Waves at the end of Han Dynasty

Chapter 70
In the Western Regions, the Protectorate of the Great Han Dynasty.

Dong Zhuo only took the Duhu Mansion as a joke now, because after Li Ru came, he almost took over a large number of cumbersome government affairs, and gradually restored the actual control area of ​​the Duhu Mansion.

In order to fill the hole left by the officials taken away by his predecessor, he made an exception and used a large number of original Dong's caravan personnel. After simple "training" for them in person, he sent them to various parts of the Western Regions to make up for the leaks, which can be regarded as temporarily stabilizing the situation.

The five cities established during Zhang Wen's reign have been restored to control, and countries in the Western Regions have also begun to send envoys to pay tribute. The recent situation of Jinhui Mountain and the Hetian jade mine near Kunlun Mountain have also been contacted, and they are about to send people to take over .

At present, apart from Wusun, Dawan, and Lianhe Kangju in the northern part of the Western Regions who are somewhat disobedient, it can be said that the Duhufu has controlled most of the strategic locations and sources of finance and taxation, which is enough for Dong Zhuo to recruit a strong army.

For this reason, Li Ru was so busy that he didn't even touch the ground, and he didn't even have time to accept Dong Zhuo's several awards...

But when Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, Guo Si, and Niu Fu were planning to recruit troops, they were interrupted by Li Ru who hurried into the palace:
"My lord, all taxes in the Western Regions cannot be moved!"

"Well, why is this!?"

Dong Zhuo was a little angry, with such a large amount of income, can't I, the Protector of the Western Regions, use it for development?
"My lord, please calm down. This is an imperial edict, which has just been delivered. My lord, please read it..."

After Li Ru finished speaking, he took out a volume of imperial edict from his sleeve and handed it to Dong Zhuo.

The imperial edict was issued in the name of Shangshutai by the ten permanent servants, ordering the Governor of the Western Regions to count the treasury of the Governor's Mansion and the taxes and income of various places in the Western Regions one by one, report them in detail, and send them to the capital on time, and do not keep them privately!
Dong Zhuo crumpled up the edict angrily after reading it, and almost tore it up.The money he had just received was going to be handed over before it was warmed up, and he was really reluctant to part with it...

"Wenyou, is there a plan to keep this property for your own use?"

"My lord, it's impossible. It must be that Zhang Zhengxi has reported the details of the Western Regions to the imperial court, so there is this edict. Confucianism is intended to test it. Now that the wealth of the Western Regions is known to everyone, if we have a little secret, I'm afraid. Disaster is imminent!"

"What Wen You said is serious? Will it be too alarmist!"

"My lord, Confucianism has sent people to find out that the imperial court has ordered Zhenxi General Liu to lead the governor of Liangzhou, lead the army to Dunhuang, and reorganize the army. It is for us! There is also Zhang Zhengxi's former government soldiers who have disappeared without a trace. Then suddenly Attack, even if we have thousands of gold, what is the use of it..."

"In that case, it's really..."

Dong Zhuo's mood suddenly faded, and he couldn't keep such a rich man, so why did he come to this deserted place...

"Wenyou, can you write a letter to Wusun, Dawan and other countries that seem to have disobedience, and we must leave some money to support the army?"

Li Jue on the side was also reluctant to give up, and tried to speak.

"Although this strategy is feasible, it's just that the Confucian officials are so greedy for money, they won't listen to what we say."

"What's the use of such a position as a guardian? Why don't you just resign and retire...!"

Dong Zhuo complained angrily.

"My lord, don't be depressed. The wealth of the Western Regions is far more than this. Although Zhang Zhengxi robbed me of taxes, Confucianism also has other strategies to enrich the treasury!"

Li Ru comforted him confidently.

"Oh? What can Wenyou teach me?"

Dong Zhuo hurriedly asked, and everyone around also stepped forward.

"My lord, do you ever remember what Confucianism said earlier about 'business'? From now on, it's just like this..."

Li Ru smiled, walked slowly to Dong Zhuo's ear and said his thoughts.

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If the Western Regions were the northwest frontier of the Han Empire, then the Southern Chu Kingdom was the southwestern frontier.

Of course, this still requires the king of Southern Chu to contact the court of the Han Dynasty. With the foundation he has established now, if it belongs to the Han Dynasty, of course there will be a position of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households. After all, this is a real achievement of land expansion!

But Wei Zhen didn't want to contact his ancestral man at all. Not long ago, his son Wei Xun came back after his success, and when Wei Zhen was happy, he mentioned the trading land of Shu, and was immediately reprimanded and driven away by Wei Zhen. It's over...

Now my son is forced to leave. In order to speed up the development of the Nanyang coast, he quietly went to the grassroots to practice another set of his suggestions.

Wei Zhen felt a little regretful when he was thinking alone again, but because of an important reason, he could only keep suppressing the domestic calls to contact the Han Dynasty.

"Xun'er, before the death of the father, the king will definitely tell you the past, I hope you can understand the difficulties of the father..."

Wei Zhen sat in the main hall of the Southern Chu Palace and spoke silently.

----

When people get old, it is easy to miss the past, just like Wei Zhen.

But his son would not. Wei Xun is now in the prime of his life. Although he was a little puzzled by his father's reprimand, he still went to work with great enthusiasm.

He believed that there were many paths for the development of the foundation. Even if the father disagreed with one path he suggested, at least didn't he approve of the other path he suggested?
Wei Xun also believed that the father had some difficulties or other considerations.

If so, then try to do what you can!
Therefore, Wei Xun came to the slave colony in the Southern Chu Kingdom to investigate on the spot...

Because of his discovery of the Nanyang coast, the Southern Chu Kingdom has new opportunities for development, but it also faces greater challenges, and this challenge is the population gap.

According to Wei Xun's plan, the Southern Chu Kingdom needs to open up a straight road leading to the Nanyang coast, and then build a residence or a city in a suitable place on the coast, and finally need to set up a dock, build ships, and train sailors... …

After a little calculation, he believes that hundreds of thousands of slaves are still needed for infrastructure construction, and tens of thousands of people are needed to achieve the ideal state. After all, if you want to build ships and establish naval divisions, you can only be real Han craftsmen. Only then can it be done.

But such a number has already exceeded the entire population of Southern Chu!

For this reason, Wei Xun's elder brother Yan Yan has embarked on the journey again, overcoming the difficulty of not concentrating the barbarians in winter, and trying to arrest them...

When Wei Xun's father defeated Shan with Yan Yan, there were less than [-] people. In ten years now, there are more than [-] households with more than [-] people and more than [-] slaves.

This can already be said to be a miracle in the history of ancient population development!

The huge slave is naturally Yan Yan's hard work...

As for the people of Southern Chu, except for a few slaves who were successfully domesticated, many of them were the original Han people who worked hard to give birth after the surplus of food, so most of them are still children now, and it is almost impossible to grow rapidly. up.

Therefore, Wei Xun could only make a breakthrough on these captive slaves. After all, their base was much larger. If the speed and proportion of slaves' Sinicization could be increased, it would allow Southern Chu to increase the population growth rate again.

However, this is easy to say. After Wei Xun proposed this new idea, Wei Zhen also raised some questions. These questions can only be answered after practice. After all, they are all new attempts...

This is why Wei Xun put down his other work and stayed to try, even returning to the Nanyang coast to participate in the construction was left aside by him.

"Brother, are you here to adjust the slave management regulations?"

Wei Chen, the younger brother of Wei Xun, hurried over when he heard the news, and saw that he was listening to the report from the small official in charge of the settlement, so he stepped forward and asked.

"Exactly, this matter is very important, what do you think?"

"Sure enough, this little brother is about to tell his elder brother..."

(End of this chapter)