"May the common people of Han Dynasty get rid of the air-conditioning and just move up. Don't listen to the words of those who give up on themselves. Those who can do things do things and those who can make a sound. If you have a light, you can send a heat. Just like a firefly, you can also make a little noise in the dark. Light, don’t wait for the torch, if there is no torch, I will be the torch!”
At the beginning of the second year of Zhang Wu's reign, when this sentence was placed on the political desks of the three provinces and on the desks of Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, they were all shocked by the spirit and core of it.
Liu Bei even sighed and said that this sentence should be seen by everyone in the world.
So not long after Shen Chen's fleet left Xiangyang and headed south, the manuscript for the official residence newspaper had already appeared on the government affairs desks of the three provinces. After it was reviewed and approved, it was conveyed to various yamen and announced to the world.
The form of dibao appeared in the Han Dynasty, but the official name was only started in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
During the Han Dynasty, all states and counties had offices in Luoyang, the capital city. This residence was called "di" and had permanent representatives. Not only states and counties, but also between counties and counties. Taishi Ci once served as an official in this field , called "Zou Cao Li".
The task of the Cao officials is to liaise between the emperor and the county chiefs, and regularly write the emperor's edicts, edicts, ministers' memorials and other official documents as well as relevant political information such as palace events on bamboo slips or silk. Then the messengers rode fast horses and sent them to the governors of various counties through the post roads established by the Qin Dynasty.
Therefore, when the Yellow Turbans revolted, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty immediately announced to the world that each county could recruit soldiers and horses on its own, so many local governors recruited soldiers to fight against the Yellow Turbans. It was at that time that Liu Bei recruited righteous soldiers according to the imperial edict. As a soldier, he succeeded in defeating the Yellow Turban and became a county captain.
After the Tang Dynasty, due to the emergence of paper and printing technology, Di Bao, which was only passed back and forth under special circumstances, further evolved and became a news copy specially used by the court to convey documents and political information about government affairs.
Now that printing and paper have been around for more than ten years, the form of the imperial newspaper has naturally begun to change. Every day, the government affairs of the court will be passed on to the states and counties, and placed at the gates of the state, county, county and city gates. , dispatch specialized people to explain to the people, and convey to the people the latest news and what the court wants to express.
The content of Shen Chen’s lectures to students in Huangmen County is also delivered in this form every day. Although due to space limitations, it cannot be published in full and only the essence can be excerpted, but it is enough for the people in the countryside. Feeling his spiritual core is inspiring.
For a time, Shen Chen, who originally created his own Shenxue, became a great Confucian of the world. Because of his more advanced thoughts and thought-provoking spirit, people in the south gradually sang that he was the second saint after Confucius.
Naturally Shen Chen didn't know about these things yet, he was still on the way to Xichuan.
It was already the second year of Zhangwu, and the development of the south was in full swing.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's Rebellion and the subsequent melee between princes brought a huge demographic dividend to the south.
Although it has not yet reached the point where the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty made the southern population and economy surpass that of the north, it has already caught up with the pace of the north.
The current population of the Han Dynasty may be around 30 million to 40 million. After Cao Pi came to power, he conducted a national census. The registered population was 800,000 households, about 5.37 million people, which was 660,000 households in history. The population of 4.47 million increased by 900,000.
This is because Shen Chen promoted Zhang Zhongjing’s "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" during several major nationwide plagues, widely distributed medicinal materials, and proposed a complete epidemic prevention system, which spread to the north, so that the northern plague did not have such a big impact in history. .
But that's the limit. The national census during the Yongshou period was still 60 million. It was reduced by half in just a few decades. It was not just the plague, but also natural disasters, famine, and war. These are things that cannot be changed by human power.
Therefore, coupled with Cao Wei's extremely serious hermitage problem, Cao Wei's total population should be between 16 million and 18 million, which is only 3,500 more than the 13 million that historians speculated in history. Thousands of people.
The main reason is that Shen Chen's influence not only changed the plague, but also prevented the Battle of Chibi from happening.
The Battle of Chibi had a great impact on Cao Cao. Not only did he lose a lot of troops, but it also caused a very serious plague. After the soldiers returned to the north, the plague became rampant.
Then from the Battle of Chibi in the 13th year of Jian'an to the time of Cao Cao's death, a large-scale plague broke out across the country, killing many, many people.
Shen Chen prevented the Battle of Chibi from breaking out, which naturally indirectly affected the occurrence and subsequent management of the plague.
It can be said that just because of this, he has saved countless lives.
The south benefited from the Liu Bei group's suppression of aristocratic families and the liberation of the population, so the registered population was much larger than that of Cao Wei, with 1.35 million households and a population of about 9.6 million.
There must be more than that.
Because the family was only partially liquidated, most of the population and land were handed over, and part of it was retained.
In addition, the Jiangdong family has not yet taken any measures against them.
If calculated in full, the total population of the South should be more than 13 million.
This is much more than the population of Ji Han, 940,000, and the population of Sun Wu, 2.3 million, in history. On paper, it is even stronger than the population of Cao Wei.
And this does not include ethnic minorities.
Jiaozhou, Yangzhou, Yizhou, Jingzhou and Liangzhou have a large number of Hu, Man, Yi, Qiang, Yue, Di, Shi, Ba, Li, Min, Jiu and other minority ethnic groups, who are the ancestors of fifty-five ethnic groups in later generations.
Therefore, if only the Han people are counted, the current national population is around 30 million. But counting the ethnic minorities who submitted to the Han and Wei dynasties, the total population is more than 40 million.
Today, there is such a large population in the south, thanks to Shen Chen.
During Liu Biao's time, the total population of Jingzhou was more than six million. After the Battle of Chibi, Jingzhou was divided among the three families of Cao, Liu and Sun, and the population declined significantly.
But now Liu Bei, with the help of Shen Chen, has inherited the complete Jingzhou. The population loss is not as serious as in history. It is only due to civil strife in Jingzhou, Sun Quan's invasion, earthquakes and floods and other disasters that have caused a certain degree of losses.
People in Bashu and Hanzhong did not lose a large number of household registrations due to the war and Cao Cao's migration. Only Yangzhou's original population of more than 4 million people declined significantly due to the plague and Sun Quan's military campaign.
Therefore, the population in the south was largely preserved when Cao Wei did not invade on a large scale and Liu Bei almost took over Jingzhou and Yizhou in a semi-peaceful manner.
To a certain extent, the significance of Shen Chen's existence has brought huge positive changes to the troubled times of the late Han Dynasty.
It prevented the Battle of Chibi from existing, prevented Jingzhou from being carved up by three families, and prevented a large-scale plague from breaking out. The scale of the war was only larger than the Battle of Jingzhou and the Battle of Guanzhong. Other wars were either small in scale or ended. It happened quickly and it did not cause such serious consequences as in history.
The result is that currently, with the support of the Liu Bei Group in the south, which has a large registered population, the government's finances are still relatively loose. The overall political environment is mainly about recuperation, light corvee, tax reduction, cultivation with the people, and accumulation of strength.
The army only maintains three corps from Hanzhong to Liangzhou, Nanyang and Jiangdong, with a total strength of about 300,000.
Moreover, most of the troops are concentrated in the Nanyang Basin and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Delta. They are both plain areas, and people can grow food and grass on the spot to supplement them. Therefore, the overall consumption is less and the country's foundation will not be shaken.
The political affairs desks of the three provinces headed by Zhuge Liang handle national affairs, and power has been significantly returned to the central government. The power of local officials has been restricted. The management of people's livelihood has become the current top priority of the Liu Bei Group. Under such circumstances, for a time, politics was clear and officialdom was clean. , the people are active.
Even the aristocratic families gradually began to reduce their hostility towards Liu Bei's group due to the emergence of the imperial examination system, and actively participated in the imperial examination and became officials. Although the power, population, and land in their hands were reduced, at least they had a head to head for, and they would not be like before. Resist that.
In the midst of this heated governance, Shen Chen arrived in Hanzhong in the second year of Zhangwu, that is, in May 222 AD.
This is actually Shen Chen's first visit to the Hanzhong Basin. He entered Danqushui from the Yangtze River, then went north, following the mountains along Micang Road, all the way to the Hanzhong Basin. The steep mountains and towering mountains, All of them amazed him.
People who have not gone deep into this mountain may not understand what it means to have mountains that stretch for hundreds of miles. Roads can almost only be dug on the mountain walls, with the river below. If you are not careful, your horse may be destroyed and people may be killed.
The scariest thing is that the road is extremely narrow and can only accommodate two people at most. Therefore, the army can only walk in a long queue on the road, with a deep valley below their feet.
If the plank road suddenly breaks, the entire army will be completely wiped out, which is very scary.
But it is said that Micang Road is easy to walk. There are still some long and narrow low-lying areas on both sides of Longshui River. For example, in Nanjiang County in later generations, there were rural pavilions at this time, and there was only a small section of the plank road that needed to be walked.
The Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road, and Ziwu Road in the north are even more exaggerated. Most places have to walk on plank roads and cliffs, which is scary.
It was an exaggeration for Shen Chen to just take Micang Road, which is the easier road in Bashu. What if he took Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road, Ziwu Road and Bashu Road (Lizhi Road)? A feeling?
I'm afraid it will be like walking on the Huashan Plank Road, where you have to climb from the cliff.
That's too scary.
I really don’t know that Zhuge Liang in history relied on such a road to transport grain, and then fought against Cao Wei, and even won. What an experience it was like.
Shen Chen couldn't help but sigh.
It is true that my brother is sitting in Xiangyang and governing the country as the prime minister. If he leads Nanyang's elite soldiers and horses north to fight against Cao Wei's main force, he may be able to defeat Wei alone, and there is no need to take action himself.
After walking in the mountains for half a month, we finally emerged from Micang Road and entered the Hanzhong Basin.
After coming out of Xigou, I suddenly felt enlightened, as if I had been buried underground for a long time and was suddenly dug out of the ground. When I finally saw the sky, I felt that the world was vast.
Small rivers flowed on the endless plains, and farmers worked in the fields. The technology of retting had been spread to Hanzhong, and they carried dung water to irrigate the rice seedlings.
As the upper reaches of the Han River, Hanzhong is still very rich in water resources. In addition to several large rivers such as Mianshui, Baoshui, and Xunshui, there are countless large and small rivers flowing from the Qinling Mountains and Mishan, nourishing this area. land.
It can be said that the only drawback of the Hanzhong Basin is that it is too small. The basin area is 5,000 square kilometers, the plain area is 1,400 square kilometers, only one-seventh of the Nanyang Basin, and the cultivated land area is small.
Therefore, the cultivated land area of Nanyang Basin in later generations could reach more than 10 million acres, and it was also a famous grain-producing area in the Han Dynasty, but the Hanzhong Basin was much worse.
At present, the four counties of Nanzheng, Baozhong, Chenggu, and Mianyang combined have only over one million acres of cultivated land. Using retting technology to increase production, the yield per mu is three to four stones per quarter. Counting two crops per year, the annual output is The grain is less than ten million shi.
When Shen Chen entered Xigou, there was already a group of people waiting at the bottom of the hillside.
The leader is none other than Huang Zhong.
Historically, the old man died of illness in the 25th year of Jian'an, but now he is in good spirits and has been appointed as a former general. He is quite honest.
The reason is not only that Shen Chen valued doctors, established a medical clinic, invited Zhang Zhongjing to open a clinic as a disciple of a great doctor, and senior generals had to undergo pulse examinations by doctors every month, but more importantly, he was in good spirits.
There is also a young man beside the old man, that man is Huang Cheng, who is now adopted as Huang Zhong's son.
Huang Zhong was born in the Huang family in Nanyang. Historically, Nanyang was occupied by Cao Wei. The Huang family was in Cao Wei's territory and may even have been moved to Yingchuan by Cao Cao, so Huang Zhong could not find his own clan.
But now that the Nanyang Basin has not been lost, Liu Bei sent people to find Huang Zhong's clan, and finally found a cousin of Huang Zhong, selected a descendant with relatively good moral character from his descendants, and adopted him to Huang Zhong , let him have children to continue his incense.
Therefore, Huang Zhong was very happy and maintained a healthy body.
Now that Shen Chen came to the northwest, he became Shen Chen's subordinate. The two parties had already worked together, so when Shen Chen arrived, he immediately came to greet him.
"Meet the Governor."
Huang Zhong saw Shen Chen riding on Yuluo horse, slowly descending the hillside, and quickly brought Nanzheng officials to greet him.
"The old general is in good spirits."
Shen Chen got off his horse and greeted him with a smile.
Huang Zhong said: "Hanzhong has pleasant water and soil, and it is really comfortable to live here."
Shen Chen looked at the subordinates he had brought with him, and he recognized a few of them, such as Li Yan, the new governor of Hanzhong after Xu Shu was transferred, Liu Bei's early low-level officers, and the current mid-level and senior officers Dong Jue, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, and Gao Xiang etc., as well as Fei Guan and Zhang Yi who were captured by him in the Battle of Zigui.
The other people looked familiar to each other. They should be generals recruited by Liu Bei after entering Sichuan, or generals surrendered by Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu.
Huang Zhong introduced him one by one, including Zhang Lu's surrendered generals Yang Ang, Yang Bai, and Li Xiu, as well as the leader of the tribe Li Hei, the general Lei Tong recruited by Liu Bei after entering Bashu, and others from Hanzhong County. Cheng, chief secretary and other assistant officials.
Shen Chen nodded one by one and said: "Hanzhong is an important place for the Northern Expedition. It is still too difficult to transport grain from Bashu to Hanzhong. If possible, we should try to increase the grain production here. The army can cultivate fields on the spot and recruit landless refugees from the south. , reclaim more wasteland here.”
Huang Zhong smiled bitterly and said: "Yuanzhi has been doing these things before, but Hanzhong is such a big place, and there is not much land that can be cultivated."
"How many acres of land and population are there now?"
Shen Chen asked.
Huang Zhong thought for a while, then turned around and shouted: "Bo Yue."
Immediately at the end of the crowd, a young man in his twenties ran out, raised his hands and said: "Grand Governor, General!"
Bojo?
Shen Chen suddenly became interested and looked at him.
I saw that this man had sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, a slender figure and a well-proportioned body. He was a good young man.