Dahan first prince

Chapter 156 Food, Must Be Officially Camped!
When Xiao He was walking on Hao Street with a sad face, and Xiang Yangcheng analyzed the consequences of Liu Ying's "Forbidden Jia Tun Grain Order", in Weiyang Palace, Liu Ying, who sent Xiao He and Yang Chengyan away, also waited. Here comes the arrival of the mother Lu Zhi.

As in the past ten days, he sat down Liu Ying who was about to stand up and greet him, and Lu Zhi sat beside Liu Ying and asked about the matter just now.

"A few days ago, Ying'er said that he wanted to persuade Marquis Bing to make an order in Guanzhong to prohibit merchants from collecting grain and goods. He also set up a grain market in the south of Chang'an to sell cheap grain from Shaofu to the people of Guanzhong."

"Marquis Feng just entered the palace, but for this reason?"

Hearing this question, Liu Ying only nodded with a smile on her face, and sighed a little with deep feeling.

The high price of grain in Guanzhong is not a new problem.

Whether it is the strange memory in Liu Ying's mind, the ups and downs of food prices in the Han Dynasty in the past few years, or the years after Liu Ying became the puppet emperor in the previous life, food prices have always been a part of the Changan court. big heart disease.

Combined with Liu Ying's memories of the past when she had not traveled through time, and her impression of becoming a puppet emperor in her previous life, the term 'grain price' has always been the main content of court and court discussions.

In Liu Ying's mind, the earliest memory of grain prices is the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, that is, the year of the next battle of Gai, when Liu Ying was sent to Chang'an by his father Liu Bang, who was only the king of Han at that time.

Liu Ying clearly remembers that the grain price range in Guanzhong that year was [-] to [-] yuan per stone, with the lows around the autumn harvest and the highs in spring and summer.

In the following six years of the Han Dynasty, the price of grain in Guanzhong experienced the first artificial skyrocketing since the Han Dynasty!
In the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, that is, when Han Wangxin was about to jump back, and the first battle between the Han and the Hungarians was about to begin, the price of grain in Guanzhong once rose to [-] yuan a stone!
Liu Ying didn't know how much the food price of [-] yuan and one stone had hurt the people at the bottom.

But there is a piece of data that may be able to explain from the side how the sudden increase in food prices will have a bad impact on the Han Dynasty and the world.

——In the spring of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang succeeded the emperor in Luoyang and established the Han Guozuo. Almost at the same time, he ordered that anyone who came out of the mountains and forests to register with the government and registered as a Han citizen would be granted the title of public official and a hundred acres of land!
Driven by the "Decree of Conferring the Land to the People", in less than half a year from the spring to the autumn of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, a "population explosion" was ushered in just three thousand miles away in the middle of Qin Dynasty.

Until now, it is still stored in the prime minister's internal history household registration file. In that half a year, the household registration in Guanzhong skyrocketed from 15 to nearly 60!
The registered population has skyrocketed from less than 80 to nearly 300 million!
But in the second year, that is, the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, it was also half a year, and it was also spring to autumn, but the household registration and population in Guanzhong strangely did not increase at all!

——You must know that this year is already the seventh year since Liu Bang promulgated the "Decree of Conferring the Fields to the People"!

Even today, there are still people in Guanzhong who continue to come down from the deep mountains and old forests to receive household registration and farmland, so that the household registration and population of Guanzhong grow at a rate of about [-]% every year!

Then why in the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, the second year after the promulgation of the "Decree of Jumin Tian Jue", the household registration and population in Guanzhong did not increase strangely?

Could it be that the high food prices made those former Qin and Warring States survivors who hid in the deep mountains and old forests to avoid the wars reluctant to go down the mountains?
The answer to this question has not been recorded in the archives of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Ying is also sure that in the future, a certain Tai Shigong's history books will not give a too clear answer to this question.

Because this answer is too cruel and too sad...

The fact is: in the second year after the promulgation of the "Decree of Conferring Land to the People", that is, the news that "going down the mountain to register household registration can get land acres" was more widely spread in Guanzhong. And more!
But in that year, in front of the sky-high price of grain of "eight thousand dollars for a stone", countless farmers, from selling their children and girls at the beginning, to eating each other later, and finally, they were reduced to starvation. the point of death......

The "Xinmin" who had just come down the mountain and received acres of land from the government had not had time to adapt to their status as a "Han Chinese", and found that with all their wealth, they couldn't afford three or five shi of rice to use as grain for spring plowing!

People who went down the mountain earlier, or did not go up the mountain to take refuge, looked at the piles of copper coins that sold hundreds of shi of grain in exchange for hundreds of shi of grain, but now they can’t buy back dozens of shi of grain. .

In the face of such a heinous super-high food price, even the government, the court, and even the emperor Liu Bang can only resort to the "Han Sanzhu" economic measures that dig their own graves and destroy their foundations to relieve the central government. financial woes.

Since the food price boom in the whole Guanzhong area in the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, the population in Guanzhong has dropped sharply, the household registration has decreased, food prices have not been reported, and a series of sequelae such as private casting of three baht pods have also caused the Han Dynasty to fall into a long-term crisis. Decades of hardship.

In order to appease the bad consequences of the soaring food price, the Han Dynasty tolerated the freak of "three baht coins with a face value of half tael" and existed in the Han Dynasty for a full eight years.

It wasn't until Emperor Gaodi Liu Bang passed away, and Empress Dowager Lu Zhi promulgated an edict prohibiting people from privately minting money, that the money market in the Han Dynasty returned to the right track.

As for food prices, let alone.

——Liu Ying still remembers to this day: In her previous life, the year she turned 22 years old, that is, the 19th year of the Han Dynasty, the price of grain in Guanzhong still did not drop by a thousand dollars per shi!
Based on the original history, in order to reduce the price of grain in Guanzhong from [-] yuan per stone in the sixth year of the Han Dynasty to [-] yuan per stone in the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it took nearly a hundred years for the Han Dynasty.

And for most of the century, it was generally called by later historians: the rule of Wenjing...
"The queen mother may not know."

Pulling the heavy heart back from the blind thoughts, and smiling at her mother Lu Zhi, Liu Ying's face could not help but bring a little calmness.

"In the autumn and September of last year, my son went to Lianchao for the renovation of the Zhengguo Canal. Along the way, I saw many peasants in Guanzhong who were hungry and naked."

"As far as Lian Shao, we can see the Weibei Minzhuang who came here to build the canal, and I often see the men in their thirties, but they are still skinny and have a disheveled face!"

"—You must know that the emperor granted the title of land to the people, and he is only six years old; all the people in Guanzhong should now be sitting on a hundred acres of fertile land!"

"Having this hundred acres of fertile land, and being a pillar of a family, but the lack of food and rice still makes this generation hungry..."

Shaking her head sadly and letting out a long sigh, Liu Ying pursed her lips a little tighter.

"Before, I didn't know the details. It was only because the water conservancy in Guanzhong had been in disrepair for many years and the yield of the fields had been reduced over the years. This made the people plow the fields, and the harvest was not enough to eat."

"However, for more than ten days, my son lay on the couch and meditated for a long time, only then did he know that the people in Guanzhong are not full of food, not because of insufficient food production."

As she spoke, Liu Ying became a little excited.

"—One hundred acres of fertile land, if you produce two shi per mu, you can still get two hundred shi of grain and rice; after removing the agricultural tax and tax, there will be no less than a hundred and ninety shi!"

"With this grain of one hundred and ninety shi, how can a family of five have enough food?"

"It should be noted that today, the annual food for the soldiers of the Zongnan and Northern armies is no more than thirty shi!"

"One hundred and ninety stones of grain and rice should be enough to support a husband and wife, parents, and five or six children and grandchildren, and there is still more!"

Speaking of this, Liu Ying finally couldn't hold back the anger in her chest, clenched her hands tightly into fists, and smashed her knee lightly.

"If it wasn't for the fact that in the past few years, the wicked grain merchants in Guanzhong fed on the people's blood, why worry about the food and grass for the emperor's army now in court?"

"Why worry about repairing the Zhengguo Canal and building Chang'an City?!"

"Every time I think about this, I wish I could lift the three-foot sword and slaughter Mi Jia, the grain merchant in Guanzhong!!!"

Full of anger, she let out a low growl, and Liu Ying slammed her fist on the soft couch next to her again. For a moment, she was so angry that her chest heaved a little.

Seeing Liu Ying's attitude, Lu Zhi on the side laughed lightly, and secretly nodded silently.

"It's rare for Ying'er to have such a thorough understanding of the grain and the country."

With a smile on his face, he gave a compliment, and saw Lu Zhi gently patted the back of Liu Ying's hand, and said tentatively: "Even so, Ying'er should not be partial to everything."

"Ying'er needs to know that buying low and selling high and making a difference are the foundation for merchants to settle down and make a fortune."

"Every merchant, if he doesn't understand this way, he will not be able to benefit."

"As for the grain merchants in Guanzhong, although they occasionally do misconduct, they also have the merit of 'reserving for the people'; even if the price of rice is a little expensive, it is not a place that is said to be 'feeding the blood of the people'..."

The warm voice comforted Liu Ying's slightly irritable mood, and she saw that Lu Zhi's face froze for a moment, and then she lowered her head thoughtfully.

Only a moment later, Lu Zhi smiled meaningfully and stared into the depths of Liu Ying's eyes.

"Ying'er just said: The grain merchant is evil?"

"Could it be that the only profiteers in the world are food merchants?"

Hearing the old lady's sudden question, Liu Ying only thought about it for a while, then muttered angrily, "The rest, I don't know."

"Of course Liang Jia is indeed a rebel who intends to overthrow the country and disrupt our Han family!"

Seeing that Liu Ying had just calmed down a little bit, she was rekindled by a question of her own, but Lu Zhi was not in a hurry to comfort, but smiled and raised her head.

"Oh?"

Looking at the words "expand and talk" written on the face of the old lady, Liu Ying also had to suppress the anger in her heart for a while, and turned her head after a few words.

"My Han family governs the world, there are three foundations."

"The first is: filial piety; the second is called agriculture; the third is called mausoleum."

"Filial piety is the first of all good deeds, and it is used by our Han family to guide the people to do good deeds."

"And farmers, since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, have been the foundation of the country and the people."

"The mausoleum became the city; it was the emperor's proposal to move the world's heroes into Guanzhong on the advice of Fengchun Lord Lou Jing, thinking that the strong base is weak and the end is a strategy."

"Filial piety, agriculture, and mausoleum are the three roots of our Han family's governance; and the three complement each other."

Saying this with determination, Liu Ying's eyes also burst into a little light.

"Now, what the grain merchants and evil merchants have done has completely damaged these three!"

"——The evil merchants of the grain merchants garrison the grain, driving up the price of the grain, and the first loser is the farmer!"

"Today in Guanzhong, every time after the summer season and the autumn harvest is just around the corner, the price of grain will drop sharply; and in the second season of spring and summer, when the people's harvest is not harvested, the price of grain will rise again!"

"If things go on like this, if the people lose their desire to farm because of the ups and downs in food prices, the foundation of our country will be unstable!"

Hearing this, Lu Zhi nodded indifferently, and saw Liu Ying cleared her throat, and continued: "The second loser is Lingben!"

"——The system of mausoleums was originally in Chang'an, far away in the Guandong, and the local tyrants and rich households could not lose their fortunes. Two thousand stones in counties and counties could not be ruled, so they used the name of 'filial piety to guard the emperor's mausoleum' to force them to move to Guanzhong and make them weak."

"However, in Guanzhong today, almost all of the merchants who carry goods and grains are powerful in the place where Xiao Xiangguo moved from Guandong to Changling in the seventh year of the Han Dynasty!"

"In the long run, our Han family is strong at the base and weak at the end, strong at the top and weak at the branches, suppressing the powerful and protecting the mausoleum system at the head of Guizhou. Wouldn't it become a ladder for the Kanto tycoons to move to Guanzhong to oppress the people of Guanzhong?"

"In the future, if I hear about 'move to Guanzhong Emperor's Mausoleum to guard the spirit', I'm afraid that the powerful people in the Guandong will no longer look like mourning concubine concubines, but will celebrate with each other, and use fish and meat to the people of Guanzhong!"

Hearing this, a strange color suddenly appeared on Lu Zhi's face.

It is understandable that fluctuations in food prices will affect agricultural production.

——Food prices fluctuate, expensive grain hurts farmers, and cheap grain hurts farmers, which will naturally lead to a decline in the willingness of the people to farm and a decrease in motivation.

This is also the consensus of the court today, and even the whole world.

And when Liu Ying said that "fluctuating food prices not only hurt the farm, but also destroy the folk customs, filial piety, and the mausoleum system", Lu Zhi didn't take it seriously.

It wasn't until Liu Ying said the second point that Lu Zhi suddenly realized: Yes!

Now in Guanzhong, those grain merchants who drive up the price of grain are all powerful people who moved in from Kanto in the early years!

The original intention of the mausoleum system was to move these idiots who could not be governed and suppressed by local officials into Guanzhong, and suppress them by the way, so as to consolidate the foundation of the country and prevent the local power from becoming overwhelmed.

But the current situation is not as Liu Ying said: the local tyrants who should have been suppressed in Guanzhong have started to exploit the peasants in Guanzhong like a fish in water?

If it continues to develop like this, it will take another hundred and eighty years. Liu Ying's guess may really become a reality!

——I heard that my family was forcibly moved into Guanzhong. Instead of being afraid or lost, the local tyrants said happily: I can finally change places, and at the feet of the emperor, I went to Yurouguanzhong...

"Thirdly, Xiaoben..."

While Lu Zhi was thinking, Liu Ying shook her head self-servingly, expressing her third point of view.

"Filial piety means that sons are filial to parents and elders, younger brothers are respectful to brothers and sisters; and filial piety is nothing more than offering food, rice, and cloth."

"But today, the people in Guanzhong are still hungry and have no clothes to cover their bodies. How can they get enough money to buy rice, grain, cloth and silk, so as to show filial piety to their parents?"

"If things go on like this, won't the people in Guanzhong do their best to make a living and neglect filial piety?"

"In this way, filial piety will no longer exist, and the people of our Han family will no longer see honesty..."

After saying that, seeing that the old lady was only lost in thought, Liu Ying didn't stop, and directly expressed her own conclusion.

"My old son thought: For the eternal plan of our Han family, grain merchants must be extinct in Guanzhong, and even the world!"

"The goods and purchases of grain and rice are related to the three books of filial piety, agriculture, and mausoleum of our Han family, and they are indispensable when soldiers and horses are mobilized!"

"Such a heavy weapon must never be handed over to lowly merchants and evil merchants!!!"

(End of this chapter)