Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 354 Investigating the World
"The annual assessment of each prefecture and county is based on the increase in population and the reclamation of land. Now, we are recruiting inspectors to supervise the assessment of performance throughout the country... This is a closed recruitment, and the recruitment will stop once all the prefectures have submitted their applications."

Liu Bei looked at the crowd from the platform and said, “All governors and prefects, please know that your most important duty is to ensure the survival of the common people in each prefecture and to ensure that the land and population increase.”

"In this bidding process, heroes from all over the country will be appointed as inspectors, each to be stationed in a prefecture to supervise the population and land of other prefectures for a period of one year."

"The Inspector is in charge of a prefecture, but he can secretly investigate all the prefectures and counties in the country, only checking the number of households and the amount of land, not other matters. If the investigation is most convincing, and there are vacancies in other prefectures, he can be transferred to the position of prefect or governor of another prefecture the following year."

"Based on the increase or decrease in the number of households and land in each prefecture... if the number of households increases, the prefect and the inspector of that prefecture can both enjoy land benefits according to the increase in the number of households."

"The household registration and land area figures for each prefecture are based on the reports previously submitted by the tax supervising censors. You have all worked with the tax supervising censors, so you must all agree with them... The taxes you are pursuing are also based on this."

"The regular taxes to be paid to the court next year will also be based on this. Any extra profits and taxes can be kept by each prefecture. There is no need to transport grain to the capital. They can simply be converted into cattle, horses, iron and other materials."

"Do you understand? The inspectors are all secret agents, traveling the world to investigate landowners for a year, and their performance will be evaluated throughout the land."

"Next autumn, the reports of the inspectors from all the prefectures will be reviewed together. The prefecture with the largest increase in the number of households and land will be the first to be selected. The inspector of that prefecture will be promoted to governor of the state, and the governor will be granted a title and a fief according to the number of households increased."

"If there are counties where fields are abandoned, people are scattered, and the number of households has decreased significantly... the inspector shall be executed, and the prefect shall be executed!"

"I urge you all to govern with virtue. Virtue brings benefits, while lack of morality leads to death."

This tender order is relatively complex, but also easy to understand; it is to investigate the increase or decrease in the number of households in each state and county.

Moreover, this is a very normal government order.

The gangsters who had participated in tax collection but failed to become prefects were allowed to apply for the position of inspectors and were assigned to a certain county.

What's special is that... they don't supervise the county where they are assigned, but other counties.

In other words, the prefect and the inspector of the prefecture share common interests and benefit from the increased number of households. A greater increase in the number of households and landholdings leads to promotion and the bestowal of titles. However, if the prefecture is found by inspectors from other prefectures to have a decreased population, then both the prefect and the inspector will be ruined.

Each prefecture's inspectorate would supervise other prefectures separately, making it difficult to cheat unless all the prefectures in the country joined forces.

This is not an unreasonable demand, nor does it say that the number of households cannot be reduced, but a significant reduction is bound to be problematic, and being executed is justified.

and……

Liu Bei counted people by "number of households," not by household registration or population.

Even if the population doesn't increase, the number of households can still increase.

Large households were divided into smaller households, large clans were divided into multiple branches, hidden households were investigated, and servants were registered as households... naturally the number of households increased.

Where did these household numbers come from?

Of course, it was the powerful and wealthy families of each prefecture.

Powerful clans would inevitably try to reduce the number of households they owned. Hidden households, servants, and land were their core assets. The population and land registered with the government were their targets to seize... This was an irreconcilable contradiction.

The newly appointed underworld governors and local powerful families already had conflicts, so it would be truly rare for them to join forces.

This policy would make it difficult for prefects to gain local support, because the officials under the jurisdiction of prefectures and counties were mostly sons of local powerful families...

But the newly appointed governors were not the kind of people who had nothing but their own troops—they were all underworld bosses with soldiers, and quite a few of them.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the top ten when it comes to tax collection.

Moreover, the military inspectors were also members of the underworld with soldiers.

This decree was originally intended to cause unrest in the various prefectures, not to govern the entire country.

After all, most of the counties were areas that Liu Bei could not actually control. He only did this to avoid a significant decrease in population, and he had no intention of maintaining stability.

The altar still reeked of blood, and the people below had no objection to Liu Bei's direct issuance of appointments and decrees.

It's as if Liu Bei was the emperor.

This habit was eventually formed.

Although Liu Bei only controlled two or three provinces, his bidding order was practically no different from an imperial edict.

……

After issuing this decree, Liu Bei dispersed the sacrificial ceremony and ordered Cao Cao to immediately return to pacify Yanzhou. By deliberately using the ancestral worship at Mount Tai to lure out those with ulterior motives, Liu Bei was relieved. Since this attempt had failed, no one would try to do such a thing again.

Xun You also told Cao Cao about deliberately luring the thieves into making a move.

In fact, Cao Cao was extremely uneasy. Now that Chen Gong and others had caused this incident, what would happen to Yanzhou?
Cao Cao knew in his heart that something had most likely gone wrong.

But he didn't rush back. Instead, he made sure he understood everything before asking Liu Bei for help.

“Lord Xuande is magnanimous, and I will remember it. I ask Lord Xuande to send Zhang Liao’s troops to assist me. I must return to Yanzhou and pacify it quickly.”

Cao Cao did not ask Liu Bei to borrow his main force because Liu Bei's main force was busy protecting Liu Xie and could not spare any resources to go to Yanzhou.

Currently, Xiahou Dun and others are each guarding their respective posts, keeping an eye on Prince Liu Chong of Chen. They did not come to Mount Tai with Cao Cao. Cao Cao only has his own troops and Lü Qian's troops by his side.

The main force only had 1,500 men, and with Lü Qian's troops, the total was only 3,000.

"You want to go to Dongjun?"

Liu Bei frowned: "Why don't we return to Qiao County first? Your main force should be in Qiao Commandery, right?"

If you want to return to Qiao County, the fastest route is to go directly through Shanyang, Jiyin, and Liangguo.

Zhang Liao was in Dongjun. Cao Cao borrowed Zhang Liao as reinforcements, which meant he could no longer return to Qiaojun.

“At this time, things may have changed in Yanzhou... If I cross Shanyang and Jiyin, I may suffer harm.”

Cao Cao said in a low voice, "Perhaps Chen Gongtai and the others have a backup plan, but they will not expect me to detour through Yingchuan... Even Lord Xuande did not expect it, so it should be so."

So they're using Liu Bei as a guiding light?
It seems Cao Cao now suspects everyone in Yan Province...

Liu Bei sent several guards with Cao Cao and Lü Qian to deliver a message to Zhang Liao.

Liu Bei still wanted Cao Cao to pacify Yan Province, because Cao Cao was the most suitable person, especially now that Cao Cao had been tricked by the powerful clans of Yan Province, and the two sides were probably evenly matched.

If Cao Cao were gone, and Liu Bei were to attack Yan Province on his own, that would be really troublesome... Perhaps the various factions in Yan Province would switch allegiance to Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo has been trying to curry favor with the scholars. If things really get out of hand and they fall in love, then things could get out of control.

At least Cao Cao is not yet at the point of making an enemy of Liu Bei.

……

After bringing Liu Xie back, Liu Bei returned to Linzi and then began to deploy his own people.

Guan Yu was appointed as the Governor-General of Ji Province and concurrently served as the Prefect of Ji Province, officially placing Guan Yu in charge of the northern region.

Zhang He, Bai Yao, and Zhang Rao were appointed as governors of Bohai, Anping, and Hejian, respectively.

For his merit in quelling the rebellion, Xun You was promoted to Minister of State, serving as Jia Xu's assistant and in charge of the Three Dukes' Office, a position responsible for supervising and evaluating officials in prefectures and counties.

Taishi Ci was appointed Cavalry Commandant and placed in charge of Huainan.

In fact, Yangzhou is not under Liu Bei's control at present. Appointing Taishi Ci as the military commander is a nominal position, and Taishi Ci cannot even enter Shouchun.

The capital of Yangzhou was in Shouchun, Huainan. At present, Shouchun was actually the territory of Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, but Yuan Shu's main force was in Nanyang. Transferring Taishi Ci there was both to reward him for his service and to stir up trouble...

Xu Shu also continued to establish state schools in Ji Province, but in a different way than in Xu Province. The official school in Ji Province was located in Qinghe and was directly managed by people sent by Liu Bei.

The investments previously agreed upon with Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, Tao Qian, and others... certainly wouldn't yield any dividends, and two-tenths of the principal would be deducted.

Five states paid taxes to break even, but only four states actually paid taxes: Qing, Xu, Yong, and Yu. The other states all had holdout households.

However, Liu Bei received several times the amount of tax, because the tax collection troops in many counties were submitting taxes repeatedly.

The cattle, horses, iron, and other supplies that had been sent to Qingzhou from various places had been quickly distributed to the various official settlements by Jian Yong and others.

It was winter, but they were already burning grass to clear land. Liu Bei planned to open up a large amount of wasteland before the planting season in February, and he even issued a land reclamation order, which stipulated that whoever reclaimed the wasteland would own it.

Qingzhou, eastern Jizhou, and northern Xuzhou have begun to fully enter the stage of agricultural development.

(End of this chapter)