Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 291 Liu Bian: Jia Xu is still a kind and benevolent person!
"Oh~"

"Hmm~"

"Sigh~"

As Liu Bian perused several historical records, including the "Records of the Grand Historian," "The Sequel to the Records of the Grand Historian," "Book of Han," and "Records of Han," he would occasionally utter exclamations filled with surprise.

Before coming to Dongguan to peruse historical records, he always felt that he was incompetent, wondering why he could not do what his ancestors could do.

After thoroughly reviewing historical records about the methods of settling people on the borders during the Han Dynasty, Liu Bian's mood improved considerably.

"Master Lu, it turns out it wasn't that I was incompetent, but that my moral standards were too high!" Liu Bian shouted at Lu Zhi, waving the historical records, and the gloom on his face gradually disappeared.

Lu Zhi glanced sideways at the disciple who had made the strange noise, sighed, and ultimately refrained from reprimanding him.

The emperor was unusually listless and dejected a few days ago.

He knew what lofty ambitions this disciple harbored in his heart, and he also knew that although he didn't say it, his pride was stronger than anyone else's. The fact that he could make the emperor so dejected and lost also caught Lu Zhi's attention.

Lu Zhi then learned from the cabinet ministers about the discussions on immigration a few days earlier, and he couldn't help but worry that the emperor was getting too caught up in the details.

While it is certainly a good thing that the emperor is a benevolent ruler, sometimes benevolence can also have a negative impact on the development of the country.

As a teacher, Lu Zhi couldn't very well advise the emperor to abandon his benevolent heart, as this would not align with "benevolence," the very foundation of Confucianism.

However, this was not what Lu Zhi was most worried about. As the emperor ascended the throne, he increasingly felt that his late friend Yang Ci's evaluation of the emperor was wrong.

What "plotting with Emperor Wen and dominating like Emperor Shizong"? This is clearly the resurrection of the First Emperor!

Although he had never seen it with his own eyes and only inferred it from the texts recorded in many historical books, he felt that the emperor's style of governance was quite similar to that of the tyrannical First Emperor of Qin.

Wasn't the First Emperor also ambitious, which is why he unified the world and expanded the territory?
The First Emperor was also ambitious, which is why he made many decisions that were considered too risky by his senior ministers, despite the opposition.

Despite being a tyrant, Lu Zhi acknowledged that the First Emperor was a brilliant ruler, and that most of the systems inherited by the Han Dynasty from the tyrannical Qin Dynasty were his creations.

However, as the driver of the Qin chariot, the First Emperor was driving too fast. The officials, who were the horses pulling the chariot, were unable to maintain the speed required by the First Emperor, and the people, who were the body of the chariot, could not withstand such speed and gradually collapsed.

Ultimately, with the passing of the First Emperor, this excellent charioteer, the Qin Dynasty collapsed instantly and was swallowed up by the tides of history.

And isn't the current emperor the same?

Since Lu Zhi became the Crown Prince's tutor, his biggest worry has been that this disciple's style of doing things is very similar to that of the First Emperor, who was too radical and eager for success.

Two and a half years ago, the world was in chaos, the Taiping Dao rebelled, powerful families were rampant, and eunuchs and partisans were fighting each other... These events made it almost impossible for those of them who cared about the Han dynasty to see the future.

Therefore, when this disciple appeared in the eyes of the world like the sun, those who still held hope for the Han Dynasty were like people struggling to survive in the extreme cold, and they unconsciously gathered around him.

Faced with the predicament of the Han Dynasty at that time, it was natural to follow the principle of "treating stubborn diseases with strong medicine". One strong medicine after another, the military victories and the current national financial situation are the effects of this strong medicine.

However, with the emperor's ascension to the throne, many things no longer needed to be pursued with the same urgency as before. With a more gradual approach, the restoration of the Han Dynasty was only a matter of time.

But the emperor continued to whip his warhorse, keeping the Han chariot moving at an astonishing speed, as if he knew he would die young.

The First Emperor was eager to achieve his goal of "combining the virtues of the Three Sovereigns and surpassing the achievements of the Five Emperors," and attempted to complete the work of several generations in one generation. So what is the current emperor's goal?

For this reason, Lu Zhi visited the Imperial Medical Bureau many times, inquiring about Liu Bian's health from Zhang Ji, the assistant physician, and Ji Ping, the assistant physician. He even paid his respects to the retired Emperor Liu Hong and the retired Empress He.

But the emperor seemed to be in exceptionally good health, still able to handle so many government affairs every day, and there seemed to be absolutely no indication to support this.

Since there are no external factors, it must be due to the emperor himself.

This is absolutely not possible!
Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish; if the heat and seasonings are not controlled properly, at most a pot of soup will be burnt. But if there is no distinction between what is important and what is urgent in governing a country, then the world will be in chaos.

The First Emperor was too domineering, so no one dared or could advise him.

But Lu Zhi believed that he had the obligation and the right to pull the reins and slow down the speed of the Han chariot.

However, seeing the emperor's complicated expression, Lu Zhi felt that his previous worries were completely unnecessary.

The emperor is ultimately a benevolent person; even the most radical ruler will consider the well-being of the people and the world.

Moreover, the master and apprentice spent a whole day reading historical records in the Eastern Pavilion and came to a conclusion—almost all the migration methods of the Han Dynasty involved violent forced relocation!
The most lenient emperor was Emperor Xiaowen, who used monetary incentives and preferential policies such as tax exemptions to encourage people to voluntarily migrate to the northern frontier and the southern Wu and Chu regions. He even pardoned criminals and government slaves to facilitate the migration.

But giving money is a welfare benefit for obedient people. If you are unwilling to migrate, then you are a criminal or official slave who will not receive much of the Han Dynasty's billions in subsidies!
However, having the national treasury bear all the expenses before and after the migration of the people was too much of a burden for the Han Dynasty at that time. Therefore, Emperor Xiaowen chose to "grant titles by paying grain contributions".

In layman's terms, it was selling official positions and titles!
However, Emperor Xiaowen only "sold titles" and did not "sell official positions." As long as one paid grain to the government, one could either be pardoned or granted a title, which was called "paying grain and being granted a title."

A person who received 600 shi of grain was granted the title of Shangzao; those who received 4,000 shi were granted the title of Wudaifu; and those who received 12,000 shi were granted the title of Dashuzhang.

In addition, there was a provision that "if a citizen has a carriage or a horse, he can be exempted from military service for three people."

However, this system is not suitable for the current Han Dynasty. If the court were to engage in the practice of "selling titles" again, it would be fine for Liu Bian to receive a few words of criticism, but it would cause the court and the public to lose trust in him as the emperor.

The emperor's credibility cannot be broken. Why are the soldiers of the central army who have left their jobs and the good men recruited in every major battle willing to fight and die?
During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, soldiers who made military contributions and sacrificed their lives for the country received their due rewards and compensation without any deductions, which initially established his credibility in the army.

When Liu Bian's military credibility gained widespread recognition, it extended to the recognition of Liu Bian's personal credibility, and then to political and economic aspects.

Credit is the only universal currency!
If this were in later generations, even ordinary people could earn money by relying on their credit.

Liu Bian also hoped that he could rely on personal credit to carry out further monetary reforms in the future, giving the feudal era a small financial shock.

Leaving aside Emperor Xiaowen's policies, which were unsuitable for the current situation, the most typical, effective, and widely implemented policies came from Emperor Xiaowu.

Emperor Xiaowu, in the early part of his reign, was like a foolish son of a landlord. He inherited the abundant treasury from the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing. Emperor Xiaowu temporarily abolished the policy of "granting titles by paying grain tribute" and chose to be a big spender, well, he chose to spend money like crazy!

Emperor Xiaowu enjoyed the people's praise for his benevolence and said, "I am a rich man, and I will give you whatever you need."

During the migration, soldiers from prefectures and counties were dispatched along the route to protect and supervise the process. Food supply stations were set up every twenty li in advance, and a large number of doctors were recruited from the local population. After the migration, the migrants were given preferential treatment, including oxen for plowing, winter and summer clothing, and food rations. The government also organized the construction of standard commercial housing with a main hall and two inner rooms, along with a back garden and at least two hundred mu of fertile land.

The key point is that none of these need to be repaid; they were given away for free by the landlord's foolish son!

What's there to be afraid of? Our son lives in the first ring road of Beijing, he's got plenty of money!
When Liu Bian first saw this passage, he also sought out an unedited version of the historical record circulating within the royal family. After seeing the number of deaths and injuries among the people before and after the migration, he was quite pleasantly surprised and thought that he might be able to emulate Emperor Xiaowu's policies.

Then Liu Bian ordered Gao Wang to summon Zhen Yi. Before the Han Dynasty restarted its official maritime affairs, the Maritime Trade Office was just an empty shell. Since Zhen Yi was not qualified enough, he temporarily took over the Maritime Trade Office as the head of the Maritime Trade Office.

Zhen Yi absolutely loved this job. Coming from a family of merchants, he naturally had no shortage of helpers. He could even help his family and several merchant families by marriage to arrange some people for them. After donating a large sum of money to the court to send his children to study at the Imperial Academy, he was appointed by the court as an official in the Maritime Trade Office.

Although they were merchants, their talents were also carefully examined. These wealthy merchants had a vast network of informants throughout the country to monitor the market prices of various commodities. Many of them even established a network similar to a post station for transportation and information transmission in their localities.

Merchants with friendly relations can use each other's postal systems. If all the world's merchants cooperate to improve this postal system, it can even be more convenient than the imperial court's postal system in some ways.

Therefore, when this group of wealthy merchants gathered together, they knew almost everything about the prices of many commodities such as rice, salt, wine, meat, fruits and vegetables.

However, after Zhen Yi finished reading Emperor Xiaowu's policy of resettling people to strengthen the border, his expression was rather interesting.

Liu Bian ordered Gao Wang to summon Zhen Yi. As the chief of the Maritime Trade Office, Zhen Yi had a general understanding of the prices of various commodities in the market.

If we calculate based on five people per household, and 100,000 households were to migrate to Yangzhou to reclaim wasteland, each household would need at least one ox for plowing, and 10% of the oxen would need to be prepared as spares. At the current market price in the Han Dynasty, an ox costs 7000 coins, which means that the cost of oxen alone would reach 700 million coins.

A set of summer linen clothing and a set of winter clothing filled with hemp wool cost about 400 and 800 coins respectively, which is 1200 coins per person and 6000 coins per household. Providing clothing for 100,000 households with two sets of summer and winter clothing would cost 600 million coins.

As for food rations, a family of five would consume a minimum of 5 shi (a unit of dry measure) of food per month, and 7 shi if they were full.

Taking Yangzhou as an example, the temperature was low during the Little Ice Age. The rice planted in Yangzhou by the Later Han Dynasty was not ratooning rice but mid-late rice, which took at least eight months to harvest. However, farmers in the north who grew winter wheat were not skilled at growing rice, and the yield per mu was not necessarily sufficient. After deducting the consumption of rice seeds, the court had to prepare at least a year's worth of food for them.

If the migration were to take place from Yuzhou to Yangzhou, a journey of approximately 1200 li (about 600 kilometers), involving both land and water transport and with 100,000 households traveling simultaneously, it would take at least two months. In reality, due to the limited number of boats and the impact on the route, the migration would have to be carried out in batches to various parts of Yangzhou, meaning it would take about six months to complete the journey of 100,000 households.

Therefore, the imperial court had to prepare at least 18 months' worth of food for 100,000 immigrant households, which is 12.6 million shi of grain. At the current market price of 70 qian per shi, and after deducting 30% for losses during the journey, the food cost would be approximately 1.26 billion qian.

Most of the houses in Yangzhou have thatched roofs with wooden planks and tiles, and wooden frames with mud walls. However, in areas with dense water networks, the houses are mostly built on stilt houses with wooden piles, while in the inland hilly areas, they are built on low rammed earth platforms. In accordance with the standard of "one hall and two interiors", they are equipped with "bamboo pigsties and thatched granaries".

Timber costs 1400 coins, thatch 400 coins, bamboo and mud 600 coins, and 30 days of labor costs 600 coins. That is, a damp and sturdy wooden house with mud walls, equipped with livestock pens and outer fences for the residents, would cost about 3000 coins. For 100,000 households, that would cost 300 million coins.

In other words, relocating 100,000 households to Yangzhou would cost at least 28.6 billion yuan to ensure the most basic living needs of the immigrants.

The imperial court's annual tax revenue was only 67 billion coins. After deducting 20 billion coins for officials' salaries, the military expenses of the four camps in Bingzhou and two camps in Youzhou, as well as the Chang'an Camp, Yong Camp, and the Liyang Camp stationed in Liyang, amounted to about 1 million coins. The military expenses of the five central army camps amounted to 6 million coins. The imperial court actually had only 40 billion coins available for disposal each year.

If 100,000 households were to migrate to Yangzhou, it would consume 70% of the imperial court's tax revenue this year!

This doesn't even include the distribution of farm tools, rice seeds, and other living expenses!
After the immigrants arrived, new cities had to be built in various places, and troops had to be sent to defend against or even suppress the Yue tribes. This would cost billions of dollars!
Damn it, so what if he's the landlord's stupid son?
However, that was in the early reign of Emperor Xiaowu, when the Han-Xiongnu War broke out and titles were conferred upon those who paid grain.
Even dogs won't... take it! We must take it hard!

After exhausting the national treasury's wealth accumulated during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, the landlord's foolish son finally turned to any means to amass wealth.

Emperor Xiaowu stated that 600 shi (a unit of dry measure) for a superior-grade vessel was the price during his grandfather's reign. Now, he was the head of the Great Han Society, and he could set the price!

Therefore, Emperor Xiaowu established eleven ranks of "military merit titles" and sold them openly with clearly marked prices.

The first-level "Zaoshi" title costs 17 coins, with each level increasing by 12500 coins, and the highest-level eleventh-level "Junwei" title costs 30 coins.

However, since these titles were merely honorary titles without any land, houses, or fiefs, Emperor Xiaowu issued three decrees to increase their appeal to the wealthy.

Firstly, a noble title could reduce or exempt one from punishment.

In other words, it's the "penalty money" of a certain perfect old man, or the indulgence of a certain pope. Except for serious crimes such as treason, which can lead to the extermination of three generations or nine generations of relatives, as long as you spend enough money and have a high enough title, you can be exempted from punishment. It absolutely guarantees the experience of the top-ranked guys!
Secondly, those with higher titles could be given priority in being appointed to official positions.

In other words, nominally, official positions were not sold, only titles were sold. However, in reality, for officials, official positions and titles were sold together. In this way, when selling titles among officials, the price of titles could be increased a second time.

Third, it allows the resale of titles to others for profit.

This completely transformed the title of peerage into a high-end luxury item, allowing it to be freely bought and sold.

Later, Emperor Xiaowu felt that the practice of selling titles involved middlemen making a profit, so he directly changed it to requiring people to pay money to redeem themselves.

However, Emperor Xiaowu was also someone who "didn't want to spend money but wanted goods." So he forcibly relocated 700,000 refugees from Qing and Xu prefectures affected by the floods to border counties such as Longxi, Beidi, and Xihe to strengthen the borders. He also relocated a large number of criminals and displaced people, but instead of providing them with the food and seeds that the state had given them in the early days, he funded the immigrants with high-interest loans.

After seizing the Hexi Corridor, they forcibly conscripted 600,000 soldiers to garrison the border and implemented military settlements.

For the Yizhou region, Emperor Xiaowu conscripted a large number of laborers, sent Tang Meng to build the "Southern Barbarian Road" (Yelang Road), and Sima Xiangru to build the "Western Barbarian Road" (Lingguan Road). He also sent people to dredge rivers and build highways in Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

When these public works projects were completed, Emperor Xiaowu waved his hand and forcibly kept these laborers in the area, immediately processing their registration and transferring them to the local household registration system.

Throughout the Han Dynasty, apart from a few emperors who emulated Emperor Wen and the early Emperor Wu during times of national strength, most emperors relied on forced or deceptive relocation to populate the border regions, or migrated south due to natural disasters or man-made calamities in the Central Plains.

"Master Lu, it seems I have misunderstood Wenhe." Liu Bian, with a complex expression that was hard to describe, closed the history book, sighed, and said to Lu Zhi, "Compared to our ancestors, Jia Wenhe was still a kind and benevolent person!"

Liu Bian completely abandoned his idea that he could see the results of relocating people to the south to populate the area and develop the wasteland within a few years.

The imperial court's taxes also need to be invested in public works projects such as the repair of roads and the construction of water conservancy projects in various places, and there is not enough surplus money available to replenish the population in the south.

We can only proceed slowly, and before the national treasury has sufficient funds, we can relocate a maximum of 20,000 households each year.

As for the source of the people who migrated to the south, it would be difficult for the imperial court to find 100,000 households of people who were free from disasters and harm and were willing to overcome their attachment to their hometowns. However, if they included government slaves and criminals, attracting 10,000 to 20,000 households with high welfare and preferential policies would not be a problem.

However, since relocating ordinary people requires paying money and is prone to causing death and injury, what about relocating powerful families?
(5005 words)
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: Hey, I had some pretty good fried rice for lunch!

So I'm in a pretty good mood, and I'll add a short update of 1000 words.

Dear readers, please give me some extra monthly votes in recognition of the extra 1000 words I've added!
(End of this chapter)