Zhang Xiaowu frowned and looked down at the roasted sheep. He felt that the common people were the sheep, and the careerists never forgot to take a bite of their meat. Zhao Suo did not dare to speak when he saw this. The two were silent for a while, and Zhang Xiaowu just drank.
After a sip of wine, his face finally calmed down, he looked at the fire and said calmly: "Explain the before and after."
Zhao Suo was relieved when he saw that he was not angry. He bowed and said truthfully: "The greatest convenience for me as a holy man is that the population is prosperous. There are Yehe Mountains in the north to block the nomads, and hundreds of thousands of mountains in the south. The jungle is densely covered with poisonous insects and wild beasts.
Rampant, blocking the invasion of the southern dog armies, there is the sea to the east and thousands of miles of yellow sand to the west. As long as the land of the Central Plains rests and recuperates, the population will almost triple or quadruple in fifty years. However, the disadvantage of the Central Plains is that the cultivated land is limited.
An acre of land can support one person. After that person gets married, ten acres of land will need to support two people. After they have children, the ten acres of land will need to support three or even four people. Although the people in the Central Plains did not die in the war, they suffered from hunger.
Death in Tianzhong. Nowadays, the population of the Dog Barbarians has dropped sharply and they are in urgent need of a large number of people. The Beggar Gang has sent the excess people from the Central Plains to other places. Firstly, they will not starve to death at home. Secondly, they will gradually assimilate the surrounding Dog Barbarians and revitalize the Holy Han Dynasty.
civilization."
Zhang Xiaowu did not refute, but poured a glass of wine as a signal. Zhao Suo clinked the glasses with him and drank it in one gulp before saying: "What you said is both right and wrong."
Zhao Suo was puzzled.
Zhang Xiaowu said: "You are right because the Holy Han Empire did have overpopulation and insufficient farmland. You are wrong because you don't know the true situation of the Holy Han Empire today."
Zhao Suo asked doubtfully: "What's the real situation?"
"Yes." Zhang Xiaowu smiled bitterly: "Do you know how many people our Holy Han Empire lost in the past thirty years after the Jiangnan war and the Lingnan rebellion?"
Zhao Suo said in astonishment: "The villain doesn't know, but everyone knows that the Central Plains has a large population."
Zhang Xiaowu hesitated and said: "In the first year of Taiqian, there were 15 million households and 60 million people in the Holy Han Dynasty. In the fifth year of Yongding, there were 1 million households and only 38 million people. Since Emperor Taiqian
After ascending the throne and expanding outward, until Emperor Yongding stabilized his foundation, the number of people in the imperial court decreased by one-third in more than thirty years, and every family wore filial piety.
Households are missing. In the past, when the empire's population was at its peak, millions of troops were often recruited to attack the Dog Barbarians. Now, only 200,000 troops are enough to sweep the country. Isn't it strange? You know that the Dog Barbarians need to replenish their population, and why don't we in the Central Plains do the same? They
They are not trafficking in people, but they are bleeding the Holy Han Empire."
Zhao Suo was so surprised that the meat cutting knife in his hand fell to the ground, and he trembled: "The population has decreased so much, how come I don't know how to feel it?"
Zhang Xiaowu said: "You are in a wealthy land, how do you know that the people in the countryside are hungry? Once the war starts, if a man in the family dies in the battle, it is very likely that the wife, children, parents and the elderly will starve. If there is another disaster year and tax increase, the war will
If a man from the Central Plains dies, the whole family may die within a few years. Emperor Taiqian was so happy that he forced more than three million people to migrate to the border, and
In order to be able to compete for land with the aliens, they lost nearly half a million soldiers. Did you know that a few years ago when the Rakshasa broke through the Lianglang Pass and entered the Central Plains, the whole country of our Holy Han was shocked, but the northerners suffered only two hundred casualties.
More than 10,000 people were killed, starved, and frozen to death due to the wars in Jiangnan, Jiangdong, and Lingnan, and more than tens of millions committed suicide."
Zhao Suo was stunned and speechless for a moment. He had always thought that the Central Plains had a lot of people and little land, and there were many land conflicts. As long as the problem of cultivated land was solved and everyone had land and houses, the country would be safe.
But I didn't expect that the Holy Han Empire had become so thin.
Zhang Xiaowu drank bitter wine and said to himself that the Holy Han Empire was not bad compared to the late Eastern Han Dynasty. At least the late Eastern Han Dynasty had gone through nearly a hundred years of fighting. The population of the Eastern Han Dynasty increased from 60 million to about 20 million Han people in the Western Jin Dynasty, and then to
During the Wuhu Rebellion, the Han people were forced to migrate south, and the population was reduced to more than 10 million. The war almost destroyed the entire Central Plains, causing the purebred Han people to almost become extinct.
"I was wrong." Zhao Suo said guiltily.
Zhang Xiaowu cut a piece of meat and handed it over, and continued: "Zhao Suo, when I was in the Tucheng ghost town, I carefully inspected the purchase of boys from the Central Plains by the Sardinians. The Sardinians only allowed them to speak Sardinian and read Sardinian.
, after a long time, his heart also becomes Sardine’s heart.”
After a night's rest, Zhang Xiaowu recovered somewhat mentally and physically, and paid tribute to Gu Qingxi's body. He had entrusted Zhao Suo to send someone to transport Gu Qingxi's coffin back to Youzhou and bury it properly next to the tomb of King Hejian. Gu Qing
Although Xi is not the woman who has been with him the longest, she is the only woman with whom he lives a peaceful life. It also makes him feel the joy of life, and allows him to feel the details of ordinary people in this world.
After a long period of melancholy, Zhang Xiaowu and Gu Qingxi's coffin said goodbye, watching the convoy leave in the distance.
"Your Majesty, please see me, Lang Er." Zhao Suo said in a low voice.
Lang Er was still old and decrepit, but in good spirits. Zhang Xiaowu asked Lang Er again what happened these days. Lang Er smiled bitterly and said: "In the past, Wang Churan, the son of Wang Jingzhi, the commander of the Jin Yiwei, rebelled in Yizhou and proclaimed himself King Yi."
Zhang Xiaowu was not surprised, he just said curiously: "I have never heard of Wang Jingzhi having children."
Lang Er said: "This is the brilliance of Wang Jingzhi. It's a pity that his son is not so calm. After killing Jiang Ai, the commander of the Snow Guards of Southwest Xuelong Pass, Wang Churan led his troops to capture the western and southern parts of Yizhou.
The imperial court dispatched General Hu Lihu, Marquis of Zhiyang, to quell the rebellion. In the past, General Hu served as a military commander in the Snow Guards and was highly regarded by Jiang Ai. Now that Wang Churan has killed Jiang Ai, General Hu has threatened to die for revenge."
"Hu Li is a man who kills people. If he puts down the rebellion in Yizhou, I'm afraid the people of Yizhou will suffer a lot." Zhang Xiaowu shook his head, but then smiled bitterly: "If you don't send Hu Li, you can only send the Li family.
, this will indeed make the Li family more powerful, and I doubt the imperial court will send the Li family to put down the rebellion."
Wolf Ear smiled slightly.
In the next few days, Wang Xiaojian, Lang Er and Zhao Suo gathered in Lianglang City, and the four of them began to plan to seize Saibei. Zhang Xiaowu was familiar with the terrain of Saibei in the past, but after the major earthquake, the terrain of Saibei changed slightly, so he needed to reconsider the map.
In the eighth year of Yongding in the Holy Han Dynasty, Zhang Xiaowu had secretly recruited two thousand soldiers and stationed them in the two wolf valley roads. Because the number of soldiers was large and young and strong, the wolf guards were slightly aware of it. Under the cover of Lang Er and the Beggar Gang, Zhang Xiaowu led the two thousand soldiers.
Thousands of soldiers were moved elsewhere.
In March, according to the emperor's order, Hu Li, the Marquis of Zhiyang, led 30,000 imperial troops to Yizhou. Seeing the imperial army coming in person, various places along the way surrendered. In less than half a month, Hu Li recruited soldiers and soon arrived at Yiyang City. Although the rebels also stationed 100,000 troops.
They held on, but Wang Churan rushed out of the city to fight, and lost three battles in a row, causing the rebels' morale to plummet.
Wang Churan was unpopular with the people, and he was defeated again and again. The people in Yiyang City were unstable, and many wealthy families secretly took refuge with Hu Li.
In April, the wealthy people in Yiyang City secretly opened the city gates and let the official troops enter the city. Yiyang City was destroyed, and Wang Churan led some of the remaining troops to flee to the southwest. Hu Li captured 60,000 rebels and incorporated them into his own army. The army expanded to 200,000 people.
Two months after Yiyang was renovated, all parts of Yizhou surrendered, and the total strength of the Yizhou Army surged to 500,000.
After Hu Lixun organized his army, he attacked the Southern Qiang Kingdom.
At this time, the Southern Qiang King had annexed the Western Qiang Kingdom and the Northern Qiang Kingdom. After the country became strong, the Southern Qiang King's ambitions skyrocketed. After taking in Wang Churan and the remaining rebels, he led 200,000 Qiang troops to cross the Xuelong Pass and occupied the twelve cities of Yizhou.
.
Hu Li led an army of 500,000, and with the right time and place and the power of people and people, he decisively fought against the Qiang army.
The Southern Qiang King fought with the Yizhou Army for ten days. More than half of the 200,000 Qiang Army was lost. The Qiang Army lost all morale and retreated to the Qiang Territory. After Hu Li retook Xuelong Pass, he sent eighteen cavalry routes to loot and burn in the Qiang Territory.
The massacre caused the Qiang land to be deserted for thousands of miles. The king of Southern Qiang was strangled by his son. The eight sons of the Southern Qiang Kingdom fought for the king and were no longer able to go south.
After Hu Li returned to Yizhou, he refused to return to Longdu on the pretext of clearing out the remnants of the rebels, and closed Guangle Pass from Yizhou to Yongzhou and Boping Pass to Muzhou. The imperial court immediately sent an imperial envoy to Yizhou
, returned to Longdu after being bribed by Hu Li. He only said that Hu Li had no intention of rebellion, but because he was repeatedly oppressed by the Li brothers in Longdu, he did not want to return to Longdu to be humiliated, and asked the emperor to punish the rebellious officials and traitor Li brothers.
Li Cunyi was so angry that he was so angry that he expressed his willingness to lead 200,000 imperial troops south to quell the rebellion of Hu Li in Yizhou. However, the imperial court did not have enough money for him to quell the rebellion, and many parties were afraid of the Li brothers and obstructed him in every possible way.
Zhang Xiaowu laughed and said that Hu Lizhen had become a fox and was no longer the reckless man who only knew how to fight and kill. He judged that Hu Li was now based in Yizhou and would have plans in the future. As expected, Hu Li immediately followed
On the grounds that Yizhou was undecided, he refused to disarm and led his troops back to Longdu to receive awards. He even secretly brought his family members to Yiyang City, becoming a small imperial court in Yizhou.
Gu Yong secretly found Li Cunyi to make peace and prepared to send Li Cunba troops to force Hu Li. However, at this time, people in various parts of Lingnan began to rebel frequently, especially the Baiyi and Shanyue tribes who could not tolerate the imperial court's excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes. They attacked the imperial army and government offices and guarded the city.
Li Cunba, who was in Lingnan, could not leave.
Just when the court was at a loss what to do, Emperor Yongding followed the Queen's advice and married his unmarried aunt, Princess Xiaoping, to Hu Li, whose wife had died of illness. He roped in Hu Li to become a relative of the emperor, and finally calmed down the chaos.
At this time, the grasslands were already growing, and Zhang Xiaowu had returned to the ghost town with two hundred rebels.
As soon as they arrived at the gate of the ghost town, the garrisoned Sardinians discovered that a large group of "sand bandits" were approaching the ghost town. Centurion Solda immediately recruited more than 300 people and gathered 400 cavalry to fight.
When Zhang Xiaowu saw this, he laughed loudly, suddenly put on a horn hat, and walked over alone. Solda was surprised to see that the other party was actually wearing a Sardinian horn hat. He was confused and sent Urisaleng to the front.
Go and test.
Wurisaleng's eyes were sharp. He spotted Zhang Xiaowu at a glance and asked tentatively: "Heigl?"
Zhang Xiaowu laughed and said, "Wuri Saleng, don't you recognize me?"
Urisaleng jumped off his horse excitedly, hugged Zhang Xiaowu, and shouted: "Haigel is back, Heigl is back, not a bandit, not a bandit!" Zhang Xiaowu followed Urisaleng to Soleng.
Erda came forward and said with a smile: "My dear uncle, I have recruited hundreds of Han warriors with high martial arts skills from the Central Plains to join me. Do you welcome them?"
Solda smiled so much that the corners of his mouth reached his ears. He welcomed these people so much and needed them so much. This chapter has been completed!
