In the cold wind, a yellow-green crop was swaying in the wind. Yu Wenwen, whose cheeks had not yet completely subsided, reached out to pick a leaf and took it in his hand and observed it carefully. Although he was not an agronomist, he quickly distinguished the slight difference between this crop and similar crops in Huangzhou area.

Most of the hemp crops grown in Huangzhou and even the Han Mian area are ramie, and the hemp crops grown here are hemp.

When marijuana is mentioned in later generations, the first thing people think of is drugs. But in fact, the marijuana in the Central Plains and the marijuana that later generations often say is not the same plant, or the hemp plant of different species of the same family.

There are two subspecies of the hemp family. Hemp (also known as hemp) native to the Central Plains is the main source of cloth fiber. It is called "han hemp" in foreign countries and is an important crop of hemp textiles. Before cotton cloth was popularized in the Central Plains, linen was the "main member" of cloth.

The cultivation of hemp (hemp) has been in the Central Plains for thousands of years. The imperial courts in history have imposed physical taxes (rentals and adjustments) on the people of various places, including hemp. Hemp ropes, sacks and linens obtained from textiles are indispensable daily necessities.

So at this time, in fact, in addition to silk textiles, they are actually the hemp textiles, and kudzu textiles are already in a secondary position. As for silk, they are not something that ordinary people can consume.

In the southwestern corner of the Central Plains, in the Indian subcontinent, there is another subspecies plant of the Hemp Family. This plant contains a certain chemical component. After humans suck or take it orally, they have mental and physiological active effects. This plant is called cannabis in later generations.

In Huangzhou, which uses the textile industry as one of its pillar industries, the main hemp raw material for hemp textile is ramie. Because in the Yangtze River Basin, the scale of ramie cultivation is much larger than that of hemp (hemp), so Huangzhou cloth is actually mainly ramie cloth.

Ramie was called "Chinese grass" by foreign countries in later generations. Because ramie cloth is often used for summer clothing, it is cool and suitable for people to wear, and is also called summer cloth.

In the Yellow River Basin, the hemp crops grown on a large scale are mainly hemp (hemp). Yu Wenwen is on the edge of the hemp field at this time. Looking at the hemp in the cold winter, he estimated the yield per mu.

The ramie in the Yangtze River Basin can be harvested three kinds a year. The ramie harvested three times is called head mahjong, second mahjong, and third mahjong. The time point of harvest is required: head mahjong should be before the seeds of the grass, second mahjong should be before the beginning of autumn, and third mahjong should be before the frost.

As the founder of Huangzhou's hydraulic textile industry, Yu Wenwen knew about ramie, but was not very clear about the cultivation of cannabis in Henan, so when passing by the marijuana field, he would learn about the relevant knowledge and then learn how much hemp production can be in this area.

The person who explained to him was Cai Ji, the owner of Caijiazhuang.

Cai Ji is now over 50 years old and has no official position. He is a civilian, well-educated and well-educated family member. Although he is twice as old as Yuwen Wen, he speaks carefully at this moment because the two have a huge difference in status and different ranks and inferiors.

The prince, who was arrogant, held heavy troops in his hand, passed by Caijiazhuang for a meal. If he slaughtered hundreds of people in the village without any effort, he would not bear any consequences.

Therefore, Cai Ji and his family should serve as cows and horses.

However, Yuwen Wen came here not to show off his show, but to meet the "righteous people" Cai Ji and commend the other party for cooperating with the royal army to eliminate the traitors, so he should act "kindly and kindly".

The Cai family is a local wealthy family in Fugou, and Cai Ji is the head of the family. He lives by the foundation handed down from his ancestors. Because his career is not going well, he feels at home as the "Master of Cai Zhuang" and his younger brother Cai Yi is the magistrate of Fugou County.

This time, the two Cai brothers assisted Zhang Dingfa, Sima of the Xiyang Palace, to solve the rebel traitor general who occupied Fugou County. Although the main general was said to have "escaped halfway", Yuwen Wen still wanted to vigorously commend the two Cai brothers.

He wanted to take the two brothers of the Cai family as role models so that officials and powerful households in the surrounding areas knew that the King of Xiyang was not a cold-blooded vassal king who could only destroy the family. As long as everyone was willing to cooperate, the benefits were great.

Cai Yi, who was an insider, had been transferred by Yuwen Wen to the area under the jurisdiction of the Bozhou General Administration, and Cai Ji, the owner of Cai Zhuang, gave up the opportunity to join the officialdom and transferred the opportunity to his eldest son. Cai Dalang would take office soon.

After Yuwen Wen visited his father-in-law, he passed by Caijiazhuang and had a simple meal, which gave Cai Ji enough face. In the future, those monsters and monsters had to think twice before they wanted to attack Caijiazhuang.

Cai Ji originally thought that the King of Xiyang was just asking questions by the side of Matian, but he never expected that the other party asked very carefully, and even asked him how much it was when he sold it to the public after collecting the mahjong.

The main purpose of growing hemp in Caijiazhuang is to be self-sufficient, weave cloth and hemp ropes to meet daily needs. Of course, it is also necessary to deal with the government's rent and transfer. As for sale, it is not the main purpose.

The merchants weave the harvested hemp textile into cloth, and store the endless cloth in the warehouse. When necessary, they should be used as hard currency to buy things, such as buying cattle, horses and other livestock, or some daily necessities.

Like other large households in Caijiazhuang, the purpose of growing hemp is to be self-sufficient, and not to make profits by selling hemp. While growing grain, the area of ​​hemp fields in Caijiazhuang is quite considerable after years of cultivation.

This is the case with other large households in various places. After all, the Bozhou area has been a center of the hemp textile industry since ancient times. Fugou is a distance from Xiaohuang, but due to the influence of Bozhou area, the history of growing hemp is quite long.

Yuwen Wen quickly asked the situation of Matian in Caijiazhuang and found that even in Fugou, an ordinary small county in Henan, the planting area of ​​mahjong is large. Although the saying "I have rich national resources in the heavenly state" is biased, it is based on some reason.

So, based on the news collected in Huaibei and Henan over the past few months, and the current situation in Fugou County, he had an idea in his mind.

"In the past", after the Opium War, foreigners opened the door to the Chinese market and poured in large-scale mechanisms to destroy China's local fabric textile industry. So can they get inspiration from it?

If he mobilized textile workshop owners in Huangzhou and even Shannan to cooperate with local big-name locals in Guangcheng, Guangzhou, Xuanhu, Yuzhou, and Xiaohuang of Bozhou to open hydraulic textile workshops and establish a "regional hemp textile industry center", it would not be just a matter of making money.

The hydraulic textile workshops in these three places absorb the rich hemp raw materials around the country, and the textile produces "mechanical cloth" with low prices and then dumps them. Wouldn't the "local cloth" textile industry in various places be over?

The successive results, gathered to the end, were the aristocratic families, the manor economy of the powerful and powerful surnames collapsed, or were "reorganized", turning from a barrier to a wealthy manor to a rich manor, unable to resist the government and pay taxes honestly.

At least the manor economy can be included in normal state control. By then, the economic foundation of the aristocratic family will be weakened and political privileges will not be able to be controlled. The cold landlords will rise, and the aristocratic politics built on the manor economy will be completely broken.

The economic foundation determines the superstructure. Classical militarism during the Qin and Han dynasties can achieve the grassroots level of the regime, with strong war mobilization ability, and can defeat foreign enemies "not to be ignored", but because of the emergence of the powerful manor economy, such superstructure collapsed.

The growth of the manor economy has allowed the powerful people to have an economic foundation that can compete with the regime and gradually evolve into aristocratic families. Therefore, the aristocratic politics based on the nine-rank Zhongzheng system has entered the historical stage.

The consequences of this political system that relies on reincarnation as an official are obvious. Although later generations always envied the nobleness and elegance of the five surnames and seven hopes, for the country and the people, this is a disaster.

The aristocratic political system should withdraw from the stage of history, but it will never leave the stage so easily. Treating the symptoms and root causes is to be cured. Yuwen Wen feels that if the manor economy is not destroyed, it will only be to clear the obstacles for the birth of a new group of aristocratic families.

The manor economy can achieve self-sufficiency in grain and cloth, and grain and cloth also have the ability to be hard currency. The larger the scale of the manor, the stronger the economic strength of the large households, the more private soldiers the farmers will raise, and even raise horses.

The big families have more ability to develop their connections and power, and turn the local government into decorations.

For the country, such consequences are that the grassroots level will be out of control, resulting in taxes not being raised, the army cannot be maintained, and the disaster relief will be over sooner or later.

What should I do?

The most direct way is to measure the land, check hidden households, and all households are allocated so that rents are collected according to the number of land and households, taxes are concealed from large households, and increase treasury income.

But this kind of thing takes time and has many obstacles. It may not cause "public anger" and leave it alone. Therefore, Yuwen Wen plans to do it in another way, which is to use economic means to cut off the litter, make the manor economy go bankrupt, or become "controlled" and pay the tax honestly.

Just as domestic local cloth was defeated by foreigners' mechanism cloth in the late Qing Dynasty, which led to the bankruptcy of the local traditional textile industry, Yuwen Wen wanted to "copy the same".

The inspiration brought by the scattered fields made him quite excited. He walked into Caijiazhuang with a smile all the way, entered the hall, and sat upright in the main seat. Although he was a guest, he had a noble status. If he had to let the concubine of Zhuang Cai, his daughter would come to sleep with him, and there would be no problem in sitting in a mere main seat.

Due to the limited conditions, and Yuwen Wen said before, it was just a casual meal and there was no need for show, so the banquet prepared by Caijiazhuang for the King of Xiyang was mainly practical, and they were all common foods, without any rare delicacies, which were easy to make and served quickly.

After drinking a few cups of homemade wine, Yuwen Wen looked at Cai Ji: "Cai Zhuang lives a free and comfortable life. I wonder if all his children have already started a family?"

Cai Ji stopped chopping after hearing this and replied respectfully: "If you are in trouble, the king will care, and Cai still has a daughter who has not married."
Chapter completed!