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Text Chapter 235 Sericulture Industry and New Town

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    Hearing Li Min suddenly ask such an inexplicable question, Li Ke next to him looked at Li Min with some confusion. Although he was not interested in what Magistrate Xie introduced, he listened from beginning to end, but he wanted to  I don¡¯t understand, where did Li Min come up with the conclusion that the tax revenue of Suzhou and several counties has declined?

    However, when County Magistrate Xie heard Li Min's question, he was shocked and stunned. After a while, he finally came to his senses. He stood up and bowed to Li Min and said, "His Royal Highness King Qi is truly a god.  Starting from the second half of last year, there have been some tax problems in the local and nearby areas. Some time ago, Zheng Biejia from Suzhou even summoned us to discuss matters, mainly because of the tax reduction issue."

    Hearing this, not only Li Yun and Li Zhen woke up, but Li Ke also showed concern. After all, this is his fiefdom, and he has to bear a certain responsibility for the reduction in tax revenue, so he is naturally very concerned.  , and Li Ke was also very surprised, why did Li Min know Suzhou better than he did?

    Hearing Magistrate Xie's compliment, Li Min didn't show the slightest bit of pride on his face, but continued: "Magistrate Xie, I think you know the reasons for the reduction in taxes better than we do, so please explain it carefully  Bar!"

    Although Magistrate Xie still couldn't figure out what the King of Qi in front of him was going to do, judging from the other party's performance, he didn't dare to show any slightness. After organizing his words, he explained the reasons for the reduction of local tax revenue.

    In fact, this matter has a lot to do with Li Min. It can even be said that the tax revenue in Suzhou has been reduced.  It was caused by Li Min.  This matter is a long story, and we have to start with the local economic situation in Suzhou.

    Since the ancient city of Suzhou was established by the State of Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period.  This is a famous land of fish and rice, not only rich in rice and tea.  In addition, there is another most important product, that is, exquisite silk. Suzhou is known as the capital of silk. Almost every household in Suzhou grows mulberry and raises silkworms. The harvested cocoons are then bleached and spun into silk, which is then passed through the delicate hands of southern women.  It was made into pieces of extremely exquisite silk, and then sold to all directions through merchants. Even in the Eastern Roman Empire in the far west, the upper-class nobles were proud to wear silk.

    without any exaggeration.  Silk accounts for almost half of Suzhou's fiscal revenue.  Silk was originally in short supply everywhere, and Suzhou had never worried about its sales.  But this situation changed last year. With Li Min's huge investment in the textile industry and the increasingly abundant sources of cotton, more and more cotton cloths are flowing to the market, beginning to squeeze the living space of other cloths.

    At the beginning, because cotton textile technology was relatively primitive, the cotton we spun was very rough and only had advantages over linen.  Therefore, it is only the linen market that is being seized. However, as more and more businesses enter the textile industry, coupled with Li Min's promotion behind the scenes, textile technology is updated very quickly. In a short period of time, the quality of cotton has improved.  After rising several levels, the texture of cotton is now becoming more and more fine and smooth, and it has begun to compete with silk for the high-end fabric market.

    In fact, in comparison, the texture and smoothness of silk are not comparable to cotton.  Therefore, the main clothing material for wealthy people is still silk. Even some middle-class people are proud to wear silk. Therefore, no matter how exquisite the cotton is, it cannot shake the status of silk as a top-quality fabric.

    But the above only refers to the country of the Tang Dynasty. Only a small part of the silk produced in the Tang Dynasty was sold domestically. Most of the silk was actually sold by sea or land, such as silk starting from Chang'an.  Although the goods on this road are not just silk, silk is the most representative product.

    But with the rise of cotton, northern merchants suddenly discovered that they no longer had to travel all the way to the south, and then begged grandpa and grandma to order more silk. There were a large number of silk products around them that were cheaper and more expensive than silk.  Cotton cloth was more wear-resistant and durable. These cotton cloths were shipped by merchants through the Silk Road. Although the selling price was lower than silk, because the cost was originally low, in comparison, cotton cloth brought higher profits.

    It was precisely because of this situation that cotton slowly replaced silk on the Northern Silk Road and became one of Datang's flagship products to the outside world.  The blocked sales in the north had a huge impact on silk production. Although shipping from the south could also solve part of the sales problem, due to limitations in navigation technology, there was still a backlog of silk.

    The poor sales of silk will naturally cause a series of negative consequences. First, the number of merchants purchasing silk will decrease, which will lead to a reduction in silk prices. Once the price of silk drops, the purchase price of silkworm cocoons will naturally also drop. Silkworm cocoons cannot be sold at a high price, so that in the future,  Sericulture farmers who make a living by raising silkworms are on the verge of bankruptcy, and more and more people are left without food.  For example, when Magistrate Xie came to solve the spring famine problem, most of the people who had no food to eat were silkworm farmers, but those on the beach wereSome fishermen were not greatly affected.

    The sericulture industry has been hit. Suzhou, as one of the main producing areas of silk, is naturally deeply affected. On the one hand, silkworm farmers are also facing difficulties in taxation.  Speaking of the taxes in the Tang Dynasty, they are more complicated, such as rent tax, land tax, household tax, etc. However, in the early Tang Dynasty, the main tax was rent tax. This tax can actually be regarded as a head tax, which is paid by each person every year.  Taxes are fixed. It is said that this kind of tax will not be greatly affected, but now that silkworm farmers can't even eat, they are naturally unable to pay taxes. Therefore, this main tax cannot be collected, and Suzhou's tax revenue will naturally be greatly affected.

    After Magistrate Xie finished speaking, Li Ke looked at Li Min with a depressed look and said, "Sixth brother, it turns out that the tax revenue in my fiefdom has been reduced because of you!"

    After hearing this, Li Min rolled his eyes at Li Ke and said: "Third brother, what you said is wrong. After all, you are also the main promoter of the textile industry. Now you have many textile factories under your name.  !¡±

    ¡°Uh~!  Li Min's words left Li Ke speechless. Indeed, the textile industry in his house was managed by Wang Zihao, and he made a lot of profits every year.

    "Hehe~, so Seventh Brother and I have a share. We each have a textile factory in our house." Li Zhen also scratched his head and said with a smile. The textile industry has just started, and countless Chang'an nobles are involved. Li Yun  He and Li Zhen are no exception, not to mention that they are Li Min's brothers, making it easier to enter the textile industry.

    Magistrate Xie looked at the four princes in front of him with some depression. It was they, the Chang'an nobles, who took the lead in making the textile industry develop rapidly, which caused the silk industry in the south to be hit. Now, not only their Suzhou territory, other sericulture industries are relatively developed.  The same situation has also been encountered in the region.

    "Xie County Magistrate, in fact, the reason why I came here today is to solve the silk marketing problem, but this is not an easy task, so it may take several years." Li Min saw Magistrate Xie's look,  Smiling and telling the main purpose of this visit.

    "Your Highness, can you really solve the silk problem?" After hearing Li Min's words, Magistrate Xie immediately stood up excitedly. He is a man who cares about the country and the people. These days, because of the impact on the sericulture industry in Huating County,  Almost even his hair is turning gray.  Moreover, he was born into a wealthy family in Jiangdong, and the family also relied on the sericulture industry as its main economic pillar. Therefore, whether in public or private life, he hoped to solve the silk sales problem as soon as possible.

    "What Magistrate Xie is asking is wrong. Who in the world doesn't know what my sixth brother is capable of? Let alone a small sales problem, even if we start an industry that is more profitable than silk, it will only be easy."  Backhand thing!" Li Zhen was in a good mood, because he had already smelled a hint of money in Brother Six's words. If Brother Six could do it this time, he would definitely be able to get involved in the silk industry.  One kick.

    "That's right! This is just for the lower officials!" When Magistrate Xie heard this, he also hurriedly apologized and said with a smile.  As the saying goes, caring leads to chaos. He actually forgot that the person standing in front of him was the famous King Qi.

    "Liu Lang, do you have any solution to the silk sales problem?" After all, Li Ke is still a very responsible person. Now that he knows there is a problem under his rule, he naturally wants to solve it as soon as possible.

    "Hey, actually this question is very simple. Silk still has a very market overseas. The reason for the current situation is actually because of the limited transportation capacity. The trade routes in the north were taken away by cotton, and the shipping capacity in the south is limited, so my  The solution is to enhance Datang's maritime transport!" Li Min said with a smile.

    As soon as Li Min's words came out, not only Li Ke, Li Yun, and Li Zhen were disappointed, but even Xie County Magistrate sighed.  I saw Li Ke say: "Liu Lang, aren't you talking nonsense? We also know how to enhance maritime transportation, but this cannot be done overnight. If you wait for your maritime transportation to develop, then it is estimated that the silkworm farmers of the Tang Dynasty will have been starved for a long time."  died."

    After hearing this, Li Min laughed a few times, and after a while he said: "Third brother, you don't know something. In fact, the shipping industry in Datang is already very prosperous, and it is even enough to be able to develop maritime transportation. As long as  It is a pity that our maritime merchants in the Tang Dynasty are too timid, and the risks of shipping are too high, so few people are willing to travel too far without organization. And I came to the south this time to solve the problem.  this problem!"

    "Liu Lang, what do you mean?" Li Ke seemed to vaguely understand something?

    "What I mean is actually very simple. Within the next two years, I will use Liuqiu and other places as a base to integrate Datang's maritime transportation capabilities, and then form a large fleet to sail outwards, so as to reduce the risks of maritime transportation. In this way,  Come, the shipping capacity of our Tang Dynasty will increase exponentially, and then the market for silk will naturally be solved!" Li Min suddenly stood up, took two steps forward, and said proudly with his back to everyone.

    Although Li Ke understood what Li Min said, he was still a little confused.??That's why Li Min brought them to Huating?  After all, integrating shipping power doesn¡¯t seem to have much connection with this place, right?

    The questions in Li Ke's heart were quickly answered. Li Min, who was standing in the wind, suddenly turned around and said solemnly: "As for Huating, I want to build a new city here. It will become a link between the mainland and overseas.  The port is responsible for organizing the commodity distribution centers in the Yangtze River Basin, as well as Huainan Road and Henan Road!"
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