Xuande

Chapter 833 Sustainability
After this battle, the main force of the natives of the three counties was eliminated. The natives of the three counties no longer had the organizational strength to confront the slave hunting team head-on. They could only retreat step by step and keep running away.

The slave hunting team turned into a full-scale hunting and hunting operation, just like hunters chasing their prey.

A prey that has lost too much blood can't escape for a long time. It can only scream and bleed while exhausting its last strength in the endless escape. After all the desire to survive has erupted, it crashes to the ground and has no more breath. .

The cunning hunter eventually wins outright.

After the middle of the first month of the third year of Zhenguan, the settlements of native people in various counties of Jiaozhou were discovered and destroyed on a large scale. A large number of young and strong native men and women were all captured by slave hunting teams, and few of them could escape.

After late February, the number of natives in Nanhai County, Yulin County, Hepu County, Jiaozhi County and other counties decreased significantly, and there was not enough to catch them.

Before that, thousands of natives were captured every day, but after the second half of February, the number of natives caught fell sharply. On the least one day, only 32 natives were arrested in one county of Hepu County.

Therefore, the local governments urgently judged that because everyone’s overzealous arrests caused a large number of natives to be quickly arrested, so that the reserves of natives in various places were insufficient, and it could even be said to be exhausted, making it impossible to sustain large-scale arrests.

The remaining natives either died or hid in more desolate deep mountains and old forests. It was even more difficult to find and capture. If large-scale arrests were to continue, not only would the difficulty increase on a large scale, but the results would also decline on a large scale.

In the past few months, the slave hunting teams of more than 30 counties in Jiaozhou and Central Plains have also suffered certain losses.

Many people died or died in battle due to various diseases and harsh living conditions. There are more than 500 people in total, but everyone is addicted to the thrill of capturing the natives and doesn't care much. Such a tiny loss.

After the large-scale hunting ended, such casualties were also mentioned, and everyone began to deal with the funeral affairs of their companions. Some accompanying doctors also began to pay attention to some diseases in the Lingnan area, and began to look for treatment methods.

The government considered more.

The local inventory is running out, and it is more difficult to continue to arrest in depth. If you want to obtain a large number of natives more efficiently, you need to find another way.

Either explore other counties, but risk disunity.

Or, as Liu Bei said, take a boat to the sea, go to the south or west of Rinan County, go to places that do not belong to the border of the Han Empire to find more native settlements, and obtain higher profits in a way that will not affect unity.

In those places, it belongs to whoever is quick, and there is no such thing as affecting unity. Although the difficulty will be greater, the reward will be greater.

After careful consideration, each county government was preparing to organize its own hunting teams, convening private and government forces to go overseas to find more natives to bring back and sell, providing sufficient labor for farmers in various places who were in urgent need of labor.

Then earn enough to get paid.

Not to mention, with the increase in the number of native captures these days, the demand for native slaves in various places is also rising, and there is no peak at all.

Not to mention that the Jiaozhou branch, which is a large family in the Central Plains, can afford to buy a large number of slaves. Even ordinary individual farmers will choose to buy some slaves to help open up wasteland after acquiring thousands of acres of land.

They also have some relocation subsidies issued by the court, enough to allow them to buy three, four, five or six native slaves to help reclaim wasteland, which is also a very important means of production for them.

There are really a lot of profits from the matter of catching native people and selling them for money.

Not to mention individuals, local governments also make a lot of money.

The price of a young male native in Jiaozhou varies from county to county, but the general range is not too different.

For example, a native can sell it for [-] yuan in Jiaozhi County, while it is slightly cheaper in Rinan County, about [-] to [-] yuan, and it is more expensive in Nanhai County, about [-] yuan. About thirty-one thousand dollars.

The price of natives is mainly determined based on the supply quantity of local natives, and is greatly affected by the market.

Then the price difference between male and female natives is also relatively large.

The price of a young female aboriginal is about [-]% to [-]% of that of a male aboriginal. Generally speaking, unless a female aboriginal is particularly strong, it cannot be sold at a high price.

But there are some exceptions. For example, if these female natives are quite attractive, they will be sold as special commodities to some particularly wealthy buyers, and some big households with other ideas will buy them at a higher price. A pretty native.

Anyway, in remote states and counties, the imperial court doesn't care about the purpose and content of the natives' sales, as long as they pay taxes to the government, it's your freedom to buy and sell, and it's also your freedom to do what you buy, and the government doesn't get involved in the management of the natives.

This gave some rich and big households ample room to operate, and they were free to do things they couldn't do in the Central Plains.

Therefore, according to the basic principle of 1000-900, the government can obtain a profit of 600 million yuan from the sale of [-] natives. After excluding various costs and expenditures, the government's legal tax revenue is more than [-] million yuan. .

Compared with the tax revenue of the entire county or state capital in the past, this is definitely a huge sum of money, and it can rank among the top three in all types of income.

The imperial court will pay part of the money to support the construction of various parts of Jiaozhou, but it will also require local governments to bear part of the expenditure themselves, and the imperial court will not fully invest.

Therefore, how to obtain this part of the expenditure is also a headache for the local government.

But now, this problem is no longer an issue.

As long as there are people who need the natives, and as long as there are natives who can be arrested, the government will not lack this fund.

The fact is that the entire Jiaozhou natives are not enough for the development of the Jiaozhou wasteland. It seems to be able to support it at present, mainly because the supply capacity of the supply side and the number of demands on the demand side have not been opened, and the imperial court has not formally organized large-scale organizations. The manpower moved south to Jiaozhou, and the ability of the official and private slave hunting team in Jiaozhou was not fully mature.Once the demand on the demand side is fully developed and the capabilities of the United Slave Hunters are fully mature, then it will be the real peak.

Liu Bei is also looking at this issue now, and is considering how to gradually release the demand for cheap labor in the states and counties of the Central Plains. He also needs to worry that the demand for this cheap labor is too high, which will lead to larger hunting operations. So much so that the natives in the surrounding areas were wiped out.

Of course, he doesn't think there is any moral issue in this. In the development period, moral issues are not even regarded as issues. People who make money and earn red eyes have no time to care about moral issues.

He was just worried that the population of the major civilizations in the surrounding areas was not enough, and that one day they would all be captured by the Han Empire and even completely extinct.

It is not possible to exhaust the lake to fish. He wanted to let the Han Empire follow a sustainable path of exhausting the lake to fish, so that the Han Empire could enjoy this "demographic dividend" for a longer period of time without destroying the entire East Asia, Southeast Asia and even South Asia in one or two hundred years. If they are all wiped out, won’t the demographic dividend dry up?

But judging from the current situation, because the production technology is not at home, if you want to develop, you really have to use human lives to fill it up. So whether the dividend rate of the population will dry up first, or the Han Empire will take the lead in launching the technological revolution, that is a question Debatable question.

However, the Han Empire finally started the beginning of its outward-oriented national strategic actions. How could it put the brakes on at this time?
Liu Bei has no interest in this, and now he just wants to know where else besides Southeast Asia, he can obtain a larger-scale "demographic dividend" to help the development of the Central Plains and remote states and counties.

He looked around and quickly found several good directions.

Nanman in the south of Yizhou, Goguryeo, Fuyu, Sanhan and even Japan in the northeast of Youzhou, the Western Regions in the west of Liangzhou, and even the Xianbei people who fled westward before.

For now, the "demographic dividend" in these three directions can be obtained by the Han Empire in a relatively easy way, and it will also pose some strategic security threats to the Han Empire, through war operations or slave hunting operations Turning this threat into a "demographic dividend" is really a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

Therefore, according to the level of threat, Liu Bei decided to order Yizhou Governor's Mansion and Xishu Military Region to learn from Jiaozhou's "advanced experience" and carry out slave hunting operations in the southern counties of Yizhou to obtain a large number of native slaves. Agricultural development in central Sichuan.

In the western part of Liangzhou, exploration is the main priority, and military operations should not be launched for the time being.

In the northeastern part of Youzhou, some military means can be used to carry out all-round blasting of several small countries there.

But before that, there is still a small problem of Gongsundu that needs to be solved.

After Liu Bei conquered the Xianbei people a few years ago, he handed over the three counties of Liaodong, Xuantu and Lelang to Gongsundu. He asked Gongsundu to recruit and train troops in the three counties, so that he could not take care of Liaodong at that time. Liu Bei should solve his worries and suppress those guys who are ready to make a move.

Facts have proved that his choice is not wrong. Gongsundu is very talented in military affairs. He has pulled up more than 1 regular troops relying on the three counties. After more training, he has become a powerful force with some combat effectiveness.

Moreover, Gongsundu himself was also a moderate war maniac. He fought in the north and south. For several years, he suppressed Goguryeo, Fuyu, Dongwoju and other countries or tribal alliances.

Before that, before the rise of Gongsundu, whether it was Goguryeo, Buyeo, or those tribal unions, and even the Sanhan further south, they had harassed and invaded the Han territory. From this point of view, after Gongsundu took control of Liaodong, he contributed to the attack on these places and the maintenance of the Han territory.

At least in these years, Gongsun Du fought with them more than 30 times, large and small, and never lost. At most, it was a tie. The other times he won all the time. It can be said that he was a victorious general.

Originally, Liu Bei also wanted to praise Gongsun Du, but he realized that this guy had more or less the idea of ​​occupying the mountain as king and separatist regime, so he never took further praise for him, but reserved his views on him.

Before, Xiahou Dun sued Gongsundu, saying that he had some bad influence on the situation in Youzhou. For example, this guy often fought wars and liked to sweep up grain on a large scale before the war, which caused the price of grain in some areas of Youzhou to rise.

Xiahou Dun wrote to him many times about this matter, asking him not to start wars so frequently, to discuss with the Privy Council more often, and not to make decisions without authorization, especially since he often does this, which has a great impact on Youzhou's agricultural production. This is an act that is not conducive to the development of Youzhou.

Gongsun Du had a different view on this. He thought that if he discussed everything with the Privy Council, wouldn't it be a waste of opportunity?
Sometimes when a fighter opportunity is found, it is a great opportunity to destroy the enemy, but in the end it is necessary to report to the Privy Council and not attack. After a few months, the Privy Council’s permission comes, and this battle will not be fought. Is such a thing correct? of it?
Gongsun Du also mocked Xiahou Dun for this, saying that Xiahou Dun would govern the place honestly if he didn't know how to fight, and don't interfere with his actions, otherwise he would go to Liu Bei to accuse Xiahou Dun of interfering in military affairs, which almost made Xiahou Dun angry.

Liu Bei was not very happy after knowing this, but he didn't have an attack.

Later, according to the news sent by Dongyuan secret agents from the three counties of Liaodong, Gongsun Du was quite honest at first, but as he won more and more victories against foreigners, he became bigger and bigger, and his prestige became higher and higher. , he increasingly believed that he was the master of the three counties of Liaodong and a major contributor to the stability of Liaodong. He should not be limited to the status of a Liaodong county governor and a miscellaneous general.

In addition, there are people around him who are fueling the flames, singing praises to him, and flattering him in various ways, so he gradually feels that he should ask Liu Bei for a higher position and power.

After Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, he gave Gongsun Du a lot of benefits, such as appointing him as Liaodong Zhonglang general, enfeoffing him as a marquis, increasing the number of food towns, and commanding [Liaodongying] soldiers to guard Liaodong, so he has the qualification and power to initiate battles , as long as it is reported to the court afterwards.

This can be regarded as giving him a lot of power to act cheaply, and before Liu Bei actually appointed the three counties of Liaodong to Gongsundu, the sheriffs of Xuantu County and Lelang County were also proposed by Gongsundu to the court, and the court would make a formal appointment , This is the special treatment given to him by Liu Bei when he hoped that he would guard the three counties of Liaodong with peace of mind.

After becoming emperor, Liu Bei was busy with other things for a while. He didn't think about these things in Liaodong, so he put aside the disposal of the three counties in Liaodong. During the time, he made a suggestion to Liu Bei.

He proposed to divide the three counties of Liaodong, plus the land of Fuyu and Goguryeo he had obtained through military means over the years, to establish a new state called Pingzhou, and he would be the governor of Pingzhou.

And he also submitted many military merits that were not mentioned before, hoping to submit them to the Privy Council for evaluation. The implicit meaning in his words was that he hoped Liu Bei would grant him the title of general, and he did not want to be the lieutenant general anymore.

He felt that his achievements were no less than those of generals such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and he could also beat the foreigners in Liaodong to be submissive and obedient, so he thought he had the qualifications to be a general.

It would be fine if he was just a general.

Liu Bei also thinks that Gongsun Du has this qualification. His contribution, the attack and suppression of the Fuyu Kingdom, Goguryeo Kingdom and several other tribes are indeed quite impressive military achievements. He also plans to make Gongsun Du a general after a while .

But when Gongsundu raised this matter himself, it seemed that he was a little too arrogant and disrespected himself as the emperor.

(End of this chapter)