In the first month of the fourth year of Zhongping, spring, Ji Mao, pardoned the world.
Due to the tax collection policy implemented by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, a large amount of tax revenue was used to govern the local area. Compared with the original history of being riddled with holes and rebellions everywhere, the situation last year and this year was much better.
For example, the Jingzhou Jiangxia Rebellion and the Wuling Man Rebellion did not occur last year. Even the supposed Xianbei invasion in December of the third year of Zhongping did not occur.
The reason is that the source of the Jiangxia and Wuling rebellions was the historical land tax of 10 qian per mu imposed by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.
Some people may wonder that in history, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty charged 10 qian per mu, which caused rebellions all over the world. Now that he charges 100 qian per mu, why are there fewer rebellions?
the reason is simple.
Historically, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty collected a field tax of 10 qian per mu, which did not exempt other taxes.
There are already countless excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and if you charge 10 yuan per mu of land, you will continue to increase the burden on the people, which will naturally cause the government to force the people to rebel.
What now?
Although the tax rate has been reduced to 100 yuan per acre, other exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been eliminated, and the tax paid has been reduced by more than half.
In this way, the people's burden will be reduced and they will naturally be unwilling to continue to rebel.
This is the tenacity of the Han nation.
As long as you can peel off the layers and still have a way to survive, then no matter how hard your life is, you will just grit your teeth and persevere.
As for the Xianbei invasion, it must be attributed to Gongsun Zan.
The northern part of the Great Wall is bitterly cold and the nomadic people cannot be self-sufficient.
When it snows in winter, countless cattle and sheep freeze to death.
In previous years, merchants from the Central Plains would not come to buy cattle and sheep in autumn.
Because at this time, cattle and sheep have been fattened for a summer and are fat, and this is also the time when the price is the highest.
And in winter, cattle and sheep will be worthless.
Merchants are seeking profits and will naturally choose to buy in winter when prices are lowest. As a result, nomads cannot make ends meet and have to choose to go south to plunder.
Some people may ask, why are cattle and sheep less valuable in winter?
Because once it snows on the grassland, the cattle and sheep will have nothing to eat and will freeze to death or starve to death? Livestock in droves will die.
Beef and mutton can only be stored in the ice and snow for 14 days after death? If it is too long, it will rot and smell, and there is no way to ensure that the Xianbei people survive the cold winter? They can only choose to sell it reluctantly.
But at this time, the market has become a buyer's market? If your price is too high, merchants will not choose to trade with you at all? Most people want to sell their cattle and sheep at low prices, resulting in lower and lower prices? It is becoming less and less popular.
valuable.
And because the cattle and sheep were sold at low prices in winter? Still unable to maintain the excessive winter costs, the border nomads had to go south to the Central Plains to rob property, salt, iron, food, etc.
In fact, this was true not only of the Huns and Xianbei of the Han Dynasty, but also of the Wuhu of the Jin Dynasty, the Turks of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols of the Song Dynasty, and the Tatars, Mongols, and Manchus of the Ming Dynasty.
Didn’t you see that in the late Ming Dynasty, which of the eight imperial merchants who did business with the Jurchens and raised wild boar skins had assets worth billions, and which one was not rich enough to rival the country?
But at first glance, it sounds like the nomads are also very pitiful? It’s not that they like war, but that they have no choice.
Is everything the fault of unscrupulous traders? It was they who forced the grassland peoples to plunder and harmed countless people at the border.
But in fact, you really can’t blame the businessmen.
First of all, is it natural for businessmen to pursue profit? Buy low and sell high. This has been the case since ancient times.
Secondly, merchants also have costs when buying and selling goods.
In the Han Dynasty, an era when transportation was underdeveloped? Want to transport live cattle and sheep from the border to the interior of the Central Plains? Not to mention the various risks along the way? All kinds of exploitation, just talking about people eating horses and chewing along the way, the livestock and transportation costs are huge, merchants
You can never do a loss-making business.
You must know that countless businessmen are killed by bandits and road tyrants every year, and even prairie people kill chickens to take eggs and rob their goods, so businessmen are also using their own lives to earn huge profits.
As the saying goes, I only saw thieves eating meat, but I didn't see thieves being beaten.
It's like why Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang didn't continue their horse business honestly, but chose to invest in Liu Bei and develop inland.
When doing business at the border, if you are not careful, it will be a disaster. Even if you are a businessman, you must be cautious and trembling.
It's just that buying low and selling high really makes it unbearable for the nomads, and it does contribute to the fact that borders are often invaded to a certain extent.
So strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the grassland peoples, they want to survive.
There is nothing wrong with businessmen, they also want to survive.
The people at the border were even more blameless, because they did nothing bad, yet they suffered unreasonable disasters.
What's wrong is that the world's productivity, transportation capacity, and technological level are not enough to keep everyone fed.
However, Xianbei, who was supposed to invade last year, had no intention of entering the customs because of sufficient food.
The reason is that Gongsun Zan's business is doing well.
Gongsun Zan got the recipe for distilled liquor from Chen Mu the spring before last, so he used all his wealth to buy grain and brew spirits.
Once the strong liquor is made, it must be done in a hurry, otherwise it will become goods in your hands, and only when you sell it can it be turned into money.
So he quickly found some big businessmen and sold all the wine in his hands.
Since it was spring and summer, wine was not very popular among the nomads.
After all, nomads like to drink because they want to keep out the cold in winter. It is very hot in the north in summer, so there is no need for strong alcohol.
Therefore, this batch of wine cannot actually be sold to the Xianbei and Wuheng people in the north.
Seeing that this batch of wine was about to fall into his hands, fortunately Gongsun Zan had other sales outlets.
The nomads don't want it, but the wealthy families in the Central Plains do. After all, for the Han people, wine is a common drink in all seasons, and the demand is much higher than that of the nomads.
After having money in hand, Gongsun Zan could not focus on making distilled wine. This would consume too much food, which would lead to higher and higher food prices and make the cost of wine making more and more expensive.
Normally, Gongsun Zan definitely does not understand these economic principles.
But I couldn't stand it, but Chen Mu, a great economist, helped me with some ideas.
Therefore, under Chen Mu's suggestion, he began to buy live cattle and sheep from the grasslands in summer and autumn at high prices, and then sold them to all parts of the country through the channels of Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, with troops sent by Qingzhou and Gongsun Zan to protect them.
In this way, since Gongsun Zan bought the cattle and sheep at a high price, the Xianbei people had money in their hands. In the winter, they could buy grain, spirits, and salt from Gongsun Zan. They could be self-sufficient, and naturally there was no need to risk their lives.
Danger goes south to plunder.
So why do Chinese people love doing business?
Because business is truly mutually beneficial.
Even if buying low-priced cattle and sheep in winter seems to be exploiting the grassland peoples, if there were no merchants to help them sell cattle and sheep, at least it would save them from killing a few people.
Last year and this year, Gongsun Zan did a lot of business with the Xianbei people, and the business grew bigger and bigger.
You must know that during the Han Dynasty, Xianbei's population reached hundreds of thousands, although it was pitifully small compared with the Han Dynasty's population of four to five thousand.
But the consumption of hundreds of thousands of people was enough for Gongsun Zan to make a fortune.
Because Liu Bei, Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang formed a partnership with him, their income has increased in the past two years, and each of them has a net worth of hundreds of millions.
It's a pity that after Liu Bei had money, he really couldn't save it and often helped the people.
Although the reputation of benevolence and righteousness spread far and wide, the whole world knew that Liu Shijun was unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness.
But money, it’s all money.
Chen Mu, who learned the truth, was so heartbroken that he couldn't breathe.
But no matter what, Chen Mu has changed history.
The Han Dynasty, which was supposed to be riddled with holes and full of rebellions, barely managed to stabilize the situation and did not let the situation continue to develop in a bad direction.
The only area where there is still unrest is Xiliang.
After all, the rebellion in Xiliang is different.
The rebellion in the Central Plains region was caused by government exploitation, and the people had to resist.
The Xianbei invasion was because the grasslands could not survive and had no choice but to go south and invade the Central Plains.
In Xiliang, the ethnic conflicts are more serious. The Qiang people and the Han people are in opposition and attack each other.
Under such multiple ethnic conflicts, the Qiang people would rebel again and again and cause trouble for you from time to time.
In the fourth year of Zhongping, Han Sui killed Bian Zhang, Beigong Boyu, and Li Wenhou, supported more than 100,000 troops, and marched to surround Longxi.
Although Han Sui was a Han, the problem was that he had rebelled and got on the pirate ship and could not get off.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Wen to quell the rebellion. Zhang Wen went to Youzhou and asked the Wuheng people for three thousand cavalry.
The Wuheng people were workers of the Han people, attached to the Han Dynasty. As long as they were paid, they would help you fight. They were considered early mercenaries.
But it happened that Zhang Chun was the general of Huwu Heng, and wanted to follow Zhang Wen to put down the rebellion.
After all, Zhang Chun was originally the prime minister of the country. He was used to being a local emperor. Naturally, he did not want to continue to be a military general and wanted to be promoted through meritorious service.
However, Zhang Wen rejected him and took Gongsun Zan with him, who had recently gained a reputation among the Xianbei people.
The reason why he fell in love with Gongsun Zan was that he was not only well-known, but also had a good relationship with Xianbei Wuheng due to his business dealings with northerners, and could use him to recruit Xianbei people.
In fact, Gongsun Zan did it. He went to the three Xianbei tribes to raise his arms and immediately recruited thousands of Xianbei people, preparing to go to Xiliang with Zhang Wen to quell the rebellion.
As a result, Zhang Chun was angered by this incident.
In addition, he remembered that he was humiliated by Gongsun Zan's friend Liu Bei and Chen Mu the year before last, and it was Liu Bei and Chen Mu who caused him to be demoted.
In February of the fourth year of Zhongping, Zhang Chun worked hard and formally prepared to rebel.