Xun Yu went to settle down with his family and prepare to travel in the secluded land of Hebei after spring.
His first impression of Liu Xiang was quite good. It was not easy for a young man in his early twenties to conquer three states and command hundreds of thousands of soldiers without showing any arrogance.
Only those who can control their minds can accomplish great things.
As for whether to surrender, he was not in a hurry to make a decision. This was a major event related to the future. How could he make a hasty choice after just one meeting and a few words?
The world is in chaos. There are many reasons. He doesn't want to comment. He just wants to find the hero who can calm the troubled times.
Liu Xiang looked at Xun Yu who took his leave without haste and left. Today's meeting plus the records in the history books showed that he was a gentleman with ambition and moral character, and he was also a very complicated person.
For the sake of his family, he could marry the eunuch's daughter. For the sake of his idea of stabilizing the world, he could also give up Yuan Shao, who respected the family, and join the army of Cao Cao, who suppressed the family. For the sake of orthodoxy, he could also abandon his power and part ways with Cao Cao, no matter what.
One death.
On the surface it looks calm and gentle, but in reality it is impassioned.
This is a complex person, this is a person who implements his ideas. He is not pedantic, but he is still bound by the times.
Can you convince him?
I hope the people who live and work in peace and contentment can impress him.
In terms of personal charisma, both Cao Cao and Yuan Shaoke are not bad, but I may not be better than them.
Time will not stop for anyone.
After five days of vigil, Zhen Yi did not come back to life. The coffin was placed in a specially prepared ice room, which was filled with ice cubes collected from Zhangshui. The Zhen family also expanded the ice room. After five months of mourning, the coffin will be
He was sent back to the Zhen family's ancestral grave in Wuji, Zhongshan for burial.
In the past few days, Zhen Jiang behaved very strongly, comforting her mother, comforting her siblings, and managing the servants. The memorial service was arranged in an orderly manner, completely different from her soft and frail appearance, and her demeanor as a matron of the family was fully revealed.
But the more this happens, the more distressing it becomes.
"Take a rest for a while, don't hold on." Liu Xiang took her into his arms and comforted her softly.
Zhen Jiang was very tired and snuggled softly into his arms, sobbing and murmuring softly: "My father is gone, I don't know what to do."
Liu Xiang patted her back gently and comforted her softly: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
The two only had a moment of tenderness. Zhen Jiang's maid Su He came in and reported: "Mother, someone has come to report that the master's concubine, the Tang family, has stolen property..." He paused for a moment, glanced at Liu Xiang, and then said: "I want to
Run away."
Zhen Jiang sighed softly and said softly: "Just kill her, I don't want to see her."
Liu Xiang opened his mouth, but finally said nothing. This matter was not his business. Although he felt that it was a bit disrespectful to human life, Zhen Yi's body was still cold, and the concubine at home was trying to escape with her belongings. Judging from Su Ho's hesitant tone, she was afraid that she was eloping with someone.
Right? It’s hard to say it in front of yourself, because you don’t want to embarrass Zhen Yi.
In a big family, there are actually many such things, but the status of a concubine really has no status at all.
Su Ho turned around and left. Zhen Jiang lowered his head and said nothing. Liu Xiang felt a little embarrassed. This matter was a family scandal of the Zhen family. He, the son-in-law, should not have known about it. He didn't know how to express comfort, so he simply found an excuse to leave.
.
"Xi Jun, please stay at home for a few more days. Zhen Yan and Zhen Yao are young and can't handle the situation. It's right for you to help them more. I haven't been to the office these days, and I have a lot of government affairs backlogged. I have to
Deal with it in the past.”
"Thank you for your understanding, husband."
Zhen Jiang seemed relieved? Liu Xiang left Zhen's Mansion with Su Wei without thinking carefully.
Zhen's Mansion was not far from the west gate and occupied a large area. He had to walk eastward along the street for more than two miles before returning to the office, where he could have a look at the situation in the city.
Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and there were not many people on the street. All that could be seen were the houses on both sides of the street and the city walls as far as the eye could see.
A lot of the city walls in Ye County were smashed, but they were simply repaired. When the north city was built, they would have to be demolished and rebuilt. The big families in the city escaped during the attack, and many people also ran away. Originally, there were
There were 15,000 households and more than 100,000 people, but now there are less than 60,000.
Many people on the outskirts of the city have fled to the north, and most of them have been taken to Youzhou for resettlement. A large area of land has been left behind and has been harvested as reserve land. However, there will be no people to work after spring, and hard labor will have to be mobilized, which will affect road construction.
.
He also wants to dig aqueducts in Jizhou so that more dry fields can be converted into paddy fields.
Last year and this year we had severe cold winters, late spring warming, dry summers, and rainy autumns. The harvests in dry fields were only half of those in good years, and were far less stable than those in paddy fields.
I don’t know what will happen in the future. It’s better to change the planting structure sooner rather than later.
But due to lack of labor, the progress of these items is not fast.
Jizhou, a populous state, is starting to lack people. It originally had a population of 7 million, but now it has only 4.7 million. The culprit is himself, and 1.8 million people have been dragged to Youzhou one after another.
Including Hu Yi, there are already 4.1 million people in Qingzhou, making it one of the most populous states, more than Qingzhou.
Of course, the population density is far behind Qingzhou, which has nearly three million people. After all, Qingzhou is too small, with an area less than one-tenth of Youzhou.
Speaking of Qingzhou, it is really a pity. The early stage of the Kwantung Allied Forces' crusade against Dong Zhuo was a good opportunity to take control of Qingzhou, but it was difficult to capture it due to lack of food.
Two years later, Cao Cao attacked the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans from Yanzhou, captured 300,000 Yellow Turbans, and gained a population of one million, which immediately laid the foundation for hegemony in the world.
You have to find a way to get the people and land of Qingzhou into your own hands.
Zhou Cang has been contacting the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou, but the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou is too chaotic. There is no unified ownership. There is a team here and a team there. Those who rebelled a few years ago and those who only started the uprising in the past two years were kicked out of Xuzhou this year.
Those who entered Qingzhou were of mixed composition, and they refused to submit to anyone. They merged, attacked, and fought endlessly.
The person you contacted today might be dead tomorrow.
Not much progress.
Liu Xiang remembered that there seemed to be a man named Guan Hai, who was a powerful force in the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, but he could not find him after searching for several years.
Is it because I remembered it wrong or it wasn't until the time of Guan Hai's rise?
Qingzhou cannot get it without mobilizing the army, but there is a lack of food and grass, and the army cannot move.
It’s become an endless loop!
He has already thought of ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure on food. After this year's autumn harvest, he bought a total of 1.2 million shi of food from Sili, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou, spending nearly one billion yuan.
The five baht of money was almost spent, and now it can barely support internal commodity transactions with only fifty million Singapore dollars.
In external caravan transactions, there is not enough gold, and many of them are reduced to bartering. The impact is indeed not small.
There was not enough new money, not enough gold, and he didn't want to be harvested by Dong Zhuo's bad money, so he had to endure it.
In terms of grain expenditure reduction, foreign transportation and brewing are prohibited, but drinking is not prohibited. In the past few years, the grain harvest was bumper, and a lot of old wine is still circulating in the market, but the price has increased five or six times, and it is still rising. Liu Xiang feels
It can increase to a hundred times, because next year he will also ban alcohol.
It is imperative to crack down on moonshine brewers. All the workshops that officially make wine have stopped working. Now, people must be mobilized to report moonshine brewers.
In fact, the one who suffered the biggest loss was himself. He had the largest number of breweries and wine cellars in Youzhou, but they had been shut down since last year. This year, the wine cellar also stopped selling wine. However, he still had a large inventory of tens of thousands of dendrobium wines.
Cellar.
Starting this year, we will focus on investigating and punishing the wine merchants in Jizhou and Bingzhou. It is estimated that their wine cellar inventory can be expanded. Those that cannot be stored can be brought to the market, and those that can be stored can continue to be stored in the cellar. In a few years, they can be sold overseas and they are expected to make a profit.
to a thousandfold profit.
The era of food shortage is coming, and it will become more and more serious as the war intensifies.
However, it does not include his own territory!
Hey, that's why he only bans brewing now, not drinking. With the expansion of paddy fields, there will eventually be too much food to eat, just like the past two years.
There is a lot of land, and there are no rich and powerful people to take advantage of it. Official income has increased, and private balances have also increased. If an interest group is eliminated, the remaining people will naturally have more to eat.
It was not that there were no gentry under Liu Xiang's rule. Whether they were surrendered or newly grown, their land was tightly tied up. Taxes were paid after the autumn harvest in August every year. When paying taxes, accountants would measure the land and calculate the land according to head and title.
Inspections can only be done less and not more, and any excess must be reported.
Then, the Tiqi came to visit. The lightest penalty was to confiscate the excess land, and the most serious penalty was to confiscate the family and exterminate the clan.
Regardless of the reason, regardless of whether the business is legal or not, they are not allowed to have large tracts of land.
If you want to increase the size of your land, there are only two ways, either to achieve meritorious service and be promoted to a noble title and receive a reward for land, or to open up wasteland.
There is another yellow book about the land reclamation, which records when and where the land was opened, and how long it took to cultivate the mature fields. After the land is cultivated, the land will be awarded a title based on the area of the land, and then it will be incorporated into the land deed.
Investing money alone to open up wasteland consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. After success, of course they must be rewarded. This is a good thing and should be encouraged.
Liu Xiang especially liked the common people to take the initiative to open up wasteland. He also welcomed the gentry to open up wasteland, and did not prohibit the sale of land. However, if one dared to buy land unscrupulously, he would die. This was his rule.
The openings for buying and selling land were opened to the poor people who had difficulties to survive, so that they could have a way to make a living. It was not for the scholars to hoard land and exploit the landless peasants.
Of course, the grain business is also very stuck. You must apply for a business license from the government, otherwise large-scale transactions are not allowed. When collecting grain, you must show the farmer a letter issued by the government. If there is no letter from the government, the farmer can report the illegality and your property can be divided.
The same is true when selling grain. Merchants can also report illegal activities and divide your property.
If both parties acquiesce, it is smuggling. If someone else reports the illegal act, your property can be divided between the two of you.
This is an emerging and popular industry in Youzhou. It has also become popular in Jizhou and Bingzhou, with more and more people working in it.
Therefore, the life of the scholars under his rule was not very prosperous and not as happy as before. Many people could not accept this contrast and moved their families.
As for whether he will die on the way?
Who knows, in this world, bandits are rampant, and it is normal for a few people to die.
The cold wind of the twelfth lunar month blew by, making the weather even colder, but Yanzhou and Yuzhou were restless.
Qiao Mao found a good excuse for scholars everywhere.