"Gongsun Xiangguo." Bai Liyan (Wei Xian) continued: "The so-called unification of the world, in the final analysis, is just a small number of people, and finally determines the fate of the people in the world.

Based on what Wei saw and heard in Shaoping, Wei dared to conclude that the Black Turban rebels would not be angry for more than ten years, and after ten years, the Black Turban Army would undoubtedly be defeated. ”

"Hehaha...... If the Central Plains are unified within ten years, has General Wei ever thought about it! ”

"Hehe......" Bai Liyan smiled deeply, unable to decipher any substantive content, but then he changed his words and said: "As far as Wei knows, the Central Plains land from the coast of the East China Sea of the Jin Kingdom to the West Sea and the Barbarian Land of the West Sea, the territory is vast, with nearly 30,000 miles from east to west, and the longest from north to south is more than 10,000 miles.

It takes nearly a year for the infantry army to march from east to west in one way, and it is a galloping road and an official road. It will take two years to come and go, how slow the mobilization of the army is, how lagging the transmission of information, and how foolish it is to want to unify the Central Plains within ten years.

Of course, as far as Wei knows, the Black Turban Army has already laid hidden stakes in the territory of Weiguo, and as long as the southern line opens up the border between Xu State and Weiguo, the rebels in Weiguo will immediately rise up and echo it. Even if the Black Turban Army can achieve what it wants, the soldiers, horses, money and food required will be incalculable, even if the Black Turban Army is rich in the world, in the face of trillions of people in the territory, it will inevitably be in ruins after the war, not to mention feeding trillions of subjects, even Jin Xuedi south of Qianyue Mountain can't resist it, how can it be peaceful and prosperous. ”

"Hmph, then General Wei can know how much grain and grass my Gongsun Yue has planned for the black scarf in the past ten years."

"Xiangguo didn't say it, Wei was about to talk about it. Xiangguo implemented the "Nongsang Order" that year, which was called the revitalization of Xianguo, but in fact it was to raise food for the Black Turban Army, and at the same time to stimulate public resentment, which laid the foundation for the subsequent rebellion. Fengyangjun's rebellion back then was your doing. The purpose is to pass on the failure of the "Nongsang Order" to the popular uprising, and at the same time find cover for you to transfer grain and grass. ”

"Yes, the original intention of the "Nongsang Order" was to secretly transfer the grain and grass of the Xianguo out of the country, and at the same time intensify the estrangement between the powerful and the people, and radically change the people's feelings. Fengyangjun's rebellion was the first step to intensify the popular uprising.

Fengyang Jun rebelled, and the money and grain hidden in various places could be justifiably exported to Xianguo through the rebel channel, and at the same time, the Jin State would inevitably take advantage of the situation to raise troops to attack Xian, and Xianguo would be defeated. It's just that I didn't expect that General Wei was used by Zhao Xun and turned the tide of the Jiangdong war in one fell swoop. ”

"But it didn't hinder your plan, but Wei was curious, how much grain did Lord Xiangguo send to the rebels from Xianguo for more than ten years, as far as Wei knew, the rebels didn't seem to be short of grain and grass, but the transportation capacity was insufficient, resulting in a poor supply of grain and grass."

"General Wei wants to know?" Gongsun Yue has no reason to be confident at this time, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is proud.

Baili Yan couldn't understand the depth of it, so she asked tentatively:

According to Wei's estimates, the rebels have a role of 1.2 million troops in the north and south, and millions of people, if they are counted from last year, there should be no shortage of food within two years. Based on this calculation, the rebels' military rations were at least 15 million stone or more, and it was the least, not counting the official rations needed for relief within the jurisdiction. Based on the land output of Xianguo in the past ten years, as well as the natural loss of grain and storage, the outflow of grain and grass from Xianguo even exceeds 20 million stones. ”

Bailiyan's estimation is based on the current productivity and population of Xianguo, but it is only an estimate from the perspective of an ordinary person, and there is no Gongsun Yue in a high position, and the authority resources he really controls are more detailed and comprehensive.

At this time, Gongsun Yue was still full of confidence, and was not moved by Bai Liyan's words in the slightest, he said:

"Hmph, it is not empty to say that the Central Plains will be unified within ten years, if there are only 20 million stones, grains and grass, and only 1.2 million troops, it is impossible to unify the Central Plains within ten years."

"That's how much!"

"Fifty million stones!"

"What!"

Bailiyan was shocked when she heard the news, and a thunder exploded in her brain, and she was suddenly blank and stunned. Gongsun Yue was shocked when he saw him, and he became more and more calm at this moment:

"General Wei, can 50 million stone grain and grass supply 2 million troops for six years?"

"In this way, you have transferred all the grain and grass to the Sun Kingdom!"

"Exactly, in addition to Xianguo, in fact, Changsun, Sunguo, Zhiguo, and Weiguo all had a steady stream of grain and grass transported to Sun before the war, but none of them had the means to reach the sky. If this is calculated, there are no 10,000,000 stones of grain and grass, but 80 million stones. 80 million stone grain and grass is more than enough to supply an army of 2 million for ten years. Within ten years, as long as the people are abundant, there is almost no worry about food and grass, and they can give it a go. ”

"Despicable, shameless!" Bai Liyan scolded, and couldn't help but be shocked by this appalling figure.

The storage period of grain and grass with chaff is three to five years, and after three to five years, the nutrition and quality of grain decline year by year. Generally speaking, under good conditions and climate, the rate of deterioration after eight to ten years of preservation will not exceed 20%. [Note 1]

Of course, the standards of deterioration here vary with the times. The modern standard is completely different from the standard of the agricultural era, and in the era of low productivity, what can be eaten is food.

Nowadays, it is not uncommon for grain and grass to be stored for 20 years, and as long as it does not become inedible with mildew, there is no problem in using it as rations.

At the same time, grain and grass are not only stored, but also have an institutionalized storage system every year.

When the new grain is on the market, it is the node when the new grain enters the warehouse and the old grain is dumped, and the rebels sell a large amount of old grain into the market, especially the Xianguo that implemented the "Nongsang Order", transporting the old grain into the Xianguo for sale, and at the same time using the hidden pile of Gongsun Yue, as well as countless merchants, to transport the new rice out, so as to ensure that the grain of the Xianguo is continuously transported to the Sun State for secret hoarding.

To say that in the past fifteen or sixteen years, through the hands of Gongsun Yue, there have been 50 million stones of grain and grass transported abroad, it is by no means a lie, or even more than that. There are other channels in the open and in the dark, so that the grain and grass of 50 million stones is only a lot more, and it is only a conservative number.

Even according to the maximum natural attrition of 30 percent, excluding accidental losses, there are still 30 or 40 million stone of grain and grass available for the rebels, counting the grain and grass obtained from other princes and other countries, without 100 million stone of grain and grass, 80 million stone is probably not empty talk.

What's more, the rebels are still actively restoring agriculture, and the actual depletion of their stocks will be basically flat or even surplus from this year onwards, especially after the implementation of the "Household Grain Clearance", their control over grain and grass will reach the limit.

According to this development, the Black Turban Army will really be able to sweep away the Central Plains countries and dominate the world within ten years.

At present, this continent, from the coast of the easternmost sea to the westernmost land border of the West Tapir, there is a galloping road that runs through the east and west, with a total mileage of about 30,000 li.

The width of the north and south extends from the north coast of Changsun Kingdom to the southernmost border of Xu State, with a total mileage of 12,300 miles in a straight line, not counting the two thousand miles from the southern border of Xu State to the defense line of Qianyue Mountain, not to mention the distance of Qianyue Prairie and the south deep into the hinterland of Jinxuedi.

The total area of such a huge territory is actually far greater than the total area of Eurasia combined, and even North America is added. [Note 2]

The reason why such a huge territory has been unified four times and fallen apart four times in the Bronze Age is that communication technology has seriously restricted administrative jurisdiction and made it difficult to ensure the timeliness of information.

Therefore, every unification is the beginning of a feudal king's division, and the result is that it takes half a year to upload and distribute at the earliest, and a round trip takes a year, and 80% of the time and grain and grass required for marching and fighting are wasted on the march.

It took nearly 40 years for the Chen Dynasty to destroy the Hai Dynasty, 60 years for the Chen Dynasty to destroy the Chen Dynasty, and 20 years for the Liang Dynasty to destroy the Hao Dynasty.

In other words, under the existing technical conditions, it will take half a century to unify the country, and the fundamental reason is the consumption of war materials and the loss of strategic confrontation.

In most cases, any rebellion is hastily started, and even if there are preparations, it is only for a small number of men and horses to disperse the war resources, and once it is put into war, it is necessary to expand the territory, manage the territory and base areas, restore agriculture and munitions production, and produce all the munitions needed for the army, and this process can be as short as two or three years, and as long as eight or nine years.

In addition, the newly expanded territory needs to appease the people's livelihood, restore agricultural production and ensure the stability of the people's feelings, and require the investment of a large amount of resources.

The shortest battle for reunification in Chinese history is probably the War of Liberation, which is also a great unification under the premise of technological progress and popular aspirations.

And the territory is only four or five hundred to 10 million square kilometers, today's Liang Dynasty territory, China's land area is eight or nine times, such a huge territory, it will take decades to complete the unification, in addition to the opportunity, more need for material reserves and human resources.

Gongsun Yue's determination that the rebels would unify the territory within ten years was obviously due to the full consideration of the rebels' existing material base, which was enough for the Black Turban Army to support an army of two million for ten years, and even if the most basic agricultural production was maintained within ten years, the Black Turban Rebels would be continuously supplied with food and grass.

As long as the existing territory is managed, the expanded territory and occupied areas, or even left it alone, it is possible to directly withdraw manpower and supply the materials needed by the army, so that it is possible to reunify the territory within ten years.

It cannot but be said that Gongsun Yue's clever calculation lies in the fact that he fed more than one million rebels under the noses of other countries with the power of Xian State, which is how ironic.

When you think of the details, you can't help but feel numb and hateful.

"You will never succeed, delusional!" Bailiyan gritted her teeth and said.

"Hehaha...... Does General Wei think that he can rely on hundreds of thousands of rabble in the Three Kingdoms to resist the millions of heroes of our army? ”

Gongsun Yue sneered, but Bai Liyan said:

"Actually, from the day you got into trouble, failure has long been doomed, and dominating the country for ten years is just a joke of fools' dreams."

"Oh, it seems that General Wei is very confident."

"Gongsun Xiangguo, do you know why the four dynasties of Hai, Chen, Hao, and Liang were finally defeated?"

"The general trend of the world is mighty, and the old dynasty will not die, this is in line with the will of the people at the time, could it be that General Wei has other high opinions?"

"The general trend of the world is true, and the foundation of the people's heart, the root of the people's heart, is that the cultivator has his land, and the dweller has his house.

Throughout the dynasties, all those who caused the people to lose their land were all powerful and noble, and the rulers did their best to oppress and exploit them, and the root cause was that the people in power were corrupt and degenerate, arrogant, extravagant, and lascivious, so that the legal system was decayed and there was no righteousness.

If there is no one in the world to correct the law, how can there be righteousness, and if there is no righteousness in the world, who will correct the law. From the king to the small sesame officials, they all regard the people as cattle and horses, and the common people as grass and mustard, and do their best to satisfy their personal desires and abolish the world's official affairs.

What Wei saw and heard in Shao Ping, the Black Turban Army was all extremely exploited and corrupted, and in just one year, the Black Turban Army was in Shao Ping, from the chief officer to the Holy Envoy, all in the name of crusading against the tyrant and eliminating the tyrant, and to practice personal and erosive deeds. The speed of corruption and degeneration is rare in ancient times, how can such a country and such an army be invincible.

It's not so much that you will dominate the world for ten years, but that you will dream of a spring and autumn in ten years! ”

"You!" Gongsun Yue was speechless when he heard this.

[Note 1] Regarding the grain storage cycle, we must first make clear two points, one is that the standards of ancient and modern times are different, and the other is that the preservation of grain must be shelled, otherwise it cannot be stored for a long time, and it cannot be preserved for a long time in ancient times.

Regarding the preservation effect and theory of chaff on starch, I will not repeat it here. Specifically, some problems in the preservation of ancient grains are explained.

First, the storage period of shelled grains, if the minimum standard is to be edible, it is not a problem to leave it for ten or twenty years. In the 60s and 80s of the last century, China prepared for war and famine. From the three years of natural disasters to the first few years of reform and opening up, in the middle of 20 years, the whole country was hungry, rations and edible oil were rationed on a monthly basis, but not because of the lack of domestic grain production capacity, of course, the grain production capacity in the years after the three years of natural disasters was indeed insufficient, but in the mid-70s, this problem no longer existed.

The core problem was that the threat of external war at that time and the low domestic agricultural productivity forced the central government to accumulate more rations for war preparedness, because in the event of a full-scale war, domestic production would fall into a state of war and turmoil, and it would be difficult for agricultural production to meet the needs of the whole people, and a large number of people would lose production and devote themselves to the consumption of war.

At the same time, the agricultural extermination strategy implemented by the United States in Vietnam severely hit North Vietnam's agricultural production capacity, and China provided Vietnam with all the military expenses needed for the 2 million army that year, especially rations and ammunition, which was enough for the 2 million Vietnamese army to eat and drink for 10 years.

As for the edible oil is also rationed, cotton is also rationed, the fundamental reason is still the result of the special background at that time, edible oil can not only be used for human intake, but also can be converted into industrial fuel, lubricating oil, industrial supplies, especially at that time the domestic oil exploitation output is not high, the consumption of many chemicals, to a large extent depends on the chemical transformation of vegetable oil and animal oil.

Cotton, in turn, is a necessity for the production of safe and smokeless gunpowder, and a large amount of cotton was used for the production of arms hoarding and the consumption of the Vietnam War, which led to the impact of cotton on the lives of the masses.

Therefore, soon after the reform and opening up, a large amount of grain stocks entered the market, and the rations eaten at that time were all war-ready grain hoarded in the past 20 years, which was dark red, because of the long storage time.

Second, taking the Qin Dynasty's unification of China as an example, the Qin Dynasty used 600,000 troops at its peak, including both soldiers and armed people. According to the productive forces at that time, it took 10 to 15 adults to basically ensure the basic expenses of a man who was out of work, and at the same time to ensure social stability in the country and maintain the minimum needs of the common people, and at least 25 people were needed to maintain the use of troops abroad and domestic stability. With the population of the Chinese at that time, it was clear that before the Qin State unified China, there were obviously no fifteen million people.

Therefore, when it comes to the issue of war preparedness, the Qin Empire unified China, and still ate the reserves that have been continuously stored and updated in the past 100 years, and only enough food reserves can allow more men to take out production and participate in the war, and at the same time not squeeze the domestic wartime production and people's livelihood needs.

Of course, it is obviously unrealistic to eat rations from a hundred years ago, so there must be an institutionalized measure to ensure that the grain is constantly renewed, new grain is put into storage, old grain is out of the warehouse, and it is constantly renewed over and over again, so that when it accumulates to a certain scale, enough to maintain the expenses of hundreds of thousands of troops for many years, it can launch a powerful war machine.

Therefore, it is understandable that in ancient times, it was necessary to eat rations for a long time.

Third, if we must worship foreign countries, the grain reserves of ancient China are not enough to prove this, and we can also rely on two foreign examples. Taking the United Kingdom and the United States in World War I as an example, the marinated beef eaten on the British front line in World War II was still the British stock beef during the Napoleonic period, and the British still ate beef during the First Crimean War in World War II, both of which are almost like a hundred years. In the early days of World War II, the United States was still eating beef and ham during the Civil War, and the time was also seventy or eighty.

When people's needs are put first, as long as they can eat, they basically don't care about the shelf life, because people are animals, just like animals. It's just that the material life of modern society is enriched, productivity is improved, and people's concepts are also increased, so that standardization will appear, and the incidence of cancer and tumor in modern society is not less, and it is estimated that it is still higher than in ancient times.

Fourth, on the issue of grain preservation technology in ancient China, taking Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty "Hanjiacang" as an example, Hanjiacang is a granary built underground, which first digs the pit, then compacts, and burns hard with fire, so that it can ensure that the grain is preserved in the ground for a very long period of time, and there will be no water seepage and moisture. The standing grain of Jiacang can guarantee the ration expenditure of one million Tang troops for one to two years, and in the heyday of the Tang army, there were only five or six hundred thousand people, which is enough to ensure the war expenses of the army of the world for three to four years, and there is no need to levy high taxes on the world during this period, which alleviates the impact of the war on the lives of the common people.

The Tang Dynasty often only had tens of thousands, or even 100,000, each time it fought abroad, and Luoyang's Hanjiacang could supply the needs of 100,000 troops for fifteen years, so war was a comprehensive safeguard measure for productivity, system, reserves, and scheduling. Without sufficient funds and reserves, under the agricultural system, the cost and cycle of war test the system and governance level of a country.

[2] Regarding the territory in this book, I would like to make two points, one is that the "Central Plains" in this article is located in the southern hemisphere, and the other is that the territory is very large.

Regarding the territory of agricultural society, the Tang Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty were more typical large-scale empires. Taking the Tang Dynasty as an example, during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, after the elimination of the Eastern and Western Turks, the current East Siberia, Middle Siberia, and Siberia were all included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time, the current Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were all within the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and today's Afghanistan and northeast Pakistan were also within the territory of the Tang Dynasty. From the south to present-day Vietnam, Laos, northern Burma, and northern India, all of them were within the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the borders of the Tang Dynasty bordered the two major empires of Tianzhu and Persia at that time.

In addition, there is another problem, that is, the territory is not equal to the jurisdiction, although so many of the above areas are the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but only military deterrence and political jurisdiction, and there is no realization of the administrative direct jurisdiction of the Central Plains, that is, the later gradually developed tribute and vassal states, there are many reasons, and there are three key points.

One is that it has exceeded the limits of administrative jurisdiction that the agricultural system can reach, and the Tang Dynasty has maintained its heyday for more than a decade, and then it has been shrinking and changing.

The second is that in the eyes of the ruling class at that time, these places were affected by the climate, ethnic composition and land quality, and could not achieve a balance of farming income, and also required a large number of upside down and immigration, for the agricultural social dynasty, the cost was too great, and it was a barren land, in the eyes of the Central Plains elite, especially in the eyes of the civil bureaucracy, there was not much value.

Third, and most importantly, there is the issue of communication. The so-called administrative jurisdiction is essentially an order of the central government, which can be reflected to the local government in a short period of time, and implemented and supervised. If the territory is huge and exceeds the effective time for communication guarantee and implementation, it will be difficult to ensure the effectiveness of administrative jurisdiction.

For example, the Zhou Dynasty, why is it divided, one is that the mountains inside the Zhou Dynasty are numerous, and Ji Fa is the king of Zhou who relied on a large number of nobles, there is no benefit, people can mix with you?

The second is that the traffic remains the same, at that time, there was no such advanced highway as the straight road and the Chi Road, and the straight road in the Qin Dynasty only appeared in the "Chi Road" such a high-tech. Moreover, the Zhou Dynasty was very underdeveloped in raising horses, so the horse post was basically a luxury, restricting communication, and without communication, if you want to solve the problem of great unification, you can only make certain concessions and compromises.

Therefore, the limitations of history have restricted the territory of the agricultural empire, and the purpose of dividing the feudal is not the pit left by the ancients, but the best choice at that time, if there is a telephone, a car, an airplane, the Zhou Dynasty still needs to be divided? Apparently not anymore.

After the Tang Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty had the largest territory, in order to maintain the rule of the golden family, after the Mongol Empire swept the world, it also implemented the feudal system, but also because of the internal hills, and at the same time the restrictions brought by poor traffic, at that time from Europe to send a letter to the Yuan capital, the road to run a horse had to go one way for three months, and the Yuan Empire did not have the heart to repair the background to Moscow, so from Moscow to the Yuan capital, and then from the Yuan capital to Moscow, it was only received half a year later, maybe four months ago had been rebelled, where was it too late.

What's even worse is that the Mongol Empire swept the world and brought about the problem of ethnic migration, resulting in different hills representing the interests of different ethnic groups, speaking of today's Russia, or the territory of the Golden Horde, Persia or the Mughal Empire built a dynasty on the ruins of the Timurid Empire.