Almost counting the days, the twenty-second year of Kaibao has arrived.
The past two years have undoubtedly been the most turbulent and chaotic years since Dahan entered the Kaibao era.
Major cases, political trends, party disputes, wars, rebellions... all kinds of disturbances, one after another, in an endless stream. Even the magnificent Kaibao Northern Expedition was not so "splendid" and dazzling.
This is almost a major outbreak and a complete release of the ills accumulated over the past thirty years since the founding of the Han Dynasty. It is also the epitome of some deep-seated contradictions under decades of governance.
Of course, for the big man, this is just a little itch that appears on the giant's body, just a small episode, a small adjustment in this glorious era. The empire has become a general trend. There may be twists and turns, or there may be small changes in the trend, but the general trend is difficult.
change.
As a whole winter passed, the Han people's attention to the Northwest Rebellion plummeted. Even the people in Tokyo, who were the best at discussing politics, were attracted by something newer and more interesting, namely those storytellers with a propaganda nature.
Even people who repeatedly scold traitors and praise the imperial court feel bored.
Even the once bustling Guan Nei became somewhat quiet. Under the harsh blockade policy of the imperial court, in three months, a solid blockade was completely constructed outside Yulin to lock down the rebels.
In Yulin territory.
At the beginning of winter, some news can still be spread from Yulin. Whether it is truth or rumors, there is always some news that can be known. The Guannai Road, especially the northern area near Yulin, is also full of disturbances, unstable people, and conditions.
Of course, under the pressure of a group of "awakened" bureaucrats and Wu Desi, calm was quickly restored.
Throughout the winter, with the full support of the imperial court, Zhao Wang Liu Fang mobilized troops and generals around Yulin, and the external channels along the perimeter of Yulin were strictly blocked. At each pass and fortress, more troops and food were added to guard against death, and even, except for
Several main logistics supply channels and other roads were all locked up. Even some mountain trails were not spared. A large amount of gunpowder was used to destroy the paths. With the sound of explosions one after another, Yulin's external channels (mainly to the inner pass),
All partitions.
As for the various crossings along the Yellow River, there are also garrison troops stationed there, and there are thousands of cavalry patrolling back and forth. To exaggerate the description, it is difficult for even a winter bird to cross.
Of course, it is unrealistic to achieve a complete blockade, but the large-scale rebels' escape has been effectively restricted. At the beginning of the rebellion, the rebels were still able to send thieves and bandits to carry out banditry.
As chaos spread, these people were Liu Fang's first step to eliminate them, and they quickly achieved results. After the Yulin blockade was implemented, the possibility of rebels flowing into the northwest was suppressed to a minimum.
There may be a small group of rebels lurking south, but not to mention the difficulties involved, even if they successfully cross the border, it will not be easy to carry out operations within the customs and stir up rebellion.
The entire pass within the pass is subject to martial law according to levels, especially in the four prefectures of Huan, Qing, Jin, and Yan near Yulin. The intensity of martial law is almost similar to military control, and the intensity of enforcement is unprecedented.
All non-governmental activities have been suppressed, and non-governmental population movement is prohibited. All farmers, herdsmen and fishermen, except those recruited by the government and with issued documents and certificates, can only live in the countryside. Villages jointly guarantee and supervise each other, even during the New Year. Visit relatives and friends.
Any outsiders or those with strange whereabouts will be rewarded for reporting, and government officers will patrol and inspect them from time to time. Anyone who does not comply with the rules will be arrested immediately. If they are screened and judged to be suspected of being a thief, they will have to go to jail, or even go to jail. Being thrown into a prison camp or even being beheaded is not unusual at all. The situation of heavy punishment in troubled times has once again appeared in the northwest.
The effect is naturally significant. Although it is inevitable that innocent people will be implicated, if you take the government's ban seriously and stay honest, nothing will happen. At the same time, it also allows the local governments to detect some chaos that has been mixed among the people. Thief, arrest him and ask for credit from the court.
Especially those refugees who fled south were a mixed bag, and indeed many rebels were mixed in. The concerns of these local bureaucrats were not completely unreasonable. Under the pressure of King Zhao and even the court, they had to take over the task of helping those in need. , in one winter, from Huanqing to Jinyan, more than 40,000 refugees were received, and thousands of them were arrested.
In the second half of the winter of the 21st year of Kaibao, the entire pass was in a state of silence, and the flow and activities of the people were greatly reduced. Except for Chang'an and the cities of various states, merchants were not even allowed to pass easily. Even if they could, they would need to There is a trade certificate issued by the government with the Taosi Customs and Defense stamped on it.
In the past, the situation of numerous business travels and huge crowds no longer existed. The business travel caravans traveling on various official roads were either military transport convoys or wealthy businessmen with backgrounds and backing.
In order to cooperate with the overall campaign of suppressing bandits in Yulin, local governments in the northwest had to introduce policies to restrict business and travel, and control the flow of people to ensure public security and maintain stability. A one-size-fits-all approach is often easier to implement.
However, after so many years, the Han Dynasty's system has long been perfected, and its city management has become increasingly mature, so it is not that it is completely ignorant of flexibility.
Trade certificates are a workaround under such current circumstances. There is no doubt that these cities in the Han Dynasty are basically consumer cities and require the supply of massive rural resources. Even those workshops and factories in cities and towns. The supply of raw materials also needs to be purchased from outside. Those who play the main circulation role are the large merchants and vendors who travel between cities and villages.
Therefore, from the beginning to the end, the policies issued by the government have only restricted business, not prohibited it. Winter is the time when various people's livelihood resources are consumed the most. In this case, if normal production and life in the town cannot be guaranteed, That would also cause trouble. If that were the case, it would put the cart before the horse and run counter to the original intention of maintaining stability.
It is obvious that the rebellion in Yulin had a serious impact on the livelihood of officials and people in the pass and even in the entire northwest. The current situation is such that under the government's prohibition, many merchants have gone bankrupt, especially those small traders with poor ability to resist risks.
Even the most stable rural areas were affected. In order to cooperate with the suppression of bandits in Yulin, government labor and military service conscription orders spread large quantities of land to the vast countryside.
At the same time, it also triggered a wave of people returning to their hometowns. Many people who could not survive in the cities and towns could not find any other way out, so they basically chose to go back to their hometowns and wait for the day when the ban was lifted.
Danger and opportunity have always gone hand in hand, and this is no different. Under the great control that almost covers the entire Guannai Road, power and money transactions cannot be avoided, and a wealth craze has also been spawned.
Ordinary merchants only see government restrictions, making it impossible to do business and make life difficult, but for those few big businessmen, it is a rare opportunity. Smart and powerful people, when faced with rules or even bans, think of
The question is how to make profit by taking advantage of this opportunity.
There is always demand in the city, and even the government cannot stop it. With this opening, those merchants engaged in transportation trade naturally get a huge business opportunity. The competition plummets, but they can use this to open up their gluttonous mouths.
Harvest wealth to your heart's content.
A trade certificate, in the first two months before it can be transferred, can even be sold for tens of thousands of dollars. In big cities like Chang'an and Fengxiang, you can't get it without investing tens of thousands of dollars. Or the Taoist government is aware of the chaos.
After the incident, a patch was made to prohibit the transfer of trade certificates and to register real businesses under real names.
Even so, the censor of the pass realized the problem and reported the matter to the court, saying that the prohibition policy in the pass was too expanded, causing unscrupulous merchants to cause trouble, making the country rich, prices in the pass soaring, and people's livelihood uneasy. He hoped that the court would put things right in time.
At least, in the eyes of some knowledgeable people, even if the restriction policy is to be implemented, it does not need to be implemented in all areas. For example, in the southern part of Guan Nei, far away from Yulin, it is really necessary. As for Longyou and parts of Hexi, it is even more of a fun.
However, such a proposal, after some discussion in the political hall, adopted a default attitude. The truth is that, and the chaos that occurred is also a fact. It is just that everything has pros and cons. If it is really based on the local situation, it will have a negative impact on the officials in the pass.
Organization and execution capabilities will be another huge test.
A one-size-fits-all approach may cause disadvantages, but if we don't do this, new problems and chaos will arise. As of now, there are already some businessmen outside the customs who are keen to participate in this rare wealth within the customs.
Frenzy, there is no shortage of adventurous speculators in this world.
However, the censor's advice was not without any effect. At least after Prince Liu Yang learned about the situation in the pass, he was very dissatisfied with the chaos. He just had to endure it temporarily for the sake of the overall situation.
Problems in the northwest occurred frequently and were always unclear. Not only Emperor Liu, but also Liu Yang, who was known for his generosity, was extremely disappointed and could not bear it.
In response to this, he also urged the Ministry of Officials to come up with a set of further regulations for the administration of officials in the northwest. As for those merchants who took advantage of the opportunity to make profits, they should also be prepared to settle accounts after the autumn. Zhao Kuangyi very thoughtfully proposed,
Collusion between officials and businessmen, power-for-money transactions, hoarding and even tax evasion are all legitimate reasons and can be used without any rush.
There is always an upper limit for those who like to make huge profits. Those who prey on the common people are often the prey of power. When it comes to cutting leeks, the imperial court has done it not only once or twice, but has already become very good at it. In this way, the prince has been relieved a little.
The dissatisfaction in Liu Yang's heart.
No matter how extreme the policy of blocking Yulin was and what kind of sequelae it caused, it achieved immediate results in countering the rebellion.
Twenty-two years after entering Kaibao, Yulin Road seemed to have disappeared from the Han Dynasty. Except for the occasional official news released by the Xuanwei Department, there was no other content, as if it had been forgotten.
