Seeing everyone looking at him like a savior, the fat man also felt a little sad. Jiangnan and Wuhu are similar in area. Although Jiangnan has the convenience of being close to the sea, the Wuhu area has a dense water network and connected rivers and lakes. It can be said that it is land and water. The transportation convenience is no less than that of Jiangnan. In addition, it is connected to Guanxi to the west, the imperial capital to the north, and Machihan to the south. The land is fertile. It can be called the core hinterland of the empire. However, it is such a geomantic treasure land. In terms of economic strength, it is half of even Jiangnan County. On the other hand, the wealth and income are less than 30% of the other party. Such a comparison is really heartbreaking. The reason is nothing but different concepts. One is based on industry and commerce, transportation, foreign trade and finance, while the other is based on agriculture. Mulberry is the main industry. This difference in concepts directly leads to the huge difference in the situation between the two places. This can be seen from the fact that Jiangnan merchants go to the Wuhu area every year to purchase large quantities of silkworm cocoons, raw silk, tung oil and various local products. Jiangnan merchants use these Things are either shipped out or resold after processing and refinement, and huge profits are made from it, while Wuhu acts as the cheapest producer of basic raw materials. So when Jiangnan's wealth has reached about 60% of the empire and it has become the well-deserved boss of the empire, Wuhu is still struggling to catch up with Donghai. Whenever he thinks of this, Chang Gui feels sorry for himself as a Wuhu County person and also as a Wuhu County citizen. The county governor felt ashamed.
Ever since he became the governor of Wuhu County, he had worked hard to cultivate an industrial and commercial atmosphere in the region. The rise of Jiujiang proved that his efforts were not in vain. Although in the end he was picked up by Cheng Dayou, a remnant of peace, Chang Gui still I have to admit that Cheng Dayou's policies in Jiujiang continued his basic intentions and enabled Jiujiang to further develop. It should be said that among the six prefectures in the Five Lakes and Six Prefectures, besides Jiujiang, the capital is Yueyang. Yueyang's economic development is proud of the good transportation conditions brought by Dongting Lake. In addition, Dongting Lake is the main base of the imperial inland navy, so the water bandit troubles that plague other prefectures and counties are not obvious here. This also makes Yueyang The economy has developed soundly.
But in general, although the industry and commerce in the Wuhu area has been vigorously cultivated by itself, the businessmen here still cannot completely get rid of the shadow of the status of landlords and gentry. Compared with the mature commercial economies of Jiangnan and Donghai, they are still a bit immature. But this had already made a good start, but Situ Biao's entry into Wuhu dealt a heavy blow to all his efforts. In order to raise military expenditures, Situ Biao's first measure after taking power was to increase checkpoints, increase commercial taxes, and also increase land taxes. Although these measures did increase county-level fiscal revenue to a certain extent, they also dealt a serious blow. The newly cultivated industrial and commercial industries and markets, the increase in commercial taxes and the addition of checkpoints to collect levies have greatly increased the cost of goods, the cost of exported goods has increased, and imported goods have also been blocked, and merchants are full of complaints. But originally the influence of merchants was not great in the Wuhu area, and Situ Biao turned a deaf ear to the calls of these merchants. As long as he could have sufficient military expenditures and rations in a short period of time, he didn't care much now.
The group of people in front of me are the first group of crab eaters that I have carefully cultivated. Although they have not completely gotten rid of the land owner class, they have discovered that industry and commerce will bring them richer returns. Otherwise, These people would not wait here eagerly for me to show them the way.
"Everyone, please don't look at me like this. I, Chang Gui, am not a god. I believe everyone understands the current situation. There has been a fight over in Jiujiang, and I believe you have all received reports from the Sheriff's Mansion. A notice requesting you to donate military resources. Although I am the county governor, these county governor orders are not issued by me. However, in this case, it is best for everyone to cooperate, otherwise I will be labeled as a peacekeeper. , it would be uneconomical for the whole family to be exiled and have their property confiscated." After some refusals, the fat old man still sat on the upper seat. Seeing everyone's sad faces, the man could only sigh quietly and then comfort everyone with some emotion.
"Sir, we can tolerate this donation of military supplies. After all, this is a one-time deal. We can't be asked to donate once every day, right? But now there are new checkpoints everywhere to collect cents, and regular business taxes have also increased all of a sudden. Twice, how can we live? The merchants over there in Jincheng were originally going to come to collect my goods. But now the price suddenly jumped by several percent, scaring the merchants over there from coming. This merchant ship It was so easy to hire, but the soldiers said they would requisition them casually without paying for shipping. They said "emergency requisition during wartime" was more arrogant than anyone else, and if they said a few more words, it seemed like they would send you to jail. Isn't that too much? Is it a little darker? It’s not a good idea to have my silk reeled out and piled up in the warehouse all day long! What do you think this is?” Another businessman immediately called Chong Tianqu, the businessman of this group The Fan family, which has the largest number of silk reeling workshops, employs hundreds of day laborers in total. Originally, they mainly supplied Jiangnan. However, the industry and commerce in Jiangnan declined and the business was greatly affected. However, the silk industry in Jincheng, Hanzhong, nearby, was declining. Taking advantage of the opportunity to develop, Jincheng has now become the largest buyer of raw silk in the Wuhu area. However, various tax rates are adjusted slightly every three days and rise sharply on the fifth day, which has made these guys who have dual identities of landlords and businessmen no longer want to buy silk. I can't hold on anymore.
"Old Chen, we can just talk about these things internally, but don't spread them outside. Be careful of disturbing the morale of the army. Haven't you heard that that person has arrived in Anqing? He is now sitting in the city guard palace. I don’t know if I have left or not.” Another skinny businessman immediately reminded the other person kindly.
"Oh? His Royal Highness, King Xiang, has come to Anqing? Isn't he in charge in Yueyang? How could he suddenly want to come to Anqing?" He was slightly surprised, and the fat old man secretly thought that he had discovered his activities? It doesn't look like it. If it was really going to be detrimental to him, it seems that he should have taken action long ago. He still allowed himself to go from Baling to Wenning and then to Anqing. Wasn't this an intentional act of indulgence? After calming down, he asked casually: "Who knows the purpose of His Highness Prince Xiang coming to Anqing this time?"
"Well, it seems that the battle on the Jiujiang front is not going well, and His Highness the King of Xiang is coming to supervise the battle? I heard from an acquaintance in the city guard's office that His Highness the King of Xiang is going north to personally supervise the battle." A man huddled in the corner. The businessman said vaguely.
"The war is not going well? Humph, I'm afraid it will still happen later when the war is not going well." Chang Gui thought to himself. Li Wufeng has asked someone to make it clear to him that he is about to enter the Five Lakes. He is here to prepare for the next step of retaining the vitality of the Five Lakes. The ones who will suffer the most from this war are the businessmen who have finally accumulated some capital. They, rebels, bandits, and bandits will first target these people, and Li Wufeng also asked himself to arrange some people to prepare enough supplies for the army to use, so as to avoid being short of temporary recruitment. It seems that the eastward march of the Western Xinjiang army is imminent. I just don’t know where Xijiang goes eastward from, is it from Baling or Huanggang? Baling is more likely, so Chang Gui's first stop is Baling. I really hope that Li Wufeng can take over Wuhu earlier to end the current chaotic state and allow Wuhu's economy to be able to Back on the path of normal development, Chang Gui has completely lost confidence and interest in the Situ family. If this state of affairs really continues and Li Wufeng does not take over Wuhu, I am afraid that the new owner of Wuhu may I am going to become a Machikhan.
"Okay, don't worry about how His Highness King Xiang left. He is a nobleman and has important things. Everyone should consider themselves serious first. With the wars going on right now, business is really not easy to do. If you can be stable, you can be stable. If you can't be stable, even if you can't be stable, It doesn't matter if we stop for a while. I think this situation won't last long and things will eventually come to an end." Chang Gui did not intend to express his plans on this occasion. Many things need to be arranged separately. After all, no one dares to make false claims until this kind of thing is made clear. Only when that day comes can it be truly revealed.
In the past few days, a large amount of military rations have been shipped to the Hanzhongfu Pier from the direction of Jincheng. There is a large batch of them arriving, most of them docking in the middle of the afternoon. There are always dozens of large ships waiting on the dock to unload their goods every day. Maybe Because they are worried about weather changes, most of these large ships are tightly covered with awnings. In the past few days, there seems to be a shortage of civilian workers to unload the goods. The goods of dozens of large ships always have to be delayed until late at night and work all night long until midnight to finish unloading. Since the goods were military rations, the docks were under strict security. The merchants and civilians were not surprised. After all, Hanzhong Mansion was the seat of the Prince of Qin's Mansion and the political center of the entire Western Xinjiang. Three divisions of troops and some military supplies were stationed there. The deployment is normal, and merchants are used to it, but some military rations are worthy of such a fuss, which makes some businessmen secretly whisper, is His Highness the King of Qin taking the opportunity of transporting military rations to transport other important materials to Hanzhong
Most of the ships that had unloaded their cargo left for Jincheng overnight, but most of them docked at a temporary dock near the river shortly after crossing Hanzhong and entering Jincheng. People who stepped off the ships were densely packed and fully armed soldiers. They all boarded the ship in Hanzhong at night. If anyone with a discerning eye takes a look here, they will immediately understand that the people of Xijiang are playing a trick of hiding things from the sky again, but this time the target is the number one person in Xijiang who is stationed in Hanzhong Mansion. Three divisions of the legion. After docking from the small pier and walking south for more than ten miles, you can enter the hilly area in the south of Jincheng. Compared with the plains in the middle and north of Jincheng, this place is much barren and sparsely populated, but this is exactly what the person in charge intended.