In any era, population is the fundamental strategic resource of a country, and all war, economic, political, and production activities revolve around people, especially in an agrarian society. Under the premise that there is no general improvement in technology, the amount of human resources directly determines the strength of the country.

The reason why the Zhiguo and Jin kingdoms were able to levy millions of soldiers to fight at every turn was nothing more than the large number of people and the vast number of people, and the compulsory military service and the military service system without a lot of money allowed the populous countries to quickly transfer young people into the army in a short period of time and launch a large-scale campaign.

In that year, the 300,000 troops of the Northern Army of the Jin State Town attacked Jiangdong, and successively mobilized more than 200,000 conscripts and 2 million people, which was equivalent to one-third of the population of the Xian State and one-twelfth of the population of the Jin State.

However, it is undeniable that the population of the chaotic people under the rule of the Black Turban Army far exceeds the population of Xianguo, and the sources are also varied and uneven, and the direct result of the migration of many people in a short period of time is to dilute the cohesion of Xianguo, reduce the sense of national identity, weaken the ruling power of Xianwang, and increase the problem of public security.

Xianguo, a subtropical vassal state one-third larger than China's Qinghai Province, has enough land to accommodate a considerable number of rebellious people with the current productive forces, and with the current yield per mu, there is no problem in feeding another 20 million people, the problem is that it takes time and policy.

People's hearts are long, no matter how good their hometown is, if the government is harsh and fiercer than the tiger, who is willing to return to the mother country to farm. People go to higher places, water flows to lower places, if the life of the salty country is better than that of the mother country, the same is farming and paying taxes, who will be willing to return to the country to plant high-priced land and live a life of hunger.

"The king, the last general thinks that the "Nongsang Order" of that year has its merits, but the "Nongsang Order" is far from perfect, and even opens the door for the profit of the powerful and nobles. If the law can be further improved, the land tax can be reduced or reduced, and the burden of forced labor can be reduced, and the general will think that there is still something to be done in recruiting displaced people and disorderly people into the salt. ”

"Reducing the field tax and conscription, how can the widow raise troops to defend against the enemy."

Thinking that he was frightened by Gongsun Yue's new policy, Bailiyan (Wei Xian) mentioned tax cuts and tax reductions, and King Xian was suddenly a little unhappy.

"My lord, the exempted field tax can be used for the purchase of goods, and the exempted and exempted servitude can be replaced by machinery, and it is not necessary to forcibly levy and extort it by tricks."

"Shhh...... You mean, business instead of government? ”

"Yes, the king doesn't know about it."

Bai Liyan was surprised, he never thought that King Xian would know the strategy of "replacing government with business".

The next Kexian king says:

"Well, the widow has heard that General Wei opened a deserted village in Lincheng, the people are only two thousand, the land rent is only thirty percent, the annual income is as much as seven or eight thousand, the yield per mu is four stones, chickens, ducks, pigs and cattle are tens of thousands, and the people have enough food and clothing.

Regardless of the income from the suppression of bandits, the widow has always been unknown, why did General Wei gather such financial resources within a year, could it be that this is General Wei's way of replacing government with business? ”

"Exactly. Industry and commerce are the daily needs of the people, and grain, salt and iron are the daily necessities of the people. The people could not provide for their daily needs, so they could only buy them from the government-run market, and they were not enough. In the next place, it is to make profits from industry and commerce, produce the needs of life, and then exchange it for grain, grass and other things from the people. ”

"But as far as few people know, the relatives of the powerful, the merchants, and even the yamen of the Xianguo State all have official offices and workshops, why can no one have such a rich return from the general?"

"King, the focus of replacing government with business is industry and commerce, and the essence is what I can and others can't."

"What do you mean?"

"What I can produce, and others can't, I can sell it for a high price. If I produce more than the power of others, I can sell at a lower price, and if others have the same price as me, they will lose money, and if the price is high, they will not be able to sell, and this is the mystery of the deserted village. ”

The widow remembered that in July, Zhao Qing had offered a treasure knife to the widow, saying that it was made by General Wei. Hundreds of people have been imitated, and it took three months for no one to make a similar sword, could it be that the true meaning of General Wei lies in this? ”

"Yes, the king, presumably the king should have heard that in the next year, the ice will be sold in Guangxin, ten stones of cold ice will be sold in an inch of silver, and the price will be so high, and ice seekers will still rush to it. At the end of June, he went south to Qinwang, and today is the past April, and the business of the end of the four months has continued, and the cold ice is sold every day as much as 50 stones, and in four months it is more than 600 inches of silver, and this income alone can buy hundreds of stone polished rice, or feed dozens of elite soldiers, and weak soldiers may be hundreds. ”

"Then, according to General Wei's intentions, can the current Xianguo implement this policy?"

"No, you can't. It can only be implemented on a small scale, and it must not be implemented nationwide, and it will be implemented gradually after the trial is successful. ”

"That makes sense." Jiang Hai nodded in agreement, and then said: "Then General Wei can move the deserted village to Chenling, so that the widow can order the hundred workers to follow suit, and now it will be implemented in Chenling, and then promoted to the whole country." ”

"The last will think that this is not possible."

"Why is that?"

"Confidentiality."

Jiang Hai intended to take the secrets of the deserted village for his own use, and when he heard that Bailiyan kept it secret to him, his face immediately became unhappy:

"Why did General Wei keep it a secret from the widows."

"The king misunderstood, not because the last general wanted the king to keep it secret, but because he wanted to keep it secret from the Jin Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Heavenly World. The last general just said that I can but others can't, which is the essence of the way of replacing government with business. The crown princess Xihuan's eyes and ears are all over the tomb, and the king can guarantee that the secret will not be obtained by the Jin Kingdom? ”

"Well, that's true. In General Wei's opinion, where should this policy be implemented first? ”

"In terms of location, Butterworth is undoubtedly the best. However, the last general knew that the king would not be at ease to implement the government of commerce in Lincheng, so he wanted to implement this government on the banks of the Yongxing River. ”

Jiang Hai was stunned when he heard the news, and hurriedly said:

"The banks of the Yongxing River are full of battlefields, how can we promote the policy of replacing government with business."

"The king, before going south to King Qin in June, he planned to build a windmill in Lincheng to replace manpower, but King Qin gave up halfway. And there is water on the banks of the Yongxing River, which can build waterwheels, and there are strong winds all year round, windmills can also be built, and there are docks, which can park large boats, and even the last general will find ......"

"What else did you find?"

Bai Liyan suddenly lowered her voice and whispered:

"There is an iron ore mine east of the Changqu section of the Yongxing River."

"What, iron ore!" Jiang Hai was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "General Wei also knows the art of prospecting, and the news is accurate?" ”

"The last general knows a little bit of fur, but nine times out of ten there are iron ores. At present, there is only one iron mine in the Xian country, which is not enough to meet the equipment needs of the Xian army, let alone promote iron farming tools to improve farming. If the people can be recruited here, it will be extremely beneficial to implement the government by replacing the government with business. ”

On the day of the loss of Changqu, Bailiyan went to reinforce, coinciding with the continuous rainstorm, after repelling the Black Turban Army, he found that there was a reddish-brown liquid on the ground more than ten miles east of Changqu, at first he thought it was blood, but later inquired and found out that when it rained in the local area, there would occasionally be red water on the ground.

When you put the magnet you carry in the water, you can faintly observe the attraction of the magnet to the liquid, and the surrounding vegetation is extremely lush and dark, which is suspected to be a characteristic of the presence of iron ore.

After two days of investigation and exploration, iron ore was seen in more than 50 miles east of Changqu, and iron sand was discovered, so it can be basically determined that there is iron ore underground, and the ore vein is developing eastward with the Yongxing River on its back, and the reserves may not be ordinarily large.

"But the Yongxing River is the front line, and there is a danger of losing it at any time, so how to implement the business instead of government."

"King, because the Yongxing River is the front line of defense and the gateway to the Lingling, and the existing army is garrisoned, why doesn't the king consider building an acropolis on the bank of the Yongxing River to consolidate the Yongxing River and the Xiping Black Turban Army."

"The cost of building a city is huge, and the relocation of people is not trivial, and the slightest carelessness will put the people in danger, General Wei didn't open the river on a whim, right?"

"The king, as the previous general said, recruiting the rebellious people can enrich the manpower and material resources of the Xian country, and there are many craftsmen among the black scarf thieves, if the king can collect it for his own use and then send it to supervise the supervisor, the new city can be impregnable, enough to reach the army of 100,000."

"This matter is not trivial, and the widow has to think about it carefully, so let's write it down for the time being."

The cost of building a new city is huge, and Xianguo is in an eventful season, where can you still free up money and grain to build a new city.

Jiang Hai changed his words and continued:

"The Black Turban Army retreated north to Taoli, and General Wei thought that our army could recover the three cities of Tiancheng, Xiaqu, and Weijin west of the capital county?"

"It depends on when the king recovers these three cities, and in addition, the king must be worried that the Liang army will not send troops, so he asks this."

"Yes, the Liang army went on an expedition to Xianguo, and only promised to keep half of the widow's country, but how big is this half of the country, and now it seems that the Yongxing River is the half of the country that Liang Jun refers to.

The widow knew that General Wei was born in Langzhong, and had the eldest son with Tai'an, so he hoped that General Wei could persuade An Taihou to send troops together for the widow to recover the three cities in order to restore the decline of Xianguo. ”

"King, these three cities are located in the plain, although they are horns of each other, but they are far away from the Yongxing River, and if the three cities are captured, our army must garrison heavy troops in the three cities, so that the troops on the banks of the Yongxing River are bound to be reduced, and the battle line of our army will be lengthened, and the logistics supply is also extremely difficult.

If the main force of the Black Turban Army cannot be annihilated in one fell swoop, the Black Turban Army will make a comeback, directly break through the Yongxing River defense line, and approach Chenling.

However, if the main force of the Black Turban Army is annihilated in one fell swoop, not only will our army have to pay a heavy price, but the more severe consequence will be that the Black Turban Army will make a desperate bet and launch a larger-scale mutiny in Sun and Changsun Kingdom, attack the hinterland of Sun State, and aim directly at Liang State.

In this way, the king's promise to Uncle Guang and Liang Guo is not trustworthy at all, so taking the three cities, and not being able to completely annihilate the Black Turban Army, and at the same time preventing the Black Turban Army from piercing our army's defense line, such three major problems, even if the reincarnation of the soldier saint, are difficult to deal with comprehensively. ”

"In that case, the widow can only watch the three cities fall into the hands of the rebels?"

"Actually......"

Bailiyan wanted to speak and stopped, Jiang Hai said loudly:

"But I can't."

"In fact, at present, we should focus on raising the people, not only to support the people of the Xian country, but also to introduce the people of the rebellious army into the Xian country and make them work in the fields. It is already November now, and if we can plunder a large number of people in the spring of next year and use them for the use of the Xian country, our army will be able to grow millions of acres of rice fields next year. ”

Now that the situation has eased compared to June, the Xian army is completely free to reorganize the army, accumulate civilian strength, deal with the problem of prisoners of war, and no longer have to sell prisoners of war to the Jin state in exchange for insignificant grain and grass.