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

Chapter 271: Drawing firepower from the bottom of the cauldron, land policy

Zhou Tai laughed when he heard Gao Ding's words.

"But the barbarian king didn't know that when it comes to commanding troops, bravery and courage, there are so many generals under the general who are capable of conquering and fighting, such as Zhonglang General Xu Gongming, Zhonglang General Huang Hansheng, and Zhonglang General Zhang Wenyuan, all of whom are good generals with both civil and military skills. Even in the The land of the Central Plains is also famous."

Meng Huo also looked solemn when he heard this.

Compared to the Barbarian King Gaoding, Meng Huo came from a wealthy family and knew the Central Plains better. However, he knew the glorious achievements of Xu Huang, Huang Zhong, and Zhang Liao, and they were considered to be the most capable generals under the general.

This time the general conquered Nanzhong, but he did not take these three people with him. It was obvious that he did not really take this rebellion seriously.

This is true.

Compared with other princes, not to mention the barbarian king Gaoding and the chiefs of various tribes, even Meng Huo, who came from a wealthy family, was far inferior in terms of military use.

Zhou Qi's little tricks against the barbarians would have been easily seen through if he had dealt with other princes.

When he arrived at Nanzhong, Zhou Qi was able to crush him in terms of IQ with just a little trickery.

It can only be said that although the barbarians are fierce, when it comes to marching and fighting, the Han people are unsurpassed.

Thinking of this, Meng Huo said with a complex expression: "Before, we were sitting in a well watching the sky, and we will never dare to rebel against the general again in the future."

Zhou Qi laughed heartily when he saw this, and then ordered a big banquet for Meng Huo, Gaoding and the chiefs of various tribes.

Three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Zhou Qi stood up and asked: "I have summoned all the chiefs here to find out how the people's livelihood in each department is."

"I am so happy today that I am lonely. If you have any difficulties, just tell me."

Zhou Qi's words suddenly chilled the originally lively banquet atmosphere. Many barbarian tribe chiefs put down their wine glasses and looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Seeing this, Zhou Qi asked Dong Dana directly: "The general is also a tribal chief. If you have something to say, there is no harm in saying it."

The reason why Dong Dana was named was because Dong Dana was in awe of the Han people, and Zhou Qi had helped him survive before.

Even when Meng Huo was captured the previous time, it was Dong Dana who led the way.

Compared with other tribal chiefs, Dong Dana is obviously closer to and in awe of Zhou Qi.

After Dong Dana was called by name, he quickly stood up and saluted. After hesitating for a long time, he said cautiously: "Can you really say anything?"

Zhou Qi smiled and said: "You can say anything, as long as it is true and within the scope of my ability, I will do my best to help you solve the problem."

Dong Dana took a deep breath, his eyes gradually became firm, and then he said: "Although we have been kings for a long time, few of the tribesmen can read the books of the Han family, so they are not qualified to be officials in various places."

"Although there are many barbarians in Nanzhong, the officials are basically Han Chinese."

"The local Han officials are fine. Most of the Han officials from foreign enemies are proud and look down on us barbarians. Once we have conflicts with the Han people, they will basically favor the Han people. Over time, the relationship between us and the Han people is not harmonious. .”

"And since the late emperor came to power, the imperial court has sent many corrupt officials to exploit the barbarians from various tribes like crazy, so that each tribe has long held a grudge."

"When Liu Yan and Liu Zhang and their sons were there, even the wealthy and noble families in Yizhou suppressed them and looked down upon us barbarians even more."

"We were worried that after the general occupied Yizhou, he would treat us like Liu Zhang and Liu Yan and his son, so we raised our troops to rebel under Yong Kai's instigation."

Having said this, the barbarian chiefs of each tribe showed expressions of approval.

Although the barbarians occupy one area and can fight with poisonous insects, tigers and leopards in the mountains and forests, they seem to be extremely ferocious, but tyranny is more fierce than tigers, and corrupt officials are even more terrifying in the eyes of barbarians than poisonous insects and beasts.

Zhou Qi could not refute Dong Dana's words.

When he followed Yang Qiu as an official in Luoyang, the Yizhou barbarians staged a massive rebellion because they were oppressed by corrupt officials.

The imperial court sent troops to suppress it, but failed despite repeated battles.

In the end, it was Zhou Qi who suggested to Yang Qiu to remove the local corrupt officials and replace them with upright and upright officials to appease the barbarians and quell the rebellion.

This kind of thing is not limited to Nanzhong. Even the Qiang people in Liangzhou also experienced this.

The Han people of this era had a superior feeling towards these foreign races, just like how Americans in later generations saw poor and backward black people in Africa.

That kind of condescending look down from above makes it impossible for many Han people to treat these barbarians as equals.

If Zhou Qi were a native Han of this era, he might also have this strong sense of superiority, but he came from a later generation and knew that Han and barbarians also had common ancestors.

The most important thing is that in later generations, these so-called barbarians were basically indistinguishable from the Han people.

Regardless of the barbarians, Shanyue or Qiang people, some still retained their tribal traditions and established ethnic minority autonomous regions, but many more were gradually assimilated by the Han people over the course of history, and eventually regarded themselves as mortals.

Therefore, when many Han people in later generations read history, they did not need to be too happy when they saw Qin Shihuang conquering Baiyue in the south, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty chasing the Xiongnu in the north, or Yue Fei resisting the Jin Dynasty. Maybe these sages were fighting their own ancestors.

In Zhou Qi's view, if these barbarians could no longer rebel, he would not mind accepting them with a broad mind and accelerating the process of national integration.

Zhou Qi turned to look at Gao Ding and asked, "Does King Man think that what Dong Dana said is more common in Nanzhong?"

Gao Ding smiled bitterly and said: "It is true."

Zhou Qi looked at Meng Huo and Li Hui respectively, asking with his eyes, and both of them nodded.

Zhou Qi frowned and pondered for a long time, and finally sighed: "Both the Han people and the barbarians are all descendants of the Yan and Huang people. They are born from the same roots. Why are we so anxious to fight each other?"

"After I return to Xiangyang, I will send someone to re-enact the law and make it clear that the barbarians who have registered their household registration will have the same status in society as the Han people."

"I also plan to set up academies all over Nanzhong and send masters to teach you how to read and write. Those with excellent grades can be officials in various counties and counties. Those who are particularly outstanding can even be officials in the central government. What do you think?"

When Gao Ding, E Huan, Dong Dana, A Hui Nan, Wu Tu Gu and others suddenly heard the news, they were all overjoyed and thanked Zhou Qi one after another.

It is difficult for barbarians to serve as officials in the court and local areas. This is the fundamental reason for the low status of barbarians.

If there are barbarians serving as officials in various counties and counties, even if there is a conflict between Han and barbarians in the future, the officials will not favor the Han people.However, they didn't know that this was a huge hole dug by Zhou Qi.

Compared to the excitement of the barbarian chief, Meng Huo had a different look on his face, because he was the only one who noticed the four words "log in to household registration" mentioned by Zhou Qi.

The imperial court's previous jurisdiction over the barbarians of various tribes was not strict. The vast majority of barbarians were not included in the government's household registration, and many barbarians did not have the concept of household registration at all.

In fact, the imperial court may not even know how many barbarian tribes there are in the deep mountains and forests in the south.

If Zhou Qi compiles the barbarians into the household registration, he can fundamentally understand the population, power and scale of the barbarians, and can truly know his enemies and himself.

Zhou Qi motioned to all the barbarian leaders to abstain from courtesy, and then directly asked Gao Ding: "This banquet is indeed held to solve the difficulties of the barbarians of various tribes. Since you are the barbarian king, you should stand up and plead for the barbarians."

"Dong Dana just made some suggestions, now you can speak freely. No matter what you say, Gu Gu will never be blamed!"

After Gao Ding heard this, he said: "In addition to what A Huinan said, the barbarians have difficulty reading and writing, cannot serve as officials in various counties, and are oppressed by corrupt officials."

"We still have a very big problem, that is, there is no land to cultivate, so the tribes have to make a living by fishing and hunting in the deep mountains and wild forests."

"This greatly restricts the development of the tribe. Once the population becomes too large and the mountain forest resources are difficult to support, we will be forced to launch wars and rob food everywhere."

"Even if you can't rob food, you can still consume the population through war. This is why there have been constant conflicts between the barbarians and the Han people in South China for hundreds of years."

Zhou Qi asked: "I see that Nanzhong is a vast area with fertile land. The food can even be harvested three times a year. Many places are deep mountains and old forests that have not been cultivated. Why do you say there is no cultivated land?"

Hearing this, Gao Ding looked at Meng Huo and Li Hui next to him, and then sighed: "We are far behind the Han people in terms of land reclamation and farming."

"Although there is a lot of wasteland in Nanzhong, we have tried to reclaim the land many times before. However, except for a few large tribes that can hold on to these lands, the vast majority of small tribes will soon have the land reclaimed by the Han people. Buy it."

When Meng Huo heard this, he said in a deep voice: "You also said that it was bought by the Han people."

"Since it's a business, it's a fair transaction. It's strange that you can't grow food, so you can only sell the farmland."

Gao Ding was silent when he heard the words.

When Zhou Qi heard this, his face couldn't help but become serious.

The land issue can be said to have been throughout China's thousands of years of history, and it can almost be regarded as a stubborn disease.

He learned the details from Gaoding and the barbarian chiefs of various tribes, and then secretly sighed in his heart that the big families in Nanzhong really cannibalize people without spitting out their bones.

Compared with the Central Plains, land annexation by wealthy families in the south is easier and more serious.

However, what they annexed was not Han people's land, but barbarian land.

Due to the dense forests in the mountains of Nanzhong and the rampant presence of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, it is also very difficult to cultivate fields here.

The barbarians finally managed to cultivate the fields, but they were soon targeted by the major wealthy families.

They did not use force to rob them, but taught them wrong farming methods, which caused the barbarians to fail to make ends meet every year. Finally, when the other party was in difficulty, they bought it away with money and grain.

The barbarians do not have the same passion for land as the Han people. After seeing that the output of the fields is so low, most of them will sell it without hesitation.

If things go on like this, the major families in the south will have more and more land, but the barbarians will gradually stop cultivating the land.

It was this seemingly benign way of annexing land that resulted in the barbarians still making a living by fishing and hunting for hundreds of years. Only the larger barbarian tribes had acquired planting technology and had the ability to hold their own fields, and their lives were easier.

Most of the remaining small barbarian tribes live in very difficult circumstances. Fortunately, Nanzhong is rich in products and has considerable natural resources, so it is possible to maintain the current scale of barbarians.

However, this is already the limit of the barbarians. If they cannot obtain a large amount of food and the population continues to expand, it will inevitably cause famine in the south and then bring about war.

At that time, Yong Kai colluded with the barbarians from various tribes to rebel, using food as bait. Those barbarians whose lives were unsatisfactory could not withstand the temptation of food and joined in one after another.

After Zhou Qi learned the details of the matter, he said to Gaoding: "Although there are abundant fishing and hunting resources in the mountains and forests, the development of the tribe will eventually be greatly restricted."

"Gu wants to establish autonomous counties in various parts of Nanzhong, move all the barbarian tribes hidden in the deep mountains and wild forests to the counties, and send professional officials to help guide the barbarians in cultivating fields and cultivating food."

"Half of the officials in autonomous counties are appointed by the government, and the rest are elected by the barbarians in the territory to be officials with virtue and reputation."

"All the land in the autonomous county is owned by the government and the barbarians within the territory. No Han people are allowed to purchase land in the county in any way, and even the barbarians in other counties are not allowed to purchase it. The land can only be transferred among the barbarians in the county."

"What do you chiefs think of this idea?"

When the chiefs of each tribe heard this, they were all overjoyed. They did not expect that the general would offer such generous terms.

There are half of the barbarian officials in the county, and they will definitely be able to protect the rights of the barbarians.

No outsiders or Han people were allowed to purchase land, just like the policy implemented by later generations to protect rural land from annexation.

In later generations, rural land was also collectively owned. No urbanites or people from other villages were eligible to purchase land in the village. Land could only be transferred among villagers in the village.

In this way, we can prevent wealthy companies and urban residents from spending money to buy rural land, leaving farmers with no land to cultivate.

Zhou Qi learned from later generations' policies on land annexation and planned to test it in Nanzhong first.

If the effect is good, Zhou Qi even plans to spread it to all places under his rule in the future.

The reason why Zhou Qi did not dare to promote it among Han people first was because Zhou Qi knew how difficult it would be to promote it. Only by promoting it among barbarians who had no idea about farming, would they not encounter any resistance and would be very popular.

Of course, Zhou Qi did this not only to ensure that the barbarian lands would not be annexed, but also had a deeper consideration, which was to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron.

The most important reason why the barbarians are difficult to tame is that they live scattered in the mountains and forests of Yue. Not only do they lack education, but they are also very difficult to conquer.

Using autonomous counties and fields as bait, let these barbarians move out willingly first, and then conduct household registration statistics and send people to set up academies to educate them.

As long as Zhou Qi takes the power of education into his own hands, it won't be long before the younger generation of barbarians will be brainwashed and eventually consider themselves mortals.

Doing so will not only help Zhou Qi rule the barbarians, but also improve the living standards of the barbarians. It can be described as a win-win situation.

(End of this chapter)