Emperor Huan of the late Eastern Han Dynasty lived for three years, and there were household statistics, totaling more than 10.67 million households and a population of more than 56.48 million. According to the statistics of Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, there are about 2.46 million households in the whole country, and more than 161.16 million mouths, which is less than a quarter of that of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, the actual situation is not so bad, because the Western Jin Dynasty did not conduct a serious census, but the data obtained by synthesizing the official records of Wei, Shu, and Wu. The chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population displacement was very serious, and then the dispute between the Three Kingdoms, which led to a large number of ordinary people becoming official and private tribes, that is, "hidden households", and were not included in the official register. If the Western Jin Dynasty could maintain the Taiping world for fifty or sixty years, and re-verify and count it in detail, it should be able to restore at least half of the Han Dynasty.

It's a pity that from Pingwu to Sima Wei, the king of Chu, entered Beijing to kill Yang Jun, the "Eight Kings Rebellion" began, and the common people had just eaten Taiping for eleven years......

According to the statistics of the Taikang period, the number of households in the seven counties of Pengcheng is only a little more than half of the seven counties of Xiapi, in other words, Pengcheng is much poorer than Xiapi - although there are advantages of copper and iron, the Jin Dynasty government has not seriously developed it before. Pei Gai entered Pengcheng from Xiapi, and the spring sowing scene he saw was much worse than that of Xiapi. Most of the common people still cultivated on their own, and there were no officials to guide or supervise them.

This is also expected, if Xiong Yuan can do better than Tao Kan, Pei should really gouge out a pair of eyes in front of him. Moreover, Pengcheng is further north than Xiapi, and I believe that Xiong Yuan's inauguration time is at least five or six days shorter than Tao Kan's.

Gradually approaching Xuzhou City, he sent Pei Du to report first, but Pei Du soon ran back and said: "Xiong Xiang is not in the city...... Pei Cai couldn't help frowning, and hurriedly asked: "Where did you go?" ”

"It is said that he went to the countryside to supervise spring sowing, where is the specific, the county officials still need to be found."

Pei should pout, and said forget it, then ignore him for now, let's go into the city and wait for him.

When he arrived at the gate of the city, he suddenly saw a man in the distance galloping from the field, panting, and arching his hand in front of Pei Gai's horse, but he could not say a word for a long time. Pei should take a closer look, isn't this Xiong Yuan Xiong Xiaowen, why is he dressed like this?

I saw that Xiong was far from wearing official clothes, but only a plain white linen coat - or a short shirt - with a hat on his back, a gourd hanging from his waist, and a half-cut branch in his hand as a crutch. Pei should turn over and dismount, give a salute, and ask him: "Why is Xiong Jun like this?" ”

The last time we met, he kept calling each other "Xiong Xiang", a very businesslike face, without a little emotion, but this time he couldn't help but call each other "Jun".

The different names of scholars naturally represent different high and low identities and kinship relationships. For high-ranking officials and eunuchs, or elders with a certain status, they are naturally called "Gong", or they are called by their official positions, but they do not have surnames - for example, Bian Yan and others call Pei Gai "envoy" and "governor"; The second class is called "Jun", which is also a sign of respect, but it seems that the status of both parties is basically equal; People close to you can be called the table, or called "Qing", if you are not too familiar and still called "Qing", it means that your status is lower than mine.

For example, Pei should be the assassin of a state, and he can be called "Qing" for Xuzhou officials, including the ministers of various counties. But he was still young after all, so out of respect for the elderly, he always called Bian Yan "Jun", and wanted to call Tao Kan a public, but Tao Kan refused to accept it, so he took a step back and called "Jun".

used to call Xiong Yuan "Xiong Xiang", which was to look down on the other party, so he was only called by his official position, and occasionally called "Qing"; Since seeing Xiong Yuan's letter, Pei Gai has raised the other party's level a lot in his mind, so as soon as they met, the word "Xiong Jun" blurted out.

Xiong Yuan just apologized again and again, and he had to catch his breath for a long time, so he could barely say the complete words: "The last official went to supervise the spring and spring sowing, only to hear that the envoy had arrived, and he didn't have time to change his clothes to greet him, and he hoped for forgiveness and forgiveness." ”

Pei Gai smiled: "Teach nongsang, you should be encouraged, what is the crime?" "Regardless of your ability, if you are willing to work hard, and look like this, if you are not pretending, you are quite hardworking, then you are a good comrade.

After entering the government office, Xiong Yuan washed up first, changed into official clothes, and then came to sit down and talk with Pei Cai. Pei Gai asked him about the situation in Pengcheng, and Xiong Yuan sighed: "I am in Jiangdong, I don't know that the people's livelihood in Jiangbei is withering like this...... There is a county in 500 miles, but if there is a county in 100 miles, it will be difficult to govern......"

Speaking of this, he gave Pei Gai a little stroke: "I said that I wanted to guide the people to know etiquette, but Guan Ziyun 'knows etiquette and knows etiquette when he has enough food and clothing', and the people are not yet able to eat and drink, so how can they know etiquette?" What Tao Gong said is true, but my words are too frivolous......"

Xiong Yuan also worked as a state and county official in Jiangdong, although he mainly managed the government, he inevitably had to mix with production and get close to the people, so he still had some experience in civil affairs. He had spoken loudly before, mainly because he had never crossed the Yangtze River, and he had seen the withering scene in the Central Plains, and he only took Jiangdong County in peacetime as an analogy, thinking that it would be difficult for officials to be a county without necessarily having it, right?

When I entered Xuzhou City, checked the treasury and volumes, and personally went to the surrounding countryside to inspect for a few days, I realized that the two could not be compared at all. Not to mention anything else, people in turmoil are panicking, today I don't know if they will be able to survive tomorrow, more than half of the people have no food for the night, you want them to obey the rule in peace and stability, abide by the rules and talk about etiquette? Who's going to take care of you?

Fortunately, Xiong Yuan is indeed not a pure troll in Pei Gai's initial impression, one is that he has ambitions, and the other is that he is willing to do things, so he immediately wrote to Tao Kan and sincerely asked the other party for governance methods - you are estimated to be similar to my side, so how are you going to be caught off guard, can you give me advice or two?

Xiong Yuan's reputation is much worse than Tao Kan's, and the two have no intersection before, but since he was ordered, he took the same boat to Jiangbei, Tao Shixing's mood was very low and his will was very weak along the way, but Xiong Xiaowen was an optimist, enlightened in many ways, and the two gradually got closer. Now that Xiong Yuan has asked, Tao Kan is embarrassed to cherish the broom, so he copied down his thoughts on governing Pi in detail and gave it to Xiong Yuan as a reference.

Xiong Yuan only got Tao Kan's reply, he knew that his practical ability was far inferior to Tao Shixing, and he had no prestige, so he was afraid that he would not be able to shock those strange county officials, so he simply - I personally went to Siye and Eight Townships to supervise the people on the spot to sow spring. But it had only been less than two days since he left the city, and Pei Cai had arrived, so he had to hurry back again.

Pei Cai looked at Xiong Yuan, and couldn't help but smile slightly: "Xiong Jun, the so-called 'Lu Yao knows the horsepower, and sees the hearts of the people over time', when I first saw you, I only thought that I was a clean talker, strict with others, lenient with myself, and my tongue was outspoken, but I was really powerless. And whether I really have the ambition to recover, you are not confused by Jiangdong rumors, and it is better not to be prejudiced. ”

Xiong Yuan was slightly stunned for a moment, and then asked: "The words of the king's horsepower and people's hearts are concise and to the point, but what you have seen is far-reaching—I don't know who said it?" ”

Pei Caixin said where do I remember...... The biggest problem with his journey through this life is that the memories of the two lives are mixed together, and sometimes he really can't tell whether it is the new knowledge of the old Pei Gai or the old news of the new Pei Gai; That scientific knowledge is just that, it must have been brought over from later generations, but it is difficult to understand aphorisms, aphorisms, and even many idioms and allusions. However, the consequence of this is that Zhang Bin, Bian Yan and others thought that he Pei Wenyue was really rich and rich, and they didn't know which book they had never heard of, and they read so many fresh words and sentences......

It's just that in the past, basically no one asked, saying that your words are fresh, who said it, and what book did it contain? Xiong Yuan is indeed still a scholar in his bones, and he is more inclined to do scholarship than politics, so when he heard the words "Lu Yao knows horsepower, and sees people's hearts over time", he immediately respectfully asked-Who said this?

Pei Gai realized that those two sentences were probably in the language of later generations, but he couldn't remember exactly which dynasty, which generation, and who said them, so he had to say perfunctorily: "It's just a hometown proverb." "I don't believe you've ever been to Hedong! Then he hurriedly changed the topic: "I mean that tomorrow is the year, and at the latest the year after tomorrow, I will march north and collect all the Xu, I don't know if Xiong Jun may help me?" ”

He also asked Tao Kan about this, and Tao Shixing's answer at that time was: "At the age of three, the king led 5,000 elite soldiers to Yiyi, which can barely be used for a month." "Three years later, I went with a pole. When Xiong Yuan heard this, he frowned and thought about it for a while, and then arched his hand and said, "If you make Jun Guo do this, I should do my best to repay ......"

Pei Gai reminded him: "Do not cut the people. ”

Xiong Yuan smiled bitterly: "The people are poor and poor, even if they want to peel off immediately, even if they dry up and fish, I'm afraid it won't help." Therefore, Xiong did not dare to make any more big statements, but only expressed this heart. As he spoke, he leaned forward slightly: "However, if Pengcheng is to be stable and the people live in peace, they must first calm down the surroundings." To the north of Pengcheng is the East China Sea, and if the East China Sea is not quiet, Pengcheng may not be at peace, and the people are uneasy and difficult to accumulate. ”

Pei Gai nodded slightly. The so-called "it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice", he knows that not to mention Xiong Yuan and Tao Kan, even if Zhuge Kongming is here, the household registration under his jurisdiction is so little, the people are not only poor, but also full of fear and doubt, in this case, it is difficult to make the society stable in three or five years, and the people's livelihood can get food and clothing. Then expanding the territory and trying to eliminate the unstable factors on the border is the top priority - the reason why he went to the winter to conquer the three counties is actually a very important purpose, and it is also to ensure the absolute peace of the base area of Guangling.

Therefore, in Xiong Yuan's view, if you want Pengcheng to be stable, you have to take down Donghai County in the north and Peiguo in the west - the key is that this area is basically a plain terrain, and there is not enough danger to keep the enemy out of the country. But Pei Guo belongs to Yuzhou and is not under Pei Cai's control, so he can only suggest to Pei Gai that you should indeed calm down the East China Sea first.

You hope that my Pengcheng can send troops and food to help you go north, but I think that only if you go north first, my Pengcheng will have the spare strength to help.

This is also a pair of contradictions, if you want to live and farm, you have to level the surrounding areas first, but if you want to level the surrounding areas, you can't farm the scale and the strength is insufficient, so it is also difficult to do.

Fortunately, for now, there are only some dock forts and bandits in the Xubei area, and there are no big enemies.

To be honest, the only thing he is interested in in is the copper and iron resources of Pengcheng, and he really doesn't have much hope for agriculture. That's why I asked Jiangdong for someone, and arranged Tao Kan and Xiong Yuan here, as long as you help me stabilize the situation for the time being, if you want to build these two counties into a component base, without ten or eight years, I'm afraid you won't even be able to achieve a sweet dream. Unless he really makes great efforts, he will transport a large amount of materials from Guangling, and then recruit a large number of displaced people from Jiangbei to enrich them......

If you really have money and food, and you are homeless, I will definitely use it in the main base of Guangling first, and it will not be your turn here.

Pei Gai's inspection, what he saw and heard, but he was quite satisfied, Tao Kan needless to say, Xiong Yuan is also studying hard and working hard, in the absence of a strong foreign enemy, he can indeed ensure that there will be no big mess in these two counties for a period of time, and he will not pull his Pei Yuanjun's hind legs.

So after a few casual conversations, he planned to say goodbye, rest for a good night, and then return to Huaiyin County. But Xiong Yuan suddenly blushed and pleaded: "Pengcheng is poor, and production is not easy to recover...... I also hope that the envoy will have some funding ......"

Pei Gaixin said that this was reasonable, so he casually asked, "How much grain do you want?" ”

Xiong Yuan replied: "I don't want food - before the king calmed Pengcheng and opened a warehouse to help the people, before the autumn harvest, the people could still live." Now the copper mountain cast five baht, but also hope that the king will not be transported back to Huaiyin, a month to stay 500...... No, 300 is enough. Or, it can be regarded as Peng Cheng's loan from the envoy, and after the autumn, he can repay it with grain and silk. ”

Pei Gai looked at Xiong Yuan with interest: "I don't know how Xiong Jun will use the money, is it possible to sue him?" ”

Xiong Yuanchang took a long breath and replied clearly: "I wrote to Tao Gong before, please ask about the importance of governance, Tao Gongyun but heavy cultivation and weaving, projects that are not conducive to agriculture are not prosperous, and labor that is not conducive to agriculture is not done. However, according to the search register, Pengcheng has many hills and swamps in the country, and the number of acres of land is less than half of that of Xiapi, and there are fewer household registrations. It is to ask the envoy for money, to work in the slack time, to lead Surabaya into the mountains and suns, and to fill it into a pond, which can be used for fishing. Then they cut down wood and burned charcoal, made utensils, and sold them to other counties, and because of the money, they made money, and they got the profits of merchants......"

Pei Gai's eyes couldn't help but light up: talents, they would even think of developing manufacturing and getting rich, even if this Xiong Yuan's practical ability is slightly worse, this insight is rare and unheard of in the world!

He immediately nodded and said that he would agree to you-"Xiong Jun, if you deliver the copper and iron ore to you, will you be able to run it for me?" ”