The population distribution during the Han Dynasty was extremely uneven.
The North accounts for 80% of the world's population, while the South accounts for only 20%.
But even so, the land in the north is still incredibly fertile.
Li Yunze traveled north to a new location and visited several counties. Along the way, he checked the farmland to record the number of acres, yield, plants, reclamation degree, harvest and other data.
Moreover, they are not allowed to notify the local government, and they would rather sleep in the open air than go to the county town to rest.
This left all the followers confused.
Your Majesty, why don't you live in the palace enjoying singing and dancing, drinking wine, and playing with beauties? What are you doing?
However, the king's riding skills are really good. He is not at all like a pampered prince raised in the palace. He is even better than the knights who protect him.
Li Yunze ignored them and went all the way north, finally arriving at the northern edge of Zhongshan Kingdom.
There are many mountains in front of us, towering and straight.
The pale green towering ancient trees are like a green ocean bathed in the sun.
Li Yunze, who was on horseback, said with emotion, "Five clouds often cover Wutai End, and the sky is very cold near the clear sky."
Here is the famous Mount Wutai.
Of course, Buddhism has not yet spread, and such beautiful scenery has not yet been captured and captured. The mountains and fields are still almost primitive jungle-like scenes.
There are only river valleys and mountain roads, winding through the rolling mountains.
On the other side of the mountain is a river valley, from which the Hutuo River meanders.
On the other side of the river valley is Mount Heng, which is "the highest peak in the world, especially this mountain."
Similarly, since Buddhism has not yet come, there is no Hengshan sect on Mount Hengshan, so anyone can still go up there without being charged a ticket.
At the east end of Mount Wutai and Mount Heng, there is a series of valley villages, locally called Pingxing Village.
That's right, it's the Pingxingzhai in Pingxingguan.
Across Hengshan Mountain and further north, there are Yunzhou Shuozhou and other places, which are the first line of resistance against the Xiongnu, Yunzhong County, Dai County and Yanmen County.
But that place is no longer under Li Yunze's control, and he can't even leave the feudal country.
It didn't matter. Li Yunze took a few breaths of fresh mountain air, then turned his horse and galloped down the mountain.
If you go further north, you will reach Zhuojun, the hometown of Zhang Yide, a Yan native.
The northern land has been turned around, and next he will go to the southern counties to visit.
Li Yunze's physical fitness is there. It doesn't matter if he gallops for days or nights, but his followers can't stand it.
Fortunately, when they returned to Lunu City on the way, Li Yunze gave them silk goods as rewards, and then replaced them with another group of people to take them south.
Crossing the Hutuo River and heading south, we also visited several counties in the south and carefully investigated the local information.
We went all the way south to the border of Zhending County, the county seat of Changshan County.
Changshan County was originally Hengshan County established by the First Emperor. Because Emperor Wen Liu Heng's name was taboo, it was renamed Changshan County.
It can be seen that if the emperor chooses a popular name, it will bring too much trouble to the lives of the people.
Both the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties once established Changshan Kingdom here, which is why Zhao Yun called himself a Changshan Kingdom person.
Its county was Zhending County, which later became Shijiazhuang.
Going south from Zhending, you will reach Handan and Yecheng.
Li Yunze, who had walked around the feudal kingdoms and understood the relevant information in depth, led the team back to Lunu and prepared to start strengthening the country so that the people could live and work in peace and contentment.
The first thing I did when I returned to Lunu was to find Chang Shilang, who later became Zhong Changshi.
It should be noted that the Zhongchangshi in the early Western Han Dynasty were not eunuchs like those in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but able-bodied literati. Their main job was to serve as advisors and advisors, that is, secretaries.
The famous Dongfang Shuo once served as Chang Shilang.
Li Yunze's Chang Shilang, named Zhao Yan, is probably related to the royal family of King Zhao during the Warring States Period.
He was Chang Piao, and he didn't know which nobleman he had passed through. Chang Shilang, who was able to become the King of Zhongshan, followed him all the way here.
It was originally a casual job with a salary, and Zhao Yan had never received any jobs before. He thought that this would be it for the rest of his life, but he never expected that he would suddenly be given a heavy responsibility.
"You go north and go to the grassland."
Li Yunze's words almost gave Zhao Yan a heart attack.
Go north to the grassland. In this era of mutual confrontation between the Han and the Huns, it usually only means one thing, and that is to contact the Huns to prepare for rebellion!
Zhao Yan burst into tears. He had long since lost his ambitions. He just wanted to get around with a job that would bring him a salary. He really didn't dare to get involved in such a big event.
Before he could beg for mercy, he heard Li Yunze continue to say, "Take your gold and silk goods and go to the market to buy cattle."
The sobs that had reached Zhao Yana's throat stopped abruptly.
"The king wants to buy a cow?"
"Um."
Zhao Yan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Lunu City is connected to Zhuo County to the north, Handan to the south, Hejian Kingdom to the east, and Taiyuan County can be reached by walking to Kuxing in the west..."
"There is no need for you to learn about geography, I know all this."
Zhao Yan choked and said hurriedly, "The business here in Lunu is developed and there are many caravans coming and going. If the king wants to buy cattle, he can do it in this city."
"Oh?" Li Yunze raised his eyebrows, "Can you buy tens of thousands of cows in this city?"
"Thousands?!"
Zhao Yan burped, "Why did your Majesty buy so many cows? I can't eat them."
"Who told you that I want to eat cattle?" Li Yunze waved his hand impatiently, "I want to buy cattle from the grassland and tame them for use in farming."
"This, this..." Zhao Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead, not knowing what to say.
Then he heard Li Yunze say, "If you can't even handle this kind of thing, then you might as well find another job."
Having said this, Zhao Yan had no other choice but to accept it.
After all, it's not easy to get a Qianshi official position.
However, something that made Zhao Yan even more frightened occurred after the caravan set off.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The king actually appeared in the caravan!
"Your Majesty." Zhao Yan was speechless and said, "I'll leave on my own, and I won't bother you, Your Majesty."
"I'm not sending you off." Li Yunze, who had changed into regular clothes, waved his hand, "I will go with you."
Zhao Yan was about to cry, but it was a pity that no matter how hard he tried to persuade him, it was of no use.
The kings of the Han Dynasty were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without an edict. If they were found out, the Tingwei would definitely be charged with conspiracy.
The king may have just been reprimanded, grounded, or fined, but his close associates will definitely be in bad luck.
If something happens to the king on the way, don't say anything and wipe his neck quickly.
Unfortunately, no matter how Zhao Yan tried to persuade him, it was of no use and he could only follow him fearfully.
As for the palace in Lunu City, they naturally blocked the news and pretended that the king was eating, drinking and having fun in the palace all day long.
No one will be careless, because if something happens, the king may not know what will happen, but people like them will definitely be unlucky.
The caravan entered Kuxing along the Hutuo River, crossed the Taihang Mountains and entered Taiyuan County.
After arriving at Taiyuan County, turn north, pass through Yanmen County and enter the clouds, then exit the Great Wall from the clouds and enter the grassland.
At this time, although no large-scale war broke out between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, and even continued to make peace on the surface, as the only two superpowers in the world, overt and covert fighting was unavoidable.
Of course, while fighting openly and secretly, business exchanges never stopped and were even encouraged by both sides.
The Han people here need the Huns' horses, cattle, sheep, skins, medicinal materials and other supplies, especially horses.
And the Xiongnu wanted everything, from food to cloth, from ironware to silk and silk, etc.
The strong economic complementarity is also the reason why the two countries have not broken out into a national war since the Battle of Baishan Mountain.
The Han Dynasty is not ready yet, and the internal problems have not been solved. The Seven Kings Rebellion last year was put down, which can be regarded as a fundamental turning point.
On the Xiongnu side, it was purely because they couldn't fight.
It's not that they don't want to go south to plunder the Han Dynasty, it's that they can't fight.
The Han people have a bad temper and would rather burn everything down with fire than leave it to the Huns.
Then he firmly defended the city and fought the Huns to death.
When I went south to gnaw hard bones, the loot I grabbed was completely out of proportion to the heavy price I paid.
If you have the skills, you might as well go to the west and rob the countries in the Western Regions. They are all weaklings and can do whatever they want.
Trade between the two sides was very frequent. When Li Yunze's caravan came to the grassland, nearby tribes soon came to trade.
Naturally, he doesn't know how to carry iron weapons, and Li Yunze doesn't want to capitalize on his enemies.
What he brought with him were the silks and satins that the Emperor and the Queen Mother had given Liu Sheng when he left Chang'an City, as well as various gold and handicrafts, etc. These were the favorites of the Xiongnu nobles.
There is also a large amount of millet and wheat. Grassland herdsmen do not eat meat every day. It is a treatment that only the nobles can enjoy.
Ordinary herdsmen mainly rely on milk and cheese. It would be better if they have food.
In addition, there are dozens of carts full of wine that Li Yunze looted in Zhongshan Kingdom!
If there is any product that is most popular on the grassland, besides ironware, it must be wine.
After a busy day, I returned to the felt tent and had a few bowls of wine. The dizzy feeling came over me, as if the fatigue of the whole day was gone.
While the caravan was busy doing business, Li Yunze carefully observed each tribe and assessed its strength.
The herdsmen's riding skills are very good, at least much better than the Han cavalry. After all, they grew up on horses.
However, their equipment is very poor. Most of them don't even have leather armor, let alone iron armor.
Weapons are also diverse, and there are all kinds of things.
The most important arrow losses are mostly wolf tooth arrows or bone arrows.
These things are true to their names. Wolf fang arrows are made by grinding wolf teeth sharply to make arrowheads, and bone arrows are naturally ground bones.
Not to mention shooting through iron armor, it would probably be difficult to penetrate leather armor.
In addition to armaments, Li Yunze also focused on the strength of each tribe.
For example, how big is the population, what is the composition of the population, how many cattle, sheep, and horses are raised, etc.
Naturally, the nearby geographical environment of mountains and rivers, the distribution of rivers and pastures, etc. are also indispensable.
He was like an agent, keeping in mind all the information along the way.
If he comes again in the future, he will come with a large army.