Chapter 272 Money Bank

Meiji, Pingxi General's Mansion.

Ma Yuezheng and Ju Su secretly discussed that both of them were wearing heavy filial piety, and even the hall was covered with simple cloth. Ma Butcher Ma even ordered that all the whole city of Meiji City be filial for three days, regardless of gender, age and age. Ma Tengruo knew that he was enjoying such mourning and honor behind him, and he should die in peace.

Ju Su bowed to the horse and said, "Lord, yesterday Mi Zhu, Su Shuang, and Zhang Shiping came to the government office and said that he was interested in making iron, charcoal, horse trading and salt trading. Seeing that he was quite sincere, the officials agreed, but the officials still insisted on 55% of the share."

Ma Yue could only smile bitterly. He originally told Ju Su to only have 30% of the bonus, but he didn't expect Ju Su to insist on asking for 50%.

Ju Su said again: "And the officials were worried that Mi Zhu and others would tamper with the accounts, so they must send someone to supervise them."

"Supervision is certain, but it is not possible to just send a few people." Ma Yue said thoughtfully, "This general decided to transfer several larger iron making workshops, salt making workshops, charcoal mining farms and horse farms under the government to the noble families for operation. The purpose is not to expect these workshops to increase taxes to the treasury."

"Huh?" Ju Xu said in shock, "Don't you expect these workshops to increase the tax on the treasury? What should you expect?"

Ma Yue said: "The operation of salt, iron, charcoal mining, horse trading and other industries has huge profits. Once the government lets go, Su Shuang, Zhang Shiping, Mi Zhu and others will make a fortune. In this way, the wealthy families who forced to move from Guandong to Guanzhong will inevitably follow suit when they see it profitable. At that time, large and small iron making workshops, salt making workshops, charcoal mining farms, horse farms, textile farms, cloak farms, weapons shops, and armor shops will appear one after another. In a few years, these large and small shops and workshops will be spread throughout Guanzhong, forming a large-scale industry and commerce."

Ju Shu said in a lost voice: "A huge industry and commerce?"

"Yes, a large scale industry and commerce!" Ma Yue nodded solemnly and said in a deep voice, "When the industry and commerce in Guanzhong become a climate, the money and tax they pay are enough to support the army's foreign warfare! Moreover, the foreign warfare of the army is linked to the interests of these merchants. The wider the territory conquered by the army, the more people the general ruled, the more profitable these merchants will be. Only in this way can the merchants in Guanzhong spare no effort to support the general's foreign warfare!"

Ju Xue stroked his forehead with his hand and frowned and said, "Lord, Su is still a little confused."

Ma Yue said: "For example, is Su Shuang the one who runs an ironmaking workshop, right?"

Ju Shu said: "Not bad."

Ma Yue said: "If Su Shuang's ironmaking workshop wants to make a profit, he must cast the poured pig iron into weapons and sell the armor. The consumption of weapons and armor is huge, so in order to make money, Su Shuang certainly hopes that this general will fight foreign wars every year and consume a large amount of weapons every year. Is the armor right?"

Ju Shu nodded and said, "It seems that this is the reason."

Ma Yue said: "There is also the horse farm run by Zhang Shiping. Although some of the military horse dealers can make profits in the south, it is just a small deal after all. The area under the rule of this general is a radius of thousands of miles, with a cavalry of hundreds of thousands, and it may even be a million in the future. Therefore, this general is Zhang Shiping's biggest buyer! In order to sell the war horses produced by his horse farm to make a profit, Zhang Shiping will also spare no effort to support the general's external operations."

Seeing Ju Su still a little confused, Ma Yue further explained: "For another example, this general's army (military machine) is like a chariot, and these merchants are war horses dragging chariots forward. The more the horses become, the stronger the chariots can rush and the stronger the lethality can!"

The truth that drives military expansion with commercial expansion is a superficial truth in the 21st century, but it is really difficult to make Ju Su understand this truth in the late Han Dynasty. When Ma Butcher Ma proposed this idea with Jia Xu, Jia Xu was confused for a long time. Ma Butcher Ma took a lot of effort to figure it out.

There is another advantage in establishing a country by commerce, that is, it can always maintain the expansion and aggressiveness of the Han nation, thereby completely changing the history of the Chinese nation building a country through farming, and eliminating the possibility of closing the country invisible. Only in this way can the Han nation always stand on the top of the world.

"I understand." Ju Su finally nodded and said, "The lord means that the stronger the power of the merchants in Guanzhong, the stronger the combat power of the Liangzhou army! In other words, in the future, the combat power of the Liangzhou Legion will be closely related to the power of these merchants, right?"

Ma Yue hit the junction and said, "That's it."

Ju Shu changed his mind and said with concern: "However, will the Guanzhong merchants threaten the government after their powerful power? You must know that these merchants control a large number of war horses, weapons, and armor. As their power increases, they will inevitably raise a large number of diners and family soldiers. Once they become unjust, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Of course there is this possibility." Ma Yue said in a narrow voice, "That is the reason that a system must be drawn up to supervise the merchants in Guanzhong! This general will first formulate a plan, including aristocratic families, wealthy families, and foodies, and family soldiers, and family soldiers must not exceed 100, otherwise it will be regarded as a rebellion! Without a large number of well-trained diners and family soldiers, these merchants cannot make a fortune even if they have a wealth of thousands of dollars."

Ju Shu said: "Well, this is very important."

"And." Ma Yue said in a deep voice, "We must hold the assets of the aristocratic families and wealthy families firmly in our hands!"

"Put the assets of the aristocratic families and wealthy families firmly in their hands?" Ju Su said in a lost voice, "This is unlikely."

"Of course," Ma Yue said, "but you have to rely on the money house."

"Money House?" Ju Su said in confusion, "Lord, what is a money house?"

After hearing this, Ma Yue scratched his head. How should he explain to Ju Su? You should know that money shops appeared in China at the earliest time and the Song Dynasty formed a scale (Jiaozi's issuance must have had regular money shops). But now it is the late Han Dynasty, and with the scale of industry and commerce at that time, it is far from enough to promote the emergence of money shops.

Ma Yue sorted out his words and said, "To put it simply, this is the case. The large amount of copper coins earned by merchants in Guanzhong need to be stored in a place, and the government also needs a place to withdraw a large amount of copper coins at any time to purchase strategic materials such as weapons, armor and other strategic materials! And the money house is such a place."

"Storing copper coins?" Ju Su said disapprovingly, "The so-called wealth is not revealed. If a merchant makes money, he will only hide it in his own house. How can he hide it in the money house set up by his lord?"

"That's not the case." Ma Yue smiled and said, "This money is dead when it is kept at home. You can't make money. But if you deposit it in the money house set up by this general, the money will make money. This general will pay the merchant a certain amount of money according to time. In this way, the merchant is willing to deposit the copper money he earned into the money house."

Ju Shu said in a lost voice: "Then the money house is not going to keep paying money, what's the point of setting up a money house?"

"Supply?" Ma Yue shook his head, "Of course not. Money shops are the most profitable transactions like coin minting farms! Merchants have to pay them a certain amount of money to pay, but sometimes the merchants also need a large amount of money turnover. When they are anxious and unable to raise them, they can borrow money from the general's money shop. This general charges higher profits from it. After this, they make money."

Ju Su suddenly said, "So that's the case. Speaking of which, the money bank is really a good deal to make money."

"Of course!" Ma Yue smiled, "With these two, the lifeblood of the merchant is completely held in the hands of the government! Once the situation is wrong, the government can immediately freeze the merchant's funds in the bank. In this way, the merchant has no one and no money, how can he rebel?"

Ju Su couldn't help but striking, "Good plan!"

Ma Yue said: "But the industry and commerce under his rule have just been relaxed and are far from being large enough, so the establishment of a money house can be slowed down, but the construction of a coin farm must be done quickly! The ironmaking farm, weapon shop, armor shop, charcoal farm, horse farm and forage farm in Hetao will soon be taken over by Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping. It won't take long before this general will have to buy fodder and weapons, and the money will have to be taken out of the coin farm."

Ju Su said in a voice: "Want to fight again?"

"Yes." Ma Yue nodded with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, "For a detailed return, the Dingling people from the north have already moved south to occupy the grasslands of the Xianbei in the western region, and the countries in the Western Regions are gradually showing signs of instability. At present, they are unable to mobilize the army to carry out the Western Expedition, so they can only kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, and deter the Dingling people and the countries in the Western Regions by conquering Gongsun Zan!"

Ju Su frowned and said, "If you want to destroy Gongsun Zan in one fell swoop, you will need at least 50,000 troops. Considering the alliance between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao, at least 100,000 troops will be mobilized to ensure victory! At present, all the troops under the lord's command are only 100,000. How to mobilize the 100,000 troops?"

"One hundred thousand army!?" A cold smile suddenly appeared on the corner of Ma Yue's mouth, and he shook his head and said, "No, there is no need for a hundred thousand army, only three thousand iron cavalry is enough!"

"What? Three Thousand Iron Cavalry!" Ju Su said in a lost voice, "How is this possible?"

"Why is it impossible?" Ma Yue said in a deep voice, "I think Gongsun Zan is in an alliance with Yuan Shao, but I think Yuan Shao will soon attack Gongsun Zan! When Yuan Shao's army and Gongsun Zan's army are fighting fiercely, our general and Ma Chao personally led 3,000 elite cavalry into the pass from Gubeikou, and took Ji County directly with lightning speed, and captured Gongsun Zan in one fell swoop!"

Military was not the director of Ju Su. Since the horse butcher said this, Ju Su did not persuade him anymore, but just bowed and said, "I understand. I will build a coin minting field and strive to mint the first batch of coins in the shortest time for the lord's three thousand iron cavalry to go on the expedition."

Ma Yue stood up, stepped forward and patted Ju Su on the shoulder, and said in a harmonious voice: "Thank you hard for it."

In February of the sixth year of Jian'an (193), Emperor Xian of Han, Ma Yue and Ma Chao helped Ma Teng's coffin to Linrong and buried them west of Hetao.

In March, Ma Yue, Ma Chao, Pei Yuanshao, Zhou Cang and Dian Wei were married at the same time. Meijicheng had just wore mourning clothes, and then Zhang Hong hanged the color and ushered in an unprecedented joy.

According to the plan left by Guo Tu, Ma Butcher is transforming the Kanto gentry who forced to move inland step by step, and building a new Guanzhong gentry on the basis of this group of Kanto gentry!

In fact, Ma Butcher did this with no choice. Ma Butcher wanted to implement universal education for the people of Guanzhong, and then implement the imperial examination system on the basis of universal education to achieve fair selection of talents. However, the problem is that Guanzhong has serious lack of scholars, and Guan Ning's hundreds of Confucian children are far from enough to build private friends. Therefore, Ma Butcher can only settle for the second best to implement elite education and spend this difficult time by supporting the Guanzhong gentry.

However, in the future, with the continuous growth of the Confucian children, as the number of scholars gradually increases, and as the people of Guanzhong become more and more prosperous, the personal familiarity of teaching and educating people will eventually appear in large numbers. By that time, the aristocratic families can be stopped as the carrier of academic inheritance!

When the imperial examination system appears naturally, the aristocratic family system will die.

Spring goes and autumn comes.

In the blink of an eye, it was the autumn of the sixth year of Jian'an (193). The Hetao camp and the coin minting farm were built one after another. Ma Zhan, Ma Yang and Ma Qi were sent to the camp. Although Naizhenerduo and Zou Yuniang cried, the butcher's heart was as hard as a rock and was unmoved at all.

However, Ma Butcher Ma followed Liu Yan's advice and changed the initial decision. He no longer concentrated pregnant women in Mobei to Hetao Daying for delivery, but waited for the child to be born and grew by his parents until he was five years old before taking them to Hetao Daying for training. Liu Yan started from the doctor's professional perspective and believed that pregnant women traveled thousands of miles, or even traveled thousands of miles to Hetao to be delivered. The bumpy pain was enough to kill the fetus in the belly.

The butcher Ma realized that it made sense, so he followed the good and adopted it.

At the same time, the coin minting field that Ju Zu was responsible for was also built.

Xu Chu's iron cavalry camp was replaced with brand new iron armor. Although the iron armor was thinner than the bronze armor, it was tougher and slightly lighter. The more than a thousand bronze armors replaced were all sent back to the furnace and cast into the first batch of "Wuzhu coins" produced by the Hetao. The more than a thousand bronze armors were originally bribed by the bronze coins stolen by the Ma Butcher, and now they have been restored.

Su Shuang, Zhang Shiping, and Mi Zhu have taken over the iron making, salt making, horse trading and other industries in Hetao. Following the three companies, several inland-moving wealthy families who have been doing business for generations have taken over the operation of weapons, armor, and forage industries. Pottery workshops, porcelain workshops, weaving workshops have also begun to emerge like mushrooms after the rain in Guanzhong, Liangzhou, and Hetao.

The Ma Butcher spared no effort to support industry and commerce, or these aristocratic families.

The Ma Butcher did not think that the families who moved inwardly could pose a threat to themselves. These families were like floating duckweeds on the water in Guanzhong, with no foundation at all. What conspiracies can a hundred and ten families without foundation play under their own rule? And when these families, the Ma Butcher had established their roots in Guanzhong and had influence, their interests had long been integrated with the interests of the Ma Butcher military group. At that time, they were not as good as protecting the interests of the Ma Butcher, so how could they rebel?

After all, the butcher Ma still holds the title of Liangzhou Governor of the Han Dynasty and the General Pingxi, and has not publicly usurped the Han Dynasty.

As for the Luoyang bloody case, although Cai Yong never publicly cleared the grievances of the butcher Ma, those with a little brain already believed the words of the butcher Ma. A butcher who dared to slaughter and stabbed hundreds of officials in the court, after repelling the 23 Kanto coalition forces alone (no one in the world can do anything to him), he was afraid that he would have ascended the throne and become emperor long ago. How could he still surrender to the south and be subject to the small court in Xuchang?

This matter dates back two months ago.

Two months ago, the emperor ordered the three places of Liangzhou, Bingzhou and Youzhou to offer horses, saying that the emperor could not even get a few imperial horses with the same color when he went on a patrol, which was a great detriment to the majesty of the royal family.

After receiving the imperial edict, the horse butcher did not say anything, and immediately sent the five sweat-blooded horses that the King of Dayuan had just given to him to Xuchang. On the other hand, Zhang Ji, the governor of Bingzhou, and Gongsun Zan, the governor of Youzhou, did not say anything about the horses, but also scolded the angels, saying that the treacherous prime minister Cao Cao was injuring the country and treated the emperor harshly.

Xuchang, Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Cao Cao was summoning Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye and other advisers to discuss matters.

Cao Cao threw the book in his hand on the table, and a ray of coldness flashed through his slightly narrowed eyes, and said in a calm voice: "This is the memorial that Yuan Shao just submitted, saying that Gongsun Zan, the governor of Youzhou, colluded with the Xianbei and the three Han Dynasties, and had the intention of rioting the man. Yuan Shao intends to raise an army to attack and beg the court to transfer money, grain, and horses. What do you think about this?"

Xun You said: "According to the following, Yuan Shao is not really asking for money, food and supplies, he is just testing the Prime Minister."

Cao Cao said, "Oh, test the true nature?"

Xun You said: "Youzhou Governor Gongsun Zan is backed by the Xianbei and the three Han Dynasties. If Yuan Shao wants to destroy Gongsun Zan, he will have to mobilize a large army to fight. In this way, the defense of Jizhou will inevitably become empty. Yuan Shao must be worried that his lord will take the opportunity to attack the enemy. His purpose is nothing more than to seek his lord's acquiescence."

Cao Cao said: "Gongda thought, what is the chance of Yuan Shao's victory in the Northern Expedition of Gongsun Zan?"

Xun You said: "After the defeat of Zeguo, Gongsun Zan was severely damaged. Yuan Shao originally had 80,000 elite troops in Jizhou. Recently, he won 100,000 Black Mountain thieves. His power increased and deteriorated. It is unknown whether the winner or defeat was! However, the people in Youzhou were strong, and Gongsun Zan was in the northern border for many years and had a deep foundation. Yuan Shao was eager to eliminate Gongsun Zan, but it was not that easy."

Cao Cao said: "What does Gongda mean?"

Xun You said: "You thought that this battle would not end in three or five years. Even if Yuan Shao could win the final victory, he would seriously damage his vitality."

"I don't think so." As soon as Xun You finished speaking, Guo Jia said slowly, "Did Gongda forget that there is a fierce and bloodthirsty wolf entrenched in the northwest of Youzhou? Moreover, this wolf has a grudge against Gongsun Zan, the governor of Youzhou, and how could he stand by and watch?"

"Is Fengxiao talking about horse butcher?" Xun You retorted with a smile, "I think horse butcher will not add any harm to the wrongdoing."

Guo Jia said: "How can I see it?"

Xun You said: "The reason is very simple. The reason why Ma Butcher's inferred injury will only make Gongsun Zan quickly defeated, and Yuan Shao can get Youzhou at a very small price. In this way, the Mobei grassland and Hetao nest under the rule of Ma Butcher will directly face the threat of Yuan Shao's army. Moreover, Yuan Shao's strength is far stronger than Gongsun Zan. How could Ma Butcher ask for trouble?"

Cao Cao nodded slightly after hearing this, and it is undeniable that Xun You's analysis is very reasonable. Whether it is the reputation of the family, personal ability, or the number and quality of civil servants and generals under his command, Yuan Shao is far more ten times better than Gongsun Zan, and the threat to the Ma Butcher. If the Ma Butcher is smart enough, he should temporarily put the hatred of killing his uncle aside and support Gongsun Zan to fight Yuan Shao.

Only by letting Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao kill both sides of the defeat can the horse butcher benefit from it.

Guo Jia was silent and said quietly for a moment: "Ma Butcher Ma always unexpectedly. When we think he will do this, he is likely to do the opposite! Undeniable that Gongda's analysis made a lot of sense, but he had a premonition in his heart. This time...Ma Butcher Ma is likely to take the lead!"

Cao Cao said: "Can you tell me the reason for Fengxiao?"

Guo Jia said: "I can't tell the reason below, this is just a kind of intuition."

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and sighed: "Okay, let's put aside the butcher Ma will take advantage of the situation. Do you think the original minister should acquiesce to Yuan Shao to attack Gongsun Zan?"

Cheng Yu said: "In the long run, Yuan Shao's elimination of Gongsun Zan and unify the north will not be of any benefit to the prime minister, because after Yuan Shao unified the north, he would definitely turn his attention to Yanzhou! But in terms of the current situation, the prime minister's biggest threat should be the butcher. It is not advisable to create a strong enemy at this time, so he should make good things about Yuan Shao!"
To be continued...