Qin Official

Many years ago, Heifu, as the "Sima of the other divisions" under Li You, led 3,000 men to conquer Yuzhang southward.

He wrote the six-month-long journey into three volumes of "Southern Expedition". Although the words in it are simple and unpretentious, the content is very detailed. After Hei's marriage, he presented this book to Qin Shihuang in order to explain that the southern expedition was unprofitable and difficult, so as to prevent his men from going to die in the hot and terrible green hell of Lingnan.

Qin Shihuang remembered the description of Nanchang and other places in that book:

"From the west of Fanyang and Yugan, there is no human habitation within a hundred miles. There are no cities and acres of land. There are also few Yue tribes. There are no open roads. Wherever you go, there are only plain forests and thickets. You need to cut them down and move on. Travel for more than a hundred miles. , to the Gan River, which runs through Yuzhang, stretches thousands of miles from north to south, and merges into Pengli Ze..."

"I chose a place to build a city at the lower reaches of the Gan River. The local area is covered with ancient trees and vines, and the forest is overcast. The sounds of animals can be heard here. Wild cattle and wild deer gather in groups of thousands here, and there are also bamboo slopes. For tens of miles, there are alternate bamboo joints with thorny shoots, which taste extremely bitter. Gan giants appear and appear in the area, preying on people and eating them..."

In short, it is a barbaric scene. When Hei Fu and others built a city here, it can be said that there are tall buildings rising from the ground. In addition to the natural jungle, there is also a disease called "water poison" that makes people angry. There is no treatment after accidentally contracting the disease. The only way to do this is to slowly weaken and die, so it is called "Jiangnan fever, husband dies young".

But now, seven or eight years have passed since the founding of Nanchang. In early September, after his southern tour, Qin Shihuang discovered that Nanchang was completely different from the wild land described in "The Southern Expedition"!

What made the first impression on the emperor was the convenient water transportation.

His huge entourage took the boat master's boat, crossed the river, and floated on Pengli Lake. However, I saw an endless stream of ships sailing out of "Hukou Pass", some heading east to Huainan Huaiji, and some heading west to Hengshan and Nanjun, all loaded with goods.

What was shipped out was dark brown brown sugar, and what was shipped back were farm tools, silk cloth and other daily necessities that Yuzhang could not support itself. The taxes collected at the pass were overflowing.

It is said that this pass was proposed by a ship officer named "Zhao Tuo" seven years ago. Water transportation extending in all directions was also established at that time. Nowadays, it is very convenient to travel in and out of Yuzhang by water.

After docking at Fu Qianyuan and overlooking the scenery of Mount Lu, the governor and lieutenant of Yuzhang County personally came to greet him and led the emperor's carriage southward, gradually approaching Nanchang City.

The roads were built according to Chidao standards. It is said that many years ago, when Heifu finished his war and resigned from the Panyang Order, he told his successor that "if you want to be rich, build roads first", and at least reach Nanchang. The road in Fu Qianyuan was built.

"The words are rough but the reasoning is not rough."

The words left by Heifu made the emperor laugh. Building straight roads across the country is something he has always insisted on. Only by connecting the purpose roads of the world can it be truly unified.

Although this road is just a simple dirt road, it is very smooth and there are no bumps as expected.

A few miles away along the road, there is a lilu with smoke curling up from cooking stoves, and the surrounding lilu is surrounded by paddy fields. The rice has been harvested, and there are only bundles of straw left in the field. One or two children are still catching eels on the edge of the field. It is said that in the water of Yuzhang, there are all kinds of fish, turtles, shrimps and clams everywhere. Just cast a net and you can get a lot of eels. With a handful of land, the local Yangyue people can easily fill their stomachs without having to work hard all day long.

In short, what I saw and heard was very different from Heifu's "Southern Expedition".

But the emperor did not think that Heifu was lying and deceiving him in the book, because these farmland villages were only found near the roads, and the field of vision extended to ten or dozens of miles away. What he saw was still the vast jungle, and sometimes he passed by the river. You can even see large crocodiles basking in the sun with their mouths wide open on the shore...

In Yuzhang, people's power is still very small, so naturally they only give in a little space.

But it is not easy. The transformation of this place from a deserted land into a fertile farmland is the result of thousands of soldiers stationed in the fields and the hard work of immigrants from Nanjun.

However, what impressed Qin Shi Huang the most along the way was the endless sugar cane plantations.

In early September, the busy farming season has ended, but it is the time when sugar cane growth is at its peak. They are more than ten feet high, like a reed forest, but they are neatly planned. The Guizhou leaders were working in the fields, doing the final weeding and fertilizing. The black-skinned sugarcane is thick and strong, and the locals call it "black sugarcane". It will be harvested in two months.

The governor of Yuzhang County reported to Qin Shihuang that although Yuzhang had the benefits of mulberry and hemp, the quantity was still small. In addition to grains, the most important crop is sugar cane brought from Nanjun.

Because Yuzhang is humid and hot, the sugarcane fields do not even need irrigation in spring and summer. They only need some care in autumn and winter. Therefore, the locals are busy working on the rice before the autumn harvest and the sugarcane fields after the autumn harvest.

"Since the sugar mills were run by the government last year and the sugar monopoly was launched, the price of sugar has increased. Almost every household will plant some sugar cane. The government will collect it before the twelfth lunar month. Before the spring plowing and farming is busy, people will be hired to squeeze the juice. After this, the people can also Get some money and silk to pay the oral tribute..."

Yin Tong, the captain of Yuzhang County, was a man with a strong desire to express himself, so he immediately supplemented the duties of the county governor.

Sugar monopoly is a new policy introduced by the Shaofu last year. After nearly ten years of start-up development, the sugar industry has become the most profitable bulk trade after grain, salt, iron, and wine.

At a time when the imperial court was in financial difficulty, in order to prepare for this grand inspection, and to maintain the huge expenses of expanding the Great Wall, Lishan Mountain, and Zhangye, Qin Shihuang agreed to implement a sugar monopoly in the Shaofu and bring sugar workshops in various parts of the south under the government, and provide unified services to the people. Purchase sugar cane, crush the sugar and sell it to enjoy the benefits of monopoly!

However, there were differences in the implementation process. The sugar mills of the Chu nobles in Kuaiji, Jiujiang, and Donghai counties were simply and crudely forcibly confiscated.

However, the sugar mills in Nanjun, Yuzhang, and Bashu were either purchased with funds from the local finance, or the owners of the sugar mills were allowed to transform into petty officials and continue to operate, but instead of making money for themselves, they also made money for the government.

This is the ascendant sugar industry in the south. At present, Li Xin has destroyed the Yueshi, controlled Hexi, and established Zhangye County. Wusun and Loulan have expressed their willingness to surrender. Through Wuzhi's unremitting efforts, the roads to the states in the Western Regions have been opened. Although the Western Queen Mother State has not yet been found, after eliminating the Yuezhi middleman, silk and sugar from the Central Plains were sold directly to the Western Regions this year, making huge profits.

Although ordinary people in China cannot afford sugar, wealthy families have an increasing demand for sugar.

Huge profits were also the motivation for the imperial court to resell sugar...

In addition, sugarcane fields are not difficult to take care of, and sugar cane is harvested and pressed in winter, which does not affect farming. Therefore, the Shaofu hopes that every household in the south can grow sugarcane like mulberry and hemp.

One of the reasons for Qin Shihuang's southern tour to Yuzhang and Nanchang was to see this new "military benefit" and the big plan that he had planned for a long time but had not implemented.

For Qin Shihuang, although plans are prioritized, they will never be canceled...

…

As we approached Nanchang City, the small sugarcane fields of self-employed people adjacent to the streets gradually disappeared, and they were replaced by large, continuous sugarcane fields. These sugarcane fields were either owned by landowners with military merit, such as the family of Heifu, the "pioneer in opening up Jiangxi", or they were government-run public fields.

The emperor also asked how big the Heifu family's field was. He smiled when he heard that it was not beyond the specifications.

I heard that in addition to Heifu, his former subordinates such as Gong Ao, Li Xian, Dongmen Bao and others all had military fields near Nanchang, and most of them planted sugar cane.

The people who work in the fields are no longer common people in Guizhou, but "Yue slaves" who are bare-chested and tanned by the sun.

"Most of these Yue slaves are from Yangyue."

The governor and lieutenant of Yuzhang County pointed to the slaves who had their big toes cut off and were working in the sugarcane fields and said: "There are Yangyue and Ganyue in Yuzhang. Ganyue has surrendered to Your Majesty, and Yugan County has been established to rule it, but Yangyue However, various tribes lived scattered in the mountains and forests. They did not obey the king's law and often gathered to rob travelers. Therefore, every county would go into the mountains to encircle and suppress the people. The captured Yangyue people were used as slaves to tend the sugarcane fields.

Using Yue Nu is very popular in Yuzhang. One of the reasons is that Yue Nu is easier to use than Xia Nu...

You must know that in the Qin Dynasty, although slaves were at the bottom of society, they were also protected by the law. You can work, but the master cannot kill without permission, otherwise you will be held accountable. If the Zhutian rebels, it is an excuse to ask the government to help "kill" their runaway slaves.

The same goes for public slaves. If the whipping is too severe, the official who did it will be held accountable.

This is not humanitarianism, it’s just that labor is valuable, just like borrowing a farm cow and whipping it too hard, causing the cow to become injured and thin, and the government wants to take you to task...

But this is limited to "Xia slaves", that is, slaves from Qin and the Six Kingdoms. Foreign slaves who cannot understand the language are blank in the law. They are not even included in the slave registration and can be exploited at will without restrictions!

They have become the cheapest labor force!

Because of these two reasons, slaves became popular in areas where cane was grown and sugar was extracted. Yue slaves were used in Yuzhang and Changsha, while Bo slaves were used in Bashu. Tao leads to the southwestern barbarians, and the emperor has agreed. It is said that the envoy from Shu County traveled across mountains and rivers to the "Dian Kingdom" last month and asked him to submit to the court...

It was Bashi's purchase of Bo slaves from the southwestern barbarians that made a good start. The southern counties also realized that slaves had even become commodities. Nanjun, which also planted a large number of sugarcane fields, began to purchase slaves from Yuzhang and Changsha. In addition to capturing local Yangyue people, Yuzhang and Changsha also began to try to purchase slaves from Nanyue and Xiou further south. A slave trading chain gradually took shape in the south, but the number never increased.

To put it bluntly, there will be a slave trade. In the final analysis, it is still a shortage of labor. This is also the hardship that the Yuzhang County Governor and County Lieutenant want to tell the emperor: It is not that they do not want to increase the income of the Shaofu, but that there is a big hole in the shortage of labor. , can’t make up for it at all!

After listening to the complaint, Prime Minister Li Si frowned and said, "Didn't His Majesty give an order earlier to select three thousand women from the family members of the traitors during the Qi rebellion and send them Yuzhang?"

In addition, there were several Tian family nobles, and their families all moved to Yuzhang.

The governor and lieutenant of Yuzhang County said at the same time: "Even so, it's still a drop in the bucket!"

Yes, the marriage of three thousand convicts to the garrison and immigrants can indeed increase the population, but it will be more than ten years before the newborns can be put to use. But Yuzhang now urgently needs a lot of labor to meet the ever-expanding cane sugar industry!

"Prime Minister, as the saying goes, water from afar cannot relieve the thirst of the near, so why should we sacrifice the near for the distant?"

Seeing that the time was almost up, Yin Tong also came forward and made his long-planned suggestion to Qin Shihuang.

"I dare to tell your majesty that to the south of Yuzhang are Nanyue and Xiou, and to the east are Dongou and Minyue. All Baiyue refuses to accept the kingship. They call themselves kings, but they are actually kings. They gather together. The Yue tribes fight and often cross the border. At the border, Yuzhang and Changsha are being harassed, and many rebels from the old Chu have come to seek refuge, inciting Baiyue to become enemies of the emperor!"

"The land of Baiyue is thousands of miles wide, with many tribes and millions of people! If we can send a large army to conquer it, the tribes will be divided, and they will be destroyed. Please submit to the court! If you merge with it, the south of the Qin Dynasty will be exhausted! The rhinoceros horns of Yue , elephant tusks, emeralds, and pearls can be brought to the Central Plains. By plundering their mouths, hundreds of thousands more Yue slaves can be made in the sugarcane fields of Yuzhang, Changsha, Nanjun, and Kuaiji, and the profits can be increased tenfold!"

Chief Yin Tong paid homage to the chief inspector and said, "This is a man of great benefit and no harm, so I dare to ask your majesty to send troops to conquer Baiyue!"

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