Chapter 295 Patrolling Local Areas and Supporting Interest Groups
Chapter 295 Inspecting local areas and supporting interest groups
After returning from Jiangling, Shen Chen fell into work non-stop.
At the end of May, Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang went to Jiangxia.
Anlu County in the Han Dynasty, Yunmeng County and Xiaogan City in later generations. At this time, the south of Anlu County was the vast Yunmeng Ze.
The downsizing and training work of the Jingzhou Army is in full swing, and the placement of soldiers after downsizing must also be carried out simultaneously.
However, the land owned by the aristocratic families cannot be moved, so they can only cultivate new land and redistribute the land.
So Shen Chen planned to build farmland around the lake.
Tell the truth.
This work has a great impact on the environment.
Yunmengze used to have tens of thousands of square kilometers during the Han Dynasty, but shrank by more than half during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then completely disappeared during the Tang and Song Dynasties, turning into the Jianghan Plain.
It is because after the Jin Dynasty, vigorous development began in the south, and the area of Yunmengze became smaller and smaller due to the reclamation of land from lakes.
Shen Chen nodded noncommittally: "Well, let's discuss this later. I need to see Miss Ning's character."
The aristocratic families want to take advantage of them, so the army will naturally fight back.
Huang Xi replied: "We are purchasing land."
If those in power want to protect the interests of the people, they will conflict with these aristocratic families.
Therefore, Shen Chen decided to observe and see how Liu Ning's character was before making a decision.
In this way, the class conflict will change from the original conflict between the ruling class and the landlord class to the conflict between the landlord class and the army.
This is the transfer of contradictions.
Newly established counties such as Yingcheng, Qianjiang, and Xiantao each have a population of more than 50,000 to 60,000.
The location of these county towns was probably near Santai Lake in later Hubei Province, northwest of Yunmengze. Together with Anlu and Jingling counties, there were five county towns used for resettlement.
Huang Zhi's face changed slightly, and he nodded repeatedly: "Yes, we will never cultivate the fields allocated by the state capital privately, we will only sell them."
"Um."
This is an extremely huge project.
In this aspect, he had the confidence to reject Liu Bei.
The state government gave them land, and all they had to do was cultivate it themselves. They could just sell the land, pay the taxes, and continue to cultivate it. It would make them rich and the state government too, so it wasn't a bad thing.
Jiangxia's total population last year was only 30,000 households, with a population of less than 150,000. It was a vast area with a sparse population. However, with the downsizing of the army, Lei Xu, Mei Gan, Chen Lan and others from Lujiang County joined forces to invest. , the population increased fourfold overnight, and now has a population of more than 600,000.
At this moment, following the two men were Bao Chu, the magistrate of Anlu County, Dong He, the prime minister of Anlu County, Pan Jun, who was engaged in Jiangxia, and Su Fei, the governor of Jiangxia. Su Fei was currently dealing with the resettlement of the retired Jingzhou Army in Jiangxia.
Shen Chen nodded thoughtfully and waved over, signaling people to come over.
Even though rice is planted in water, it is actually afraid of flooding, so a lot of preparation work is required during construction.
In the past, Anlu County was managed by the Huang family. The county magistrate and county magistrate were also temporarily appointed this year to handle the resettlement work, so the entire relocation efficiency is still very high.
Shen Chen turned around and asked an old man in the crowd.
For example, a wealthy family woos military officers and drinks the blood of veterans together.
certainly.
Huang Zhi shook his head and said: "If we calculate it in terms of reclamation, it will cost less than ten thousand yuan per mu."
Although a solid foundation was laid during Liu Biao's period, the problem was that grain could not be stored for a long time. It had to be replaced with new grain and old grain every year. In addition to the continuous wars, the treasury had 20 million shi of grain, but now it only has more than 10 million.
Zhuge Liang nodded lightly and said: "Marriage matters do depend on the character of the other party. However, Ning Xiaoniang is not a spoiled child. She has followed her master around and suffered a lot since she was a child. She probably does not have an arrogant temper."
In the final analysis, it is because Yunmengze now covers an area of tens of thousands of square kilometers, and the Jianghan Plain in later generations has 30 to 40 million acres of arable land, which means there is a lot of openable land.
"You are not allowed to cultivate it yourself."
After hearing the words of the county magistrate and the county magistrate, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen nodded in disbelief and looked around. Thousands of acres of rice fields had been cultivated in the south, and houses and villages had been built further away.
Zhuge Liang is now the military advisor of General Zuo, and was appointed by Liu Bei as the prefect of Nanjun. Shen Chen is the general of the Five Gentlemen, in charge of the affairs of General Zuo. The former's official position is to command the troops and horses of Jingzhou, while the latter's official position is more powerful.
This is just one county in Anlu.
Everyone works together to bully the lower-level soldiers and so on.
And if the aristocratic families want to deal with the owners of these fields the same way they deal with the lower class people, then they will be severely counterattacked.
Although this will greatly increase the labor force in each village, these are infrastructures that are needed regardless of floods or droughts. They are things that need to be built, so no one objects.
But in the Han Dynasty, they were already considered older unmarried young people, and they were urged to get married every day.
Therefore, Shen Chen supported an interest community represented by retired soldiers.
Some are digging and building canals, some are cultivating new fields, some are casting embankments, and some are dragging their families to the temporary resettlement site built by the county government.
Not to mention the county princes, nine ministers, three princes and even the prime minister (Xue Xuan) among the princes-in-law in the Han Dynasty, just the name Wei Qing is enough to shock people from ancient times to the present. Among the princes-in-law in all dynasties, he is definitely ranked first.
"oh."
At Yunmeng Pavilion in Anlu Changxiang, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen inspected the rice fields accompanied by officials of all sizes in Anlu County. In the distance, countless former soldiers, now farmers, were busy.
Shen Chen asked.
Shen Chen smiled and asked: "I heard that you are purchasing land. How many acres have you purchased?"
The county magistrate Dong He explained the income and expenditure.
The group walked to several rural pavilions and planned to stay at Yunmeng Pavilion for dinner after noon. Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang were still very satisfied with the work arrangements in Anlu County.
Huang Zhi smiled bitterly and said: "The price is too high. They mostly sell it in the fields and ask for thousands of dollars. How can I dare to buy it? I just asked the price."
Shen Chen rolled his eyes and said: "When I come to Jiangxia to inspect the rice fields, sometimes I have to go to the fields to see them in person. The fields are grown in silt and the stench is overwhelming. The beautiful and beautiful Ning Xiaoniang came over and made her whole body smelly and dirty. Not beautiful."
Therefore, the state affairs in Jingzhou are handled by General Zuo's Mansion. Having the post of General Zuo's Mansion means that when Liu Bei is away, all affairs in Jingzhou will be handled by Shen Chen. Therefore, Shen Chen's official status is higher than that of Zhuge Liang. .
He will be twenty-three years old in October this year. In later generations, there are many people who have just graduated from college and are not married.
Therefore, Shen Chen did not prohibit wealthy families from purchasing properties.
Zhuge Liang said: "That's true. You are not young anymore. It's time to think about marriage. I heard that someone from a wealthy family in Jingzhou who came to propose marriage crossed the threshold. Don't you have someone you care about?"
Shen Chen said: "The state government pays great attention to this matter. Once it is discovered that there is a problem and the veterans report to the state capital, then you will not offend just a few soldiers, but the entire Jingzhou army of hundreds of thousands. Who knows? Which one is more serious, I hope you can understand."
So he placed a large number of laid-off soldiers around Yunmengze in Jiangxia County, and established Yingcheng County to the southwest of Anlu County, Qianjiang County to the east of Jingling, and Xiantao to the east of Qianjiang County. county.
Use magic to deal with magic and have a countervailing effect.
Shen Chen nodded and said, "Okay, let's go. We welcome all aristocratic families to buy land, but remember not to break the rules, otherwise even if I agree, Jingzhou's hundreds of thousands of troops will not agree."
This is the collision of interest groups.
The main reason is that the population of Anlu County is reduced to less than 3,000 due to years of war.
The young man replied: "Huang Zhi has a beautiful character."
Because the owners of these fields are veterans of Jingzhou.
By October, after nearly 400,000 people have been resettled, this number will exceed 5 million dan, which will greatly consume the government's food reserves and fiscal expenditures.
As long as the land is purchased legally and compliantly, they can use whatever ability they have, and they are welcome to purchase the land.
"What's your name?"
After a while, a modest gentleman in his twenties, wearing a long robe, walked up to the crowd, bowed his hands and said, "Meet General Shen, Military Advisor Zhuge."
While introducing the current resettlement situation, Bao Chu reported on the work: "General, military advisor. At present, the number of people who have moved to Anlu County is 11,367 households, and the number of Dingkou is 55,698. There are still more than 5,000 households and about 27,000 people who have not yet arrived, but the three newly built rural pavilions are ready and they will be able to move in soon."
"These days, I don't expect to find someone as gentle and virtuous as my grandmother. I just want to find someone who won't cause any trouble for me."
The county magistrate nodded and took note.
And it’s not just food and grass, the resettlement work also includes all kinds of iron tools, farm tools, cattle, clothing, medicinal materials, etc. The government expenditure will be a huge amount.
"If you want to sell or buy, it must be fair and just, the contract must be signed by the government, and taxes must be paid."
Huang Zhi was too busy to respond and stepped aside, not daring to say anything.
Since Liu Bei is the shepherd of Jingzhou and the general of the left, the former is nominally the governor of Jingzhou, but in terms of his official position, the general of the left is the same as Jiuqing, with a rank of 2,000 shi, which is higher than the 2,000 shi of Zhou Mu, so Liu Bei established his government in Jingzhou. Ya, the government is not opened by the state pastor, but by the general Zuo.
If you collect it, it's basically better than nothing, but the expense is quite large.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "I believe this, but some people have a hard time, and when they grow up and become rich, they forget their original intentions, and there are also some who get worse. Let's take a look first and then talk about it."
"what are they doing?"
It can be said that the entire Anlu County is now considered an empty county. The people can run away and escape. Even the Huang clan members themselves are mostly tenant farmers cultivating the clan industry. There are very few truly wealthy Huang clans.
Even if 400,000 people came all at once and each of them cultivated 20 acres of land, it would only be 8 million acres.
The resettlement work did not happen overnight. It was divided into several batches. Over the past few months, the pioneers had built fields, residential houses, and rural pavilions. The latecomers continued the work of the pioneers under the organization of local officials.
Because for these veterans, this is a business without capital.
Zhuge Liang also said: "Although droughts are rare in Jiangxia, we must prevent such things from happening. Each village can build some reservoirs, diversion canals and waterwheels just in case."
In order to prevent civil strife from happening, the wealthy family could not afford to offend Shen Chen in a short period of time, and they did not dare to touch their bottom line.
At least because the county magistrate and the county magistrate only had to devote all their energy to this aspect, and the security work was also handled by the middle and lower-level officers sent by Su Fei, they had no distractions and no problems occurred.
"Um."
Shen Chen said with a smile: "The price is not high, but you don't know that the rice fields are now made of lake bottom silt, and the soil is extremely fertile. In the future, we will use the retting method to plow the fields and sprinkle dung water and plant ash during slack periods. It’s even better than Shangtian, so it’s only sold for ten thousand yuan, so you’ve taken a big advantage.”
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Xiaoqing, you understand my lord's wishes. If he is my son-in-law, Xiaoqing and my lord will be even closer to each other."
Noticing that there was a larger team than them in front, and even an army following behind them, the team quickly stopped, and the people on the carriage also got off and stood respectfully on the roadside.
"yes."
Shen Chen said calmly: "The banks of Yunmengze Lake have been designated by the state government to appease the retired soldiers. The land can be bought and sold, but if you offend so many state soldiers, even the Jiangxia Huang family, those who are like wolves and tigers The soldiers will not buy it, and when the public is outraged, no one will be able to protect you."
"It's better to cultivate it yourself."
Because it is not just as simple as cultivating fields. The flood season begins in the south after May. Once it rains, the lake water will surge and the rice fields will be submerged.
The old man's name was Huang Xi, Huang Wan's cousin. He nodded and said, "Yes."
The bad news is that this year's maintenance and land reclamation work has just begun. Currently, there are very few fields that can be actually cultivated. Most soldiers and their families require government assistance, which will cause certain pressure on the finances.
Although the status of the later princess consorts was not good and they had little real power, they certainly did not include the consorts of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, marrying a princess in the Han Dynasty did not affect your ability to be an official, and it was even easier for you to be reused because of your consort.
The county magistrate and the county magistrate nodded repeatedly.
Ordinary people consume about 2 dan per person per month, and more than 50,000 people consume about 100,000 dan per month.
They will form a huge interest group to fight against the wealthy families who covet their land.
The two people were talking quietly in low voices.
Shen Chen asked again.
There will even be a large amount of land that is idle and cannot be cultivated, and aristocratic families come to buy it. As long as the transaction is fair, it can not only generate tax revenue, but also increase people's income, killing two birds with one stone.
"Juyan Han Slips" records that a soldier consumes about 3.3 shi of food per month.
However, the prerequisite for protecting the environment is that people can afford to eat and have enough to eat and drink before environmental protection.
So to a certain extent, Jingzhou will suddenly gain an additional four to five million acres of farmland due to this lake reclamation campaign.
Huang Zhi was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he could only say: "The villain will never dare to disobey."
The rice seedlings planted almost in March are now lush and green and will be ready for harvest in a month or two.
Shen Chen warned: "The rice fields have other uses. You can raise some crucian carp, carp, and eels in the fields to enrich aquatic products. You can also catch some frogs and place them in the fields. The frogs catch insects, which is beneficial and harmless to the fields."
The good news is that because the silt at the bottom of the lake is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the yield of rice grown around the lake can be very high using retting technology.
But they are soldiers, and fighting consumes a lot of food.
At the end, Zhuge Liang even had the heart to tease Shen Chen: "Xiaoqing, before my lord left, I asked you to take good care of Ning Xiaoniang. Now you leave her in Xiangyang and come to Jiangxia alone. If my lord finds out, I'm afraid... I won’t be too happy.”
The only problem is that princesses are often arrogant because they come from the royal family. For example, Princess Liu Shou of Liyi, Princess Liu Huang of Huyang, Princess Liu Jiande of Yincheng, and later Princess Cao of Qinghe of Cao Wei are all bad.
This means that before the late rice matures in October, the combined monthly grain consumption of all counties reaches more than 600,000 dan. From February to now, millions of dan have been consumed.
However, the princess has a noble status and you can't afford to offend her. She often becomes the consort and serves as a high-ranking official in the court. She is easily offended when she returns home.
"Ha ha ha ha."
Because being a prince-in-law during the Han Dynasty was actually not a bad thing.
If there is a full-scale conflict, serious civil strife will occur in Jingzhou, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
Fortunately, a solid foundation was laid during Liu Biao's period. Although the civil strife continued, the grain and grass in Xiangyang's treasury were still piled up like mountains, and old grain and new grain were constantly replaced, which was just used for resettlement work.
This method is definitely effective in the early stage but will be destructive in the later stage.
Just as it is not illegal to eat giant pandas under special conditions, talking about protecting the environment if you can't even afford food is undoubtedly a sign of being crazy.
Shen Chen is not disgusted with being the consort.
"clear."
Even during the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was a man like Du Yu who was able to enter both the Confucian Temple and the Martial Arts Temple and married Sima Yi's daughter, Princess Gaolu.
The original aristocratic families oppressed the lower class people and plundered the land and population of the lower class people to supplement themselves. The lower class people could not unite to form a force, so they could only be squeezed by the aristocratic families.
"In addition, all the grain and grass allocated by the state government have been distributed to the people. Now the government treasury is piled up. The monthly allocation of grain, grass and grain has reached 104,394 dan, and salt has reached 9,391 dan. It is expected that by October this year, after the late rice matures, there will be no need to allocate grain and grass."
Of these three thousand people, less than half were from the Huang family in Jiangxia, and more than two-thirds were tenants of the Huang family.
What's more, according to historical records, people at that time simply couldn't cultivate that much land. Ten acres per person was considered the limit.
A few people walked around and took a look. Since Anlu was the earliest resettlement site, judging from the current situation, the resettlement work was relatively smooth.
Shen Chen responded casually.
Even Liu Biao had to unite with the Cai Kuai family to form a dominant force.
"Is this your Huang family's motorcade?"
Therefore, Shen Chen believes that development first, then governance, is a necessary condition.
For example, digging drainage channels, building flood control dams, building high slopes, etc.
The eight top aristocratic families in Jingzhou, as well as countless other large and small aristocratic families, have huge hidden power. A full-scale conflict with them would be extremely detrimental to the rule of Liu Bei Group.
"Yes yes yes."
Moreover, one acre in the Han Dynasty was equivalent to 0.7 acres in later generations, which means that 30 to 40 million acres of land could be developed in the Jianghan Plain in later generations, and 50 million acres could be developed in the Han Dynasty.
Moreover, only two-thirds of the resettlement work has been completed, and the remaining one-third of the population is being relocated one after another.
A few carriages came from the fields far ahead. There were guards protecting the carriages. A group of more than a hundred people came towards their team.
There are nearly 100,000 retired soldiers, plus their families, and a population of about 300,000 to 400,000. Based on these five counties, a huge grain production base will be established.
Even if the aristocratic families wanted to have civil strife, they could not find a suitable reason and could not unite to fight against Liu Bei.
But there will be no after.
After Huang left, Shen Chen's face instantly darkened.
After a while, when Liu Bei gets Yizhou, Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang go to Yizhou to preside over internal affairs, and Fazheng comes to Jingzhou to carry out massacres, to see how many aristocratic families can resist this wave.
Yesterday I took a day off and forgot to write a request for leave. I went to the hospital for a lung CT and gastroscopy. I am currently suffering from acute bronchitis, chronic gastritis, and reflux esophagitis. I bought more than 2,000 medicines alone and may take seven or eight kinds a day. Medicine, I haven’t reached 30 years old yet, and I have lived a life of 60 years old. I can’t survive this life. I really need to exercise well in the future and get up and run every morning, otherwise I am afraid that I will not live to be 50.