In the middle of February of the sixth year of Taixing.
General Fei Qian of the Hussars arrived at Yangcheng in Yuzhou with the front line of the Xianlu troops who had won a great victory over the Western Qiang.
Accompanying him were not only a large number of Western Qiang prisoners of war, captured Qiang flags and weapons, but also some exotic artifacts brought from the Western Regions, as well as cloth, paper, green silk, etc. that Fei Qian presented to the emperor Liu Xie...
…
The minister ordered Xun Yu to send personnel to Yangcheng to receive him, and he entered the Chongde Hall to pay homage to the emperor Liu Xie.
"Your Majesty's warning..." Xun Yu said with a serious look on his face and a steady voice, "Spring plowing is busy now, and officials of all prefectures and counties, big and small, are promoting farming and mulberry planting, so we must not relax... Therefore, what the Hussars General said about the Western Qiang offering captives should be taken seriously."
It can be extended..."
Is this a valid reason?
The reason is valid.
Is there anything wrong with this reason?
No problem either.
In the spring season, these months are obviously the busiest time for farming. For the Han Dynasty, which focuses on farming, and areas with more flat land and densely populated areas like Yuzhou and Jizhou, can they do a good job at the moment?
The farming matters will almost determine the income in the next year, and will also affect the subsequent strategic deployment and many other complicated matters.
But the question is, does the celebration require all farmers in Yuzhou to put down their hoes?
Obviously not needed.
At most, farmers from around Xu County came to watch the fun. It may even be that because of the heavy farm work at home, these farmers would not come to join in the fun at all. Most of the people watching the ceremony were children of the gentry.
So do the children of the gentry need to farm?
There may be some who do the farming themselves, but there must also be those who don’t touch the spring water with their fingers.
"Delay?" Liu Xie did not directly rebuke or express any opinions, but asked rhetorically, "It took more than thirty years and 800 million yuan to be pacified during the time of the late emperor... Now it takes a long time for the Hussars to pacify the Jingxi Qiang."
It's quite short... Xun Aiqing, I don't know... is there anything strange in it?"
Xun Yu raised his head and glanced at Liu Xie quickly.
When the emperor grows up, he will ask questions to dig holes.
Xun Yu was obviously not stupid, "Your Majesty... I have not been to the Xiqiang battle in person, so I don't know whether it is true or not. If your Majesty is suspicious, you can ask the hussar to report the incident in detail..."
"Haha..." Liu Xie smiled slightly, "The great victory of the Western Qiang and the restoration of the Western Regions are the immortal achievements of the Han Dynasty, and a grand ceremony should be held to celebrate them... Regardless of other things, he died fighting for the Western Qiang.
The officers and men...should also have some comfort...Xun Aiqing, is it possible that the court has no money to spend?"
This is obviously another trap.
Xun Yu lowered his head and said: "Now the world is not at peace, disasters occur frequently in various places, and local counties and counties do not pay taxes... The imperial government's finances are indeed tight... Not to mention the chaos in Jiangdong and the erosion of Xuzhou, so we should be prepared and apply it once
It's a bit hard to avoid..."
Liu Xie did not pay attention to the topic of specific counties not paying taxes, but brought it back to the celebration, "Now that the victory of Xiqiang is a great opportunity to promote the power of the Han Dynasty! If the border thieves know that the west is peaceful, what will they have the courage to do?"
Competing with the Han Dynasty? If we don't hold a celebration, firstly, the court will think it is not true, and secondly, the border thieves will become more and more rampant, which will definitely consume more money and food, and it will take a long time to suppress the rebellion... Xun Aiqing, the importance of this, I love you smartly, you should know it."
Xun Yu's eyes moved slightly.
This question is very interesting...
"If we take this opportunity to declare to the world that the Han Dynasty is here, and the four directions are pacified, the thieves will definitely be frightened, and the court will be able to breathe. There is no need to conquer from all sides, and the people will be able to have children..." Liu Xie said slowly, "There is a big army.
The general is stationed in Qingxu, and the Jiangdong thieves dare not move rashly... The Western Qiang captives ceremony must be held! Not only must it be held, but it must be grand! Only in this way can the majesty of the Han Dynasty be demonstrated and the rebellion be deterred! If this celebration can shake his mind, even if it is
Even if you still resist, you can still fight and take it. It can be said that you get twice the result with half the effort!"
Xun Yu lowered his head and sighed slightly, "Your Majesty...the imperial court is in a financial straits and is no longer able to organize such a celebration..."
"Huh? The Han Dynasty...is it really that poor?" Liu Xie's face flashed with a trace of anger, "Although I live in the palace, I also know that the supply of 50,000 bottles of immortal wine in the city exceeds the demand! Nowadays, the supply exceeds the demand.
Ai Qing then said that there is no money to hold a celebration?!』
How dare you use lack of money as an excuse!
This made it difficult for Liu Xie to control the anger in his heart, which started to rise.
There have been several times before that Liu Xie wanted to do something, and then a large number of ministers tried to persuade him, saying that the country was in dire straits, the country was in turmoil, the people were in dire straits, and the people had no food to eat. How could you have the nerve to spend money?
This money, that money, you have to spend, you are the emperor of Han Dynasty, how can you ignore the life and death of the people, etc.
At first, Liu Xie thought he was really in such embarrassment.
After all, Liu Xie had gone through a period of hard times before. He knew that hard times were hard to bear, and he also understood what it was like when the embarrassment reached the extreme. Therefore, every time the minister said this, Liu Xie felt that he was going too far.
Yes? The requirements are too high? How about saving a little more?
But after several times in a row, Liu Xie naturally felt that something was wrong.
During the New Year, didn't Liu Xie send Xiao Huangmen out of the palace to buy some supplies and give them to everyone in the palace? So Liu Xie naturally took this opportunity to learn about the current situation in Xu County.
some situations.
It’s amazing, I really dare to say it!
Liu Xie's hair was blown, and new and old hatreds surged up in his heart.
"..." Xun Yu lowered his head slightly, "Your Majesty... may have misunderstood... This year's plan has many shortcomings..."
"'Lack'? What does this mean?" Liu Xie's cheeks turned red and he asked loudly, "Last year, there were many disasters. Didn't last year's autumn harvest bring a lot of harvest? How can you talk about lack?"
?』
Although Liu Xie did not manage matters related to the plan, at the end of the year, the memorials of Jiu Qing, Taichang, and Da Sinong all mentioned some related matters more or less, although they were not
There are no specific values involved, and there will be no specific values, but at least they all mention the same thing, that is, last year's harvest was generally good, and it should be considered a bumper year.
Since the weather can be considered smooth everywhere, how come there is a "lack" in the wealth harvest?
In this year of disaster, there was a financial shortage, but now that there is a good harvest, it is also "short". You really can't think too much about this kind of thing. If you think about it too much, it will inevitably make people feel a little shuddering.
Xun Yu lowered his head and said, "Since your Majesty moved eastward, the government has been peaceful and peaceful. The generals have conquered the east and west, and fought in the south and north. They have also been able to expand the territory and control the seven states. The wealth of each place has also increased year by year."
A slight increase, good news frequently, the Han Dynasty was prosperous in the past..."
Liu Xie reached out and patted the table, interrupting Xun Yu's words, "I asked Aiqing, what exactly is the "lack"?!"
"Your Majesty..." Xun Yu still lowered his head, "In a disaster year... Mr. Gu, but in this good year, the grain is cheap..."
"Grain...grain is cheap?" Liu Xie tilted his head with an incredulous expression, "This...the price of grain is low, isn't it a good thing?"
Liu Xie stared at Xun Yu in disbelief, "Xun Aiqing, back then Dong thieves burned Luoyang, and there was no human habitation for hundreds of miles. I and the officials huddled under the ruins, looking for food in the wilderness and forests, and a bushel of grain was worth a thousand coins."
So there is still a price but no market! As a last resort, the three ministers and the nine ministers all collected firewood in the wild, and ate it in stone cauldrons, eating wild vegetable roots!"
"Since moving to Xu County, I have made repeated orders to reduce or reduce land taxes, provide relief to the victims, open canals and reclaim land, encourage mulberry farming, and personally help plows... There are also generals who have set up farm stations and recruited refugees to work in them... and so on.
"In order not to repeat the old mistakes again, and to save Jiuqing from the suffering of eating! And also to save me...I...the humiliation of the cow bones..." Liu Xie gritted his teeth and said, "Now...now it is a good harvest. On the contrary,
What is "deficient"? Where is it lacking? And how is it lacking? Xun Aiqing, you might as well explain it in detail!"
Since Xun Yu mentioned the reason for "lack", he naturally thought about how to answer, and said calmly: "Your Majesty does not know something... The price of grain is too low, which is also hurting farmers..."
』
Xun Yu sighed slightly, "Wei Chen came to the palace to see His Majesty for this reason..."
In Liu Xie's view, whether it was what Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty told him before, or what these ministers talked about every day, they all said that the foundation of this dynasty to build a strong country is farming!
Farming is everything!
Farming above all else!
If the farmers are seriously injured, the country will be in chaos.
Therefore, as soon as he heard that the low price of grain had seriously harmed farmers, Liu Xie's expression immediately became extremely solemn.
Xun Yu raised his head slightly, looked at Liu Xie, then lowered his head again, and explained softly. "In the past, Duke Chao once said, "In a family of five farmers, there are no less than two servants, and the number of people who can cultivate no more than a hundred acres.
The harvest from a hundred acres is only a hundred stones... "Nowadays, we use the method of water conservancy to irrigate the fields. Once the canals are irrigated, the salt brine is used to moisten it, and the silt is filled and fertilizer is added. Therefore, the high fields can be harvested five times and the lower fields ten times..."
According to the understanding of most people in the Han Dynasty, generally speaking, the harvest from one acre of land is about two to three shi. The average number of people in a household is about five. If one cultivates 100 acres of land, excluding other additional income, the annual harvest is about
Harvesting grain costs two to three hundred dan.
With the new composting and irrigation methods, production can be increased, especially the fields that originally suffered from poor harvests due to lack of water can achieve high yields, from two to three stones to nine to ten stones, which is what Xun Yu said later.
High fields are five times as high as lower fields are ten times as high. Of course, Xun Yu’s high fields are calculated as two stones and lower fields are calculated as one stone.
Among these harvests, due to the lack of fat in the food system of the Han Dynasty, carbohydrates became the most important consumables, causing everyone to eat a lot, especially military commanders...
Therefore, farmers not only have to feed their own families, but also use these crops to pay farm rent and calculate taxes, and hire people to do labor. There are many types of labor in various counties and counties, and some farmers are short of manpower. In order not to
If you don't farm by mistake, you have to hire people to do the work for you at a certain price per person.
As a result, farmers will have little or even no surplus left in their annual harvest.
Then, the more critical point comes. Except for the crops in the fields, all other commodities, including but not limited to seeds, farm animals, farm tools, clothes, salt and iron, etc., belong to the manor owner, or
They are controlled by other nobles and local powerful people, and these projects sometimes cannot be saved even by farmers and women.
In addition, Cao Cao has been fighting in the past few years...
Cattle, horses, ironware, cloth, salt and other supplies are all in short supply, so they are naturally very expensive. And this kind of expensiveness often means that when the wind comes, it rains, and when it rains, it becomes a knife! If there is a little wind and rain, these things will become a knife.
The knife stabs the peasant woman! This is what the nobles and local powerful have been clamoring for. They don’t need the imperial court to guide the economy and the market needs to be fully opened!
For an ordinary farmer and woman, they only have some excess grain to exchange for other materials when Zhuanghe is harvested, and the extremely unreasonable price between Zhuanghe and other materials often makes
Farmers had to sell grains at low prices and buy seeds, farm tools and other necessities at high prices, resulting in huge losses.
Xun Yu stopped at this point.
"Therefore, the current price of grain is hurting the farmers..." Xun Yu said slowly, "I know that Your Majesty sympathizes with the people and is worried about the people, so he ordered Changping, Liangping and Chang to fix three warehouses at a price slightly higher than the market price.
, buy the grain and grass from the people and protect their profits... Therefore, there really is not much money in the public treasury..."
"This..." Liu Xie was stunned for a moment, then swallowed, not knowing what he should say.
In the process of Xun Yu's explanation, it seems that this is indeed the truth, and there seems to be nothing wrong with what Xun Yu did.
But there was always something wrong in Liu Xie's heart...
But what exactly is wrong?
Naturally, it was the things that Xun Yu hid and did not tell about. These hidden things were not that Xun Yu did not know, but that he could not tell them.
During the years of disaster, relief materials were all in the hands of the nobles and powerful men, and the tax reductions and exemptions would not go to the farmers. Although the price of grains was high, there was not much grain harvest in the fields.
He has poor scissors and can harvest a large amount of farmers' flesh and blood...
Farmers' income comes from the millet obtained from cultivating the land. The price of millet is low, so their income is low, and they are very poor. Although they will not starve to death, they are very poor, cannot make ends meet, and cannot withstand any blow. But people eat whole grains,
How can anyone not get sick? When people live in this world, whether they live or die, or come and go, they all need money.
What's even more frightening is that the powerful nobles still preach about "filial piety" every day!
This is not ordinary filial piety, but "filial piety" carried to the extreme!
After the death of your parents, you have to stay at the graveside for three years to observe filial piety! And you have to give them a grand burial. You don't invite people from all over the country to have a meal, and you don't sing a great show for five days and ten days, which is unfilial!
If you fail to do one thing, you are unfilial, and you will be criticized by these guys who stand on top, and attract a large group of malicious idlers and innocent idlers to enjoy the lowly and free "moral feast"!
As long as you insult these "unfilial" people, those who cannot give their parents a generous burial, and those who cannot observe filial piety and not work for three years, you can gain spiritual nobility and physical pleasure!
What should I do if I really have no money?
The smiling squire stood up and patted his thick fleshy chest, "A filial son! You did the right thing! Bury with a generous burial! How can you live up to your ancestors without a generous burial? How can you live up to your ancestors! It doesn't matter if you don't have money! I'll lend you money."
! See if you want to mortgage your land to me, or mortgage your wife and daughter to me, it doesn’t matter! You make the decision! I don’t mind it! 』
A group of spectators did not mind the big deal and shouted loudly, "filial son! filial son! Take them all! Take them all!"
It's like seeing poor people selling their daughters in Lao She's teahouse. The other people drinking tea have smiles on their faces. After all, they are selling other people's wives and children. I can still live well. Not only do I not have to mortgage my land and wife,
It’s amazing that you can also eat meat as a meal, it’s beautiful!
The government is aggressive and tyrannical, and some officials even know and break the law, take bribes and bend the law, and impose excessive taxes. They also require farmers to be conscientious and respect filial piety. As a result, farmers have no way to survive. Some people have to borrow money at high interest rates and have to sell their sons and daughters.
, had to sell land and houses at low prices to fulfill the "conscience" and "filial piety" of these superior men!
Jiaohua County!
Xiaoti County!
Educate all the people, govern Damei County, and have outstanding political achievements!
These are only on the surface, but the deep-seated land annexation and population embezzlement are the usual methods of the local gentry. They are also taboo and cannot be talked about or touched.
Farmers want to survive, eat, and support their parents, wives, and children. When the land is sold, there is only one way, which is to rely on the buyers of the land, who are the rich and powerful families in various places.
The Han Dynasty once stated that it prohibited the sale of land, but in fact the rich and powerful families had inextricable connections with local officials. If farmers did not understand the law and officials did not report it, what was the use of the court's clear laws?
Even if it is found, the farmer dare not admit it in order to survive. What can the pursuer do?
In the past, because Boss Cao needed the Yuzhou nobles to provide a large amount of material, financial and manpower to conquer the world, he gave many excellent preferential policies, such as lower taxes, more business preferential treatment, full liberalization of salt and iron operations, etc.
After the large gentry families in Yuzhou experienced initial difficulties, they quickly became wealthy...
This is of course the reason why a jar of Drunk Immortal Wine worth fifty thousand dollars can still sell out of stock.
Of course, Xun Yu couldn't say anything about this. After all, everyone knew who owned the largest spice importing house in Yuzhou and Jizhou.
Cao Cao's campaigns in all directions also brought the population and wealth from all directions, which were brought together in the land of Yuzhou, creating unprecedented prosperity. These people who became rich during the war included princes, nobles, aristocratic families, and bureaucrats.
, in addition to businessmen and wealthy people, there are also military elites.
But there are only no farmers and women in Yuzhou.
Today, under Cao Cao's rule, officials, scholars, merchants, and the "trinity" abound, and some of them have far more power than the court imagined.
The richer these people are, the less money the central court will have. Therefore, what Xun Yu said about the lack of taxes and the lack of money in the public treasury is not an empty lie, it is true that there is no money.
"Xun Aiqing..." Liu Xie frowned and pondered for a long time before asking, "In that case, how about using the hussar method to solve the current situation?"
Xun Yu was stunned for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "This is the reason why I have come to see your Majesty... The general is now in Qingxu, quelling the rebellion, and it will be settled soon... Your Majesty, you can wait for a while,
Then there will be good news... We will hold a celebration then, especially not too late..."
Liu Xie stared at Xun Yu, pondered for a long time, and finally nodded slowly, "I will love you..."
Not dependent?
So what if I don’t comply?
If you have no money, no one, and no authority, what can you do?
