The country is always lost because of its weakness, and the only Han Dynasty is lost because of its strength.
The fall of the Han Dynasty was a very complicated matter that cannot be summarized in this simple sentence.
But this sentence also reveals a truth: the military system of the Han Dynasty was a double-edged sword, which also caused a lot of harm to the Han Dynasty itself.
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established hundreds of years of peace in the Han Dynasty in one fell swoop, the huge military expenditure also led to an empty national treasury.
In fact, hidden dangers were laid before the Wenjing rule, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took all the blame.
At that time, when the Han Dynasty was first established, the country was extremely poor. The Han court was unable to collect taxes from land, so it simply reduced taxes significantly, but in order to maintain fiscal revenue, it turned to a poll tax.
This has resulted in a significant reduction in the price of land purchase. Due to the tax reduction, the land tax to be paid is very low, with a tax of 30 per cent, and there are even tax exemptions for several years.
This certainly stimulated production, but those wealthy bureaucratic landlords and wealthy businessmen began to buy large amounts of land.
Compared with the wealth brought by the fields, the head tax was completely negligible. At the same time, land concealment, tax evasion, illegal households, etc. emerged at the historic moment. The actual population of a household was often several times the registered number, and they were all dependent on the big landowners.
Coupled with the currency used to collect taxes and the official selection system linked to currency, by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the big landlords' farms "livestocked fish and livestock, and gave to anyone who asked for it", built barriers to the outside world, and even had their own armed forces.
As a result, powerful noble clans emerged.
But in contrast, the lower class people had no means of livelihood and could not survive, which eventually led to the Yellow Turban Uprising. However, behind the Yellow Turban Uprising, there was the shadow of the gentry, just like the big landowners stood behind Liu Xiu's Red Eyebrow Army.
Therefore, the vast majority of peasant uprisings ended in tragedy. They either made wedding dresses for big landowners, or became big landowners themselves, and never found the key to break out of the cycle.
Yuan Xi didn't know if he could resist foreigners with the power of one state, but he definitely couldn't learn the methods of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was almost brought down, let alone a mere Youzhou?
That's why Yuan Xi came up with the idea of digging ditches for all the people, and taking advantage of the opportunity to wipe out Gongsun Zan and reshuffle Youzhou, he tried his best to turn the fields into military garrison and official fields to minimize the influence of the nobles.
Between the cities, most of the fields were blocked and protected by camps, making it difficult for enemies to plunder.
Of course, this set of ideas cannot be completed within a few years, but Yuan Xi believes that as long as he continues to operate, in more than ten years, decades, or hundreds of years, Youzhou will be full of fertile fields, fertile soil, rivers and fish ponds, instead of becoming a
The land of Longxing for nomadic people.
Before Zhao Yun left, Yuan Xi said: "This matter involves long-term planning and cannot be leaked to the public for the time being to avoid being taken advantage of."
"As for training cavalry, we can only stay far away and get close to the enemy's territory, which can also be used for reconnaissance."
Zhao Yun nodded when he heard this, and then heard Yuan Xi say: "In the next few days, I will take Sun Li to patrol on horseback in the direction of Yijing."
"I will wear a unique helmet, so in a few days, interested people will find out."
Zhao Yun was startled, but then he understood and said: "It's a bit dangerous."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "If you can't leave the child, you can't trap the wolf."
Zhao Yun immediately understood and said, "I will send someone to inform Dezhou and Ziyi."
Yuan Xi laughed after hearing this and said, "Brother, I hope you understand me, otherwise I really wouldn't have the confidence to carry out such a dangerous move."
After sending Zhao Yun away, the two women heard their conversation and knew that Yuan Xi was going to put himself in danger again. They couldn't help but look worried and the atmosphere became depressed.
Yuan Xi smiled and joked: "Compared to the countless things that worry me, having three generals to help me this time is quite relaxing. I can't be without any strength."
"It's the lack of progress in the method of retting dung that worries me."
Cao Xian somehow thought of the embarrassment he had been in for several days when he first arrived, and said, "Can those dirty things really be turned into fertilizer for the land as the young master said?"
Yuan Xi nodded: "Definitely, it just needs to be explored and some key things are missing."
The invention of manure retting technology in the Song Dynasty was one of the landmark events that made Jiangnan a land of plenty.
The earliest definite records that can be found are Chen Min's "Nongshu" and Lou Xuan's "Farming and Weaving Picture Poems", which record that human excrement was used as fertilizer in Jiangnan in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Wang Zhen's "Nongshu" and "Liao Fan's Miscellaneous Works" record that in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, farmers in the south of the Yangtze River "all had pit latrines, and when they were overused, they had to use pit toilets. Those who could not set up pits at home could also set up pit toilets at the head of the field.
, picking up random bricks to build them and hiding excrement in them."
From then on, the stinky thing that everyone hated became the gold in the land that everyone fought for.
The processing of manure requires a long period of experience accumulation, and how to decompose it without damaging the soil also requires certain methods.
Yuan Xi had never personally planted land in his previous life, but he had heard that most septic tanks in later generations required chemical reactions. Obviously, this cannot be done now, so traditional methods can only be used.
If fermented naturally, water manure often needs to accumulate for more than half a year before it can become usable mature manure. The time interval is too long.
To speed up this process, the method of steaming manure was used in the Yuan Dynasty.
Yuan Xi only remembers that when the earth's atmosphere warmed up, he would dig deep pools to gather manure and seal it for retting, or build huts in open spaces. All manure, dirt, garbage, chaff, stalks, and fallen leaves would be piled in them and covered with soil to keep them in place.
If the room is hot and decomposed, if it still doesn't work, you can light a fire around the bottom, in other words, to heat it up.
In addition to this method, there were later "simmering manure method" and "dung pit method", which are the crystallization of the wisdom of working people.
However, the idea is simple, but there are some difficulties in operation. Even farmers who have been farming for many years are not sure when manure is most effective, and the fertility depends on the farmer's harvest.
Therefore, after Yuan Xi made requests to the agricultural officials in Beixin City, those people were also at a loss.
When Yuan Xi saw the bamboo slips that Wu Zhao had brought out from several officials, he was convinced that the progress was very slow, but he realized that farming was not an easy task.
At this time, he missed Chen Denglai who was proficient in farming even more. If the other party was not in Xuzhou now and beyond his reach, Yuan Xi would sometimes even want to find someone to kidnap him.
At the moment, we can only hope that our officials will make a breakthrough. As long as this method becomes popular, people will rush to collect feces. It can also greatly improve the situation of littering with feces and urine. It will also be a great improvement for the city's sanitation and epidemic prevention.
Ancient China paid great attention to hygiene. It is recorded in "Zuo Zhuan" that in the sixth year of Cheng Gong's reign, some people had already discovered that sewage might bring diseases to people, so they had to protect people's health through sewage discharge.
"Tang Lv Shu Yi" clearly stipulates that residents are allowed to splash water on the streets, but if they splash excrement or garbage on the streets, they will be punished, and the most serious person will be fined 60 big boards.
In contrast, until the development of chemical technology in Europe, there were almost no good methods for treating excrement. The British envoy who went to see Qianlong made a special record of the method of retting dung in Jiangnan.
Especially in medieval Europe, even in big cities like London and Paris, excrement and urine were dumped everywhere, and there was never a shortage of surprises falling from the sky, forming a beautiful landscape.
In order to prevent people from stepping on feces, people invented high heels. In order to prevent being hit by feces falling from the sky, people held umbrellas or used cloaks to cover themselves.
According to Charles II's historians, feces was everywhere in the study, bedrooms, cellars, and chimneys of the British royal palace at that time.
In many castles at that time, a deep pit was dug in the basement to hold dung. When it was full, it was filled with wooden boards and soil, and then filled up one by one.
According to records, the cause of Jin Jinggong's death was "died after eating, bloating, going to the toilet, and falling into the toilet." It is said that he slipped and fell into a manure pit and drowned.
In the European Middle Ages, similar famous events also occurred, but the number of people was larger.
In Germany at that time, a fierce conflict broke out between the Archbishop Louis III of Thuringia and the Archbishop Conrad I of Mainz over territory.
The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I was busy conquering Italy. In order to avoid a fire in the backyard, he sent the Crown Prince Henry VI to mediate the grievances between the two.
The bishop of Erfurt also donated his castle as a meeting place for Henry VI to mediate between the two sides.
Because of the noble status of both parties, many of the empire's great nobles came uninvited. As a result, there were so many people that the floor on the second floor was trampled and collapsed. The falling crowd smashed through the floor on the first floor, and then fell into the castle.
In the basement.
The basement of this castle was a cesspit, with countless feces accumulated in it, so at least more than 60 nobles drowned.
This incident was known as the "Erfurt Toilet Tragedy" in later generations. It is said that this castle became the famous St. Peter's Cathedral.
When Yuan Xi read this period of history, he couldn't figure out one thing.
It is said that because diseases are rampant in Europe, doctors believe that not taking a bath can prevent and cure diseases, so it is okay to not pay attention to hygiene, but what about the urban drainage system?
The earliest sewers in Europe are said to date back to Paris in the 14th century after the Renaissance, and even later in London and the like.
But it is said that the ancient Romans invented important urban drainage systems long ago. The city of Rome was clean and tidy, but their descendants gave up all these things?
In China, unearthed cultural relics from the Warring States Period show that there were drainage systems at that time.
However, since the Tang Dynasty, China's sewer system has not been fully developed due to various reasons. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it even regressed, causing it to be overtaken by latecomers.
A considerable part of the reason why the old Chang'an moved the capital was that the terrain was low-lying. Although there was a drainage system, it could not flow out, causing the groundwater to deteriorate. "Everything tastes salty."
When Yuan Xi thought of this, he not only shook his head. No matter what, if you want to change your life, you must not only make breakthroughs in technology, but also advance in economy, knowledge, and even living habits. It is really a long way to go.
.
The West finally caught up with the industrial revolution. The soil and birth of science were both accidental and inevitable. Yuan Xi did not think that he could give birth to a scientific system in the current era with his own efforts. He could only try to reclaim wasteland for the first time.
step.
Literacy can open up people's wisdom.
At least it can allow craftsmen and artists to get the status and treatment they deserve, so that ordinary people can also read and write, so that scholars, peasants, industry and commerce are not so distinct.
In the long thousands of years, only 1% of people can read and write. If the other 99% of people can read, acquire knowledge, and start thinking, this society will progress faster than before.
How many?
As for changing the social system, Yuan Xi gave up. This was not something he could do alone. He was not a savior, he was just an ordinary person.
He would be satisfied if the troubled times were ended as soon as possible, the world was at peace, society was restored to order, and the criminal law could be used.
He asked Wu Zhao to find a red tassel and tie it on his helmet, then called Sun Li to prepare to lead the scouts out of the city.
When Sun Li came over, Yuan Xi saw the displeasure on his face and wanted to kick him.
Within half a year of his departure, Sun Li's wife was already pregnant!
Yuan Xi's mentality is unbalanced. I failed to get married. It's better for you. You will have the next generation before the age of fifteen!
The two mounted their horses and led dozens of scouts toward Rongcheng, dozens of miles away, which was the closest to Yi Jing among the three cities.
Wu Zhao and Cao Xian sent Yuan Xi out of the house and did not return to the house until he could no longer be seen.
Cao Xian looked a little disappointed and said: "Young Master has only been back for a long time, and he is leaving again."
Wu Zhao said softly: "Young Master is destined to change the world. He belongs to everyone, not any of us."