Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 693 Hiding the Truth
Yuan Xi raised his head and looked up at the sky. On top of his head, the boiling snow fell down on his head and face.

Before he even blinked a few times, his face was already covered with a layer of ice and snow. He had no choice but to reach out his hand, pull the snowflakes off his face, and walk out.

Sun Li followed behind and said, "Brother, the snow is too fierce!"

"It's snowing so heavily today that even the horses can't run. Do we really have to patrol the camp?"

Yuan Xi stepped on the knee-deep snow, struggled to hold the reins and mounted his horse, and said: "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, so I have to take a look at the city's defenses."

He sat on the horse, shook the reins, and the horse struggled to move its hooves. After only a few steps, the horse's hooves were tripped by the snow and stumbled. When Yuan Xi saw it, he jumped off the horse and said, "It's really not possible."

"You find a few people, and with my warrant, ask the people in several military camps to stop practicing today and come out to shovel the snow."

After hearing this, Sun Li went to the door to look for the guard. Yuan Xi stopped him and said, "Remember to ask the soldiers to put on their winter clothes before they come out."

Seeing Sun Li go out, Yuan Xi turned around and went to the warehouse in the mansion to get the snow shoveling tools. The reason for this was not only because the heavy snow continued to fall like this, which would block the roads in the city. At that time, it would be difficult for people to travel and they would not be able to obtain firewood, rice, oil and salt. A large number of people died of cold and starvation.

Yuan Xi also wanted to take this opportunity to test the soldiers' winter clothing supplies to see how well the soldiers could move in this severe cold weather.

After all, in the near future, this kind of heavy snow and cold weather may become the norm in Youzhou in winter. If you cannot take protective measures, you will encounter many difficulties in combat and life.

But then again, the snow is too heavy!
Yuan Xi could clearly feel that this winter was much colder than previous years. He didn't know what the situation would be like in the next few years, but according to historical weather calculations, the coldest period was far from coming.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi felt cold in his heart. The horror of the Little Ice Age may not have even begun. If it reaches the coldest time, can Youzhou really be inhabited?
But now he has no time to take care of these. The top priority is to establish a foothold in Youzhou at least in the next few years. Otherwise, he will only fall behind in the next battle in the Central Plains.

He took out the shovel and walked out of the house. Zhen Mi came out and said, "Can I accompany my husband?"

Yuan Xi shook his head: "You may be busy all day today, so you'd better stay indoors to avoid getting cold."

Seeing the disappointed look on Zhen Mi's face, he thought for a while and said, "If you feel bored, take them to shovel the snow in the house, but not for more than half an hour."

"By the way, be sure to get dressed."

Only then did Zhen Mi smile at the corners of her eyes, and said with her hands folded, "The husband should also take care of his health."

Yuan Xi nodded, walked out of the house, and shoveled the snow along the street with Sun Li.

In Yuan Xi's personal guard camp, Zhang Fang was sitting around with several brothers. They were not on duty today. As long as they practiced for two hours after midnight in the morning, they could go home in the afternoon, so everyone was very happy.

As a result, a general came in and passed on Yuan Xi's order. Finally, he said: "Give me a moment to put on your full winter clothes, grab your tools, and go into the streets of Jicheng to shovel the snow."

When he was about to go out, Zhang Fang's Da Zhuang muttered: "It's so cold that it won't take me several days to shovel snow!"

"And the snow is still falling, who knows if it can be shoveled?"

"The leave for the rotation is gone too. It's really unlucky!"

Another person shouted: "Dazhuang, be careful to slander the envoy, you will be arrested!"

Da Zhuang quickly covered his mouth, and everyone laughed.

Zhang Fang stood up and said, "Your Majesty's order is correct and timely."

"If the snow continues like this, let alone the people, we ourselves will not be able to return to our homes, let alone the firewood and food we use every day."

"We shovel snow to save the lives of everyone in the city, so we can't slack off, understand!"

Everyone stood up one after another and shouted: "No!"

Zhang Fang and these personal guards were in charge of the streets around Yuan Xi's mansion. When he led his men all the way to the front of Yuan Xi's mansion, he saw that Yuan Xi and the guards in the mansion had already shoveled the snow.

Zhang Fang hurried over and said, "Your Majesty, it's too cold, so be careful with your health."

He would not persuade Yuan Xi to go back. In the past few years, when the Guards Battalion was dispatched to do things, Yuan Xi had always taken the lead and would definitely not stand aside and watch.

When Yuan Xi saw it was Zhang Fang and others, he smiled and said, "I remember you were supposed to go home today."

"When the road is cleared, I will make up for your leave."

Zhang Fang said with a smile: "I will coax my mother-in-law when I go home. If I follow the envoy, I will have the strength to do anything."

Yuan Xi shoveled the snow and said, "I remember that your brothers' children are all five or six years old, right?" "Have you ever gone to free school?"

Zhang Fang took a wooden rake, pushed the snow to the roadside, and said, "Thanks to you, it will be gone this autumn."

"We never dreamed that our children would be literate one day."

When he said this, he was also excited. Those of them who joined the army chose this path because their families could not afford food.

Maybe some people's families were once wealthy, but due to the chaos in the world, many families didn't even have a few people left alive, let alone able to read and write. In many cases, they either joined the army or became refugees, just for food.

Refugees are homeless and often end up being sold into slavery. They remain slaves for generations with almost no chance of recovery.

Joining the army can bring you a lot of salary, which can support several people, but it is hard to say about your family.

Just like the farming system implemented by Cao Cao in Yanzhou, the soldiers were half farmers and half soldiers. They farmed when they were not fighting, and their families took care of the fields when they were fighting. This method can indeed make great use of the labor force, but behind it, there are many Disadvantages.

First, taxes are very heavy.

In the early Han Dynasty, the land rent was much lighter than that in the Qin Dynasty, with a tax rate of fifteen to one tax, and later it was reduced to thirty and one tax, and land rent was exempted for a time.

In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to large military expenditures, land rent was changed to a tithe tax. However, after the unification of the country, the old system of the Western Han Dynasty was implemented again, with a tax of ten per thirty. Before Cao Cao changed to the tax modulation, the legal land tax rate remained unchanged.

In fact, such taxes could not afford the need for continuous wars, so Cao Cao adjusted the tax rate to the people's villages, that is, the farmers with fields. If the people of the villages use their own cattle, the harvest will be divided [-]-[-] with the government. If the official ox is used, it will be divided according to the proportion of the official, six and the people, and there is actually a big hole in this, because this is only the basic tax, and does not include other exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

As for the military settlements, most of them were soldiers. They guarded and farmed the fields at the same time. They handed over all their harvests and only kept their military pay. The status of their descendants remained unchanged from generation to generation.

This tax was considered high no matter which dynasty it was in. Coupled with the fact that people had been living in villages for generations, this was also the reason why the farming system was criticized as slavery.

But the world was in chaos, people were displaced, and landless people abounded. Therefore, in order to survive in the face of hunger, a large number of people became soldiers in military camps.

This is also the reason why Cao Cao can recruit a large number of soldiers in waves in a short period of time, and why he can quickly replenish the previously lost soldiers in every battle.

Yuan Xi chose another path. The tax ratio of his farmland system was similar to that of the Han system. If the soldiers and civilians wanted to obtain land, the price they paid was to reclaim wasteland on their own.

A considerable proportion of the rent collected by him was spent on public affairs such as water conservancy renovation, ditch digging, road construction, and volunteer schools. In addition, his other miscellaneous taxes were much less than Cao Cao, so naturally We can't afford so many soldiers.

If he copied Cao Cao's approach, Youzhou might not be able to recruit tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but after thinking about it, Yuan Xi asked himself, is this approach of draining the lake and losing the people's support worth it?
Of course, there is also a saying about this era, that is, the so-called popular sentiment refers to those people who really own the land and can support their own lives. If they are further, they are good family members, and if they are richer, they are landlords and powerful. Because only these people , is qualified to speak out.

The remaining slaves who were forced to sell their bodies and could be bought and sold at will without any means of production were actually not treated as human beings.

Yuan Xi had nothing to do about this phenomenon in the late Han Dynasty. After all, according to Han law, these slaves were the private property of aristocratic families. Unless Yuan Xi could eliminate all families, he would not be able to eradicate this stubborn disease.

Yuan Xi, who was in the period of conquering the world, could not offend everyone, so he could not adopt such a more radical method than Wang Mang, so he could only do it step by step.

For example, by letting slaves join the army, their status can be changed back to civilians. For example, by official redemption, some people can become slaves of the government, and then exchange them for military merit, thus changing their status.

He is now deliberately blurring the boundaries between himself and the government, so that most of the government actions in Youzhou are carried out in his own name, which will cause much less conflict. After all, his name as the head of the Yuan family can It convinced many people.

Therefore, Youzhou's current approach is destined to not be able to raise too many soldiers. If Yuan Xi wants to mobilize all the people and recruit all the young men, he can form an army of [-] within half a year.

But then what?

The production in Youzhou back then will be abandoned. How many people will starve to death in the next year? How many people will need to be compensated after they die in war? How many orphans will need to be resettled? How will the hollowed-out Youzhou face the famine caused by lack of labor in the next year? ?

We all know that the more soldiers the better, but it can be seen from history books that when an army of [-] or even hundreds of thousands of troops fight, it often takes several states to prepare for it. After a battle, the vitality of both sides is seriously damaged, and they have to fight again. It takes several years or even more than ten years to recuperate and recuperate before you can regain your strength.

Hidden between the lines of these unrecorded words, how many wives and children are separated, families are destroyed, people die of famine, and the entire state is devastated?
Of course those in power can understand these things, but bystanders of later generations who have not been there personally will find it difficult to understand the blood and tears hidden behind the sudden population decline.

This is also the reason why the Three Kingdoms period in later generations dragged on for half a century. In the end, when there were fewer and fewer people and everyone could no longer hold on, the final winner was determined.

Yuan Xi didn't want the world to fall into half a century of famine and war. He wanted to end this troubled world as soon as possible, but because of this, he couldn't be impatient.

In later generations, the Three Kingdoms were fought after several battles that stretched the power of the whole country. The three parties suffered heavy casualties and were all severely weakened. For a long time, no one could defeat the other.

If Yuan Xi is in a hurry to go all out with force and cannot defeat the opponent in one battle, the world will still fall into a long-lasting war. So what he is doing now is, as Guo Jia said, to withdraw his fist first.

Recharge your energy, build a high wall, store up a lot of food, then find the opportunity to seal your throat with a sword, punch out with your fist, even if you can't kill the enemy, you still have to beat him to paralysis.

(End of this chapter)