Chapter 304 Settlement
The second batch of water boats had actually passed Chen County and marched to the junction of Chen County and Yangxia, where they were stopped.
The Yamen Army set up a stronghold on the spot and unloaded the grain.
"General Li, there are 185,220 hu of grains and beans here, all of which are handed over to you." Chen Yan said as he put away the delivery documents written by Li Chong.
A ship carries five thousand dendrobiums of grain.
The group of eighty ships he led, half of which unloaded grain on the spot, and the empty ships sailed down the river and returned to Hefei.
The other half of the ships continued to load grain, transported to Junyi, and handed over to the people of Luoyang Du Branch Captain Yang Bao.
More than 185,000 grains, in fact, cannot save many people.
Assuming a family of five, old and young, male and female, on average one person needs to eat one handful of grain a month.
In an era of lack of fat and protein, people who do physical work have a very alarming thirst for carbohydrates.
In the Tang Dynasty, a peasant family of five people would eat an average of four dendrobiums per person a year (one Tanghu millet = 108.32 kilograms), which is more than one kilogram of grain a day - the elderly, children, and women ate less. Strong men eat more.
Moreover, they will also look for wild vegetables, mulberries, fruits and other things they can find to supplement their food.
Of course, this was the mid-late Tang Dynasty when ordinary people were short of food, because a lot of food was taken away to raise soldiers.
When food is relatively abundant, a person will definitely eat more than that in a day.
The volume of a Jin Dendrobium is less than one third of a Tang Dendrobium, about thirty kilograms of millet.
One dendrobium per month is equivalent to one pound per day, which is about three liters and three combined (one dendrobium = ten buckets = one hundred liters = one thousand combined).
But that's a normal situation. In a major disaster, it's okay to hang on to your life. Don't think too much.
Li Zhong directly ordered: Dakou (adult men) should be given two liters of food per day, Zhongkou (adult women) should be given one liter of food per day, and Xiaokou should be given one liter of food per day.
As soon as the order was given, action began immediately.
Everyone is organized into teams and battalions, with their own leaders and militarized management.
In addition, he also organized soldiers to dig trenches and spread curtains to catch locusts, dry or steam them, and mix them into grain.
At this time, you can’t worry about whether you will get sick after eating it. Let’s supplement your nutrition first. Don’t look at the “trivial matter” of catching locusts. It is really not something that victims who are dizzy with hunger can easily do it. .
Chen Yan stayed in the camp for the victims for several days, feeling worried.
What he was worried about was the consequences of intercepting the canal.
Although half of it was cut and half was put away, it was given to the imperial court, but it is hard to say whether Luoyang would appreciate it.
Maybe the emperor and his ministers are not short of food, but the imperial guards, craftsmen and other people in the capital are all counting on food from outside.
Once the conflict intensifies and the court and Chen Hou fall out, the trouble will be huge. When the Xiongnu goes south, the imperial court and the Marquis of Chen will be destroyed, which will be a joke.
However, the matter has been done. It is useless to think about it so much. Let’s think about how to help the people.
"General Li, I heard that Cao Wei was providing disaster relief and gathering the refugees, forming a camp of five miles, and leaving sixty people in each camp." Two days later, Chen Yan couldn't help it. Looking at the messy refugees, he suggested Said: "The general governs by military law, which is in line with the old practices of previous generations, but it is not an option to keep it like this all the time. Now that the rebels have retreated, it is better to spread out the people along the river to avoid gathering together to cause epidemics. It is better to choose some The land should be occupied first. In the future, if there is an abundance of grain and beans, we will provide more grain, and then we will organize the people to plant grains for a season. In this way, we can barely make ends meet."
Li Zhong was silent for a while after hearing this, and said: "If it hadn't been for Captain Chen to remind me, I would have missed something important."
At the same time, I also felt a little emotional. If you asked him to arrange the troops, he would be able to do it easily, but if it involves the complicated resettlement, management and production organization of the victims, he would be a little confused.
He didn’t even know what the “Old Rules of Cao Wei” mentioned by Chen Yan were about.
Chen Yan was born in the Chen family of Yingchuan. She was a child of an aristocratic family. She read many books and knew many things. She was indeed better than him in this regard.
No wonder these matters have been left to literati since ancient times. They may not be good at fighting, but they are indeed better at managing the people than warriors like them.
"Yangxia, Fugou and Chen County are crisscrossed by rivers and have many fertile fields, which can accommodate many people. But many of the lands are owned by owners, which is quite troublesome." Chen Yan said: "General, sir Let’s pick an unclaimed place to settle. Most of the rest will be decided by Lu Yuzhou and Chen Hou. The general can think about it himself.” .
Chen Yan took another look at the people.
If Chen Hou can really resettle all these victims and survive, it will only take a few years before these places will no longer be owned by the imperial court.
What he did was much more difficult than those of Shi Le, but the subsequent benefits were also greater.
To a certain extent, he is in the same situation as Shi Le and Wang Mi.
Shi and Wang are now suppressed by the Liu Han court and cannot stand on their own, let alone dare to stand on their own.
Chen Hou is also ambitious, but at this stage, he does not dare to stand on his own.
But if there are these resettled refugees, it will be completely different.
They are equivalent to the tribe of Chen Hou, no longer Wang Min.
On May 28, Chen Yan led part of the fleet to leave Chen County and return to Hefei to load the next batch of grain.
And after hearing the news, more and more refugees are gathering in Chen County and Yangxia.
******
On the last day of May, Lu Zhi, the governor of Yuzhou, arrived in Chen County.
The first thing he did was to visit Xie Pe and Yuan Chong.
May is about to pass, there are fewer and fewer locusts, and the situation is becoming clearer.
Zhixiong's troops who went south to plunder Yingchuan fled in panic because they could not raise enough food. They were chased by the government soldiers and suffered heavy casualties.
Kui'an returned directly to Chenliu and risked his life to plunder. Wen Zhi and Kui both retreated, and Taobao, who was active in the Liang area, did not dare to go south. Economic Yin retreated towards Puyang.
He suffered the least losses along the way, but during the retreat, some people still collapsed due to lack of food.
It exactly corresponds to that sentence: "There are countless people who are invincible and self-defeating."
Of course, speaking of the dark side, this may not be a bad thing for Shi Le.
In an environment of food shortage, it is too risky to recruit a large number of weak soldiers in the hope of winning by relying on numbers. Once enough food is not looted, there will be great internal turmoil.
10,000 to 20,000 people were killed, wounded, and scattered, which may have helped lighten his burden.
"You have done a great job in repelling the traitors this time." Lu Zhi said a few compliments as soon as he came up.
"With the arrival of drought locusts, how can there be any surplus food for Shi Le to raise his troops." Yuan Chong smiled bitterly and said: "Moreover, retreating from the enemy still relies on the reputation of Chen Hou after all."
Xie Pei also said: "If it were not for the presence of the Marquis of Chen and the envoys, and Chenjun and Yingchuan being united, it would not be easy to retreat."
Lu Zhi smiled and said nothing after hearing this.
This is the attitude.
In fact, even without him and Chen Hou, Shi Le would be unlikely to go south at this time.
After all, this man is a Han official. Without the order of the Liu Han court, how could he act on his own like a wild horse? Looking for death?
Unless there is an excellent opportunity in Jingzhou and the Liu Han court sees the possibility of conquering these states and counties, it will send Shi Le or Wang Mi deep into Yuzhou and go south.
"You two know how good Chen Hou is, but now we have a difficult problem that requires your help." Lu Zhi clapped his hands and asked his entourage to come in from the door.
Yuan Chong and Xie Xi felt a twitch in their hearts. Could it be that they were asking for food?
To be honest, they are also in dire need. After all, this year’s harvest is gone.
There are so many bankers down there to support, and I really can’t get food out of them - the bankers and bankers depend on you just to survive. If you can’t even guarantee this, it’s tantamount to ruin. After breaking the contract, the foundation of the family will be shaken.
There is never anything in the world where you only enjoy the benefits without paying any obligations. You must pay for what you get.
Fortunately, the follower spread out a map, which made the two of them breath a little relieved.
"There have been two consecutive years of natural disasters, mixed with many wars." Lu Zhi pointed to the map, scratching around in the Suiyang Canal and Woishui areas, and said, "Some people died from natural disasters and military disasters. , some people were discouraged and crossed south, leaving a lot of land vacant."
Xie Fe looked at the map and seemed to understand something in his heart.
Actually, he doesn't care, because he doesn't really want to stay in the Central Plains. He wants to find a place to settle down in the south of the Yangtze River and continue to live a leisurely life.
The land of Yangxia is not that important to him anymore.
Yuan Chong is an old fox. How could he not think of things that Xie Xi could understand? But he remained calm and continued to listen.
"The prince wants to gather these lands and resettle the refugees in a unified way." Lu Zhi said: "But some of the fields seem to have owners and need to be replaced..."
Field It was a bit quiet for a while.
Theoretically speaking, Chen Hou did not let the Yuan and Xie families suffer. After exchanging the land, it is not for nothing.
But the problem is that their land is now connected. This makes it easier to manage and protect yourself.
The land that was replaced may not necessarily be connected to the current fields. If the banker is sent to farm, additional resettlement will be required, not to mention the cost, and safety will not be guaranteed, because the family's strength is dispersed.
Give me the simplest example.
With two thousand households working together, which one is safer than dividing it into four plots with five hundred households in each plot?
It must be the former.
Of course, it is not impossible to continue the replacement and connect the land as much as possible.
But this matter is more complicated. It requires gathering all the scholars and powerful people in the county to discuss it together. In the end, we may not be able to come up with a result.
Because the land is fat and thin, and there is also the issue of whether irrigation is convenient or not, there are a lot of trivial matters, which will probably cause a lot of noise.
"You two don't need to worry." Lu Zhi looked at them and said: "I will personally supervise this matter. No matter how much energy I spend, I must get it done. Chen Hou's army is in Xingyang in a moment. But if someone makes trouble, how about that?"
The place became quieter.
Xie Fe was angry, but he didn't want to get entangled with Lu Zhiduo on this matter. He was disappointed with the north and wanted to go south to Wu. He didn't particularly care about Yangxia, but Lu Zhi's aggressive attitude made him very uncomfortable.
I don’t know what Shao Xun likes about him. How can such a person with no sense of propriety be a good governor of a state?
Yuan Chong also understood the threat in Lu Zhi's words, but he was deeper in the city and knew that there was no reason to argue with the man holding the knife. After thinking for a long time, he finally nodded and sighed: "There are natural and man-made disasters. We have to get through the difficulties together. I don't have any objections. Let's just do it."
After Yuan Chong finished his statement, Lu Zhi turned to Xie take out.
Xie Pei said, "Yes."
Lu Zhi smiled. After catching these two cow noses, Yang Xia, the cow, can be led away by him.
As the two largest existing aristocratic families in Chen County, they have both set examples, and there is nothing much to say for others.
"This matter must be settled as soon as possible." Lu Zhi said: "The locust plague is about to end. It is best to rush to plant beans and millet in June. Sorry for the trouble."
The two ordered again. nod.
The implication of Lu Zhi’s words is: I will take your land first, and we will discuss the replacement later.
What can they do? Discussing with you is already giving me face and respecting the rules.
If you keep pestering me again, the He family’s lesson is not far away, you can do whatever you want.
(End of this chapter)