Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty-Three Fundamentals Don't 3/3
After Liu Bei told Guan Yu and Chen Deng to guard the home, he took Zhang Fei on the road to Guanzhong. From Xuzhou to Guanzhong, the first thing he had to pass was Yanzhou. Yanzhou once killed mountains of corpses and seas of blood with Xuzhou, and both sides
There was a life-and-death feud between them. When they passed by, the Xuzhou people were very indifferent to the Yanzhou people, and the Yanzhou people felt uncomfortable looking at the Xuzhou people.
Fortunately, both sides were very restrained and nothing bad happened. Liu Bei traveled all the way and found that Yanzhou was in a state of poor people's livelihood. Chen Gong's subordinates were incompetent, and there were already signs of fighting in various parts of Yanzhou. His state
Mu almost exists in name only.
This is not surprising. He, the Zhou Mu, fell from the sky. Although people like Zang Hong, Zhang Miao, and Zhang Chao had a good relationship with him, that was all in the past. After these people became high-ranking officials,
All kinds of contradictions emerged. The first was the issue of tax payment. Everyone just couldn't stand Cao Cao's way of scraping the land, so the gentlemen revolted against Cao Cao's thieves.
Now that Chen Gong has become the prefectural shepherd, it is natural that all the previous exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes must be wiped out. The scholars no longer have to pay so much money and food. But in this way, the state's expenses are somewhat insufficient, so what?
What to do? It’s easy to do. Wouldn’t it be enough to pass the tax on to the common people?
Anyone who makes a comeback will never fail to counterattack. The powerful scholars have been suppressed for several years under Cao Cao's rule. Now that they are in power, they will naturally change their tactics to make up for all their previous losses. They will invade and occupy fields.
It's just an ordinary operation. It's just an ordinary operation to force people to go bankrupt and then turn them into tenant farmers. Everyone can just sit back and watch. There is no need to stand up and shout.
After the military households in Yanzhou moved away, the common people became the most oppressed targets. Under the operation of the gentlemen, a large number of people lost their fields and houses and had to become tenants of the scholars and powerful men. It is necessary to
It's not that the imperial court does not allow Han people to be slaves, these people have to sign a life-long contract with their masters that they will never be able to recover from.
But not everyone can accept it. Even if we can't resist, why can't we run away? Whether it's Xuzhou or Sili next door, they are better than these guys in Yanzhou who eat people without spitting out their bones. Some people
Those who fled into Xuzhou preferred to be exploited by Xuzhou's powerful men, or to go up the mountain to join Zang Ba. More people followed the migration path of military households last year and ran to Sili.
The policy of "free land distribution and one out of ten taxes" was so powerful that a large number of Yanzhou people spontaneously fled to Sili. In addition, the threat from Cao Cao in the south became more and more powerful day by day, and the people on the border between Yanzhou and Yuzhou
Many scholars and powerful men suffered the consequences. Often on their way to get Xi'er to pay off their debts, they were killed by Cao's army who came to rob them.
As for why so many people are in debt? This question is also very simple. If you want to deal with people, there will always be a way.
When a large number of poor people fled to Sili, many scholars moved their families to Sili, or even went directly to Guanzhong. Under Cao Cao's rule, Yanzhou still had a population of four million, but when it came to Jian'an
In two years, there were only three million people left in Yanzhou.
When Liu Bei passed by Yanzhou, what he saw was a Yanzhou where people's livelihood was in decline and people were in panic.
"I don't want Yanzhou to turn into this!"
Liu Bei frowned and sighed: "If Cao Cao comes to attack, Yanzhou won't be able to resist for long."
Zhang Fei said nonchalantly: "We in Xuzhou now have enough troops and food. Next year we will send troops to Yuzhou. After we tie up Cao Cao, we will send him to the lord's horse and leave him to his fate!"
Liu Bei smiled and patted Zhang Fei on the shoulder, and quickly left Yanzhou with hundreds of cavalry. They passed through Hulao Pass, repaired in Luoyang for a night, and then headed west into Hongnong. The situation in Henan was worse than that in Yanzhou
To make matters worse, most of the people lived in shacks made of branches and mud, which were dark and damp, but there were a lot of corn, radishes, garlic and pepper hanging at the door of every house.
Compared with the poor people in Yanzhou, although the people around Luoyang are also impoverished, they can at least have enough to eat. The situation in Hongnong is better than that in Henan, but it is also limited. Two years are not enough for Hongnong to recover.
pre-war levels.
The situation in Yanzhou and Henan was very bad, which made Liu Bei feel even more depressed. But soon, his mood improved. After two years of self-cultivation, Guanzhong has returned to its former prosperity and prosperity.
After arriving at Tongguan, what I saw was completely different from what I saw in the Central Plains.
Most of the pedestrians here wear colorful clothes, and there is an endless stream of caravans heading to Chang'an. Winter is coming soon, and before it snows, the businessmen are thinking about making more money and having a good year. Four-wheeled carriages and
Mules and other livestock galloped back and forth on the wide and smooth roads, making the roads seem to be forever filled with raised dust.
Cloth from Liangzhou and Guanzhong has been sold everywhere. From the Western Regions to Liaodong, from Hetao to Jiaozhou, cotton and woolen cloth can be seen everywhere. The updated textile machinery has increased the production efficiency to ten times that of other places.
More than 10 times, even if the freight and taxes paid by various places are included, the Guanzhong cloth arriving in Jiaozhou is one-third cheaper than the local cloth. How can others survive?
In the original history, the beginning of the industrial revolution was not the coal-iron complex, but the textile industry.
Xuzhou is also considered wealthy, with luxurious homes everywhere, but compared with Guanzhong, it lacks vitality. Liu Bei was deeply touched along the way. He also once reflected on whether he did not do well enough in Xuzhou. Otherwise
If so, with the population and cultivated land in Xuzhou, there is no reason why it would be worse than Guanzhong.
Although Xuzhou was massacred by Cao Cao, Guanzhong also experienced the Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo rebellions, and there were two major earthquakes in succession. Looking at the neat fields on both sides of the road and the mills and barns everywhere, Liu Bei felt that returning
After arriving in Xuzhou, we should also use the policy of counting people and fields.
When he heard that Liu Bei had arrived, Chen Cheng went out of the city thirty miles to greet him. After seeing Liu Bei, Chen Cheng was very happy and laughed: "Last year, my brother said he didn't know when we would see each other, but it's only been a year, so why don't we just
Have we met again?"
Liu Bei also lamented: "The world is constantly changing and cannot be predicted by humans!"
Chen Cheng took Liu Bei and Zhang Fei to live at home, and asked Liu Qian to bring his two sons out to meet them. The two children were still in their infancy, but they were not afraid when they met strangers, but stared at them.
His big eyes kept looking around. It was just that one of the two babies was obviously much bigger, but he didn't know what was going on.
Liu Bei touched his body and found only a jade pendant, so he took off the dagger from his waist and said, "I came in a hurry, so I didn't prepare a gift. This jade pendant and this dagger are what I usually wear, so just treat them as gifts."
A meeting gift for them."
Chen Cheng smiled and held the things back, saying: "I am now the general of the imperial court. Is there anything I want? Just keep your brother's things for yourself."
As he stayed in this era longer, Chen Cheng's sense of many people changed a lot. Compared to princes like Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao, although Liu Bei was also ambitious, he had his own bottom line.
He never did things like massacre of cities and villages. This alone made Chen Cheng's favorable impression of him increase a lot.
Not long after Liu Qian came out with the baby in her arms, she asked the maid and wet nurse to take the baby back to the bedroom. Her milk was not enough for the two children, so she found four women who had given birth among the people to feed the two children.
There seems to be a small mouth that can never be filled.
When no one else was around, Liu Bei asked Zhang Fei to go down to have a drink first, while he stayed alone with Chen Cheng in the lobby.
Chen Cheng smiled and said: "Brother sent out all the third brothers, but he has something important to tell me."
Liu Bei leaned forward and said, "Wen Zhengzheng knows my purpose of coming."
"Is it because of Cao Mengde from Yuzhou?"
Liu Bei now has senior officials from Qingzhou to the north and Cao Cao from Yuzhou to the south. It is inevitable that he will be under great pressure. He nodded and said, "Yes, he came just for Cao Cao. Cao Mengde massacred Xuzhou and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Such behavior made people and gods angry, so why did Wen Zheng still canonize him as the shepherd of Yuzhou?"
Chen Cheng said: "It won't work if I don't seal it. Cao Cao has already captured Yuzhou, and Yuan Tan has already submitted his resignation. If I don't seal Cao Cao, who will I give it to? If Gong Du and Liu Pi can drive Cao Cao away, and can
If they occupy the entire territory of Yuzhou, then I can make one of them the shepherd of Yuzhou. Brother, I am just admitting the fact."
After Gong Du and Liu Pi were defeated by Cao Cao in Yuzhou, they fled to Xuzhou and were taken in by Liu Bei.
Liu Bei said sternly: "Wen Zheng's words are wrong. How can we make Cao Cao the state shepherd just because he occupied Yuzhou? If according to this, if Cao Mengde conquers the world, wouldn't he be the emperor?"
Chen Cheng put his hands on his hands and laughed, saying: "Brother, what you said makes sense. The emperor is the one who has strong soldiers and horses. In the past, Emperor Gaozu brought peace to the world, so he became the emperor. Emperor Guangwu defeated all the heroes and re-established the Han Dynasty, so he also
Emperor. If Cao Cao can really conquer the whole world, then of course he will also be the emperor."
There was an expression of shock that could not be concealed on Liu Bei's face, "How could Wen Zheng talk such nonsense? Emperor Gaozu once killed a white horse and swore an oath with everyone. Anyone who is not named Liu and calls himself king will be punished by the whole world! He can't even call himself king, how can he?
Can someone with a different surname call himself emperor?"
Chen Cheng smiled and said: "Mencius said: The people are the most valuable, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important. In my opinion, it doesn't matter who is the emperor. As long as the people can live and work in peace and contentment, that is enough."
Liu Bei shook his head repeatedly and said: "What Wen Zheng said is very inappropriate. Only when the Holy Emperor is in the court and assisted by wise ministers, can the world be clear and clear. If the court is unstable, chaos will inevitably arise in the local area and wars will rise everywhere."
Chen Cheng had long passed the age where he liked to argue with others. When Liu Bei said this, he just smiled and said, "What my brother said is absolutely true. I was wrong."
