Tiger Guards

Chapter 610 The Price of Rewards
On the north bank of the Fen River, Zhao Ji's central army camp.

As battalions were established one after another, soldiers from various places gathered in Pingyang in an orderly manner.

As the army grew larger, it began to be reorganized further.

For example, the Imperial Guard was expanded, the Iron Cavalry Battalion was expanded into the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and the Tiger Infantry also needed to be expanded.

After the officers and soldiers arrived at the various camps in Pingyang, they would gradually be rewarded for their merits, starting from the grassroots level and reorganizing in stages.

As lower-ranking officers are promoted and receive new positions, military ranks, and duties, their share of military land will also be adjusted accordingly.

The land in Hedong, Taiyuan, and Xihe was ultimately limited, so many people had to be reassigned to Shangjun, Beidi, and the four commanderies of Sanfu or Shuofang.

The reorganization of staffing led to adjustments in compensation, which in turn meant that most officials and soldiers would be assigned to border regions... This was something that many officials and soldiers found difficult to accept.

Therefore, Zhao Ji was not in a hurry to reorganize the troops. Every day when he inspected the various armies, he would talk with the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level, personally comforting and suppressing their resentment.

They will also offer encouragement, since the three northern prefectures and the four Shuofang prefectures are truly short of people.

The area is sparsely populated, and in addition to the existing series of pastoral supervisory and pastoral farms, there are also a large number of abandoned farmlands with basic water conservancy projects.

Relocating military households to these seven prefectures naturally required ensuring the stability of their political privileges and economic income.

Therefore, it was also necessary to coordinate the migration of government tenants and government slaves. The existence of government tenants could ensure that the military households could receive a stable income from their military land every year; while government slaves could engage in various dangerous and heavy labor, gradually improving infrastructure and living conditions.

Using the seven prefectures of Shuofang to settle most of the officials and soldiers was inherently a dangerous undertaking.

No one else could manipulate it. Although Zhao Yan was highly respected, his influence was limited to officials and scholars.

In the military, only Zhao Ji himself could suppress all kinds of discontent.

Faced with Zhao Ji's empty promises, the vast majority of officials and soldiers were willing to accept them.

Only by gathering the army together and dispersing them to maintain a balance of power could Zhao Ji stabilize the army.

Once the initial dissatisfaction is overcome, most officials and soldiers are able to adapt and accept the changes over time.

After another day of patrolling the camp, Zhao Ji, as usual, led his staff to use an abacus to calculate the reasonable number of people to be resettled in each prefecture and county.

The number of military households settled must be matched with a corresponding number of government tenants and government slaves.

The number of government slaves did not change much, enough to sustain the basic heavy labor in the county.

Since many of the resettled military households were high-ranking officers and soldiers, the number of official tenants had to be increased. This was necessary not only to satisfy the rent and cultivation needs of the military lands but also to cover the food expenses of the county and township officials.

This resettlement is also a conservative approach, detailing suitable townships in each county to allow for future expansion of military towns and immigration.

Generally speaking, each county had no more than five hundred military households, which were settled in three or four military towns.

This was a complex project, requiring the relocation and resettlement of approximately 50,000 military households in various prefectures and counties.

Along with this, 200,000 tenant farmers and government slaves would also be relocated to ensure that the military households would have basic political privileges and economic benefits.

The biggest problem at present is that military households enjoy political and economic privileges brought about by military priority, so the overall difficulty of relocation is not too great; while government slaves have no personal freedom, so there is naturally no difficulty in relocation.

The only migration problem came from government tenants. Although government tenants were not serfs and could not migrate freely, their motivation to produce was greatly affected.

Relocating the officials' tenants who are currently cultivating the land to the seven prefectures of Shuofang would provoke their resistance; the officials' tenants who are not relocated would also be worried about this matter, which would lead to a decline in productivity.

Now that Zhao Ji has reached his current position, he no longer cares so much about fairness.

What he cares about is the impact of an event on overall stability and productivity. His pursuit of so-called justice is more about satisfying the lower and middle classes and stimulating their enthusiasm for production.

The same applies now; currently, the official tenants in each county are not suitable for long-distance migration.

Recruiting or allowing free response... won't work either. Zhao Ji knows the integrity of county-level officials too well. These people will surely impose quotas and force their subordinates to relocate, or they will make things difficult for them.

This is true in one place, and it is true everywhere.

Therefore, the negative impact on overall production efficiency also exists, and there is no need to bury our heads in the sand and deceive ourselves.

Therefore, in order to stabilize the migration and replenish the 50,000 military households in the seven prefectures of Shuofang, we must fight against the Xudu court this year and seize at least 200,000 households!
Two hundred thousand is the minimum figure. Taking into account population loss due to migration and family restructuring, we need to grab at least two hundred and fifty thousand households this time!

Only by having these people serve as government tenants can the morale of the 50,000 military households in the seven counties be stabilized!

With 250,000 households and at least 400,000 young men and women, Zhao Ji felt immense pressure.

This still doesn't involve expanding the military; it's just adjusting the population pressure caused by the existing army.

Following this round of pressure, with over 50,000 military households relocated to the seven prefectures of Shuofang, the fiscal revenue of the remaining three prefectures in Hedong and four prefectures in Guanzhong will double. With the improved finances at both the prefecture and county levels, local water conservancy and infrastructure can recover more quickly.

While calculating, Zhao Ji increasingly felt that the most important thing at present was not the righteous cause of punishing the traitors, but how to satisfy the ever-growing war machine.

As the relationships between the military officers and their subordinates become increasingly solidified, Zhao Ji now feels a sense of urgency that the military is forming a neural network that creates brain circuits and a collective consciousness.

Perhaps in two or three years, representatives of different interest groups will spontaneously emerge within the military.

As for himself, although he was still the military commander, he had to balance the financial allocation between the military and local governments.

Only by limiting the military can we ensure that the local areas can recuperate and grow stronger; otherwise, once the monster of the military reaches its limit, it will devour everything, including itself.

"Grand Tutor, the messenger of Grand Protector Lü has passed Jishan and is staying overnight at the inn in Jiangyi."

As it grew late, Zhao Ji was drinking water and deep in thought when Wen Hui came to see him with a piece of paper tucked inside a folder.

Why isn't Wenman asleep yet?

Zhao Ji took the paper and read it. Seeing that Lu Bu's envoy was a stranger, he couldn't help but miss Qin Yilu.

This person is quite sensible, knows when to advance and retreat, and has an excellent personal relationship with Lü Bu. Sometimes he can be regarded as Lü Bu's plenipotentiary agent.

Aside from high-ranking envoys like Qin Yilu and Wei Yue, Zhao Ji had already become somewhat disdainful of and unwilling to associate with envoys of low status.

Those who can serve as envoys are naturally people of great courage. They cannot be described as fearless, but rather as a group of people who seek wealth and honor through danger.

Among them are certainly many talented individuals who are risking their lives in pursuit of a chance to get ahead.

Therefore, the envoys who come to see him will definitely try their best to show off their talents... This has made Zhao Ji somewhat tired of them, as too many people are flashy but insincere and inconsistent in their words and deeds.

Judging their talents is a waste of time.

After reading the envoy's purpose, Zhao Ji said, "Last time, Grand Protector Lü wanted me to postpone the military campaign for three months, which suited my needs perfectly, so I readily agreed. Why does he suddenly want so many horses?"

It is suspected that he agreed to Lü Bu's request too readily last time, which made Lü Bu have other ideas.

Therefore, this time they made an outrageous offer: three thousand fine horses, five thousand draft horses, and five thousand cattle and fifty thousand sheep to reward the officials and soldiers of Luoyang.

This data is not a big deal to Zhao Ji at all.

Not to mention the four prefectures of Shuofang, the pastoral supervisors stationed in Xihe Prefecture alone could provide enough.

Without affecting the reproduction of the herds, Xihe County and Shang County together can provide this many horses every year.

As for cattle and sheep, the numbers are even greater, with more than 200,000 head being transported out of these two counties each year.

With the increase in the number of female livestock and the improvement of pen planning, along with the planting and harvesting of pasture and the planting of grain feed, these two counties will be able to produce more than 500,000 head of livestock annually.

This only includes the output of livestock raised by government officials; it does not include the output of livestock raised by military households and government tenants.

As long as the situation remains stable and the tax environment is relatively low, the productivity of animal herds is very high, more than ten times that of humans.

When Zhao Ji asked him a question, Wen Hui did not speak. He could tell that Zhao Ji was teasing Lü Bu.

Before Wen Hui could speak, Zhao Ji said, "I will not see this envoy. Wen Man will receive him tomorrow. Do not make things difficult for him; grant all his requests. I want to see what kind of results Lü Taibao can achieve."

"Here."

Wen Hui reached out and took the paper, tucked it into the folder, and after thinking for a moment, reminded him, "Grand Tutor, I am worried that the Grand Protector will become arrogant because of this."

"It's alright, he'll be a grandfather soon."

Zhao Ji spoke calmly, as he wouldn't be surprised if Lü Bu did something strange.

Now Lu Bu wants some warhorses to fight a battle with Xuchang... Zhao Ji really has no reason to object or hold him back.

Even if Lü Bu, after acquiring the beasts, suddenly realized his mistake, raised an army, and joined the Xu Du court... Zhao Ji wouldn't be surprised.

The longer the war drags on, the greater our advantage will become.

Of course, all of this was predicated on the capture of more than 200,000 households to meet the needs of this military relocation and to populate the border regions.

This is the true cost and price of the campaign to conquer the Hu!

(End of this chapter)