I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 330 The Immortal of Balancing Accounts
Ultimately, no one necessarily asked Xu Cheng to lobby Yuan Shu. It was just that Xu Cheng thought he was being clever and wanted to show off his lobbying skills, believing that he could make a difference and further develop his business.

As a result, he angered Yuan Shu, who dealt him a severe blow, ruining his future and not only destroying his own career but also provoking Yuan Shu's wrath.

Therefore, many people in Taiyuan County felt that Xu Cheng was a complete fool who had completely destroyed any room for reconciliation.

What else can we do now that things have come to this?

Before Yuan Shu could even draw his knife, the local forces swiftly knelt before him, pledging to obey his orders and voluntarily accept the government's inspection and reform of their ironworks. No further dissenting voices emerged.

The decree was thus successfully implemented.

Regardless of whether people still had doubts or felt dissatisfied that the people of Youzhou and Liangzhou had benefited, at least verbally, everyone was surprisingly in unison in praising the conquest.

It has to be the governor!

From this point on, Yuan Shu began to reform all the ironware workshops within Bingzhou's jurisdiction. The official workshops were responsible for providing weapons to the army, while the private workshops were responsible for providing agricultural tools to the common people, and these were provided in large quantities. Yuan Shu also set some requirements for the prices.

While the operation here was in full swing, the population and land statistics tables for each county that Yuan Shu requested were also being sent to the governor's office one after another.

In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the data for the entire Bingzhou region, Yuan Shu conducted comparisons from multiple sources.

He brought all the best strategies from Bingzhou over the past decade from Luoyang as raw data.

He also compiled the information that Dong Zhuo told him, wrote it down on bamboo slips, and used it as comparative data.

The data sent by each prefecture and county government constitutes one set.

Data sent from each county is also counted.

These sets of data were compiled separately, listed in a table, and compared in detail. It became clear which county's accounts were the most perfect and flawless, and which county had problems, which could also be identified quickly.

As for the missing data, it's unclear whether it was due to a lack of statistics or the data being burned by fire. Let's leave that aside for now. Based on the data we have so far, Bingzhou does indeed have significant problems.

Some of these issues are indeed understandable.

For example, the statistical reports sent by various counties in Wuyuan Prefecture all showed a significant decrease in numbers in a certain year. It wasn't just a single county, but several counties that experienced a significant decrease together. By comparing this with the data from the imperial court, it could be seen that this was due to population loss and production disruption caused by the war.

Starting from the later years of Emperor Huan's reign, the population and land data of Wuyuan Commandery began to decline year by year. In particular, in the eighth year of the Yanxi era, the various statistical data of Wuyuan Commandery were halved compared to the previous year, and there was no recovery after that, and it took a sharp turn for the worse.

However, this was not the case in just one county, but in all the counties of the entire prefecture, with only Jiuyuan County, the prefecture's capital, being relatively better off.

Besides Wuyuan County, the same was true for Yunzhong County and Yanmen County, which also experienced significant fluctuations in data that year. By making such comparisons, the relative accuracy of each other's data could be verified, thus aligning with the best strategy submitted to the central government.

In times of frequent war, people really don't have much spare time for production and daily life; just being able to make a living is considered quite good.

However, the data from some places seems quite strange.

For example, in the second year after the significant decline in population and land data in Taiyuan, Shangdang, Wuyuan, and Yanmen counties, the data in Taiyuan and Shangdang counties also showed a significant decline, and continued to decline year after year thereafter, with a decline rate comparable to that of the border counties.

Logically speaking, after the border counties were ravaged by war, the population would naturally migrate south.

These days, people have limited ability to migrate and are generally attached to their homeland. It's perfectly normal for them to move south to neighboring counties. If your population isn't increasing, that's one thing, but why is it decreasing so drastically?

A significant decrease in population is usually caused by war or natural disasters, but Taiyuan and Shangdang prefectures did not suffer any disasters that year, and the relevant records of the imperial court did not show any record of any disasters.

The Xianbei people didn't attack Taiyuan, and the Southern Xiongnu didn't cause trouble in Taiyuan Commandery, let alone Shangdang Commandery south of Taiyuan. So, little brother, what exactly is going on here?
In fact, this situation is quite easy to guess. Yuan Shu believes that it is simply taking advantage of the war in the north to rationalize the previously occupied land and the hidden people, which is the so-called "accounting settlement operation".

Land seized during peacetime and populations concealed may not be reflected in the data, but while data can be falsified, an empty national treasury cannot be faked. Problems can be found as long as an investigation is conducted.

Therefore, in years of natural disasters and man-made calamities, one must manipulate the account books, even if it does not implicate oneself, to make the court believe that one has been implicated.

Or something that wasn't very relevant is being made to seem very relevant.

With massive population loss, vast amounts of land abandoned, and significantly reduced food production, everything seems much more reasonable.

Moreover, some places are far away, and the imperial court may not send anyone to investigate. If they do send someone to investigate, methods such as burning down granaries are common throughout history. If all else fails, there are many ways to avoid disaster by spending money.

They have plenty of ways to prevent the imperial court from finding anything.

As for the population lost from the northern counties, Yuan Shu felt that they were also hidden by these powerful clans, becoming non-existent populations on the state's books, producing non-existent food, allowing the powerful clans to continue to grow and expand.

This situation is very common in Guanzhong.

In order to expand Liangzhuang and increase its population, Yuan Shu used his power and strong military force to seize a large number of hidden people and land through a combination of fighting and suppression, thus successfully strengthening the power of Liangzhuang.

It now appears that Taiyuan County and Shangdang County also have very serious problems of this kind.

Of course, this is never surprising.

The matter of balancing accounts has existed since ancient times. It's the same in heaven and on earth; neither is clean. Therefore, the accounts in heaven need to be balanced by monkeys on earth, and the accounts on earth need to be balanced by immortals in heaven. This is what is known as the "Account Balancing Immortal."

However, judging from these account books, Bingzhou is indeed teeming with immortals. I don't know if it's because feudal superstition is too strong, but looking at the account books from the past five years, most of them have something amiss. Basically, ninety percent of the counties have account-balancing immortals who use war and natural disasters to do all sorts of weird things.

Therefore, for these border states, war is both a disaster and an opportunity. For ordinary people, it is a catastrophe, but for officials and powerful families, it is a great opportunity to settle scores. No wonder we rarely hear these locals proposing that the imperial court launch a northern expedition.

Even when the imperial court announced its plan to launch a northern expedition, the locals were the most opposed.

It costs money and doesn't even balance the books. Even Yuan Shu wouldn't be willing to do something that loses money.

The problem is that Yuan Shu is now in the position of the country's ruler, and what the country's ruler cannot tolerate most is this kind of balancing of accounts.

Once discovered, it must be dealt with with swift and decisive action.

Damn it, how dare they target my taxes! This is no ordinary corrupt official or powerful figure; we must strike hard!
However, Yuan Shu has not yet gained a firm foothold in Bingzhou, nor has he gained unanimous recognition and prestige. Even the entire court is taking a wait-and-see attitude towards his appointment as governor of Bingzhou. Therefore, what he needs to do most now is not to audit the accounts, but to win battles.

After winning the battle and killing the Xianbei people, they returned with their heads and built a mound of skulls.

The higher the mound of Jingguan (a traditional Chinese structure representing a pile of stones), the more confident he became in auditing the accounts, and the less likely those being audited would dare to resist.

So while he arranged for the military logistics personnel to continue checking accounts and making records, he also closely monitored the movements of the Bingzhou border defense, the troops stationed in various places, and the Xianbei people.

Around late October or early November, when the weather had become very cold, the teams that Yuan Shu had sent out to investigate the situation returned one after another, bringing Yuan Shu a lot of first-hand information. This information gave Yuan Shu a clearer understanding of the situation in Bingzhou.

Chaos, ruin, poverty.

These are the three main characteristics of Bingzhou during this period.

Chaos is the disorder of order.

"Broken" refers to dilapidated or worn-out defensive facilities.

The poverty referred to Bingzhou as a whole.

These three characteristics are clearly reflected in the border defense situation of Yanmen Commandery brought back by Xun You, and Yuan Shu considers them to be highly representative.

As a major border prefecture, Yanmen County has repeatedly become a key area for the Xianbei to invade the south since the rise of the Xianbei. Starting more than a decade ago, the Xianbei have invaded the south every year. Once they invaded the south, Yanmen County was the first to be attacked and destroyed.

Therefore, Yanmen County was in great chaos. People were in chaos, soldiers were in chaos, and production was in chaos. Once a dangerous situation arose, each county would fight its own battle, and the prefect was exhausted from running around. The main problem was chaos.

Another issue was the dilapidated state of the Great Wall. Due to years of war, Yanmen County had almost no time to repair its defenses. Even though there was a long section of the Great Wall within Yanmen County, it did not serve a good defensive purpose and had fallen into disrepair over the years, with many places collapsing and dilapidated. The Xianbei people simply did not take the Great Wall seriously.

Then there's poverty, which is easy to understand; how can a place in war-torn areas be wealthy?
The imperial court's transfer payments are also limited. As soon as one side gives, another side asks for more. As soon as one side rebuilds, the Xianbei people come and destroy it again. This cycle repeats several times. Anyone would get tired of it and simply cannot withstand it.

Without money and without production, there was a lack of food and clothing, and many people were pale and thin, looking malnourished, even the soldiers.

Xun You visited Yanmen Prefecture, Qiangyin County, and some Great Wall outposts. He found that apart from officials and some clerks, most of the people looked malnourished and their equipment was quite worn. Few people were wearing complete armor or carrying fine weapons, and the weapons were in serious condition.

As for food, that was a big problem. According to regulations, border guards could receive about 1.5 jin of rice as their staple food each day. As for non-staple foods, it depended on the situation and there were no specific regulations. This was based on two meals a day.

In reality, Xun You discovered that the border soldiers could hardly obtain the rice and rations stipulated in these regulations. They basically ate only one meal a day, and getting about a pound of rice and rations was considered a holiday treat.

Therefore, the soldiers were often half-full and their equipment was far from satisfactory. Under such circumstances, it would be too much to ask them to defend against the Xianbei invasion.

This situation made Yuan Shu frown.

However, Yanmen County is not without its commendable aspects.

That is, the soldiers were highly skilled and the entire population was a soldier.

Within Yanmen County, not only men were capable of fighting, but women, the elderly, and children were also able to use weapons in combat. Almost all adults, regardless of gender, were able to use bows and arrows.

Xun You visited many places in Yanmen County and found that, without exception, these places were places where the people were fierce and brave, and the people practiced martial arts and military formations every day.

For example, in Qiangyin County, which is the northernmost county, he did not see anyone reading or writing. The locals did nothing but engage in agricultural production and practice military skills.

Adults would practice spears, bows and arrows, and ring-pommel swords under the guidance of some elders, taking turns riding a horse and practicing riding skills and archery, almost every day.

Young children are not so formal, but they still use wooden swords and sticks to simulate weapons and fight each other as a game, which is actually a form of military training.

Besides cooking, the women practice archery together, and many local women even have the skill to make and repair longbows.

As for the elderly, this is even more true. There are very few elderly people in the area, but those who are are mostly retired soldiers who were warriors in their youth.

Now, as long as they can still walk, they will continue to contribute their remaining energy, either instructing adults in military formations, leading children to practice military skills while playing, or instructing women in archery. If they encounter danger, they also have the courage to fight the Xianbei people to the death with their old bones.

It can be described as tragic and heroic.

(End of this chapter)