Northern Dynasties

Chapter 548
In the Eastern Han Dynasty Zhang Heng's "Nandu Fu", he praised the prosperity and prosperity of Nanyang, and this is indeed the most glorious moment in the history of Nanyang.

In the farming society of the Middle Ages, if any region wanted to achieve considerable development and become prosperous, the most fundamental thing was to develop agriculture.Agriculture is the root of all industries, and only when agriculture is prosperous can all industries be prosperous.

The development of Nanyang naturally benefits from its superior geographical environment and resources, and water conservancy can fully develop and utilize environmental resources.In ancient times, all areas with developed farming must have excellent water conservancy projects, such as the Zhengbai Canal in Guanzhong, Dujiangyan in Central Shu, and so on.

The prosperity and development of Nanyang is also inseparable from this point. Zhao Xinchen, the prefect of Nanyang in the Western Han Dynasty, was the earliest local official in history who systematically built water conservancy works in Nanyang. During his tenure, he built Liumenyan in Nanyang. Dozens of water conservancy facilities, including Nanyang, have provided systematic water conservancy irrigation facilities, which have contributed a lot to regional development.

Du Shi, the prefect of Nanyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, greatly repaired the water conservancy facilities in the city on the basis of the previous dynasties, and invented and created various water conservancy and agricultural machinery such as water drainage, which further promoted the development of productivity.

Nanyang was able to become a prosperous and prosperous southern capital of the Han Dynasty, thanks to the contribution of the two good officials before and after. Therefore, Nanyang people praised it as "there was Zhaofu before, and Dumu later". Come.

However, with the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Nanyang no longer had the beauty of being the hometown of the Southern Capital, and there was nothing to call it except for the appearance of Yuan Shu in the last years of the Southeast.By the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was only one of the garrison areas of the northern regime.

The Northern Wei Dynasty established Jingzhou after seizing the land of Mianbei, but it only regarded it as a former town to confront the Southern Dynasties, and did not intentionally restore and promote agricultural production in Nanyang.

The Nanyang area that Li Tai is now in charge of can be regarded as the lowest period of decline in this area.Taking the most basic population indicator as an example, there are only more than 8000 registered households in Jingzhou today, totaling more than 4 people.

This figure is not too small at first glance, but we must know that Nanyang had a population of more than 240 million in the heyday of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there were still more than 100 million people here in the Yuan Shu period at the end of the Han Dynasty. , there are still more than [-] people.

In other words, under the rule of the Western Wei Dynasty, the temperament of Jingzhou is also very consistent with the consistent image of the Western Wei regime, except for a poor shell!
On the one hand, there is an extremely glorious past history, on the other hand, an extremely bad and messy reality. Li Tai also knows that it is not easy to pull Nanyang out of this trough if he wants to reverse the regional decline. It is destined to be a long way to go. .

Everything is difficult at the beginning, and only by finding the right entry point can we get twice the result with half the effort.There are many reasons for the decline of the Nanyang area, the most critical of which is the destruction of productivity and the production environment caused by the war.

Now Li Taixian deterred Nanliang by attacking Xiangyang, while the Eastern Wei Dynasty was still trapped in Hou Jing's rebellion and the Northern Expedition of Southern Liang. Even Wang Sizheng of Yingchuan had to be ranked behind, so naturally he had no time to take care of Jingzhou.

Therefore, Li Tai also secretly set a small goal in his heart, that is, in the next year, the state government must have at least [-] registered residents and at least [-] hectares of land. Fertile land.

Neither of these two small goals is very easy to achieve.Coupled with the nearly ten thousand soldiers and civilians who moved from Fancheng, the population under the jurisdiction of the state capital increased to [-], but if it wants to double in just one year, unless it is a war or a more thorough expansion of household authorization Tian, ​​otherwise very slim.

As for the land that the state government can control now, it is still far from ten thousand hectares, and the distance from Li Tai's small goal is even greater.

When Du Zhaohui suggested that the money should be used to repair Liumenyan, the people present did not respond enthusiastically. Although a few people echoed their voices, most of them remained silent. Obviously, this was not what everyone expected. proposal.

Li Tai took everyone's reaction into his eyes, and he was not surprised by this. The reason is also very simple, that is, they don't have much demand for it.

It should be noted that the Nanyang Basin can accommodate a population of more than 200 million in its heyday, so a well-developed water conservancy system is needed to promote agricultural development.Even if there is a large number of hidden populations in the territory, plus registered householders, it is estimated that it will never exceed 20.

The place is still the same place, but the population it carries has been reduced by more than ten times, and the demand for water conservancy facilities has naturally been greatly reduced. The natural irrigation of the naturally existing rivers in the territory should be able to meet the current population size.

Years of war and turmoil have also made these local tycoons no need to expand their production scale.After all, not everyone is as rebellious as a time traveler like Li Tai, who always wants to start his own business to subvert the regime. Most people in troubled times only want a safe life.

These tycoons are satisfied with the status quo, but Li Tai is not satisfied, especially knowing that the Southern Dynasties will be in chaos. At that time, there will be a large number of refugees in the Jianghan area to escape the war and be displaced.

If the supporting facilities in the Mianbei area can be adequately prepared, it must be able to accommodate a large number of exiles, greatly replenish the vitality in the area, and provide a shelter for these poor Jiangnan people.

He waited for a while, and seeing that no one made any further comments, he waved his hand to stop Du Zhaohui, who was still waiting to speak out, and immediately said with a smile: "What Du Ming's mansion said is indeed deeply rooted in the nostalgia. If this is the case, what is it to say is not beautiful? But breaking the ground and using labor will inevitably be heavy, and if it goes too far, it will be abusing the people."

After everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement, and their attitude was more positive than before.

After all, they don't have much demand for water conservancy, and they are well aware of the shortage of people in the state capital. Even if the new envoy contributes, the specific service personnel must be shared by various families in the country. Of course, they are not very happy to find trouble for nothing.

If I were to put it a little more clearly, it would be that they are relatively satisfied with the current rural conditions and order, and are not very willing to have the government intervene in adjustments and changes. Even if it is good, they are still wary.

"The people are easy to be abused, but the sky is hard to bully! Even if it is to regulate the atmosphere of the earth, but it is out of harmony, that is not a benevolent government. You are all outstanding heroes and role models in the countryside. Since you are not an ordinary and mediocre servant, I don't know if there are two ways. Teach me the whole law?"

Li Tai looked at the crowd and said with a smile, but after hearing this, the crowd shook their heads and waved their hands repeatedly, not daring to accept the compliment, lest they cause trouble for their vanity.

Seeing their tacit reaction, Li Tai secretly sighed again, no matter whether the nostalgia between them is good or bad, but if he comes, this tacit atmosphere will disappear.From then on, only his own rules can exist in Jingzhou.

He learned from Daxingtai that no matter how powerful an individual is, the best way to fight is never to fight against the masses, but to let them roll in.

"You guys are too modest. You may not be as good as me when it comes to defeating the enemy, proclaiming the government and enforcing the law. But when it comes to understanding the situation of the countryside and caring for the strength of the people, I am far inferior to you. I am very grateful for the good deeds of repairing the ditches and weirs that the Du Ming Mansion said today. If you are willing to implement it, although you have the resources to do it, but you have limited intelligence, you don’t know how to show compassion for the people, so you need to rely on the wisdom of the crowd.”

Speaking of this, Li Tai stood up, walked slowly to the front of the hall, pointed to the pile of goods outside the hall, and said: "Whether you are an official or a citizen, who can help me rebuild the Liumen Weir without causing accumulation?" Public grievances, all the materials outside the hall are with them!"

"Is what you say true?"

Li Tai hadn't finished speaking, the crowd in the hall suddenly buzzed with discussion, and many people rushed forward with excitement to ask for confirmation.

Seeing the enthusiastic expressions of these people, Li Tai couldn't help but secretly sighed that the real man died for money, and the loss-making business was not done, and the beheading business was rushing to do it.On the pile of belongings outside, the blood of the three families hadn't dried yet, and it immediately became the target of other people's scrambling.

"Dare to ask the envoy, is the restoration of the six gates weirs mentioned only limited to the ponds and weirs in the east of the city or include the canals and ponds that run through the three counties?"

Another person asked to confirm the specific size of the project. If it was the latter, the project volume would be too large. Some of the canals and ponds covering hundreds of miles had been completely damaged, and the labor and material consumption was astonishing.

But if it is the former, then this business can be done very well. It should be noted that the outside world is not only the nearly [-] pieces of silk and the [-] catties of gold from the state capital, but also the wealth accumulated by the three local tyrants for decades. O wealth!

Naturally, Li Tai would not be responsible for the specific project explanations. Seeing that they all showed great interest in this, Dang even decided to form an official bidding agency with Chief Shi Cuiqian and Wan County Magistrate Du Zhaohui who first proposed it. Interested families can put forward their own plans, and finally the government will select the best one and deliver it to construction.

This kind of government-civilian cooperation immediately aroused everyone's interest, especially those who were already interested in this fortification, they asked questions frequently to understand the details, and Li Tai also patiently explained them one by one.

If you want the fish to take the bait, you have to get enough bait naturally.Such a large amount of engineering work is not something that all tyrants can afford.Seeing that those who are small but interested in this project are troubled, Li Tai also enthusiastically suggested that they can jointly bid with several companies.

(End of this chapter)