April of the first year of Xingping in the Han Dynasty (AD 194)
Liu Bei, who had been fighting for more than half a year, relied on gunpowder to break the city and finally entered the Chengdu Plain! Just like in history, Liu Bei sent troops to surround Chengdu and sent Jian Yong to persuade Liu Zhang to surrender. Liu Zhang also opened the gates of Chengdu and surrendered like in history! The whole Shuzhong officially fell into Liu Bei's hands.
At the same time, Tao Qian, who had been seriously ill in Xuzhou for half a year, died of illness in March of the first year of Xingping. At this time, Xuzhou was leaderless, and the noble families in Xuzhou wanted to compete for the position of Xuzhou Mu.
But at this time, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao sent 200,000 troops to attack Xuzhou in four directions. The powerful nobles in Xuzhou did not have Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to jointly attack Xuzhou. The Xuzhou army was weak and unprepared. In less than a month, Xuzhou was defeated by the combined forces of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Completely conquered, the five counties of Xuzhou were divided, and the two princes of the Han Dynasty were destroyed!
But at this time, Xu Wei had no time to care about the war in the Central Plains.
Because this year, starting from the early spring of March, there were only a few light rains in Bingzhou and Jizhou, but this was far from enough to irrigate the earth. In addition, there was insufficient rain last year, and many small rivers and streams in Bingzhou began to dry up. Such a The spring drought seriously affected the winter wheat harvest in Dagan, and also affected the spring plowing in Dagan! Now in Dagan's territory, only Youzhou and Liaodong are relatively lightly affected by the drought!
At this time, excluding the rations of the tribesmen, Dagan only has 30 million dan in food storage. Each Dagan citizen can be given one and a half dan of grain. This amount of food is only enough for the tribe to survive for two months! Therefore, this year's food is extremely important. If the harvest fails, not one or two people in Daqian will starve to death, but one or two million people!
Faced with such a critical moment of life and death, Xu Wei called on the entire Dagan tribe to find ways to save themselves. He led the entire Dagan tribe to dig ditches in the fields, build waterwheels, windmills, and try every means to save the people in the creek. , rivers, and even groundwater is pumped to fields to ensure food production as much as possible!
As for the most unlucky force in the world, it must be Yuan Shao. The severe drought last year was in Yanzhou. Yuan Shao spent all his efforts to buy grain from Jingzhou, and at the same time continued to increase the population of Yanzhou to Guanzhong. The drought in Yanzhou was barely controlled.
But I didn’t expect that Guanzhong would be the most severely affected by drought this year. Guanzhong had suffered from little rain and snow since last winter. By the early spring of this year, there was no water in Guanzhong, and Chang’an, surrounded by eight rivers, began to dry up. The longer the time goes by, the more severe the drought will be. The more serious it is, the more counties in Guanzhong will be affected by the disaster.
Officials and people in the disaster-stricken counties knelt on the parched ground and prayed to the Dragon King for rain, but the merciless scorching sun still scorched the ground every day, causing the rivers on the ground to dry up and make the land crack. The people worked hard to carry water for irrigation. My own field, but the wheat seedlings in the field are still dying of being burned by the scorching sun!
Officials in Guanzhong tried their best but could not solve the drought problem, and the people fled Guanzhong one after another, trying to find a way to survive.
In early May, hundreds of thousands of people throughout Sili fled Guanzhong and fled to Bingzhou to seek survival!
Since the drought in Guanzhong could no longer be concealed, the officials in Guanzhong could only spread the news of the drought to Luoyang City.
When news of the drought in Guanzhong reached Yuan Shao in Luoyang City, Yuan Shao almost vomited blood. This was God playing tricks on him. Yanzhou immigrated to Guanzhong due to drought.
As a result, just after the victims were resettled in Guanzhong, Guanzhong suffered a once-in-a-century drought. This was not to kill him. Last year, he could buy grain from Jingzhou, but what to do this year? Even if Liu Bei had grain, Yuan Shao's finances could not support it.
Relieve so many victims!
At this time, Yuan Shao, who was in Luoyang City, looked at the Imperial Palace of the Han Dynasty and suddenly thought of Emperor Ling. Emperor Ling was the ruler of the Han Dynasty back then, and he was just a man in white clothes. But after the Yellow Turban Uprising, the Han Dynasty suffered from constant natural disasters, and there was no good news every year.
Emperor Ling could only barely suppress the various rebellions of the Han Dynasty, but the rebellions were suppressed repeatedly. When he heard the news, he was still angry, thinking that he could improve the situation of the Han Dynasty by being in charge of the Han Dynasty and being close to the virtuous ministers and villains.
In this situation, he can do ten times, a hundred times better than Ling Emperor!
But he only took charge of the three states of the Han Dynasty. When he encountered two droughts, he actually felt that he could not survive. At this time, he really admired Emperor Ling. He actually managed to survive such natural and man-made disasters in the Han Dynasty and the treasury was empty.
The situation of the Han Dynasty could be maintained for 4-5 years. Although the Han Dynasty was turbulent at that time, the Han Dynasty could generally maintain the situation. But at this time, Yuan Shao felt that he had nothing to do and had no idea how to deal with the severe drought in Guanzhong!
His ability was actually inferior to that of the Ling Emperor whom he had always despised. This discovery made Yuan Shao a little ashamed!
Yuan Shao immediately summoned his subordinates and told them about the severe drought in Guanzhong, which was still expanding and might even affect the entire Sili!
This shocking news shocked Xu You and others speechless. Not long ago, they were still discussing ways to support Zhang Lu, hoping to use Zhang Lu to cause trouble to Liu Bei and make it difficult for him to pacify Yi Ding.
Prefecture, but did not expect that the entire Guanzhong would suffer from drought!
Tian Feng said excitedly: "We must help the victims immediately, otherwise the people will all go to Thunder God's territory. How can we resist Thunder God's attack with an empty Guanzhong!"
Xu You frowned and said: "Where did the food come from? Last year, the relief effort in Yanzhou was exhausted. If we hadn't purchased 2 million shi of food from Jingzhou, the people in Yanzhou would not have been able to reach Guanzhong, but this year there was another riot in Guanzhong
Due to the drought, not only do we have no food now, we don’t even have the money to buy food and grass!”
Yuan Shao only has three and a half states of land but has to support 300,000 troops, so Yuan Shao's financial pressure has always been very high. Now when drought occurs, they find that they have no food and money, and it is impossible to provide relief to the victims!
Guo Tu frowned and said: "Our biggest trouble now is not to rescue the victims, but to find ways to maintain the survival of the soldiers. There is a drought in Guanzhong, and the field soldiers will definitely be affected. Not only can they not provide us with food, but they also need us to feed them."
If we can't feed them and their families, I'm afraid that the army in our hands will fall apart like the Jizhou Army when it encounters Thunder Lord's men!"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Yuan Shao raised an army of 300,000 people in the three states of Sili. Naturally, it was impossible to support them like a standing army of the Han Dynasty. They simply could not afford it.
Yuan Shao used the field system. The soldiers in his hands could be allocated 100 acres of land. However, these lands still belonged to various noble families in Yuan Shao's power. The harvest of the land was divided between 30 and 70, and the soldier relied on the land in his hands to support himself and his family.
Family! Yuan Shao will not pay soldiers military salaries! When this military system first came out, Yuan Shao confidently smiled at his subordinates and said: "He can raise millions of soldiers without spending a penny!"
This means that Yuan Shao does not have a population of one million households, and he does not have that much land for soldiers. Moreover, Yuan Shao still has to find a way to build weapons and equipment, otherwise he may really use the military household system throughout his life.
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This kind of system can be maintained in normal times, but it will immediately fall apart when disaster strikes. Now there is a drought in Guanzhong. Not only can the soldiers feed their families, but they can't even feed themselves. This forces Yuan Shao to feed these armies himself.
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If each of the 300,000 troops had a monthly salary of 3 shi of food, they would need millions of shi of food a month and tens of millions of shi of food a year! This kind of expenditure is simply not something Yuan Shao's regime can afford!
Yuan Shao frowned when he heard this. He naturally knew the importance of soldiers now. At this time, he must not miss the food for soldiers, otherwise he would not have the strength to suppress the rebels and resist the attack of Lei Gong. These are all
He wants the help of 300,000 soldiers! So at this time, even if he sells iron, he still has to find a way to maintain the morale of the 300,000 army!
It's just that Yuan Shao's regime is a joint government of the nobles and nobles, and it is naturally a small government. The regimes established by Yuan Shao and the others are self-sufficient, and they collect very few taxes. It is often seen here in Yuan Shao's place that chickens and dogs will not interact with each other until old age and death.
Wubao is a small peach garden, a small world.
Yuan Shao's soldiers even have to find ways to support themselves. The advantage of this kind of regime is that the cost is small. When you are an official here in Yuan Shao, you don't get a salary, but you are given land directly. If you are a prefect, you will be given two thousand acres of land. These two thousand acres of land will be given to you.
The income from one mu of land is your salary, and the county magistrate will give you one thousand mu. In this way, Yuan Shao not only does not need to spend too much money to raise troops, but also does not need to spend too much money to maintain his political power!
But the disadvantage is that all the interests are swallowed up by the nobles, and the fiscal revenue is as small as that of the later Ming Dynasty. It can still resist in ordinary times, but if it encounters the climate of nine disasters in ten years in the last years of Chongzhen, then it can only wait.
died!
Xu You thought for a while and said: "How about we call together the heads of the families and find a way to increase taxes to raise soldiers!"
Jushou shouted: "Absolutely not, my lord, have you forgotten that Thunder Lord rose to power because the late emperor raised taxes in Jizhou? Now the drought is still spreading. If we increase taxes, we will force the people to rebel! Thunder Lord is eyeing the Central Plains.
If we continue to force the people to rebel, Lei Gong will definitely attack the Central Plains. Under such internal and external attacks, we may not only lose the Central Plains but even lose control of the Sili!"
Of course Jushou knew that Xu You wanted to get some money and food from the nobles in the Central Plains for emergency purposes, but he understood the virtues of the nobles better. The taxes raised by Yuan Shao would definitely be transferred by the nobles to the people of the Central Plains. At the same time, millions of dollars would be paid by the nobles.
The people who cannot survive will definitely revolt. If this attracts Thunder Lord, they will die without a burial place!
Feng Ji thought for a while and said: "Lei Gong is also short of food and grass in Hebei. He issued bonds for merchants to buy. Unexpectedly, Lei Gong used this method to raise money and food for the Youzhou and Jizhou wars. Are we too?
You can use this method!"
Xin Pi said helplessly: "Back then, Dong Zhuo killed all the merchants of the Han Dynasty with an accusation. Now the merchants are hiding in Hebei and dare not come to the territory of the Han Dynasty. How could the merchants buy our bonds under such circumstances?
, and the major owners of the Central Plains may not have enough money and food to buy our bonds, after all, they have to support an army of 300,000!"
Yuan Shao sneered and said: "You can't do this, you can't do that. Don't forget that Thunder Lord is still staring at us. If the soldiers are alienated from us, we will all die without a burial place, and even the wealth of the great masters in the Central Plains will be greater than that of others."
They can't tell who's more important than the thunder and who's more important at this moment!"
Yuan Shao clearly wants to ask the noble families of the Central Plains to contribute money and food to relieve the victims. There is no other way. Among Yuan Shao's forces, all the interests are occupied by the noble families. They want to kill pigs.
Unable to find a partner, the wealthy nobles in the Central Plains had no choice but to cut their flesh to save themselves, so they would only be killed by Thunder Lord. Yuan Shao did not want to be defeated by Thunder Lord like this, so he could only find a way to get the wealthy nobles to cough up some benefits!
After this meeting, Yuan Shao's counselors were sent to various places to persuade the noble families in the three states of the Central Plains to share the adversity together. At the same time, they also kept pulling out Lei Gong and threatening these noble families overtly and covertly!
They also have a share in Yuan Shao's power. If Yuan Shao's regime collapses due to this drought, there will be no one to help them resist Thunder God!
Perhaps because of Yuan Shao's great reputation, or perhaps because of the great threat of Lei Gong, Xu You and others successively obtained some money and food from the homes of various powerful noble families in the Central Plains.
But what annoyed Yuan Shao was that they only raised 1 million in grain and 30 million in cash from the noble families in the entire Central Plains. This amount of money and food was not enough to consume Yuan Shao's 300,000-strong army for a month!
When Yuan Shao saw this little money and food, he could no longer calm down his anger. He even wanted to lead his troops to rob all the Wubao in the entire Central Plains, leaving these wealthy nobles with nothing!
At this time, the drought in the first year of Xingping became more and more serious. Not only did it extend beyond Guanzhong, the entire Sili, Yanzhou, and even Yuzhou began to suffer disasters. In Guanzhong, where the drought was most severe, the price of one stone of grain exceeded
Ten thousand yuan, all the officials in Guanzhong were unable to prevent the people from fleeing to the land of Hebei. Even the officials in Guanzhong began to flee to the territory of Lei Gong in Hebei, because the salary Yuan Shao gave to the officials was the grain produced by the land. Now there is no harvest in Guanzhong. The officials
Naturally, there will be no salary and no one can survive. Naturally, no one will work for Yuan Shao!
Starting from June, the drought of the first year of Xingping broke out completely. Yuan Shao's territory was completely covered by the drought. Bingzhou and Jizhou of Daqian also suffered from severe drought. Xu Wei tried his best but could not change the situation of Hebei's summer harvest reduction this year.
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Cao Cao in Qingzhou was also affected by the drought, but his territory was close to the ocean and the drought situation was better than that in the Central Plains. However, the reduction in grain production was certain. Cao Cao just didn't know how much the grain production would be reduced this year!
Although Liu Bei in the south did not suffer from drought, he did suffer from a once-in-a-century flood. Most of the country in the south suffered from heavy rains and floods. Even Liu Bei will suffer from a food crisis this year!
It can be said that this disaster has swept away all the princes and forces in the entire Han Dynasty. Everyone is trying to find ways to save themselves. The forces that cannot bear it can only fall apart in this disaster!