"Population, ...... population"

At this moment, Lu Ren was so depressed that he wanted to bang his head against the wall. What do you think the population base of 15,000 or 6,000 is enough? If it's fifteen or sixty thousand, it may barely be reasonable. But depressed to depressed, Lu Ren knew very well that it was already very good for Shirley's side to get five or six thousand people in more than a year. After all, in that era, all the candidates with a little brain care about the control of the population within their borders, and Cao Cao and Sun Quan would be brainless people?

After thinking about it again, Lu Ren instructed Shirley: "It seems that we have to make some industrial adjustments." In this way, under the premise of ensuring the agricultural foundation, cash crops and related people's livelihoods, we will give priority to the development of shipbuilding and navigation. ”

Shirley nodded and wrote down, and then added to Lu Ren: "Some time ago, we found several native tribes of Yizhou in the Yizhong and Yinan regions, and from the perspective of their cultural inheritance, they should be the descendants of the displaced people who moved from Yunnan to Yizhou in the late Qin and early Han dynasties. At present, the specific number is unknown, and the preliminary estimate should add up to about 10,000. Gao Shun and Lu Cheng are in the process of merging these native tribes under our rule. ”

Lu Ren said: "Oh? Found this kind of aboriginal tribe? What are you going to do there? ”

Shirley said: "Lu Cheng considers that our population base is insufficient, and the military strength at hand is extremely limited, so it is absolutely not suitable for any armed conflict with these native tribes. Therefore, Lu Cheng's plan is to try not to use force as much as possible if we can, and use our economic advantages to absorb their voluntary integration. At present, the progress is good, because the production methods of these tribes are still very backward, basically still in a semi-primitive state of slash-and-burn farming, and the relatively developed farming technology and civilization inheritance at our hands are very attractive to them. In the words of Lu Cheng's guy, they can be fed, clothed and played, and they are very happy. ”

Lu Ren breathed a sigh of relief: "Ziliang, this kid didn't disappoint me...... But Shirley, you remember to tell Ziliang to be as stable as possible and not to blindly seek speed. As I thought. When there was a certain surplus of our agricultural population, we began to increase the input of labor in navigation. I know very well that Yizhou alone will not increase the population base in a short period of time, so when the time comes, we will have to reach out to the inland areas, as well as Southeast Asia, India, and even Arabia and Africa. ”

Shirley said: "Shirley understands that the senior brother wants to emulate the practices of European countries in the fifteenth century during the Great Voyage of Discovery. ”

Lu Ren said: "Well, that's what I think. However, these areas are still a bit far away, and they are the goals of the middle and late stages, judging from the current situation...... Later, I sent someone to Quanzhou to build a small town or something, and then tried to establish commercial relations with the tribes in the Shanyue region first. Let's see if we can use money and food tactics to absorb the population in the Shanyue area, even if it's a mobile working population! In addition, the Shanyue tribe had a relatively good copper and iron production capacity during this period, and our development required a large amount of metal, so the metal trade with Shanyue was also a top priority. However, it is necessary to grasp the scale well, and it must not attract the attention of the Soochow side. ”

Shirley understood. But senior brother, when do you plan to return to Yizhou? ”

Lu Ren shook his head: "Before Yizhou has taken shape and stabilized, I don't think it's convenient for me to go back, otherwise it will be troublesome for anyone to find out that I am actually making a big move in Yizhou." It is now the eighth year of Han Jian'an. My initial plan was to return to Yizhou in five years. There is no way, the current agricultural population in Yizhou is not enough, and other resource development and basic industries are basically useless, so I have to make up for Yizhou's shortcomings by doing business here in the Central Plains. ”

Shirley hesitated and said, "But senior brother." Two years ago, we teased Cao Cao so badly, and now you are deliberately letting out the news of your own people in Jingzhou, you have to be careful that Cao Cao will send someone to assassinate you. ”

Lu Ren smiled: "I have thought about this question for a long time. Cao Cao wasn't that stupid and knew that I wasn't such a good assassin. And in his opinion. A person who has the ability to assassinate me is definitely a rare general in front of the two armies, and it would be a pity to use it to assassinate me. Besides, I'm not a good one. Just hiding here to do business and make money, I believe that Lao Cao didn't dare to embarrass me too much after he got the news, because he knew that if I was embarrassed, he was forcing me to help someone. ”

"Oh......" Shirley can be said to be a "professional", but she is not good at anything other than "professional".

Lu Ren explained with a smile again: "You don't have to worry, as long as Liu Biao is still in power in Jingzhou, plus Liu Bei is also here, then I will definitely be fine." If something happens to me, it must be Cao Cao, so where will Liu Biao's face go? Where will Liu Bei's face go? I told these two big men that if Cao Cao did anything to Jingzhou, I would help them. After all, I have been in Cao Ying for so many years, and I know a lot about many things, and they know how much benefit they will get if I really fight and I help them. So you don't have to worry about my personal safety, you can also tell Gao Shun and Lu Cheng that they don't have to worry about anything. ”

After a slight pause, Lu Ren said again: "Again, during this period, I must stay in Jingzhou to attract the attention of Cao Cao and the Eastern Wu side." Since their attention is focused on me, they would never have imagined that I actually have a hole overseas. The current Yizhou can be said to have no self-preservation power in front of these two people, and only when I attract their attention can Yizhou develop steadily without external threats. But then again, they never dreamed that although I was in Jingzhou, I could 'remotely control' the government affairs of Yizhou, haha......"

Shirley smiled, and even Cai Yan laughed along. Before, Cai Yan didn't just ask about the conversation between Lu Ren and Shirley, but today Lu Ren asked Cai Yan to come in with him, just to let Cai Yan know about it. Lu Ren can trust Cai Yan, and some things can't be hidden from Cai Yan all the time, so he chose the right time to tell Cai Yan to know.

Next, Lu Ren and Shirley talked about some details, and seeing that the time was almost up, Lu Ren suddenly remembered something and asked Shirley, "How is the situation of the Zhen sisters?" ”

Shirley said: "Listening to Zhao Yu, Zhen Jiang and Gao Shun seem to be interested in each other. As for Zhen Mi...... She seems to be waiting for Senior Brother to return to Yizhou before making plans. Oh, their sisters have mentioned to me that if they can, they would also like to relocate some of the people from the Zhen clan in Zhongshan to settle in Yizhou. ”

Lu Renqi said: "Do they have such plans? Very well, I always wanted to speak, but I didn't have the chance. Zhongshan Zhen has always guarded a large iron mine, and there are many metallurgical craftsmen in his hands. And if we want to develop, we need a large number of metallurgical craftsmen. The copper and iron I bought from Jingzhou in the early days, the deals I reached with the Shanyue tribes in the middle period, and the development of Zhuya in the later period, all required a large number of copper and iron craftsmen to refine them.

"You tell them that I agreed to their request, and when the shipping matters are ready, try to send someone to Zhongshan to get in touch. Well...... Tell Lu Cheng that kid that no matter whether he wants to or not, write to Zhongshan Zhen in his name and get in touch. These two sisters have been with me for a few years, and without a reasonable explanation, I am afraid that it will be too easy to invite unnecessary trouble. ”

Shirley said: "Shirley doesn't know much about this kind of thing, and she doesn't know how to say it." Otherwise, how about you pick a time to explain to Lu Cheng and the Zhen sisters in person, Senior Brother? ”

Lu Ren thought about it and felt that it was the same reason, so he nodded to Shirley. After all, Shirley is like a nerd who is not deeply involved in the world in a sense, belonging to a typical high IQ and low EQ, and it is too difficult for Shirley to have her deal with these personal accidents.

After a few more words of deliberation, Lu Ren ended his correspondence with Shirley. But this is only on the surface, and secretly Lu Ren used the communication function of the chip to tell Shirley, so that Shirley's communicator had to decorate and make some ghosts when it was open to Lu Cheng and the Zhen sisters. There's no way around it, and if you don't get it mysterious right now, it's going to be a big problem. Just like Lu Ren to Cai Yan, don't you have to use a mysterious explanation to pass it away?

――――――――――――――――――――

It's still the riverside village.

At noon, a light boat was parked on the river, gently undulating with the microwave of the river. Looking closely at this leaf light boat, the most conspicuous place is the large oilcloth umbrella standing on the bow of the boat, the diameter of the umbrella surface after opening is one zhang and two feet (Han zhang, equivalent to the modern size of about two meters eight), which is several inches wider than the widest part of the light boat body, which is really a bit exaggerated.

This ridiculously large tarpaulin umbrella blocked the scorching sun in the afternoon, and in the bow of the boat under the shade of the umbrella, Lu Ren was half-lying there as if he was not sleeping, leisurely enjoying the gentle breeze on the river. Occasionally, Lu Ren would look at the fishing rod on the bow of the boat, but Lu Ren didn't pay attention to whether there was a fish bite or not. When it was time to lift the hook and hang the bait, Lu Ren just smiled when he saw that the empty hook was empty, and then flung the bait back into the river water.

Throwing the fish hook back into the river again, Lu Ren casually lifted a thin rope on the side of the boat at hand, and pulled up a clay bottle immersed in the water. It's just that he just pulled the cork off the bottle and wanted to pass it to his mouth, when suddenly a slender jade arm reached from behind Lu Ren's shoulder, and snatched the clay bottle with his hand.

Seeing this, Lu Ren was dumbfounded and said, "Hey, Ah Xiu, that's wine!" ”

Minchan shook the pottery bottle she had just snatched, and started with a cool copy that was leached out of the river water, and said with a smile: "I know it's wine, but I won't grab it if it's not wine!" ”

"......" (To be continued.) )