Chapter five hundred and sixtieth IX almost emptied the treasury
The weather is getting warmer day by day, the branches are green, and spring is in full bloom. Seedlings are raised in February, soil is prepared in March, and rice seedlings are transplanted in April. The busy spring plowing gradually passes, and various projects are started one after another.
The construction of the Yellow River Embankment is already in its third year. More than 300,000 laborers have continued the construction based on the previous year. Everything is done from top to bottom, and the progress has improved compared with last year.
Each county has rich experience in building roads, digging canals, and digging wells. They can just copy the work step by step. The population of Han Dynasty is not dense, and it has not reached the point of exploiting the poor mountains and rivers, so the difficulty of the project is not great.
The war in the south of the Yangtze River has basically ended. Starting from the beginning of last summer, it took nearly a year to recover the twelve counties of Jingyang. Now the strategic focus has shifted to annihilating mountain bandits, water bandits and Shanyue tribes.
The third battalion of the Forbidden Army was transferred back to Chang'an, and the Wudang Fei Army was transferred back to Shu. The Yuzhou Army that fought with the front army retreated, and the civilians were sent back to their original places to divide their fields. Only the front, left and right armies, as well as Yilejin and Jiang, were left on the south bank.
The Yangzhou garrison formed by Qin and Li Feng totaled more than 40,000 people.
Thousands of newly recruited Danyang soldiers will be dispersed to various departments to replace the vacant positions.
Zhang He's command on the north bank was divided into three teams, and more than 50,000 Shanyue prisoners were detained in Xiling, Jingling, and Xunyang. They had begun digging diversion canals, and the project to develop the two lakes was launched.
The construction of Jinling City has just begun. More than 60,000 people have been temporarily recruited to level the wasteland and dig foundations.
The plan to sell land to raise funds had some twists and turns. There were not even one big family in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhang Liao, Guan Yu, Le Jin, and Xu Huang were not merciful people, and they killed them a bit ruthlessly.
They were not in the same league as the powerful family, and with Liu Xiang's explicit instructions, they took action without hesitation.
Zhang Wenyuan, who came from the best family, was just a member of a declining noble family. To say that he was from a poor family was not a disparagement.
Xu Huang and Guan Yu were not even from a humble family. Their family was at most a wealthy family and could barely be considered a small landowner.
Le Jin was born with mud legs.
These four people cleanse powerful families without any psychological burden at all.
Because of the excessive killings, the surviving wealthy families were all trembling with fear. As soon as Fan Xian's invitation arrived, they immediately rushed to Moling with all their wealth in an attempt to spend money and eliminate the disaster. Naturally, it was difficult to move quickly with this kind of move, so
The land sale plan has not yet started.
There were too few wealthy people to support the construction funds needed for Jinling, so Liu Xiang had to allocate 20,000 kilograms of gold and 140 million copper coins from the seizures to support the construction of the city.
Officials transferred from the northern states to the south of the Yangtze River are gradually in place. Counting the population under their rule is their most important task. The southernmost counties have not yet completed the registration, but now the population has been counted, which is more than 7 million.
Liu Xiang expected more than nearly two million people.
The aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River hide their populations even more seriously than those in the Central Plains. These people deserve to die.
Liu Xiang had no sympathy for them at all.
Not counting the million people recorded in Jiaozhou and the two million recorded in Nanzhong, the population under his rule was more than 33 million.
In the third year of Yongshou reign of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty (157 years), there were 10,677,960 households and 56,476,856 people in the country, which was the peak population according to official statistics.
At that time, most of the large numbers of disciples, clans, guests, tribes, slaves and other hidden households who were occupied or sheltered by powerful families, as well as the Huns, Qiang, Di and other foreign ethnic groups who moved to the Han area were not included in the household registration statistics. Therefore, many scholars believe that the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty
The peak should be around 65 million.
Later, the country gradually weakened, the government was in turmoil, the world was restless, and the population had been growing at a negative rate. By the time of Emperor Ling, peasant uprisings, local rebellions, natural and man-made disasters continued, wars broke out frequently, famine spread everywhere, plagues were rampant, and people died in large numbers. The population was estimated
It’s already less than 50 million.
Later, warlords separated the country, the frequency and intensity of wars became higher and higher, and famine and plague became even worse. In less than ten years, more than 10 million people died.
From 157 to now, in just thirty-nine years, the population has almost halved.
One of the two people must die, and this is a chaotic world.
Liu Xiang couldn't imagine what kind of apocalyptic scene it would be like in the later period of the Three Kingdoms' coexistence in the official history, when the population of the Han Dynasty was only 7.5 million.
It's too awful.
White bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no roosters crowing for thousands of miles. There are hundreds of people left behind, and the thought of them will break people's hearts.
This is a sad song on the pile of corpses. This is the "bright" Three Kingdoms. All heroes should repent.
Fortunately, there will no longer be the Three Kingdoms, let alone the Five Husbands.
During the Little Ice Age, the climate in the north was severely cold, and the Hu people living in the grasslands had to go south to fight for living space. The Xianbei people were the main force going south. This was the right time, and Liu Xiang could understand it.
Therefore, he decided to make the first expedition to the north and send the barbarians on the grasslands to meet their gods, so that they could be reborn in bliss and obtain happiness.
There are also the Qiang and Di tribes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. As the climate changes and their living conditions become worse, they will inevitably come down to plunder.
These people also need to be reborn in bliss.
Don't be in a hurry, take your time, I will make you all happy.
Because it was useless to worry, the Jiangnan War almost emptied the treasury. There was not much inventory in the armaments warehouse. Troops were withdrawn from the south bank of the Yangtze River again and again. The development of the two lakes could only be supported by the hundreds of thousands of grains saved on the front line.
To build Jinling, we could only rely on wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River. We didn't even dare to recruit all the laborers at once, just to save food rations.
The budgets for projects such as the Yellow River and Jinchuan Guards cannot be misappropriated, food prices have been stabilized, and the Changping warehouse used to prepare for famine cannot be lightly touched. Prioritizing the army and resorting to militarism are two concepts, and Liu Xiang clearly grasped the degree between them.
It's the end of April, and the army can no longer fight, and can only support small-scale bandit suppression. If it weren't for the lives of Shanyue people filling the mud of the two lakes, even the bandit suppression would have to stop.
"Your Majesty, it's good for you to take a rest. You don't have to lead your troops outside all the time. I'll be worried every day and live in panic." Zhen Jiang doesn't like His Majesty staying in the palace honestly and coming over every day to see how the child is doing.
Very satisfied.
"There are too many disasters. I have seen them. If I don't cut them off, I will feel uneasy. Don't worry, Mr. Xi. I am protected by a large army and I am very safe. You can rest assured in the palace and wait for my triumphant return."
It is indeed hard work to lead troops. He does not eat well, does not sleep well, is exposed to wind and rain, and is very tired, but safety can still be guaranteed. Now is not the past. There is no need for him to personally lead troops into battle. Even if he is defeated, he will be defeated.
The speed of Dodder, Yanzhi and Baixi was enough to throw off the pursuers.
He was also closely protected by Shi A, Dian Wei, Zhao Jing, Pang De and other warriors. Whether it was a horse or foot battle, not many could stop them.
"Don't worry." He persuaded Zhen Jiang and casually poked little Liu Sheng's chubby face, causing the baby to babble and spit out a bunch of Martian words, grabbing his fingers and shaking them.
, and I don’t know what I want to express.
It’s been eight months, is it time to learn to speak? Why can’t I understand a word I say?
"When will you learn to speak? I'm still waiting for you to call me father."
Hurry up and grow up. Only when you grow up can you supervise the country, and your father and I can go on an expedition of thousands of miles with peace of mind. I heard from Dawan’s envoy that Rome is attacking Parthia again. Parthia is Persia. At this time, the Persian Empire is divided by warlords.
, a period of turmoil with many princes.
If he didn't take the opportunity to take a big bite of meat, he would feel at a loss.
In another twenty or thirty years, the Sasanian dynasty, known as the Second Persian Empire, will be established. It is not a soft persimmon.