Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Li You then selected over thirty skillful women from among the military dependents to serve as apprentices to the textile workers, diligently learning this craft that could turn plant fibers into currency.

Using the first batch of mature ramie, the "Golden Army" worked hard and eventually wove eighty bolts of linen.

A bolt of ordinary linen was worth 200 coins, while a bushel of rice cost around 100 coins.

In other words, these eighty bolts of linen could directly buy 160 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain.

This is the power of the "Golden Army".

Li You even considered planting ramie on all the fields.

When he watched TV dramas before, he didn't understand why the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming Dynasty insisted on promoting the national policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields.

Did the Jiajing Daoist priest lose his mind after taking an elixir of immortality? Actually, no.

The main reason was that the textile industry was too lucrative, and the money-loving Jiajing Emperor simply couldn't resist it.

It's all my money!

I've ruled the Ming Dynasty for decades, so what's wrong with enjoying myself a bit?

The problem is that Jiajing should not have implemented this policy in a province with scarce land resources.

In actual history, there are no records of the Ming Dynasty "converting rice paddies to mulberry fields".

The prototype of the story may be the "Qi silk and Lu silk" of the Spring and Autumn Period.

To be fair, the story of "Qi silk and Lu silk" is even darker than the story of "converting rice paddies into mulberry fields".

It even faintly resembles the shadow of ancient monetary warfare.

The so-called "Qi Wan" and "Lu Gao" both refer to high-quality silk, one produced in Qi and the other in Lu. Although these two countries were both located in Shandong, they were never on good terms and were considered rival states. The competition between their respective silk products in the market was also quite fierce.

Guan Zhong, the famous prime minister of the State of Qi, devised a conspiracy to weaken the State of Lu. He first had Duke Huan of Qi and his ministers change to wearing clothes made of Lu silk and forbade the people of Qi from weaving silk. As a result, Qi silk, which was produced locally in Qi, became unpopular, and the price of Lu silk skyrocketed.

Seeing the high profits from weaving Lu silk, the people of Lu overhauled their fields and planted mulberry seedlings instead. As a result, within just two years, Lu's farmland was abandoned, food was scarce, and many people starved to death.

At this time, Guan Zhong suddenly banned the import of Lu silk and lifted the restrictions on the people of Qi to weave Qi silk. As a result, the price of Lu silk plummeted instantly, and a food crisis also occurred, plunging the whole country into chaos.

Under this double blow, the State of Lu had no choice but to submit to the State of Qi and acknowledge Duke Huan of Qi's hegemonic status.

Li You was still clear-headed. Rice should be planted, and ramie should also be planted. These two things are not actually in conflict.

In fact, if human-grown food crops have a shelf life of ten or twenty years, then humans should use food as currency for transactions, and not anything else.

……

Before winter arrived, Li You encountered another happy event.

After overcoming numerous hardships and dangers, Yan Hongliang, Liang Mengbiao, and Zan Junmo finally reunited with the main force.

At this time, there were about two hundred people following the three brothers.

These people were among the most rebellious of the original mob.

Even after the death of the King of Qi, they still chose to take up arms and fight against the Zheng family.

When they saw that King Qi was still alive, many of them burst into tears.

Li You was also deeply moved.

These people are all righteous people!

He immediately decided to incorporate the two hundred men into his personal guard to commend their loyalty.

With the return of Yan Hongliang, Liang Mengbiao, and Zan Junmo, Li You had more people at his disposal, and Yan Hongxin's burden was significantly lighter.

After more than half a year of hardship and training, both Li You and the four generals have gained valuable combat and life experience, and are no longer the group of hot-headed drunkards they once were.

However, this is not enough.

To conquer the world, Li You needed to recruit more talented people and establish a larger base of operations.

We have only just escaped the initial predicament; the real development has only just begun.

……

Winter is here.

In the south, the perceived temperature in winter is indeed cold, but it's not cold enough to freeze you to death.

Those makeshift huts were enough to keep them warm.

The soldiers under Li You's command were not idle; they still had endless tasks to do.

They didn't seem like a fighting force; they were more like a production and construction corps.

Due to continuous personnel losses, the number of regular soldiers remaining is only 2500.

Of the 1000 laborers brought with them, 900 survived.

Li You divided these 2500 regular soldiers into five battalions, named A, B, C, D, and E.

The Jia-class battalion was personally commanded by Li You, and was his personal guard.

Yan Hongxin, Yan Hongliang, Liang Mengbiao, and Zan Junmo each led a battalion, namely Yi, Bing, Ding, and Wu.

The 900 laborers were divided into 300-person battalions, collectively known as the supply battalion.

Each supply battalion also had a battalion commander, namely Zhou Chuji, Niu Qibao, and Liu Dashun.

The battalion commanded by Liu Dashun also served as a "wood-chopping unit".

The above is the reorganization and organization of Li You's troops.

Furthermore, the loyal followers who had always been by Li You's side were not included in the aforementioned organization. They each had their own tasks, such as protecting Li You or going down the mountain to gather intelligence and do other clandestine activities.

Li You felt that the number of teams was still too small.

We'll have to figure out a way to expand our staff next spring.

In his view, the potential of the Tongbai Mountains has not yet been fully developed.

At this time, Li You was gathering his many generals and officers to research a new technology.

This was something I wanted to do, but it was a low priority.

That is opening a kiln to burn charcoal.

The charcoal here is not coal, but wood charcoal.

As mentioned earlier, the raw material for making charcoal is wood, and the production of this product requires the use of an earthen kiln.

Woodcutters like Liu Dashun could also build earthen kilns, but they were mediocre at it, and the charcoal they produced was of low quality.

Therefore, the "firewood-cutting team" had to travel hundreds of miles to sell the firewood they cut to the Zhou family in Guangzhou.

Li You has already sent assassins down the mountain to investigate this so-called Master Zhou thoroughly.

This man's real name was Zhou Shengyi. He was not an official, but rather he used his family's wealth to become a clerk in the Guang Prefecture Prefectural Governor's Office, a minor official similar to Song Yashi in the Water Margin.

Although Zhou Shengyi was only a minor official, his family were merchants, skilled in business, and considered wealthy in Guang Prefecture. With the help of his family, Zhou Shengyi's private business activities also went smoothly, with charcoal making being only a small part of his business.