Bai Liyan (Wei Xian) was pressing, and Chen Yunfeng was very embarrassed and said:

"Actually, Guangxin's family background is not rich."

"What do you mean?"

"General Wei knows how many people there are in Guangxin."

"Shhh...... Why, you can't hide it. ”

Chen Yunfeng nodded and said:

"There are nearly 500,000 registered citizens in Guangxin, but there are actually 700,000."

"What!"

Bailiyan himself was shocked, with a population of 500,000, looking at the Central Plains, except for the capitals of various countries, there are few towns with a population of more than 500,000.

Nowadays, within the territories of the princes of various countries, it is more common to hide the land and hide the household registration, mainly for tax avoidance and raising private soldiers. In particular, there are no fiefdoms, only the magnates of the food estates, and concealing the Dingkou and Tianmu is an important means to seek additional benefits. [Note 1]

In order to obtain more income, the powerful and noble relatives often collude with the local government to open up the wasteland privately, and the people who are taken up by the land are not counted in the local household registration, and the number of people who live and multiply for many years and conceal it is quite considerable.

The concealed population, often referred to as the "trilogy", is the servants, maidservants, slaves, tenants, etc., under the shadow of the powerful, and does not need to register the nationality of the population and those who do not enjoy the nationality.

The phenomenon of concealment and non-reporting in the local counties directly under the jurisdiction of the king is mainly for the purpose of providing black households for the local wealthy class, and the black households do not need to pay taxes, so the situation of local administrative concealment of people is also rampant.

In addition to the additional benefits that concealing people, these black households are also not included in the scope of conscription, which leads to the formation of personal dependence between the people of black households and the powerful and powerful, and the rapid expansion of local powerful forces. The national conscription was constrained by the local wealthy and powerful households, and the actual number of people could not be recruited, and in the end it could only be forcibly recruited to fill the numbers.

Previously, the Xian King issued an edict to the Qin King, and the Qin Wang army from all over the country came one after another, and the number of soldiers in the Xian army reached more than 400,000 at one time, which was more than 100,000 more than the Jiangdong Death War that year.

Bai Liyan suspected that people from all over the country were concealing the report at the beginning, but now it seems that not only did they conceal the report, but the situation of Guangxin was particularly serious. According to this estimate, excluding the Jiangdong Dongjun occupied by the Jin State, the population of Xianguo is not only 6.5 million before the war, but at least more than 7 million.

"Looking for death, it's just looking for death. Brother Chen, Brother Chen, 700,000 people can raise 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers, you really want to rebel! ”

"Alas, what can I do with my subordinates, these are all the plans set by Luo Songting and the lord to support the people before assisting the lord, but who knows that the situation has not developed as Luo Songting expected."

"Then now, how much grain and grass can be driven by the Guangxin Mansion?"

"In fact, since the start of the war last year, the copper, tin, and iron that Qin Han sold from the eldest grandson country have almost been cut off, and the public mansion is now using stockpiles, plus the protracted war since last year has cost a lot of money, so there are still twenty or thirty thousand ordnance and armor."

"What about the grain and grass, how much grain and grass and horses are there?"

"At the end of last year, the government still had more than 1.7 million stones of grain and grass, but by the blue poisonous water, this year's production, one after another disaster relief relief of 300,000 stones, according to this, the autumn grain continues to be out of production, this winter, next spring six months, more than 700,000 people have no harvest, there are three months before the summer harvest next year, the remaining 1.4 million stones of grain and grass, even with the minimum supply, I am afraid it is only barely enough to last next spring, not counting military expenses. As for the horses......"

"Where are the horses?" Bai Liyan hurriedly asked.

"There are thousands of horses on Liufeng Island in the open sea."

"So much! You've also raised a water army! ”

"About twenty large ships."

"The Xianjun and Changsun military sailors dominate the Beihai Sea all the year round, why has this island not been discovered so far?"

"This island is very far away, about ten days northeast of Guangxin waterway, is 40 years ago, there are merchant ships encountered a storm, accidentally drifted to Liufeng Island, just because it is far away from the coast, perennial storms, so few fleets pass through the open sea, and then the lord learned that more than 10 years ago on the island to raise horses."

"In this way, this island is very large, otherwise how can 20,000 horses be herded."

"There is one-sixth of Guangxin's territory, but there are many mountains and forests, and there are not many flat lands suitable for raising horses, which is not enough to raise 20,000 good war horses, so it is necessary to transport forage and rations back and forth every month to feed the horses, so although Guangxin has a population of 700,000, in fact, a large amount of grain and grass is needed every year to feed the horses, otherwise it will be abandoned after a long time in the open sea."

"I said, last year, King Qin, Guangxin how did he get 8,000 first-class war horses, it turns out that you are waiting to raise horses in the open sea, it is really a good intention."

Due to the limitations of current navigation and ship technology, in the absence of pointing devices and seagoing vessels suitable for the ocean, the navy can only sail in the near sea, and cannot go to the ocean. Even the naval forces of the Changsun State and the Xianguo Navy, which crisscrossed the North Sea, most of them went to sea along the coastline, and by mastering the basic astrological navigation, they were far from the technical ability to go to the sea and not get lost.

The Liufeng Island discovered by Guangxin by chance was also discovered by chance because of the trek of merchant ships, and the area is actually six or seven hundred square kilometers, which is larger than Guam.

While the two were talking, a soldier came in a hurry:

"Mr. Qiqi Chen, I just caught a woman on the street, claiming to be the music girl of Guile Fang, and wants to see General Wei."

"See me? What is her last name? ”

"Go back to General Wei, call Tang Tao."

"Tang Tao! How is she? ”

Chen Yunfeng asked:

"General Wei knows this woman?"

"He is Xiao Chunyu's envoy girl in Guile Fang, Qin Han wrote from Qin Han before, and he wanted to blackmail me with Xiao Chunyu."

"But isn't Xiao Chunyu a famous singer in Guile Fang, how did General Wei know it?"

"This matter is a long story, it must have been discovered by Qin Han and used to coerce me."

Although Xu Rong admitted that Jiang Rong went to Xixiang Pavilion at night to enjoy the music, he didn't say who he was listening to play the piano, so Bai Liyan and Chen Yunfeng still couldn't figure out the situation, and only thought that Qin Han had arrested Xiao Chunyu and Jiang Rong separately.

When Tang Tao was brought into the hall by the soldiers, he cried and cried tears, and when he saw Bailiyan, he knelt down:

"General Wei, General Wei, save my young lady."

"Miss Tang Tao, Miss Xiao is with the county lord of Guangxin."

"Uh-huh, General Wei, save Miss. Oh, by the way, this is Qin Caidong's letter to you. ”

Tang Tao took out a letter from his arms, Bai Liyan took it and saw that the payment was Qin Han's. The content is very simple, ask Bailiyan to go to the verdant building to meet.

"This bastard!" Cursing, Bai Liyan forwarded the letter to Chen Yunfeng, and then asked Tang Tao again: "Miss Tang Tao, how did you and Miss Xiao Xiao get arrested?" ”

"This ......" Tang Tao couldn't speak.

"Miss Tang Tao, why don't you say it?"

"This ...... It is in the Cherishing Fragrance Pavilion with, with the ......"

Hearing the news of the three words of Xixiang Pavilion, Baili Yan was stunned, and her eyes were almost blackened:

"You mean, Miss Xiao was arrested with Lord Jiang in Xixiang Pavilion?"

Tang Tao nodded and didn't speak. Chen Yunfeng couldn't figure out the situation at this time, and didn't understand the obscure meaning of Bai Liyan and Tang Tao's words, so he immediately said:

"How could the county lord go to listen to Xiao Chunyu play the piano in the middle of the night, could it be a trap deliberately set by Qin Han when he heard the news."

At this time, Bai Liyan felt ridiculous inexplicably, and she knew from Tang Tao's face that Jiang Rong was going to listen to the piano, Jiang Rong and Xiao Chunyu were lesbians at all, on such a hot day, the three of them must have stripped naked and slept together in the middle of the night, and were broken by Tang Tao. It's no wonder that Xu Rong didn't say anything about beating her to death, if it was made public, the spit wouldn't drown the two of them.

"Brother Chen, Qin Han is trying to run, this is to divert our attention."

"If you're running, why are you looking away?"

"Qin Han has been operating in Guangxin for many years, although he will not hide all the gold and silver treasures in Guangxin, but Guangxin is its foundation after all, and there must be a lot of gold and silver hidden in the city. He took Xiao Chunyu and the county lord as hostages, one was to survive, and the other was to transfer the money from the secret passage to the outside of the city, and then come back to take it the next day. If you take gold and silver with you when you run for your life, you obviously can't escape. ”

Qin Han regarded wealth as his life, and it was obviously impossible to give up the property that he could take away to Bailiyan, but it was obviously unrealistic to flee with the treasure, and it was very easy to be caught up by the cavalry.

Therefore, Qin Han tied up both of them, first exchanged Jiang Rong for a way of life, Qin Han continued to tie Xiao Chunyu out of the city, and then sent someone to escort Xiao Chunyu to come and exchange his property. Only in this way can Qin Han sit on his wealth and continue to get away with it.

"General Wei, save Miss......" Tang Tao pleaded, afraid that the scandal would anger Bai Liyan.

"Miss Tang Tao, don't worry, Wei will definitely rescue your young lady." When the words fell, Bai Liyan and Chen Yunfeng said: "Brother Chen, I am tired of telling the young master, Wei went to the verdant building to see Qin Han, don't be rash and miss the lives of the county lord and Xiao Chunyu." ”

"Well, General Wei should be careful."

Ordered two hundred Guangxin soldiers, Bai Liyan took Tang Tao to the green building in a chariot, and on the way, Tang Tao asked carefully:

"General Wei, Miss she ......"

Bailiyan smiled faintly:

"The matter between Miss Xiao and the county lord?"

"It seems that General Wei guessed." Tang Tao couldn't speak.

"What's the matter, I bet it must be the county lord who pestered your young lady, but so?"

"Well, that was three years ago. Tang Tao has known for so many years that he is a handsome boy who likes to listen to the young lady's piano, but he didn't expect it to be such a thing. ”

"In fact, this matter is not indispensable, but now it is due to education, and the world does not know the mind of women."

"So, General Wei has forgiven Miss?"

"Forgiveness? Why does Wei hate Miss Xiao? ”

"......"

"It's nothing, besides, Lord Jiang has been promised to be married to Wei, if you don't talk about such things, who else will know."

"Hah! So that's true. ”

"What's the matter, Lord Jiang doesn't know?"

"I don't think I know."

Bai Liyan's mood is a little complicated at the moment, and it is certain that Xiao Chunyu is definitely not a lesbian, most likely after being taken by Jiang Rong, she was deceived and tied to the thief's bed. But the question is whether Jiang Rong has this tendency, or is bisexual, or just this mouthful, it's hard to say.

If the first case is the case, it will be discordant in the future, and if it is the latter two, it will be okay to get by. At this time, Baili Yan really regretted that she didn't think about it at the beginning, she knew that Jiang Rong had the habit of dressing as a woman, she should have thought that she might be a lesbian, but now it's okay, the raw rice is boiled into raw rice, and it is not okay to not recognize it.

[Note 1] The issue of hidden households, hidden fields, and tribes in ancient times has always been a long-standing demographic phenomenon. In ancient times, natural and man-made disasters, frequent wars, political turmoil and darkness in the officialdom led to the fact that the common people could not make a living and did not want to rebel, so they chose to abandon official land, public land and rented land, flee into the mountains and forests and wilderness, open up wasteland and cultivate land on their own, or attached themselves to the local tycoons, magnates and tycoons.

These forces that provided shelter used their power and influence to help individuals fleeing war, persecution, conscription, and heavy taxes, and evading arrest and investigation by the imperial court, thus creating the problem of hidden households.

Hidden households have always existed in all dynasties and even in modern society, such as the modern problem of black households, statelessness, citizenship, refugees, etc., are all hidden households. It's just a matter of how serious the problem of the hidden household is, in different historical periods.

For example, during the period of war and political turmoil, the problem of hidden households was particularly serious, and during the period of peace and prosperity, the problem of hidden households was relatively relaxed.

Taking the Three Kingdoms as an example, in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, before the Yellow Turban, the actual population of the official household registration of the Eastern Han Dynasty was about 4,000 to 45 million, and some data estimates may be even more, but by the middle of the Three Kingdoms, the most pessimistic statistical estimate of the country's population was only 3 million, and the more optimistic 6 or 7 million.

In other words, 95 percent of the population has perished, which shows how chaotic it was back then.

However, by the time Sima Yan unified China, the population had recovered to about 25 million, and according to the population base of 3 million, it would be impossible for so many people to emerge in a few decades.

Therefore, the problem of hidden households not only existed during the Three Kingdoms period, but was extremely serious. Taking Cao Cao's battle of Guandu to seize Henan and Hebei as an example, just from the hands of the local tyrants who were attached to Yuan Shao's forces, he copied more than 200,000 households outside the household registration in one breath, for which Cao Aman also made a small fortune, which is not counting the hidden population of other people in Henan and Hebei at that time.

In addition, there are also household registration measures such as the Ming Dynasty, which only gave men household registration and women not to them, so the peak population of the Ming Dynasty was about 50 million, less than 60 million, in fact, this is only half of the men's book data, and half of the women are not counted. In addition, the life expectancy of men was shorter during the agricultural period, and the frequent wars also caused a large number of male casualties, so the female population should be more than that of men.

Of course, there are also very special periods, such as the Wuhu Rebellion period, the Wuhu is dedicated to arresting Han women for sexual pleasure, and then killing them to cook them as dry food, and the beautiful name is "two-legged sheep" and then such as the Jin, Li, and Mongolian periods, the northern Han women are in short supply, because they are all captured by the Jurchens, Khitans, and Mongolians as prostitutes, and a large number of women die.

In short, the hukou problem was particularly serious in ancient times, and the more serious the hidden household, the more turbulent the times, which can be regarded as an important indicator and symptom of the current situation.