Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 298 Ideas

After Shao Shuyi returned to Matuosha, everything seemed to be peaceful.

Those who needed to sell salt were selling salt, those who needed to pickle fish were pickling fish, those who needed to farm were farming, and those who needed to do odd jobs were doing odd jobs—everything was in good order, and everyone was doing their job. The first phase of the granary was completely completed, with a storage capacity of over 700 shi (a unit of dry measure), and there was still about 200 shi of space left. Shao Shuyi placed an order through the Wu Yue Grain Store, which was under construction, and Madam Liu's grain shop accepted the order.

The second phase of the grain storage project has already begun, but due to manpower constraints, it cannot continue until after the autumn planting season. Once completed, the storage capacity will increase by seven or eight hundred shi (a unit of dry measure).

"Through hardship and struggle, we have achieved what we have today." Walking on the smooth foundation of the new granary, Ma Tuoshali Zheng Gaojian said with great emotion, "Shao She really dares to think big and act big, spending so much money so easily."

Gao Jian pointed to the thick brick wall of the first-phase granary and laughed, "Several brick and tile kilns have opened in Ma Tuo Sha. In their spare time, the people collect soil, make bricks, and fire bricks, earning a lot of money and grain to supplement their household income."

"It's time to expand the granaries in the wealthy man's house," Shao Shuyi said. "If there's nowhere to put the rent rice we collect, we can only sell it, and all we'll get in return is paper money. It's better to spend it."

Gao Jian seemed to realize something, and was also a little surprised, but he didn't say anything, only nodded.

He admired the person in front of him. In this world, it's always good to stockpile food and gather more manpower.

Standing not far away, Madam Xu looked at the towering granary, then at Shao Shuyi, and exclaimed in surprise, "You built such a huge granary?"

Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "Now that we have more money, we build a little bit whenever we have time. It's been a long time. As you can see, there aren't many people in Ma Tuo Sha, so we can only take it slowly. If we were in Wuxi, we could recruit more people, and it would be much faster to build."

The female tiger looked at Shao Shuyi for a long time and said, "If Bi Si had your insight, he would have become successful. Why would he have been captured by the government?"

"If he had that kind of insight, he wouldn't have come out to rob people, putting the authorities in such a difficult position," Shao Shuyi laughed loudly. "In this day and age, the government is certainly not very powerful, but even a centipede with a hundred legs doesn't die easily; it still has a breath left. If you don't openly expose him, he won't bother to move, because every time he moves, he's one step closer to death. But if you put him in such a difficult position, forcing him to take action, then his fate is uncertain. Bi Si is such a stupid person, while I am a bit smarter than him."

The female tiger fell silent. Or rather, she had been silent ever since the horse came carrying sand.

Her past thinking was actually not much better than Bi Si's; at most, she was a little smarter and knew when to advance and when to retreat, while Bi Si was simply reckless.

It has now been discovered that these so-called ways of knowing when to advance and retreat are merely minor tricks. The real key lies with the person before us, who has left the government in a dilemma, unable to back down, and ultimately forced to accept the situation.

"Master Gao, the eight hundred shi of raw silk I borrowed will be paid off in the winter month." After walking around, Shao Shuyi stopped and looked at Gao Jian, saying.

"It's alright," Gao Jian said. "It'll only take two months. I can wait."

Of course, not all of the 800 shi of raw silk belonged to his own family; some came from the sand-carrying villagers he had helped collect. Shao Shuyi's request for a two-month payment period wasn't unreasonable, since he hadn't paid them yet and could even delay until late December, settling the accounts all at once before the New Year, so there was no rush. Shao Shuyi nodded.

The goods for overseas trade have been basically prepared.

The porcelain shipment totaled around 30,000 pieces, mostly inexpensive and common items; we didn't buy many expensive pieces. The cotton, linen, and silk shipments totaled approximately 25,000 bolts, and we also acquired nearly 2,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of raw silk in Wuxi and Jiangyin. Including other miscellaneous goods, the total value exceeded 8,600 ingots, and the shipment would be sent to Shanghai and delivered to the Fei family before the end of the month.

After much persuasion, Shao Shuyi finally convinced the Fei family to allow them to send two representatives, one aboard two ships, Ma Jia and Ma Yi, to join the voyage. One candidate had already been chosen: Liu Huipeng, the accountant of Shengye Trading Company. He had already made enough money and was about to travel again when he heard about the fleet's departure. He volunteered to go to Tuta and insisted that his family in Huangzhou, Jiangzhou, and Jingdezhen not be informed. The other candidate was more difficult to decide. Frankly, there weren't enough people, not enough capable individuals. He now deeply understood why Zhu Yuanzhang in history even went so far as to recruit scholars to serve him; these guys would rather stay at home than work. The rebel army's reputation for burning, killing, and looting was terrible, but did the underworld have a good reputation? Don't laugh at your second brother, elder brother.

The group quickly arrived at the roadside.

Cao Tong sat on the carriage shaft and came over to greet Shao Shuyi.

He said he was coming last year, but when he asked his uncle for permission, he was severely scolded. The gist of it was that it took a lot of favors and even some gifts to get you into the azurite shop back then, and now you want to resign.

Cao Tong was scolded and humiliated, and the pressure from his whole family made him dare not act recklessly. At the end of August, he made a mistake while helping out and accidentally broke a few pieces of blueware. He was docked a lot of his monthly wages and quit in a fit of anger, so he came to Ma Tuo Sha to seek refuge.

Shao Shuyi naturally accepted the offer and had Cao Tong bring an apprentice to jointly manage the two vehicles: one was a horse-drawn carriage transported from Jiangyin, and the other was a donkey cart newly acquired in Matuosha.

"Stone, I heard you often go to visit Wu Meng. How come? Did you know each other before?" After saying goodbye to Gao Jian, Shao Shuyi looked at Cao Tong with a smile and asked.

Cao Tong glanced at Shao Shuyi and finally decided to tell the truth: "I saw Wu Meng often slaughtering pigs and sheep, so I asked him where they came from. He said he collected them from the surrounding villagers, and that's how I found out."

"Hmm?" Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised.

"I've saved up over a dozen ingots of paper money over the years, and I brought them all with me. I was thinking of buying some cattle and sheep to graze in my spare time to make a living," Cao Tong said. "You've actually saved up so much money?"

"I ate and slept at the ceramics shop, wearing old clothes that my cousin gave me," Cao Tong said, lowering his head. "I didn't spend a single penny of my wages; I saved it all up, thinking I'd use it to get married in the future."

Shao Shuyi was at a loss for words.

If Cao Tong hadn't come to Ma Tuo Sha and had continued his previous life, he would likely have been able to continue accumulating wealth until one day the imperial court changed the currency, causing his wealth to shrink by more than 90% overnight.

If he were in Cao Tong's shoes, he would probably be thinking of rebelling too. Even if he didn't have the guts to risk being beheaded, he would still hate the Yuan court to the extreme and hope that others would step forward to overthrow this damned dynasty that had caused him to lose all his years of hard work.

Fortunately, Cao Tong's fate was changed.

"More than a thousand years ago, Matuosha wasn't even as big as it is now, but it was already a horse-breeding area of ​​Eastern Wu." Shao Shuyi looked at Cao Tong with encouraging eyes and said, "Do what you think is right. If Matuosha doesn't have any, I'll go to Jiangyin and Taicang to ask around and try to get you some cheap cattle and sheep." "Thank you, Brother Shao." Cao Tong bowed deeply and said happily.

"Don't thank me yet," Shao Shuyi said with a smile. "I have a lot to do and I need your help."

"Brother Shao, please speak." Cao Tong said with a look of surprise and delight.

Shao Shuyi put his arm around Shitou's shoulder and said, "Shitou, when you have some free time, think about how to herd cattle and sheep. If you don't have enough manpower, I'll send Yi'erjun over to help you. If you herd them well, you can help me herd them in the future, how about that?"

"Okay," Cao Tong agreed without hesitation.

"Maybe we'll be herding horses," Shao Shuyi said with a smile.

"I know horses very well," Cao Tong said immediately. "Horses all like me and often nuzzle their faces against me."

Shao Shuyi laughed loudly, "Oh, Shitou, your arrival has been a great help to me."

Upon hearing this, Cao Tong was both pleased and embarrassed. Finally, he stammered, "Brother Shao, I... I've only ever raised stallion horses, never let them roam freely." Stallion horses are horses that have been raised in stables since they were young and are taken out for a walk regularly to prevent problems with their bone development and growth. The phrase "dying in the stallion" refers to this type of horse.

Another method is to let them roam freely, typically the horses of grassland tribes.

When the Central Plains dynasties were in charge of horse administration, they also liked to enclose a large area of ​​land as pasture so that the horses would have ample space to move around. For example, at the height of the Tang Dynasty, there were 16 cavalry or mounted infantry and 78 horses, most of which were released into the wild by various pastures.

There's no inherent good or bad between stable horses and free-range horses; it all depends on their individual conditions.

Historically, the Nanzhao Kingdom was famous for its stable horses. Young foals were born in stables and fed rice porridge; as they grew, they were fed a mixture of grain and hay. They were periodically taken out for exercise and then put back in. These horses even grew quite well, capable of supporting the Nanzhao Kingdom's armored cavalry. Even the wild horses of the Central Plains dynasties were kept in stables during the winter and fed a mixture of grain and hay.

The pasture supervisors usually also owned a large amount of farmland, which they conscripted to cultivate and harvest. The proceeds were used as winter reserves for the horse farms, ensuring that the horses wouldn't starve or lose weight. This was actually a relatively scientific method, meaning that you could launch surprise attacks in winter and spring—while other people's horses were severely starved and losing weight, your horses would be plump, strong, and glossy. This advantage was enormous.

Shao Shuyi has already planned to gradually collect horses.

Sun Quan could graze horses on Ma Tuo Sha, and so could he.

The way horses are raised is somewhere between stall and free-range. Most of the time, the horses are allowed to graze on their own. When there is not enough hay, they are fed bran and chaff. When there is still not enough hay, they have no choice but to feed them the best grains to reduce costs as much as possible.

This idea came to me after the annihilation of Bi Si, and it's been lingering in my mind lately.

There was no way he could resist the allure of a "luxury car"—he was a man too.

Riding a mule at the last military parade has become an early source of his embarrassment; if people knew, they would probably laugh their heads off.

Buying and raising horses, like building granaries, can be done gradually according to the financial situation; he's not in a hurry. Anyway, the Jiangnan and Lianghuai regions are densely networked with waterways, so the demand for cavalry isn't that great, and it's okay to postpone it.

"Stone, I'm going to Taicang in a few days. If you have time, go to the sheep and horse market and help me pick out a few mares," Shao Shuyi said, turning his head before getting into the carriage.

"What about the stallion?" Cao Tong asked.

Shao Shuyi smiled without saying a word, his mind already filled with Zheng Fan, who had always been fond of collecting so-called famous horses.

Mr. Zheng, don't panic. I'm not going to steal your beloved horse. I just want it to come over for some fun and to be bred. I'll pay for its medical expenses.