"First of all, I, the strong man in Jingzhou, am not weaker than any powerful man in the world, and can even be said to be no worse than the imperial court."
"What?"
As soon as Chen Yuan said this, Liu Bei and Xi Zhicai were not surprised, but Man Chong was completely shocked.
Good guy, do you know what you're talking about?
He actually said that the strong men in Jingzhou are no less powerful than the imperial court. Do you still have some AC?
Man Chong nodded: "What the military advisor said is so shocking, Chong can't believe it!"
Seeing Man Chong's disbelief, Chen Yuan directly pointed out Tai Shi Ci.
"Ziyi, tell me how many people in our Jingzhou army are as strong as you."
Taishi Ci thought for a while and said: "Yun Chang, Yide, Fengxian, Zilong, Hansheng, Junyi, Zishou."
After finishing speaking, Taishi Ci added another sentence: "Wenyuan, Wenchang, Youping are not far away from the first rank, Gongfu, Gongyi and others may not be able to advance to the first rank in the future."
At this moment, Man Chong suddenly felt that Jingzhou was a bit scary.
There are eight first-grade experts, three peak second-grade experts, and dozens of second-grade experts.
Such strength is too powerful.
Chen Yuan seemed to think that it was not shocking enough, so he added: "Fengxian's teacher, Mr. Li, and Zilong's teacher, Mr. Tong, are also first-class strong men."
"Bo Ning, do you think I, the strong man from Jingzhou, am not strong enough now?"
Man Chong managed to regain his composure: "If what Ziyi said is true, then I, the strong man in Jingzhou, am really not weaker than anyone else."
"However, only the strength of the strong cannot compete with the powerful in the world."
Man Chong was right. Although a first-grade and second-grade strong man could cut off rivers and mountains, the strength of scribes should not be ignored.
A scribe can also cover up the sun and the moon. If the conditions are right, it is not impossible to call for wind and rain.
There are also various military formations and soul treasures, etc. There are many powerful people who possess these things.
Especially the soul treasure is different from the warrior's fighting weapon.
The older it gets, the more powerful it becomes.
For example, the power of the soul treasure left by Kong Sheng is very terrifying.
Kong Rong, a good-for-nothing, possesses one of the soul treasures left by Kong Sheng, and with the magic array in the city, he can compete with a second-grade expert. It cannot but be said that he is really strong.
Chen Yuan nodded: "What Boning said is true. The powerful have a profound foundation. Simply having strong people cannot compete with them. However, the powerful have their advantages, and I, Jingzhou, also have our advantages."
"What's the advantage?"
In Man Chong's view, apart from the strong men and powerful people and the wise ruler, there is nothing else in Jingzhou.
As for the strength of the army, it is certainly not weak, but to say how strong it is is nonsense.
In fact, it cannot be said that the current Jingzhou army is very strong.
Except for the five hundred volunteers led by Liu Bei, they followed Liu Bei in the north and south, and killed countless people on their hands, and they had already become elite veterans.
Except for those who Liu Bei brought to Nanyang to fight with the Nanyang Yellow Turbans and those who Guan Yu led to clear out the water bandits, the others were basically new recruits.
Even when the four counties of Jingnan were pacified, they did not experience many battles.
Most of them are duels between strong men.
There are not enough soldiers and veterans in Jingzhou now, there are not enough elites, and there are not enough numbers.
Of course, training is not lacking, but fighting is lacking.
These soldiers still need to go through some high-intensity battles before they can become veterans, and then they can be trained by generals to become special units and form military formations to dominate the world.
Nowadays, these generals in Liu Bei's army basically have their own unique military formations.
For example, Lu Bu can form Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, Zhao Yun can form Dragon Cavalry, Guan Yu's School Swordsmen, Zhang Fei's Youyan Assault Cavalry, Tai Shici's Fighting God Army Formation, Huang Zhong's Hou Yi Army Formation, and Dian Wei's Tiger Guard Camp.
, Zhou Tai’s Jie Fanbing, etc.
However, the problem is that there are not enough elite veterans.
The number of special units that can be formed ranges from thousands to tens of thousands. Now the entire Jingzhou has only so many troops.
That is about thirty thousand.
Therefore, these generals have no strength and can only wait.
However, what Chen Yuan wants to say is not about the military.
In Chen Yuan's opinion, military matters are not difficult.
As long as we wait for the results of the field farming next year and the food is available, recruiting troops will be easy.
There are too many refugees in this era, and these refugees are the most suitable soldiers.
Moreover, recruiting troops from among the refugees can not only prevent the limitation of too many Jingzhou people in the army, but also stabilize the people's hearts among the refugees and have the effect of stabilizing the people's hearts.
It is not difficult to obtain elite soldiers. Once the number of soldiers is sufficient, Chen Yuan will definitely develop Jingnan.
Just fight south, directly pass through Jiaozhou and reach Rinan.
Fighting south can not only train troops and increase Jingzhou's base, but the most critical factor is that the imperial court will not care.
If you go north to fight, it will be a taboo.
If you attack to the north, it's either Yuzhou's base or Sili's base. What does Liu Bei want to do if you attack these places?
Rebellion?
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty is still here. If you dare to rebel, you will be killed without any discussion.
But it's different when going south. Let's not say whether the imperial court can receive the news. Even if it receives the news, the emperor will only reward him.
It is believed that Liu Bei was diligent in royal affairs and worked hard to bring peace to Jingzhou.
Because the large area south of Jingzhou is dominated by barbarians and Baiyue.
And to be honest, Jiaozhou was a barbaric place in the eyes of the imperial court. Even if Liu Bei occupied one or two counties, the imperial court would not care.
Because Jiaozhou is basically in a state of control right now.
Many times taxes cannot be collected.
Almost nothing.
Maybe Liu Bei can collect more taxes after defeating him.
When dealing with states, the political risk is very small.
Moreover, according to Chen Yuan's plan, when they reached Jiaozhou, it was basically when Fatty Dong entered the capital, and the imperial court had no intention of taking care of this matter.
Plan passes.
What are the advantages of Jingzhou that Chen Yuan is talking about?
People and technology.
"Bo Ning, our advantage in Jingzhou lies in people's support and technology."
Man Chong frowned when he heard this.
“People’s hearts and technology?”
"Exactly!"
"Please also ask Zichu to teach me."
Chen Yuan laughed when he heard this: "Bo Ning, do you know my three policies for governing Jingzhou?"
Man Chong shook his head.
“Freeing domestic slaves, organizing households and integrating the people, and paying taxes as one, this is our advantage.”
"What?"
Man Chong said that he was shocked again.
It's okay not to be shocked.
The first two of these three policies are not bad, because the imperial court has always done this, but due to the overt and covert resistance of the powerful, the effect is not strong.
During the period of Emperor Ai, Prime Minister Kong Guang proposed restrictions on slaves and land, stipulating that the slaves of princes and kings should not exceed 200; the number of princes and princesses should not exceed 100; and the number of officials and people of Guanneihou should not exceed 30.
However, this approach was not supported by powerful landowners and aristocratic bureaucrats, and ultimately could not be implemented.
Up to now, these slaves have become an important source of powerful landowners.
Freeing slaves is blatantly reducing the power of powerful landowners.
Without slaves, the power of powerful landlords would be greatly reduced.
Without the slaves, there would be no one to work for them, and there would be no source of troops for the tribe.
A powerful landowner would definitely not do this.
Chen Yuan had anticipated this situation a long time ago, so the policy of releasing slaves was divided into several steps.
The first step is to improve the status of slaves and prohibit the killing, injury and abuse of slaves to protect their right to life.
No matter what, save the people first.
The second step is to wait for Jingzhou to have money, buy slaves from the powerful families, and then let them work in the fields.
The third step is to completely eliminate the slave system and replace it with an employment system.
Because it is unrealistic to do it all at once. If we do that, none of the powerful landowners in Jingzhou will support it, and they will all rebel.
But boiling a frog in warm water is not enough.
There is no discussion on the issue of establishing household registration and integrating the people. The main obstacle to the implementation of this policy is the population of refugees and powerful people hiding in hiding.
Now that Gu Yong is doing this, he will first count what can be counted.
The fugitives were recalled as much as possible, exempted from their guilt, and given land and food for farming.
As for the powerful hiding of the population, this problem can be easily solved after the Cai family is dealt with.
The most critical issue is this unified tax payment.
The tax policy of the Han Dynasty exempted officials from taxes, and the relatives of officials were also exempt from taxes.
Almost all powerful landlords have officials in their families, which means that basically all powerful landlords are exempt from taxes.
This is also one of the fundamental reasons for the development and growth of Haoqiang.
No tax required.
As time went on, the powerful annexed land, absorbed the population, and did not pay taxes. The number of tax-paying people in the court became smaller and smaller, and the powerful became stronger and stronger. When it reached its maximum development, it was the Jin Dynasty, where the Sima family and other noble families shared the world.
Because the Sima family is the biggest power.
The so-called king and horse share the world is not a lie. The emperors in the Eastern Jin Dynasty had no way to deal with those noble families.
You even have to rely on them.
Because the imperial court's taxes and army needed support from the family.
Although Chen Yuan proposed this policy, due to the resistance of the Jingzhou powerful alliance headed by the Cai family, the implementation effect was very poor.
Except for the Kuai family and the Ma family who took the lead in paying some, other powerful people basically ignored this policy.
After Man Chong was shocked, he said: "Zi Chu, the implementation of these three strategies must not have gone smoothly."
Chen Yuan looked like Pinghu: "Yes, it sounds nice to say it's not going well, but it's actually very difficult!"
"In this case, this can be an advantage. I think it is a disadvantage."
Man Chong was right. The biggest problem in Jingzhou now is the strong resistance against Liu Bei.
The main reason is the implementation of these three policies.
This is digging into the roots of tyranny.
Chen Yuan waved his hand: "Wrong, Boning, this is exactly our advantage."
"How to say it?"
In fact, this question is not only a question for Man Chong, but also everyone in Liu Bei's group has this question.
If these three policies had not been implemented, the Liu Bei Group would have taken control of Jingzhou long ago, instead of sitting on top of a volcano that could erupt at any time.
However, these three policies were strongly promoted by Chen Yuan, and were supported by Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and even Tai Shi Ci in the army.
So it can only be enforced.
But many officials in Jingzhou still have complaints in their hearts.
I think Chen Yuan is fooling around, which is also one of the reasons why the implementation of the policy is unfavorable.
Officials were uncooperative.
Of course, Liu Bei is not among those who don't understand.
Chen Yuan communicated with Liu Bei before implementing these three strategies.
Liu Bei also had such worries at the time, but Chen Yuan convinced Liu Bei.
Chen Yuan said to Man Chong: "Bo Ning, I, Jingzhou, are implementing these three strategies. Although the powerful people in Jingzhou are dissatisfied and even resentful, how do you think the court or the emperor views it?"
Man Chong was stunned.
Xi Zhicai and Tai Shici were also stunned.
To be honest, they have never considered this issue.
It's not their fault. Who has Chen Yuan's divine perspective and can fully understand the thoughts of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.
Many people in this era believe that today's world is dissolute and immoral, which is not a good thing.
Yes, although Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was not a good person, he still did what an emperor should do.
In other words, he worked hard to become a qualified emperor.
The most important task of a qualified Han emperor is to restrain the powerful.
This has been discussed before so I won’t go into details.
Man Chong looked at Chen Yuan solemnly: "What Zichu means is that the emperor hopes to see Jingzhou do this?"
Chen Yuan nodded: "Yes, the emperor will be happiest when we do this."
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was of course happy. He wished that all the prefects and governors in the world would do this.
If everyone does this, the Han family will be stable.
Any rebellion or Yellow Turbans are just scum and not worth mentioning.
The most serious problem lies in the powerful family.
In this era, those who have this understanding, besides the emperor, are Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Dong Zhuo and Li Ru in the early period.
The history of the Eastern Han Dynasty is the history of the struggle between the emperor and the powerful, or in other words, the history of the struggle between the royal family and the powerful.
Eunuchs and relatives are just extensions of the royal family.
Because the royal family sometimes cannot come forward directly, relatives and eunuchs are the vanguard. Even if these two forces fail, there is still room for change.
This is what is meant by fighting without defeat.
Originally, if this situation was maintained, the Han Dynasty could still be maintained for some years.
However, the power of powerful families became stronger and stronger, forcing Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty to impose party imprisonment.
What does the party prison represent?
It represents the break between the royal family headed by the emperor and the powerful.
The situation of fighting without victory is completely over.
Maybe it was at that time that the Yuan family had thoughts that they shouldn't have and took their place.
Party supervision is just a representative thing. The growth of eunuch power, the rise of relatives to power, etc. are all manifestations of the increasing strength of powerful people, and the royal family has to respond.
Why didn't this happen when Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Ming were in power? It was because the country had just been founded and the royal family's reputation and power were at their peak. They could completely suppress powerful forces, so there was no need to do anything else.
However, by the time of the third emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, the early and middle periods were fine, but in the later period, the powerful power showed signs of being uncontrollable.
His relative, Dou Xian, began to take power.
Do you really think that Emperor Zhang of Han could not control Dou Xian?
No, it was just Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty who wanted Dou Xian to charge into the battle.
The effect was good. By the time of his son Liu Zhao, Muzong of the Han Dynasty, the major forces of the Eastern Han Dynasty had once again reached balance and harmony.
At this time, the national power of the Eastern Han Dynasty reached its peak, achieving the "Prosperity of Yongyuan".
However, starting with Liu Zhao's son, Emperor Shang of the Han Dynasty, the balance was broken again. The reason was that Emperor Shang succeeded to the throne at one year old and was completely unable to control the royal family's power, which made the royal family's power weak.
From then on, the Eastern Han Dynasty began to decline.
"We in Jingzhou have the help of the emperor, which is also one of our advantages."
The reason why Wang Yue helped Liu Bei resist Zhang Ning in the first place was because, apart from his own mission, he had no signal from the emperor.
Otherwise, Wang Yue would not have asked for the Red Sky Sword!