Ji Han Liu Zhang

In troubled times, the three most important resources are population, talent, and land.

The most important of these three points is population. The reason is very simple. Only with a sufficient population can we screen out the talents needed to dominate the world, and only then will there be people to cultivate the occupied land.

In short, population is the foundation of everything. Without population, there will be no talents, and it will be meaningless to occupy more land.

At that time, in the territory occupied by Liu Zhang, Yizhou had a population of one million and rich scholars and commoners. However, after the destruction of the Liangzhou bandits such as Dong Zhuo, Li Guo and others, the Guanzhong area could be described in four words: nine out of ten houses were empty, there was no one living within a hundred miles, and not even the sound of chickens or dogs could be heard.

Moreover, the desolate and dilapidated scene of Guanzhong did not appear in recent years. The decline of Guanzhong, once the land of abundance, began in the late Western Han Dynasty. The wars between the two Han Dynasties caused great damage to Guanzhong. This is also the reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty established its capital in Luoyang instead of Chang'an.

Since the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Qiang rebellions in Liangzhou have continued one after another, like a continuous drizzle that lasted for nearly a hundred years before it subsided a little. For more than a hundred years, Guanzhong, which is close to Liangzhou, has been under tremendous pressure as a logistics base and source of troops, resulting in Guanzhong being in a state of bleeding all the time and unable to recover to the level of the Land of Abundance in the Western Han Dynasty.

In short, a series of wars led to the gradual decline of Guanzhong, population loss, and barren land. The once land of abundance is now unworthy of its name.

That is to say, what Liu Zhang is most worried about right now is the population problem in Guanzhong. When he goes east through Tongguan and fights for the world in the future, Guanzhong will be his logistics base and military supply area, and he needs the most stable support, but Guanzhong cannot do this at the moment.

The previous meeting was still going on. After Liu Zhang, Xun You and Jia Xu finished discussing the placement of spies in Xu Du, they went on to talk about the population problem in Guanzhong, which was now a very important topic.

"If we want to make Guanzhong populated and have people living nearby, it will probably take more than a hundred years to achieve this relying solely on the current population growth in Guanzhong." Xun You frowned, saying with a hint of worry.

Xun You, who served as the prefect of Jingzhao, went deep into the grassroots during this period to investigate the household registration situation in Jingzhao. The result can only be described as very ugly. The frequent wars and long-term turmoil in the past resulted in the population of Jingzhao County being only more than 30,000 people.

With a population of over 30,000 and five people in one household, there are more than 6,000 households, which is not even as big as a county in the past. He, the dignified Jingzhao Yin, should be changed to Jingzhao County Chief, and he cannot even be the magistrate of a county with 10,000 households.

"Just like now, Jingzhao has only more than 6,000 households and more than 30,000 people. The population is sparse, not as good as a large county in the past. With such a small population, it is difficult to support the cause of kingship and hegemony." Xun You sighed.

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang was not too surprised by the household registration data given by Xun You. After all, according to historical records, when Dong Zhuo abducted Liu Xie and his companions and entered Guanzhong, the population of Sanfu was only a few hundred thousand. The population of Sanfu was so large, but it was only comparable to the population of a large county in Zhongzhou.

After many wars such as the execution of Dong Zhuo, the counterattack of Li and Guo on Chang'an, and the ravages of the three prefectures by the Liangzhou bandits, the strong men in Guanzhong scattered and the weak men ate each other. Up to now, only 30,000 people are left in Jingzhao County. To be honest, Liu Zhang thinks it is not bad.

As long as your expectations are low enough, no matter how small the results are, you will not be disappointed.

As a military advisor, Jia Xu gave his own opinion on the population problem in Guanzhong: "Li and Guo have always rebelled and ravaged Guanzhong. Many of the nobles in Guanzhong traveled together and went to Jingzhou through Wugu Pass. After all, Jingzhou is peaceful now and there is no war." "Although these people have migrated to Jingzhou, they must still be concerned about their hometown. If they hear the news that Guanzhong is stable, many of them will be willing to migrate back to Guanzhong." Jia Xu revealed his plan, which is to recruit the children of Guanzhong who have been displaced to Jingzhou to return home.

"There are also many Guanzhong people in Bashu and Hanzhong." Xun You added. Since he joined Liu Zhang's army, he learned that there are many Guanzhong people in Yizhou, just like the Dongzhou soldiers under Liu Zhang, most of whom migrated from Nanyang and Guanzhong to Yizhou.

In addition, many civil and military officials under Liu Zhang, such as General Fa Zheng of the Military Advisory Committee and General Meng Da of the Yangwu Army, migrated from Youfufeng, one of the Three Auxiliary Prefectures, to Hanzhong. Now that Guanzhong is stable, Fa Zheng, Meng Da and others have begun to arrange for their clansmen who stayed in Hanzhong to return to Guanzhong.

Liu Zhang nodded. It was a must to recruit the refugees from Guanzhong who had fled to other places to return home. As he was in charge of Guanzhong, he could not allow the people of Guanzhong to become helpers of others.

"The return of refugees is one thing, but the number of Guanzhong children who are displaced is not large to begin with. Even if we recruit them vigorously, we can only get tens of thousands of households and hundreds of thousands of people." Liu Zhang expressed his opinion that simply recruiting Guanzhong children to return to Guanzhong would not be very effective.

"There are many troubles in all directions now, with wars, locust plagues, and droughts coming one after another. There are many refugees from Guandong. Perhaps we can recruit refugees from Guandong to come to Guanzhong and give them land and oxen, so that the fertile land in Guanzhong will not be left idle."

Liu Zhang looked at Xun You. As a native of Yingchuan, Xun You was familiar with Guandong. Although Xun You had not returned to the Central Plains for a long time, he had never stopped exchanging letters with the scholars in the Central Plains.

As for the matter of communication, Xun You reported it himself, so Liu Zhang knew about it.

Xun You nodded and brought up something that was happening in Xudu: "I heard that Cao Mengde sent his trusted men Zao Zhi and Han Hao to recruit refugees to Xudu to cultivate land, which is pretty much the same as what we want to do."

"However, in Cao Mengde's military farms, if the farmers used government-owned oxen, the government would get 60% of the land's income and the farmers would get 40%. If the farmers used their own oxen, the land's income would be shared equally with the government."

"Whether using official cattle or private cattle, the taxes required are very heavy. If we want to recruit refugees from all over the country to Guanzhong, we should give them a policy that is better than the one in Xuzhou. In this way, refugees will not go to Xudu, but to Guanzhong."

Liu Zhang nodded. There is a saying that goes, the direction of population flow is the direction of civilization, but this sentence is not accurate enough. The most accurate statement should be that people flow is moving in the direction that allows them to maximize their own interests.

Fake civilization is no match for real interests. People in the world talk a lot, saying all kinds of isms, but they are all isms, and in the end, they are not interests.

"Please ask Gongda and Wenhe to discuss and come up with a plan to recruit refugees from all directions into Guanzhong... If you want to accomplish great things, you must put people first. There are few people in Guanzhong now, so this is the top priority." Liu Zhang earnestly instructed Xun You and Jia Xu.

"Yes." Xun You and Jia Xu each bowed and agreed to the task Liu Zhang had given them. (End of this chapter)