Three Kingdoms

After Liu Bei and General Fei Qian of Zhengxi separated, he did not immediately go to his temporary residence. Instead, he wandered on the street for a while, looking at the shops and pedestrians on both sides of the street, and then bought something in a wine shop. After some cooked food, they slowly moved into their residence.

Of course, Liu Bei doesn't have many servants to protect him now. Except for the few who are close to him, he has taken them all back. However, Liu Bei is also a person who has been through hardships, so he doesn't feel any discomfort, let alone compared to servants and so on. What Liu Bei valued more than the things outside his body was what he had learned from Zheng Xi during these days.

General Fei Qian of Zhengxi had many things that Liu Bei had never seen before, but after seeing it, he felt that it must be like this, which made Liu Bei a little confused...

Speaking of which, Liu Bei has been to many places. Of course, this cannot be blamed on Liu Bei, but in the Han Dynasty, those who could travel thousands of miles at every turn were very rare. Naturally, he gained a lot of knowledge, but Liu Bei still felt that this knowledge was not enough, because he had Among the princes, no one has ever seen a governance style like Fei Qian's.

Let’s not talk about Gongsun Zan. That guy can’t even manage his own army, let alone manage the people’s livelihood. If we talk about it, based on Gongsun Zan’s personal ability, serving as a captain of a place should be almost the highest level. no.

Although Liu Bei didn't see Yuan Shao with his own eyes, he generally knew something about it. Liu Bei can't use this guy's methods. There are many people under Yuan Shao's tent, and if there is anything that needs to be done separately, there will be no problem. However, the strife among various aspects under Yuan Shao is very fierce. It seems that Yuan Shao does not take it seriously, or he does it intentionally...

As for Cao Cao, probably because of Cao Cao's background, many court ministers were not very cooperative with Cao Cao, and Han Emperor Liu Xie did not seem to be very satisfied with Cao Cao. In addition, Cao Cao's calculations also made Liu Bei not very comfortable. And Liu Biao, haha, not to mention...

Now, in the Zhengxi General Feiqian's place, Liu Bei had a very strange feeling. Everything seemed to be on the surface, but if he looked carefully, he could taste some strategies, but was this strategy... …

"Brother!!!"

With a loud shout, the original cricket was frightened. The cricket, which was lying in the crevice of the stone and making noisy noises, immediately stopped making noises, and then desperately pressed into the crevice of the stone, trying to avoid the sudden sonic damage.

"Ah!" Liu Bei was just about to dismount, and almost sprained his foot. He stumbled and regained his balance, "Third brother! Why are you here... This... next time, can you wait until I get off the horse before saying hello..."

Zhang Fei was so happy to see Liu Bei that he walked around Liu Bei and looked up and down, "Brother, you have lost weight! Huh?! Brother, what did you just say?"

"..." Liu Bei smiled, "Why are you here? How is your second brother's injury now? There must be someone around to take care of you..."

"Much better! Most of the wounds are healed now! The second brother was worried about the eldest brother, so he asked me to come over first, saying that it would be fine if Ping'er was with him, and he also said that he would come over after the injury healed..." Zhang Fei laughed, and then turned around He muttered, "This little thief from Zhengxi's golden sore medicine works quite well...I don't know how he got it..."

For Zhang Fei, who often fights on the battlefield, the speed of treatment and healing like Zheng Xi's has made Zhang Fei very surprised and admired. However, Zhang Fei's temperament has always been that even if he is convinced in his heart, he still refuses to accept it. So being able to say something good is already very impressive.

Liu Bei also nodded and said as he walked in: "I have also heard it. It is said that in Zhengxi, if the wounded soldiers are not fatally injured, generally many of them will survive... You have seen the patrols in the city. Huh? I heard that in Guanzhong, all the wounded soldiers retreated, and there were many who had broken limbs and were still alive..."

"Brother, what do you mean, you can survive even if your limbs are broken? No, I mean, there are many like this?" Zhang Fei's eyes widened. Because few people like Zhengxi pay attention to disinfection and first aid, and the wounds of amputated hands and feet are large, many people have complications of one kind or another during the healing process. Therefore, under the treatment of ordinary princes, Due to rudimentary medical conditions, most of these soldiers would not survive more than a few months after leaving the battlefield.

Liu Bei nodded, entered the hall, sat down, and was silent for a moment, as if his thoughts drifted to the past years...

Zhang Fei was also a little sad.

Although it is said that one must have a heart of stone on the battlefield, people are not grass and trees, especially some guards who have been around for a long time, and then are injured and broken, they will leave some marks in the heart. Over time, these marks will There are more and more. If you think about it carefully, it is simply too horrible to look at.

"But, having said that, this Zhengxi is indeed well-deserved... I have learned a lot these days..." Liu Bei quickly calmed down and said to Zhang Fei, "Let's not talk about military affairs, just civil affairs. This area is so interconnected, it’s quite remarkable… Third brother, when you entered the city, did you find anything different from before?”

"Oh! Of course!" Zhang Fei curled his lips and said, "Everyone is in great spirits, putting up lanterns and decorations to prepare for the New Year..." How could I, Lao Zhang, not see such an obvious flattery?

Liu Bei was not in a hurry and guided him: "What else?"

"And..." Zhang Fei wondered a little, "There are more people than before..."

"Then what?" Liu Bei continued to ask.

Zhang Fei thought for a while and said uncertainly: "Have all the big names in Sichuan come here?"

Liu Bei nodded and said: "Most of them are here, which is what it should be... But, third brother, have you noticed that the streets in this city are much cleaner? This smell..."

"This... Big brother said that, it seems true..." Zhang Fei rubbed the beard on his chin, as if rubbing it with a brush, "No wonder he looks a little uncomfortable..."

In ancient times, well, until the Republic of China, there were still no public toilets in many places, even indoor ones. Every morning, people would drag big wooden bucket carts out to collect night incense. Needless to say, the Han Dynasty had not yet formed any system. , human and horse excrement everywhere is simply an inevitable incident of a city...

"Aha, I didn't expect General Zhengxi to care about this?" Zhang Fei said with raised eyebrows, as if he was preparing to give General Zhengxi the title of "Three Corpses of Shit and Pee".

But Liu Bei said seriously: "A small thing makes a big difference... If I let you, third brother, handle this matter, what should I do?"

Zhang Fei rolled his eyes and said, "Isn't it like Zhengxi did, where he sent some soldiers to patrol the streets and punished each one he caught?"

Liu Bei smiled, shook his head and said: "Inspection on the main street, um, that's right, but what about the ones in the shop? Also, you can't just hold this matter back when you go into the city, right? There must be a source at least, How to arrange it? If third brother is you to handle it, how will it be arranged and how long will it take?"

"This..." Zhang Fei really didn't think about such detailed things.

Liu Bei raised a finger and said: "Zhengxi just summoned the big families in the city and said one thing. Fighting belongs to metal, and plague belongs to water. Therefore, there are more fighting in autumn and winter, and more plagues in spring and summer. After the war, gold will Water produces water, so it is easy to have serious epidemics, but water also produces trees, so these dirty things are of great benefit to Zhuanghe..."

Zhang Fei's eyes widened: "Is this...really?"

Liu Bei let out a laugh and said: "The key is that while conquering the west, he also said that using the method of fertile land in Guanzhong and the north can increase production by 20%... And whoever collects these filthy things will belong to him and can be used for accumulation. Fertile fields, the expedition to the west also sent agricultural bachelors to give some guidance... As a result, in the whole city, not a single soldier was moved in the expedition to the west, and they did not spend a penny. They only sent some patrols, and assisted the big households. Next, within three days, everything was cleaned..."

Liu Bei sighed quietly and said: "Third brother, you still remember when we were here before, we asked these big families to do something. It was difficult to say this, and it was not easy to say that. It took many times to collect taxes... And this expedition to the west is just a sentence... This is the beauty of it... The Shiwu method was also used in the pre-Qin Dynasty, but it was later exhausted due to the concealment of large households... By the way, the expedition to the west must implement the system The people were ordered to sit in a row, and a certain chief... If it were normal, the big households would often hide and not report... However, in order to open up new fields in the Western Expedition, some mountain plowing and waterwheel methods were used, and then these cultivated fields were given to the landless households. In this case, how can the big families in various places dare not to report it? After all, it would be fine if these hidden households under the big families don't know about it. If they know that these big families have cut off the benefits of land granting, haha..."

Liu Bei looked out of the hall and said, "...In this way, the number of people in Sichuan will increase, and the number of taxes will increase... This levy to the west, alas..."

Hiding the population has always been a Chinese tradition. Even in later generations, there are still many illegal households. These people have become the best targets for exploitation, but if these people heard that they had the opportunity to divide their fields and houses, would they still be willing to hide under the big families? Coupled with the law of consecutive sittings, rewards for reporting, and covering up for the same crime, the original balance of interests was immediately broken...

Zhang Fei frowned and said, "How can these big households agree to this?"

Liu Bei nodded and said: "This is exactly what I am worried about... However, Zheng Xi will not announce his appointment until tomorrow... And according to Zheng Xi's temperament, I am afraid there will be follow-up measures... Zheng Xi is a man who always likes to use Yang. Conspiracy, under this conspiracy, alas..."

Liu Bei felt that these days, he sighed more than the most difficult time before: "In Qingyangsi, Zhengxi asked me what my ambition was? Do I want to be a local official, or be a third official, or be I want to be the king...Third brother, tell me, how can I choose? If I choose to be the king, Zhengxi will probably immediately designate a vassal state, such as a run-down place like Mianzhu, and then arrange a state minister..."

"Choose the Three Lords? If I want the position of the Three Lords, why should I leave Xu County?" Liu Bei shook his head and smiled bitterly, "On the surface, there seem to be three ways, but in fact there is only one... However, if I choose the position of a herdsman, I will Then came this strange method, how could I not have known that this matter would harm the big families in Sichuan and Sichuan..."

"Ouch!" Zhang Fei screamed, obviously about to stand up, but when Liu Bei glared at him, he shrank back and lowered his voice, "The little thief from Zhengxi... is really... treacherous and cunning..."

Liu Bei said: "But these are all on the surface...General Zhengxi even said that this matter is not easy. If you do it well, you will naturally know how to herdsmen..."

"Zhengxi also said the same?" Zhang Fei was a little confused, "You just told your elder brother like this? What did he mean?"

Liu Bei was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly, and said: "Mostly because I think I can't do this well, and I don't even have the qualifications to be a herdsman..."

"Bastard!" Zhang Fei said angrily, "How dare you underestimate big brother!"

"But I think what Zheng Xi said is reasonable..." Liu Bei shook his head and said, "Zheng Xi asked me what I did in Xinye for such a long time? Did I build water conservancy roads and bridges, did I clean up the surrounding bandits, did I do anything? To rectify the market and expand trade, have you guided farmers and mulberry trees to recruit refugees..."

"Ah... this..." Zhang Fei was also a little confused, and then said sternly, "Xinye is a small place. If you need money but no people, how can you do things? Who can do it with so many things?"

"But it is possible to conquer the west!" Liu Bei exclaimed, "When the expedition to the west reaches Bingbei, the land of Shangjun at that time was either Bai Bo or Hu people. There were only a thousand soldiers and only three generals... But just do this Already..."

"Uh..." Zhang Fei was speechless. He wanted to open his mouth several times to say something, but found that he couldn't seem to say anything. In the end, he could only hold his mouth and his beard trembled, like a cow shrinking. Thorny hedgehog.

Liu Bei smiled and said softly, his voice still full of the power of hope, "Looking back now, it's not that we didn't have the chance, but we really didn't do it well... It's not too late to learn now, it's better than waiting until you can't learn anymore. When the time comes, will you discover these problems again? Third brother, since you are here, you have to learn..."

"Ah? Me?" Zhang Fei pointed at his nose, "I want to learn too?"

Liu Bei nodded and suddenly said: "By the way, how are our soldiers doing now?" No matter what, as the Danyang soldiers who settled down and settled down, they were still the most important piece of Liu Bei's heart.

"Opening fields..." Zhang Fei curled his lips, "Xu Yuanzhi said that soldiers can't be idle, otherwise they will be troubled, so they were sent to open up new fields so that they can be rationed to the landless people in the next spring. …”

"Only our Danyang soldiers are going?" Liu Bei frowned.

"No, they all went, they all came in turn..." Zhang Fei said, "This is fair, the ones from Sichuan and Shu, Dongzhou, Jingxiang, and even Zhengxi himself also went, so... ..." Because of this, Zhang Fei couldn't say anything. Everyone went, so everyone had nothing to complain about.

"Well...it's not about scarcity but about inequality..." Liu Bei muttered and nodded. Soldiers can also be used to farm fields. Well, this method is also good.

"By the way, what did Zhengxi arrange for you to do?" Liu Bei asked again.

Zhang Fei shook his head and said: "We don't have this yet, but we will discuss it tomorrow, and we will probably talk about anything if it comes up... Brother, if Zhengxi really arranges something, will this... be done or not?"

Liu Bei pondered for a moment and said: "If it doesn't harm you, just do it... There are too many things in Zhengxi that we can't see clearly. If you do more, you may be able to understand more..."

Liu Bei turned his attention to the hall. A Tangdi tree stood slanting in a corner of the courtyard. Because it was still the twelfth lunar month, the upward branches stretched out alone. He didn't know when it would sprout again and bloom with bright flowers...