Chapter 224: Maintaining the Army
Editor: Atlas Studios
Of course, Qi Xiuyuan couldn’t turn all the land occupied by the Jin Kingdom’s nobles into military fields in the end. He only managed to snatch about a quarter of the land. The remaining half was returned to the people and the other half was nationalized.
The good news was that he had recruited nearly 20,000 troops, and the Imperial Court actually agreed with his actions. The bad news was that he had to fork out all the military equipment for this group of people.
Even if Qi Xiuyuan used up all his assets, he would not be able to gather enough military equipment for all 20,000 soldiers. Aside from the 20,000 soldiers, there was also their families which he had to support. These people were willing to bring their families to become military households because they could not survive on their own for they had not even a single grain. After hearing that should they follow Qi Xiuyuan, not only would they receive land, but they would also receive grains, many came to Qi Xiuyuan with their families.
Qi Xiuyuan was so worried that he didn’t even have a good time drinking the celebratory wine. Fan Zijin pulled Qi Haoran closer to him and said, “Eldest Cousin, the fastest ways to earn money in this world are robbery and business. Robbery is illegal, so we naturally won’t do it. Then, there’s only business left.”
Qi Xiuyuan frowned at the two of them and asked, “What are you guys up to this time?”
Fan Zijin secretly pinched Qi Haoran. Without changing his expression, Qi Haoran said, “Big Brother, the diced rabbit meat produced by Zijin’s workshop is delicious. It is well-received in the south. Butler Chen said that even if we triple the production, the supply would not be able to meet the demand. And now, he’s still looking for even more sales channels in the south.”
Qi Xiuyuan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He looked up at them slightly. “So?”
“Big Brother, look outside. There’s pasture everywhere because of the Hu people. If they raise rabbits and we buy the rabbits from them, they’ll earn money. Then, the pressure on us will be much less.”
Qi Xiuyuan said, “No, we’re Han Chinese. Han Chinese mainly farm. The people of Hanzhong Prefecture are already averse to farming. If we don’t abolish this move and support it instead, their hatred for the Hu people will shift to us.”
“We’re not touching the commoners’ fields. We’re simply asking the military households to do this.” Qi Haoran muttered, “I’m doing this for their own good. It’s not like I’m taking advantage of them for nothing.”
Qi Xiuyuan glanced at him and said, “That won’t do either. Those in the military households are still commoners.”
Fan Zijin said with a smile, “Cousin, it’s not like we’re asking them to use all the land to raise rabbits. Even if they wish to do that, I won’t be able to buy so many from them. There are so many military households under us. As long as some people are willing to use a few acres of low-grade land to raise a few hundred rabbits, it’s enough. I won’t be able to accept any more for the time being. How about we force them this year and let them decide for themselves next year? Cousin, each of them has more than a hundred acres of land under their name. They won’t be too resentful if we force them to raise rabbits on just a few acres. Look at the 5th Division. All the high-grade land has been forcefully planted with corn by us.”
Qi Xiuyuan looked at Fan Zijin deeply and said, “How much can this income be? Can it support the soldiers under me?”
Fan Zijin met his eyes and nodded dumbly. “More or less. I’ll think of another way when the time comes.”
Satisfied, Qi Xiuyuan smiled and said, “Alright, you guys make the decision on your own.” With that, he stood up happily and left.
Fan Zijin couldn’t help but say in frustration, “We were tricked by Cousin.”
Qi Haoran was puzzled. “How so?”
Fan Zijin could not help but pat his head. “Didn’t you hear what Cousin asked just now? All the money we worked so hard to earn will be used by Cousin to feed his soldiers.”
Qi Haoran escaped from him and said indignantly, “The money earned was meant to feed the soldiers in the first place. Otherwise, what else can it be used for?”
Fan Zijin opened his mouth and, after thinking about it, felt that it made sense. Even if his cousin did not say anything now, should food run out at the West Camp later, Haoran would take out his grains and from Fan Zijin to give to his cousin. In any case, all the money would still be used on feeding the soldiers in the end…
In the end, Fan Zijin could only wave his hand. “Forget it, consider it a bargain for Mu Yangling.” Seeing the confusion in Haoran’s eyes, he said, “Back then, the contract we signed was the income of the entire workshop, and they had to take the young rabbits from Mu Yangling to raise them. So, this contract won’t change…”
In the end, Mu Yangling would be the only one to earn money from this, while he and Haoran could not get a single cent from the workshop that he had painstakingly built.
Fan Zijin gritted his teeth and racked his brains. “We can’t always buy grains and transport them back after selling the diced rabbit meat. The cycle is too long. Moreover, it’s too dangerous to transport these grains.” Fan Zijin rolled his eyes and said, “If I spread the news that there’s a drought in the north, will those merchants transport a large amount of grains over? At that time, our trade caravan can buy other goods to sell. At least, we won’t be limited to the diced rabbit meat business.”
Qi Haoran only lowered his head and thought for a moment before rejecting. “No, once this news spreads, the first to suffer will be the commoners. Once the price of grains increases, they won’t be able to afford food. We took down Hanzhong Prefecture to protect the commoners inside. I don’t want a riot to happen in the blink of an eye.”
Fan Zijin rolled his eyes and said, “Who said I’m going to spread this news in Hanzhong Prefecture? I want Butler Chen to spread it in Jiangnan. Since information doesn’t flow between the two places and the news takes some time to spread, both sides can only be skeptical. As long as we refute the rumors slightly, nothing will happen.”
Fan Zijin snorted and smiled. “When the two prefectures have more grains, the people will be able to settle down and the pressure on you will be lessened.”
“Are you trying to scam those businessmen?” Qi Haoran tilted his head and asked.
“It’s not a scam. I just want them to earn less.” Fan Zijin said, “The two prefectures are indeed short of grains. Now, the price of grains is also slowly rising. They can still earn money by sending grains over, but it’s not as profitable as they think. The business world is like a battlefield. I don’t think this is a scam.”
Not objecting anymore, Qi Haoran only asked curiously, “You just said that you wanted to import goods from the south. Didn’t we use all our money to feed the soldiers and prepare for armaments? How can we still have money?”
“Isn’t there still Mu Yangling?” Fan Zijin snorted and said, “She’s lucky. I’ll speak to her later and ask her to hand the money to me. I’ll definitely be able to earn more money for us.” Seeing that Qi Haoran was about to object, he hurriedly said, “I’m not taking advantage of her. Although I’m using her money, I’m the one conducting this business and your people are the ones escorting the things all the way here. Therefore, we deserve a share of the profits.”
Fan Zijin tried to figure out how much he and Qi Haoran would get. However, since he had never done business before, he had no idea how to do the calculations.
If it was Mu Yangling, she would probably be able to guess how much she could get. After all, she was just an investor and did not have to worry about anything else. The share she could get would not be too high.
The idea was Fan Zijin’s, and Fan Zijin was in charge of the business. Also, it was a long journey from Jiangnan to Xingzhou Prefecture. Even if they just hired an escort agency to escort the goods, they would have to pay a high price.
Fan Zijin wanted to buy some satin and cloth. As there had been war at the border, very few merchants were willing to come here to do business.
Previously, Xingzhou Prefecture was small, so Fan Zijin had no interest in it. However, now that they had occupied Hanzhong Prefecture, this was a huge place. There were many wealthy families in Hanzhong Prefecture, most of them who did not have the time to escape south and were unwilling to leave their hometown. Ever since Hanzhong Prefecture was occupied, there were fewer and fewer things in the city. At this moment, they were certain to make money by doing business here.
Of course, the people in Hanzhong Prefecture City were still being investigated and they were not allowed to leave the city casually. Even if someone thought of doing business here, they were bound by restrictions. Only Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran could put such plans into action.