Suzhou is an ancient city.

However, Suzhou at this time had not yet reached its peak, and its prosperity was not as prosperous as that of Yangzhou.

"Your Highness, King of Chu, can you ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate more rice seeds from Nanyang to us in Suzhou?"

Before Li Kuan and his party entered the city, Suzhou Governor Wang Zhiming got the news and went out of the city to greet them early in the morning.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Wang Zhiming asked something that surprised Li Kuan.

Was this Wang Zhiming arranged by himself?

Didn't you know him before?

This scene is different from what I imagined.

"Wang Changshi, the imperial court allows everyone to plant this Nanyang rice, so the people of Suzhou have nothing to worry about?"

Farmers are honest, but farmers are sometimes stubborn.

Especially when it comes to food growing, you will never change it easily.

Otherwise Li Kuan wouldn't have to worry about promoting cotton.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, all of us in Suzhou are very supportive of the imperial policy. The Ministry of Revenue encourages Jiangnan Province to plant Nanyang rice, and we naturally implement it strictly, but now there is a shortage of rice seeds."

What Wang Zhiming said was obviously official.

Li Kuan would naturally not promise anything casually until he understood the reason behind it.

On the contrary, this situation, which was different from what he imagined, made him a little wary.

"I know Wang Changshi's thoughts."

Wang Zhiming:???

What does know mean?

Is this agreed?

Still disagree?

I don't understand why.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the Suzhou Governor is His Highness King Jiang, but King Jiang is young now, and the Chang Shi is actually in charge of matters in Suzhou. Is this matter the intention of King Jiang or the King of Chang Shi?

Unknown.”

Gu Panpan was worthy of being a native of Jiangnan. If she hadn't reminded him, she would have never known that the Suzhou governor was actually her uncle Wang.

The king of Jiang, Li Yuanxiang, was Li Yuan's twentieth son. He was born after Li Yuan was imprisoned.

When he was ten years old, he was thrown out of Chang'an by Li Shimin, named "King of Fujian and Yue River", and took office in Tingzhou.

Nating Prefecture is located in today's western Fujian area, just one step away from Lingnan Road, and is no different from Fapu.

Fortunately, Li Shimin quickly changed his mind for some reason, named him King Jiang, and transferred him to Suzhou as the governor.

To be honest, Li Kuan really didn't have a good impression of this nominal uncle.

"I, Uncle Wang, have been greedy since he was very young, and I like gold and silver. Since he is the governor of Suzhou, I guess the idea of ​​asking the court for more rice is most likely his idea, and Wang Zhiming is only responsible for the execution.

"

Li Yuanxiang has always been more arrogant because he is the younger brother of the emperor.

When Li Kuan, the deposed envoy, came to Suzhou, he knew the news but did not come out to greet him, which is evident from this.

In the next few days, Li Kuan did not go to see Li Yuanxiang, nor did Li Yuanxiang express his intention to see Li Kuan.

Li Yuan and Li Shimin gave birth to a lot of sons, including all kinds of characters.

There are those who are talented, and there are those who are dull and ignorant.

In short, dragon gives birth to nine sons, each of whom is different.

These sons occupied the position of governor of many states in the Tang Dynasty, which can be regarded as a typical example of nepotism.

"Your Majesty, I have basically figured it out. This request for more rice from the imperial court should be the intention of His Highness Prince Jiang. In order to promote this Nanyang rice, the rice seeds allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs are all given to the states at a lower price than the market price, but in

In Suzhou, farmers exchange rice seeds for one pound of Nanyang rice, but they need one pound and three taels of ordinary rice. From this return, there are several percent profits."

Wang Xuanwu quickly figured out the situation.

In fact, this matter is not that complicated, and you can figure it out with a little attention.

However, after hearing this, Li Kuan had a new question, "According to what you mean, the people of Suzhou seem to be actively exchanging rice from Nanyang?"

When did the people of the Tang Dynasty become so radical?

Aren’t you afraid of not harvesting anything?

"My subordinates have discussed this issue with several farmers. In fact, the people in Suzhou who are most interested in Nanyang rice are the wealthy families with large amounts of land. These people are relatively well-informed and know that hundreds of people are trying to plant rice in Hangzhou this year.

Mu of Nanyang rice not only yields two harvests a year, but also has a larger yield than ordinary rice, so they actively purchase Nanyang rice seeds. And the fields of these wealthy families are basically cultivated by tenants.

, many people in Suzhou know the benefits of Nanyang rice."

Wang Xuanwu has been engaged in intelligence work for several years, and his investigations have become more and more comprehensive.

"Your Majesty, I actually think that the promotion of Nanyang rice will not be too difficult. Not to mention Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou and other places, there are municipal shipping companies that have arranged trial planting this year; even if there is no trial planting, just

Based on the situation announced by the Ministry of Household Affairs, many people will be tempted.

After all, the risk everyone takes is just to change to a different rice seed, and at most the yield will decrease; however, once this Nanyang rice seed does what the Ministry of Revenue said, their benefits will be huge. To put it bluntly, planting

The risks and benefits of Nanyang Rice are disproportionate."

Wu Meiniang felt that Li Kuan was a fan of the authorities and had been worried that the promotion of Nanyang rice would not go smoothly.

In fact, in Wu Meiniang's view, this situation does not exist at all.

The only possibility is the place where the Turks moved in, because these barbarians don't know how to grow rice, and because the fields are newly opened, they may cause trouble.

Obviously, this is not the case here in Suzhou.

"What you said seems reasonable. It seems that I have fallen into a fixed mindset."

After hearing what Wu Meiniang said, Li Kuan thought about it and figured it out.

If you are promoting potatoes or corn now, you are likely to face a situation where many farmers are afraid to plant them at first.

Because this is a brand new crop.

However, rice is different.

These days, people don’t have that strong concept of the pros and cons of seeds.

Whether it is Nanyang rice or the ordinary rice originally grown in the Jiangnan area, in everyone's eyes, it is all rice.

You can plant whatever you want, so why not plant Nanyang rice, which may benefit a lot?

"Yes, so to a certain extent, His Highness Prince Jiang's greed is actually beneficial to the promotion of Nanyang rice cultivation in Suzhou."

Wu Meiniang's words made Li Kuan feel speechless.

I've heard of good intentions doing bad things, but I've never seen bad intentions doing good things.

This Uncle Wang is really...

Could it be that this is the so-called blessed general?

I try to die every day, but as a result my life becomes more and more prosperous.

It seems that Li Yuanxiang's life in history was really quite nourishing, and he was a rare prince who started well and ended well.

"I didn't expect that people would try to plant some Nanyang rice in Hangzhou, Mingzhou and other places, and it would have such a promotion effect."

Li Kuan still underestimated the speed of information dissemination in this year.

I always thought that without high-speed rail, airplanes, mobile phones, or telephones, the people of Suzhou would have very little understanding of Nanyang rice.

In fact, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Mingzhou in the south of the Yangtze River are all connected by waterways. They are all cities on the Grand Canal, and the flow of information is much faster than everyone imagines.

Especially some wealthy families in Jiangnan not only own a large amount of land, but are also big landowners.

At the same time, they are also the largest businessmen in Jiangnan, and have their own industries in major states and counties.

Just like the Gu family, even though its headquarters is in Yangzhou, there are also many industries in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Mingzhou.

Once there is any disturbance in a place, they will get the news quickly.

The wealthy families in these places often formed a dense network of interpersonal relationships through various marriages, and the spread of information was even faster.

Wasn't it because Yu Lu was able to pretend to be a fool in front of Zhang Fan and Xiao Zhe because of his cousin Gu Panpan?

Wu Meiniang: "Yes, so since King Jiang wants more Nanyang rice seeds, I think the prince can help him. First, let Suzhou become the largest planting area of ​​Nanyang rice, and it will have immediate results.

The increased rice production in Suzhou alone is enough to feed the entire population of Chang'an."

Suzhou is a large state. Basically, the most important area of ​​the Yangtze River Delta in later generations was under the rule of Suzhou.

Although the number of households in Suzhou today is only more than 20,000, according to normal development, it will reach nearly 70,000 households by the Kaiyuan period, and nearly 80,000 households during the Tianbao period. After the Anshi Rebellion, the population increased sharply.

It exceeded 100,000 households, and finally reached a historical peak of 140,000 households in the late Tang Dynasty.
To be continued...