I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 23 Sima Yi: Where did the Shu army get so much paper?
This is simple, just ask Fei Yi to apply for a batch of grain.

With his friendship in prescribing medicine for Fei Yi, Fei Yi would not fail to help him.

Moreover, there was an indirect competitive relationship between Fei Yi and Yang Yi. The old guy Yang Yi didn't think much of him and sent Fa Ji to the east bank of Xieshui to encircle the fields.

Then Fei Yi would definitely support himself and encircle the fields on the west bank. This small matter would not be a problem.

Looking at the arrogant Dong Hong, Li Heng deliberately asked: "What is Ziling's strategy?"

"I can declare part of it, but I can only declare a thousand dan of grain at most. After all, you are all a village here, and it is impossible for the higher-ups to invest a lot of grain for you."

Having said this, Dong Hong straightened his sleeves and continued: "My advice to you is not to attract too many refugees in the past few days. Otherwise, the land has not been planted yet and there will not be enough food to eat, which will mess up the situation."

A thousand stones of grain?

Li Heng's mind started to spin again.

It’s enough to feed 1000 people for a quarter.

If we want to export paper to the powerful people in Longyou in exchange for food, from now on, it will take at least more than a month to get the paper out, and then find a middleman, and more than two months have passed.

It will take four months to transport the grain back.

Four months later, it’s September.

The Guanzhong Plain generally has two crops a year, or three crops every two years.

It is early May, and the first batch of land can catch up with the wave of rice.

Especially along the Wei River, there is abundant water and fertile land.

The curved shaft plow was expanded and new land could be plowed in a short time.

Fortunately, these lands used to be fields, and after plowing aside the grass, they can be planted directly.

It will be troublesome if we open up wasteland. We need to cultivate the land to open up wasteland, which may take several years.

According to this calculation, two hundred farmers will be recruited first. When they are farming, they will farm. When they are not farming, they will dig canals, make paper, build buildings, grow ramie, mine, cut wood, and bake bricks.

This first batch of seed population is enough to build the early basic framework.

Li Heng's face immediately showed an expression of appreciation and admiration: "You are indeed a young talent from the capital. I didn't expect it. Fortunately, you are there!"

"Okay, okay, today's fields have been demarcated. I will go back to camp now and wait for my good news tomorrow." Dong Hong sighed, as if you can't do anything without me.

"Talent, walk slowly."

Early the next morning, Li Heng arrived at the "county government office". He thought he was early enough, but he was surprised to find that Xue Liang and the others were earlier than him.

Wang Fugui and his men have already started plowing the fields.

Because of the lack of oxen, people are now used to pull the plow. Fortunately, the curved shaft plow is labor-saving, so one person can hold the plow and two people can pull it.

So the whole family works together, and plowing the fields is not a big problem.

In the morning, Dong Hong brought the food directly, which surprised Li Heng.

After spending the day together yesterday, he knew that Dong Hong was a person who liked to argue with others, but now he had to admit that Dong Hong's hands-on ability was also first-rate.

"Ming Gong, there are a thousand stones in total. Fei Sima mobilized manpower to help transport the grain this time. I have counted all the grain. This is the document when it left the warehouse. This is the document after it arrived. My name is on it. Sign, now I need your official seal."

"Oh, here."

Li Heng stamped the official seal in a daze. After stamping it, he felt particularly relaxed.

Dong Hong is really a capable assistant!
In the morning, Wang Fugui pulled in another group of people from nowhere. They all looked like vegetables, and some of them were even half-clothed.

But everyone came excitedly to register.

Dong Hong patiently recorded each one.

Li Heng himself seemed a little redundant, so he walked around and found that Xue Liang had brought his wife and son and was setting up kitchen utensils to cook food.

"Lang Jun, there have been many more people today. After Dong Gong completes the registration, he will probably take them to measure the fields, so I cooked the food in advance."

"Oh, go on, I won't disturb you."

Li Heng walked to Tian Meng's blacksmith shop again. There was a tinkling sound in Tian Meng's blacksmith shop, and plowshares, hoes, and shovels kept coming out of the blacksmith shop.

Good guy, were all the people in the Three Kingdoms period so diligent?So... what am I doing now?
Li Heng looked back at the big tree. Why don't I go and sleep under the big tree?
In the blink of an eye, on the ninth day of May, more than 400 people had gathered in Li Heng's "Chencang County".

The Han army also took action on the east bank of the Xieshui River. They began to cultivate fields on a large scale, cut down trees, and build fences. They would also begin to invest some officials to strengthen the management of people's livelihood.

Of course, these are all intangible and are only prototypes.

At least if a Wei army stands and observes from a distance, it can only be concluded that the Han army is stationed in the field.

In the evening, Zhang Hu led a Wei army back to the camp.

Zhang Hu took off his helmet, strode in with a smile on his face, and said loudly: "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, our army will kill five hundred enemies at the exit of Xiegu!"

Sima Yi laughed and said: "Okay! Although it can't change the overall situation, it keeps putting pressure on Zhuge Liang and makes the Shu army feel tired!"

As soon as they heard that the Han army had been killed at the exit of Xiegu, the other generals of the Wei army were overjoyed and eager to try.

Xiahou Ba stood up and said: "Grand Governor, tomorrow please give me another three thousand fine cavalry for my general, and I will come back with another five hundred beheaded for you!"

"There will be a chance. Our army will use cavalry to observe opportunities and harass the Shu army in stages. However, we cannot engage in large-scale battles, and we must not be reluctant to fight. After the attack, we must evacuate quickly!"

The atmosphere in the Wei army camp was quite pleasant.

At this time, Sima Zhao came in: "Grand Governor, the general has already investigated clearly, and the Shu army is now starting to cultivate fields east of Xieshui."

As soon as he said these words, the expressions of the generals in the camp changed slightly.

Sima Yi looked calm and was not in a hurry to make a conclusion.

Seeing this, Sima Zhao hurriedly said: "Grand Governor, this is a serious matter. If the Shu army is allowed to progress like this, I'm afraid the situation will not be good!"

Sima Yi closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "Don't be impatient. Farming is not that simple. Have you ever calculated how much farmland the Shu army needs to farm to support tens of thousands of soldiers and horses?"

"This……"

"Since you have been with me on the expedition, all you have seen is the frontline charge. Those who charge are warriors, those who set up the formation are generals, and those who are handsome can strategize and defeat the enemy thousands of miles away!"

Sima Zhao was 23 years old this year and already had a relatively comprehensive understanding of many things.

But also because he was young, he was a bit impatient.

When his father said this, he was speechless and began to make calculations in his mind.

After a while, Sima Zhaocai said: "If the Shu army has 50 capable elites, at least [-] million acres of land will be needed to support these [-] troops."

"It's good that you know." Sima Yi said in a deep voice, "If you want to cultivate 50 million acres of land, do you know how many people are needed? Three people and two cows per acre, three acres a day, not to mention whether there are enough people, cows Is it enough?"

Sima Zhao replied: "I'm afraid not that many."

"Also, when the Shu army was stationed in the fields in the early days, Tian Shao was still able to defend it. However, if there were more fields, the defenders would be scattered. Our cavalry could come and go freely and harass the Shu army's fertile fields. How could Zhuge Liang respond?"

After hearing Sima Yi's words, everyone couldn't help but nod.

"Besides, to open 50 acres of land, at least [-] households are needed. Even if he mobilizes the Shu army to build military camps and wants to mobilize tens of thousands of people to farm fields this year, it will be too late, unless he can use a way to quickly convey the message I give orders to tens of thousands of people and quickly sort out all the complicated paperwork. Do you know how many bamboo slips are needed?"

No one answered Sima Yi's words.

If you ask them how to fight a war, they can talk endlessly.

But this obviously involves the administration of officials, which is the most complicated matter.

For example, people who farm need to register their household registration, keep records, measure their fields, etc.

It's okay when there are few people, but when there are more people, it becomes even more difficult.

In addition, planting land is subject to seasonal restrictions, so it cannot be planted at any time.

That's even more difficult.

"The difficulty of governing officials is beyond your imagination. I don't doubt Zhuge Liang's talent, but he doesn't have that much time. If he wants to complete these tasks, he must prepare at least tens of thousands of bamboo slips."

At this time, Zhang Hu's expression changed slightly, and he stood up and said: "Great Governor, when we raided the Shu army at the exit of Xiegu today, the general captured some strange things."

"What?"

"Looks like paper."

(End of this chapter)