Chapter 250
When the black bear returned to Lantian again, it was already the next morning.

When he arrived, Zhen Mi was leading Ma Yun to select hemp seeds. They were already familiar with the selection, harvesting and rough processing of mulberry and hemp; they also understood the subsequent spinning and weaving techniques.

Zhen Mi also mastered some weaving techniques. This skill spread slowly and was considered a skill for women in every family to survive and save their lives.

Ma Yun also understands textiles, and Ma Teng will also train his daughter in production skills.

Not to mention such a chaotic world, even in times of peace, a daughter who knows production skills and can endure hardships is more likely to marry into a good family.

How can it be reasonable to let a new daughter-in-law take charge of the family business right after she arrives?

Therefore, when a daughter gets married, or when a new daughter-in-law is married, they become an important labor force in the family; as their experience increases, they can gradually get involved in the management of the industry.

The rise and fall of a family is very important to external political changes and military success or failure; but if there is a wise hostess inside, the family can be more resilient.

With spring ploughing approaching, good quality seeds are being screened everywhere.

Zhen Mi and Ma Yun were also unwilling to fall behind.

Although Ma Yun was new, she had the support and dowry of Ma Teng, a huge force. In addition to dozens of maids, there were also the families of these maids, including strong laborers, skilled workers, as well as dowry soldiers and riding slaves.

There were some things that no longer required Ma Yun and Zhen Mi to do personally, but out of caution they still personally supervised the seed selection work.

When Black Bear came back, Ma Yun and Zhen Mi sat together and discussed the sowing arrangements by looking at the map.

Guanzhong lacks too many things, such as cloth.

Mulberry forests need time to be planted and grow. If we can complete the selection and cultivation of silkworm seeds and the planting of mulberry forests this year, we will be able to raise silkworms on a large scale next year.

Mulberry trees need time to grow, but hemp is much simpler. It is sown in spring and harvested in autumn. After a winter of rotting, it can be woven into linen cloth in the spring and summer of next year.

The two of them did not need to worry about growing staple food. Black Bear arranged for them to establish mulberry gardens, hemp fields, lacquer gardens and cotton fields... The lacquer garden would take longer, and the cotton field needed to determine whether the collected cotton seeds could be used.

Currently, the only one who can make them put their heart into it, see the results, and distinguish the winners is Mata.

Seeing Black Bear coming back, the two stopped working and communicated.

Ma Yun was concerned about Ma Chao's future, so she brought him a bowl of warm tea and asked, "My dear, have you met my brother?"

"Mengqi has gone north. My cousin has appointed him as the Protector of the Qiang, in charge of the affairs of the Qiang people in the three counties."

Black Bear took a sip of the tea, and seeing her relieved and happy expression, he looked at Zhen Mi and asked, "Is the hemp seed enough?"

"That should be enough."

Zhen Mi sat beside Black Bear in a dignified manner, as if she were the wife. "With the current hemp seeds, we can sow more than 2,100 acres. My sister and I will each be in charge of 1,000 acres."

"Well, Jingzhou is still transporting all kinds of seeds. I will plant another thousand acres with Jingzhou hemp seeds."

As Black Bear spoke, he noticed the change in Zhen Mi's mood between her eyebrows, but then she looked calm, so he asked, "Where is Sangyuan?"

"After the hemp fields are sown, I will go to Ganquan Mountain with my younger sister and choose a site to build a mulberry garden."

Zhen Mi did not give Ma Yun a chance to speak, and asked, "Will my husband live in Ganquan Mountain from now on?"

Ma Yun was also concerned about this issue and looked over eagerly.

"I will stay here from early April to late October. I will go on tours to the frontier counties in the winter. I will return to Nanshan around the first month of the year. I don't have time to manage and build Lantian this year. I will choose a site after summer."

Black Bear followed his previous thoughts and answered Zhen Mi's doubts: "I don't like Chang'an. In the future, if I am not in Ganquan Mountain, I will be in Nanshan Villa. Ganquan Mountain is suitable for summer vacation and handling frontier military affairs; Nanshan is suitable for wintering. When the savings in Guanzhong are sufficient, I will assign people to build a villa for you."

Zhen Mi's heart was almost in her throat, and she asked hurriedly, "My husband, do you want me and the others to build our own manors?"

"Well, the imperial envoy Pei Mao will be here soon. When I become the Grand Marshal and become a marquis, I will have to keep my public and private finances separate."

As Black Bear spoke, he looked up at the outline of the Qinling Mountains in the distance, with no emotion changing on his face.

Human greed cannot be stopped. During war, one way of thinking is different, and after the war, another way of thinking is different.

The reason for eliminating corruption during previous battles was simple: money, food, and luxury goods would be sealed after being stored in the warehouse, and only he could mobilize them.

He did not take the opportunity to transfer gold, silver and luxury goods to his own home, so the officials guarding the warehouses could remain mentally stable; as long as the warehouses were not opened and there was no storage circulation, it would be difficult for them to take action.

Now that public and private finances are separated, the possibility of another powerful economy emerging from the soil of Guanzhong can be suppressed at the root.

Zhen Mi didn't think so far. She just felt that Black Bear would further delegate power to them, and they would have their own estates, slaves and weapons.

As long as their development is not restricted and no one dares to interfere or provoke them, their manor economy will continue to grow.

In the future, you can be self-sufficient and save a rich inheritance for your offspring. Occasionally, you can also give back to your family and support your mother's family as a wing and assistant.

Black Bear had to keep many plans deep in his heart, or write them on pieces of paper and throw them in a box so that he could read them from time to time to weigh the pros and cons and avoid forgetting them.

The future financial system can be roughly divided into county taxes, land rent, corvée and the first category, which is the most orthodox category, which is the official tax. In addition to the official tax, there is also the customs tax between counties, which should be abolished, and the commercial tax should be retained. The commercial tax cannot be collected from door to door, but is collected in the market.

This part of commercial tax should be divided between local counties and the central government. The amount of money is not important, but the process of dividing the money is more important.

As the chaos has just settled, considering the productivity of Guanzhong, Black Bear does not think highly of the current commercial taxes.

But the instinctive feeling is that one should intervene and not leave it to the counties and prefectures to take all the blame; if one intervenes, the counties and prefectures will take it more gently, and one will feel unhappy, but will also have legitimate reasons to punish them.

Apart from regular taxes and commercial taxes, the remaining finances are quite abundant.

First, there are various grain surpluses, mines, forests, fisheries, horse farms and coinage within the Baihu system, which replaced the functions of the Shaofu institutions of the Han Dynasty. The horse farms here are similar to the functions of the official herdsmen in the future, but they are two systems.

One is to raise horses for yourself, and the other is to raise horses for the government or large collectives.

If we separate public and private sectors now and do not try to take advantage of the larger collective, then in the future the larger collective that is filled with or dominated by scholars will not be able to take advantage of us either.

If we have to make a distinction, in the future the only things that will be fully controlled by the collective are the regular taxes, commercial taxes, and the income from the salt and iron monopolies, as well as the local government-run ranches.

In addition, there is a tariff. In the future, the tariff will be used exclusively for border troops. In this way, the border troops will naturally actively crack down on smuggling and strive to close and occupy all intersections suitable for smuggling.

Here, I will rely on various hundred households to seize and manage mountain, forest and mineral resources. If I cannot seize them myself, I can let the Qi clan share the profits and supplement them.

Using force to plunder is too inefficient.

As long as we maintain sufficient economic advantages, we can suppress the growth of aristocratic families and powerful people in many ways. Only when they are not free can we enjoy freedom.

The money in circulation represents the redistribution of materials and productivity.

In this regard, the black bear decided to take the biggest portion, and naturally would not treat the people around him unfairly.

Anyway, some things cannot be prevented, and other families will definitely grow stronger in business in the future. Instead of waiting for them to grow stronger, it is better to cultivate the Qi clan and use the Qi clan to check and suppress those unfamiliar forces.

As for the future of the Qi clan... people will grow old and die, so all they have to do is harvest them one by one.

Dealing with the Qi clan is much easier than dealing with other families that are self-reliant and grow step by step.

Black Bear has his own plans, but in Zhen Mi's eyes, this is the most practical way to give up power.

Ma Yun's arrival made her feel more threatened; no matter if it was the other party's generous dowry, just the warriors and riding slaves that came with the dowry could pose a fatal threat to her.

Fortunately, before coming to Guanzhong, Black Bear gave her a quota of 100 female soldiers, so she had the confidence to suppress Ma Yun.

She also knew what these one hundred female soldiers were doing, but after entering Guanzhong, Black Bear was busy with wars and had no interest in these one hundred female soldiers and the maids in the same batch.

By now, Zhen Mi had realized that something was amiss, and began to gradually assign maids and female soldiers to get married, and to screen and adjust the organizational composition of the female soldiers and maids in a targeted manner.

She eliminated those women who had strong personalities, were difficult to control, and generally had advantages in appearance; those who remained, although generally had pretty looks, some were bright and beautiful, but they all had one characteristic, which was that they could not threaten her.

Continuous adjustments allowed her to gain a deep understanding of the team of female soldiers and maids; but relying on these people, she could only barely compete with Ma Yun.

But now, another Cai Zhenji has jumped out, with too many people standing behind her, and she cannot be suppressed easily.

She even suspected that she, a person of unknown origin, was already on someone's death list.

She knew very well how fragile the life of a woman would be after she married out without the protection of a strong family.

If Black Bear was out on a mission, and she accidentally got sick, even if it was a minor illness, as long as she took the wrong medicine, she might die.

Dying of illness from taking medicine is already a very mild method. From losing control of the car, to being bitten by a poisonous snake, to being suffocated to death... As long as there are no traces left on the body, many people would dare to attack her.

There were even traces left, such as several maids being bribed to strangle her to death... Then, who would dare to reveal the truth?
She knew that black bears could communicate with the underworld, but most other people didn't know?

Seeing that Black Bear is now authorized to expand, Zhen Mi breathed a sigh of relief.

Only with sufficient economic benefits can she guarantee the loyalty of those around her; the maids and female soldiers around her also have families.

Being able to continue to obtain wealth from the outside, the families and relatives of these maids and female soldiers can also benefit, which is the only way to maintain their relationship for a long time.

But even so, she still has a strong sense of crisis.

Because no matter how much money you have, you can't buy the status of the eldest son or the crown prince!

But how can we get support from Hebei?

As long as she could get in touch with the scholars in Hebei, they would definitely help her protect her family and keep it a secret from Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang.

They are their retreat, and am I not also their retreat?
Zhen Mi thought about it and felt that developing the manor was a valuable opportunity.

Normal economic exchanges allow her to get in touch with some key people.

By then, not to mention Ma Yun, even Cai Zhenji would be able to be suppressed by her!
(End of this chapter)