Chapter 21: The Rapid Development of Chenliu County
In the past two months,
Chenliu County’s civilian villages and its policy of lower taxes attracted tens of thousands of refugees.
Including the aborigines and Yellow Turban captives that Cao Cao moved from Dongjun, the entire Chenliu County population increased by approximately 200,000!
What is the concept of a population of 200,000?
Chenliu County is located 530 miles east of Luoyang, with a total of 17 cities.
According to incomplete statistics, the entire Chenliu County has a population of approximately 600,000 to 700,000.
More than one-third of the people have moved here at once, which is undoubtedly a great test for Chenliu County's public security management and population planning.
Especially the Montenegrin Yellow Turban prisoners,
Although most of those who surrendered were old, weak, and people with families who did not want to fight anymore,
But some of them have banditry after all,
This forced Lu Yan to be on guard.
Regarding the refugees from outside, Lu Yan took a voluntary approach to them.
Those who are willing to farm can participate in Mintun.
If you like doing business, then do business.
If you still know some skills, congratulations, as long as you pass the official assessment, you will get a job with a good salary!
Lu Yanke did not have the class ideology of the ancient people of agriculture, industry and commerce.
He knows well that the economy and military are the foundation of a strong country.
Commerce makes a country's economy rich, and industry makes its military strong.
If these two industries want to develop, they cannot do without the activities of merchants and craftsmen.
A great man once said: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces!" Therefore, Lu Yan valued craftsmen more than businessmen.
Of course, scholars and farmers cannot be left behind either.
It's just that the status among the four of them has undergone some subtle changes under Lu Yan's management.
What Lu Yan is doing now is not very obvious,
After all, sometimes reforms that are too advanced may not necessarily be a good thing. You still have to consider the times and people’s acceptance.
If he ignores drastic reforms right from the start, it can only be said that he is tired of living.
Moreover, an overly radical approach is not in line with Lu Yan’s style of fishing with pay.
Anyway, it all depends on people. If you have time, try it out. If it doesn’t work, try another method...
As mentioned before, Lu Yan adopted a relatively mild and free arrangement for the refugees who came to Chenliu County voluntarily.
But for the Yellow Turban population, Lu Yan took relatively strict measures and forced them all into civilian and military villages.
All the young people in the Yellow Turbans have entered military camps, where they farm the fields during farming hours and participate in training and brainwashing in their free time;
Older and weaker women move into civilian villages where the work intensity is lower.
In the first five years, a tax rate of 10% and 50% will be imposed. After five years, the same as ordinary people, a 10% tax rate will be 4% or even 10% tax rate will be 3%.
The taxes at this time are generally 10 taxes and 60 taxes, and some black ones include 10 taxes, 78 taxes, and 78 taxes.
Once Cao Cao's "low tax" policy was announced, one can imagine its appeal to those people who couldn't live any longer.
Lu Yan felt that he was a little cruel to the Yellow Turban, but the result was far beyond his expectation.
Ordinary refugees often have various quarrels and disputes.
On the contrary, the Yellow Turban population in Montenegro not only often help each other, but are also very motivated to work, and their overall performance greatly exceeds that of the refugees.
Lu Yan understood the reason for this phenomenon after thinking for a moment.
"Most of the Yellow Turbans are ordinary people who cannot survive. Only after experiencing despair will they cherish the hard-won hope more."
The captive Yellow Turbans thought that what awaited them was cruel and animal-like labor.
What they never expected was that they could still live a good life with farming and food to eat!
It was precisely based on their realistic experience that the Black Mountain Yellow Turbans quickly recognized Cao Cao in their hearts.
Since there is a stable life to live, who is willing to rebel?
In February, the third year of Chuping,
In the meeting hall of Chenliucheng government office,
Mao Jie was reading the latest statistical results to Lu Yan and Xi Zhicai.
What Mao Jie was holding was the tabular statistical method promoted by Lu Yan with Cao Cao's approval.
However, he did not reveal the Arabic numerals and just used the table method.
“From July last year to late January this year,
Our Chenliu County attracted a total of more than 73,000 refugees, and the population of Dong County was 120,000."
Mao Jie paused and continued reading:
"Currently, a total of more than 80,000 hectares of fertile land have been reclaimed. I think we won't have to worry about food in the next few years."
Mao Jie only said that it would be in the next few years.
This is because considering that Cao Cao's territory will continue to expand, there is no guarantee that there will not be a food shortage due to too rapid expansion in the future.
Besides, there are also natural and man-made disasters, so who can guarantee that there will be no shortage of food in the future.
Speaking of this, Mao Jie unexpectedly raised his hands and saluted Lu Yan:
"The new fields are being reclaimed so quickly, all thanks to Changsheng's village policy and the reclamation efficiency of the Quyuan plow!"
Before Mao Jie finished speaking, Xi Zhicai raised his hand and added:
“Not only that, Lu Xiaowei also perfected the Lijia system and the household registration system.
Three people over fifty years old who are virtuous, knowledgeable, and respected by the public are recommended to serve as Jia Zheng. Under Jia Zheng, ten more Jia chiefs are appointed to take charge of the affairs of the area.
With the improvement of management and household registration, the population under Cao Gong's rule was fully managed and recorded, and tax revenue naturally increased."
Xi Zhicai did not mention the aristocratic families, landlords, and wealthy gentry here, but everyone was actually open-minded.
When it comes to Yinhu, I have to say a little more here,
Why was the population so small in the late Three Kingdoms period?
In addition to the sharp decline in population caused by long years of war,
In fact, there are also reasons why the Three Kingdoms gradually stabilized and wealthy families began to plunder the national wealth.
One of the more typical ones is the shade house.
Yinhu refers to a part of the household registration in feudal society that is controlled by bureaucrats, nobles, landlords, and gentry relying on their privileges and power.
Their presence will not be reported to the state,
Naturally, their taxes will not go into the country’s pockets.
As a result, the country will lose a large amount of tax revenue, and in the end it can only increase taxes, making it more difficult for ordinary people to survive.
Population is wealth, this is something Lu Yan often mentioned in his diary,
It can be seen from how Cao Cao moved the people of Dongjun and packed up the captives and took away the Yellow Turban population.
He was positive about Lu Yan's idea.
Only with talented people can we have a labor force, and only with a labor force can we promote the development of society.
Therefore, after referring to the Ming Dynasty’s Li Zheng and Huang Register systems, Lu Yan
In combination with the existing system, a relatively complete household registration system is proposed that is suitable for the current situation.
All systems must be adapted to the current conditions and cannot be used statically. As long as it is most suitable for the current situation, it is the best system.
Xi Zhicai admired the system reform proposed by Lu Yan from the bottom of his heart.
Even Mao Jie, who had always disliked Lu Yan's lazy appearance,
After seeing the year-end summary report, I finally understood the meaning of Xi Zhicai's sentence: "Longevity looks at the overall situation and has an overview of the situation"...
To the two hard-working guys,
Lu Yan bowed his hands in embarrassment and said, "You two don't need to be like this.
Yan just puts forward ideas,
The people who really realize the idea are you and countless lower-level managers!"
"Yes, there are countless people who realize their ideas.
But the only person who can have such an idea is you, Lu Yan!" Mao Jie's words were very resounding!
Lu Yan raised his head and looked at this virtuous gentleman who had always wanted to "promote" him.