At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 165 Recruiting talents, the crisis is beginning to appear

Xuzhou, Xiapi State, Dongcheng County.

In just a few years, the Han Dynasty experienced the dictatorship of eunuchs, the Yellow Turban Uprising, and the merger of princes.

Xuzhou, as the place of the Fourth World War and located on the coast of the East China Sea, was relatively wealthy, and many refugees flooded in. After the defeat of the Yellow Turban Army, many people also turned into thieves and wreaked havoc in Xuzhou.

In the troubled times, the powerful and powerful families frantically annexed the land, and a large number of people fled and became refugees.

Dongcheng County, the residence of the Lu family.

As a prominent family in Dongcheng County, the Lu family, although their prestige is not as good as before due to the early death of two generations of patriarchs, they still dominate one side.

The legitimate son of the Lu family in this generation is called Lu Su, who is now 19 years old.

Lu Su lost his father when he was young, and was brought up by his grandmother. He has a burly appearance and a bold personality. He likes reading, riding and shooting.

Lu Su is now close to the age of Guan, and there is no man in the family, so he has begun to be the master of the house.

Above the hall, the old woman looked at Lu Su with a kind face and said, "My grandson, my grandma is old. From now on, the Lu family will be handed over to you."

Lu Su bowed deeply to the old woman and said, "I will live up to my grandmother's trust!"

After Lu Su took over the family, the first thing he did was to count the property, fields and food, and then he started wandering around the county.

Wherever he passed, he saw countless people who had no food to eat, no clothes to cover their bodies, and no homes to return to.

Some people's faces were ashen, their eyes were dull, and they had obviously lost hope in life.

There are also some people, but there is a little harshness in the dishes.

People, once you are hungry, you can do anything.

Lu Su was very keenly aware that his family was gradually surrounding many refugees near the manor outside the city.

Faced with these homeless refugees, most of the dealers are very disgusted and drive them away violently.

"There's nothing to eat here, get out of here!"

A sturdy farmer with a fierce face kicked the two refugees to the ground, threatening them with a weapon in his hand.

These two refugees were obviously very hungry. Even though they were kicked to the ground and threatened with weapons, they still refused to leave.

"If you don't go away, don't blame a certain knife for being ruthless!"

Now Dong Zhuo is in chaos, the princes are rising together, and the people are in dire straits. The powerful and powerful families from all over the country have recruited many bankers in order to protect themselves.

The lives of ordinary people are worthless in this troubled world.

Especially for these refugees, even if they are really beaten to death, the government will probably not bother to intervene.

Because in the eyes of the government, these refugees are the source of local unrest.

"Please, give me some food, my child is going to starve to death!"

Even though the sharp blade was about to hit him, one of them still didn't leave. Instead, he lay on the ground and kept begging.

On the other hand, he looked at the other person, but kept his head down, and his eyes were already gleaming fiercely.

"Let you go, didn't you hear?"

With a fierce look on his face, the banker kicked the man begging for food again, and tightened his grip on the big knife.

If these two people didn't leave, he was going to kill them.

However, the people do not fear death, so why fear it?

Leaving here is also death, and being killed is also death. In that case, why not die more happily?
"court death!"

Seeing that the two were still unwilling to leave, the farmer immediately swung his big knife and slashed at the man who kept begging for food.

"boom!"

What people didn't expect was that before Zhuang Ke could chop down the refugee, another man who had been lying on the ground silently suddenly used all his strength to throw Zhuang Ke to the ground.

"what!"

Immediately afterwards, Zhuang Ke only felt a pain in his neck, but it was the refugee who bit him.

The refugee's eyes were calm and terrifying, and his teeth bit the farmer's neck hard, and the blood oozing from it was directly swallowed into his stomach.

"Ahhh!"

"Help, guys, come and help!"

When the farmer was thrown down, the weapon had already fallen to the ground. At this moment, his neck was hurting, and he tried his best to push the refugee away.

However, the other party held the heart of dying together, even if he was beaten to a bone by the dealer, he would not let go.

"Pfft!"

Upon seeing this, another banker stepped forward and chopped off the refugee's head.

Even so, the refugees whose corpses were separated still did not let go, biting the farmer's neck tightly.

"Help me, help me!"

Several other villagers hurriedly stepped forward and pulled the refugee's head.

"Stab!"

In the end, under the force of the other villagers, the villager who was bitten in the neck had a piece of flesh and blood torn off, and then the refugee's head was torn off.

"Ahhh!"

"It hurts me too!"

The farmer screamed miserably, then picked up the long knife that fell on the ground, and walked towards another refugee with a fierce face.

Nowadays, only by killing people can the hatred in my heart be relieved!
"stop!"

Seeing that the banker had already walked up to the refugee, he raised his long knife and was about to cut it off when he heard an angry shout.

He turned around angrily and looked around. After seeing the face of the visitor clearly, he quickly put away his sword and knelt down on the ground, saying: "Greetings to the young master!"

Lu Su drew his bow and sword, with a sinister look on his face, pointed at the farmer kneeling on the ground and shouted: "Why do you kill people?"

The farmer knew that his young master had always been generous, so he must not see anyone die at the door of his village, so he hurriedly explained the cause and effect.

"I told them to leave again and again, but instead of them refusing to leave, the fellow violently hurt others and bit the villain's neck. If it wasn't for the brothers to save him, the villain would have died on the spot."

Having said that, Zhuang Hu pointed to his bloody neck.

Seeing this, Lu Su frowned and asked, "Since they are asking for some food, why don't they just give it to them?"

The farmer hastily explained: "The villain knows that the young master has always been kind. If it is an ordinary disaster year, it is nothing to give some food to the refugees."

"But now the war is in chaos and food prices are soaring. It is said that Dong Zhuo minted small coins, and the price of food in the Guanzhong area has risen to tens of thousands of dollars per stone."

"Although Guandong is better, the princes are separatist and are searching for money and food everywhere, which also causes the price of food to skyrocket."

“Now that food is so expensive, how can we give it to the refugees so easily?”

"Besides, since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the number of refugees has increased. If we give food to the two of them at the door today, countless refugees will swarm in tomorrow."

"At that time, no matter how much money and food there was in the village, it wasn't enough for these refugees to share food!"

Hearing this, Lu Su was silent for a long time, and then sighed deeply.

He asked people to take some food and money, handed it to the remaining refugee, and said, "I heard that your child is about to starve to death, so let's eat the food first."

“If there is any shortage, come again and receive it.”

After receiving the food, the refugees immediately thanked Lu Su a thousand times, and left in a hurry without paying any attention to their companion who had just died.

After watching the refugees leave, the farmer who was bitten said anxiously, "What if a large number of refugees come over tomorrow?"

Lu Su said in a deep voice: "Leave enough grain and rice for your own consumption, and boil the rest into gruel and give it away."

The farmer was shocked when he heard the words, and said: "If so, the food in the village may not last long!"

Lu Su shouted: "Don't talk too much, just follow the order!"

Lu Su not only asked people to help the victims in this Zhuangzi, but also asked other Zhuangzi to follow the gourd's example. Even the Lu family's mansion in the city set up a porridge shed.

The refugees in the county who got the news flocked to beg for food in front of Lu's manor and mansion every day.

Not only that.

Lu Su also generously donated money, but there were shortages of people in the county, as long as they asked Lu Su, he would not hesitate to help.

Some people slandered the old lady, saying that Lu Su not only did not take advantage of the chaos to annex the land and strengthen the family power, but squandered the family wealth.

If this continues, it won't be long before Lu's family will run out of money and food.

The old lady called Lu Su, and asked with a frown, "My grandson, do you know that the money and food you have distributed are all accumulated by the Lu family for more than a hundred years?"

Lu Su bowed deeply to the old lady, and then said seriously: "The world is chaotic today, and rebels are everywhere."

"I, the Lu family, have countless money and food, but have no official position in the court. For example, if a child is sitting on a fortune of thousands of dollars, both princes and refugees will covet the Lu family's wealth."

"At that time, the Lu family may not be far from being destroyed."

"Now I'm spreading money and food widely, and there are countless people alive, so that the Lu family can win fame in the county, so that the Lu family can live in troubled times."

The old lady suddenly realized when she heard the words, but she frowned and said: "The Lu family has a great business, if the money and food are gone, won't the son of the family be hungry?"

Lu Su smiled and said: "Grandmother, don't worry, grandson has already hidden enough money and food in his confidantes, but Paul Lu can live comfortably for ten years."

The old lady was completely relieved and said: "My grandson has a long-term vision. If the Lu family is placed in your hands, it will not decline."

However, it is said that Lu Su donated money through righteousness, countless living people, and gradually became famous.

But in the past few days, Lu Su could clearly feel that there were fewer and fewer refugees who came to receive rice porridge, and he couldn't help feeling suspicious.

He found a few refugees and asked: "When the porridge was handed out in the past, there were more than two hundred refugees in Zhuangqian. Why are there fewer and fewer these days, and today there are almost less than a hundred."

The refugees called by Lu Su were grateful from the bottom of their hearts to Lu Su for saving their lives.

They all talked about it: "It is said that the generals of chariots and cavalry have set up many guest houses in Jiujiang and Danyang counties close to Xuzhou, specifically responsible for recruiting refugees."

"As long as they are refugees from Xuzhou in the past, they can not only get food, but also enough land to support their families and houses for living."

"We rely on the son's charity here, although we can survive for a while, it is not a long-term solution after all."

"When the money and food in the son's house are exhausted, what will we do?"

"Therefore, many refugees learned about Yangzhou's lenient policy and flocked to the south."

When Lu Su heard this, he couldn't help being secretly frightened, and hurriedly sent people to find out the truth.

Soon a servant reported back that what the refugees said was indeed true. The generals of chariots and cavalry were recruiting refugees on a large scale at the border and distributing food, fields, and houses. This was indeed true.

Looking at the fewer and fewer refugees in the county, Lu Su couldn't help sighing: "The princes are still attacking each other for a city and a place. Officials from all over the country see the refugees, and they all wish they could be deported. Zhou Cheqi already knows that in troubled times, the most important thing is the ability to speak."

"The princes in the north are constantly conquests, but Zhou Cheqi took the opportunity to recruit refugees in the south. It seems that he has not expanded his territory, but in fact his strength is getting stronger every day."

"And with the frequent outbreak of wars in the north, more and more refugees will flock to Yangzhou."

"Even if the princes kill each other and seize a large area of ​​land, what if the population is gone?"

After sighing, Lu Su couldn't help thinking to himself: "Xuzhou is the place where the Four Wars broke out sooner or later. Since Zhou Cheqi has the appearance of a hero, and Yangzhou is a stable and prosperous place, why don't I move my family to Yangzhou?"

After the servants found out that the news of Yangzhou's recruitment of refugees was true, they also brought another news, that is, Yangzhou is building a recruiting hall.

General Cheqi welcomes the scholars from all over the world to go to Yangzhou to escape the war. Regardless of the origin of the gentry or poor students, whether they go alone or migrate with the whole family, General Cheqi will settle them down.

Those who have talent can also be selected as officials as appropriate.

The Patriarchs of the two generations of the Lu family died young. If this generation fails to produce a high-ranking official, the originally extremely prominent Lu family may become a powerful man.

If you downgrade to become a powerful man, then you want to cross the ranks and become a gentry, it will not be easy.

Thinking of this, Lu Su immediately went to visit the old lady and said: "Xuzhou is the place where the Fourth World War was fought, you can't stay for a long time, otherwise the family will inevitably encounter catastrophe sooner or later."

"I see chariot and cavalry generals with the style of a hero. Given time, they may be able to revive the Han Dynasty and rebuild the universe."

"Even if you can't achieve a great cause, you can still separate one side."

"Now Yangzhou is stable and prosperous, and Zhou Cheqi is thirsty for talents. My grandson plans to move his family to Yangzhou, and I ask my grandmother to agree."

The old lady said: "Since you are the head of the Lu family, you can make your own decision."

"However, before making a decision, you should think twice, and don't play games with the family's future."

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

But it was said that Du Ji, a native of Duling, Jingzhao, had been recruited by Zhou Qi to be a grain transport officer, but he politely refused because he was going to Hanzhong County to take up the post.

Unexpectedly, when Du Ji was serving as the Chancellor of Hanzhong, the situation in the world began to change.

First, the emperor died, then the princes begged for Dong, and now the princes are fighting.

These things are still too far away for Du Ji, a local official.

only.

After Liu Yan settled in Yizhou, he appointed Zhang Lu as the governor and Sima, and led troops with other Sima Zhang Xiu to attack Su Gu, the prefect of Hanzhong.

After Zhang Xiu killed Su Gu, Du Ji, the prime minister of Hanzhong, luckily escaped with his life, but he did not dare to stay in Hanzhong.

He intends to return to his hometown, but at this time, the princes are attacking Dong Zhuo, the Guanzhong is full of wars, and the price of food is soaring, so it is not the first choice.

If he followed his original trajectory, Du Ji would have nowhere to go and could only return to his hometown.

But now, the generals of chariots and cavalry have occupied Yangzhou, and they have a large number of troops and a great reputation. Yangzhou has become a good place to go.

In addition, the cavalry general also knew Du Ji's name, and if he went to seek refuge with him, he might be able to be reused.

Think about this.

Du Ji simply did not return to Jing Zhaoyin. Instead, he traveled from Hanzhong through Jingzhou and finally arrived in Yangzhou.

However, Zhou Qi has set up guest houses in all the counties and counties close to the border, which are responsible for recruiting refugees from all over the country.

In order to be able to attract a large number of people, Zhou Qi spent a lot of money, and arranged for food, houses, and fields.

However, these things are not given away for free, because with Zhou Qi's current accumulation, it is enough to recruit a small number of refugees. Once a large number of refugees are recruited, Yangzhou simply cannot afford it.

These things will be converted into cost prices, so that the people who come to Yangzhou to settle down will pay them off slowly in the next five to ten years.

With Yangzhou's relatively low taxes and no excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, as long as the people work hard to farm, the pressure to repay the loan is not heavy.

It is equivalent to the world's mortgages and car loans in the future, but without middlemen to make the difference, Zhou Qi almost always collects money at cost price, and the burden on the people is not too heavy.

Zhou Qi's time in Yangzhou was short, he didn't have too much accumulation, and the treasury didn't have enough money and food.

Where did he get the money and food to resettle the refugees?

Although Zhou Qi has no money and food, the aristocratic family does.

Zhou Qi's prestige is now in full swing, and he has a large number of officials, and he gets along relatively well with the aristocratic families. For the rapid development of Yangzhou, he licks his face to borrow food from the major families.

Borrowing food here is not about borrowing food forcibly with soldiers and horses, but Xiaozhi's emotion and reason, and he will pay it back in the future.

Zhou Qi assured the major families that what they loaned out could be old grain, and what he would return in the future must be new grain.

The major families in Yangzhou have a long history and occupy countless fields. The grain harvested every year is simply too much to eat. If it is not sold, it will become a backlog of old grain.

After a long time, the old grain will become moldy, not only need to occupy the warehouse, but also send someone to take care of it, which requires a lot of cost.

Now that Yangzhou is prosperous and stable, it may not be easy to sell these old grains at high prices.

If it is a peaceful and prosperous age, the old grain may not even be sold.

But now that the princes are fighting together and attacking each other, even old grain is easier to sell.

However, Zhou Qi came up with a strategy of drawing salary from the bottom.

The State Shepherd's Mansion issued an order that all grain and grass in Yangzhou were not allowed to be sold outside the state. If anyone was found to be secretly smuggling grain and grass, they would be dealt with strictly.

Grain and grass cannot be taken away, and there is no shortage of food in Yangzhou, and the poor who lack food cannot afford to buy food, and it is even more impossible for aristocratic families to distribute food to the poor for free.

Therefore, despite the fact that the refugees, Shanyue and poor people cannot afford to eat, the wealthy families have too much food to eat.

This is really in line with the saying: The wine and meat of the rich family are stinky, and the roads are frozen to death.

Under such circumstances, Zhou Qi either purchased grain and grass at the market price, or borrowed old grain from major families, and promised to repay the old grain with new ones.

For the big families, as long as Yangzhou is prosperous and stable, they have nothing to lose by doing this, and they can make good friends with the cavalry generals. Many big families agreed very wisely.

However, most of the families still kept a hand and lent Zhou Qi the old grain that had been stored for a long time. There was still a lot of grain and grass at home.

Because they know that the world will be in chaos, and whoever has money and food in their hands will speak hard.

At the beginning, Zhou Qi did recruit many refugees by relying on the money and food borrowed from the major families.

He did not expect how big a storm his actions would cause in the war-torn areas in the north.

Not only those homeless refugees, but even some ordinary people who could not bear the oppression and were unwilling to endure the war, as well as aristocratic families like Lu Su, also poured into Yangzhou one after another.

As a result, the money and food that Zhou Qi had managed to borrow were quickly exhausted.

Moreover, the news of the soaring price of grain in Guanzhong has also spread to Yangzhou. Even if the aristocratic family cannot transport the grain to sell, they are unwilling to lend it to the government.

As more and more refugees poured into Yangzhou, food prices in Yangzhou began to rise slowly.

Even if the government tried its best to lower the price and suffered from the lack of surplus food in hand, it would not help.

If the problem of food and food prices cannot be resolved, Zhou Qi will not only suspend recruiting refugees, but there may also be troubles in Yangzhou.

More than that.

The land issue was also a topic that the entire feudal dynasty could not avoid.

The reason why Jiangxia County was able to solve the land problem was because Zhou Qi used the Peiguo Zhou family to almost wipe out all the big families in Jiangxia County, confiscated countless fields, and then distributed them to the people.

Yangzhou is different. Zhou Qi chooses a gentle means of marriage, so naturally he can't make a killing and snatch the land of the aristocratic family.

Most of the land in Yangzhou was in the hands of aristocratic families. As more and more people poured into Yangzhou, Zhou Qi found that he no longer had any free land to allocate to them.

Land is the best way to attract refugees. If they cannot be given land on which they can survive, it will be difficult to attract people to Yangzhou.

Xi Zhicai looked at the worried Zhou Qi and couldn't help but advise: "Yangzhou has attracted many refugees. If Ming Gong continues to implement the current policy, it will be difficult to sustain money, food and land."

"If the promise cannot be fulfilled, it will definitely damage the government's reputation."

"In my opinion, Duke Ming might as well stop recruiting refugees."

Although Xi Zhicai was resourceful and resourceful, he was still somewhat deficient in domestic affairs and could not become a talented person like Xun Yu.

Now, he was a little helpless, so he suggested that Zhou Qi stop recruiting refugees.

Doing so is really a helpless move.

It's not that he doesn't know the importance of population in troubled times, but with the current situation of Yangzhou, there is no way to continue to recruit refugees, otherwise it may affect the stability of Yangzhou.

Zhou Qi frowned, but was a little reluctant.

Now that the northern princes are fighting, the people moved south to Yangzhou, which is relatively stable, in order to avoid the disaster of war, which became the best choice.

If he doesn't recruit refugees on a large scale now, when the north stabilizes a little, the princes will definitely control the outflow of people.

This melee between princes was an opportunity for Zhou Qi to take off.

If he let it go, how could he be willing?
Just when Zhou Qi was gloomy and at his wits' end, he suddenly saw Chen Wen coming excitedly and said, "Ming Gong, a wealthy guest from the north came and directly donated eight thousand stones of food and grass!"

Zhou Qi stood up suddenly when he heard the words, and said in a broken voice, "Who can donate so much food and grass?"

No wonder Zhou Qi was so surprised.

Eight thousand stones of grain and grass are equivalent to 96 kilograms of grain.

During the war, each soldier's monthly ration was about three stones. This is still in the case of high-intensity combat. If you don't usually fight, one and a half stones per month is enough.

Eight thousand stones of grain and grass were enough to feed five thousand soldiers and horses for a month.

Not to mention the fact that there are wars and soaring food prices in the north, even in Yangzhou, there are not many people who can donate so much food at one time.

Chen Wen hurriedly replied: "This man is only 19 years old. His surname is Lu and his name is Su. He is from Dongcheng County, Xiapi State."

"He was kind and charitable in Xuzhou, and he had a good reputation. Knowing that the Duke recruited refugees, he specially donated rice to his family to help the general!"

When Zhou Qi heard Lu Su's name, undisguised joy appeared on his face, and he asked, "Where is he? Take me to see him quickly!"

　Ma Dan, I have suffered from hemorrhoids in the past few days, I feel restless, the pain is unbearable, and I plan to cut the hemorrhoids permanently.

　　By the way, can you solve the problem in Yangzhou?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)