Jizhou has a large population and rich products. There are more than 900,000 registered households, which is more than Guanzhong and Yanzhou combined. Selling some food is not a problem at all. Yuan Shao, who is rich and powerful, readily agreed to Chen Cheng's request, and Chen Cheng was also very happy.
Refreshed, he returned to Henan with the military households in Yanzhou.
Those military households were originally destined to serve as soldiers all their lives. Now that Cao Cao is on his knees, their fate may not get better. They will most likely be turned into tenant farmers by the local powerful scholars. Now Chen Cheng has promised to give them a share in Luoyang.
Of course, he responded to the call and pushed the cart and followed the imperial army, heading west in a mighty manner.
Cao Cao implemented the "scholar family system" in Yanzhou, and nearly 100,000 civilian households were turned into slaves. These military households had nothing, and their wealth and life did not belong to them. Among those who followed Chen Cheng westward,
Most of them belonged to former military households. In addition, there were also some family members of Cao Jun generals who also went with them.
Yanzhou originally had a population of nearly four million, but now hundreds of thousands are leaving one after another. The loss of so many people has made the local powerful and intellectuals very angry. Population is wealth, population is strength, this is all
Everyone knows this. The general’s move is undoubtedly weakening Yanzhou’s strength!
Chen Gong met with many scholars in just a few days, and there was only one problem: the court cannot be allowed to do this!
"Chen Shijun, the general's actions are not in line with the words of a saint!"
"The general is trying to kill the people!"
"The general competes with the people for profit!"
"The general said that he was allocating land to people in Sili, and many of those tenants ran away!"
Chen Gong listened to these words from morning to night, and couldn't help but murmur in his heart, so he took hundreds of people to Chenliu. In order to handle the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people, Chen Cheng did not immediately evacuate from Yanzhou
Instead, troops were stationed in Chenliu, Fengqiu, Xingyang, Chenggao and other places. On the one hand, they escorted the people to Henan and Chang'an, and on the other hand, they urged Hebei to send food over.
Yuan Shao was concentrating on dealing with Gongsun Zan, so he happily sent the food over. The first batch contained one hundred thousand shi. Although there was a lot of miscellaneous grains and old rice in it, old rice could also fill his stomach, right? Taste
It's just bad. No matter how bad it is, can it be worse than tree bark and grass roots?
In addition to Hebei selling grain, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Yuzhou, Hanoi and other places also sent grain. Chen Cheng's record of annihilating Cao Cao in two days was so dazzling that no prince wanted to become a subordinate of the imperial court.
A strike target, so the speed has been accelerated, from the original procrastination to a vigorous and vigorous one.
Chen Cheng didn't ask for their food in vain, but bought it from them with real gold and silver. The princes could also take the opportunity to make a fortune from it, so why not? The scholars in Jingzhou all have a lot of land in their homes.
, they had tenants to help them farm, and the fields produced food every year. They didn’t need real money, so they directly exchanged the food for Liangzhou’s woolen cloth and cotton cloth, and then resold them, making two profits at once.
Isn’t money a pleasure?
Not only people in Jingzhou do this, but also many people in Yangzhou, Yuzhou, and even Hebei do this. After Liangzhou’s production capacity expanded, the original market became somewhat saturated. The main reason is that the people in Liangzhou are too poor.
It can be worn for more than ten years and can be passed down as a family heirloom. Although Guanzhong is rich, it just suffered a major earthquake and does not have much spending power.
Now that it's better, it means that the market has suddenly expanded several times, and the original production capacity is simply not enough. Many factories have begun to spin up again, and some people are even discussing opening a few more factories in partnership. However, there is a need to open a factory.
There are still several problems that need to be solved. The first is textile machinery. Currently, only the manufacturing bureau of the imperial court can make textile machinery, and orders have been scheduled until next year. If it doesn't matter, you can't buy the machine even if you have money.
The second is raw materials. Weaving requires wool and cotton. These raw materials are in the hands of powerful people in Liangzhou. It is difficult for people from Guanzhong to get into that small circle. Meng Tuo relied on his son Meng Da's good relationship with the general.
Only then did he successfully invest in the newly built factory.
In addition to Meng Tuo, there were also Wang Zhong, Bao Chu, Su Ze, and Du Ji. They were all Guanzhong people who were highly valued by the general. Soon, the threshold of these people's homes was almost broken.
I don’t know how many people came to the door with money, and some even knelt on the ground, begging their family members to accept the money.
Even Meng Da and Fazheng, who were not in Guanzhong, had many people come to their door, saying that they wanted to introduce girls to them, and that all of them were ladies and came from famous families.
The textile industry in Liangzhou has been developing for two or three years, and later some textile factories were built near Chang'an. The textile machinery has been updated based on the original ones, making it more efficient and cheaper.
Everyone likes cheap and easy-to-use products. After investing in Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Jizhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and other places, they quickly defeated the homespun cloth in various places.
If the production capacity of Liangzhou and Guanzhong hadn't been able to keep up, I'm afraid that homespun fabrics from all over the country would have no way to survive.
While tycoons from all over the country were making huge profits from trading, the people who were moving their families to Sili and Guanzhong were engaged in a race against death. Although Chen Cheng ordered the army to be prepared along the way,
They built shacks and stored firewood and food, but many people still died on the way westward.
Those who died were mainly the elderly and the infirm. Military households were already very poor. The men in their families had to serve in the military, and half of their income was taken away by the government. They were half-fed on weekdays, and their health was inherently poor.
Not strong. Once you encounter some wind, cold, rain, etc. on the road, you will easily get sick and die.
It took a month for the military households in Yanzhou to be roughly moved to Sili next door. During the migration, nearly 5,000 people died. Fortunately, the food from Hebei and other places arrived, and Chen Cheng transferred the food from his small treasury.
All the money was taken out, food was bought, dozens of temporary bases were established along the way, and many doctors were transferred, so that the number of deaths was not increased.
After arriving in Henan, these military households were organized into households and distributed to various places. The government distributed fields and land deeds to them, and stated that these fields were non-transferable and non-transferable. If they were not cultivated within three years, they would be taken back by the government.
There is nothing surprising about these policies, they are just a direct adaptation of the policies that have been implemented in Liangzhou for several years.
But in the Central Plains, there has been no distribution of land to the people for hundreds of years. Looking back, those days in Yanzhou were simply dark. Although now these people still live in shacks and have to pay monthly
You can go to the government to get some potatoes and corn according to your household registration, but as long as there is hope, human beings will always burst out with unparalleled enthusiasm.
When Chen Cheng stayed in Sili and was busy migrating the people of Yanzhou, he did not forget to promote the officers and soldiers under his command. Among the soldiers who accompanied him on the expedition, there were more than ten generals who were granted the title of Marquis, and there were countless others who were promoted. Among them, Lu Bu was
He was named Wenhou, Guan Yu was named Shoutinghou, Zhang Fei was named Huanhou, etc.
After the imperial court was busy migrating the people of Yanzhou to Sili and Guanzhong, Yuan Shao finally relaxed. He was not afraid of Chen Cheng's troubles, but he was afraid that Chen Cheng would have nothing to do. The imperial court now held hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, drawing swords and looking around, eyeing the tigers.
It would be terrible if there was nothing to do.
The senior cadres in Qingzhou and Yuan Tan in Yuzhou also relaxed their vigilance because of this, and they were no longer as intimidated as before. They were not afraid of a real fight, but now was the critical time for Yuan Shao to seize the northern hegemony.
It would be best. The tens of thousands of troops that have been recruited can be disbanded and go home without spending money and food to support them.
After autumn, the imperial troops gradually withdrew from Yanzhou. Yuan Shao, Yuan Tan, Gao Gan and others felt more relieved. Chen Gong, Zhang Miao and others in Yanzhou were also rejoiced. When Chen Cheng led
When the soldiers and horses were stationed in Yanzhou, they always felt like a thorn in their backs, and they had to be wary of everything they did.
It's fine now. When all the imperial troops are withdrawn, Yanzhou will finally be ruled by gentlemen again!
Hearing that Chen Cheng was about to lead his troops back to Chang'an, Liu Bei rushed over from Xuzhou. This time, he not only brought Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Dao and other generals with him, but also Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son, as well as Jian Yong and Sun Yat-sen.
Qian and other civil servants were also brought over.
According to the system of the Han family, the governors of prefectures and counties cannot leave their jurisdiction without permission without an edict. But now this system has long existed in name only. Liu Bei did not take this system to heart, and the same was true for Chen Cheng. In the farewell tour
At the banquet, Chen Cheng met Chen Deng and Chen Yuanlong for the first time, who was praised by Liu Bei as "extraordinarily heroic".
Because they had tried their best to help Liu Bei resist Cao Cao, Chen Gui and his son were awarded the title of Marquis of Guannei. When Chen Cheng saw them, he smiled and said: "I didn't expect that there would be three marquises of the Chen family gathering here today!"
Chen Gui and Chen Deng stepped forward to thank him and said: "Cao's army is tyrannical. If the general had not led his troops to help, Xuzhou would have been almost unprotected! General, please accept my greetings!"
Chen Cheng helped the two men up and said with a smile: "I heard of their names when I was in Chang'an. Although Cao Cao was defeated, he rose again at Yuan Tan's place in Yuzhou. There might be trouble in the future. Brother Liu Bei will guard him in the future.
Xuzhou needs your help!"
"Serving the country is what you should do!"
Chen Deng saw that although Chen Cheng was exaggerated, he spoke kindly, so he suggested: "After all, Chang'an is a long way away. Now that the general has pacified Yanzhou, why not return to Luoyang with the Emperor's chariot? Although Xuzhou has been devastated by war, there are still 400,000 households, plus
Yanzhou has a population of six to seven million. Isn't it far better than Guanzhong and Liangzhou? If we can occupy this place, the world will not be stable!"
When Chen Cheng saw Chen Deng's high-spirited and heroic appearance, he liked it very much and said with a smile: "Yuanlong's heroic spirit is indeed far superior to others! It's just that Luoyang is dilapidated and the palace has not been repaired, so it is not enough to be the residence of the emperor. This matter will be discussed later.
