sweeping the world

Chapter 501 How difficult it is to govern the country

Ran Min has never hidden his request, and the desire to obtain the king was put forward by Ran's Qin State before it was merged into the Han State.He is a straightforward person... at least he is straightforward when facing Liu Yan. He once expressed his request to Liu Yan in person, and Liu Yan's answer was "I have nothing to deny, only lack of merit."

Yes, Liu Yan's statement is that the Han Dynasty will not prohibit the existence of kings with different surnames. His clear attitude is that anyone with enough merit can be crowned king.

It's hard to say what other people think, but Ran Min believed in Liu Yan's promise, and he has been moving towards the road of being king.

It is not a secret in the Han Dynasty that Liu Yan obtained the imperial seal. On the contrary, it was because of the publicity that the whole country knew it. Everyone was guessing when Liu Yan would become emperor. Only Ran Min directly asked Liu Yan in front of him.

Liu Yan knew that all the ministers hoped that he would become emperor soon, which was a very normal emotion.Once he proclaimed himself emperor, his subordinates would naturally rise with the tide. More importantly, they would have the title of king.

Just like those who don't want to become a general are not good soldiers. After Liu Yan made it clear, Ran Min was not the only one who wanted to be king in Han Dynasty. Anyone who felt he was capable thought that one day he could become a general. king.

"Proclaim the emperor..." Liu Yan faced Ran Min who was looking forward to it with a smile, and said with a smile: "The old land of the Han family has not yet been restored, so it is too early to proclaim the emperor."

The current territory of the Han State is only about four-tenths of the original Han family's old land, and the Central Plains alone have not been completely recovered, such as Bingzhou.In addition, Shuozhou occupied by Zhao State in Shijie, Youzhou occupied by Murong Yan State, Liangzhou in Zhang's Liang State, those areas controlled by the small imperial courts of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the four prefectures of the Western Han Dynasty occupied by Goguryeo and Baekje, these They are all areas that must be reclaimed.

For Liu Yan, proclaiming himself emperor is not very attractive. The greatest ambition in his heart is to build a global village, and he must unswervingly move in this direction in his lifetime.Therefore, taking back the old land of the Han family is only a prelude to laying a foundation for his own ambitions. It does not mean that the full restoration of the old land of the Han family is tantamount to fulfilling the ultimate goal of life.

Ran Min immediately showed a disappointed expression, and then his face became firm again.For him, credit can be earned. The most important thing is that Liu Yan does not resist becoming king. As long as he does not resist, one day he will achieve his goal.

The core officials of the center behind were summoned, and after sitting down, Liu Yan's secretary, Lang Xunxian, told about the recent developments of the Han Dynasty.

There are a lot of news gathered in the center from all directions, including the battle situation on various fronts, and the people's livelihood situation in various states and counties.

The livelihood of the people in Han has been slowly recovering. It is a kind of social recovery with the re-establishment of order. There is a stable living environment. You don’t have to worry about losing your life every moment, and you don’t need too much urging and driving away by the government. The people naturally have to work for that mouth.

"The purpose of the hunting order is to allow more people to own their own private fields, but the goal is not as good as expected." Sang Yu's position as the right prime minister is more devoted to civil affairs. Important counties and counties must be visited: "People in the north have more private land than those in the south. This is because there are not many Hu people in the south who can hunt. I think that in the future, if the army is recruited, it should be given to the people in the south."

The Han State recruited soldiers, and each soldier was given five acres of land when they were registered.

In fact, the current productivity and output of five mu of land cannot support too many people, and the harvest of one mu of land is about two to three stones.According to the conversion, one stone is 160 catties, and now there is only one harvest season per year, and it must be ensured that the weather will be smooth, but any natural or man-made disasters will be over.The amount of food for one person is calculated as two taels per meal, and only two meals a day. The food eaten in a month is about [-] catties. If there is only one person in the family, if the food tax is paid, it will be enough to eat, but it is impossible for a family to have only one people.

In fact, due to the lack of meat and oily water, it is very common for people to eat one or two catties at a meal.

According to reasonable resettlement, it is reasonable for each person to have [-] mu of land under his name, and a family must own at least [-] mu of land to meet the standard of prosperity.This is also a value that the labor force can handle, and Yang Sui and Li Tang later are committed to meeting this requirement.

The Han Dynasty decided to start with five acres because of a practical problem.

Due to decades of ravages by the barbarians, fertile land has long been turned into wasteland, and the wasteland needs to be reclaimed.Under the premise of fully using manpower, it is not an easy task to reclaim the land. It takes at least two or three months for a young man to turn an acre of wasteland into a good farmland, and a five-acre field probably needs to be busy for a whole year. .

In the early stage of Han Dynasty, there was an extreme shortage of manpower. In addition to resuming production, too many front lines occupied most of the young and strong, and the laborers were basically women, old and young.Old and weak women and children cannot compare with young and strong. A young and strong can achieve results after two or three months of busy work, but it may take twice as long for old and weak women and children to do it.

"The Han continued to restore the old land, the amount of state-owned land was increasing, and the registered population had reached 970 million." The population data mentioned by Sang Yu is not the current real data of the territory of Han.He said that those were just foreshadowing, and the real purpose was revealed later: "The government bought back a huge amount of land from the tyrants, and the land held by the people accounted for less than [-]% of the arable land."

Like the population data, the land distribution mentioned by Sangyu is actually not accurate. The private land holdings in the speculation include the aristocratic families, the powerful and the common people.

How long did it take for the Han Dynasty to be established?The country has always been in a state of war, and the speed of expansion of the country's territory has only accelerated since the third year of Yuan Shuo. It is impossible to find out the situation of the country in a short period of time, and then calculate and record it as data that can be judged intuitively.

At present, only Qingzhou has credible data on population and land records, and the progress of Yanzhou can also be regarded as preliminary data. For example, Jizhou, Yuzhou, Sizhou, Yongzhou, Bashu and other places were merged into the territory of Han Dynasty after three years in Yuanshuo With the current administrative efficiency, it is impossible to make statistics and records so quickly.

Although there are problems in the data, what Sang Yu said cannot be ignored. The Han State has private cooperative communes and military farms, but the state holds about eight-tenths of the total land. It is indeed very abnormal. It's time to find a way to improve this unusual landholding phenomenon.

"Mountains and rivers are broken, and most of the people's homes are broken and dead." Sang Yu was still giving his speech: "Among the registered people, most of them are single and have a family, and most of them are young and strong owning private land."

"Yes, the barbarians are rampant, and there have been many fleeing waves." Ji Chang nodded, telling the truth: "It is relatively easy for the young and the strong to survive during the war, but it is difficult for the old, the weak, women and children to survive."

In the census of Han, the ratio of male to female is three to one, and the age group is 13% from one year old to 13 years old, 20% from 30.00 to 20 years old, and 35% from 40.00 to 35 years old. [-], [-] to [-] years old accounted for [-]%, [-] years and over accounted for [-]%.

According to the academic terms of later generations, the current age group of the population of Han is entering the prime of life.And if the average life expectancy standard of future generations is used, the prime of life should be the healthiest period of a country, but the current average life expectancy is only 35 years old, and the age distribution of Han's population is converted to the old age.

If we look at the data and distribute it by state and county, the areas with private fields are concentrated in Qingzhou.This is because Liu Yan rose from Qingzhou, and the recruitment of troops is naturally selected from the old base area first, which can be regarded as providing benefits due to the area.

More than [-]% of the Han army's troops come from Qingzhou, and the rest is divided equally among the states, because the relationship between relevant policies is naturally that Qingzhou people have more private land.

Sang Yu's suggestion is very reasonable. It is time to consider tilting towards other states and counties, and later proposes to increase the number of fields appropriately.

"Your Majesty wants the common people to have their fields. This is the road to the country's stability and prosperity." Sang Yu had a rare serious face. He stopped for a long time, and seeing the surprised or frowning expressions on the faces of most people, he continued without hesitation. Said: "In addition to joining the army and awarding land for military merit, can other channels be added so that those who cannot go to battle have channels to obtain private land?"

"It is true that there are only a few people who can serve as soldiers, but..." Ji Chang looked at Sang Yu with anger on his face and said, "How can the national policy be easily shaken!" He had to ask Sang Yu what his intentions were.

The core of the national policy of the Han State is military meritorious service. Now the Han State has not fully restored the old land of the Han family. The army maintains a strong desire to fight. First, because military merit is the most important, and second, meritorious service can be rewarded with land.

In a country where military merit is the most important thing, the combat effectiveness of the army can be guaranteed the most. Once military merit is rewarded without fair rewards, the morale of a country's army will collapse completely. There is no exception in ancient and modern times.

In some countries where private land can only be obtained through military merit, a group called samurai (knights) will inevitably appear. They will not participate in production. They are probably synonymous with "using swords as plowshares". Through constant war, they develop for themselves and the country. Larger and broader living space, instead of "casting swords into plowstocks", not war but peace.

The Han Dynasty was far from pursuing peace. On the contrary, it should remain fanatical about war. Ji Chang would glare at Sang Yu. It was Ji Chang who knew that Sang Yu's motives were not pure, and impure motives would shake the national policy. He was already on the throne. Must kill list.

"Yu is just a suggestion. After all, the land is owned..." Sang Yu's words were cut off halfway. Facing Liu Yan's stern gaze, he bowed and bowed his head without saying a word.

"Plowing and fighting, farming and fighting!" Liu Yan said with a serious face: "More farming and more yield is also meritorious service. If you have meritorious service, you will naturally get rewards. It is not only for fighting that you can get land grants."

Ran Min didn't hide his schadenfreude at all, he snorted, and said: "The king has reserved a way to obtain land without bloodshed, Prime Minister You wants some people to hold more land, right?", he It is especially emphatic to say "some people".

"General Zhengbei is in charge of military affairs, and he is not talking about military affairs now. Please be careful!" After Ji Chang warned Ran Min, he saluted Liu Yan and said: "I think that what Prime Minister You said is feasible to increase the decentralization of land appropriately, but How much is appropriate remains to be discussed."

"That's the end of the discussion for this time." Liu Yan waved his hand, and added: "Prime Minister Zuo stays, and the rest of them step down."

The people in the tent left with various expressions and thoughts. Liu Yan sat in his original position for a long time without speaking, while Ji Changan waited peacefully.

"Tai'an, it's not easy to establish a country. Only a few states are recovered, and even four-tenths of the old land of the Han family is less than four-tenths. There are so many factions in the country's civil and military affairs." Liu Yan's words caught Ji Chang's attention.He stood up slowly and put his hands behind his waist: "Almost every minister has a group under his wing, even Tai'an is no exception, right?"

"Your Majesty..." Ji Chang made a gesture of pleading guilty: "Your Majesty sees fire like a fire."

"The widow actually understands that someone has a faction." Liu Yan really understands that he can't control it in the open and in the dark, so he simply never stops and expresses his position.With a slight smile on his face, he said: "What I didn't expect was that it would happen so soon because of personal interests..." After a pause, he changed into a disappointed expression: "This person is still Zishen."

"Prime Minister You may have selfish intentions, but it doesn't matter, so it's out of consideration for the big man." Ji Chang said with a wry smile: "The big man has a strong army, and forcibly restrains the family and the powerful. They don't dare to resist openly, so they must use secret means. Right The prime minister manages civil affairs, so he must have discovered something."

What else could it be? It’s nothing more than that there are too many hidden dangers in the Han Kingdom, but they were forcibly suppressed, and now there are Shijie and Murong Yan Kingdoms... Maybe there are also Zhang’s Liang Kingdom, and even the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The hostile forces are brewing a counterattack, and they must lead the civil strife in Han before the real counterattack of the army.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, there is no room for chaos in the Han Dynasty." Ji Chang said sincerely: "There are too many fronts, and if there is any internal chaos, many achievements may be destroyed at once."

However, Liu Yan understood what Ji Chang wanted to express, and he couldn't deal with Sang Yu, which caused chaos in the center. On the other hand, he had to face the choice of appeasement or another iron-blooded method to deal with the aristocratic family and the powerful.

"I think that in response to the counterattack of the Hu people, we should recruit troops again in various states and counties." Ji Chang walked to the shelf where the map of the territory of Han was hung, and clicked on several places: "The purpose of this conscription can be divided into guarding against internal forces." County and county soldiers can also be dispatched to the front line, and they can further distribute private fields."

Liu Yan noticed that the places Ji Chang pointed out just now were exactly the ones mentioned by Sang Yu.

"Conscription can be targeted." Ji Chang showed a sinister expression, and said: "The powerful family can fully recruit, as long as they work in peace, that's all. If there is any change, some people need reinforcements on the difficult front."

(End of this chapter)