When the train arrived at Pukou Station, Wang Yu and his wife came to the train station early to greet the eldest brother-in-law in person. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The steam locomotive pulled the special train and slowly drove into Pukou Station, and Li Sixing saw that the platform was full of elite soldiers wearing bright red military uniforms, black wingless black gauze hats, and holding muskets.

"The soldiers in the south don't have any armor?" Li Sixing asked in surprise.

Wang Zihao, who accompanied him, said: "Except for cavalry and siege swordsmen, ordinary infantry and artillery do not need to wear heavy armor, and no bow and arrow can shoot more than rifled guns. If you are hit by a gun with a range that exceeds the rifled gun, no matter how thick the armor you wear, it will not help, it is better to cancel it altogether, so as not to get in the way of wearing it. ”

"All the infantry rifled guns?" Li Sixing was taken aback. There were also some rifled gunners in the Wu army, but the proportion was very low, only 100 rifled gunners in the 10,000-strong army.

The special train stopped on the platform, Wang Yu and his wife greeted him, and when they saw Li Sixing stepping off the car, Wang Yu excitedly took his hand and asked a long question: "I don't know how my eldest brother-in-law is doing in Beijing?" The Son of Heaven and King Wu didn't treat you badly, did they? ”

"How can I say that my brother-in-law is still the king of Jin, Your Majesty and the prince treat me like a mountain." Li Sixing replied.

"Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, with the eloquence and strategy of the brother-in-law, he should directly lead a large army out of Beijing. The world is so big, why doesn't my brother-in-law lay his own ground? Wang Yu asked.

Li Sixing said: "Where does my brother-in-law have a place to go?" Manchuria is already Prince Zheng's, there is a loyal camp in the west, and there are two brothers Shang Zhixin; It is said that the other side of the sea is the territory of the Eastern King. And the whole of the South and Southeast Asia is your brother-in-law. You say, where can my brother-in-law go? ”

Wang Yu laughed: "If the brother-in-law is willing, the younger brother is willing to send the brother-in-law to the other side of the sea, then there are mountains of gold and silver, and there is inexhaustible wealth." The territory to the east is very large, and Zheng Jing only occupies a small piece. ”

"Brother-in-law, I'll think about it again." Li Sixing replied.

"Hahaha!" Wang Yu said with a smile, "Let's not talk about this for the time being, let's go, let's go to see the mulberry forests and tea forests in Jiangnan first, and then visit the factories in Jiangnan." A few days later, we took a boat to Huguang, where the farms were all heroic, rented out to small landlords and rich peasants who were good at managing the farmland. ”

Li Sixing and others crossed the Yangtze River by boat and arrived in Nanjing, first in Nanjing's original Jingnan Palace, and now Wang Yu's Nanwang Mansion used a reception banquet, and stayed in Wang Yu's Mansion that night, and the two chatted all night.

Early the next morning, Wang Yu took Li Sixing and his members of the delegation to visit various places in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Jiangnan is all mulberry fields and tea forests? Few rice fields? Li Sixing saw the mulberry trees and tea trees on the plains of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and asked with interest.

Wang Yu replied with a smile: "The abandonment of rice in Jiangnan to plant mulberry trees and tea began during the Wanli period. At that time, Zhang Juzheng's whip law levied silver taels to replace grain, and the farmers in Jiangnan saw that they could get more silver by planting mulberry trees and tea, so they abandoned the rice fields and planted mulberry trees and tea. In fact, the profits from mulberry and tea are not only from the field, but also from the trade of raw silk and tea. At that time, the Donglin Party did not compete with the people for profit, and deceived Chongzhen into lowering the commercial tax again and again, and as a result, the treasury could not receive the silver, and the silver fell into the hands of the Jiangnan gentry. When the Tartars came to Jiangnan, they forced them to hand over with knives. Now, after Wang recovered Jiangnan, he took industry and commerce as the foundation of the country and levied industrial and commercial taxes, so he did not force local farmers to plant rice instead, and still planted mulberry and tea trees. But brother-in-law, you can go in and take a look, and you will know that there are rice fields here, too. ”

The group walked into the farm, and from the outside, the wooden fence was full of Jiangnan fruits such as loquat, citrus, and bayberry. Passed through a fruit grove with patches of tea groves.

After walking through the higher dry land and entering a low-lying land, the scene changed before people's eyes, only to see a series of filled levees planted with mulberry trees. Ponds were dug under the embankment. Criss-crossed mulberry forests form shelterbelts, with fish ponds and rice paddies intertwined in the middle.

In the fish pond, flocks of ducks swim, and a few geese are mixed in with them. The water in the fish pond is live water, which is drawn from various rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are nets at the junction of the fish pond and the canal to prevent the fish in the fish pond from escaping. There are shelterbelts on both sides of the canal, and the water from the canal irrigates the rice fields.

"Don't underestimate the small size of the rice fields here, but the land is very fertile. The mulberry leaves on both sides are eaten by the silkworms, and the silkworm feces can be used to feed the fish, and there are some old mulberry leaves, and the mulberries that have not had time to be picked have fallen into the pond and become food for fish and shrimp. The silt at the bottom of the pond contains fish and shrimp droppings, which can be dug up and used to supply the rice fields. Therefore, the area of rice fields here is not large, but it is enough to supply the local farms in Jiangnan. Wang Yu explained.

Li Sixing and the people in the delegation carefully tasted what Wang Yu said, and some people who knew a little basic knowledge of farming felt that it was very reasonable.

After visiting the farm, where mulberry trees and tea forests are the main economy, it is natural to go to the silk factory and tea factory. Today, the South's economy is largely dependent on the export of silk and tea, which can generate huge profits.

With the invention and improvement of various machines, silk and tea were already produced on a large scale, and the small workshops could not compete with the large factories run by the Nanyang Company, so the small workshops closed down one after another, and the Nanyang Company completely controlled all the business, from the source of goods to production to export. If it was in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Wang Yu would be impeached by the Donglin Party for doing so, saying that he was competing with the people for profit. But now there is no annoying Donglin Party, and no one can shake Wang Yu's position.

In order to save themselves, the Jiangnan gentry also adopted the method of joint shares, so a large enterprise called Jiangnan Company was born, competing with Wang Yu's Nanyang Company.

The Jiangnan Company, which was newly established for a few years, developed rapidly, and became a listed company, issuing shares in Shanghai and other places, and also established Jiangnan Bank, which is second only to Nanyang Bank in scale.

"My brother-in-law adopted the method of merging farms, renting all the farmland to the original small landlords and rich peasants, who ran it, and they hired agricultural workers to farm and breed, so where did the peasants on the original land go?" Li Sixing suddenly remembered a question and asked puzzled.

"Quit! All driven out of the land! The peasants were inefficient at farming, and staying on the land would not make much use, so they simply quit their tenants and left them to fend for themselves. Wang Yu replied.

"How can farmers survive when they have no land to plant? Isn't the prince afraid of Li Chuang and his ilk again? An accompanying mission official asked.