I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 393, The First Drought of AD 194

April of the first year of Xingping in the Han Dynasty (AD 194)
Liu Bei, who fought for more than half a year, relied on gunpowder to break through the city and finally broke into the Chengdu Plain!As in history, Liu Bei marched to surround Chengdu, and sent Jian Yong to persuade Liu Zhang to surrender, and Liu Zhang also opened the gate of Chengdu to surrender just like in history!The whole of Shuzhong officially fell into Liu Bei's hands.

At the same time, Tao Qian, who had been seriously ill in Xuzhou for half a year, died in March of the first year of Xingping. At this time, Xuzhou had no leader, and all the elites in Xuzhou wanted to compete for the position of Xuzhou Mu.

But at this time, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao sent 20 troops to attack Xuzhou in four directions. The powerful clans in Xuzhou did not have Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to attack Xuzhou together. Completely captured, the five counties of Xuzhou were divided up, and the forces of the two princes of the Han Dynasty perished!
But at this time Xu Wei has no time to care about the war in the Central Plains.

Because this year began in the early spring of March, there were only a few light rains in Bingzhou and Jizhou, but this was far from enough to water the earth. In addition, there was insufficient rain last year, and many small rivers and streams in Bingzhou began to stop flowing. The spring drought has seriously affected the winter wheat harvest in Dagan, and it has also affected the spring plowing in Dagan!At present, only Youzhou and Liaodong are less affected by the drought in Daqian's territory!
At this time, the Dagan removed the rations of the tribesmen, and there were only 3000 million shi in stock, which could be distributed to each of the people of the Dagan for a shi and a half of grain. This amount of grain was only enough for the tribes to barely survive for two months!Therefore, this year's food is extremely important. If the harvest fails, not one or two people will die of starvation, but one or two million people!

Faced with such a critical moment of life and death, Xu Wei called on the entire cadre to find a way to save themselves. He led the entire cadre to the fields to dig ditches, build waterwheels, windmills, and try everything possible. , rivers, and even groundwater pumped to the fields to ensure food production as much as possible!

And to say that the most unlucky force in the world must be Yuan Shao. Last year, Yanzhou suffered a severe drought. Yuan Shao worked hard to buy grain from Jingzhou, and at the same time, he continued to increase the population of Yanzhou to Guanzhong. Barely control the drought in Yanzhou.

But I didn’t expect that Guanzhong was the most severely affected by drought this year. Guanzhong had little rain and snow since last winter. By the beginning of spring this year, there was no water falling in Guanzhong, and Chang’an, surrounded by eight waters, began to dry up. The longer the time, the more drought The more severe the situation, the more and more counties and counties in Guanzhong were affected.

Officials and people in the affected counties and counties knelt on the parched ground and prayed for rain from the Dragon King, but the relentless scorching sun still scorched the land every day, drying up the rivers and cracking the land.The common people tried their best to carry water to irrigate their fields, but the wheat seedlings in the fields were still dying of being scorched by the scorching sun!
The officials in Guanzhong tried their best to solve the drought problem, and the people fled Guanzhong one after another, trying to find a way to survive.

At the beginning of May, hundreds of thousands of people in Sili fled Guanzhong and fled to Bingzhou to survive!

As the drought in Guanzhong could no longer be concealed, the officials in Guanzhong could only spread the news of the drought to Luoyang City.
When the news of the drought in Guanzhong passed to Yuan Shao in Luoyang City, Yuan Shao almost vomited blood. It was because God was playing with him, and Yanzhou immigrated to Guanzhong because of the drought.

As a result, as soon as the victims were resettled in Guanzhong, there was a once-in-a-century drought in Guanzhong. This is not to play him to death. He was able to buy grain from Jingzhou last year, but what about this year?Even if Liu Bei has food, Yuan Shao's finances cannot support so many disaster victims!

At this time, Yuan Shao in Luoyang City looked at the Dahan Palace and suddenly thought of Emperor Ling. At that time, Emperor Ling was the ruler of the Dahan. Emperor Ling could only barely suppress the various rebellions of the big man, but the rebellion continued. When he heard the news, he was still angry at him. In terms of situation, he can do ten times, a hundred times better than Lingdi!
But he only took charge of the land of the three states of the Han Dynasty, and he felt a little unable to sustain it when he encountered two droughts. At this time, he really admired Emperor Ling. It can maintain the situation of Dahan for 4-5 years. Although Dahan was turbulent at that time, overall Dahan can maintain the situation.At this time, Yuan Shao felt that he had nothing to do, and he didn't know how to deal with the severe drought in Guanzhong!

Yuan Shao was a little ashamed to discover that his ability was actually inferior to that of the Emperor Ling whom he had always despised!

Yuan Shao immediately summoned his subordinates to tell them the news of the severe drought in Guanzhong, and it is still expanding, and may even affect the entire Sili!

The news of the thunder from the blue sky shocked Xu You and others speechless. You must know that not long ago they were still discussing how to support Zhang Lu, and they wanted to use Zhang Lu to cause trouble for Liu Bei, making it difficult for him to calm Yi. State, but did not think that the entire Guanzhong would be hit by a drought!

Tian Feng said excitedly: "The victims must be relieved immediately, or the people will all run to Lei Gong's territory. How can we resist Lei Gong's attack with an empty Guanzhong!"

Xu You frowned and said, "Where does the grain come from? Last year's relief to Yanzhou emptied our granary. If we hadn't bought 200 million shi of grain from Jingzhou, the people of Yanzhou would not have been able to reach Guanzhong. Drought, we now not only have no food, we even have no money to buy food!"

Yuan Shao has only three and a half states of land but has to support 30 troops, so Yuan Shao's financial pressure has always been very heavy. Now when the drought occurs, they find that they have no food and money, and it is impossible to help the victims!

Guo Tu frowned and said: "The biggest problem for us now is not to relieve the victims, but to find ways to keep the soldiers alive. The drought in Guanzhong will definitely affect the troops stationed in the fields. Not only can they not provide us with food, but they still need us to feed them. They, if we can't support them and their families, I'm afraid that our army will be like the Jizhou army, and it will collapse when we encounter Lei Gong's subordinates!"

Yuan Shao raised 30 troops in the land of the three provinces of Sili. Naturally, it is impossible to support them like the standing army of the Han Dynasty. They simply cannot afford to support them.

Yuan Shao used the Tuntian system, and the soldiers in his hands could be allocated 100 mu of land, but these lands still belonged to the noble families of Yuan Shao's forces. family!Yuan Shao will not pay soldiers' salaries!When this military system first came out, Yuan Shao smiled confidently to his subordinates: "He can raise millions of soldiers without spending a single penny!"

This means that Yuan Shao does not have a population of one million households, and he does not have so much land in his hands for soldiers, and Yuan Shao still needs to find a way to build weapons and equipment, otherwise he may really put this military household system in his entire Promote on site.

This kind of system can still be maintained at ordinary times, but it will collapse immediately when there is a disaster. Now that there is a drought in Guanzhong, the soldiers can't support their families, not to mention their own. This forces Yuan Shao to support these troops himself. !
If the monthly salary of 30 troops is 3 shi per person, they will need one million shi of food a month, and tens of millions of shi of food a year!This kind of expenditure is simply not something that the Yuan Shao regime can afford!

Yuan Shao frowned when he heard this. He naturally knew the importance of the soldiers now. Especially at this time, he must not lose the food for the soldiers, otherwise he would not have the power to suppress the rioters, and he would not be able to resist Lei Gong's attack. Want the help of 30 soldiers!So at this time, even if he is selling iron, he must find a way to maintain the morale of the 30 army!

It’s just that Yuan Shao’s regime is a coalition regime of elites and gentry. It is naturally a small government. The regimes established by Yuan Shao and the others are self-sufficient and they collect very little tax. Wubao is a small peach garden, a small world.

Yuan Shao's soldiers even have to find ways to support themselves. The advantage of this kind of regime is that the expenses are low. Being an official here in Yuan Shao is not a salary, but a farm directly. If you are a prefect, you will be given two thousand acres of land. The income from the mu of land is your salary, and the county magistrate will give you [-] mu. In this way, Yuan Shao not only does not need to spend too much money to raise soldiers, but also does not need to spend too much money to maintain the political power!

But the downside is that the benefits are all swallowed up by the powerful and nobles, and the financial revenue is as small as the later Ming Dynasty. It can still resist for a while, but if it encounters the climate of ten years and nine disasters in the last years of Chongzhen, it can only wait. died!
Xu You thought for a while and said, "Why don't we gather the heads of the families and find a way to raise taxes to raise soldiers!"

Ju Shou shouted: "Don't do it, my lord, have you forgotten that Lei Gong rose because the first emperor raised taxes in Jizhou, and now the drought is still spreading. If we increase taxes, we will force the people to rebel! Lei Gong is eyeing the Central Plains, If we push against the common people again, Lei Gong will definitely attack the Central Plains, and under such internal and external attacks, we may not only lose the Central Plains, but even lose the Sili!"

Of course Jushou knew that Xu You wanted to get some money and food from the nobles in the Central Plains as an emergency, but he knew more about the virtues of the nobles. The people who can't live will definitely revolt, if this attracts Lei Gong, they will die without a place to bury them!

Feng Ji thought for a while and said: "Lei Gong also lacks food and grass in Hebei. He issued bonds for merchants to buy. Unexpectedly, Lei Gong used this method to raise money and food in the battle of Youzhou and Jizhou. Are we also This method can be used!"

Xin Pi said helplessly: "Back then, Dong Zhuo's suing order killed all the merchants in the Han Dynasty, and now the merchants are hiding in Hebei where they dare not come to the Dahan's territory. How could the merchants buy our bonds under such circumstances? , and the masters of the Central Plains may not have enough money and food to buy our bonds, after all, this is to support an army of 30!"

Yuan Shao sneered and said: "This can't be done, and that can't be done. Everyone, don't forget that Lei Gong is still staring at us. If the soldiers are divorced from us, we will all die without a place to bury us. Lei Gong confiscated, at this moment, who is more important and who is more important, they still can't tell!"

Yuan Shao clearly wants the nobles of the Central Plains to contribute money and food to the victims of the disaster. There is no other way. In Yuan Shao's power, all the interests are occupied by the nobles. They want to kill pigs They couldn't find a match, and the aristocrats in the Central Plains didn't want to cut their flesh to save themselves, so the only thing waiting for them was to be killed by Lei Gong.Yuan Shao didn't want to be defeated by Lei Gong like this, so he could only think of a way to let the powerful and powerful clan spit out some benefits!

After this meeting, the counselors in Yuan Shao's hands were dispatched to various places to persuade the noble families in the three states of the Central Plains to share the adversity together. At the same time, they kept pulling Lei Gong out to blackmail these noble families overtly and secretly!

They also have a share in Yuan Shao's power. If Yuan Shao's regime collapses because of this drought, there will be no one to help them resist Lei Gong!

Maybe it was because of Yuan Shao's face, or maybe it was because of Lei Gong's threat, Xu You and others successively got some money and food from the homes of the powerful families in the Central Plains.

But the thing that annoyed Yuan Shao was that they only raised 100 million grains and 3000 million yuan from the elite families in the Central Plains, which was not enough to consume Yuan Shao's 30 troops for a month!
Seeing this amount of money and food, Yuan Shao's anger could not be appeased anymore, he even wanted to lead his troops to snatch all the Wubao in the entire Central Plains, so that these nobles and nobles would never get rid of them!
At this time, the drought in the first year of Xingping became more and more serious. Not only did it spread beyond Guanzhong, but the entire Sili, Yanzhou, and even Yuzhou began to suffer from disasters. Even the officials in Guanzhong began to flee to Leigong’s territory in Hebei, because the salary Yuan Shao gave officials was the grain produced by the land, and Guanzhong has no crops now. Officials Naturally, there will be no salary, and he can't even survive, so naturally no one will work for Yuan Shao!

Starting from June, the drought in the first year of Xingping completely broke out. Yuan Shao's territory was completely covered by the drought. The dry Bingzhou and Jizhou also suffered severe drought. Xu Wei tried his best to change the situation of Hebei's summer harvest reduction this year. !
And Cao Cao in Qingzhou was also affected by the drought, but his site is close to the sea, so the drought situation is better than that in the Central Plains, but the reduction in grain production is certain. Cao Cao just doesn't know how much the grain production will be reduced this year!
Although Liu Bei in the south didn't have to suffer from drought, he suffered from floods that were rare in a century. Most of the southern land suffered heavy rains and floods. Even Liu Bei will suffer from a food crisis this year!
It can be said that this disaster has swept away all the powers of the princes in the entire Han Dynasty. Everyone is trying to save themselves, and the forces that cannot bear it can only collapse in this disaster!

(End of this chapter)