Small Landlords of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 55 071. Yuan Shao Borrows Food
Wang Hao's liquor business is getting bigger and bigger, making money every day, which not only brings a lot of wealth to Wang Hao, but also can be exchanged for many strategic materials.

Yuan Shao in the north is in a hurry. He can't go south or go north now. One reason is because there is no food.

"Yuan Benchu ​​has no food, how is this possible?"

Even Guo Jia didn't believe that, sitting in the land of Qing, Bing, Yi, and You, how could Yuan Shao be so poor that he could borrow food from Wang Hao.

In recent years, there have been successive wars in the north, and the common people have moved south one after another, resulting in a situation where no cock crows for ten miles and no dog barks for hundreds of miles.

Cao Cao chose the farming system to supply his own food and grass, while Yuan Shao still wanted to make a living as he did in the early days. Although there are few hills and forests in the north, they are all large tracts of good plain land, but the big problem is that no one cultivates them.

Yuan Shao had to feed an army of 30, plus family servants and others, Yuan Shao had to feed a total of 40 people, and the counties of You, Yi, Bing, and Qingzhou.

The total population is only over 140 million, and 100 million people support 40 people. If it is changed to the 21st century, it will not be a problem, but the grain production in ancient times is seriously insufficient.

There are many reasons for the population. Take Cao Cao because of his father Cao Song. He killed tens of thousands of people in the Jianghuai area in Xuzhou once. In addition, Wang Hao sent Zhang Ren to relocate a part, and the population was nearly 15, resulting in the desolation of the Jianghuai area. After Liu Bei captured Xuzhou, the population of Xuzhou was less than 50.

At that time, whether it was Lu Bu or Liu Bei, they only wanted to fry oil and water from the people of Xuzhou, and no one cared about the life and death of the people. Therefore, more than 30 people migrated from the north to Jingzhou and the south every year, and many people died of starvation along the way. As a bandit, he was captured as a soldier, and as cannon fodder for human flesh, etc. In the end, only one-third of them were left in the south.

Later, Lu Bu and Liu Bei took turns to control Xuzhou. The two sides continued to fight against each other, and Mount Tai had the Yellow Turban Army. More than ten thousand people.

This is also why Lu Bu or Liu Bei, who have several counties in one state, have never had more than 20 troops. They are afraid that Cao Mengde will attack with his army all day long. It is impossible for thousands of soldiers, and the common people have to change their sons and eat.

In fact, not only the common people have to change their children to eat, but even the warlords are like this. They are short of money, food and grass during the war. Because of the small population, even where there are people, there may not be food. After all, the common people have no food to eat, so the army often appears to eat Such things as human flesh.

Wang Hao is the only prince who has never done this kind of thing. Cheng Yu provided Cao Cao with a lot of dried human meat in the military rations, so the places Cao Cao occupied in the early days were ten rooms and nine empty. Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, Sun Ce , Han Sui, Gongsun Zan and other princes from all walks of life, who would dare to say that their military rations did not contain human flesh.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the 103 prefectures, including Henan, Hebei, Yan, Qing, and Xu, were all prefectures and counties with a population of more than one million. The area north of the Huaihe River in Su and Su has a total population of about five layers of that of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

This also caused Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and other northern clans to not know what food was, which is understandable. After all, there was still surplus food in the treasury of each county in the war-torn place. Just talking about the large granary in Luoyang City, Dong Zhuo occupied Luoyang Shunian. There is no tribute to Dong Zhuo's court from all over the country, and Luoyang's population of several 10 is not living well.

At that time, the most concentrated population in the Guanzhong Plain was near Chang'an, with a density of about 20 people per square kilometer. If Dong Zhuo added taxation to Sanfu Sili and other places, the 80 Xiliang Army and the capital's [-] population, there would be no need for other princes at all. Tribute can be self-sufficient.

During the wars at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, people from the Central Plains began to migrate to the Yangtze River Basin, and even further to the Lingnan area. The number of households exceeded one million and the population exceeded 500 million. There are four prefectures of Henan, Jing, Yang, and Yi. Except for Yuzhou, the other three prefectures are in In the Yangtze River Basin, the number of households accounts for the population above the sixth floor of the Han Dynasty.

Wang Hao's Jingzhou increased most significantly. The population of Nanyang County increased from 80 to 140 million, and that of Changsha County increased from 14 to 230 million. Two-thirds of the entire Dahan population.

Yizhou and Hanzhong of Liu Bei and Liu Zhang had 70 households and a population of nearly 300 million.
There are more than 50 households in Jiangdong Sun's territory, with a population of less than 200 million.
Since Cao Cao ordered the farming system, soldiers are also civilians and soldiers. He has 90 households and a population of 400 million under his rule. Moreover, soldiers can return to farming when farming is busy.

Yuan Shao ruled only more than 30 households with a population of less than 150 million people. Moreover, Yuan Shao didn't think about internal affairs, and he didn't pay much attention to economy and agriculture. He was still dreaming about attacking and looting. Who else could he loot now?

"My lord, don't you intend to lend food to Yuan Shao?"

Guo Jia, who came back to recuperate, was summoned by Wang Hao to discuss matters. He didn't understand why Wang Hao was unwilling to borrow food. Wouldn't it be good to have Yuan Shao in the north to contain Cao Cao?

"Fengxiao, some things are too easy to get and you won't cherish them. Yuan Benchu ​​doesn't care about managing the territory. He is like a bandit and wants to plunder everywhere all day long. He can't contain Cao Mengde for a long time. He can only wait until he understands self-sufficiency..."

It’s not that Wang Hao doesn’t want to lend food to Yuan Shao. He really needs Yuan Shao to contain Cao Cao in the north. Especially in recent years when the Xiongnu and Wuyou are ready to move, they need people to guard the north. It’s better to teach him to fish than to give him fish. No matter how Wang Hao supplies food, he can't satisfy him.

Now Liu Bei got Zhuge Liang to join him first, and Fazheng helped him thread the needle in Shuzhong. After Guan Yu returned to Liu Bei's command, Liu Bei began to govern the internal affairs and cultivate his health.

Cao Cao continued to use political means to force the people to relocate around the center of his rule, and because Wang Hao continued to deprive him of the economy, and the people did not believe in five baht coins, Cao Mengde established Mojin Xiaowei, who dedicated eighteen generations of emperor Liu Xie's ancestors , and the princes and nobles of the war were dug out to deal with the economic crisis.

Only Sun Quan has been jumping around. Although Jiangdong has some food, but Wang Hao is confident that he can beat him economically in ten years. However, the Sun family may not be able to wait, and they will start digging their own graves now.

According to the population of the princes in the current territories of the princes from all walks of life, that is to say, an average of ten people needs one soldier. Except for the old, weak, women and children, who will be responsible for farming and production? The struggle for hegemony is only about good strength, whether it is financial resources, material resources, or manpower. , technology and other resources.

However, if the princes continue to conquer like this, it will become like history in the end, from a population of 5000 million to only 800 million later.

"My lord intends to use population to pull Cao Mengde away?"

Guo Jia knew that Wang Hao would not borrow if he didn't want to borrow, because Wang Hao also needed food very much under Wang Hao's rule, and this was all because of Wang Hao's latest birth order.

Every child is rewarded with a cow and sheep, ten gold and one hundred stone grain, and Wang Hao's territory does not have to pay poll tax, so the population under Wang Hao's rule will far exceed all the princes, and no matter how many pastures and farms Wang Hao has, It's just enough for the treasury to spend.

(End of this chapter)