"Land can always be bought," Ximen Qing and Wu Haogu's "Du Pair" continued, and Ximen asked with some doubts: "It's just that what do you want to buy more land for?" ”

In fact, in the Song Dynasty, the rate of return on land was not high, on the one hand, because of the limitation of agricultural technology, the yield per mu of land was not high. In the Huaibei area, the ordinary dry land harvests 100 catties of wheat a year. 100,000 acres of land is only 10 million catties of wheat per year...... This is still a good year without disasters and disasters.

And these 10 million catties are not all landlords', but also to deduct the tenants' rations, seeds for the coming year, various taxes and assessments, and finally collect 30 catties of rent is ruthless enough. If it is averaged over the years, 15 catties of wheat may not be harvested. 100,000 mu of land only earns 1.5 million catties of wheat, almost 1.5-16,000 stones, and the price in Kaifeng Mansion is only more than 10,000 yuan. In the Xu and Hai areas, 10,000 taels can't be sold.

And to buy 100,000 acres of land, it will cost 15-200,000 yuan. Therefore, the rate of return on land is actually very low, about a little more than 5%, and investing too much capital is simply a waste.

As a result, very few merchants would invest too much money in land – merchants in the Song Dynasty would buy some land, but no one would buy land when they made money, enough to hinder the development of capitalism. Because there was no point in doing so, the "agriculture" of the Song Dynasty was no higher than the "industry and commerce". There is no such thing as a farmer's child who reads a few books and is a "scholar...... Agriculture and industry are equal in front of the imperial examination, and if they fail to pass the examination, they are equal to zero, and they are the same as officials. If you can't pass the exam, it's easier to make money if you are engaged in business and commerce, and it's really difficult to turn over as a farmer.

"I am here to settle the clan of Luoyang," Wu Haogu said, "My family was originally a Luoyang clan, inherited from Li Tang and Wu Zhou, and there are thousands of children in the clan. However, now the clan in Luoyang is so weakened that it is about to be unable to sustain itself, so I plan to divide half of the population to settle between Xu Hai, which requires about 100,000 mu of land. ”

Ximen Qing's eyes widened, and he felt incredible, "Da Lang, do you really want to divide half of Bai Bo Yimen Wu to settle between Xu Hai?" ”

"Yes," Wu Haogu nodded, "I'll be their new patriarch." ”

"Being a patriarch?"

Ximen Qing pondered: How easy should it be for Wu Dalang to make money? You can spend it like this...... For the sake of a useless patriarch, he smashed out more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan?

Wu Haogu seemed to see Ximen's doubts, and said with a smile: "I have figured it out these days, if I really want to achieve a career, I still can't do without the support of the clan." Single-handedly, at the moment, this peaceful world is fine, but if there is really chaos, then it will be called every day, and the earth will not be spiritual. ”

To put it mildly, if the world is in chaos now, with the power that Wu Haogu can control now, it will be a bit difficult to escape to Jiangnan to spend his old age in peace. Not to mention to redeem the future tilt of the sky!

If we want to save the day, we must continue to do so from now on. The power of the clan, the power of the Six Arts Academy, the power of Christie, the power of the dead soldiers, and of course, the power of the government...... The more the merrier!

And among all these forces, the power of the Yimen clan is undoubtedly the core. The clan is feudal clan power, a very reactionary thing, one of the four great ropes that bind the Chinese people, especially the peasants - this is the words of the later Hongchao Taizu, which is more true than real gold, but at the same time it also shows the effectiveness of feudal clan power.

Wu Dalang wants to spend money to cultivate "Confucian students in troubled times" who are proficient in the six arts, Yunwen Yunwu, can cut people when they get on the horse, and can rectify people when they get off the horse, how can they not be tied up with a "huge rope"? If they are not tied, they will each go to the master, and won't Wu Haogu's money be spent in vain?

With the "Six Arts Confucianism" of the Wu clan tied up with a "great rope", Wu Haogu had his own backbone strength. Then you can form alliances with other wealthy clans in the Xu and Hai areas through marriage, and then recruit students from the Six Arts Academy on the basis of the marriage alliance of the great clans, and establish a feudal master-apprentice dependency relationship.

In this way, once there is a crisis in the world, Wu Haogu can mobilize his students to recruit fighters from their respective clans and township parties. Just like the Hunan army in the late Qing Dynasty, a series of special relationships between teachers and students, fathers and sons, brothers, and in-laws were used to organize a highly cohesive mercenary army.

At the same time, with the clan-based Six Arts Confucianism as the backing, Wu Haogu can confidently and boldly establish his own "Gulam Guard" and "Mamluk Guard" - the cost of this kind of "slave soldier" is very high, and it is easy for people to mistakenly think that they are going to rebel if they raise too much, so Wu Haogu does not plan to raise more, and it is enough to have a few hundred to a thousand to serve as dead soldiers.

With these two forces, in the troubled times in the future, Wu Haogu will be able to do something.

As for the Song Dynasty officials and military junkies such as the Lin family's father and son, people have eaten Zhao family meals and worn Zhao family clothes for several generations, and their dream from childhood to adulthood is also to be an official of the Zhao family...... It's okay to use them, but it's stupid to use them as henchmen.

"Messing up?"

Ximen Qing looked at Wu Haogu in a daze, "Da Lang, where, where is the chaos?" ”

"Liao." Wu Haogu smiled, "Eldest sister, didn't Second Brother Ma keep saying that the Liao Kingdom was going to be chaotic?" We will definitely be involved in the troubled times of Liao, and if we don't prepare now, we will regret it in the future. ”

"Will the troubled times of the Liao Kingdom affect the Great Song Dynasty?" Ximen Qing looked at Wu Haogu, "Are you so sure?" ”

"Isn't the Liao Kingdom just 1,000 miles away?" Wu Haogu smiled bitterly, "In the past, Yuyang Mo came agitatedly, and it was only a little more than a month before he entered Luoyang City. In the coming days, when the Liao Kingdom is in turmoil, can the Central Plains really stay out of the matter? ”

The chaos in the Liao Kingdom is actually the chaos in the world!

It is impossible for the Great Song Dynasty to stay out of the matter, because the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom belong to the same "world". No matter who rises on behalf of Liao, it will not stop at the Song-Liao border. Even if no force could replace the Great Liao as the overlord of the north, it was only a matter of time before the war of the Northern Dynasty spread to the land of the Song Dynasty.

"This matter ......" Ximen Qing shook his head, "Da Lang, you are really worried about the world!" ”

"I'm worried about the world?" Wu Haogu looked at Ximen Qing, "Haven't your family been looking north at Yanyun?" ”

"My family ......" Ximen Qing sighed lightly, and just as he was about to say something, the voice of the servant came from outside the door, "Da Lang Jun, Tong Daguan and Liang Daguan are here." ”

……

Tong Guan and Liang Shicheng are Wu Haogu's bosses, and the boss gives New Year's greetings to his subordinates...... This is rare in officialdom, but it is not impossible. The key is how hard the subordinates' backstage is! Wu Haogu now hugged the thick legs of Duan Wang Zhao Ji, and seeing that he had won Cai Jing's appreciation again, he would soon be a traitor to Caimen. The two nobles naturally didn't dare to take the official's shelf in front of Wu Haogu.

However, they were embarrassed to say that they were here to pay New Year's greetings to Wu Haogu, which was also embarrassing, so they came in the name of discussing business with Wu Haogu.

The business that needs to be discussed now is naturally a matter of visiting Liao.

"This is Ximen Qing, a friend of Zaixia, and will go north with Zaixia. In addition, I want to take an apprentice to the north. Don't you know the rules? ”

After inviting the two nobles into his inner hall, Wu Haogu introduced Ximen Qing to Liang Shicheng - Tong Guan had known Ximen Qing as early as when he was in the Daimyo's Mansion, so there was no need for Wu Haogu to introduce him again.

And what kind of eyes did Tong Guan and Liang Shicheng have, of course, they all saw that Ximen Qing was a female. It's a little contemptuous at the moment - this is also a lot of romance, isn't it? Go north to Liao and bring a woman with you, what are you like? It's like the two of us, both of whom are dedicated to doing things for the official family, and never think about women.

Contempt is contempt, and the face is always polite.

Tong Guan said with a smile: "It's okay, Chongdao is a pseudonym to go north, and your public identity is Pan Xiaoyi, the right pan hall, and you are an official, so you can naturally bring your servants and concubines." As for the apprentices, they can naturally be brought. ”

Hearing Tong Guan say "concubine", Ximen Qing's cheeks were hot: I won't really become Wu Dalang's concubine, right?

Wu Haogu glanced at Ximen Qing, whose face was flushed, and his heart was also fluttering.

Tong Guan continued: "The official family has already made peace with the Liao envoy yesterday, and we can go north as long as the Liao lord agrees." ”

The condition is to hand over the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang!

In the history of Song and Liao negotiations, it can be regarded as extremely tough - not only rejected the Liao State's request to "retire the soldiers and horses and return the territory", but also asked for the Empress Dowager of Western Xia in turn!

However, both Zhao Xu and Zhang Dian believed that the Liao lord would most likely partially agree to the conditions of the Song Dynasty. It is impossible to take the initiative to hand over the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang to the Song Dynasty, and it is impossible to catch it, but it is still possible to design to eradicate the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang or force the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang to leave the Great Song Dynasty.

Therefore, on the morning of the second day of the first lunar month, Zhao Xu issued an edict to the National Letter Office and the Hanlin Picture Bureau to be ready to go north to Liao at any time.

Wu Haogu asked, "When will you leave?" ”

"Estimated to be early February." Tong Guan said, "The Liao envoy sent a messenger to the north yesterday, and it will take more than 30 days to go back and forth on the road. Before the tenth day of February, the mission should have gone north. ”

Liang Shicheng said: "Brother Chongdao went north, and there was still an errand to ask for here in the painting academy, which was to paint an oil painting for the Queen Mother." ”

"Oil painting is more time-consuming," Wu Haogu thought for a while, "it is best to enter the palace before the tenth day of the first month to type." ”

"Okay, let's go back to the Empress Dowager Bingming, arrange it as soon as possible." Liang Shicheng thought for a while, and then said, "As for the matter of the painting academy, Brother Chongdao doesn't have to pay attention to it for the time being, just concentrate on painting for the Queen Mother, and at the same time prepare to go north." ”

"That's very good." Wu Haogu was full of promises, but in fact, he had no intention of taking care of the affairs of the painting academy at all.

For the next month, he had a lot of personal matters. Christie's has just been on track, the construction drawings of the merchant hall and the painting fairy temple have to be completed, Duanwang has to have a good relationship there, and finally the matter of editing the "university textbook" must also be paid attention to.