"The chief of the mountain, Zhuge, the chief of Zhuge asks for an audience."

The staff officer who was on duty today came in to report and took a bite.

Feng Dasima glanced at the young staff officer and nodded:

"Invite him in."

"Here."

Soon, Zhuge Changshi, who was full of expectations from the Taiyuan officials, walked in with a cheerful face under the leadership of the young staff officer.

As soon as the person crossed the threshold, Zhuge Qiao couldn't wait to say:

"Brother, it's as you expected. Those powerful families are all willing to pay and provide food. They all want to keep those 50,000, labor, er, prisoners of war in Taiyuan."

"Oh? It seems that brother has already settled the matter. Let's sit down and talk about it in detail first?"

Zhuge Qiao sat down as he was told and was about to speak when he saw Feng Da Sima glance at the young staff officer who had been standing still and frown slightly:

"What are you doing standing still? You don't know how to serve tea? Do you want me to give you my seat and serve you tea?"

"Ah?" Zhuge Zhan was stunned, glanced at Zhuge Qiao subconsciously, and quickly turned around to pour tea.

Zhuge Qiao coughed, looked at Zhuge Zhan's back, and hesitated to speak.

Feng Da Sima didn't seem to notice Zhuge Qiao's expression and just urged:

"Brother, please tell me about the banquet yesterday."

Zhuge Qiao's thoughts were pulled back. Thinking of yesterday's banquet, his spirits were lifted again, and he quickly elaborated.

Finally, Zhuge Changshi could not help but say one more sentence with admiration:

"My brother is sure that everything he knows is right. He is indeed a man of foresight. Ahem..."

Feng Da Sima glanced at Brother Zhuge.

Tsk!

Brother, actually you don’t have to say the last half of the sentence.

As Feng Da Sima became the most important minister of the Han Dynasty, especially after the Shangdang battle, no one dared to mention anything about foresight or ghost king in front of Feng Da Sima for a long time.

At most, they just talk behind their backs.

Anyway, Feng couldn't hear it, so he just pretended that he didn't know.

If the elder brother in front of him is not the son of the prime minister, he must be reminded of the fear of being dominated by the ruthless Xiao Wenhe.

"Chang Shan, Chang Shi, please have some tea."

Zhuge Zhan interrupted the conversation between the two.

Feng Da Sima didn't look at him, just waved his hand, and then continued to Zhuge Qiao:

"The appetite of those people has always been a bottomless pit."

It seemed that he was not surprised by this result at all, "That's good. They took the initiative to take over the matter, which saved me a lot of effort."

In fact, Feng Dasima originally intended to stay in Taiyuan for these prisoners of war.

The large army stationed in Taiyuan is a big burden for Taiyuan.

Taiyuan, which still has influence over local powerful people, can only allow them to work better by giving them such benefits.

Zhuge Qiao also breathed a sigh of relief:

"Yes, with these 50,000 laborers, the rest of the work will be much easier."

There are many people who have received benefits but still don’t want to do anything.

But there should be no one in the Han Dynasty who has the guts to take advantage of King Feng Gui and still dare to do nothing.

"In this way, after this battle, my brother's political performance evaluation will probably be rated as the best. I would like to congratulate my brother in advance."

Zhuge Qiao waved his hands quickly and said with a wry smile:

"Brother, please don't make fun of me. This is not my ability, I just borrowed your strength."

As long as they can spend 50,000 yuan in labor, even if they are just a dog, these local village sages will work hard to provide the local chief officials with the best performance evaluation.

"Brother, don't belittle yourself. Even if you have connections, it is still a kind of ability."

"Besides, if it were someone else who brought in these 50,000 laborers, no matter how capable they were, I wouldn't necessarily give them."

"After all, not everyone can make me feel at ease. It's only gentlemen like Brother who I will tolerate."

Feng Dashima said something meaningful.

Then he glanced at Zhuge Zhan, who was standing aside.

Finally, he picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and continued:

"They have such a big appetite that 50,000 people can actually eat it in one bite. This is a solid foundation! If it were Hedong, they might be full."

"But this is fine. Eating these 50,000 people will not only shut them up, but also make them vomit some more."

As the most populous county after the war, Hedong is also the heart of the Central Plains and the place with the largest number of aristocratic families.

Now his strength is actually not as good as that of Taiyuan, so one can imagine the heavy blow he received.

Obviously, after the Hedong family was ravaged by someone named Feng, this person's claws were ready to reach out to the powerful Taiyuan people.

The honest gentleman Zhuge Changshi couldn't help but feel a sudden shock in his heart when he heard Feng said that Rao was the half-brother of Ghost King Feng:

"Brother, do you have any other plans?"

Feng Da Sima nodded and said with a smile:

"If you want to help my brother achieve political achievements, why should I spend so much money? That's 50,000 laborers!"

"As for blocking the mouths of people like Taiyuan, there is no need to put in so much effort. They don't have such a big reputation here."

Again, these powerful people in Taiyuan have not been cleaned like those in Hedong.

In addition, he was very quick to see the opportunity. As soon as Master Wang arrived, he immediately knelt down, leaving the court with no good opportunity to take action against them.

But this does not mean that Feng Dashima will let them go.

The ancestor of Feng Da Sima once concluded that the landlord class has limitations.

This limitation limits their decision-making and behavior.

For example, it relies heavily on land.

Dependence on land means that they will find ways to annex land and at the same time fix the population on the land.

Over time, these people not only controlled a large amount of land, but also controlled a large population.

Trying to take the population and land away from them makes them feel more uncomfortable than cutting their flesh.

But unfortunately, someone named Feng wanted their land and their people.

"They have no way of cashing out all the money and food. In all likelihood, they are planning to borrow money from the Reserve Bureau for turnover."

The surviving wealthy families in Taiyuan are basically in the process of transforming from the old style of power.

When it comes to land, they have a lot of it.

When it comes to food, they can also provide a lot.

But when it comes to things like gold, silver, copper, and iron that represent "cash flow," the Xinghan Society can beat them by a wide margin.

Even the most rudimentary and primitive industrial joint workshops, factories and mines are many times stronger than the small farmer economy like them.

In the past, food was an extremely hard currency.

However, a certain country bumpkin had some ulterior motive and began to vigorously develop the primary industry from the beginning of his illegal crossing.

Over the years, Dahan's grain output has been increasing year by year.

Even though we are in the middle of a war and have been fighting for many years, the price of food will definitely not cause losses to farmers.

But if you really want to say that those who still want to hoard grain and sell it at a high price will soon hang themselves on the southeast branch and go to Qingchi after tasting the iron fist of Han imperialism.

Therefore, food cannot be exchanged for so much labor.

Moreover, the imperial court sold labor, not only to replenish the national treasury, but also to distribute rewards to the soldiers at the front.

The big soldiers are working hard on the front line, not just for a few grains of food.

How much does food cost?

Even if you reward me with a house full of food, I can't bring it home!

If you give me a reward of one hundred and eighty tickets, I can take it directly into my pocket.

It’s okay if you don’t give me any money, and everyone can accept it if you divide the land. After all, it’s a family property that can be passed down to future generations.

Isn't that what you want to do when you pick up a knife and fight against a thief?

So the question comes back again:

If the rural sages want to take advantage of this labor force, they must either have sufficient cash flow or exchange it for land.
To be continued...