Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 146 Divide and Conquer
The news of the two dukes being sent to their deaths was reported the very next day.

The gatekeepers of the Duke of Yan and the Duke of Wei, as well as the people sent by the Wang and Li families to gather information, all bought a newspaper and went back to report.

The gates of Luoyang were bustling with people coming and going, including messengers from various prefects, merchants and travelers of all kinds, and people from the south and the north.

The Beijiwu Station is located on the second tallest building in the Luoyang Imperial Palace. It served as both a place for holding court and conducting official business, as well as a place for daily rest.

Not far away is the Temple of All Things, also known as the Divine Palace.

The building at the foot of Beijiwu is the Mingtang, the Mingtang where the emperor sits, also known as the Daming Palace.

The main hall is 100 meters high, and the main hall is over 80 meters high, each covering an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters, with a wide, stepped foundation.

The emperor only used a small, magnificent section in front of the main hall for court audiences. Only members of the royal family could enter the interior of the hall, and its level of luxury was unparalleled and beyond the reach of the ministers.

Beijiwu stood on the square outer corridor of the Mingtang Tower, looking at the flat and orderly city of Luoyang in front of him.

From here you can see the various courtyards and gardens inside the palace, as well as the palace maids and eunuchs cleaning and working. You can also see the streets and markets outside the city gates, and even the areas outside the city.

The city of Luoyang is over 7,000 meters long, and the imperial palace is located right in the middle, giving people a wide enough field of vision to see many things happening outside the palace.

Five short-haired men stood beside Beijiwu.

It was between spring and summer, and the mountain farmers wore uniform shirts, jackets, and trousers, while the Han people wore long-sleeved robes in Hanfu.

While admiring the scenery, Beijiwu casually asked, "How many people are in the city this year?"

Li Chengren respectfully replied: "There are 180,000 people in the palace, 240,000 officials of all ranks, 100,000 imperial guards, 100,000 merchants and foreign merchants, about 40,000 monks in various temples, 60,000 artisan households, and 450,000 commoners. Including the public households and servants who have moved in, the total population is 1384710."

The ordinary people in the city mainly help this giant city run. Some sell vegetables, some carry manure, some sweep the streets and patrol, some fight fires and rescue people. Most of them have their own purpose.

Looking at the bustling crowd outside, Bei Jiwu said, "There should be quite a few babies born this year, and then drinking water will become a problem. We need to build an underground water supply channel specifically for the palace, drawing water from the distant mountains."

“Then we should dig a reservoir about 20 miles away and use the canal water to send river water into several areas of the city to prevent the groundwater from drying up.”

The craftsmen in charge of city construction immediately replied, "Your servant obeys!"

There are also local coal mines in Luoyang. After burning coal for two or three years, the processing technology has improved a lot.

The food, drink, and toilet needs of the more than two million people inside and outside the city are now a problem. If this is not addressed, the population will rapidly expand in the future.

"Tuoba Niu, send people to Zhengcheng, two hundred miles away, to build an official office. The style should be simple and practical, like that of the mountain farmers. First, build ten thousand houses, and construct a canteen, toilets, barracks, stables, and other facilities."

"Once it is completed, the officials of the Three Dukes and Six Ministries in Luoyang City, along with their families, servants, and attendants, will move there. From now on, all administrative offices will be located in Zheng City. Matters that require my attention can be sent over separately."

"Seventy percent of the merchants from the Hu people moved to Chang'an. From now on, officials and people in charge of commerce will go to Chang'an, while those in charge of government affairs will go to Zhengcheng. Commerce and government will be separated."

He made his own mistakes and took responsibility for them. Beiji Wu had made a will in advance. Now, in order to prevent the Three Dukes and Six Ministries from acting recklessly, the first thing to do is to strip these people of their special status.

Since these people are indeed needed to stabilize the situation after I'm gone, it's easy for me to take back my words, but it's unnecessary.

By moving the Three Dukes and Six Ministries to a place 200 miles away, these people would have less access to the palace, or it would have become more difficult for them to contact people inside the palace.

The mountain farmers were definitely all near Luoyang, and the separation of the two tribes would not affect their rule.

There are too few people, and the mountain farmers control the military, so as long as there is enough food, there will be no chaos.

Moreover, the current system is essentially a feudal system, with each region having been granted thousands or tens of thousands of households, which the Three Dukes and Six Ministries cannot control.

The power one wields in a city with two million people is certainly different from that in a city with two hundred thousand people.

In the Northern Warlord's presence, the prime minister is second only to the emperor, but without the emperor and imperial power to protect him, who will listen to him when thousands of households share the same property?

It was centralized, but feudal.

The "Three Offices and Six Ministries" can be considered successors, but once the successors no longer hold positions within the company, their influence becomes negligible.

Separation of power and politics.

Li Chengren immediately realized the change and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the Three Dukes and Six Ministries have all gone to Zhengcheng. It will definitely be difficult to carry out official business, and I'm afraid it will delay state affairs!"

Beiji Wu laughed and said, "The imperial court has more than 200,000 officials, which was originally designed for tens of millions of people. Now there are less than 10 million people here, and 3 million people in Huanghuai Province. There is no inconvenience."

"You should govern one city well first, then you can govern the whole country."

"The northern war is directly managed by the Pingyuan Province. I will personally manage the Shannong Province and several places south of Luoyang. From now on, you will be mainly responsible for the eastern and southern regions, managing water resources and ensuring the well-being of the people, promoting Han studies education, reclaiming farmland, and breeding oxen and draft horses."

"Anyone who moves to Zhengcheng, whether they are high-ranking officials or ordinary people, including former refugees, can be registered as a Zhengcheng resident. If they own less than fifty mu of land, they can make up the difference."

"Those with official positions shall be granted an additional 100 mu of land for each rank they hold. For those whose positions are not hereditary, the land under their names may be freely bought and sold."

If you own your own land, would you still be someone else's slave?

There will certainly be many, but some poor people will return to work in the fields and no longer live as dependents.

Without the endorsement of His Majesty King Wu above, and without the common people as an excuse below, how could a group of scholars and literati possibly make any waves?

Nowadays, there are almost no taxpayers. Last year, they were exempt from taxes for a year and lived off the national treasury's silver and grain. This year, their taxes are paid directly to Luoyang. The task of collecting taxes is not in the hands of outsiders. The mountain farmers control money, taxes, the army, grain, and a leadership team that belongs to the mountain farmers themselves.

Beijiwu was the ancestor of the Shannong people. After discovering that his number of men was no less than that of the Han people, he decisively changed his previous plans.

One system of nobility, and another system of civil service.

The aristocratic system ensured that the emperor's power could maintain its rule.

The civil service system ensures that there are enough talented people to join the management team when it is critical.

The Shan Nong Kingdom now has more than two million Shan Nong people, while the Pingyuan Province in North China has only more than two million Han people. In addition, a large number of military households have been mobilized to fight and defend against the Khitans.

The Huaihai Province has a population of approximately five million, with the majority concentrated around Luoyang, followed by various large cities with populations exceeding two hundred thousand.

The mountain farmers had extensive experience in incorporating and managing people. Relying on money, grain, and the deterrent power provided by the Northern Army, their management efficiency was much higher than that of the Han people of this era.

Emperor Wen of the Wen Dynasty could move the capital, but he could not get rid of the Han Chinese bureaucratic system and had to rely on Han Chinese officials to control the vast territory and population.

The Arctic Army has its own management system, and it is normal for the victors to expel a group of surrendered prisoners to work in a region.

The Prime Minister and the Three Dukes and Six Ministries could not oppose the orders of the Northern Emperor, who could govern the world well without their help.

"It's all the fault of the Duke of Yan and the Duke of Wei! Those two made one mistake after another, ruining our lives!"

"Yes, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"King Wu must think that we Han people are not strong. In the past, when we fought, he easily defeated us and made us run away. Now, he sent the Duke of Yan, who has been famous for a long time, to resist the Khitans, and he was defeated by the Khitans again."

"Alas! We Han people will never have a good life again!"

“It was clearly stated before that the mountain farmers and Han people share the same origin and are indistinguishable from one another. But after those two troublemakers caused trouble, they may think that the mountain farmers and Han people together will lose their ambition and become just as useless as the Han people.”

The civil and military officials of the Luoyang Group had just enjoyed a year of comfortable life when they were dragged down by two dukes and fell into an icy pit from which they could not get out.

Almost everyone believed that it was the influence of the two dukes that led King Wu to seriously doubt the fighting ability of the Han people and to believe that the Han people were not good at doing things.

The civil and military officials in Luoyang were completely unaware that they themselves were the ones who had caused the trouble.

When the messenger rushed back to Tianzhou with news of the handling of the two states, the Wang and Li families were finally relieved.

"King Wu is magnanimous; our family is safe and sound!"

Fang Huairui finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly put her hands together to thank Heaven and King Wu.

Wang Daoji also breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling a weight lifted from his heart.

Despite the harsh criticism of their family in the newspapers, and the fact that King Wu seemed quite angry, he ultimately spared them this time out of consideration for everyone in the old dynasty.

Not only were their titles preserved, but their landholdings were also not reduced.

However, with so many people sent by the two dukes, there were even fewer people capable of working in the territory. The two families could no longer live a carefree life and had to participate in the management of the land in order to make some money as soon as possible from the two million acres of land.

"We'll not build the house yet, we'll just live here for now. This year we'll plant more hemp and millet, and we'll be more frugal with our money."

Wang Daoji is now the head of the Wang family, and he must take on all the family's affairs, big and small, and consider the family's future.

Fang Huairui nodded, then said softly, "What about the young ladies' marriages?"

Wang Daoji quickly said, "Let's talk about it in two years. According to the customs of the mountain farmers, they should get married at eighteen. It's not too late to wait two years."

Fang Huairui felt it was too late, but her family couldn't afford to provide dowries for her daughters, and now that they had gotten into trouble, they couldn't find good families for them.

Intermarriage with the Li family is possible, but there aren't many suitable candidates from the Li family.

“Alright, let’s follow the rules of the mountain farmers then,” Fang Huairui reluctantly agreed.

This is now a respectable excuse to postpone marriage and save some money.

The customs of the mountain farmers are gradually becoming the customs of everyone.

Whether civil officials or military generals, from soldiers guarding the city to those sweeping the streets and collecting manure, they all received King Wu's money and grain.

Even the various fiefdoms have now accepted sponsorship from the Arctic Army, which provides them with food, military pay, and weapons.

It is a highly centralized country, and everything should naturally follow the model of imperial supremacy.

However, Arctic Martial always clearly believed that he could not manage areas a month away, especially in places with frequent wars and natural disasters.

Things need to be dealt with one by one; dealing with multiple enemies at the same time would leave you with no free time.

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, the feudal system is more effective. Later things can be changed later. There is no perfect system in the world that remains unchanged.

(End of this chapter)