Although Li Shushi, the prefect, is becoming more and more like a nominal existence, and Xihe's military and political system still operates normally without him, after all, the title of prefect still hangs on his head, so with his return, it is natural to listen to reports from his subordinates
.
"Zhongde, I saw a lot of farmers working hard to harvest on the way back. There are a lot less abandoned fields than last year. It seems that the development this year should be quite good. I don't know how the harvest will be and whether it can satisfy us.
needs.”
As the county magistrate, Cheng Yu can be said to be the top leader under Li Shushi, so it is natural for him to start the reporting work. However, before Cheng Yu could clear his throat and read the manuscript he had prepared for a long time, he was suddenly snatched away by Li Shushi.
Cheng Yu was almost drowned by the phlegm in his throat.
"My lord Mingjian, the situation this year is indeed much better than last year. You don't know. I carefully checked the files in the Xihe Prefecture. Xihe was considered a large county with a population of more than 100,000 households.
However, during the period of Emperor Shun, there were foreign invasions from outside and eunuchs from outside the country fighting for power. As a result, there were only less than 6,000 households left in this great Xihe County, most of which were from the Pingzhou generation. And before the lord took office, there were even more
Population decline
Zero, if we hadn't brought tens of thousands of soldiers and almost the same number of Yellow Turban prisoners and refugees, I'm afraid no one would be able to defend this dignified Xihe. So now it seems that if the lord hadn't implemented the strategy of farming, I'm afraid our army would have lost its power next year
We need to rely on transportation from other counties for our food and wages, but the mountains in the middle make it difficult to transport, so most of the food will be lost in the process. How can it be like now, if there are no major disasters every year, we can basically guarantee self-sufficiency."
Although Cheng Yu's last statement was a bit flattering, Li Shushi was shocked by his previous words. It was said that when he came to Xihe with the army, Lu Bu had already led most of the troops and captured refugees to this place, so what Li Shushi saw
Lishi County was not as desolate as imagined, and I never thought that the situation in Xihe would be so bad.
"But all that has finally become history." Cheng Yu put down the manuscript he had originally prepared. Anyway, he was already familiar with the content in it. He only held it to make his report more accurate. However, Li Shushi said this
interrupt,
Simply put aside the manuscript completely. Although Cheng Yu had been a teacher before, it was normal for him to follow the script. However, since he followed Li Shushi, he seemed to have acquired a little free nature, so he became a little bit uncomfortable with the behavior of reading speech manuscripts.
Getting impatient.
"Thanks to our army's continuous victory over the Jie and Xianbei people and the suppression of the Huns and Wuwan people, plus the generals' effective attack on those restless small tribes, many people and families have been affected by the turmoil in the Central Plains.
The reason has come to us. Because of the joining of these people, whether it is agriculture, commerce or
The handicraft industry has developed a lot. Not only has it provided us with a much-needed population, but it has also acquired a lot of advanced farming techniques and more effective tools. I believe that as long as this momentum continues, the products produced in our villages will
The food supply will definitely exceed that of the military camps, and then our soldiers will be liberated."
Although Xihe County is blocked by the Luliang Mountains, resulting in annual evaporation being greater than precipitation, thanks to the Yellow River and its many tributaries, both the soil conditions and irrigation conditions here are not bad. If they are properly utilized, we will definitely be able to open up a lot of fields.
There is less farmland for farming. At the same time, as long as the proportion of terraced fields and mountains and forests is properly grasped, it can ensure that there will be no major water and soil erosion, and at the same time, it can provide more food for Xihe County. It has endless benefits for people's livelihood and war.
benefit.
"Here I would like to add that I decided to appoint Luohe, a Feng Shui practitioner I discovered on my way westward, as our agricultural agent in Xihe, specifically responsible for agriculture and related matters. After this period of inspection, I think she has the ability to do this in this regard.
He has quite unique insights and is also very good at cultivating and improving grains. He is a very rare talent."
Without truly going deep into the era of the Han Dynasty, you will never be able to realize the profound impact of the food problem on this country.
Many people have been saying that the biggest problem in the past dynasties is land annexation. This is indeed very reasonable, but the fundamental reason is that the low productivity of the Han Dynasty made it difficult for farmers to have enough land to eat for a year.
Very difficult.
There is a passage in "Han Shu? Food and Huo Zhi": "Nowadays, one man has five people and manages a hundred fields. He collects one and a half stone every year, which is one hundred and fifty stone. Excluding the tax of ten and fifteen stone, the remaining is one hundred and thirty-five stone."
.Food, one and a half dan per month for five people, ninety shi of millet for five people, leaving forty-five shi. Thirty shi, for
The money is one thousand three hundred and fifty. In addition to the temple of the New Spring and Autumn Period, the money is three hundred, and the remaining money is one thousand and fifty. Clothing, the rate of people is three hundred, and the five people use one thousand five hundred for the whole year, less than four hundred and fifty. Unfortunately.
The expenses for illness, death, and funeral, as well as the high taxes and fees, are not included in this. This farmer is always in poverty and has the intention not to encourage farming."
What is said here is that a family of five with two strong laborers owns one hundred acres (Han Damu, one mu is about 0.71 municipal acres) of fields, and the output of each mu of land is one and a half stones (stone here is a unit of volume,
The tax records of the Han Dynasty seem to be calculated according to mention. One stone is about 2,000 milliliters, which can hold the most common items in the Han Dynasty.
(Twenty-seven kilograms of grain (millet)). Under the tax rate of one out of ten (10%), excluding rations, the grain that can be exchanged is only forty-five kilograms. After deducting the sacrifices, the money earned from the grain sale is even used to make a meal for each person.
It’s not enough to put on new clothes, not to mention having to bear other exorbitant taxes or getting sick or dying.
This belongs to the living standard of homesteaders. Although the level of farming in the Han Dynasty has improved greatly with the development of various instruments and methods, the output has also developed greatly. Many fertile fields can already achieve a yield of nearly three shi per mu. At the same time,
The official tax of the Han Dynasty is thirty taxes per one, which should be able to make money easier for ordinary people.
But the problem arises. Land that can produce three stones is obviously difficult for ordinary people to occupy. If the tenants lose their land and rent land from powerful landlords, they need to pay half of the output. This half-cutting method makes the tenants
If you just farm the land for the powerful landlords, you will obviously not be able to survive. As a result, the powerful landlords will naturally recruit the soldiers of the Qu family in the city to obtain food rations.
Of course, it is precisely for this reason that Cao Cao's civilian settlement policy was criticized by many people because the tax collectors even the landlords and rich people lamented that they did not use the cattle tax of the official family as the landlords and old money, but used
From the official family
The government will take 60% of the harvest. It is estimated that this kind of seed should be provided by the government. Even a prison with strict security has various ways to escape, not to mention that there is no guarding by the field soldiers who are not as strict as a prison.
.
Today's Xihe can really be said to be vast and sparsely populated. However, due to the existence of the Huns and the pressure from the Xianbei people, it is necessary to ensure a considerable number of troops, especially when the quality of the soldiers is much weaker than that of foreigners.
Sufficient quantities are needed to make up for it, which makes the supply of food and grass for Xihe County soldiers a quite troublesome problem.
The fundamental reason why it has not been exposed until now is because of Li Shushi's bold and lucky misappropriation.
As mentioned before, Lishi was used as a place for the soldiers and horses of the Xiongnu Zhonglang to stock up on food and grass. The city had stocked enough food and grass for ten thousand people for two to three years. However, as the clan members suffered heavy losses in Jizhou, and the war
Repeatedly, so the clan members turned a blind eye to Li Shushi's misappropriation of food and grass that originally belonged to his army. After all, they were all doing their best for the country.
After surviving the Xianbei attack and following Liu Hong's orders, Li Shushi's troops could go to Taiyuan County where the grain and grass reserves were relatively rich. Anyway, Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, could not use that much for the time being, so he took advantage of Li Shushi's troops.
Soldiers from Xihe County.
So at the time of autumn harvest, with the first autumn harvest after Li Shushi took office, the food problem came to an end. However, as the situation deteriorated, Li Shushi had already made plans to expand his troops. He remembered Liu Hong's words at the time.
As a casual mention, if you can become a general in the north or a general in the west in the future, "anyone who offends a strong man will be punished no matter how far away", then it will not be a wasted journey.
It is for this reason that Li Shushi placed Luo He, a "human radar" that was very useful on the battlefield, in a civil service position, because Luo He's insights into astronomy, calendars, soils, hydrology, and animals and plants were obviously far away.
Compared with ordinary people, Li Shushi did not have any agriculturists or farmers who were good at planting, so Luo He's level was already quite rare.
Moreover, this eldest lady has an unusual talent in finding excellent plant seeds and cultivating them. Even Li Shushi doubted whether she should be given the title "Resurrection of Shen Nong".
So when Luo He and Su Xiaoluoli failed in their fight for the "Xuanwu Pager", they found that Su Xiaoluoli was really difficult to conquer, so they had to target the original owner Li Shushi, and Li Shushi also took the opportunity to make this request.
Unexpectedly, Luo He did not seem to feel offended by Li Shushi, but happily accepted the appointment. In her words: "It is a very happy thing to be able to listen to the joys and sorrows of plants."
Could it be that Miss Luohe's real profession is that of a druid of a race with long ears, who can actually communicate with plants?
Because of the existence of Wu Luan, a violent woman, Xihe's ruling group was not too surprised that another woman appeared among them. Although it was a relatively important agricultural department, Li Shushi's reputation as a good judge of people seemed to be gradually spreading in Xihe.
He has gained some fame among them, so Cheng Yu is happy that someone can share the increasing number of government affairs on his side due to the population growth.
Next was a report on population, revenue and expenditure, and municipal construction. However, to Li Shushi's surprise, Cheng Yu did not choose to report to Li Shushi in person, but chose a rather young scholar, and Li Shushi believed in him
I have never seen this face before. Obviously this should be the subordinate Cheng Yu recruited after Li Shushi left.
Being able to receive Cheng Yu's attention, not to mention being entrusted with important tasks within half a year, this young man immediately aroused Li Shushi's interest.
p.s. This is the first update with my stomach still growling, so uncomfortable...
