On that day, after defeating Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, in the Mu Mountain area, King Su Zhao Hongrun did not take advantage of the situation to take the land of Linying, Zhaoling, and Xiping, because before that, he had to deal with the more than 50,000 Chu soldiers captured. dispute.
You must know that Zhao Hongrun only had 20,000 dredging troops and 10,000 Yanling soldiers under his command, but the Chu army had as many as 50,000 prisoners. The side with the superior strength was captured by the side with the inferior strength. This is a very dangerous thing. Because if it is not handled carefully, once the 50,000 Chu soldiers captives start a riot, the 30,000 Wei soldiers under Zhao Hongrun will suffer far greater casualties than on the battlefield.
In this regard, Bailiba's suggestion is still to kill. As the saying goes, those who are not of my race will have different hearts. This general, who was born in a military household and has been taught by the clan since he was a child, cannot trust those Chu soldiers at all, even Qu Cheng. Gu Liangwei, Wuma Jiao, and Wu Ji were all he had doubts about at the moment, let alone those Chu soldiers.
In this matter, Qu Chengci put forward opposing suggestions against the Wei generals represented by Bailiba.
He sincerely said to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, King Su, it is unlucky to kill prisoners for no reason. Furthermore, most of the soldiers of the Chu State are not standing troops. Those Chu soldiers, during non-war periods, are just poor farmers of the Chu State. They help Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, invaded the Wei Dynasty just to provide money for the family. Although they were afraid of Xiong Tuo and other princes and nobles, they had little loyalty at all. As long as His Highness lured them with benefits, I don't think they would fall to His Highness. Fall to Wei."
Hearing this, Gu Liangwei, Wuma Jiao, and Wu Ji also nodded. Firstly, they were also from the lower class of Chu State, so they would naturally pity those Chu soldiers who were in the same class as them. Secondly, this The matter is related to the life and death of the entire fifty thousand Chu prisoners. If they cannot convince His Highness King Su, perhaps His Highness King Su will listen to the advice of the general Bailiba and send the fifty thousand Chu prisoners to reduce the burden. Kill all the soldiers.
"Inducing them with benefits?" Zhao Hongrun thought for a moment and asked Qu Cheng: "If this king gives the Chu soldiers who are willing to surrender to our Wei Dynasty, a house and ten acres of land. They will be exempted from the tax for three years. If you choose one out of five Wei taxes, are they willing to surrender to me, the Wei Dynasty?"
Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, Wu Majiao, and Wu Ji were stunned when they heard this. After watching for a while, Wu Ji timidly asked: "Your Highness, the tax of the Wei Dynasty is 20%?"
"Yes." Zhao Hongrun replied without knowing why.
Wu Ji seemed a little unbelievable after hearing this, and asked again: "Are there any other taxes?"
"I don't know much about this taxation matter." Zhao Hongrun looked at Bailiba hesitantly, but Bailiba shrugged and said: "I don't know much either, but as far as I know, the people of Wei Dynasty are generally ordinary people." You only need to pay the land tax of 10 taels. In addition, after paying the land tax, you do not have to pay the household tax. On the contrary, if you are a family without land, you only need to pay the household tax. In previous years, it was about 20 yuan per household per year. About 12 yuan. If If you pay insufficient household taxes, you can also use corvée service instead. Then there is the military service. Anyone between the ages of thirteen and thirty-five may be recruited into the army, but most of these are just local guards. Unless the national situation is urgent and forced recruitment, Otherwise, Dangshan Camp and our Chunshui Camp will not recruit new soldiers." At this point, he couldn't help but boast: "The soldiers of my Junshui Camp who have less than one year of training are not even in the company. He’s not even qualified to fight on the battlefield.”
After hearing his last words, Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, Wuma Jiao, and Wu Ji couldn't help but turn their heads and look at Baili Ba, secretly speechless in their hearts.
Look at the Wei soldiers. They have not even been qualified to go to the battlefield after less than a year of training. Look at the Chu army where I was once. They recruited a group of poor peasants to train for about a month and a half and then immediately went to the battlefield. No wonder the Wei soldiers in the Junshui Camp
Almost all of them fought with one enemy, and it was no problem for a single soldier to kill several Chu soldiers.
However, Bailiba didn't notice the gazes of Qu Cheng and others. He shrugged and continued: "In addition, our Wei Dynasty also has commercial tax, salt tax, and mountain (mine) tax, but those are not targeted at ordinary people, so they are not targeted at ordinary people.
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter."
"That is to say, land tax, household tax, corvee, choose one of the three," Wu Ji murmured to himself.
Seeing his appearance, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but ask: "Is it very heavy? The taxes of my great Wei Dynasty?"
I saw Wu Ji licking his lips and saying with a wry smile: "If His Highness has experienced a heavy tax of ten-five, he will not think that the tax of two-ten is so heavy, not to mention that it can be replaced by corvee. Want? Look."
"Thirty-five?" Li Ji, the general under Bailiba, looked at the four Chu surrendered generals in surprise, with an expression of disbelief.
"Yes, even five"
Gu Liangwei and Wuma Jiao also smiled bitterly in line with the Tao.
"" Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but exchange a look with Bailiba. I believe both of them were wondering why a tyrannical country like Chu State had not yet been destroyed.
Perhaps he guessed what they were thinking, Qu Cheng shook his head slightly and said: "It's not that there have never been riots in the Chu Kingdom, it's just that the princes and nobles from all over the country suppressed them with private soldiers. In addition, this tax was not imposed by the King of Chu.
It is certain that the tax set by the King of Chu is only 30%, but the princes and nobles of the Xiong family in various places will increase it further on the basis of 20%. In other words, 30% of the income earned by the Chu people every year belongs to the King of Chu, and 20%
, belonging to various places
Prince Wu Ji of the Xiong family was from near Xiangcheng. He was the people under the rule of Xiong Ren, the king of Xiangcheng. At that time, Xiong Ren, the king of Xiangcheng, once set the tax at 50%. Later, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, and Xiong Hu, the king of Pingyu, conspired.
After the territory of Xiong Chengjun,
He also lowered the tax to 40%. From this point of view, Xiong Tuo is far less greedy than the other princes in Chu. Your Highness does not know that it is not uncommon for nobles in some territories in Chu to set taxes at 70% or even 80%."
It is unimaginable that the Chu State has not yet been destroyed.
Zhao Hongrun shook his head silently. You must know that even a tithe of tax felt quite heavy to him. He didn't expect that compared with the Chu State, it was really nothing and not enough to compare.
"So what are your four suggestions?" Zhao Hongrun glanced at Qu Cheng and others.
I saw Qu Cheng thinking for a while and said: "In fact, Your Highness does not need to allocate additional houses and fields. If there are still wastelands in the Wei Dynasty, as long as they are allowed to cultivate them by themselves, the tax collected will be 20%. I believe there will be most of them."
The soldiers of Chu are willing to take their families and surrender to the Wei Dynasty."
"Uncultivated wasteland? I really don't know much about this." Zhao Hongrun hesitated because he really didn't know much about it.
Just then, I heard someone shouting not far away: "Uncultivated wasteland? South of the Yellow River, in the land of Sanchuan, there is endless wasteland."
Everyone turned their heads in surprise, and happened to see Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, running towards here panting.
"Master Meng."
Zhao Hongrun and others stood up to greet him.
"Congratulations to His Highness King Su and all the generals for their great victory in this battle!" Meng Wei hurriedly walked up to Zhao Hongrun and others, smiling and congratulating.
Zhao Hongrun cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Thank you very much. Master Meng just arrived?"
I saw Meng Wei cupping his hands towards the people here, nodding and saying: "General Baili ordered his officers and men to pass the news of the victory to the camp. The subordinates followed His Highness's instructions and sent four thousand Yanling soldiers on carriages to attack Chu.
The necessary supplies and supplies were transported here by carriage. For the sake of caution, Xiaguan still left a thousand Yanling soldiers to garrison in the camp. I hope that Your Highness will not blame Xiaguan for making his own decisions."
Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly when he heard this. You must know that he originally asked Meng Wei to ask the five thousand Yanling soldiers who were left behind to rush here with the supplies in the camp. As for the Yanshui camp, it was empty.
However, the cautious Meng Kai left a thousand soldiers in the camp to prepare for various emergencies.
A mere thousand Yanling troops seems insignificant compared to what Zhao Hongrun is considering now. After all, if this matter goes well, he will be able to get tens of thousands of troops from Chu State. How can a mere Thousand Yanling troops be lost?
Soldiers can compare.
"Just now Master Meng said that there are countless wastelands in the Sanchuan area of Henan?"
"Exactly." Meng Wei nodded, stroking his beard and said: "In fact, if the Chu army hadn't invaded our country, the Ministry of Industry would have started construction in Sanchuan, Henan in the second half of this year. Your Highness also understands that Sanchuan
The land is fertile and conducive to irrigation. As long as the Yellow River bursts its banks and floods during the rainy season, it will be enough. In June, our Ministry of Industry submitted a petition to Chui Gong Hall to recruit 100,000 people to reclaim the land of Sanchuan. Unfortunately, the 100,000 people did not want me to do anything.
It’s not a small amount for Wei, but can it solve His Highness’s urgent needs?”
"Should the Chu soldiers be placed in Sanchuan, Henan?" Zhao Hongrun pondered for a while and did not rush to make a decision. After all, such a major matter was of great concern. He had to carefully consider the territory of the Wei Dynasty before making a decision.
Or, this kind of matter would have to be asked about the wishes of his father, Emperor Wei, and the Wei court, and it was not something he could decide by himself.
But even so, Meng Wei made him a good suggestion at least, and it also made Zhao Hongrun understand that compared with the narrow territory of the Wei Dynasty, the most important problem was the fundamental problem of insufficient population. In the huge Wei Dynasty, the Ministry of Industry was actually in trouble
Recruiting 100,000 civilian men made Zhao Hongrun feel a little depressed.
After pondering for a moment, Zhao Hongrun looked at Qu Cheng and others and decided: "Qu Cheng, I will do as you say."
Qu Cheng and others were heartened when they heard this. After all, Zhao Hongrun's promise meant that he would find a way to get the more than 50,000 Chu army prisoners to surrender to the Wei Dynasty, instead of killing them all to reduce the burden.
The four Qu Cheng couldn't help but feel the importance Zhao Hongrun attached to them. They clasped their fists and said in unison: "His Royal Highness King Su is kind!"
"But I have something to say first. If those Chu soldiers are unwilling to surrender to our great Wei Dynasty, as in the current situation, I will have no choice but to kill them."
"General, I understand." Qu Cheng nodded to express his understanding, and then asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Come here." Zhao Hongrun raised his fingers towards Qu Cheng and the other four.
Seeing this, Qu Cheng and others stepped forward.
"You go first among the Chu army." Zhao Hongrun whispered his decision to Qu Cheng and others in a low voice, only to hear the four of them nod their heads.
"You will eventually understand."
The four of them clasped their fists and went to the Chu army.
Soon after, Zhao Hongrun ordered four generals, Li Qi, Gong Yuan, Wu Bi, and Yu Chun, to supervise more than 50,000 Chu soldiers and dig a huge pit at the foot of Mushan Mountain capable of burying 20,000 to 30,000 people.