The snow outside the attic was getting heavier, and the trails of people and carriages on the road were covered in just a short time. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

A gust of cold wind blew, Xiao Ming tightened the tiger skin cloak on his body, this tiger skin was the treasure of the Lu Fei family, but he lost to him in the last bet.

However, he didn't let Lu Fei feel too painful, and gave him some silver, which made him happy for a lot of time, after all, he also had to sell this tiger skin for a good price.

"Your Highness, this snow is falling so heavily, it seems that the barbarian tribe will have a hard time again this year." Pang Yukun looked at the silver-white Qingzhou City, and was a little worried.

The last time the green pothos said that Xiao Ming reminded Xiao Ming of the Xiaoice River Century, and now this year's colder winter made him a little more convinced.

He said: "Wang Xuan brought the news, just like last year, many barbarian cattle and sheep were frozen to death, last year in order to produce soap, this king asked the Wang family to exchange grain for dead cattle and sheep, now without the Wang family, the barbarians can be uncomfortable." ”

"No, this dead cattle and sheep are enough for the barbarians to eat for a winter at most, but as soon as spring begins, this barbarian will be hungry, I have lived in the barbarian tribe for a few years, and every time at this time, the barbarian tribe will go deep into the country of Dayu to loot."

Lu Tong's previous identity was a barbarian slave, and he was bought by Liang Dahai when the barbarian cattle and sheep were frozen to death.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming said: "Although the Wang family is destroyed, the trade with the grassland cannot be severed, and we should take this opportunity to exchange more slaves to come back, so that the slave soldiers of the barbarians will be less and less, and the labor force in Qingzhou will be more and more." ”

Pang Yukun nodded, "The population of the fiefdom is indeed a problem now, and this household registration is recounted, which is really shocking." ”

Last year, Pang Yukun only gave Xiao Ming a general data based on the previous household registration records of Qingzhou, but after the Chinese New Year, he asked Pang Yukun to re-verify the population of the fiefdom, but found that the population of Qingzhou was actually only about 600,000 households.

This is because Pang Yukun only provided data from many years ago, since the fall of Youzhou, coupled with the slaughter of barbarians, many people have been killed or fled from Qidi.

He finally understood why the ministers did not object when Xiao Wenxuan gave him Qi Land, after all, although Qi Land was not very rich at that time, it also had the name of a million households.

Now that he understands, it turns out that these officials have long had a plan in their hearts.

Earlier, when Pang Yukun gave him the recounted number of households, Xiao Ming could say that his mood at that time was almost collapsed, because 600,000 households showed that the actual population of his fief was only in the range of 1.2 million to 2.5 million, which was also the reason why Xiao Ming always felt that the fief was a little desolate in the past year.

Except for Qingzhou, he has this sense of desolation everywhere he goes.

It is precisely because of this that he will let Pang Yukun launch the exile policy and absorb the exiles of the Great Chongqing Kingdom to settle in his fiefdom.

Although these homeless people may be uneven, he can't hide his illness and avoid medical treatment, after all, the real population data makes him half cold.

At this time, almost half of the population was lost, and the seriousness of this matter was even worse than when the barbarians attacked Cangzhou, and the lack of labor force was basically equal to the lack of industrial power.

For the sake of the population, Xiao Ming doesn't care about continuing to trade with the barbarians now, because for him, the purpose of all his current actions is to strengthen himself.

Moreover, the new city wall of Cangzhou City is about to be completed, and at that time, Cangzhou is an impassable fortress for the barbarians, and the only thing he needs to worry about is that the barbarians will attack Jizhou.

Because once the city of Jizhou is broken, it means that the flank of his fiefdom will be fully exposed under the iron hooves of the barbarians, and at that time, the infantry and cavalry cannot be described as sour.

Even if he already had a musket team at that time, once the barbarian cavalry was frustrated, he would naturally flee, and he would not be able to catch up, but once the musket team was broken, it would be a full-scale slaughter at that time, and it would be a thousand miles away.

It's just that now Jizhou is where King Yong's palace is located, and Xiao Ming has no way to interfere, so he can only hope that King Yongwang will not be a pig teammate.

"Let Liang Dahai and Li Kaiyuan continue to go to the grassland, and exchange grain for slaves."

Xiao Ming thought a lot in an instant, and became more and more determined in his thoughts.

This exchange of grain for slaves, one can stabilize the barbarians for a few years and prevent the barbarians from going south quickly, and secondly, this is also to weaken the barbarians in disguise, which is his real purpose.

The food was gone, but the number of slaves continued to decrease, and the effect on the barbarians would be felt in the future.

Pang Yukun nodded, "When the official goes back, let Li Kaiyuan and Liang Dahai prepare for the caravan to go to the grassland." ”

After saying this, the three of them went downstairs, and in the courtyard he saw the fireworks sent by Lu Tong.

"Your Highness, these fireworks are still made of bamboo tubes, which are filled with gunpowder, copper powder, iron powder and other metal powders. Lu Tong was full of smiles.

He had never seen such beautiful fireworks.

Xiao Ming smiled and nodded, the carrier on the ground is a bamboo tube, one side of the bamboo tube is drilled, there is a fire rope inside, as long as it is ignited, the gunpowder in it will be sprayed out from one end of the fireworks, forming a beautiful firework.

However, unlike modern fireworks, these fireworks do not have fireworks that are thrown into the air and then explode, after all, this kind of fireworks involves the principle of flowering bombs.

Although the people of the city cannot see the effect of modern ordinary fireworks, these fireworks are enough to entertain themselves.

After all, there are very few items that can be entertained in a place like Dayu.

Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year, he has to have enough fun.

Let Aster put away the fireworks, Lu Tong and Pang Yukun said goodbye one after another, this New Year's government will have a holiday in addition to the people on normal duty, and after a busy year, everyone can take a seven-day break.

This is also the rest of the country of Chongqing.

After the two left, Aster and Pothos came over and asked, "Your Highness, what can I do with the cotton jacket of this textile workshop?" It's all the New Year, and so many padded jackets have been piled up, and this year the slave and maid can make a loss-making deal. ”

"This king has already solved it for you just now." Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Perhaps it is influenced by the modern Chinese New Year, and during the Chinese New Year, Xiao Ming's mentality will relax.

"Solved? How was it solved? Aster said confusedly.

Xiao Ming raised his head and looked at the snow, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "You let this king take a bite of rouge, and this king will tell you." ”

Aster and pothos immediately turned crimson.

Naturally, there is no such language as kissing in this country, and the euphemism is only used to eat rouge, because the woman's lips contain rouge, and this taking a bite of rouge means the same as kissing.

ps: To correct it, Youzhou is the fief of King Kang, maybe the battle of Cangzhou was written as King Yong, and King Yong was the vassal king on the west side of Xiao Ming.

(To be continued.) )