The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Second more.

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Last year, Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, Lu Zhi, and Dong Zhuo ordered the Yellow Turbans to lead the emperor's army, and they were all powerful at home. At that time, the four of them were only generals. Now Zhang Feiyan, a bandit and rebel, can actually get this position. , although the "Ping Difficulty Zhonglang General" and "Heishan Colonel" are both temporary establishments, similar to the miscellaneous names in the generals, they are not as honorable as the left and right Zhonglang generals, but they are enough to make the people of the government and the opposition gnashing their teeth.

Even the good-tempered Liu Heng shook his head and said to Xun Zhen in private: "The general of the middle man is the most important weapon of the country. The imperial court has appointed the country's heavy equipment to thieves, which really chills the hearts of people with lofty ideals."

Xun Zhen said in her heart, "This is about the end of the world."

Zhang Feiyan was also quite "toothed" when he was given the post of Zhonglang General.

On the surface, Zhonglang generals and lieutenants are equal to two thousand stones, but in fact, the position of lieutenants is far inferior to that of Zhonglang generals. The lieutenant is a county official, limited within a country, and cannot leave the country, but the Zhonglang general is an important general in the court who can be called a "general", and the two cannot be compared.

Yang Feng and Zhang Feiyan surrendered to the Han family successively and accepted the appointment of the Han family. Although it was impossible for the two of them to be loyal ministers of the Han family, it was impossible for them to hand over the Zhongshan, Changshan, and Boling counties that they had obtained, but at least Jizhou This mess is over for now.

On the one hand, under the constraints of Zhang Feiyan, and on the other hand, in order to digest the acquired territory, Yu Du of Wei County and Sui Gu of Hanoi County also temporarily restrained their troops and stopped attacking and robbing counties, which made the Luoyang court relax.

The court was able to relax, but Wang Fen couldn't.

Zhang Feiyan sent an envoy to Gaoyi after being appointed by the imperial court, and handed Wang Fen a polite letter.

There are two main things in the letter.

One is to say hello to Wang Fen. Zhang Feiyan said in the letter: From now on, you and I will be officials of the same state. You are the governor of Jizhou. I am under your rule. I hope you can take care of me in the future.

One is to ask for food. I just said that I hope to be taken care of by Wang Fen. Zhang Feiyan changed her style, and immediately followed up with an honest and unceremonious "need to take care". I tried my best to recruit traitors from all over the world, and now I have recruited 200,000 traitors. There is not enough food to eat. In order to prevent these traitors from mutiny and rebellion and chaos in Changshan, I hope you can send me some food.

His requirements were "not high", he only asked for "two million large rocks in the valley", and said: "With these two million large rocks in the valley, Yan can be sure that there will be no chaos in Jizhou within six months." According to the amount of rations supplied by the Han army, each soldier's monthly ration is two large stones plus six buckets of upper and lower, 200,000 people, according to this standard. , 520,000 shi of grain is needed a month, and Zhang Feiyan only needs 2 million shi of grain to ensure that there will be no chaos within half a year. It is indeed "not very demanding."

But his "not high" requirement made Wang Fenqi's nose crooked.

One mu of land yields two or three stone grains per year, and two million stone is the annual output of nearly one million mu of land. Of course, Jizhou is a large and prosperous state, developed early and has more arable land. After Wang Fen took office, although because of Busy with military affairs, I haven't had time to check the arable land book, but I expect that there will always be tens of millions of acres of land. If it was the Taiping period, the two million stone grains would be taken out immediately, but when is it now? Last year, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there was almost no harvest in the whole prefecture. This year, when the wheat was just planted, Zhang Niujiao and Zhang Feiyan rebelled again.

Can not give or not.

What does it mean "in order to prevent these thieves from mutiny and rebellion again", and what does it mean "with these two million stone valleys, I can be sure that there will be no thief rebellion within half a year"? The threat in Zhang Feiyan's words was not concealed at all.

If looking for food, Wang Fen would have to go upstairs every day to look for food, but unfortunately, there is no food to look for. In order to seek peace, he can only condescend to negotiate with Zhang Feiyan, a "bandit", and messengers communicate with each other. Four or five times, Zhang Feiyan gave the lowest price for half a year of Taiping: "1.5 million stone".

- Zhang Feiyan's trilogy is not as many as 200,000, but now there are only more than 100,000 people, and it is impossible for him to supply the entire army according to the share of two stones and six buckets per person per month. Second porridge, let some of them eat and not starve to death, even if he has a conscience, in other words, that is to say, he only needs 100,000 stone grains a month, enough to feed the more than 100,000 people, the reason why the lion is big He opened his mouth and asked for "one and a half million stone", but he wanted to continue recruiting troops and expanding his strength.

"One and a half million stone", Wang Fen did not have either.

The state government could not get so much food, so he could only ask for it from the counties in the state.

There are ten prefectures in Jizhou. Wei, Changshan, Zhongshan and Boling are now in the hands of thieves, and they cannot be counted on. Julu is poorer than the prefecture and cannot be counted on. The only people he can count on are Hejian and Hejian. Anping, Bohai, Ganling, Zhao five counties.

1.5 million stone grains, just 300,000 stone per county, Bohai is a big county, and because it is close to the sea and far away from the inland, it suffered the most in the last Yellow Turban Rebellion and this Black Mountain Thief Rebellion. Light, you can take more. Zhao County has the least land under its jurisdiction, and there are many narrow and mountainous areas. Xun Zhen has made great contributions in this time of pacification, so you can take less.

For this reason, Zhao Jun was also allocated a share of 150,000 stone.

When the prefectural government asked for food, he went to the Prime Minister's residence in Zhao County, and Liu Heng complained a lot.

He sent a prison sentence to the meritorious Cao Wei Chang and the chief clerk Le Biao: "Last year, there was a military disaster, and there was almost no harvest. Fortunately, General Huangfu petitioned the court to reduce or exempt Jizhou's taxes, and it was fortunate that there was a lieutenant Xun Jun in my county. I was able to rest and recuperate, and finally collected a season of wheat grains, I thought that this year would be a peaceful year, but I didn’t expect the imperial court to reduce or exempt taxes, but Zhang Feiyan put away the grains again!”

Wei Chang is a native of Zhao County, and his affection for Zhao County is deeper than that of Liu Heng, and he is especially resistant to Wang Fen's order to ask for food. Money; now that the summer harvest in the county has passed, and Fang Bo has passed on a request for 150,000 shi of grain, if this continues, the people will be overwhelmed, and sooner or later there will be chaos again!"

Today, in February, the imperial court issued an edict to tax the land and ten dollars per mu because the Nangong in the palace city was caught on fire. The palace city in Luoyang consists of two palaces, the south and the north. In February, there was a fire in the Nangong Palace. The fire burned for half a month, and the Nangong Palace was burnt to white ground. Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhongsui, the permanent servants of the middle school, suggested that they should collect ten dollars from the land tax in the world to rebuild the palace.

When this edict was written, the famine and epidemics in Jizhou were raging, and the displaced people swarmed through the county and county. Think: This is the real sign of the end times.

Le Biao was also very dissatisfied with Wang Fen's order, he said: "Although my county's harvest this year is not bad, but I have to raise the soldiers of the county, I have to provide for the king of Zhao, and I have to give it to the officials of all levels in the large and small prefectures and counties. The employees are paid stipends, and they also need to provide relief to the refugees who are still stranded or settled in our county, but it is only enough for his own use.

No matter if you are imprisoned, angry or dissatisfied, since Wang Fen's order has come down, Liu Heng, Wei Chang, and Le Biao can only find a way to get these 150,000 stone grains for the sake of "the overall situation of Jizhou". To find a way, in fact, there is only one way: to spread the text to the counties, so that the magistrates of the counties will collect grain from the people again.

The order of the prime minister's office was quickly spread to the counties, and the chief officials of the counties, whether they wanted to or not, had to obey. For a time, in the whole territory of Zhao County, more than ten townships in five counties, tax collectors could be seen everywhere like wolves and tigers, and the countryside could be heard everywhere. complained.

By the time these 15 stone grains are collected and sent to the prefecture, it will be the beginning of July.

With the arrival of July, Liu Heng's mood gradually improved.

After July is August, according to the Han system, August is the month of counting people.

Today, tens of thousands of refugees poured into Zhao County. Some of these refugees died of epidemics, some died of starvation, some were thieves, some were scattered to other places, and many settled on the spot and entered. Household in Zhao County. It can be expected that the population of Zhao County will increase greatly this year, and in the official examination class of this dynasty, the increase of the household registration under the rule is the biggest political achievement of the local officials. , Because Yingchuan's "household registration increased every year" and Huang Ba) ruled as the first in the world", then "Zhou Jingzhao Yin".

The increase in household registration is the greatest achievement. In addition, the inflow and outflow of money and grain, that is, the status of fiscal and tax revenue, and the number of thieves, that is, local security, these two are also important test criteria. Relying on Xun Zhen's strength, Zhao Jun was also excellent in both aspects this year.

Thinking that the grades in this year's exams will definitely be good, maybe he can leave the troubled place of Jizhou next year, and change to a beautiful county as the prefect, Liu Heng decided to thank Xun Zhen in his heart.

Without Xunzhen attacking the thief Dingjun, Zhaojun would not be today. Thinking of the tragic situations of Julu, Changshan, Zhongshan, and Wei counties, Liu Heng shuddered.

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is customary to serve melons and fruits as a sacrifice to the morning cow and the weaving girl. Liu Heng set up food and wine, and invited Xun Zhen to have a feast.

When the night came, the banquet was set up in a high-rise building, full of clothes and crowns, looking up at the light of the moonlight, toasting to drink, flying straight to the wind, looking down at the servants of the prime minister's house Yingying Yanyan, worshipping the moon in the courtyard, piercing needles and begging for cleverness. , I may ask: How can the poor and discouraged people in the countryside know the stench of wine and meat in Zhumen?

Liu Heng was in good spirits, raised his glass and said with a smile: "I heard that when Emperor Xiaowu of the previous dynasty, on the seventh night of the seventh month, the Queen Mother of the West tried to ride the chariot of purple clouds, and Mu Yuehua descended, and she would meet with Emperor Xiaowu in the search for truth. Taizhai, Zhu Qing, how is the moon tonight compared to the previous dynasty?"

Everyone at the table said one after another, perhaps saying that the ancient and modern moons are the same, or that the current moon is better than the ancient moon.

Xun Zhen was silent.

Liu Heng smiled and asked, "What's the point of the lieutenant?"

Xun Zhen looked up at the bright moon and sighed: "The ancients did not see the current moon, but this month used to reflect the ancients. Huh! Years and years are similar, but people are different from year to year."

As soon as the four sentences and seven words came out, everyone at the table stopped talking.

Liu Heng scrutinized it carefully, and found a feeling of sadness and melancholy from these four lines of Xun Zhen's poems, and asked with concern, "What's on your mind, lieutenant?"

"This morning, Zhen learned something."

"What's the matter?"

"The imperial court issued an decree to return General Huangfu, collect the seal of the left chariot and cavalry generals, cut down 6,000 households, and even seal the capital of Xianghou, 2,000 households."

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1. Jizhou is a large and prosperous state, ... but it is expected that there will always be tens of millions of acres of land.

In the time of Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty, the total area of ​​arable land in the country was about 41 million mu. In the period of Emperor Ping, it increased to more than 827 million mu. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it remained stable at nearly 700 million mu all year round, or about 408 million mu today. Ten million city acres.

In the Han Dynasty, the agricultural level in the south was not high, and most of the nearly 700 million mu should be in the north of Huang and Huai.