Destiny Only Han

"I remember that Prime Minister Xiao once said to me that governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies..."

Liu Bang said with concern: "According to my opinion, the New Deal is not unfeasible, but it should not be now, but when Liu Yan succeeds to the throne or Liu Yan's son succeeds to the throne..."

Liu Ying made some calculations. His plan was to retire at the age of 60 and then travel around the world with his wives and concubines...

Therefore, the New Deal will be placed about 30 years later.

It is now 30 BC, and [-] years later it will be [-] BC, which is almost the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in history...

The most striking feature of Emperor Wu's period in the Han Dynasty is that the earth has entered the ice age. "In April in summer, frost kills grass", "In April it rains and snows, and people from more than ten counties in Guandong eat each other"...

If we carry out the New Deal when that kind of natural disaster strikes, I am afraid that Wang Mang will end up like him.

So, seize the day!

Liu Ying shook her head: "Dad, how do you think Liu Yan's ability is better than mine?"

Liu Bang sighed: "Although Liu Yan is still a child, he looks old at the age of three. From this point of view, he is naturally far inferior to you. But if he is carefully trained, he can still be regarded as an established king."

Liu Ying nodded in agreement and said: "The current control area of ​​the Han Dynasty extends from the southeast to the northwest to the sea. The local industry has taken off, and there are also large colonial territories overseas. This is a situation that has not been seen in a century."

"I often feel powerless. If we delay the time by another 30 years and extrapolate based on the current growth rate of the Han population, even if we do not include the overseas consuls, the local population of the Han alone will be at least 20!"

"With such a large population, you can imagine the head tax levied every year!"

"Dad, do you really think it's possible for the court to give up such a huge tax source at that time?"

Liu Bang lowered his head and said nothing.

Liu Ying didn't say anything, she just stayed with Liu Bang and walked slowly towards the Jiaofang Palace in the distance.

Although the Tatar Qing Dynasty had thousands of shortcomings, from the allocation of land to the abolition of the poll tax, it was undoubtedly the most benevolent government of the feudal monarchy in 2000.

The abolition of the poll tax means that the people no longer owe the government anything. No matter whether a person is rich or humble, he no longer has to pay taxes simply to live.

The big man, of course, cannot let the Tatars and Qing Dynasties be more beautiful than before!

....................................

Pepper House.

Today's big men are more enlightened than in history.

For example, on the stage right now, there is a bearded man in short clothes, playing the role of Liu Bang, who is freeing the prisoners.

Liu Bang, who was sitting in the audience, also watched with amusement as 'himself' sang, chanted, and beat on the stage. He even whispered to Lu Fei with great interest, showing off that he was more powerful than this actor back then. At the same time, he was also guessing who among the other people was Fan Kuai and who was Lu Wan...

Next to Liu Ying, sat his in-laws.

Well, that’s Aya.

After all, Aya's youngest daughter was promised to Liu Yan as the crown prince Liangdi, and Han Xin was a foreign minister and a man, so naturally he could not appear in Weiyang Palace at night.

Aya accompanied Liu Ying to listen to the play for a while, and then asked hesitantly: "Your Majesty, I have a request, I don't know whether to make it right or not..."

Liu Ying glanced sideways: "Just say it, it's my business whether I agree or not."

Aya: "..."

Liu Le spoke up and said, "Sister Aya is now considered one of our own, bratty brother, please stop showing off like an emperor!"

Liu Ying laughed silently, just looked at Aya and said, "My sister is right, we are all a family. If you have any requests, it doesn't matter."

Aya nodded and said tentatively: "Your Majesty, can you lift the ban on crossbows for the Huns herdsmen and allow herdsmen to possess powerful crossbows?"

Well, the crossbow ban she mentioned only restricted the Huns. According to the law, grassland herdsmen were prohibited from owning armor or crossbows. Even curved bows could only retain the power of a one-stone hunting bow.

Not my race after all.

As for the Han people, they are basically only prohibited from owning multiple sets of armor. In addition to iron armor, leather armor or half-length chain mail for personal use is not prohibited, and bows and crossbows can be held at will.

The reason is very simple. The ban on crossbows actually only takes effect on ordinary people. Robbers and rebels will not take the ban to heart at all.

Therefore, banning crossbows can only weaken the ability of the people to resist bandits, but cannot stop bandits and bandits from committing crimes with weapons and conspiring to rebel.

The relaxation of restrictions on private ownership of armor was mainly due to the large number of muskets and artillery installed in the Han Dynasty's standing army.

In the past, armor was banned because it was difficult for the crossbow arrows in the hands of the army to kill armored men. But with muskets, even if the armored man is wearing plate armor, he can still make a transparent hole with one shot...

Therefore, it is no longer that important to prohibit grassland people from holding crossbows.

Liu Ying looked at Aya expressionlessly and asked, "Why?"

Aya suddenly became bitter: "They are all wolves! There are too many wolves on the grassland now, and they are always annoying when they steal sheep. They need to be killed fiercely!"

Liu Ying frowned: "It shouldn't be. Apart from bears, wolves are the top predators on the grassland. As the top of the food chain, the number of wolves should not increase in number..."

Aya was stunned for a moment.

She couldn't understand Liu Ying's words like 'apex predator' and 'food chain' at all, but she understood the latter sentence.Therefore, Aya explained: "In fact, it is not that the number of wolves has increased, but the number of sheep. Nowadays, there are trains running directly to the grassland, and every autumn herdsmen sell sheep in large quantities, but the prices are getting higher and higher." "

"I asked this year. A Jie sheep born that year has been sold for more than 500 Chinese yuan, which is [-] Chinese yuan higher than before. Those good sheep that grew up eating shallots and onions can be sold for more than [-] Chinese yuan. Two thousand Han Yuan!”

"So, there are no more idle pastures on the grassland..."

"Humans and wolves are living closer and closer, so naturally we need to kill the wolves severely to prevent them from stealing sheep!"

Liu Ying nodded secretly.

He is not too worried about grassland desertification at this time.

The starting point of the ecological destruction of grasslands in later generations was that sheep were simply distributed to individuals, while the pastures were still public.

If the public does not take advantage, it will be a loss.

Therefore, the herdsmen wish they could raise [-] sheep in a pasture that could have raised a thousand sheep!
The important thing is that compared to cattle, sheep usually uproot the grass when they eat it and eat the tender and juicy grass roots.

Desertification of grasslands is naturally normal.

Later, the grassland was restored again because the pastures were also given to the herdsmen. Even the prodigal herdsmen were reluctant to spoil their own pastures.

Of course, what's more important is that a certain place is frequently hit by sandstorms, so it starts spending money to restore the grassland ecology.

As a result, the grassland became green again.

Liu Ying thought for a moment and asked, "What did the herdsmen do when they encountered wolves in the past?"

Aya replied: "Just mount a horse and bring the dog to drive the wolf away. Your Majesty doesn't know that the wolf is a very clever beast. It knows that it cannot beat people, so as long as there is food, it will not approach the sheep that are guarded by people and dogs. .”

"Anyway, the grassland is very big. The wolf can easily catch marmots, rabbits and mice, so it won't be a problem to eat enough."

Liu Ying asked with a smile: "But now that the ownerless grasslands have become pastures, the wolves have nowhere to go, so they can only steal sheep?"

After all, sheep are strange creatures.

They don't even run when they are attacked, they just stand there with their eyes wide open waiting for the wolf to bite them to death and eat them. As for the lucky sheep who are not attacked by the wolf, sometimes they will get close to the wolf. Watching the killing scene with big mouthfuls...

Therefore, once the wolf succeeds, it will no longer hunt other wild animals, but will just stare at the sheep. Whenever it is hungry, it will sneak into the sheep to eat at the buffet...

Hearing Liu Ying's words, Aya nodded.

She said with some worry: "Although the Huns have hunting bows, not all of them can shoot arrows while riding fast horses, and they have to hit wolves running dozens of steps away, which is even more difficult. …”

"But it will be different if there is a strong crossbow."

"The wolf has never seen a weapon that can shoot such a distance, so as long as we don't chase it, it won't run away, so we can easily hunt the wolf!"

Liu Ying thought for a while, nodded and said, "I'm sure. But when herdsmen buy crossbows, they must register their names and tribes in a real-name register, and they also need the signature of a tribal leader above ten captains as a guarantee."

Aya was overjoyed.

The expression on Liu Ying's face remained unchanged, but she was also overjoyed in her heart.

Today's Han Dynasty is fully equipped with muskets, but the arsenals of local governments still retain a large number of crossbow arrows left over from the Qin Dynasty, plus the crossbow arrows made by the Han Dynasty later.

Although a considerable number of these weapons were resold overseas through Shangxiantang, Liu Ying conservatively estimated that there are at least millions of crossbows in arsenals across the country!
Now, I just have some clearance sales for Aya...

Well, just selling some off.

After all, the army of the Han Dynasty not only included the garrison soldiers belonging to the Han court, but also the vassal states also had their own armies.

For example, Qi State.

The most powerful vassal in the East can raise an army of more than 20 to [-] men in minutes.

Therefore, some crossbow arrows need to be reserved for use by the armies of the vassal states.

The reason is very simple. The crossbows issued by the imperial court to the soldiers of various vassal states for training are numbered and safe and controllable. However, if the number of strong crossbows issued by the imperial court is not enough for the soldiers of the vassal states, the kings will inevitably make their own strong crossbows.

By then, the number of weapons will be unknown.

After Liu Ying and Aya discussed the details of exchanging crossbows for sheep, they suddenly asked: "Shouldn't dogs be used to protect against wolves? I have bred a group of wolf dogs before, which have the ferocity of wolves and the loyalty of dogs, and they can also herd cattle. He’s also good at herding sheep!”

"Why, aren't there any on the grassland?"

"Some..." Aya nodded: "Although the dogs your Majesty mentioned look like wolves, they are still dogs. They are not very good at fighting. Basically, a wolf can defeat at least two dogs!"

"It makes sense..." Liu Ying nodded lightly: "A dog has an owner, and usually can get food without fighting. It's normal that it can't beat a wolf."

Aya nodded in agreement and then said:

"It doesn't matter if a dog can't beat a wolf. The key is that sheep-watching dogs raised by herdsmen are often dragged away and eaten by wolves..."

"It's awful!"

Liu Ying seemed to have remembered something, and said mysteriously: "Tomorrow... tomorrow I will go to the Shanglinyuan Kennel. I will show you a good thing. I guarantee that the wolves on the grassland will not be able to beat dogs from now on!"