Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 260: A Big Fight

This whole series of moves not only impressed Li Longji, but also made Zhang Shuo and Yuan Qianyao think to themselves.

It's important to know that this wasn't something Wang Xi and his colleagues taught them. After all, Wang Xi is a screenwriter, not a politician. He couldn't possibly think of the details; he could only boast about his big picture.

This operation is quite interesting.

Those who pay taxes are usually ordinary people, and the land of ordinary people is certainly not as good as that of the powerful and wealthy, so it needs to be more fertile.

According to Wang Maozhong, they were able to obtain fertilizer at a low price.

Crucially, this can also encourage people to pay taxes voluntarily.

Collecting taxes in ancient times was not an easy task. Don't assume that only the powerful and wealthy evaded taxes; in fact, ordinary people evaded taxes even more. For example, when Yuwen Rong and his team went to investigate land, the main target was the powerful and wealthy, while the hidden households were mainly aimed at the common people who evaded taxes.

What's even more ingenious is that the powerful and wealthy don't pay taxes, but they still need fertilizer, so they have no choice but to buy it or pay taxes voluntarily in exchange for cheap fertilizer.

If the final pricing is accurate, many people will benefit, while many others will suffer greatly.

Based on this, you cannot say that Wang Maozhong had ulterior motives.

Judging from the current situation, he is definitely biased towards the common people, rather than the nobility.

In fact, Li Longji was not surprised by this. He knew Wang Maozhong's character very well. In his eyes, there was no such thing as nobles or commoners. He was probably like Wang Xi, who cared more about personal relationships. But no matter what he did, he always did things well first.

The reason he favored the common people on this point was not because he sympathized with them, but because to do this well, it was essential to make it easier for the people to obtain fertilizer.

His main purpose was to increase grain production in Guanzhong, reduce national losses and the burden on the people, and benefit the entire country by increasing the grain production of the people in Guanzhong.

"This method sounds quite good!"

Li Longji nodded and then asked, "How should the court provide you with subsidies?"

Wang Maozhong said, "Your Majesty, it's very simple. The court stipulates that all raw materials such as excrement and wood ash within the court's control should be given to those fertilizer factories."

Furthermore, the silt removed from the annual river channel repairs was all given to those workshops, and the Ministry of Works was also responsible for arranging corvée labor and hard labor related to this.

For example, prisoners were made to carry excrement, but the excrement went to these compost mills.

They also provided us with some minerals such as gypsum to compensate for the existing fertilizer shortage.

Li Longji was very tempted by what he heard.

The subsidy was actually not much; at least it didn't cost the court any money. As for the excrement, the court never benefited from it.

As for making prisoners do these dirty jobs, the imperial court had originally made such arrangements, but the beneficiaries were the fertilizer factories.

In contemporary terms, these demands are not unreasonable, if they can enable ordinary people to buy better fertilizer at lower prices.

Neither Zhang Shuo nor Yuan Qianyao raised many questions.

Yu Qin said, "So you want to do a major overhaul of the Bian River just to get that silt?"

Wang Maozhong nodded and said, "That's right. I've discussed it with those workshops, and they can even provide some food subsidies to those laborers."

Yu Qin said, "It's not uncommon for silt to increase soil fertility, but it's difficult to transport and can only benefit the surrounding fields. Do you think you can do it this way?"

Wang Maozhong asked, "Does Vice Minister Yu know why silt can increase soil fertility?"

Yu Qin hesitated and remained silent.

Wang Maozhong said, "This is the Taoist thought. Once we explore the reasons behind it, we can make better fertilizer. We also have a method to turn the silt into dry fertilizer that is easy to transport."

People can buy it directly for fertilizer, and the effect is even better than simple silt, which is very convenient.

Li Longji asked, "Is your fertilizer really that miraculous?"

Wang Maozhong said, "Your Majesty, it is indeed true. We have already experimented on the vegetable soil and found some experienced farmers. Judging from the growth of the seedlings, the effect of using our fertilizer is much better."

However, this is still under further exploration. According to my calculations, it is only suitable for the Guanzhong region, because for every extra sheaf of wheat produced in Guanzhong, the expenditure and burden can be reduced tenfold. Even if the imperial court expends a great deal of effort, it will not be a loss.

The situation in Guanzhong is extremely unique.

They are raised nationwide.

As long as grain production in Guanzhong increases, the burden on the whole country will be reduced.

This calculation couldn't be simpler.

The only way to increase grain production in Guanzhong is to produce fertilizer. Producing fertilizer in Guanzhong at high cost is very worthwhile for the imperial court.

Li Longji nodded slightly, then looked at Zhang Shuo and the others.

Zhang Shuo and Yuan Qianyao then looked at Yu Qin.

In the end, Yu Qin was always in charge of the Ministry of Works.

After pondering for a while, Yu Qin said, "If this fertilizer is really effective, then doing this is feasible."

He also had to admit that this was indeed beneficial to the country and its people.

As for those troublemakers below, they are just petty officials, local thugs, or powerful figures, and are not worth mentioning.

Li Longji immediately said, "Then it's settled. Hehe. This dish!"

I wanted to add that Taoist thought is profound and extensive, but thinking of Wang Xi's philosophy of non-action, I held back from saying it.

After clearing away the obstacles in the court, Wang Maozhong was even more unrestrained and ready to make a big splash.

The most representative example of this was the management of the Bian River. This alone required the conscription of a considerable number of laborers, making it a significant undertaking.

This can be seen as the imperial court's support for Wang Maozhong.

If it were to pay someone to smooth things over, let alone Wang Maozhong, even if the national treasury were to be mortgaged, it might not be able to afford it.

Wang Maozhong only said that he would provide some food allowance, but all the silt dug up would belong to Dou Xiguan and his group.

It's like they still benefited from the corvée labor, but the court and the people didn't lose out either. The court was in charge of managing the waterways every year, and the people were supposed to perform corvée labor anyway. In the past, they had to bring their own food, but now that someone was providing them with food, it was certainly a good thing!

This was exactly what Li Longji had hoped for. He went to great lengths to promote Wang Maozhong to the position of Minister of Works, but little did he know that the reason he was told to maintain the status quo was that he hoped Wang would make some significant moves.

In addition, all the excrement in Chang'an City was under the unified control of the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry of Works provided these excrements to the fertilizer factories free of charge, which was considered a subsidy. In return, these fertilizer factories would sell fertilizer to taxpayers at a low price.

It can only be said that wherever Wang Maozhong went, the chaos was terrifying.

The court officials were quite surprised by this.

After the imperial court made its decision on Taoist thought, everyone thought things would calm down. Who would have thought that Wang Maozhong would cause such a big commotion?

But it's just a big commotion, since it only involves excrement. Even if it's collusion between officials and businessmen, so what? The impact is minimal.

The opposition was not very strong.

If the Ministry of Works can't even provide manure, then...then the Ministry of Works should just be demolished.

Even so, no one wanted Wang Maozhong to succeed; they all hoped he would step down as soon as possible.

Today, a group of ministers, including Zhang Yue and Yuan Qianyao, came to the fertilizer workshop at the northernmost part of Chang'an County.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

About a mile from the fertilizer factory, someone stopped them, saying that it was quite dirty inside and that they could go to the nearby hill to check it out.

The group then ran up the hill, and what they saw there left them speechless.

In the distance, the wasteland, spanning over ten hectares, was entirely occupied by fertilizer factories, where hundreds of people were busy working, with wisps of smoke rising everywhere.

“This scale!”

Yuan Qianyao was dumbfounded. He knew it was big, but he didn't expect it to be this big.

Han Xiu exclaimed in surprise, "It seems that all the excrement in Chang'an City has been sent here."

Pei Guangting asked in bewilderment, "Does fertilizer production really require so many steps?"

Just then, Yu Qin, covered in sweat, climbed up the hill, panting, and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Lord Zhang, Lord Yuan, everyone, you've arrived."

Zhang asked hurriedly, "Minister Yu, what exactly is going on? Why would we need such a large area to make fertilizer?"

Yu Qin shook his head and said, "It's not simple, it's not simple at all. There's more to it than meets the eye."

Yuan Qianyao asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Yu Qin said, "Just the distribution of raw materials for fertilizer production involves more than a dozen wells. Different raw materials are distributed to different wells. After the raw materials undergo preliminary processing, they are then combined and mixed together."

There are two types of composting methods: open-air composting and closed composting, which is done underground.

Some of the steps can be found in books, but seeing them in person reveals significant differences. How can I describe it specifically?

He pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps the only explanation is what Wang Xiaoque said: they might know why these ingredients help crops grow."

Han Xiu then asked, "Then why is that?"

Yu Qin said, "I'm not quite sure about that either. After all, it's a private matter, not a public one, and they won't explain these methods to me in detail."

But look over there.

After saying that, he pointed south.

Zhang looked in the direction he was pointing, and saw only some farmland in the distance. He looked at Yu Qin with a puzzled expression.

Yu Qin said, "This area was originally all sandy and rocky land, but even weeds grew very little. There were only a few barren plots over there, which they transformed into experimental fields, specifically for experimenting with fertilizers."

"I see."

Zhang nodded, then suddenly asked, "But how do we sell these fertilizers?"

Yu Qin said, "I'd like to clarify that the final fertilizer will be just like sand and soil, making it very easy to sell, as will the silt from the river."

Yuan Qianyao then asked, "Does Vice Minister Yu think they can do it?"

Yu Qin pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Perhaps it really works. In my opinion, the fertilizer-making method here is the culmination of all previous methods."

Secondly, their costs were actually very low, because much of the work was done by conscripted laborers from the imperial court, so they were simply using readily available labor. Furthermore, they broke down all the procedures into smaller parts, with a dozen or even several dozen people managing each step, making them extremely efficient.

Finally, it also avoids waste. For example, in the past, the disposal of some excrement was done by different groups of people, and sometimes no one cared and just dumped it into the river.

There are other raw materials, many of which are usually useless and often wasted. Now that they're all gathered together, the quantity is actually quite large!

Having said all that, Zhang could only smile and nod, saying, "If it really works out, it would be a great thing for the country and its people."

Many officials nodded awkwardly, secretly hoping that Wang Maozhong would fail!
(End of this chapter)