Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Hard labor... it's so painful!!

If military service is the most dangerous, then forced labor is undoubtedly the most painful!

One of the reasons why the Qin Dynasty was often criticized as tyrannical was that Qin Shihuang conscripted hundreds of thousands of laborers to build the Great Wall, which led to public resentment and uprisings.

Even the reason why later generations often talked about Emperor Yang of Sui's vanity and his merits for generations to come was that he repeatedly built large-scale construction projects and forced countless laborers, making the people suffer terribly.

The benefits of corvée labor are obvious. It allows rulers to easily forcibly recruit a large number of laborers, thereby greatly reducing the cost of money and grain for certain large-scale projects.

However, its disadvantages are even more obvious. It will seriously damage the already fragile and stable lives of the lower-class people. Harsh government is more ferocious than a tiger, and forced labor is even worse than a tiger.

The people are not dead things.

When the social environment in a certain place is too bad, the people will inevitably choose to flee to other places;
When the entire social environment is so bad, it is time to raise the banner of rebellion and shout: "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born of different species?"

Once an ambitious emperor is encountered, "labor" will undoubtedly become the most useful tool in the hands of this emperor, and will also cause countless people to be severely exploited in their labor, die in a foreign land, and have their families broken up.

Since the introduction of the "labor service" system, there have been people with lofty ideals who have noticed its harm.

But "labor" also involves countless interests and relationships, and more importantly, no one can find a substitute for "labor" at the national level.

Every dynasty needed to repair palaces, build imperial tombs, construct the Great Wall, and maintain city walls...

All of the above require a large amount of labor, and only the "labor service" system can meet the labor demand.

That is why Liu Bei was so shocked at this moment.

Liu Bei was also aware of the harm that the "labor service" system brought to the people, but he never thought about the possibility of abolishing the "labor service" system.

But if you ask Liu Bei whether he wants the people to no longer have to suffer the hardship of "labor", Liu Bei, who is based on benevolence, undoubtedly hopes so.

"Zikun, this... can this really be done?"

At this moment, Li Ji showed a somewhat brilliant smile and replied calmly, "Of course, my lord, Ji will not do anything without confidence."

Is it difficult to replace the labor service system?

Even if you ask a wise man like Jia Xu, he would still find it unanswerable. This is the shackles of the times and the limitations of vision.

But Li Ji knew very well that the way to solve this problem was to transform "labor" into a profession, a profession similar to "craftsman".

"My Lord, looking back at the six years of Wu County's development, is there any need to recruit laborers?"

"'Civil workers' are the most perfect substitute for what 'labor service' needs to do. The key next step is to improve the rules of 'civil workers' and let 'civil workers' gradually evolve into a profession." Li Ji replied.

"Profession?!"

Liu Bei nodded heavily, and combined with what Li Ji had said before, he gradually reacted and said.

"I understand. What Zikun wants is to use punishment as a pretext to make the captives familiar with everything about 'civil engineering laborers', and then release them to return to their hometowns. This will surely allow the concept of 'civil engineering laborers' to spread throughout Yangzhou through those captives."

After a pause, Liu Bei raised the crux of the problem and asked.

"But if we use remuneration to maintain 'civil engineering workers' in the future, will it cause excessive financial pressure?"

Although Liu Bei had a kind heart, he also had to consider the reality.

If "civil engineering workers" were to be maintained by remuneration, there would be more than 100,000 young and strong people, and the huge financial burden generated would definitely be no less than maintaining 100,000 soldiers.

Li Ji couldn't help laughing when he heard that.

"My lord, you have forgotten that Yingzhou now has an endless supply of gold and silver shipped to Wujun. For my lord today, the key is how to spend money reasonably and how to reasonably flow a large amount of gold and silver into the people."

"The existence of 'civil workers' can not only perfectly replace the labor service system, but also help to spread wealth among the people, giving them more ways to increase their income in their spare time. Why not do it?"

A vision that transcends the times allows Li Ji to better understand the essence of economy and prosperity.

What the Han Dynasty lacked the least were the rats in the aristocratic families. They would bury so many copper coins in the ground that they would not even use the ropes until they were rotten.

The wealthy aristocratic families were like rats, while the common people were extremely poor. This was why, although the restrictions on merchants in the Han Dynasty were not as severe as those in later generations, the business of the Han Dynasty was far from prosperous.

poverty!
The desire to consume is extremely low!

Of course, this is not because the people don’t work hard enough or they don’t want to spend, but because they don’t have money in their pockets.

Therefore, what Liu Bei, whose vision was limited, saw was the huge financial pressure created by the "civil engineering workers" who were maintained by their remuneration.

But what Li Ji saw was that he had opened up a channel that would allow money to flow into the pockets of the people, and then gradually further activate the stagnant commercial market of the Han Dynasty. Only when wealth is stored among the people can a country become rich.

How can the country be prosperous if the people are not prosperous?

To enrich the country while making the people poor is like draining the pond to catch all the fish.

Of course, the prerequisite for Li Ji to achieve the above content is to have sufficient reserves of gold, silver and copper coins so that he can reshape the economic system bit by bit.

Of course, this matter sounds easy, but in fact it involves many aspects and there are countless things that need to be weighed and grasped.

So even though Liu Bei instinctively felt that what Li Ji said was correct, he still kept thinking about it carefully.

Although Liu Bei had absolute trust in Li Ji, such a revolutionary move would affect every citizen under his rule.

For the sake of the people and the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei had no choice but to be extremely cautious.

Moreover, Liu Bei was not the kind of ruler who would say "Why don't you eat meat porridge?" He understood the people very well and was well aware of every aspect of local operations.

Therefore, after thinking for a long time, Liu Bei expressed all the unresolved questions and worries in his heart.

How to supervise “civil workers”?
If "civil engineering workers" are allowed to evolve into a profession, a group of young and strong people who are good at collaboration will emerge, which will undoubtedly pose a risk of chaos.

What should be the specific operating system of “civil workers”?
Is it a lifetime system, or is there a time limit? How is the salary determined and paid? And which level of government should provide supervision and to what extent?

How can we restrict who can be classified as “civil engineering workers” to avoid affecting farmers’ farming?

Especially the last one. Once a profession like "civil workers" is opened up that allows the general public to join, the top priority is how to balance the relationship between them and the farmers to avoid affecting the farmers' cultivation of the land.

After all, Liu Bei also knew that people are profit-seeking.

Once the people find that farming the land is far less attractive than becoming "civil laborers", it will inevitably lead to the abandonment of countless farmlands, and the consequences will be even more catastrophic.

As for the various concerns raised by Liu Bei, Li Ji calmly explained them to Liu Bei one by one.

During these few days, Li Ji had been reading through the written records of various counties in Yangzhou and had a fairly clear understanding of the situation in the entire Yangzhou.

Li Ji was fully aware of the population trends, land area changes, and tax revenue fluctuations in various counties in Yangzhou over the past five years.

Li Ji even roughly calculated how much land the aristocratic families in various counties of Yangzhou had secretly annexed in the past five years.

It is precisely based on the various situations he has understood that Li Ji is so confident in judging the feasibility of promoting the professionalization of "civil engineering workers" and thereby further opening the pockets of the people, allowing money to flow smoothly into and out of their pockets.

Moreover, the "military household system" improved by Li Ji is based on the people's will, that is, the people's sense of belonging to the place.

It is precisely the people's support and sense of belonging that make the soldiers of the military household system naturally possess cohesion and high morale that cannot be matched by the soldiers under the command of other princes.

A motley crowd like the anti-Wu coalition is completely meaningless even if its number reaches over 100,000.

That is to say, in Yangzhou's unique terrain, it can still be of some use.

If these more than 100,000 rabble were placed in the plains, they would probably not be able to withstand the charge of 10,000 Xiliang cavalry and would be directly penetrated and defeated.

Waste of food!

This is Li Ji’s evaluation of the mob.

Instead of wasting food on a mob, it is better to improve the treatment of the elite soldiers under your command so that they are willing to die for you.

Gradually, the conversation between Liu Bei and Li Ji was no longer limited to "civil engineering workers", but focused on all aspects of the overall situation in Yangzhou. It was not until the night fell outside the house that Liu Bei came to his senses.

However, after this meeting, Liu Bei already had a clear understanding of Li Ji's next plan.

My son Kun is not only thinking about governing a state or a county well, but is also preparing to take advantage of the troubled times to rebuild the world while treating all the stubborn diseases that have plagued all dynasties.

Taking Yangzhou as the base, he carried out a reform involving all aspects, and then annexed the four directions, and finally created a new prosperous era.

Business, agriculture, military, education and even medical care...

Perhaps because Cai Zhaoji had just experienced a life-threatening crisis, Li Ji also proposed to focus on promoting medical issues related to pregnant women and newborns.

After the chaos is settled and order is ushered in, the population will explode. It is conceivable that the birth rate will increase significantly.

At this time, it is conceivable that how to improve the survival rate of pregnant women and newborns is also a very urgent and important matter.

Of course, this does not mean that Li Ji will personally get involved in medical reform, but rather instructs to train a group of doctors or midwives who are skilled in delivering babies as soon as possible. (End of this chapter)