I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 94 Building Cities!

After Gu Yong, instead of focusing on internal affairs, he summoned officials from surrounding counties in Liu Miao's name and ordered them to come to Moling.

At the same time, Gu Yong inquired with Lu Su, Cheng Pu, and others to find people with management skills under Liu Miao. He then gathered all of them together and explained the Three Chiefs System and the Equal Field System to them in detail.

For these ordinary officials who had no grand ambitions and only wanted to make a living, Gu Yong did not make things too difficult for them, nor did he expect them to perform everything meticulously or understand the level of suppressing powerful clans and preventing land annexation. Instead, he clearly told them that they could recommend candidates for the three chiefs, regardless of personal relationships. In this way, the benefit of reduced corvée labor alone was enough to make them flock to the position, and they naturally began to pay attention to their official duties.

Under Gu Yong's guidance, these experienced officials undoubtedly became a truly capable political organization. As the training was completed, Gu Yong finally distributed them throughout Moling, forming a framework for handling internal affairs, no longer the makeshift team that Liu Miao had previously arbitrarily assembled.

The first thing to do is to establish the three-chief system.

If this happened in any county other than Moling, it would likely face numerous difficulties, and it wouldn't be impossible for it to end without any resolution. The local powerful families and the elders enjoying their privileges would certainly not agree to such a thing! Moreover, the Han Dynasty governed with loyalty and filial piety in mind, and the elders wielded immense power. If they happened to be walking beside you and accidentally tripped and fell, then sued you for disrespecting an elder, even Liu Miao would have to personally apologize. The "Three Elders" system and "Equal Land Distribution" would naturally become impossible to implement.

But it happened to be Moling.

Only Moling.

Because Liu Miao brought a large number of people from Jiangbei, the number of these outsiders far exceeded the number of local people in Moling. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of households, the few thousand households in Moling could not make a ripple at all! Not to mention the local powerful clans, who numbered no more than five, if they made any noise, these outsiders would teach them a lesson about the power of numbers!
In particular, the people who crossed the river were often apprehensive when they arrived in Jiangdong, a place where they knew no one. They often had no choice but to stick together for warmth, which naturally led to the emergence of many loyal "leaders". Now that the government is going to implement the three-chief system and give them a reasonable identity, they are naturally happy to help make this happen and actively cooperate!
Thus, with policies from above and a foundation at the bottom, the implementation of the three-chief system proceeded more smoothly than anyone expected! As the three-chief system gradually became established, Liu Miao's regime gained an outrageous level of control over grassroots organizations, fully enabling precise mobilization!
Even so, problems still arose when the equal-field system was implemented.

It wasn't that the local powerful families were causing trouble. After all, they didn't even dare to stop the Three Chiefs System, let alone the subsequent Equal-Field System... Especially since the Equal-Field System specifically stated that those who owned slaves and oxen could receive additional land. This was essentially the government's way of appeasing these powerful families, and at the same time, it was a vicious conspiracy.

The core of the equal-field system was ultimately to curb land annexation.

"Those who own slaves and oxen can receive additional land"... This seems like a compromise with powerful families, but it is actually a trap set for them.

If you want more land... you can! But from now on you can't hide your household registration! You have to report the number of slaves and tenants truthfully. The government will use this number to collect taxes. There will be no situation where you get more land but pay less tax.

Conversely, if one tries to conceal their household registration and pay less tax, the amount of land allocated to them will naturally decrease, resulting in more harm than good.

Therefore, the powerful families in Moling are currently preoccupied with the issue of how many people to report, and they simply don't have the energy to argue with the government.

Those who were truly dissatisfied with the equal distribution of land were actually ordinary people.

Gu Yong had previously observed that northern farmers did not know how to care for southern fields, let alone how to cultivate mulberry trees and rice. Therefore, he wanted them to cultivate the land in the mountains and use it to grow northern wheat and millet, allowing them to adapt to the soil and water of Jiangdong as quickly as possible. This would also solve the current predicament of Moling having a large population and limited land, making the most of the land to feed the current people.

But these northern farmers weren't fools. Everyone knew that crops grown on plains and along riverbanks were more plentiful and larger! Now that Gu Yong wanted to drive them into the mountains, they were just stirring up trouble.

After learning of this, Liu Miao even wrote a letter to Gu Yong asking, "Does Yuan Tan need to mobilize his soldiers?"

It's a very simple sentence, but it also expresses Liu Miao's support for Gu Yong.

Gu Yong simply replied to Liu Miao, "This is a matter concerning the people. Why would my lord need me to mobilize troops?"

Instead of seeking help from Liu Miao above, Gu Yong took the initiative to summon the three newly appointed leaders below and gathered them together.

“The land in Jiangdong is not inexhaustible. Moreover, the area is crisscrossed by waterways, and people often turn perfectly good farmland into waterlogged depressions. How can crops be grown on such land? Do people really want to wait until there is no food left and their wives and children starve to death before they are willing to accept it?”

At the same time, Gu Yong also provided solutions for farmers who were dissatisfied with the land distribution—

"The land in the mountains is indeed not comparable to that on the plains. Therefore, we can distribute more land to these people, give them priority in providing oxen for cultivating the land, and reduce or exempt certain taxes. What do you all think of this?"

Upon hearing this, the three leaders felt that Gu Yong's words made sense, so they went back to appease the farmers under their jurisdiction, allowing the land redistribution to continue.

In this way, Gu Yong dismantled Liu Miao's previous makeshift regime in just one month and replaced it with a solid foundation, allowing Liu Miao's rule to gradually stabilize.

Under the leadership of their respective village leaders, the people began to cultivate the land they had been allocated, and the importance of private land, as emphasized by the "equal-field system," became apparent at this moment. Because private land ownership greatly motivated the farmers, both the efficiency and the area of ​​land reclamation increased significantly. Even the usual violent incidents of fighting and harassment of young women decreased considerably, as everyone was busy cultivating the perpetual land promised by Liu Miao, land that could be "cultivated for generations"!
On this day, Liu Miao was invited by Gu Yong to climb Zhongshan Mountain, the highest point in Moling, to view the entire city.

Seeing that the entire area around Moling was filled with crisscrossing farmland, Liu Miao felt both joy and relief: "From now on, I'm afraid I will no longer have to worry about money and food. This is all thanks to Yuan Tan!"

“But Yuan Tan didn’t need to specifically ask me to climb up to see it, did he? Does Yuan Tan think I can’t see his own merits?” Hearing Liu Miao’s teasing, everyone around burst into laughter, especially Zhou Tai, who even mocked Gu Yong, saying, “I didn’t expect the Chief Secretary to be this kind of person! Interesting! Interesting!”

Gu Yong shook his head at this moment: "Reclaiming wasteland and providing shelter for the people is the achievement of our lord and the officials in various places. How can it be attributed solely to my merit?"

"The reason I invited you here today is actually for another matter."

Gu Yong told Liu Miao to look down.

"Moling was once called Jinling, which originated from King Wei of Chu, Xiong Shang, who built Jinling City in Stone City, hence the name."

"King Wei of Chu, a great ruler of his time, chose this place to build his city, which is naturally remarkable. It is situated by the Yangtze River and controls the Huai River, relying on its strategic location and natural defenses. To the north lies Fuzhou Mountain, to the east Zhongshan Mountain, and it is surrounded by the Huai River and protected by Sangbo Lake (Xuanwu Lake). It is a place of strategic importance and should be the foundation of his dynasty!"

"However, Moling is not a prefecture capital, so it is not large in scale and has a small population... Now that there are 100,000 households here, why doesn't my lord build a city here and take advantage of the terrain?"

Everyone then realized that Gu Yong had taken Liu Miao up the mountain not to show off his achievements, but to let Liu Miao see the terrain of Moling so that he could build a city and make Moling the foundation of a kingdom!

Standing on Zhongshan Mountain and looking down, Liu Miao saw the Yangtze River rolling eastward in the distance and the Huai River flowing nearby. The center was flat, but there were mountains, rivers and lakes on all sides for defense. He naturally knew that Moling was a chosen place and was indeed suitable for building a city and raising people here!
However, Liu Miao was worried about other things.

"The people have just migrated to Jiangdong, and it will take a lot of their strength to reclaim the wasteland. Not to mention that spring plowing will follow immediately after the reclamation. Is it not a bit disregardful of the people's strength to ask them to build a city now?"

Let Yuan Shu handle things like exorbitant taxes and levies; Liu Miao himself wouldn't dare to do it.

However, Gu Yong clearly had his own reasons, and it was not just for the sake of building cities.

"Now that the Three Chiefs and the Equal Land Distribution have been implemented, my lord need not worry too much about agriculture. You should know that when the people migrated to Jiangdong, their greatest fear was not being able to survive. Now that they have been allocated land, what complaints could they possibly have?"

"And does my lord really think that it is enough for the people to simply cultivate the land?"

Gu Yong replied, "My lord is worried about the farmers being exhausted, but have you forgotten that the people are not just farmers?"

“Once cities are built, markets will be established. Once markets are established, merchants, musicians, and artisans will naturally come to settle down. These people do not have the skills of farmers to take care of agriculture and sericulture. Does my lord intend to sit idly by and watch them starve to death?”

"Moreover, when I served as magistrate in various places, I found that when shamans, doctors, musicians, and artisans were present, the local farmers were more enthusiastic and less likely to gather and cause trouble. Therefore, although building cities may cause the people to continue to work hard, it is necessary now!"

Liu Miao had nothing more to say at this point.

Because we have been focusing on the farmers who make up the majority of the population, we have forgotten that merchants, musicians, craftsmen, doctors, and other people with special skills also need to make a living.

At the same time, Liu Miao always subconsciously thought that he should rest when he was tired, but he forgot that no matter how tired he was during the day, he would still hold his phone at night and look at those beautiful women of all shapes and sizes...

We need to keep everyone entertained!
Even if you're exhausted, looking at the snow-white scenery for a while will make you feel better!
So Gu Yong was right after all; Moling City still had to be built! And it had to be built on a massive scale!
Moreover, building cities is never a losing proposition.

The market tax and commercial tax levied in the city's shops were much more than the agricultural tax.
Moreover, even if the agricultural tax was collected at a very low level, Liu Miao would still inevitably be scolded.

But if he were to collect city taxes or commercial taxes, no matter how much he collected, everyone would praise Liu Miao for doing a great job!
Not to mention that Moling is covered by a network of waterways and has the Yangtze River as a golden waterway. Once a city is built, it may drive the development of the entire Jiangdong region, transforming Jiangdong from a "poor and remote place" into a "land of abundance" and a "land of fish and rice"!
Furthermore, although Liu Miao felt that Yuan Shu or other northern warlords did not have the ability to cross the Yangtze River and directly threaten Moling, the presence or absence of cities and walls still made a difference.

Gu Yong also said that what is most important to the people is always their sense of security, and ensuring that the people feel safe is the government's primary responsibility!
Given this, Liu Miao immediately made the decision—

"establish!"

"This Moling City must be built!"

After figuring out the benefits of building a city, constructing Moling immediately became as important as reclaiming wasteland!

But who will manage such a massive project...?

(End of this chapter)