Chapter 247: The Battle of the Outside of Cyprus (15)
As for how Guo Bin mobilized the enthusiasm of the residents of the three cities outside the Saiwai to participate in the war, we must start with the economic system in these three cities.
Among the three cities outside the Saiwai, the vast majority of them were Yellow Turban soldiers who were captured in the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the Central Plains. And these people are roughly divided into two factions, one faction was rescued by Guo Bin outside the city of Changshe, and the other faction is the descendant of Zhang Jiao in Guangzong City.
Outside the city, most of them are homeless people who wander around Yeongcheon County, who were originally ordinary farmers or craftsmen, but the severe drought has caused food prices to soar, causing the already fragile small-scale peasant economy to collapse rapidly. Handicraftsmen could not afford to buy food, but farmers had their crops reduced or even cut off due to drought, and in order to make ends meet, they were not allowed to sell their land or even their children in exchange for food. And when all these options are exhausted, they will become destitute and destitute.
As for the faction in Guangzong City, most of them are die-hard believers in Taiping Dao. Most of them are in the rivers and lakes all the year round, and they have no fixed livelihood, and although their kung fu is not very strong, most of them can do it twice. In the final analysis, these people were not simple and orthodox ordinary people in the first place, many of them were helpers in spreading Taiping Tao for Zhang Jiao in various places, and they were also the most combat-effective force in the Yellow Turban Army.
Before the Taiping Daoist incident, Guo Bin first entered Beijing and saw the scene of the Taiping Daoists going north to Jizhou, which was that Zhang Jiao summoned these backbone personnel to preach in the south. Jizhou is close to Luoyang, the capital division, can be regarded as the elbow of the whole world, if the Beijing Taiping Road is successful, and Zhang Jiao personally led the main force of Jizhou to echo outside and occupy Jizhou, then the world can be in chaos. At that time, Taiping Road will be able to fish in troubled waters and get up and down.
It's just that Taiping Dao's plan in Beijing had already been sold to He Jin by Tang Zhou, so that Taiping Dao had to be launched in advance, so although it disturbed the world, it was not the direct cause of the demise of the Eastern Han government. And Guo Bin's actions inside and outside Guangzong City, and even the pride of entering Guangzong City alone, all look at the eyes of these Taiping Road irons. These men who are mixed in the rivers and lakes admire the most are the heroes who stand up to the sky.
Moreover, Guo Bin is now quite famous in the rivers and lakes, and he can be regarded as a rising star in the rivers and lakes. First of all, he is a close disciple of Heshuo Shengun Tong Yuan, and he can be regarded as a famous sect; Secondly, Guo Bin's reputation in the rivers and lakes has never been bad, and the Heshuo spear is a heroic and chivalrous character, a well-known figure in the rivers and lakes, this kind of legend that seems to only exist in the people of the rivers and lakes, naturally makes these people at the bottom of the rivers and lakes very yearning; Third, these people are not in the rivers and lakes for the so-called chivalrous righteousness or any romanticism, most of them are just to eat with a mouthful of food. Strictly speaking, these people who are messing around are much worse than ordinary people. It's just that many people don't want to be satisfied with the status quo, or don't know how to harvest crops, so they can only go to the rivers and lakes to get out of the way.
However, now that the Taiping Dao has dispersed and the great sages and good teachers have died, these irons have miraculously survived, not being punished by the imperial court, but also living the stable life they once dreamed of, which is really an unexpected joy. Therefore, although they are outside the plug, they don't care. Moreover, they all know the living conditions of people all over the world, and their understanding of this world is far greater than that of many ordinary people who do their duty, so they are very content. Moreover, these rough men are not scheming people, and most of them are straightforward, and any contradictions can be solved on the spot, and they will not be remembered in their hearts like ordinary people afterwards.
Therefore, these "Jianghu people" who were the most difficult to return to their hearts had the highest recognition of Guo Bin.
And Guo Bin was able to move these people, in fact, it was very simple, but it was just to enhance their sense of identity and arouse their hostility.
According to the system of the three cities outside the Saiwai, these prisoners of the former Yellow Turban Army have not been free since they came to the three cities outside the Saiwai. The wealthy families in Yingchuan all over the country provided food to supply them, but in fact they were "contracted" to them, and they had to work for the wealthy families of Yingchuan County represented by Yangzhai Construction Co., Ltd. for several years, recover their costs for them, and even generate profits, before they could regain their freedom.
However, the duration of their work is extremely difficult to determine, because the calculation of the value of this is a confusing account. For example, the food provided by the wealthy families in Yingchuan and the materials for building the city cannot be calculated, because the price of food is constantly fluctuating, especially in the year of famine, even if you have money, it is difficult to buy food. Secondly, the value of the work of the Yellow Turban captives is also difficult to define, when the city was built, some of them were responsible for digging pits, some were responsible for burning bricks, some were responsible for leveling the land, some followed the technicians to build the city wall, and some followed the Xianbei herdsmen to graze cattle and horses, so the value they created was also extremely difficult to calculate.
Therefore, although there is an agreement between the two sides, due to the extremely hasty time, this agreement was actually unilaterally drawn up by the Yingchuan Hao clan and Guo Bin's staff group, which is really a confused account, and Guo Bin proposed a solution to this problem this time.
At the high-level meeting, Guo Bin set the tone as soon as he came up, everything is people-oriented, and the decision-making level and management of the entire three cities must earnestly seek benefits for the residents of the city, because these ordinary residents are the foundation of the survival of the three cities.
Guo Bin's speech at that meeting, Su Shuang thought about it as if it was yesterday.
Guo Bin put forward several principles: "First, all residents who participate in the reclamation of land and cultivate crops or cash crops on the land for more than five consecutive years can obtain the ownership of the reclaimed land, and at the same time can obtain official resident status, and the official identity certificate will be issued. With this credential, they ceased to be captives, but became freemen, and at the same time took ownership of the houses in the city that were built at official expense. ”
Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, who were businessmen, couldn't help but feel extremely painful when they heard Guo Bin's policy. Because this is all really good for the people, this land is an ownerless thing, needless to say, but the house is built by Yang Zhai Construction Co., Ltd., which is a lot of expenditure!
When Guo Bin saw the expressions of the two of them, he understood in his heart, and said to everyone: "It is difficult to start a business, these residents are the treasures of the three cities outside the Saiwai, and they must be treated well." In the past five years, the residents have to hand over everything except the necessary rations, how much support is this for the construction of the three cities outside our Saiwai? Now that the Central Plains has been plagued by disasters for many years, grain prices have soared, and how much manpower and material resources does it take to transport a cart of grain from the Central Plains? There are many kinds of grain here, and the Central Plains can save several cars! ”
Looking at the thoughtful crowd, Guo Bin continued: "In five years, the foundation of our three cities outside the Saiwai will be stable, the infrastructure construction should also be complete, and the price of food will also be reduced. What will we get from these hundreds of thousands of peasants by then? Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang were speechless, and Guo Bin said: "When the time comes, what we will get is hundreds of thousands of Qi people!" They will consciously register their household registration and property, consciously pay taxes, consciously obey labor and military service, and consciously throw their heads and blood to defend the three cities outside the Saiwai when the crisis comes! At that time, they will truly become the mainstay of the three cities outside the Seychelles and become our most loyal fans! ”
These words made everyone, including Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, red-faced and speechless. What was the Central Plains Dynasty's greatest enemy in the Central Plains? It's not the Taiping Road, nor the thieves who rise up in various places, but the wealthy landlords everywhere! They concealed their hukou and annexed land, and their power grew day by day, but the government's control over society gradually declined.
Because, in this ancient society based on agriculture, the only thing left of government revenue was taxes, except for monopoly products such as salt and iron or output from mountains and lakes. And where did the tax come about? It is the household register. The basis for the collection of taxes by the imperial court is household registration, the basis for levying and issuing conscription is household registration, and the basis for levying military service is household registration. Therefore, household registration is the foundation of the feudal dynasty.
And what about the wealthy families? Due to the extremely low level of productivity, labor force is the most important means of production at this time, and they need population to open up wasteland, to take care of homes, to employ tenants. However, population is the foundation of the government's collection of taxes, conscription, military service, etc., so many powerful wealthy families and landlords try their best to conceal their household registration in order to avoid taxes and conscription. There are even large courtyards with a radius of dozens of hectares and tens of thousands of people, and the population registered in them is only a few hundred.
This situation is not unique, but pervades all corners of the Han Dynasty. This greatly weakened the imperial court's control over the people, cut financial resources, and laid the foundation for social instability. Because after the hukou was concealed, the tax did not have to be handed over to the imperial court, so the proportion of tax collected could be adjusted by the landlord at will. This is not a big deal in normal times, but if it is a year of famine, and there is an organization with ulterior motives like Taiping Dao to demagogue, then it is inevitable that there will be a scene like the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Now, Guo Bin is allocating the land that residents have cultivated to them, which will undoubtedly create a frenzy of scrambling to declare their household registration to the authorities five years from now. At that time, the household registration problem that has plagued the Han court for many years will be solved at least in the three cities outside the Saiwai.
For those who have not reclaimed wasteland, but are employed by Yang Zhai Construction Co., Ltd. or Yang Zhai Garment and other factories, the company will issue official coupons. This kind of voucher is similar to the popular five-baht coin in the Central Plains, which is guaranteed by the official credit of the three cities outside the Saiwai and the dazzling materials in the warehouse, and can be used as currency to circulate in the three cities.
Because the peasants had to work for five years without compensation to pay off the official cost of food, clothing, and shelter, they had nothing but land and houses after five years. Even if they want to sow seeds in the coming year, they also need to borrow official seeds and ploughing cattle. After five years, those who saved up the vouchers could not only obtain the ownership of the officially provided housing, but also directly buy wasteland or even cooked land from farmers. Those who are unwilling to farm can even take the road guide issued by the government, rely on the materials exchanged for vouchers to make a small business, and even form a trading caravan with several partners.
Therefore, in the three cities outside the Saiwai, no matter what kind of work people do, Guo Bin has already arranged a smooth road for them.