The Nameless of the Common Clans

"There were several heavy snowfalls last year. This year, there shouldn't be drought in Guanzhong. It's time to vigorously promote agriculture. The resettlement area for the families of soldiers mobilized from all over the country has been built, but the land allocated to them is not enough. We are going to open up another piece of land. Of course, we will provide the food and grass needed for the reclamation of wasteland." After a few days of busy work at the end of the year, Chen Mo summoned everyone to the government office to discuss the development of Guanzhong this year.

If there hadn't been that drought last year, it would actually be the best time for development. Unfortunately, there is no if in this world, and if there hadn't been that drought, Chen Mo wouldn't have had the opportunity to deal with those monsters in the court. Things in this world are always interdependent, and it depends on whether you can find blessings in disasters and detect the existence of disasters in blessings.

"My lord, there is not much grain in the government treasury. Not to mention the Qiang rebellion, Ma Teng and Han Sui are watching closely. War may break out at any time. It's not that my lord is wrong to promote agriculture, but the government treasury is in a tight situation right now. If we distribute it to the people at this time, it will be difficult to deal with it if a war breaks out." Xu Shu smiled bitterly. Last year's drought almost emptied the Guanzhong government treasury. Chen Mo built water conservancy projects, so that there was no shortage of grain during the autumn harvest. A lot of grain was collected from the fields controlled by the government, but Chen Mo was tax-free last year and this year. In other words, apart from the official fields, even if there is a good harvest this year, Chen Mo will not collect too much grain. Investing in grain at this time will make Chen Mo lack the ability to respond to war.

"Of course I have thought about this." Chen Mo nodded and smiled.

Li Ru, who was standing aside, looked at Xu Shu and smiled, "Yuan Zhi doesn't know that we have reached an agreement with Zhang Lu last year and purchased 300,000 shi of grain from him. It will be shipped in two days. After the autumn harvest, we will buy another batch of about 500,000 shi. In terms of military food, our army is not too short of it."

"How much food and grass does Hanzhong have? And is it willing to sell it to us?" Xu Shu said in silence.

Nowadays, when the princes are fighting, no one will have too much food and grass.

"Yuan Zhi doesn't know." Jia Xu smiled and twirled his beard, "Yuan Zhi should know that Liu Yan died of illness last year."

Xu Shu nodded. Liu Yan died of illness, and his son Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne. Last year, he sent a memorial to the court. In fact, this is not in accordance with the Han law. How can the governor inherit it? But now the court does not even have the emperor, so how can it manage the princes' inheritance of territory.

Earlier, Liu Yan ordered Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu to kill Hanzhong governor Su Gu and cut off Xiegu, refusing to pay tribute, so the news from Shuzhong was relatively isolated.

Jia Xu said: "You know, after Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne, the first thing he did was to kill Zhang Lu's mother and family members on the grounds that Zhang Lu did not obey him. Therefore, Zhang Lu occupied Hanzhong and was afraid of being attacked from all sides. So when we sent people to discuss the purchase of grain, Zhang Lu also wanted to make peace with the court and ordered people to clear Xiegu again, willing to trade with our army."

Of course, Xiegu has set up many checkpoints. Zhang Lu's willingness to make peace with the court does not mean that he is willing to give up his current power and troops.

Xu Shu's eyes flashed, and he looked at Chen Mo and said, "My Lord, this Hanzhong land..."

"It's useless to take it." Chen Mo shook his head and said, the biggest use of taking Hanzhong is to attack Shu, but even if he has never been there, Chen Mo has heard about the difficulty of the Shu Road. Even if he takes it, Shu can hardly provide any help to Guanzhong. On the contrary, its special geographical location makes it easy to split. Therefore, Chen Mo's current focus is on the struggle for the Central Plains, supporting Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang to split, and can give some help when necessary, but taking Hanzhong is not very meaningful to Chen Mo, but he has to divide his troops to guard against Liu Zhang.

In comparison, now let Zhang Lu block it, while supporting Zhang Lu behind the scenes, he can get enough support from Zhang Lu, not only in terms of food and grass, but also in other aspects such as reputation. It can also be regarded as an alliance. Although Chen Mo did not take Hanzhong, he can mobilize the resources of Hanzhong. This is the most ideal state.

Of course, the premise is that Zhang Lu has no ambition to expand northward and is content to be the governor of Hanzhong. Otherwise, this relationship cannot last too long, but it is enough to maintain it for now.

After Guanzhong has overcome this difficulty, as long as there are no more natural disasters, it will surely prosper. Perhaps in just two or three years, he will have enough strength to clear the rear and deal with Ma Teng and Han Sui, the two bastards, and then he can focus on the Central Plains.

"There is no need to worry about food and grass for the time being. We can also buy some from the Qiang people. Although the Qiang rebellion continues, there are also many Qiang people who are willing to make peace with us." Chen Mo said with a smile.

On the issue of the Qiang people, Chen Mo had several disputes with Huangfu Song and others.

In fact, in Chen Mo's opinion, the Qiang people can be integrated into the Han people. Whether in terms of living habits or the degree of sinicization, the Qiang people are more likely to accept the Han people than the Xiongnu and Xianbei outside the Great Wall. In the past, the Han Dynasty had several great victories in the war against the Qiang people. If the Han Dynasty was willing to accept the Qiang people and integrate the Qiang people into the Han people, there might be no Qiang people now.

However, in this regard, the Han Dynasty's view that it excludes the integration of other ethnic groups and that those who are not of our race must have different hearts cannot be said to be completely wrong, but in the case of absolute dominance, taking the initiative to assimilate these so-called foreign races into itself to achieve the purpose of strengthening itself is the most correct means for foreign races in Chen Mo's opinion.

If you talk about bloodline, whether it is the Qiang people, the Xiongnu and Xianbei, tracing back thousands of years or even longer, are all ethnic groups that left the Yellow River Basin. Chen Mo even knows that many tribes of the Xiongnu and Xianbei are composed of exiled Han people, who were later assimilated into the Xiongnu and Xianbei.

Now that Chen Mo controls Guanzhong, the issue of the Qiang people has become a point that Chen Mo cannot ignore. Fufeng, Fengyi, and the more distant Longxi, Anding, and Beidi are all inhabited by Qiang and Han people. If they can be taken in, the population will be large, and there will be fewer wars every year.

But even Cai Yong does not support Chen Mo's doing this.

Chen Mo can only take it step by step, starting with trade. At least these Qiang people who are willing to make friends or even have their hearts set on the Han Dynasty, Chen Mo feels that he cannot give up and needs to win them over.

"My lord, we need to be cautious about the Qiang people." Li Ru, who was standing aside, could not help but remind him when he heard this. As Chen Mo's core team of advisers, Li Ru naturally knew that Chen Mo advocated the integration of the Qiang people, but the resistance to this matter was not just opposition from the court.

"Don't worry, Wenyou. This is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Perhaps you may not be able to accomplish it in your lifetime, but at least it is a direction. If the Han Dynasty wants to become stronger, it should have a broad mind. If the Qiang people can succeed, other people such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Wuhuan may also succeed. According to Batagan, outside the Central Plains, it may not be all barbaric, and the world is not as big as we see it." Chen Mo smiled and nodded.

Batagan opened up a wider field of vision for Chen Mo. To the west of the Han Dynasty and the places further west in the Western Regions, there are also thousands of miles of fertile land. Perhaps it is difficult for the Han Dynasty to occupy them, but exchanges are possible, and even necessary. Western culture also has its merits. The Han Dynasty needs a broad mind to absorb and tolerate these so-called foreign ideas.

Li Ru nodded. It's good that Chen Mo has this idea. What he is most worried about is that Chen Mo is young and aggressive. In that case, even if Chen Mo's ideas are right, if they rush for success, it will mess up their original steps.

After discussing the possibility of accommodating the Qiang people, the topic returned to the governance of Guanzhong. Those things are too far away from now. As Chen Mo said, perhaps they may not be able to achieve them in their lifetime. The most important thing now is to develop and strengthen themselves.

"Now that the people in Guanzhong are gradually calming down, if there is no worry about food and grass, I think that the lord's strategy of concentrating military households can be more perfect. After all, leaving their hometowns will eventually cause some resentment. I think that some preferential treatment can be given to the families of soldiers. In this way, it can not only eliminate the resentment of the people, but also win the hearts of the army." Xu Shu said with a smile.

Chen Mo's approach of concentrating military households seems a bit inhumane, but if it is done well, it can make the army more inclined to Chen Mo.

"It's already being done. The academy has been built. The sons of meritorious soldiers can all enter the academy to study, but this alone may not be enough." Chen Mo nodded.

Although studying is a luxury for many people, and many people want to study all their lives but cannot, not everyone thinks so. After all, for ordinary people, what they can see more is the three meals a day in front of them, and they are busy for their livelihood. If they can't even fill their stomachs, there are probably not many people who really study hard. Chen Mo set up a college to allow the children of meritorious soldiers to study, which may make some aspiring soldiers work hard, but most soldiers probably don't care about this.

We can't laugh at their short-sightedness. If they can't even maintain their livelihood, what future can they talk about?

"This can be imitated from the Qin law, but it can't be completely imitated. If you exchange land for military merits like the pre-Qin, you can indeed train a tiger and wolf army in a short time, but there are only so many fields in the world, and there will always be a day when they will be sealed up. Once they can't be fulfilled, they may backfire on themselves. Ru believes that the families of military households can be exempted from some taxes. If they have made meritorious services, they can be exempted more. If they die in battle, the taxes can be directly halved until their children reach adulthood." Li Ru touched his chin and said.

It was a bit too extreme like the Qin Dynasty, and if the land was directly granted in that way, the final threat would not be less than that of the current aristocratic families, and it would be useless to the people's livelihood. After all, it was something from four hundred years ago and might not be suitable for today. Li Ru obviously took this into consideration, so he did not copy the Qin law of that year.

Chen Mo touched his chin and nodded, saying: "Wen You's words are indeed feasible. So, first draft a charter and we will discuss it."

Although some things will be discussed in the court, Chen Mo will not go to the court to discuss some fundamental things, but will make the decision directly here. If it is discussed in the court, it is not surprising that such things will be delayed for a year or two based on Chen Mo's experience.

"Yes!"