By the time they arrived in Zhengdi, Zhiyao's inspection team had swelled to nearly 50,000 people.
Not all of these 50,000 people are soldiers.
Among the more than 10,000 people, there were nearly 200 palace maids and eunuchs, nearly 1,000 subordinates of various officials, and the rest were accompanying civil servants.
When going on patrol, you must bring a full team. Officials at all levels also need people to handle chores. Tribesmen and followers always have to bring some, right?
Zhiyao's first stop is "Zhitian", and then he will go to "Xinzheng" for a long time.
In the past, the Zheng State relied almost entirely on the production of "made fields" to support itself.
This is not to say that there were no farming operations in other areas. The reason was that the Jin army repeatedly invaded in the north, and the Chu army in the south came to raid from time to time, forcing the Zheng monarchs and ministers to fully develop the "land control" and set up defense lines around it.
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“How many hectares of farmland are there?”
"Go back to the king and measure it to be 80,000 hectares."
"More or less?"
"Back to your Majesty, it's slightly smaller than before."
Let’s just say, how could 80,000 hectares of land support Zheng’s food needs?
Of course, other places in Zheng also produced food, supplemented by game, gathering, etc., and grain was purchased from abroad.
In fact, Zhiyao only knows the number of acres of farmland in the original country. It is impossible to know in detail how much farmland there is in the original country. However, Zhiyao has more than 3.4 million hectares of farmland in his hands.
This number is not an exaggeration at all. You have to know how large the current territory of the original country is. Many areas were annexed by other countries. Most of the cultivated fields are registered as a kind of "forefathers planted trees and later generations enjoyed the shade".
Regarding the number of acres of land, there is no relevant data from the pre-Qin period. By the Western Han Dynasty, 8.27 million hectares were cultivated, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it reached 22.57 million hectares. The most exaggerated number of acres was during the reign of Yang Guang in the Sui Dynasty.
The amount reached an exaggerated 43.56 million hectares, and subsequent dynasties basically did not surpass the Sui Dynasty. In some dynasties, the amount of registered farmland was surprisingly small.
In the early days of Li Tang, there were only 8.5 million hectares, and during the Tianbao period it increased to 14.3 million hectares. At first glance, there is really a big gap between Li Tang and Yang Sui.
However, there is very little farmland registered in Li Tang. In fact, the farmland is not abandoned. To put it bluntly, it is hidden and not registered in official records. Historians use this to infer that Li Tang basically adopted a policy of appeasement towards wealthy families, or could not control it at all.
The Zhengshuo Song Dynasty, which had the smallest territory, had seven million hectares of land, which was more than one million less than the equal period of Li and Tang. However, the territory ruled by Li and Tang was 2.6 times larger than that of Zhao and Song Dynasty!
If this doesn't prove the fact that those historians said that Li Tang belonged to a powerful family, from the imperial examinations started by Yang Sui to the fact that Li Tang was still a toy of a wealthy family, it can prove something, right?
The current total population of the Yuan country has just exceeded 10 million. According to the available data, it has more than 3.4 million hectares of farmland. You can imagine how happy the people of the Yuan country will be once Zhiyao implements the policy of recuperation and recuperation in the Western Han Dynasty.
With a population of 10 million, there are more than 3.4 million hectares of farmland. This is actually the source of Zhiyao’s confidence that the country’s population will surge in the next twenty years.
If you can eat enough and save money, you must believe in Zhu Xia's concept of life. Everyone must want to have more children!
The fact is also like this. If you can't live well, who in the normal world wants to have children? If you want to have children, you must have a husband or a wife. Couples who are married know very well that giving birth will increase the burden on themselves and their elders, and they will definitely suffer for the next generation.
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"What's going on in Chu State?"
"Back to your Majesty, the princes of Chu State gathered at Ying, and there were also strange movements in various places."
Zhiyao looked towards the south with an interesting expression.
It's not that Zhiyao is narcissistic and thinks that when she comes to Zhengdi, she will make Chu State nervous, which is why she shows that expression.
Chu State is actually a country with a very adventurous spirit. The kings and ministers of Chu State can often do things that others dare not do.
Arriving at "Zhengtian" will be the closest the patrol team will get to the southern line, and they will not continue southward.
Going further south and entering the Chen region, the Chu kings and ministers who originally intended to take risks would inevitably retreat.
What does it mean? It means Zhiyao wants to seduce the state of Chu.
In the next half month, Zhiyao received repeated reports from Chu Di.
The kings and ministers of the Chu State didn't know what was concluded in the negotiations. In short, the Chu State entered the mobilization stage, and it was clear that they wanted to do something while Zhiyao appeared in Zheng Di.
Zhiyao has no way of knowing how many troops the Chu State has mobilized for the time being, but he can guess that it will be no less than 300,000, and it may even reach more than 400,000.
"Your Majesty, please mobilize as soon as possible?" Sima Ranju suggested.
Zhiyao smiled and said, "There's no rush."
Just do the whole show, pretending not to know that the Chu State has begun to mobilize the whole country, or pretending that you know some information and think that the Chu State is going to send more troops to the land of Wu and Yue.
Therefore, Zhiyao sent people to Qi, issued an order to mobilize two fully-equipped legions, and asked the two assembled legions to march towards Wu.
In addition, Zhiyao also sent people to Qin, asking Qin to assemble a full army to move to Shangyu and station it.
The mobilization of Qi and Qin was only a partial mobilization of the original country, and it was more or less a strategy of killing two birds with one stone.
When the Zhao Dynasty discovered that Qin was mobilizing, they would first feel nervous. Then they discovered that one of the mobilized legions was heading south, and found that they were finally stationed in the land of Shangyu. They would basically make a judgment that there was a war between the Yuan Kingdom and Chu State, and let them
Zhao Muxie became even more courageous.
The mobilization of Qi? There is nothing to say. Qi was once a country with a fairly small territory and a very high population density. The mobilization mechanism of the original country is completely different from that of the classical era. The mobilization of two full-scale legions was in line with the situation.
It's nothing. If necessary, at least three more fully-equipped legions can be drawn out.
The summer harvest season was coming soon, so Zhiyao simply stayed in the "Zhengtian" to watch the summer harvest.
Because Zhiyao was involved in "land control", how could the county chiefs in the area dare to act arbitrarily? They would definitely come to pay their respects. It was guessed that Zhiyao valued the summer harvest and pretended to be hard-working.
After the summer harvest was completed, more news about Chu was sent.
By this time, Zhiyao had already brought people to "Xinzheng".
After the Yuan Kingdom conquered "Xinzheng", they dealt with the trenches dug during the attack on "Xinzheng" and did not dismantle the original defensive lines in the city of "Xinzheng".
Because there are a total of nine lines of defense in the city, "Xinzheng" is actually not suitable as a civilian city, otherwise it will be very inconvenient just to enter and exit the city.
The pursuit of residential houses is convenience. It is obviously very close to the outer city, but if you want to go out of the city, you have to go around in more than one big circle. You can imagine how inconvenient it is.
Today's "Xinzheng" is used as a fortress, with no less than two "divisions" of garrison stationed there for a long time. Once there is any movement from the Chu State, the garrison strength will be appropriately increased based on actual conditions.
Isn't this a relatively big commotion in Chu State? Zhiyao mobilized a full army from the Song Dynasty and transferred this army to station outside the city of "Xinzheng".
At the same time, Zhiyao also mobilized a full army in Zhengdi and transferred it to station outside "Shangqiu" city.
This move completely uses the hatred accumulated from the continuous war between Zheng and Song. It is not a very clever check and balance method, but it is obviously very effective.
The Yuan Kingdom's frequent mobilization cannot be hidden from the Chu Kingdom, which is bound to pay attention. However, Zhiyao's current mobilization mechanism is more like setting up a defense line. In particular, he actively spreads the news that the Yuan Kingdom is attacking Shu. What he wants is a kind of Yuan Kingdom.
I don’t want to give the illusion of a large-scale war with Chu at this time.
The border confrontation between the Northeast and Donghu has never stopped, and both sides need to have a little fight every year.
Because of the Yuan Kingdom's presence in Daidi, the friction with Wuji is increasing day by day, and Lou Fan always comes to join in the fun.
Needless to say, Qin is facing dual threats from Yiqu and Zhao Dai.
Zhiyao is certain that the Chu State and the Zhao Dai State are definitely connected, but she is not sure how close the relationship between the two parties is.
In addition, on the border between Wu and Yue, Yuan State and Chu State have been fighting continuously for a year.
If calculated that way, the Yuan Kingdom has currently launched five fronts. It makes no sense that the Chu Kingdom's monarchs and ministers are not aware of it at all.
What is difficult for the kings and ministers of the Chu State to know is how many troops the Yuan State has deployed on those fronts, and the Chu State dignitaries who have been bribed by the Yuan State will reveal true and false information.
"Why are you here?"
One day, Zhiyao was really shocked when she saw Sun Wu.
Sun Wu is ninety years old this year. The most taboo thing for older people is to travel long distances.
"How can we be without an old minister in a battle with Chu?" Sun Wu said this happily.
Zhiyao was right in thinking about it.
Sun Wu's battle to become famous was his confrontation with the Chu State, and he had learned a lot about the Chu State when he served in the Wu State. If the original country wanted to fight against the Chu State, Sun Wu's presence would indeed be indispensable.
Zhiyao asked Zhiyang to compile the information about Chu and read it to Sun Wu.
Sun Wu, who is already ninety years old, sees everything as a lake and cannot read, but his legs and feet are still very flexible.
Zhiyao was actually very envious of Sun Wu. Even at the age of ninety, he was still free from illness and disaster, especially being able to move around.
How many ninety-year-olds can do that? More commonly, they have difficulty even walking.
However, the Spring and Autumn Period was a very strange era. In an environment where the average life span was no more than thirty, there would be centenarians from time to time, and they could still wander around when they were old.
For example, Qu Yuan, who lived to be 101 years old, and Lao Tzu, who also lived to be 101 years old, are both very old people who can travel around.
Zhiyao looked at Sun Wu's condition and guessed that Sun Wu might be the next centenarian.
A hundred years old? Zhiyao feels that if she can live to be eighty, she will be considered a high incense, and maybe she will be buried in her seventies.
While listening to the information being read, Sun Wu's face turned serious. After listening, he said, "The Chu State may have mobilized more than half a million troops this time."
That is judged from the scale of the mobilized grain.
After reading the information, Zhiyao came to the same conclusion as Sun Wu. To be honest, she admired Chu State very much.
If it were other countries, knowing that the original country was powerful, they would not be able to send out troops. They would only think about how to build a turtle shell.
The Chu State is worthy of being the Chu State. It was the first country to challenge the status of the Emperor of Zhou a long time ago and was the only country in the Spring and Autumn Period. It also once held the power of one country against all the other countries in the Central Plains.
This kind of Chu State is indeed not the type to sit back and wait for death in the face of difficulties. He is brave enough to want to reverse the unfavorable situation, and he really dares to do it if he wants to.
Zhiyao said: "The Chu State has assembled an army of 500,000 people, and we are also mobilizing. Within two months, an army of 300,000 people arrived at Xinzheng."
300,000 troops were used by Zhiyao to confront the 500,000 Chu army head-on. They did not include the troops assembled and ready in the land of Wu, Yue, Shang, and Song.
Sun Wu asked: "I wonder how the strategy of conquering Shu is going?"
Nearly three months have passed since the Yuan army invaded the Shu Kingdom, which means that it has been seven or eight months since the Yuan army invaded the Shu Kingdom.
The ancient Shu Kingdom may have a long history, but they lived in a too closed environment, and their level of civilization may not be low, but people were used to living a somewhat comfortable life.
The original army was trapped in Mianshui for two months, and as a result, "Chengdu" knew nothing about it. Even though the Shu area was mountainous and forested, it still seemed incredible that this situation would occur.
It was not until the original army arrived at the city of "Chengdu" that the kings and ministers of the Shu Kingdom realized that a large army was attacking. Who dared to believe such a thing? It just happened like that!
At present, the original army has captured "Chengdu" and successfully captured the King of Shu. However, it does not mean that the Shu Kingdom has been completely destroyed. It still needs to slowly capture several other relatively densely populated areas.
In the history of the original version, the Qin army encountered almost no obstacles along the way. The difficulty they encountered was that the road was difficult to walk. They arrived in "Chengdu" with great arrogance and launched an offensive, easily conquering the city.
Zhiyao didn't know how Ba and Shu were destroyed by Qin in the original history. The reason why three "divisions" of troops were sent to invade Bashu was too simple. It was all just because no matter how many troops there were, the logistics would not be able to keep up.
Sun Wu blinked his eyes when he heard this. While he felt incomprehensible, he couldn't believe how lax the Shu people were.
The original army was stationed in Hanzhong, including the garrison in "Ba". As a result, the king and ministers of Shu were not aware of it?
Zhiyao saw Sun Wu's confusion and said: "Bashu is closed."
This is the best explanation, no need to say more.
The isolation includes being limited by the terrain, and there is also too little communication with the outside world. When the information is closed enough, it is difficult to understand that the situation in the Central Plains has "changed" a long time ago, and it no longer plays the same tricks as before.
From the perspective of Shu's monarchs and ministers, anyone who wants to attack them will declare war in advance, and they simply don't believe that someone stronger than the original country will attack them.
What does Sichuan have? In fact, there is no shortage of products, but for native people like them, the difficulty of development is beyond imagination. How can outsiders appreciate it?
Then, the kings and ministers of Shu naturally felt that the original country was vast and vast, so they looked down upon their own territory.
In fact, the monarchs and ministers of the Ba Kingdom thought so too. Therefore, it was not because the monarchs and ministers of the Ba Kingdom were mentally ill and did the trick of luring the wolf into the house.
Sun Wu's current work is concentrated on the "Two Palaces". Some of the information cannot keep up with the current situation. Knowing that the war in Shu has entered its final stage, how can he not understand that next year will be an action against Ba, and the next step will be to launch an attack on Chu
The country’s war of annihilation.
"It takes one year to explore the upper reaches of the river?" Sun Wu asked.
Zhiyao knew that Sun Wu's information was somewhat delayed, and did not tell Sun Wu about the exploration of Dajiang for three years.
No answer is an answer. Sun Wu was very impressed and thought: "Looking at it from this, the king has really made all preparations to destroy the Chu State."
