Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 2391 Refusal! Do not follow?

   In February of the sixth year of Taixing.

   Hussar General Fei Qian arrived at Yangcheng, Yuzhou.

   Accompanying them are not only a large number of Western Qiang prisoners of war, captured Qiang flags and weapons, but also some exotic artifacts brought from the Western Regions, as well as cloth, paper, green grass, etc. that Fei Qian presented to Emperor Liu Xie...

  Shang Shu ordered Xun Yu to send personnel to Yangcheng to receive him, while he himself entered the Chongde Hall and met with the emperor Liu Xie.

"Your Majesty's lesson..." Xun Yu's face was serious and his voice was steady, "The spring plowing is busy now, and officials of all counties and counties, big and small, are promoting farming and mulberry crops, so don't relax... Therefore, General Hussar's so-called offering of captives from the Western Qiang should be postponed." Of…"

  Is this reason valid?

   Reasons are valid.

  Is there anything wrong with this reason?

   There is no problem.

In the spring season, these months must be the heaviest time for farming. For the Han Dynasty, which focuses on farming, and areas such as Yuzhou and Jizhou with more flat land and denser population, can they do a good job in the present? Farming matters almost determine the income of the next year, and will also affect the next strategic deployment and many other complicated matters.

   But the question is, does the celebration require all the farmers in Yuzhou to put down their hoes?

   Obviously not needed.

   At most, it was the farmers from around Xu County who came to watch the fun. It was even possible that these farmers would not come to join in the fun because of the heavy farm work at home. Most of the people watching the ceremony were the children of noble families.

  So do the sons of the gentry need to farm?

  Maybe there are those who farm by themselves, but there must also be those who don't touch the spring water with their fingers.

  『Delay? ’Liu Xie didn’t directly reprimand or express any opinions, but asked rhetorically, ‘It took more than 30 years and cost 100 million yuan to recover in the time of the first emperor... Now Huqi has pacified the Western Qiang, and it took quite a short time...Xun Aiqing, I don't know... Is there something strange? 』

   Xun Yu raised his head and took a quick look at Liu Xie.

  The son of heaven has grown up, he will ask questions to dig a hole.

   Xun Yu is obviously not stupid, "Your Majesty...I have not personally attended the battle of Xiqiang, so I don't know the truth. If Your Majesty has doubts, you can order the hussars to report the passing..."

"Hehe..." Liu Xie smiled slightly, "The victory of the Western Qiang and the reunification of the Western Regions, these are the immortal achievements of the great Han, and a grand ceremony should be held to celebrate them... Regardless of other things, it is only for the soldiers who died in the Western Qiang land... I should also be comforted...Xun Aiqing, could it be that the imperial court has no money to spend? 』

   This is obviously another pitfall.

Xun Yu lowered his head and said, "Nowadays, the world is not peaceful, disasters are happening frequently in various places, and local counties and countries do not pay taxes... The imperial court's financial resources are really tight... What's more, the chaos in the east of the Yangtze River will erode Xuzhou, so we should be prepared. Once you use it, you can avoid it." Somewhat stretched...」

  Liu Xie didn't pay attention to the topic of specific prefectures not paying taxes, but brought back to the celebration, "Now that the victory of the Western Qiang is great, it is a good way to promote the power of the Han!" If the thieves in the frontier know that the west is flat, how dare they compete with the big men? If there is no celebration, firstly, the whole court will think it is not true, and secondly, the thieves will become more rampant, which will definitely consume more money and food, and it will take a long time to suppress the rebellion... Xun Aiqing, the importance of this, love Qing Minhui, you should know it. 』

   Xun Yu's eyes moved slightly.

  This question is very interesting...

"If you take this opportunity to announce to the world that the great man is already in power, the four directions will be settled, and the thieves will surely feel palpitations, and the court will be able to breathe. There is no need for such a conquest from all sides, and the common people will be able to give birth..." Liu Xie said slowly, "There is a great general Sitting in Qingxu, the Jiangdong thieves dare not act rashly... The celebration of the sacrifice of the captives of the Western Qiang should be done! Not only to do, but also grand! Only in this way can we show the majesty of the Han Dynasty and deter rebellion! If this celebration can shake his mind, even if he is still stubborn, he can win it by fighting, which can be said to be half the effort and twice the result! 』

  Xun Yu lowered his head and sighed slightly, "Your Majesty...the imperial court is financially distressed, and it is already unable to organize such celebrations..."

"Ok? The Great Han Dynasty Hall...is it really so poor? A gleam of anger flashed across Liu Xie's face, "Although I live in the palace, I also know that the city's 50,000 jars of drunk wine are in short supply!" Now Ai Qing said, no money to hold a celebration? ! 』

   How dare you use the lack of money as an excuse!

   This made it difficult for Liu Xie to control the anger in his heart, and it rose a little bit.

A few times before, Liu Xie also wanted to do something, and then persuaded a large group of ministers, saying that the country's affairs were difficult, the society was in turmoil, the people were in dire straits, and the common people had no food. Why do you have the nerve to spend money? This money, you have to spend that money, you are the son of a big man, how can you ignore the life and death of the people and so on.

  At the beginning, Liu Xie thought it was really embarrassing.

After all, Liu Xie also had a hard time before, knowing that the hard life is not easy to endure, and also understands what it is like when the embarrassment reaches the extreme, so every time the minister said this, Liu Xie felt that he was going too far up? Too much to ask? How about saving a little more?

   But after several times in a row, Liu Xie naturally felt that something was wrong.

   During the New Year, didn’t Liu Xie send Xiao Huangmen out of the palace to buy some supplies, and rewarded them to everyone in the palace? So Liu Xie naturally took this opportunity to learn about the current situation in Xu County.

  Damn it, I really dare to say it!

   Liu Xie's hair was blown up, and old and new hatred surged up in his heart.

  『…』Xun Yu lowered his head slightly, "Your Majesty...maybe there is a misunderstanding...this year, there are a lot of shortcomings..."

  『"Lack of"? What does this mean? Liu Xie's cheeks were flushed, and he asked loudly, "There were many disasters in the last year, and the autumn harvest last year, didn't you get a lot of harvest?" Where is the lack of words? 』

Although Liu Xie did not manage matters related to planning, at the end of the year, Jiuqing, Taichang, and the memorials of Dasinong all mentioned some related matters more or less, although they did not There is no specific value involved, and there will be no specific value, but at least they all mentioned the same thing, that is, last year's harvest was generally good, and it should be regarded as a bumper year.

  Since the weather can be regarded as good weather everywhere, how can there be a "lack" in wealth and harvest?

  In the year of the disaster, there was a lack of wealth in terms of wealth, but now that the harvest is bumper, it is also "deficit". I really can't think about this kind of thing too much. If I think about it too much, it will inevitably make people feel a little chilly.

Xun Yu bowed his head and said, "Since Your Majesty moved eastward, the government has been peaceful and peaceful, the county has been peaceful, the generals have conquered the east and the west, and fought south and north, and they have to expand the territory, control the seven states, and the wealth of each place is also year by year A slight increase, frequent good news, the prosperity of the Han Dynasty in the past...』

  Liu Xie reached out and patted the table case, interrupting Xun Yu's words, "I ask Ai Qing, what is the "lack"?" ! 』

  "Your Majesty..." Xun Yu still lowered his head, "In a bad year...the grains are scarce, but this is a good year, the grains are cheap..."

  『Valley... Valley cheap? ”Liu Xie tilted his head, full of disbelief, “Isn’t it a good thing that the grain price is low? 』

Liu Xie stared at Xun Yu in disbelief, "Xun Aiqing, back then Dong Thief burned Luoyang, and there was no one living in it for a hundred miles. I and a hundred officials huddled under the ruined walls, looking for food in the wilderness and forest. A bucket of grain and millet was worth a thousand dollars. Then there is no price! As a last resort, the three lords and the nine ministers all collected firewood in the wild, and in the stone cauldron of tiles and stones, they used the roots of wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger! 』

"Since I moved to Xu County, I have made repeated orders to reduce or exempt the land tax, relieve the victims, open canals for reclamation, encourage farming and mulberry, and help the plow personally... And the general set up a garrison station to gather the refugees to cultivate... In this way, it will be It is to stop repeating the old mistakes and save Jiuqing from suffering! It will also avoid the humiliation of my... my... ox bones..." Liu Xie gritted his teeth and said, "Now...now it is a bumper harvest, but what is "lack"? What is missing? And how is it lacking? Xun Aiqing, why not talk about it in detail! 』

  Since Xun Yu mentioned the reason of "lack", of course he thought about how to answer, and immediately said calmly: "Your Majesty doesn't know... the price of grain is too cheap, and it hurts farmers..."

  Xun Yu sighed slightly, "I originally entered the palace to see His Majesty, and it was for this reason..."

  In Liu Xie's view, no matter what the Han Lingdi told him before, or what these ministers talked about every day, they all said that the foundation of the country's founding and power is farming!

   Farming is everything!

   Farming is above all else!

  If the farmers are seriously injured, the day of national chaos will not be far away.

   Therefore, when he heard that the low grain price had seriously hurt the farmers, Liu Xie's expression immediately became extremely dignified.

   Xun Yu raised his head slightly, looked at Liu Xie, then lowered his head again, and explained softly. "Once upon a time, Mr. Chao said, "A farmer's family of five has no less than two people who serve as servants, and those who can plow are no more than a hundred mu, and the harvest of a hundred mu is no more than a hundred stones..." Now, with the method of water conservancy irrigating the fields, since we have canals to irrigate, Then the brine is wetted, filled with silt and fertilized, so you can get five times the high field and ten times the lower field...』

  In the perception of most people in the Han Dynasty, generally speaking, the harvest of one mu of land was about two to three stones. The average number of people in a household is about five. If one hundred mu of land is cultivated, and other additional income is not included, the annual grain harvest is about two to three hundred shi.

With the new composting and irrigation methods, the production can be increased, especially the fields that originally suffered from food failure due to lack of water can achieve high yields, from two to three stones to nine to ten stones, which is what Xun Yu said later. Takata five times, Shimoda ten times." Of course, Xun Yu's Gaotian here is calculated according to two stones, and Xiatian is calculated according to one stone.

  Among these harvests, due to the lack of fat in the food system of the Han Dynasty, carbohydrates became the most important consumables, resulting in a large amount of food for everyone, especially generals...

   Therefore, for farmers, they not only have to provide food for their own families, but also use these crops to pay land rent and calculate taxes, and they have to hire people to serve them. There are more or less types of labor in various counties and counties. Some farmers are short of manpower. In order not to miss the cultivation, they have to hire someone to do it for a certain amount of money per person.

   In this way, the farmer's annual harvest is very little, or even no surplus.

Then, the more critical point comes. Except for the Zhuanghe in the cultivated field, all other commodities, including but not limited to seeds, livestock, agricultural tools, clothes, salt and iron, etc., are owned by the manor owner, or It is the children of other noble families, controlled by local tyrants, and these items, sometimes even farmers and women can't save them.

  Plus Cao Cao has been at war for the past few years...

   Cattle, horses, ironware, cloth, salt and other materials are in short supply, so they are naturally very expensive. And this kind of expensive, often sees the wind as the rain, sees the rain as the knife! With a little bit of wind and rain, these things will turn into knives and stab the peasant women! This is what the children of the gentry, the local tyrants have been clamoring for, don't want the imperial court to guide the economy, but need the market to be fully opened!

For an ordinary farmer and peasant woman, they only have some surplus grain in exchange for other materials when Zhuanghe harvests, and the extremely unreasonable price between Zhuanghe and other materials often makes Farmers had to sell grain at low prices and buy seeds, farm implements, and other necessities at high prices, and lost a lot of money back and forth.

   Xun Yu stopped here when he spoke.

"Therefore, the current low price of grain is hurting the farmers..." Xun Yu said slowly, "I know that your Majesty is sympathetic to the people and worried about the people, so I ordered Changping, Liangping, and Changding three warehouses to be sold at a price slightly higher than the market price. Buy food and grass from the hands of the people to protect their income...Therefore, there is really not much money in the public treasury...』

  『This…』 Liu Xie was taken aback, then swallowed a mouthful of saliva, not knowing what to say.

  In the process of Xun Yu's explanation, it seems that this is indeed the case, and there seems to be nothing wrong with Xun Yu's actions.

  But in Liu Xie's heart, there is always something wrong...

   But what is wrong?

   Naturally, Xun Yu hid those things that he didn't tell. It's not that Xun Yu doesn't know about these hidden things, but that he can't talk about them.

During the disaster year, the relief materials are all in the hands of the gentry and the tyrants, and the tax reduction and exemption will not go to the farmers. Although the price of grain is high, there is not much grain harvest in the field. The scissors are poor, and they will harvest a lot of farmers' flesh and blood...

  Farmers’ income comes from the grain and millet obtained from cultivating the land. If the price of grain and millet is low, their income will be low, and they will be very poor. Although he would not starve to death, he was very poor, unable to make ends meet, and could not withstand any blows. But how can people not get sick if they eat whole grains? When people live in this world, whether they are born or die, or come and go, they all need money.

   What's even more frightening is that the gentry tyrants still advocate the need for "filial piety" every day!

  It is not ordinary filial piety, but "filial piety" carried out to the extreme!

  After the death of the parents, they must never abandon them and observe filial piety by the grave for three years! And there is a grand burial, if you don't invite people from all over the world to have a meal, and if you don't sing a five-day and ten-day drama, it is unfilial!

   If you don’t do one thing, if you are unfilial, you will be directed by these guys standing on the high ground, and a large group of idlers with malicious intentions and idlers without malicious intentions will be attracted to enjoy the cheap and free "moral feast" together!

   As long as you insult these "unfilial" people, those who can't give their parents a decent burial, and those who can't keep their filial piety and don't work for three years, you can get spiritual nobility and physical pleasure!

  What should I do if I really have no money?

  The grinning squire stepped forward, patted his thick breasts, and said, "Young son! You are right! To be buried! How can you be worthy of your ancestors without a generous burial! How can you be worthy of your ancestors! It doesn't matter if you don't have money! I will lend you money! See if you want to mortgage your land to me, or mortgage your wife and daughter to me, it doesn't matter! You decide! I don't dislike it! 』

   A group of onlookers didn’t think it was a big deal, they shouted loudly, “filial son! Big filial son! Bet! Bet on it all! 』

   It’s like seeing poor people selling girls in Lao She’s teahouse, and the faces of other tea drinkers are smiling. After all, it is other people's wives and children who are on the ground, and I can still live well. Not only do I not have to mortgage my wife, but I can also eat meat for a meal, beautiful!

The government is anxious and tyrannical, and even some officials know the law and break the law, corrupt the law, extort money, and ask the farmers to be conscientious and respect filial piety, so the farmers have no way to survive. Some people have to borrow at high interest rates, and have to sell their children and daughters , had to sell the land and houses at a low price to fulfill the "conscience" and "filial piety" of these high-ranking gentlemen!

   Jiaohua County!

   Xiaoti County!

  Millions of people are educated, Damei County is governed, and its achievements are outstanding!

  These are only on the surface, but the deep-seated land annexation and embezzlement of the population are the usual methods of local gentry tyrants, and even more taboo. They cannot be talked about or touched.

  Farmers want to survive, eat, and support their parents, wives, and children. When the land is sold, there is only one way to do it, and that is to attach themselves to the buyers of the land, that is, the rich and powerful from all over the world.

  The Han Dynasty once stated that it was prohibited to buy and sell land, but in fact, the rich and powerful of the aristocratic families are rich and powerful, and they have inextricable connections with local officials. Farmers don’t know the law, and officials don’t report it. What’s the use of the court’s clear laws?

  Even if it is found, the farmer dare not admit it in order to survive, so what can the tracer do?

In the past, because Boss Cao needed the Yuzhou gentry to provide a lot of material and financial resources and manpower to conquer the world, he gave a lot of good policy preferential treatment, such as lower taxes, more business incentives, and the full liberalization of salt and iron operations, etc., After experiencing the initial difficulties, the big gentry families in Yuzhou quickly became rich...

   This is of course the reason why the 50,000 yuan jar of drunken wine is still sold out of stock.

   Of course, Xun Yu can't say anything about this matter. After all, everyone knows who the largest spice importing firm in Yuzhou and Jizhou belongs to.

Cao Cao's battles in the four directions also brought the population and wealth of the four directions, which gathered in the land of Yuzhou, forming an unprecedented prosperity. These people who became rich during the war included princes and nobles, powerful families, and bureaucrats. , In addition to merchants and rich people, there are also military class.

   But there are no farmers and women who were originally in Yuzhou.

  Now, under the rule of Cao Cao, officials, scholars, merchants, "Trinity" can be found everywhere, and some of them have far exceeded the imagination of the imperial court.

  The richer these people are, the less money the central court will naturally have. So what Xun Yu said about the lack of taxes and the lack of money in the public treasury was not a lie, it was true that there was no money.

  『Xun Aiqing...』 Liu Xie frowned, and after pondering for a long time, he asked, "Since this is the case, how about using the method of hussars to solve the current situation?" 』

Xun Yu was stunned for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "This is the reason why I came to see Your Majesty... The general is now in Qingxu, and the rebellion is over, and it will be settled soon... Your Majesty can wait a little, and you will be able to come back soon." The good news is coming...then we will hold a celebration, especially not too late...』

   Liu Xie stared at Xun Yu, pondered for a while, and finally nodded slowly, "I will love you..."

  Do not follow?

  So what if you don't comply?

  No money, no one, no authority, what can you do?

  (end of this chapter)