Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Corvée... It's bitter!!

If military service is the most dangerous, then corvée is undoubtedly the most bitter!

One of the reasons why the Qin Dynasty was often criticized as a tyrannical Qin was that Emperor Qin Shihuang forcibly conscripted hundreds of thousands of laborers to build the Great Wall, leading to widespread resentment and uprisings.

Even later generations often talked about Emperor Yang of Sui's love of grand projects, a sin of the present but a benefit for a thousand generations, which was related to Emperor Yang of Sui frequently launching large-scale construction projects and forcibly conscripting countless laborers, causing the people to suffer unspeakably.

The benefits of corvée are obvious, which is that it can easily allow rulers to forcibly conscript a large amount of labor, thereby greatly reducing the cost of money and grain for certain large-scale projects;

However, its disadvantages are even clearer. It will seriously damage the already fragile and stable lives of the common people. Oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger, and corvée is even worse than a tiger.

The people are not inanimate objects.

When the social environment in a certain place is too harsh, the people will inevitably choose to flee to other places;

When the entire social environment is so harsh, it is time to raise the flag of rebellion and shout: "Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born with a noble lineage?"

Once encountering an emperor who loves grand projects, "corvée" will undoubtedly become the best tool in the hands of this emperor, and it will also cause countless people to be severely exploited, die in foreign lands, and families to be destroyed.

Since the emergence of the "corvée" system, it is not that there have been no people with lofty ideals who have noticed its harm.

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

Throughout the dynasties, it was necessary to repair palaces, build imperial tombs, build the Great Wall, maintain city walls...

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

It is precisely for this reason that Liu Bei is so shocked at this moment.

Liu Bei can also realize the harm of the "corvée" system to the people, but he has never thought that the "corvée" system could be abolished.

But if you ask Liu Bei if he wants the people to no longer suffer from the suffering of "corvée", Liu Bei, who is based on benevolence and virtue, undoubtedly hopes so.

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

At this moment, Li Ji showed a somewhat bright smile and replied calmly. "Of course, Lord. Ji does not do things without certainty."

Is it difficult to replace the corvée system?

Even if you ask a wise man like Jia Xu this question, you will still feel unsolvable. This is the limitation of the times and the limitation of vision.

But Li Ji knows very well that if you want to solve this problem, you need to transform "corvée" into a profession, a profession similar to "craftsman".

"Lord, looking at the development of Wu County for more than six years, is there a need to conscript corvée?"

"'Civil engineering laborers' are the most perfect substitute for the things that 'corvée' needs to do. The key next is to improve the rules of 'civil engineering laborers' and gradually evolve 'civil engineering laborers' into a profession," Li Ji replied.

"Profession?!"

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

"I understand. What Zikun is thinking is to use punishment as a name to let those prisoners become familiar with everything about 'civil engineering laborers', and then release them back to their hometowns. It will definitely allow the concept of 'civil engineering laborers' to spread thoroughly in Yangzhou through those prisoners."

After a pause, Liu Bei raised the key to the problem and asked.

"It's just that if we maintain 'civil engineering laborers' with remuneration in the future, will it lead to excessive financial pressure?"

Although Liu Bei has benevolence and virtue in his heart, he must also consider it from reality.

If "civil engineering laborers" are maintained with remuneration, then there will be more than 100,000 young adults, and the huge financial burden generated will definitely not be less than maintaining 100,000 soldiers.

Li Ji was speechless and laughed when he heard this and said.

"Has the Lord forgotten that Yingzhou now has a steady stream of gold and silver being transported to Wu County? For the Lord today, the key is how to spend money reasonably and how to reasonably inject a large amount of gold and silver into the people."

"And the existence of 'civil engineering laborers' can not only perfectly replace the corvée system, but also hide wealth among the people, allowing the people to have more channels to increase their income in their spare time. Why not do it?"

The vision beyond the times allows Li Ji to know more clearly what the essence of economy and prosperity is.

What the Han Dynasty lacks most is the hoarding rats like the aristocratic families. A large amount of copper coins are even buried underground, and they will not be taken out even if the rope rots.

The wealthy aristocratic families are hoarding rats, while the common people are so poor that they are penniless. This is also why the Han Dynasty's restrictions on merchants are far less severe than those of later generations, but the Han Dynasty's commerce is far from being prosperous.

Poor!

Extremely low desire to consume!

Of course, this is not because the common people are not working hard enough or they do not want to consume, but because the common people have no money in their pockets.

Therefore, what Liu Bei, who is limited by his vision, sees is the huge financial pressure generated by the "civil engineering laborers" maintained by remuneration.

But what Li Ji sees is that he has opened up a channel that can allow money to flow into the pockets of the people, and then gradually further activate the commercial market of the Han Dynasty, which is like a pool of stagnant water.

Hiding wealth among the people is the greatest wealth of the country.

If the people are not rich, how can the country be rich?

To enrich the country by impoverishing the people is to drain the pond to catch fish.

Of course, the premise for Li Ji to realize the above content is that he needs to have enough gold, silver, and copper coin reserves, so that he can gradually reshape the economic system.

Of course, this matter is easy to say, but in fact, it also involves all aspects, and the content that needs to be measured and grasped is countless.

Therefore, even though Liu Bei instinctively felt that what Li Ji said was correct, he was still thinking carefully and constantly.

Although Liu Bei has absolute trust in Li Ji, such a reform measure will involve every common person under his rule.

For the sake of the people and for the sake of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei could not help but be extremely cautious.

Moreover, Liu Bei is not the kind of monarch who says "Why not eat meat porridge?". He knows the people quite well, and he is also very clear about all aspects of the local operation.

Therefore, after thinking for a while, Liu Bei said out all the remaining doubts and worries in his heart one by one.

How to supervise "civil engineering laborers"?

If "civil engineering laborers" are allowed to evolve into a profession, then there will be a group of young adults who are good at collaboration, which undoubtedly also poses a risk of rebellion.

What should be the specific operating system of "civil engineering laborers"?

Is it a lifetime system, or is there a corresponding time limit? How should the salary be set and paid? And what level of government should conduct what degree of supervision?

And how should we restrict and divide who can join the "civil engineering laborers" to avoid affecting the farming of farmers?

Especially the last one. Once a profession like "civil engineering laborer" is opened up for the vast number of people to join, then how to balance the relationship between them and the farmers to avoid affecting the farmers' cultivation of land is the most important thing.

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

Once the people find that cultivating land is far less profitable than becoming a "civil engineering laborer", it will inevitably lead to countless farmlands being abandoned, and the consequences will be disastrous.

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

In the past few days, Li Ji has been constantly reading the documents and records of various counties in Yangzhou, and he already has a fairly clear understanding of the situation in the entire Yangzhou.

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

Based on this, Li Ji even roughly calculated how much land the aristocratic families in various counties of Yangzhou have secretly annexed in the past five years.

It is precisely based on the various situations he has understood that Li Ji can confidently judge the feasibility of promoting the professionalization of "civil engineering laborers", and thereby further open the pockets of the people, allowing money to flow smoothly in and out of the pockets of the people.

Moreover, the foundation of the "military household system" improved by Li Ji is the people's hearts and the people's sense of belonging to the local area.

It is precisely because of the people's hearts and sense of belonging that the soldiers of the military household system naturally possess the cohesion and high morale that the soldiers under the command of other lords cannot match.

Similar to the rabble of the Anti-Wu Allied Forces, even if the number reaches more than 100,000, it is fundamentally meaningless.

It is only in the unique terrain of Yangzhou that it can still play a little role.

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

Waste of food!

This is Li Ji's evaluation of the rabble.

Rather than wasting those grains on the rabble, it is better to improve the treatment of the elite soldiers under his command, so that the elite soldiers are willing to die for it.

The conversation between Liu Bei and Li Ji gradually no longer limited to "civil engineering laborers", but focused on all aspects of the overall situation in Yangzhou, until the night outside the house was hazy, and Liu Bei suddenly came back to his senses.

However, after such a conversation, Liu Bei already had a clear understanding of Li Ji's next plan in his heart.

My Zikun is thinking not only about governing a state and a county well, but also preparing to take advantage of the chaotic world to recreate the world and treat the stubborn diseases involving all aspects of past dynasties.

Taking Yangzhou as the foundation to carry out a reform involving all aspects, and then annexing the Quartet, and finally creating a brand new prosperous age.

Commerce, agriculture, military system, education, and even medical care...

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

With the initial chaos settled and a period of great order following, the population would inevitably experience a surge, with a significant rise in the birth rate.

At this time, one could imagine how crucial and urgent it was to improve the survival rates of pregnant women and newborns.

Of course, this did not mean that Li Ji had to personally involve himself in medical reforms, but rather to instruct that a group of skilled obstetricians or midwives be trained as soon as possible. (End of Chapter)