Crowned the New Han Dynasty

Chapter 390 The seven counties of Youzhou cover the sky with one hand

After sending Chen Yong away, Chen Zhi went straight to the backyard, entered the house, and saw his wife.

The daughter of the Yang family, Yang You.

Ms. Yang was wearing a skirt, with a calm expression and a smile on her face. She was sitting at the table. It seemed that she had been waiting for Chen Zhi to return. There were dishes on the table next to her, and there were hot meals inside.

"The food is all cooked according to your instructions." She looked at the food on the table and said with a smile, her voice soft.

If there are others here, they will notice that the food on these tables is slightly different from the popular dishes of this era.

Steamed cakes, wontons, seabass dumplings, oriole moxibustion, water shield soup...

There are actually not many types of dishes, and they are also the favorite meals of today's nobles. However, some of the methods, condiments, etc. are different from the outside world, and the aroma exuded is better than outside pubs and restaurants.

In fact, many of the things in it were taught by Chen Zhi. When he wrote "Essential Techniques for Qi Min", he covered a lot of breeding and planting techniques. Naturally, he mentioned food and cooking methods, so he simply Based on the current trends and future generations, I made some changes and passed them on to my wife, and found something for her to do.

Of course, these contents will also be written down by Chen Zhi in "Essential Techniques for Qi Min". This book will be the key to his next step as a prefect.

The direct result of such actions is that Chen Zhi's family leads the world in terms of food, and it also allows Chen Zhi's newlywed wife to discover her own hidden hobbies - no doubt, for her. It is a joy for her to cook delicious food for her husband, especially after learning the latest cooking methods.

As the husband, Chen Zhi became the direct beneficiary. At least when he ate, he could deeply feel the different taste from the past.

Yang You is very talented in this area.

At this time, Yang stayed with Chen Zhi and looked at Chen Zhi from time to time. The two of them didn't say much. They would occasionally stop using their chopsticks to chat for a few words, but it was just ordinary trivial matters and did not involve the court or the situation.

Such an environment made Chen Zhi's mind extraordinarily peaceful and allowed him to calmly think about many things, such as what was to come and how to start work after arriving in the Northland.

"This social experiment launched in the capital has achieved results. The success of the comments also illustrates many problems. This means that many things can be dealt with by the methods of later generations. It is time to find a pilot place and carry out more changes. Further research is needed.”

The meal didn't last long. After the meal, Chen Zhi and Yang You talked about music for a while. His wife studied music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and Chen Zhi spent a year immersed in music. Great progress has also been made in the literature. This is a personal improvement that puts aside the influence of "Xiao Guicao Suiju".

So the two chatted happily.

After everything was finished, Chen Zhi suddenly said: "I think it will be time to leave Luoyang in a short time. When that time comes, I will go to Pengcheng first, and then go to Beidi."

Yang You obviously knew what Chen Zhi was referring to. She smiled slightly and said, "I am traveling with my husband. I am planning to go to Pengcheng to visit my aunt and then go to the north with my husband."

Chen Zhi's analysis of the future was not hidden from her, so Yang knew very well what she would face next.

According to the rules of Xinhan, officials of seventh rank or above can bring their family members with them when they go to work. After all, the health, medical, transportation and communication conditions in this era are too restrictive. If there are further restrictions, I am afraid that this official position will be tantamount to Wives and children are separated, but for any family with some foundation, most of their family members will still stay at home. Especially in these years, going to the North to serve as an official is even more risky. Leaving your family members in the family or in Luoyang, on the one hand, Peace of mind of the court, on the other hand, can also avoid danger.

However, considering that Chen Zhi had no heirs and was newly married, his wife was accompanying him, and she actually shouldered the burden of the family. It was the Chen family's hope that Chen Zhi could carry on the family line as soon as possible.

After hearing his wife's words, Chen Zhi was silent for a moment and nodded, letting Yang You, who was worried, breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, Chen Zhi added, "But before that, I have to go and inform my uncle."

The uncle Chen Zhi mentioned was his father-in-law, Yang Jie, the chief minister of agriculture at that time.

This great Sinong is also a figure, one of the contemporary pillars of the Yang family. He has many children, including three legitimate sons. Yang You is his concubine. However, Yang Jie still values ​​​​this concubine who is quite popular with his father. , this time choosing a son-in-law took a lot of effort, and Chen Zhi also valued Chen Zhi.

Over the past year, in order to consolidate the position of Da Si Nong, Yang Jie has repeatedly asked Chen Zhi to make decisions, and in conjunction with the Yang family's power, he now firmly holds power and his authority is growing.

However, when facing his relatives, he can still see his kind side.

When Chen Zhi came to visit the next day, Yang Jie first smiled when facing his beloved son-in-law. When he knew Chen Zhi's purpose, his expression became serious again. "You came just in time. I also got some information from several channels. It is similar to what you calculated before. Zhang Ying has begun to spread the word and is preparing to give you the position of prefect."

"This Mr. Zhang is really kind to me. I was able to get the fifth-grade position of Secretary Supervisor half a year ago thanks to his operation. Now I want to give this kid a powerful position of prefect. I really need to thank him." Ah." Chen Zhi said with a smile, without any hint of worry.

But opposite him, Yang Jie frowned and shook his head: "I know what you mean, but this matter is not as simple as you think, because the place he picked this time is probably as you expected, it is Youzhou." !”

Youzhou is located in the north of the vast territory of the Xinhan Empire.

This area was a prosperous place with a dense population in later generations, but in this era, it was still said to be bitter cold, and the population was far behind the traditional Central Plains area at the center of the dynasty.

In ancient dynasties, the vitality of a region was measured by the number of households. After all, production activities in this era required sufficient manpower to be carried out.

Compared with the well-developed central region and the Jiangnan region with a suitable climate, the north is undoubtedly much worse. Not only the climate, but also years of military disasters, the threat of nomadic tribes in the border areas, and in recent years, floods and floods that have spread to several northern states. The drought not only destroyed the social structure and production and life of several states, but also reduced the population. Either because of disease or the migration of refugees, the population structure collapsed.

"I took advantage of my position to find some documents. You can take a look first." Yang Jie said, calling the steward and giving instructions. Soon someone came over with several files.

When Chen Zhi saw it, he immediately knew that he, Master Taishan, was really attentive and attentive. He got up first to express his thanks, then took the file and opened it. After a few glances, he immediately frowned.

There are a lot of words in the file, but the content is actually not much. After summarizing, the most useful part to Chen Zhi is the population of several counties in Youzhou.

Thanks to the implementation of policies such as household registration and equalization of the people, the New Han Dynasty court had a considerable degree of control over the population of each state and county. Approximate population figures can be found in the corresponding bureaus.

In fact, this is not surprising. Ancient dynasties also had their own official record systems. The most vivid example and representative is the records of the Liu clan in the Three Han Dynasties.

Many people in later generations look down upon the ability and wisdom of the ancients, believing that many things were difficult to do in the ancient environment. In later generations, just a random person, without relying on external forces, relying on the experience of later generations, can transform a country with just a few words. The senior officials and bureaucrats were deceived, so they naturally looked down on ancient records and efficiency, and often questioned them out of thin air.

But in fact, even a clan member like Liu Bei who sells straw sandals can still find records because his grandfather and father were both officials. Many ancestors before him had a lot of power in the government, so how could this happen? Can't find it?

In ancient times, it was also official. Can it be deceived by just one mouth and two lines of tears?

As a clan member, as long as you serve in the government, you will leave records, and Zong Zheng will also have records there, unless this lineage of grand masters has completely fallen into mediocrity and will no longer have official positions.

If Liu Bei had not had the fate to be a shoe dealer and had no contact with the government from now on, then he and his descendants would truly become commoners, and there would be no record in the genealogy.

It is a pity that even though he is no different from the commoner, by relying on thick black, taking advantage of the situation, taking advantage of the situation and repeated betrayal, this clan clan became a rare self-made figure in the late Eastern Han Dynasty - his name as a clan clan of the Han Dynasty must be You can only show your effect after you have a certain level of strength. It is not helpful at all when starting a business.

In view of this, Chen Zhi paid special attention to the collection of files in his previous life, and was even more enthusiastic about the census, knowing its value.

"Almost all the counties in Youzhou were controlled by Wang Jun, so you must not take it lightly and think that as a prefect, you can really govern as you wish..."

Listening to Yang Jie's words, Chen Zhi nodded slightly, but did not look away from the file.

Fanyang County, Yan County, Beiping County, Shanggu County, Guangning County, Dai County and Liaoxi County.

This is what the files showed in front of Chen Zhi. They are all counties of Youzhou, located around the imperial capital of later generations, in the north of Hebei.

"Youzhou still has several counties in the northeast, but now Wang Jun used the idea of ​​opening up the territory to forcibly divide them into Pingzhou. All the counties and counties involved are under the control of Wang Jun, and the court cannot ask questions. "

When Chen Zhi heard this, he narrowed his eyes.

The location of Pingzhou probably included the later Liaodong Peninsula, which was located northeast of Youzhou, and even the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. This state can be traced back to Gongsun Du in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, who named himself Pingzhou Mu and was later taken over by Yuan Zhao. After the attack, the land returned to Youzhou. Now that Wang Jun was powerful, he divided it again just to facilitate his people to exercise military and political power.

"Right now, Wang Jun is the governor of Youzhou and Pingzhou, and has the title of Grand Governor, Grand General, and Grand Sima. He is truly the one-handed ruler in the Northeast!"

(End of this chapter)