Xuande

Chapter 628 Liu Bei Prepares to Promulgate Slave Restriction Order

800 million, this is a very dangerous number.

And such a number is based on the premise that all officials and private powerful landlords strictly abide by the regulations of the court.

If some people do not abide by the official version of the slave restriction stipulated by the court, and wantonly expand the number of slaves without the government knowing, then this number may go up at any time.

This shows the prevalence of slaves in this society. It can even be said bluntly that the entire Han Empire is enjoying the convenience brought by this slave economy.

In economically prosperous areas, the number of slaves may be slightly less, while in economically poor areas, or war-torn areas, the number of slaves will only increase rather than decrease.

Not to mention other people, among the Han and Hu prisoners captured by Liu Bei during his years of fighting in northern Xinjiang, about one million of them were included in the "official slaves" group controlled by the Luoyang court. Zhouzhou and Bingzhou throw their arms out and engage in construction.

In addition to these prisoners of war, the number of various official slaves directly controlled by the Luoyang court is no less than [-]. The source of these official slaves is mainly various criminals, including normal crimes and official crimes. family members.

Therefore, a considerable part of the official slaves controlled by the Luoyang court were from good backgrounds.

But looking at the world, most of the slaves owned by families that could raise slaves in the entire Eastern Han Empire were bankrupt peasants who lost their land.

Farmers who lost their land and livelihood due to natural disasters and man-made disasters either rebelled or sold themselves as slaves. There was no other way to go. Therefore, among the slave groups of the Eastern Han Dynasty, bankrupt farmers and their descendants accounted for 90.00% of the total number of slaves. .

Such figures are quite scary.

So when Man Chong proposed this number, Liu Bei dared to pat his chest to make sure that in the current social situation where private slaves are flooding, as long as he orders a census, one official family in Luoyang counts as one, and 90.00% of them are private slaves There is a fault in the matter.

The number of slaves they own is by no means as simple as it appears on the surface. Are those powerful officials really only serving by dozens or hundreds of slaves?

And those local kings who are extravagant and licentious, do they really only have two hundred servants to serve them?

The king of Hejian who offended Liu Bei and others at the beginning was found to have more than [-] servants in his family after being examined, which was more than six times the upper limit stipulated by the court.

Is this an example?
So Liu Bei strongly suspects that the current total population of slaves in the entire Han Empire is not even less than 1000 million, and this part of the population will naturally not be included in the total population of the Han Empire, so the total population of the Han Empire may have exceeded 6000 million .

The productivity of this part of the population is seized by the huge wealthy social class, and all the wealth they produce is used to support their masters, allowing their masters to enjoy it endlessly, but none of it is leaked out to promote social progress and development.

Liu Bei was deeply disturbed by this, and felt his blood start to stir.

There are so many slaves, so many productive forces that can be liberated, and so many areas that need to be developed have no population to develop. Isn't this just right?

He felt that he had to do something to reverse the social situation, otherwise his years of hard work would be in vain.

So Liu Bei agreed to Man Chong's plan in principle, but in terms of specific operations, he still felt that he needed to be a little gentler, because the powerful families in these places had provided a lot of help to the Han army in the previous military operations.

If you directly target them, not only does it sound bad, but it is also easy to be strongly opposed by them, which will once again set off a war in the Bingzhou area.

Although he is not afraid of losing the fight, he will be at a disadvantage in public opinion, so Liu Bei still decided to give a relatively mild way of dealing with it.

At the same time as the new slave restriction order was promulgated, Liu Bei was going to add a redemption policy to Bingzhou. The official paid for all the slaves of their families who exceeded the prescribed limit.

Moreover, the new version of the slave restriction order is also an official regulation. No matter how long it has been promulgated, there are laws to follow. I act according to the regulations, and no one can say I am wrong.

In this way, public opinion will stand firm.

On this basis, if there is a family that is unwilling to abide by this rule, it will be a toast and not eat or drink as a fine.

Without you, I can still win Bingzhou. This policy is to give you face, if you don't want face, then don't blame me for being ruthless.

For this approach, Manchong is willing to support it, and said that if this strategy is implemented well in Bingzhou, it can be extended to other states and counties to solve the problem of the dwindling population of household registration in those places.

Liu Bei wrote back to Man Chong, telling him that these things should not be rushed, and that they should be done in Bingzhou first, and the agricultural production and border defense matters in Bingzhou should be restored in the shortest time. Just tell him and he'll help.

Anyway, after so many wars, whether it is the Luoyang treasury or Liu Bei's own private treasury, it is quite abundant.

After discussing the solution to the Bingzhou issue with Man Chong, Zhang Yan and Yu Fuluo, the two "heroes" in the Bingzhou battle, also arrived in Luoyang.

After the victory of the big battle, Liu Bei announced that he would summon Zhang Yan, Yu Fuluo and a series of "meritorious officials" in Luoyang to commend and reward their achievements. Neither Zhang Yan nor Yu Fuluo dared to neglect this. So he hurried to Luoyang.

At the end of April, the two arrived in Luoyang together and met Liu Bei. Liu Bei entertained them with a banquet, had a good time with them, and introduced them to the emperor the next day, and added officials and titles to them.

Yu Fuluo was appointed General of Guiyi Zhonglang and enfeoffed as Marquis of Duxiang, and Zhang Yan was redesignated as General of Zhongyi Zhonglang and enfeoffed as Marquis of Liting.

Of course, meeting the emperor and accepting the emperor's banquet is just a formality. Everyone knows that Liu Bei is the one who counts the words in the Han Empire, not the little emperor.

So the final interview with Liu Bei is the most important thing.

For Zhang Yan and Yu Fuluo, Liu Bei appreciates it. At the moment of deciding the fate of any group, it is not an easy thing to make the right choice that is not influenced by some people or even their own interests.

But Zhang Yan did it, and so did Yu Fuluo.

They showed with practical actions that they did not intend to oppose the Han Empire. They paid enough votes to prove their intentions. In other words, they did not dare to oppose the Han Empire led by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei's terror deterrence to the world has been successfully established. For the people of the world, Liu Bei may not be able to decide everything in the world, but if someone opposes what Liu Bei decides, then Liu Bei can make the voice of opposition disappear.

Once this kind of terror and deterrence is established, the basic order will be restored, and those who have a certain amount of troops and the ability to cause chaos will start to consider their own way out.

Because the macho man from heaven will not allow this empire to have an army that does not obey orders.

"In this battle, you have done a good job. You have assisted the imperial army to make military exploits. The imperial court will not be stingy with your rewards, and they will be in place soon."

Liu Bei said with a smile.

Zhang Yan and Yu Fuluo thanked Liu Bei together.

Afterwards, Liu Bei chatted with them about some daily life in Bingzhou as if it was a routine, it seemed that there was no specific purpose, just asking casually, but Zhang Yan and Yu Fuluo did not dare to let go of their guards.

Sure enough, after a short chat about gossip, Liu Bei changed the subject and talked about their "future issues".

"Life in the mountains is not so easy. Although the saying goes that people rely on mountains to eat mountains and water to eat water, but the real food for a long time is the land. It is still necessary to cultivate the land and pay attention to food in order to truly gain a foothold in the local area. General Zhang Zhonglang, I heard that your entire Black Mountain Army has millions of people, is that true?"

Zhang Yan cheered up 12 points.

"Returning to the general, the number of millions is just an imaginary number. The real number is about 40. There are men, women, children, and children. It is not as many as rumors from the outside world."

"Oh, 40, that's not a small amount."

Liu Bei said with emotion: "Mountain forests are not like flat land. Flat land can grow food. There are not many places where food can be grown in mountain forests, and the harvest is even less. Even if there are wild vegetables and fruits, and some game, they can't be regarded as In the long run, if there is no other income, so many people will not be able to eat even if the mountain is emptied, am I right?"

Zhang Yan didn't dare to hide it, and nodded in agreement.

"What the general said is true. We mountain people do open up arable land in the mountains and forests to grow food, but the amount is not much. Therefore, every autumn, in order to obtain food for the winter, they have to go down the mountain to plunder and rob houses. Capital."

"Well, it's about the same as I thought."

Liu Bei nodded and said with emotion: "But this is not a good thing. Houses are robbed. If you eat what you have, some people will starve and freeze, and even starve to death. Is this kind of thing correct?"

(End of this chapter)