The Lord's Palace, the Council Hall.

Taishou Cao Xin sat on the main seat, and on each side of the seat sat Mao Jue, Zhang Baiqi, Liao Hua and others.

The theme of the conference was the recovery and development of Wancheng's economy and population.

Mao Jue first introduced the geography and population of Xiawancheng and the surrounding seven counties.

Wancheng is located in the Nanyang Basin, with Funiu Mountain in the north, Tongbai Mountain in the east, Qinling Mountains in the west, Dabie Mountain in the southeast, and Suizhou Corridor and Jianghan Basin in the southeast.

There are Danshui, Shuishui, there is a large area of lacustrine plains, the climate is mild, the rainfall is abundant, the soil is fertile, and it is very suitable for farming.

Demographic aspects. After the census, there are 25,741 households in Wancheng and seven counties, with more than 21,000 adult men, of which Wancheng has the largest population, with more than 6,400 households and more than 8,000 adult men.

At present, there are three problems in the development of Wancheng.

The first is the population problem, after years of war, Nanyang Wancheng and nearby areas have lost a large number of people, resulting in a general shortage of labor in various places, and a large amount of land is barren.

The second is the problem of water conservancy, which has been generally dry in the Central Plains in recent years, and also exists in the Nanyang area. There is too little rain, the grain output is too low, and due to years of war, most of the water conservancy projects in various places have been abandoned.

In the third war, Zhang Xiu and Deng Jitun soldiers were in Qicheng and Xinye, more than 300 miles away, and Cao Xintun troops were in Wancheng, the two sides were in a state of war, and the war was about to break out, and the whole Nanyang would be in chaos.

If we cannot solve the problem of war and chaos, the development of agriculture and population will be nothing more than empty talk.

"Xiaoxian, your question is very good, and it coincides with the plan I thought of on the way."

Cao Xin stroked his palm and said.

"I wonder what the general's plan is?"

Mao Jue asked, rubbing his gray beard.

"Just now, Xiao Xian said that he encouraged childbirth, accepted foreign refugees, and had an abundant population, but he just went outside to find displaced people, which was inevitably a bit reluctant. On the way here, our grain team was attacked by a group of bandits, with more than 400 people, suspected of being remnants of the Yellow Turban.

So I talked to Dashi about the Yellow Turban thieves in Nanyang, Nanyang is one of the origins of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, although it was suppressed by the imperial court many years ago, but there are still a large number of Yellow Turban remnants in the mountains, if they are persuaded to go down the mountain to become soldiers, the population problem faced by Wancheng can be quickly solved. ”

Cao Xin spread his hands and said.

Mao Jue frowned and groaned slightly, "It's a good way to become a bandit for the people, but Tongbai Mountain in Dabie Mountain is too big, and most of the bandits have dozens of nests, hundreds of mountains, and thousands of villages, and their residences are relatively scattered and hidden, so it's a problem to find them; Second, they have lived in the mountains for a long time and made a living by plundering, so they are more wary of the government, and it is extremely difficult to persuade them to go down to the mountains to become soldiers. ”

"Haha, Xiaoxian, these problems are not difficult to solve, you forgot a few of them."

Cao Xin smiled and looked at the former Yellow Turban Qu Shuai opposite.

It's just that when he saw them, Cao Xin was stunned, and his face darkened.

I saw that a few yellow turban thieves present hung their heads, seven slept six, only Liao Hua was listening and making records, and the other six, including the most stable Zhang Baiqi, were also squinting and napping, Li Dayan and Yu Poison were the most excessive, snoring quietly.

Boom!

Cao Xin slapped the table heavily.

"Who?!"

Li Dayan and Yu stood up violently, pulled out their waist knives, looked around, and when they saw General Cao with a black face, the two scratched their brows and laughed awkwardly.

Although the reactions of Zhang Baiqi, Pei Yuanshao, Bai Feng, and Liu Dashi next to him were not so big, they were also embarrassed and speechless.

Cao Xin snorted coldly, and glanced at the six people with a straight face, he originally wanted to take everyone to participate in politics and govern the world.

But just at the beginning, these few fell asleep, what big can this attitude do?

"Li Dayan, what did you do last night, did you spend the night in a brothel?"

"General, I don't, I have a daughter-in-law, how can I go back to a messy place like a brothel, I'm not that kind of person."

Li Dayan said aggrievedly.

"So what are you doing? Playing dice? Play cards? ”

Cao Xin glanced at a few people, two of them looked slightly embarrassed, obviously guessed, seeing this Cao Xin regretted very much, he knew that he would not teach these guys to play dice and leaf cards.

At the beginning, he was the boss of the cottage, and there was nowhere to rob on a rainy day, so he taught everyone to play dice and cards, and as a result, six of the seven leaders were infected with the vice of playing cards.

As soon as they have time, they will get together to play a few fights, and then teach the game to others, and the others will give it to others, almost everyone in the Langya army will be out of control.

"General, I didn't play cards, mainly because the issues you discussed with Mr. Mao were too profound and nerve-wracking, and I couldn't help but want to sleep after listening to it for a while."

Li said with big eyes blinking and sleepy.

The others didn't say anything, but they had a look of approval on their faces.

Cao Xin rubbed his forehead helplessly and told him his plan to enter the mountains to pull the population.

"A few of you are the leaders of the Yellow Turbans, Lao Zhang, Big Eyes, and Lao Yu, the three of you are still big celebrities in the Yellow Turban Army, I want you to go into the mountains to persuade the Yellow Turban bandits to come down the mountain, how much can you persuade, is there a problem."

Zhang Baiqi nodded, shook his head again and said, "General, this is Jingzhou, and a few of us are Qu Shuai from Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yanzhou, and there are no cards here."

However, it is not difficult to catch them from the mountains, we have lived in the mountains for many years, and we are very familiar with the mountain system.

Please give us two months, and we will find a way to catch people down the mountain, there are 10,000 on the mountain, I will catch 10,000, and if there are 100,000, I will catch 100,000, and not a single one will be left. ”

Zhang Baiqi said confidently.

"Oh~, what are you going to do?"

Cao Xin wondered.

"Haha, general, the secret of heaven must not be revealed, we are going to do something."

Li jumped up, hurriedly arched his hand, and walked quickly out of the conference hall.

The other five were the same, running faster than rabbits, and soon only he and Mao Jue, Liao Hua, and a few scribes and adjutants were left in the hall.

The corners of Cao Xin's mouth twitched, remembering Boss Cao.

"Xiaoxian, since Zhang Bai rode a few of them and said that there was a way to get the people on the mountain down, I also believe that they can do it, and the next thing is how to settle those mountain people?

I propose to use the method of cash-for-work to manage and resettle the mountain people, such as reclaiming wasteland, building water conservancy, building houses, providing food and tools, and waiting for the wasteland to be reclaimed and turned into farmland, and then distributing the fields to the mountain people and giving them to cultivate. ”

Cao Xin asked.

"Cash-for-work?"

Mao Jue's eyes lit up, and his eyes were full of admiration when he looked at Cao Xin,

"It is rumored that the general's wisdom is as deep as the sea and he is very knowledgeable, and when I saw it today, the rumors are true, and the subordinate officials have been taught."

"Haha, don't dare to be, filial piety first didn't know, I was the leader of the mountain, the cottage population was tens of thousands, I went down the mountain to buy some wasteland and handed it over to them to reclaim, build farms around, and tried it once at that time to work for relief, and I had some experience."

Cao Xin smiled lightly.

Mao Jue nodded clearly, "The general is wise, brave, benevolent, and righteous, and the lower officials admire it, but there is something that the lower officials will have time to report in the future."

When Zhang Xiu left Wancheng, he looted all the goods in the city, the Wancheng warehouse was empty, and the people were in trouble.

The food and grass in the city were only enough to sustain the army, and there was no surplus food to supply the mountain people.

Moreover, it takes more than half a year to harvest the wasteland and cultivate the land, and it takes 10,000 people to eat, and it takes tens of thousands of stone of grain a year, and 100,000 people are more than 100,000 stones, and the consumption is too great, and Wancheng may not be able to maintain it. ”

Mao Jue sighed softly, appeasing the homeless is the fastest way to increase the population, and many magistrates have thought of using this method to expand the local population and pay taxes.

But this kind of thing is more difficult to do than imagined, without a stable supply of food and grass, and without food for the displaced people, the displaced people will become displaced people again, or even chaotic people.

There have been many examples of failed appeasements before, and we have to guard against them.

Cao Xin said with a smile, "This matter is not difficult, I have some friendship with the Huitong Commercial Bank, I can borrow tens of thousands of yuan from the commercial bank to buy grain first, and then repay the money after the county receives the tax in the next year." ”

"Can you borrow money? This is a very good move, and everything is left to the general. ”

Mao Jue got up and saluted him.

"Haha, Xiaoxian doesn't need to be like this, this is my job, the rest of the specific work will be handed over to you to be responsible, Prime Minister Cao Cheng's side is about to move troops, and this official needs to spend time to organize the soldiers and horses and defend against Jingzhou and Zhang Xiu's sneak attack."

Cao Xin said as he helped him.

"The lower officials understand, please prepare for the war with peace of mind, and leave the matter of relocating the mountain people to the lower officials."

"That's great!"

Cao Xin looked at the empty hall and remembered one thing again, "Filial piety, there are dozens of officials in the Taishou Mansion, and most of them are vacant, and the official is ready to requisition some talented people from the local area to jointly govern Nanyang, how about filial piety?" ”

"As it should be!"

Mao Jue nodded in agreement.

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