: Inventory of the Ministry

Author: Yang's Good Son

: Inventory of the Ministry

Less than three days after Moling City was conquered, the magistrate of Jurong County, the last county in the north of Danyang County, also abandoned the city and left.

Moling County is the key defense line arranged by Liu Yao. More than 4,000 heavy troops were stationed. Moling County surrendered, and Jurong County, without a garrison, naturally could not stick to it.

Liu Yao also wanted to gather the troops scattered in various counties, because Sun Ce took down all the Danyang counties, and the next step was to attack Qua eastward.

Jurong, Qu'a, and the territory is connected. The decisive battle that determines the ownership of Jiangdong will break out here.

However, it is late February, and Sun Ce raised his troops in December. By the end of February, in more than two months, he not only crossed the Yangtze River, but also conquered the entire northern part of Danyang County. At this time, Sun Ce was not in a hurry to fight to the decisive battle.

He devoted all his energy to stabilizing the rear and rectifying the army.

Recently, the army conquered three counties in a row, capturing more than 6,000 prisoners from the surrendered army and the troops of Zuo Rong.

These are all people from Jianghuai. They are wandering in Jiangdong, wandering in a state of uncertainty, and their morale is unstable. They must spend a lot of energy to stabilize them.

The main force of Sun Ce's army was stationed in Moling City to deal with these matters.

After hearing that Sun Ce's army had captured Moling, Lu Fan also took a boat overnight and rushed to Liyang City for hundreds of miles.

Sun Ce attaches great importance to this right-hand man and personally welcomes him into the mansion.

After taking the seat, Lu Fan briefly congratulated and immediately turned to the topic: "General, we have already captured Danyang, and the general's command has tens of thousands of people. It should be the time when the troops entered Wujun and escaped the constraints."

Sun Ce nodded slightly, acknowledged Lu Fan's words, and replied: "I stayed in Moling for a moment to rectify the forces under my command, gather strength, and then advance eastward with Liu Yao. Ziheng took charge of the rear and supervised the logistics, and first talk about the specific situation of your responsibility."

Lu Fan came to Moling for this purpose and had made complete preparations. He immediately took out a thick stack of booklets from his bag.

"General, this is the list of the plots I have compiled, which records in detail all the general's commandments, supplies, and grain."

Sun Ce did not rush to ask, but his eyes lit up. Looking at the thick stack of books Lu Fan took out, he said in surprise: "There are so many papers?"

Lu Fan opened the booklet with the fragrance of paper rolls and replied: "This is the first batch of paper just made in Shicheng County. Gaoxianjun provided a manor to paper craftsmen in Shicheng County. Nearly a hundred craftsmen made paper according to the mature method. After two months, they produced about two stones of paper."

Two stone paper is about fifty-four kilograms, which sounds like a lot, but a book is about one kilogram, and it may only be a few baskets to pack.

When Lu Fan saw Sun Ce, he became frustrated and explained: "The papermaking craftsmen have matured, but they are not easy to collect materials such as bark, hemp, worn cloth, fish nets, etc., so the number of the first batch of papermaking is small and will gradually increase in the future."

Tree bark, hemp, rags, fish nets, these are really very cheap raw materials for production.

Sun Ce said: "There are many bamboos in the south of the Yangtze River, so let the craftsmen try to soak the bamboo for a hundred days and then mass-produce bamboo paper. I hope that one day, a consensus will be formed in the world. Don't buy gold if you have money, but buy Jiangdong paper, which is as white as spring clouds."

Of course, this sentence was not made up by Sun Ce, but a poem that really appeared in history.

The main reason is that there are many bamboos in Jiangnan and papermaking technology is highly developed.

Bamboo is not necessarily cheaper than the items used in papermaking today.

But its output is huge and it can be produced continuously. The scale is always one of the biggest advantages of the industry.

Lu Fan nodded, responded solemnly, and said, "After I go back, I will talk about this with the craftsmen."

Sun Ce was not in a hurry to do this. Even if it could be released in ten or twenty years, it would be a great achievement, and it would never be too late.

The main energy of the two people is still in military and internal affairs.

Lu Fan opened the book and officially began to report: "General, we can only count one county that we can influence strongly now, because we can only control half of the two counties of Liyang and Shicheng. It is entirely because of the cooperation of our county magistrates in the garrison, which can exert influence."

In terms of territory and territory, Sun Ce's sphere of influence is indeed not large.

Liyang County and Shicheng County, which he could strongly influence, were nominally affiliated. Liyang belonged to Chen Ji, Jiujiang County, and Shicheng County belonged to Zhou Shang, Danyang County.

Sun Ce said calmly: "This aspect has little impact. Whether it is the magistrate of Liyang County, Shao Zhuo or the magistrate of Shicheng County, they are all smart people. Our army camp is stationed in the county, and they will cooperate with us in the governance."

Especially Gao Cheng, the magistrate of Shicheng County, was very ambitious. In order to follow Sun Ce, he was willing to take the seal and seal officials.

It is still the most suitable truth for the world. Wherever a prince's army is stationed, it is his sphere of influence.

Sun Ce's army was in Liyang and Shicheng County. Even if the county government issued an order to collect taxes and corvee labor, the county magistrate could spread his hands and push them all over the Sun Ce's army.

Unfortunately, all the money, grain, soldiers and soldiers were robbed by Sun Ce's army. If the county government needs it, go and ask them for it.

This is a relatively friendly and friendly rhetoric. Under normal circumstances, a large army is stationed in a county, and theoretically, the local politics, economy and public security will completely collapse.

The bandits pass like combs, and the soldiers pass like casters. Before Sun Ce arrived in Liyang, the state of Liyang was in line with the tragic situation of the current era.

There is no need to think about population, taxes, public security, and county governments.

Otherwise, Chen Ji would have to go to the front line and let the generals on the front line restrain military discipline? The generals on the front line would not ask him for food or soldiers, but would have to ask for women. He would be afraid of avoiding it so that he would not care about Li Yang's life or death.

Lu Fan said: "Although the magistrate of Liyang County Shao Zhuo is a little less righteous, he is indeed a talent. In the past few months, he has responded to the government orders of us and the county government without offending either. Moreover, during this period, he has restored the governance of Liyang and has clearly counted various data."

"Now there are 12,378 households in Liyang, with a population of 83,632!"

This number is very accurate, and it has reached every one, which shows that Shao Zhuo is indeed very talented.

You should know that in later dynasties, whose population and household registration were almost unchanged for hundreds of years, they could not figure out whether the population they governed was 50 million, hundreds of millions or even 200 million. In this case, it is a miracle that the finances do not collapse.

In comparison, Shao Zhuo's book book is already a model.

Sun Ce asked: "The population is nearly 30,000 more than the normal number of households. Is it because of opening warehouses and releasing grain?"

Lu Fan nodded and suddenly laughed.

Sun Ce asked curiously: "Why did Ziheng laugh?"

Lu Fan smiled and said, "I remembered the general's joke next to Chaohu Lake. I heard that there were ladies, hundreds of soldiers rushed to the shore of the lake. The general made a bold statement to set up a family and establish a career for all the soldiers. Now there are conditions."

"Oh?" Sun Ce also became interested. He wanted to take a large number of prisoners to Wujun to develop the local Taihu Plain.

For example, the more than 6,000 prisoners in Moling and thousands of craftsmen in Niuzhu Camp.

Most of these people fled from the north to the south of the Yangtze River, and some were captured soldiers and troops, but in general, most of them were bachelors.

Sun Ce naturally hoped to help them all settle down and establish a career. The so-called "people with constant property have perseverance. With their wife and daughter's family business, they are no longer unstable elements who have been dead and fled together, but are the mainstay of social production.

Lu Fan explained: "The Shangjian Association counted the strong men and women in the county, and the magistrate of Liyang County submitted the book to us according to the plan. There were more than 28,600 strong men and more than 18,400 strong women in Liyang County. Among them, there were about 8,000 women who were unmarried and widowed, and most of them were refugees."

Sun Ce immediately understood and asked, "Ziheng specifically mentioned this item. Is Liyang unable to place so many people?"

Lu Fan nodded: "Liyang is a large county with a population of tens of thousands of households, and the destruction it suffered is undoubtedly lighter than Shicheng County. The advantage is that the powerful can sell more grain, but the disadvantage is also very significant. The powerful have merged a large amount of land and there is not much redundant arable land to accommodate refugees."

Sun Ce couldn't help laughing and sighed: "In this world, should good people be pointed at by guns?"

Sun Ce confirmed that Liyang Haoqiang must have complained about him and was angry that he had distributed the abandoned land to the refugees, delaying their wealth in the national crisis.

But they didn't know how many lives they had saved because of their rule.

If Yuan Shu was allowed to rule them, the entire Jianghuai Dynasty would be ruined and the counties would be destroyed. When Liu Fu became the governor of Yangzhou, all counties would become empty cities, and there were only bandits in the wild. In this case, let alone resentment, it would be a luxury to be able to survive.

But at this moment, they were most hostile to Sun Ce, who would save countless lives.

Sun Ce naturally did not take several powerful men from a county in Liyang County to heart, and immediately said to Lu Fan: "Some of the powerful men have narrow-minded eyes, while others have great ambitions and integrity. Those who are willing to help the world have more contact with them because of their support. Those narrow-minded and brutal people do not need to show mercy and directly comply with the Han system and clean up them all. They collect their money for military purposes and use their land and houses to resettle refugees."

The powerful are not as noble as they cannot be killed. The capable ministers and officials of great men and women have to clean up a group of cruel and powerful men every time they take office. This kind of thing is a drummer who praises the situation from aristocratic families to ordinary people.

Nowadays, the princes are even more cruel than the other. Cao Cao is famous for being cruel. He will not let go of living people, and even dead people will not let go. He touches the hills and digs the graves and uses everything he can. He has all the ancestral tombs of the powerful families.

The same is true for the Yuan brothers. Yuan Shao cut off the wealthy house in Hebei, collected the exam and blamed the money, that is, arrested people and blackmailed the tribute. Yuan Shu took the lead in Jianghuai, and did not establish a moral government, and used plunder as a resource.

Sun Ce was also willing to follow the laws of the Han Dynasty to govern counties, which was already very kind.

Lu Fan highly recognized Sun Ce's statement and said: "The ancient kings set up the three rules to calm the chaos. Now that the Han Dynasty has lost its virtue, the world is in chaos, Yuan Shu has no moral principles, and the Jianghuai has complained. If we can understand the punishment and imperial laws, the superiors will not obey the law, and the subordinates will obey the hearts of the people. We will surely be able to maintain peace in our careers, and the virtues will be transformed into great deeds, and even the powerful people in other counties will come to us."

It was because Yuan Shu was greedy for family wealth, and his head was cut off and his wife and daughter were robbed for no reason. Or he lived and worked in a county with fair laws. Obviously, most powerful people were still easy to make a decision.

Sun Ce and Lu Fan actually did not have much hostility towards the powerful, and there was no system targeting them.

Basically, as long as a powerful man is not overly greedy, there will be no big conflict between the two sides.

In this chaotic era, the powerful gathered to guard the crowd, which was more likely to survive than ordinary people. In Youzhou and Yangzhou, the people would spontaneously elect several wise men, lead them to gather together and reclaim wasteland.

So even if Lu Fan cleared out a few Liyang Haoyou, there would not be too much land that could be used to resettle the people, because they had many hidden households under their names.

Lu Fan suggested: "When clearing up the powerful people in Liyang, the population will increase further. The best way is to let the people take refuge in Jiangnan and help them establish a family in Jiangnan. More than 8,000 strong women in Liyang are unable to survive alone when they go to Jiangnan. Marrying a soldier as a wife is the best choice."

Sun Ce nodded slightly. In the late Han Dynasty, the population was turbulent and the population was sharply reduced. Women were extremely important strategic resources. Basically, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu all had national policies on marriage.

Cao Wei was famous for loving widows. The national policy ordered the counting of widows in various counties, and then the court unified the marriage. Cao Rui even ordered that all the women of the aristocratic family marry the women of the fair family be separated and remarried to the soldiers.

Sun Wu’s policy is more like what Sun Ce is implementing now, and the country divides his wife. The king loves the people more than babies. Those who have no wives will give them a concubine. Those who see a single garment will give them silk, and those who have dried bones will not be collected and buried.

In the Eastern Wu, if you were a bachelor, you could really be given a wife by the court. For a while, the palace maids were even born in the palace to be compatible with no wife.

Sun Ce is indeed not so generous, and he gives his concubine to the wifeless person as his wife.

But it is still possible to spend some energy to match the strong woman who fled from the north with soldiers as her wives.

Sun Ce said: "After conquering Qu'a, I will send all the ships back to Liyang to help refugees cross the river to resettle. However, when it comes to marriage, we must count the number of soldiers. Now there are recruitment everywhere, can the number of soldiers be named?"

Lu Fan nodded immediately and turned a page of the booklet: "Now the general has tens of thousands of people, divided into several parts. There are more than 1,000 new recruits in Liyang, more than 23,000 soldiers in Niuzhu, tens of thousands of prisoners, and more than 3,000 craftsmen. There are nearly 2,000 naval troops. There are also 4,000 war soldiers in Moling and Danyang counties."

Sun Ce made a summary: "There are still 6,000 prisoners in Moling County. I calculated that there are about 50,000 in total."

This number is a little more than when Sun Ce advanced eastward in history.

In history, when Sun Ce left Danyang, there were tens of thousands of troops, so he said to Zhou Yu: "It is enough for me to use this crowd to win Wu Hui to ping Shanyue. You will return to Danyang."

Nowadays, the tens of thousands of people were mainly because Sun Ce kept the old and weak in Shatai, and did not let them fend for themselves, but instead organized them to go to military camps to cultivate water conservancy, and promote infrastructure.

In fact, Sun Ce's main elite soldiers were less, with a scale of just tens of thousands of people.

Lu Fan asked: "General, he has 50,000 people, which is not uncommon in the north. He only stays in one county and is called king and lonely. But if we want to bring all the 50,000 people to Wujun, it will probably be extremely difficult to achieve."

Sun Ce waved his hand decisively and said, "I have never planned to take more than 50,000 people away."

Thanks to book friend Xuanwei General Cao Xueyang for giving 100 starting coins

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!