to the training of the army. Raising more livestock in Crescent Valley is also a good thing for the people.

At this time Lian Biao came back, followed by several craftsmen.

"grown ups!"

Ying Yi waved his hand and said with a smile: "Sit down and talk."

These craftsmen looked familiar to Ying Yi, having seen them in Bibo Valley. Because he was good at making weapons, he was transferred by the scholar to instruct him in making gun rods.

In front of Ying Yi, they were all very reserved and trembling.

"I heard that you found a piece of red-edge wood, which means there is no problem with the preparation of the gun shaft, right?" Ying Yi asked.

One of the craftsmen quickly said: "Sir, red-edge wood is a good material for making poles, only slightly worse than beef tendon wood, tangerine wood, etc. However, due to time constraints, the first batch of gun poles may not be well-made enough, and there will definitely not be enough. Poor."

Ying Yi nodded: "Ignore the quality for the time being, as long as it's passable. But after this batch, we must pay attention to the quality."

"Don't worry, sir." The craftsman bowed repeatedly.

Ying Yi said: "You don't have to be so cautious. Nearly a thousand gun heads have been produced over at Bibo Valley, and there are quite a few gun rods here. You can transport the rods there. You are all experts in this field. How can you do it better? Faster and more convenient, I leave it to you. In a word, I just want the finished product."

Then he said: "Over at Bibo Valley, the first batch of spear heads can be completed in up to six days. The gun master here said that it can take up to five days. Then I will give you a deadline - after ten days, I want to see the finished spear. Can I do it? ?”

The leading craftsman thought for a while and affirmed: "Sir, I need two hundred people to help."

Ying Yi waved his hand: "Ask the scholar how many people you need. Now there is a shortage of everything in the Crescent Valley, except for labor."

The scholar nodded: "If two hundred people are not enough, five hundred or one thousand is not a problem."

The craftsman said: "If there are five hundred people, it will only take eight days starting tomorrow."

"Okay." Ying Yi clapped his hands: "Then it's settled."

The matter of weapons is finally settled. After sending away several craftsmen, Ying Yi and the scholar went to try on rattan clothes.

The inspiration for rattan clothes is a woman named Zhou E. The first set of rattan clothes was also woven and cut by Zhou E herself. The scholar led the way through several valleys before arriving at the valley where Zhou E lived.

There are more than 20,000 people living in this Crescent Valley, and there are more than ten valleys. There are thousands of households in the big ones, and there are hundreds of households in the small ones. Either live in a cave on the cliff, or in a small wooden house on the mountain and cliff.

Try to avoid taking up too much space, so it will be very crowded and messy.

There are children playing, pigs and dogs howling, women washing clothes in the mountain stream that runs through the valley, and more lazy people doing nothing.

"It's much better now." Xiucai said: "A lot of the labor force has been utilized. Earlier, this place was more like a big tomb. The people were lazy to the point of despair and felt lifeless. Now there is finally some vitality."

Ying Yi smiled and said, "This is all your fault."

The scholar quickly humbly said: "It was all the master's idea, and I dare not take credit. The county magistrate also helped me a lot, otherwise I would not know where to start at first."

Ying Yi nodded slightly.

After all, Sun Xiucai was just a scholar and had no experience in governing the people. When encountering a problem, he followed Ying Yi's advice and asked County Master Ji Zheng, and then he gradually started to use it. Otherwise, he would probably be at a loss.

"That's Zhou E."

From a distance, I saw a woman holding a wooden fork stirring in a pool by the mountain stream. Ying Yi knew that what was soaking in the pool was thorn vine. To be honest, the air in the valley has a strange rotten smell. The roots are here. A mountain stream comes down, and there are many pools along the stream in each valley, filled with thorns and vines. This smell comes from the pools.

"The water in this mountain stream is getting less and less," Xiucai showed a hint of worry: "I don't know when the flow will stop, and then there will be big trouble."