From ancient times to the present, common people can be said to have the lowest living requirements, especially in feudal society.
During the feudal society, the requirements of ordinary people were very simple. They only needed dozens of acres of land, enough food to satisfy their hunger, and enough to eat.
A light rain brought new flowers, and a thunder startled the insects. The fields were idle for a few days, and farming began. All the young men were in the wild, and the fields and gardens were taken care of. When I returned, I saw Changyan and drank the water of the calf west stream. I was hungry and did not suffer from it, and was nourished by the beauty.
Qi Wei Xi. These few poems by Wei Yingwu, a man from the Tang Dynasty, describe the life of ordinary people very thoroughly.
However, when the simplest and simplest demands of the common people cannot be met, then you cannot blame the common people for rebelling.
The 30,000 people Liu Bei has recruited and surrendered now have this kind of problem.
Although these 30,000 people have surrendered to you, Pingyuan County Magistrate, if you, Pingyuan County Magistrate, cannot feed these 30,000 people, then don't blame these 30,000 people for becoming rebels again.
What these 30,000 people only want is food to eat, not enough to eat.
During the Han Dynasty, if ordinary people wanted to eat enough, they needed about two kilograms of grain a day. But if they just wanted to eat, one kilogram of grain a day was enough for each person, and women and children could be smaller.
For 30,000 people, one person weighs 0.8 kilograms per day, 30,000 people weigh 24,000 kilograms per day, and 8.76 million kilograms per year.
The weight of grain in the late Eastern Han Dynasty: 1 stone = 1 dendrobium, 1 stone of rice = about 17-20kg, 1 stone of rice = about 13-15kg.
Calculated in this way, these 30,000 people need to eat at least 450,000 shi of grain a year, which is 450,000 hu of grain.
The issue Liu Bei mentioned is indeed a very critical issue.
When Liu Bei and Chen Meng calculated the amount of food that these 30,000 people needed to eat in a year, they both couldn't help but feel dizzy.
At this moment, Liu Bei felt that he had wiped out Xu Hu's wave of rebels and captured only more than 10,000 hu of grain, which was too little.
"When the rebels in other places surrendered, they must have also seized food," Chen Meng said.
"Yes, there are more than five thousand dendrobium in total."
"When the Wang family ransacked their homes, they must have had a lot of food."
"Yes, more than fifteen thousand dendrobium."
"A lot of money was also seized from the rebels and the Wang family."
"A total of 50 million yuan was seized this time, which can buy 5,000 dendrobium of corn."
"One handful of grain costs ten thousand?" Chen Meng was extremely surprised when he heard what Liu Bei said.
"Money is not valuable now, food is valuable."
What Liu Bei said makes sense. The current price of grain is still much cheaper than the price of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a handful of grain in a few years.
"Give these 30,000 people less food!" Chen Meng said helplessly.
"Young and strong men have two meals a day when farming is busy, and everyone has one gruel a day at other times. This also requires 250,000 hu of grain."
"In spring and summer, wild vegetables and tree bark can be used to satisfy hunger. In February of the following year, elm pods can also be used to satisfy hunger. There are many rivers in Pingyuan County, and fishing can be used as a substitute for food."
"Well, what you mentioned can also be used to replace a lot of food. Let these 30,000 people eat less, so at least 150,000 dendrobium of food will be needed." Liu Bei glanced at Chen Meng and said calmly.
"Brother, the granary in Pingyuan County..."
When Chen Menggang said the word granary, he was interrupted by Liu Bei.
"The food in Pingyuan County's granary is for emergencies. This food cannot be touched." Liu Bei completely rejected Chen Meng's idea in one sentence.
This time in Pingyuan County, we suppressed bandits and ransacked the Wang family's homes, and obtained a total of 35,000 dendrobium of grain. Now we are still short of 115,000 dendrobium of grain. Such simple arithmetic problems could be solved by Chen Meng at a very young age in later generations.
Out.
But what's the use of calculating it? There won't be an extra grain of grain at all.
"Brother, how about we drive these 30,000 people elsewhere!"
When Chen Meng said this, he meant retreating in order to advance. Chen Meng still knew his eldest brother very well.
In history, when my eldest brother fled from Xinye, he had to take the people of Xinye with him. Naturally, he was very clear about the importance of the people.
Chen Meng naturally wanted these 30,000 people to stay in Pingyuan County. However, the reason why Chen Meng dared to say this to Liu Bei was because Chen Meng knew that Liu Bei would not give up these 30,000 people.
The facts were just as Chen Meng expected.
"It would be unbenevolent and righteous to drive these people to other places. I will definitely not do such a thing."
"But we have no food."
"But we have an army."
Chen Meng is not stupid. Not only is he not stupid, but he is also very smart. Naturally, we can understand what Liu Bei meant by this.
"Brother, how about I go and issue this edict first?"
"good."
****
The issuance of the edict of peace to the people surprised the thirty thousand people.
When Chen Meng said that the government would provide wheat seeds during autumn plowing, many people were extremely excited.
When Chen Meng once again said that when these people had no food, the government would provide them with food to satisfy their hunger, these people all began to kowtow to Chen Meng to thank him.
Most of these rebels are peasants, and what peasants want most is land. Land represents hope and the hope of survival.
Moreover, the edict said that the cultivated fields are your own fields and will not be taken away until your death.
The government supported the people in reclaiming open fields, provided seeds for the first year, provided cattle for farming, and also guaranteed to fend off rebels elsewhere.
These are enough for these 30,000 people.
The land owned by the Wang family and the wasteland near Pingyuan County became the targets of cultivation by these 30,000 people.
Housing is also a big problem for these 30,000 people. However, the housing during this period was originally very simple. The walls were rammed with mud, the roof was wooden, and some straw was temporarily spread on the roof, and there was a living space.
place.
Farmland is reclaimed and wasteland is cultivated, and then taxes are paid. The government that collects taxes must be able to protect farmers and farmers from being invaded by rebels.
When the rebels from other places learn that there is food in Pingyuan County, they will definitely come to Pingyuan County to grab food. When 1 or 200,000 rebels from Qingzhou and Xuzhou come to Pingyuan County to grab food, they will only rely on the more than 1,000 people in Pingyuan County.
The army is irresistible.
So when Chen Meng and Zhao Yuntian and Yu informed the 30,000 people about the cause-and-effect relationship, a rush of voluntary soldiers emerged as Chen Meng expected.
Zhao Yuntian and Yu finally selected nearly 4,000 young and strong men from these 30,000 people.
With these newly added soldiers, plus the existing soldiers in Pingyuan County, Liu Bei already has more than 6,000 soldiers in his hands.
The more than 600 elite cavalry who had been following Liu Bei in the battle were elites. Liu Bei handed these elites over to the leadership of Guan Yu. The original battalions in Pingyuan County were also led by Guan Yu. The troops led by Guan Yu totaled 2,000 soldiers.
It's elite.
Zhang Fei led 2,000 soldiers, and Zhao Yuntian and Yu each led 1,000 soldiers. The prototype of Liu Bei's army had basically emerged. This chapter has been completed!