Zhu Zhihan did not allow Li Zuocai to use the grain stored in the Huayang Palace's capital for the defense of Lizhou City, and the reason was very sufficient.

The Shu Wangfu mobilized heavy troops to defend the city for the gentry, didn't it need silver? With the cost of Shu soldiers, 5,000 people will spend 300,000 silver a year, and the people will be recruited to strengthen the city, and the silver consumption is unknown. This amount of money should have been borne by the gentry of Lizhou.

This account has not been settled, and the idea of fighting the palace to store grain is the king's house, is it a big mistake to be the king's house?

"But this number is very large, and with the power of Lizhou alone, it is difficult for students to ......"

The military salary of 50,000 stone can be afforded, but for 120,000 stone, Li Zuocai really does not dare to accept it easily.

The three counties of one state in Lizhou belonged to Yuezhou Prefecture (now Yueyang), accounting for half of the prefectures and counties of Yuezhou Prefecture. The annual tax of Yuezhou is only 170,000 stones, and now the salary of the Shu domain is equivalent to doubling the regular tax of Lizhou, how can those gentry be willing to do it? Besides, now that the sacrifice has not entered the province, if it is sent rashly and the sacrifice is delayed, then he Li Zuocai will be greatly disappointed in Lizhou and become the target of public criticism.

Li Zuocai refused to take the order, and Zhu Zhihan was not easy to press, so the two of them immediately froze.

At this time, suddenly a voice sounded behind Zhu Zhihan and Li Zuocai: "It's only 120,000, what's so difficult about this?" ”

The two turned around and saw that it was Tan Fengxuan.

"It turned out to be Lord Xiao Tan, scaring the old man to death!"

"It's urgent! If the prince of Shu does not send troops, Li Zhou will not be able to defend! Why should Uncle Shi hesitate? ”

"Why doesn't the old man understand the truth here?"

Li Zuocai looked anxious, and the anxiety was more about his future: "Most of the gentry are people who don't cry when they don't see the coffin!" Without the persecution of thieves and guns, they did not want to give a grain of food. This place is not Shu land, blindly using it strong, it will be counterproductive! At present, the enemy must not mess up by himself, students ask Zhu Gongzi to think twice! ”

"Uncle Shi is worry-free!" Tan Fengxuan said with a smile. Without waiting for Li Zuo to ask, the Three Kingdoms lover turned to another Three Kingdoms lover: "Brother Tai, can you know the story of Cao Cao's Tuntian promise?" ”

Unexpectedly, Li Zuocai has also seen the Three Kingdoms.

"The meaning of the virtuous nephew, isn't it to let the soldiers of Shu Mansion Tuntian?"

"Cao Wei Tuntian promised, with official cattle, its harvest of official six people four; With a private cow, half of it. One person is ten acres, and ten thousand people are 100,000 acres. When the autumn harvest is halved, isn't the 100,000 stone grain coming out? ”

Saying that, Tan Fengxuan smiled at Zhu Zhihan again: "Now in the land of Huguang, how can there be no idle fields?" As the following officials know, the three counties of Lizhou, Anxiang, Shimen, and Cili have no less than thousands of acres of idle land. It is our garrison, and there are many barren fields. Thousands of acres, just a few hours. In this way, the difficulty of brotherhood will be solved! ”

"Where can it be so easy!" Li Zuocai sighed, "There are a lot of barren fields in Lizhou, which is true. But most of these barren fields are lords. The Shu Wangfu is cultivating on their fields, and it is strange that those gentry don't make trouble first! ”

"It's not that simple!" Zhu Zhihan smiled and said to Tan Feng: "The number of tuntian required by this son is not 100,000, but 500,000!" ”

A mountain in the sky and the like are mostly based on myths and folklore. Li Zuocai has lived in Lizhou for nearly 50 years, and he still does not know where there are 500,000 acres of idle land. Tan Fengxuan, a young scholar who has not been in the world for a long time, how could he know?

Li Zuocai didn't think about the possibility of the existence of those 500,000 acres of idle land at all, but he was thinking about some intriguing things that he had just heard from Zhu Zhihan's words. 500,000 acres, is it a tuntian or a tunbing?

"500,000 acres?"

Tan Fengxuan listened to the figures reported by Zhu Zhihan, but he was not as surprised as the two expected. He tilted his head and thought for a while: "I don't know if there is a million mu, but at least there are 500,000 mu." ”

For! Zhu Zhihan's eyes widened, could there really be?

"Virtuous nephew, this number of idle fields is related to the major affairs of military aircraft, you can't just say it!"

Li Zuocai was afraid that Tan Fengxuan would talk nonsense, so he took out the shelf of his elders to educate Tan Fengxuan: "500,000 mu is enough to garrison 100,000 troops!" It is Mintun, three people and one ding, three ding draw one, and you can also become more than 10,000 soldiers! With more than 10,000 troops, what worries is there in the land of Lizhou! ”

"It seems that no one believes Brother Xuan's words!" Zhu Zhihan sneered coldly. Of course, 500,000 mu is not a decimal number, which is about equivalent to the total number of acres in Chengdu and Huayang counties, so he doesn't believe it.

"You don't believe me?"

Tan Fengxuan was anxious, and reached out to pull Zhu Zhihan's sleeve: "If I really say it." How does the Shu Wangfu thank me? ”

"Please speak, Lord Tan!"

Tan Fengxuan held his hands and said, "Okay!" Every autumn harvest, I harvest one mu (Note 1) grain, not much? ”

"Not much!"

Hahaha! Tan Fengxuan laughed heartily, with the incomparable pleasure of the treacherous sale on his face.

After a while, he stopped laughing and said to Li Zuocai, "This time I'm going to get rich!" Uncle Shi just mentioned that he forgot: Last summer, how many dikes were washed away by floods in Anxiang County? There are no people there, isn't it a good idle field! In addition, the embankments of Huarong and Shishou counties were destroyed, not to mention thousands of acres, and 500,000 acres of acres are enough to worry about! It doesn't matter if you don't have 500,000 acres, 800 miles of Dongting, there are schools of fish and turtles, and you won't starve to death if you cast nets to fish! ”

Li Zuocai was even more anxious: "The embankment was destroyed hundreds of zhang in total, and the flood poured in, and the water accumulated several zhang. Looking at a vast ocean from afar, how can it be a field? ”

"Uncle Shi, it was when the water rose last year, what time is it now?" Tan Fengxuan took advantage of Li Zuocai and seemed very happy, "Now in the middle of winter, the water level of the river has dropped. As soon as the causeway was destroyed, the water in the embankment naturally leaked outward. Don't you hear the reason for the water to go down? ”

"But the causeway is destroyed, and when the flood comes this year, isn't it another ocean?"

Tan Fengxuan rolled his eyes at Li Zuocai: "Last year, the flood was so strong that even the city wall collapsed. But it's not every year that it's a great flood! As the saying goes: the world is reincarnated. According to the little nephew, last year was a big flood, and this year is a big drought! Besides, the water and sand are heavy, there are embankments on all sides, and the flood water is still and the sand is sinking. Therefore, if the flood breaks the embankment once, the terrain of the embankment is one foot higher (Note 2). This year's embankment repair will be easier than previous years! ”

After Tan Fengxuan finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Zhihan with a mysterious smile: "Brother Tai is willing to gamble?" This is a high-quality fertile polder, and if you go late, someone else will occupy it! ”

What the prince wants is to raise soldiers in Tuntian. As long as the embankment is repaired and survived this summer and autumn, the harvest in one season will be one million. There is food, there are soldiers, and this Li Zhou will be occupied!

Seeing that he was about to reach the shore, Zhu Zhihan shook his robe and smashed his fist viciously into the boat gang: "Tomorrow, I will ask Lord Li to bring the soldiers and horses of the headquarters and go to check with my son." Hmph, who dares to rob the place that the palace fancies! Whoever robs it, Ben Gongzi wants whose head! ”

There are 500,000 acres of idle land in front and 500,000 disaster victims in the back.

……

The Huayang Palace in the city of Lizhou is undoubtedly the best and tallest building in the city. Compared with the Shu Wangfu in Chengdu Mansion, there is too much difference in momentum.

Flags are lined up and crowds of people are surging. On the second day of the first lunar month, the city of Lizhou is more lively than yesterday's New Year's Day.

Zhu Zhihuan, the king of Huayang, led the king's eldest son and a total of five or six hundred people from the clan to greet him in front of the county king's mansion. The Senator of the Huguang Domain, Zhou of Shangjingnan Province, Zhao of Lizhou Prefecture and the commander of Jiuxiwei led the civil and military officials to accompany the King of Huayang.

Zhu Zhihan was dressed properly, and he got out of the car with Zhu Pingjin's order. I only heard the praise officer singing and kneeling, and the crowd in front of the palace suddenly dropped a lot.

Zhu Zhihan gathered his mind and walked along the road to the crowd.

An old man with thin cheeks, wearing a seven-fold (CUI) Baohe crown on his head, and a large-sleeved green robe with a cloud dragon pattern patch, knelt on the soft couch at the front, and each rib was supported by a eunuch.

The middle-aged man behind the old man was wearing a five-shirt and a crown suit, with a sallow complexion, dull eyes, loose skin, and difficulty moving.

Looking at the physiognomy of these two people, there is no doubt that they are sick and sick, and they are both short-lived.

Seeing Zhu Zhihan, the old man was supported by the eunuch and knocked again: "Zhu Zhiyu, the king of Huayang, and his son Zhu Pingyu, welcome the messenger of the son!" His Royal Highness, Chitose Chitose Chitose! ”

This muddy old man is the King of Huayang? When Zhu Zhihan saw it for the first time, he couldn't help but be surprised.

No wonder, Li Zuocai talked about the father and son of Huayang Wang, and only had one comment: "A piece of rotten and rotten flesh (Note 3)!" ”

Such characters expect them to defend the country and protect their families, but what?

Let's stay you for a few more days! Zhu Zhihan had a smile on his face. He gathered his mind, slowly unfolded the will in his hand, and read aloud:

"The prince of Shu in the Ming Dynasty told Zhu Zhihuan, the king of Huayang County, and said: The ancestors of the country are not easy to come by. Let us and our children guard the kingdom with thy body, and all the people shall be safe. Remembering the beginning of my Taizu Gao's business......"

……

As the saying goes: words are easy to say, but things are hard to do. However, with the joint efforts of Li Zuocai, Li Yuanliang and the eunuch Gao Fu, the matter was quickly discussed.

Within one day, Zhu Zhihan issued nearly 200,000 taels of empty bills of exchange, sweeping away the floating wealth of the Hua Domain in Lizhou, including about 80,000 stone of grain and many gold and silver utensils that could not be taken away. Nearly 50,000 acres of farmland and several orchards in Jin City were also handed over to Zhu Zhihan to take care of.

Among the empty bills issued, 10,000 taels of bills were bribed by Li Zuocai to the Senator of the Huguang Domain, Zhou Moumou of Shangjing South Province (Note 4), and Zhao Moumou, the governor of Lizhou.

Zhou and Zhao, who got the benefits, hinted to Zhu Zhihan that Shu Shizi's heart was a great act of benevolence and righteousness. The Huayang clan recognized their ancestors and returned to their ancestors, which was also a great joy for the whole county. The clans returned to Sichuan to sacrifice to the king, which was not only a pro-vassal clan legal person, but also allowed by the laws of the imperial court. As long as the father and son of King Huayang do not leave, they can pretend that Huafan is fine; As long as the Hua clan is hidden, they can cover it for the Hua clan.

When the generals, lieutenants, and idlers of the Hua clan heard the news, they cheered and immediately ordered their cronies to pack their bags secretly; And Zhu Zhiyu, the king of Huayang County, and Zhu Pingchun, the eldest son of Huayang, heard the bad news, and they were in pain and almost fainted. Fortunately, Jiuxiwei commanded Li Yuanliang to give the prince and his son a promise in time, so that the grief-stricken father and son could settle down.

……

Zhu Zhihan didn't have time to care about the emotions of Hua Fan's father and son.

Early the next morning, Zhu Zhihan, Lu San, Li Zuocai, and Li Yuanliang's uncle and nephew led more than 200 officers and soldiers to Dongting Lake in Anxiang County to inspect the situation in the polder.

When I saw it with my own eyes, I realized how terrible the flood was.

The heavy flood overnight turned hundreds of thousands of acres of land into a blank field. Looking at the past, the village is gone, and there is no trace of people and animals. Above the water and sky, only a few large trees hang their crowns, showing traces of life for visitors from afar.

Tan Fengxuan is right, a lot of the ground has dried up. Most of the rest of the low-lying areas are only one to three feet deep.

In the outcropping area, several homeless people are already encamped. Li Tan's uncle and nephew immediately raised their flags, showed their swords and guns, and surrounded those poor homeless people.

After confirming that they were not the family members of any of the gentry, they immediately came forward and announced that these homeless people had cultivated the land of the Hua Domain, and therefore were the households of the Hua Domain. Those who agree to the scene press their handprints, and those who do not agree immediately roll up and cover the eggs.

Under the sharp edge of the official army, which one of the homeless people dares to say nothing?

Rice seedlings are raised in the field, which is the origin of the name of rice. The results of Zhu Zhihan's on-the-spot inspection were more ideal than he expected.

A few days later, Zhu Zhihan returned to Lizhou, immediately sent a report to Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu, and arranged for manpower and ships to intercept the fleet of displaced people going up the river, so that they could go directly to Anxiang through Yueyang.

The first thing the displaced people do when they arrive at the area is to repair the levees and drain the stagnant water. A large number of tools and iron tools were needed, and Zhu Zhihan asked Qiu Daguan for help. The area of Nanzhili is rich in Sugang, which is a good material for making agricultural tools.

At the same time, Zhu Zhihan also sent letters to the King of Chu in Wuchang, the King of Ji in Changsha and the King of Rong in Changde, and issued an order for 500,000 stone grain.

He had already figured it out, even if he used all real money to buy food, it would be worth it.

If there is food, there will be people, and if there are people, there will be soldiers, and if there are soldiers, other people's money will be yours.

This is the rule of survival in troubled times!

……

When he sent a note to Zhu Pingjian, Zhu Zhihan may have had a premonition of the strategic value of this note, but it was impossible for him to estimate the speed and strength of Zhu Pingjin's reaction.

The great man said that history is created by the masses of the people. That's true, but there are big and small creations.

At this moment, the person who created the miracle of history was a once down-and-out son of the clan in Shudi.

The almost forgotten water town of Zeguo, surrounded by broken embankments, became one of the main sources of food for the Shu army to carry out military operations in Huguang, Jiangxi and even Nanzhili fifteen years after Chongzhen.

Note 1: Ten liters, ten liters one bucket, ten buckets one stone.

Note 2: This is taken from real historical facts.

During the Ming Dynasty, the area of Dongting Lake was much larger than it is today. There is no Nanxian County today, and Anxiang and Shishou counties are directly bordered by Dongting Lake. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of embankments fell into disrepair and collapsed, and the fields collapsed. During the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, as the Jingjiang River and Xiangjiang River and other water systems continued to bring sediment into Dongting Lake, the government continued to encourage and strengthen the method of enclosing embankments to create fields in the lake, and eventually the area of Dongting Lake was greatly reduced. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Changsha had become the most famous rice market in China, with tens of millions of stone commodities and grains being shipped to Jiangsu and Zhejiang every year for sale. The rapid economic development of the Huxiang region has led to the rapid development of local culture and all aspects. The sudden rise of the Hunan army at the end of the Qing Dynasty had a lot to do with this.

Note 3: Zhang Dai's "Later Collection of Shikui Books" has a very vivid description of Zhu Zhiyu (Zhu Jingyi), the king of Huayang: "Who knows that Zhao's piece of meat will be rotten and rotten when you start it!" is so mediocre, and it is really impossible to get it! ”

Note 4: Shangjingnan Road, under the jurisdiction of Yuezhou Mansion and Changde Mansion, the Provincial Government is stationed in Lizhou. In the Qing Dynasty, it was changed to Yue Chang Dao.