Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 613 Shocking Project
Seeing that no one spoke, Liu He turned his gaze to Xun Yu.

"Wen Ruo, these five points are what you thought of, so you should have some countermeasures."

Xun Yu hesitated for a moment before he said, "I do have a plan, but it is extremely difficult to implement, so I dare not speak out for the time being."

"Oh? What kind of difficulty could make Wen Ruo so cautious?"

Xun Yu said solemnly, "First, it is not difficult to regain the hearts of the people and the army, as Zhou Ping said just now. All areas of Jizhou can be exempted from taxes this year. Grain and grass are already in short supply. Even if there is a year's tax, it will only delay the problem for half a year, and it cannot solve the root cause. Fortunately, we can do a favor to the people of Jizhou in order to achieve long-term peace. As for the grain we need, we can buy it with coins to tide us over the difficulties temporarily."

Liu He heard this and thought it made sense. "Well, the grain price in Bingzhou is only 60 to 70 coins per stone. Although purchasing too much grain will raise the price, purchasing a portion of it in batches every month should be able to minimize the impact. It shouldn't be difficult to get through this year. What about next year?"

"A few days ago, Yanmen County Agricultural Secretary, Zhan Lian, came to Jinyang City to report on his work. I learned that farming in Bingzhou is going well now, and the military farms in various counties are already very stable. He has a lot of free time, and he is suggesting to me that after we capture Jizhou, we should open up more military farms. I originally thought it was inappropriate. Jizhou has a large population, unlike Bingzhou, and there is not much land available for our army to use for farming. It is also inconvenient to collect land from the people, so I rejected it. But now I think there is a place that is just right for him to show his strengths."

Liu He was full of doubts: "Oh? There is such land under my rule, how come I don't know about it?"

Xun Yu said: "This land has not yet been garrisoned by our army, and even very few of our Han people live here. However, this land is fertile and has abundant grass and water. It has been occupied by the Xiongnu for a hundred years, so it has been abandoned for a hundred years and no one has cultivated it."

When he said this, no matter how dumb Liu He was, he guessed which place he was referring to.

"Wen Ruo means... the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Xitao area in the Hetao area?"

"It is right here. It is north of Beidi County and south of Shuofang County. It starts from Shang County in the east and goes straight to the Yellow River. The land in between is as large as that of Taiyuan County. Back then, my lord defeated the Xiongnu Left Wise King in a battle. The Xiongnu Chanyu and Right Wise King have long since fled to the northern desert and their whereabouts are unknown. This place has been abandoned for many years, which is a pity."

"If we can send the injured and retired soldiers, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Baibo Army's families, to this place to reclaim wasteland, firstly, Coco can take the opportunity to double the compensation for the meritorious injured soldiers, secondly, we can solve the problem of resettlement of the Baibo Army's families, and thirdly, if the land is reclaimed successfully, there will definitely be a good harvest next year. This way, we can kill two birds with one stone."

When Liu He heard his words, it seemed like a fairy tale at first, but when he heard the latter part, he felt as if his mind was opened and inspiration flashed.

"Excellent! It's really indescribable!"

He rubbed his hands together, overjoyed.

"If Wen Ruo had this plan, why didn't he say so earlier?"

Xun Yu shook his head slightly: "My Lord, have you ever thought about how much energy this will take?"

Liu He was stunned: "I haven't thought about this."

Xun Yu said: "If such a vast land can be returned to Han territory, the Lord will be famous in history for this alone. However, although the merits are great, it is also very laborious. This area is large enough to form a county, but the establishment of a new county is far from a name. It is appropriate to have a population of hundreds of thousands. At least five or six cities, at most more than ten cities, must be built, otherwise how can the borders be divided and how can the people live?"

Now, Liu He realized the problem.

"Build a city? I'm afraid Wen Ruo wants to drain all my wealth."

"I'm afraid that even if we empty it out, it may not be enough. I have roughly calculated that we can build a city in each of the east, south, west, north and center of this place. In this way, five cities can accommodate 400,000 people. To build a city, there are official roads connecting them, houses and government offices in the city, and then reclaiming fields, and then diverting rivers and canals from the Yellow River, and providing resettlement for the people, etc. The total cost is at least 4 billion yuan, hundreds of thousands of stones of grain, and at least 30,000 to 40,000 troops will be stationed there."

"Hiss... 4 billion coins? You can just sell me off. Where can I find so much money? Together with the proceeds from Jizhou this time, including the total amount of coins in the government treasury, it is less than 2 billion."

"That's why I say this matter is extremely difficult to handle." Xun Yu was also a little helpless.

Cui Jun suddenly said, "I'm afraid it's more than that. Wen Ruo may have a debt that he hasn't settled yet."

Liu He was frightened by what he said: "Is there anything else that has not been calculated? Zhou Ping, please don't scare me. I'm afraid my heart can't bear it."

Cui Jun smiled bitterly and said, "If we were to proceed at normal speed, 4 billion would be enough, but it would take at least two years. And now our army doesn't have much time. If we want to do this, we have to complete it this year and plant and harvest next year. If we rush the project, the cost will probably increase by at least 50 to 60 percent."

"Fifty to sixty percent? Wouldn't that mean six or seven billion? Oh my God..." Liu He felt like his heart was about to jump out.

But even though he was frightened, he had been very much in favor of Xun Yu's proposal since he heard it. It was extremely difficult for him to give up this idea now.

Expanding territory and establishing new counties, what a great feat! It can be called a re-creation of the world. Liu He is a layman after all, how can he not be envious of such feats?
"We have to do it, no matter how hard it is! We have to do everything we can, save money, and collect enough money. I have to eat the food produced in Xitao next year!"

He said this almost through gritting his teeth.

Xun Yu glanced at him and saw that Liu He looked very determined, so he sighed softly.

"Since the lord has such great ambitions, I have a way to reduce the required money and food."

Liu He's eyes lit up: "I knew Wen Ruo had the best solution, tell me quickly."

"For this matter, I have specially counted the number of prisoners in the prisons of the cities under my jurisdiction. Now there are more than 22,000 serious criminals and nearly 50,000 minor criminals. My lord, you can ask the emperor to issue an edict to recruit these more than 70,000 people to build a new city as labor to offset their crimes. According to the severity of the crime, different time limits will be set. As long as there are large troops to guard and restrain them, I think there will be no chaos. In addition, the families of Yuan, Gao, Xu and other families in Jizhou that were confiscated, except for their masters who were executed, the rest of the people are not guilty of death, and the men can also be used as laborers, there should be no less than 10,000 people."

"For these people, we only need to provide them with porridge every day to save food, and there is no need to pay them wages. In this way, we can save about 500 million yuan."

Liu He was overjoyed and clapped his hands repeatedly: "Wen Ruo is worthy of the talent of the king's assistant. With just a few words, he saved such a huge amount of money. It's really wonderful. But even so, the cost is still too high. I wonder if there are other methods at the same time?"

Xun Yu nodded and said, "There is another plan. When building a city, labor is only one aspect. The key lies in the person in charge. As the saying goes, 'a snake cannot survive without a head'. This project still requires a group of skilled craftsmen who are proficient in this field, who can find the foundation of the city, draw up the city blueprint, supervise the project well, and make careful arrangements. If we can find such a group of talents, not only can the construction period be greatly shortened, but the cost can also be reduced."

"Well, what Wen Ruo said makes sense." Liu He deeply agreed with this. In his previous life, his family also built a house in the countryside. Because there was no professional overall planning beforehand, his parents found a group of villagers to start the work. As a result, the work had to be stopped and revised repeatedly, which was both costly and time-consuming.

"But I don't know any such craftsmen. I can't even find one, let alone a whole group of them. Do you three know any acquaintances?"

All three of them shook their heads.

However, Xun Yu immediately said, "Although we don't know it, we have a way to find it. My lord, have you forgotten the Anhan Trading Company?"

Liu He suddenly woke up as if he had been enlightened: "Yes, how could I forget about the business? As long as I pay the money, why should I worry about not being able to find what I need?"

Xun Yu smiled and said, "This will definitely require more than three or five craftsmen. It will require at least dozens or even hundreds of people. If we spend money on it, it will probably cost hundreds of millions. Isn't it a pity?"

Cui Jun asked: "Not paying for the work? Isn't that robbery?"

Xun Yu shook his head: "My lord is the general of the day, why do you have to buy people's hearts with money? These craftsmen, although they have extraordinary skills and many of them have good family wealth, are just like merchants, and have always been despised by people. If my lord can give them fame and status, let alone not paying them wages, I'm afraid they will be willing to pay for it."

Liu He's eyes sparkled: "I understand, hahaha..."

At this time, Xun You seemed to have realized something: "If that's the case, I have thought of a way to persuade Uncle You Ruo. But I want to ask the lord for permission to do it at his own convenience."

Liu He was delighted: "No problem, Gongda can make decisions for officials below 2,000 stones. If I can get help from Xun Youruo, and the three of you, the uncle and nephew of the Xun family, I will be even more powerful."

"In that case, I will go there immediately."

As soon as Xun You walked out of the door, a soldier came to the door of the study.

"My lord, Jizhou captured Lu Bu and he is in prison. He claims he has something important to report to you."

(End of this chapter)