The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 835 Riverside Market
Cotton only became widespread under Zhu Yuanzhang's forced promotion. Xiao Xia also wanted to promote cotton to replace hemp, but the current cotton is all short-staple cotton, which is difficult to spin and is not as good as hemp. So he can only patiently wait for high-quality cotton varieties to appear.

If we can use kapok from Ryukyu Island to weave cotton cloth, or blend it with hemp, it will help improve cotton spinning technology. Once high-quality long-staple cotton is widely available, cotton spinning technology will naturally follow.

Furthermore, if the kapok trees on Ryukyu Island can be used for textiles, then developing Ryukyu Island would be a logical next step.

Xiao Xia placed the two types of kapok together and said to everyone, "It is obvious that the kapok from Liuqiu Island is of a higher quality and is more suitable for weaving cotton cloth. It is not a long-term solution to send the army to pick it every year. I must consider establishing a county on Liuqiu Island. We have already established a county on Guilong Island, with a population of more than a thousand households. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a county on Liuqiu Island next."

Liu Wenjing smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty's idea of ​​establishing a county on Liuqiu Island is not because of the kapok tree, is it?"

Xiao Xia shook his head. "Back in Jiangnan, I considered establishing a county in Liuqiu, but the conditions were never right. So all these years, I've been developing Guilong Island. I'll use Guilong Island as a springboard to develop Liuqiu Island. Now the time is ripe. Our abolition of slavery is in full swing, and many freed slaves are willing to go to the frontier. This is a good thing, and we can take advantage of this opportunity."

At this moment, Wei Zheng pondered for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, in fact, we still have a large amount of undeveloped land in Lingnan East Circuit, Lingnan West Circuit, Qianzhong Circuit, and Yunnan Prefecture, as well as Jian'an Prefecture, and even vast areas of Liaodong that are uninhabited. Our population is limited, so why are we in such a hurry to expand overseas?"

Wei Zheng's question is classic and also answers a question that has lasted for thousands of years: why did the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties, with such advanced navigation technology, not go overseas to conquer vast territories?

The answer lies in Wei Zheng's question: there is still a lot of undeveloped land on the mainland, so why should the imperial court invest money in immigration to develop overseas?
When the imperial court had the opportunity to develop the area, it did not have enough population. Later, when the population was sufficient, the Manchu Qing dynasty came to power.

Having completely missed the Age of Exploration, this great nation has no overseas territories.

Xiao Xia slowly said, "Prime Minister Wei, that's a very good question. I can answer it. The reason we go to great lengths to maintain the Silk Road is because the large influx of gold and silver from the West has played a significant role in supporting our finances."

Similarly, our overseas expansion aims to establish a maritime Silk Road, allowing us to continuously sell our products abroad and bring back large amounts of gold and silver to support our finances. This is one reason.

Secondly, many species overseas are beyond our imagination and will greatly improve our productivity. For example, the well-known Cochin rice has increased our grain production in the south by 40%.

For example, Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions during the Western Han Dynasty brought back a large quantity of agricultural products, marking the first major change in agricultural production. If we could find crops with even higher yields, such as grains yielding several thousand or even tens of thousands of kilograms per mu, would we still have food problems? Would we still worry about people struggling to survive the winter?

The Imperial Study was quiet for a while before Liu Wenjing said, "If the kapok trees on Liuqiu Island can be used for textiles, then we could establish a county on Liuqiu Island for spinning and weaving. This would greatly increase the production of cloth, which would indeed be a good thing."

Xiao Xia nodded. "Cotton cloth is much warmer than linen. Even fine linen can't compare to cotton. In addition, Liuqiu can grow a lot of sugarcane and become a source of sugar."

Furthermore, the demand for cotton is enormous. We can't just consider Luoyang. If all the cotton is transported to Luoyang, the people of the capital won't lack cotton, but what about other places? The Sui Dynasty had 40 million people, and if each person needed a cotton-padded coat, that would require 80 million catties of cotton. The current cotton production is simply not enough. Therefore, developing Liuqiu (a region in Yunnan province) can provide at least 20 million catties of cotton annually, accounting for 20% of the cotton needed.

Fang Xuanling said, "Your Majesty would be better off first getting some labor from elsewhere to carry out preliminary development, such as cutting down trees, leveling land, building cities and ports, and stationing troops there. Once all these are done, it will be much easier to relocate the people there."

Xiao Xia had certainly thought of this problem. His initial plan was to recruit people from India, but the Li family was not up to the task and failed to conquer the Pandya dynasty.

"I have decided to recruit able-bodied men from Silla, Baekje, and Japan. I have entrusted this matter to the navy and the government of Jian'an County. I estimate that the first batch of men will arrive on the island by tomorrow, when spring begins. At the latest, the first county must be established by the year after next."

At this point, Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Everyone, the construction on Ryukyu Island is only in its initial stages. Next year, we need to focus on the West and our war against the Western Turks."

Just then, the large clock on the clock tower outside began to chime, "Dong! Dong! Dong!"

It's noon.

During their lunch break, officials also left the imperial city to stroll through the riverside market. The riverside market wasn't a recent development; it had been there for three years, primarily to facilitate merchants from the Jiangnan region. Although it had some impact on established shops, it was very popular among ordinary people.

The market's most distinctive feature is that the boats serve as warehouses, and merchants set up stalls directly. There are no fixed stalls, and local governments also organize fleets to come to Luoyang and Chang'an to sell local specialties.

This is somewhat similar to a trade fair in later times, where all sorts of unique products are sold.

Inside a large carriage, Crown Prince Yang Chu, along with his two younger sisters, Yang Junjun and Yang Qian'er, had come to browse the market.

They couldn't get off the carriage; female guards were protecting them closely. There were too many people, so the carriage couldn't squeeze in. The two princesses each took a pair of binoculars and placed them on the windows to look out for items that interested them.

Crown Prince Yang Chu sat at a small table by the window on the other side, writing his investigation report. This was an assignment given by the Hongwen Academy: to write a market survey of Luoyang.

Yang Qian'er suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Jun Jun, look at that house! That round fan is so pretty!"

The two discovered a boat selling fans. On board was a bright apricot-yellow banner with three large characters: "Suzhou Embroidery Fans." They carried various types of fans, including silk fans, palace fans, and banana leaf fans, all exquisitely crafted and suitable for both practical use and room decoration.
Both of them loved fans, so they quickly called over Guan Xiaolian, the head of the female guards, "Sister Lian, please go and buy us fans, two of each kind!"

Guan Xiaolian went with two female guards, and soon returned with two large bags, each containing more than a hundred bundles, which she piled onto the carriage.

The female guards and Crown Prince Yang Chu were already used to the two princesses' behavior. They couldn't get out of the carriage, so they would buy one of everything, then choose the ones they liked, and give the rest to their mother and aunts, or reward the palace maids and female guards around them. Everyone was happy, since their father doted on them and was never stingy with money.

After playing with the fan for a while, they soon saw a shop in Yuhang County called Qiantang Yuji Mother-of-Pearl, which specializes in selling various lacquerware, screens, boxes, basins and dishes made of mother-of-pearl.

Mother-of-pearl inlay involves grinding various beautiful seashells to an extremely thin thickness and inlaying them onto various utensils. Sometimes it is also used as a headdress and has always been a traditional craft that is very popular among the nobility.

The two princesses naturally bought a large number of mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes, which were absolutely stunning in the sunlight, and even the female guards fell in love with them.

The carriage continued on its way and came across a boat shop that specialized in selling pearls. The two princesses didn't want to leave.

Guan Xiaolian ran over and asked, showing the other party her guard badge, and then pointed to the carriage in the distance.

A short while later, the owner took two boxes out of the cabin and handed them to Guan Xiaolian.

Guan Xiaolian returned and said, "These are his best pearls, they cost fifty strings of cash each. You can see for yourselves."

The two princesses opened the boxes, and each box contained exactly twenty pieces, each the size of a large longan, exceptionally round and lustrous, and their eyes widened in amazement.

Each box costs 1,000 strings of cash. Each of them brought 1,000 silver coins. They had already spent more than 300 strings of cash on fans and mother-of-pearl inlays, so they didn't have enough money to buy pearls.

"Brother, please think of something!"

Helpless, Yang Chu could only sigh, "Tell me! How much more is needed?"

(End of this chapter)