Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 195 The Chosen Son

In the eighth year of the Wu Dynasty, the Northern Wu directly changed the year.

For the time being, we will not use the number of years under any particular emperor; from now on, we will use the Gregorian calendar year.

In 8 AD, Beiji Wu laid the foundation for an unprecedented unification of China, achieving a height that no previous unified dynasty had ever reached.

It stretches 6,000 kilometers from east to west and about 4,000 kilometers from north to south, with a total area of ​​approximately 24 million square kilometers.

Managing such a vast territory would require the efforts of at least several generations.

Beiji Wu summoned a thousand people to a meeting at the Daming Palace.

One thousand people were spread out in a semi-circle in the field of vision of the Arctic.

"I've called you here today to arrange something, but it's not mandatory. I need people who are genuinely willing to go and handle these matters. If you encounter any difficulties, you can bring them up in public."

“This isn’t a war.” Beiji Wu didn’t give a death order, but looked around at the large group of people.

"The regions outside the Central Plains are too vast. If you travel west from Luoyang, you won't reach the end even after a year."

"I need someone to go to the Western Frontier, the Western Regions, West Asia, the Mongolian Plateau, Annam and other places to serve as an official, promote the language and script of the mountain farmers, organize the local people to cultivate and produce, and manage this land well."

"Who among you is willing to go and become an official?"

Beijiwu's words left thousands of people around him speechless.

The air was quiet for a few seconds.

Beijiwu looked at the civil service group represented by the Three Dukes and Six Ministries.

These people all kept their heads down, not daring to look up.

Whether they are old or young, no one wants to share the burden of the country.

Even knowing that their descendants would blame their ancestors for not working hard enough, these people still didn't want to go to that poor and remote place to play a survival game.

If he really goes, he probably won't have any descendants.

Historically, only peaceful and comfortable places have been able to preserve descendants; the bloodlines in border regions have been replaced countless times.

Neither the Han Chinese nor the mountain farmers dared to speak.

Beijiwu then asked, "Li Chengren, what do you think is the problem?"

Li Chengren was elected as prime minister, which put him in an extremely awkward position.

At this point, it's not an option for us not to step in, but it's also not a good time to do so.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the Western Regions are too far away, and the West Asia is more than twice as far away. Being located on the frontier, it is simply beyond our reach."

Beijiwu sighed, "I know what you think. You feel that it's not a place to enjoy life, but a place to suffer."

“If the mountain farmers are always made to do the hard and suffering things, wouldn’t the Han people be second-class citizens? I have always treated the mountain farmers and the Han people equally. In the past two years, I have moved a lot of people to the Western Regions, the Western Frontier and the Northern Desert.”

“Zhang Weicang fell ill after only a few years in Annam. I thought he was getting old, so I sent him to Guizhou, a better place, to be the governor.”

"The Annam we have conquered now relies only on trade and a small number of troops stationed there. It may be gone one day in the future."

"The climate there is unavoidable; it's really hard to adapt to."

Arctic Wu accepted the defeat in the south, with malaria and climate loss causing heavy casualties. Now, Lingnan and Nanzhao are not well managed, and there is indeed a lack of manpower and experience to deal with them.

However, their attitude towards the Western Regions was different.

“The Western Regions and West Asia Provinces are not as complicated as the south. There are three elite troops from the Gui Nong Province there, and there are also a large number of Western Region merchants who understand writing and business that can be utilized.”

"There are also beautiful Hu women and palaces over there. I allow anyone who wants to go there to inherit the land."

Upon hearing the word "hereditary" from Beijiwu, all the officials and civil servants dared not utter a word.

Whether they were from the mountain village or not, they all lowered their heads to their necks, not daring to be seen by the Arctic Warriors.

Beijiwu frowned and remained silent for a long time.

At this moment, Li Tangqing stood up.

"Your Majesty, I believe the problem lies in the word 'hereditary'."

Beijiwu looked at Li Tangqing and nodded, saying, "Continue."

The others also breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing for everyone that someone was willing to stand up and speak out about what was troubling them.

Finally, there's someone who's not afraid of death.

Li Tangqing spoke up righteously, saying, "Does Your Majesty know that many people do not want to inherit the throne?"

Beijiwu nodded. "Of course I know. I don't think this matter is serious enough to be treated as a major issue."

Li Tangqing and Beiji Wu held different views. Li Tangqing respectfully said, "Your Majesty, I believe this matter is very serious. Many people do not like hereditary succession."

Beijiwu wasn't angry; although his expression was somewhat displeased, it didn't seem like he was angry.

“I know about this. I’ve been emperor for seven or eight years, so I’m not completely ignorant about what’s going on below.”

Seeing that Beiji Wu was so easy to talk to, Li Tangqing sincerely raised his hands and bowed deeply.

"Your Majesty, I humbly request that you abolish hereditary succession. Under heaven, all land belongs to the emperor! As the Son of Heaven, Your Majesty should rightfully rule the entire world!"

Li Tangqing's words were exactly what everyone else wanted to say.

Just as the hereditary lords were about to speak, they noticed that Arctic Martial glanced at them.

These people immediately shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and dared not say another word.

Beijiwu said to Li Tangqing, "You have a lot of problems. I am not criticizing you, nor do I intend to use you as a cautionary minister. The main reason for appointing you to office is that you are less corrupt, not that you are not corrupt at all."

Li Tangqing immediately knelt down and cried out urgently, "Your Majesty! I'm innocent! I've been an honest and upright official, and the salary Your Majesty gives me is more than I can spend. I swear to Heaven that I have absolutely not embezzled or accepted bribes! If I have taken even a single penny, I am willing to atone with my death!!"

Beijiwu shook his head. "It's not a big deal. I can't be bothered with it. The authority I've always given you is to handle things at your discretion. It's not that I'm condoning corruption and bribery. It's just that many systems are not perfect. We need to run them first to find out where the problems are."

"Embezzlement and bribery are minor matters; let's continue discussing hereditary succession."

Beijiwu truly doesn't care about corruption and bribery; as long as he doesn't cause trouble, he's fine with it.

Previously, the main purpose was to make room for others. Even after clearing out the nobles and monks, the corresponding ecological niches would still emerge.

Beiji Wu didn't mind living a good life with his subordinates; having multiple wives and concubines, or accumulating great wealth, were all perfectly normal things.

The premise is that it doesn't get in the way or get in the way.

There's a saying that goes, "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish."

“If Shan Nong Kingdom were a village, I would naturally not allow it to be hereditary. All the land would belong to me, and everyone would have to pay taxes to me.”

“When Shan Nong Kingdom was a county, it would take me a whole day to walk from one side to the other, and more than three hours to ride a horse.”

"At this point, we need to operate on a village-by-village basis. I will manage a county, select a foreman or an elder from among the villagers to be the village head, and then arrange for servants and stewards who obey my orders to patrol and collect taxes. That should be about right."

"When I have a large garrison surrounded by enemies on all sides, I need to defend against enemies in multiple areas. At that time, it would take me half a day to ride a horse to any of these areas. So I chose the cooperative mode, where someone else defends an area for me, and that area becomes theirs."

"Of course he could defect to the enemy, but I have already beaten him into submission. Even if he defected to another place, I would still beat him again. I also have the strength to beat him and his people outside again. So, for me, being sent away to be enfeoffed is the best option at this time."

"When I possessed the nine provinces behind the mountains, it was no longer a simple feudal system. I needed an army and a workforce of workers and peasants who would obey me. This is how the public household registration system came into being."

"When I had control of both the Mountain Farm Province and the Plain Province, I actually stopped talking about hereditary succession."

"When I emphasized hereditary succession later, it was already when we controlled most of the Central Plains. At that time, the battle lines were wide, and we were surrounded by enemies in all directions."

Li Chengren, who remained silent, felt that Beiji Wu was being too modest; at that time, he was prey to be attacked from all directions.

Beiji Wu was too lazy to continue with the nonsense and said directly, "Now it only takes two or three months to get from Luoyang to Nanzhao."

"I won't even mention Annam and Western Xinjiang, let alone the West Asian provinces that require half a year to travel on horseback."

“A disaster that occurs once every hundred years is rare; what is common is a minor disaster every three years and a major disaster every ten years.”

"We always have to rely on Luoyang to issue orders, and the local disaster victims have long since died."

"But giving all power to local officials would only cause chaos in the local area, so while giving them power, we also gave them official titles."

"From now on, any rebellions in the territory will have nothing to do with the imperial court. They are the fault of the local officials. If they are killed, so be it. It does not represent the dignity of the imperial court, nor will it damage the prestige of the mountain farmers."

Li Tangqing spoke out righteously: "I believe this is shirking responsibility and putting meritorious officials in danger!"

Beijiwu wasn't angry. He asked, "Tell me, what use are these people to me? If I don't let them inherit their positions and stay quietly in their own territory, they'll have thousands of people in a family in thirty or fifty years."

"The reason why Shan Nong Kingdom is where it is today is mainly because it has a small population." "It seems that it supports 40 million people in the country, but in reality, the South has always been self-sufficient. The Shan Nong people mainly support more than 10 million people in the three northern provinces."

"The Han people believed that the emperor should rule over all the people, but in the end, the emperors died because of the resentment caused by the heavy taxes and levies, and they did not repent."

"Why are there so many exorbitant taxes and levies? The truth is that there are too many people in the court who do nothing but indulge in pleasure and enjoy the service of male and female servants all day long. These people do not produce or work, yet they have endless beautiful women to enjoy, a large number of servants and lackeys around them, and not only do they eat fish and meat, but they also have endless money to spend."

"Where does this money come from? From the land? No, it comes from the imperial court. It comes from the imperial court and the emperor's authority, forcing the people and even lower-ranking officials to pay tribute."

"Many of you here come from official families. You all know whether what I'm saying is right or wrong."

"The hereditary system solves this problem. Some people surrender with their troops and cities and have made meritorious contributions, so they can just continue to live with their group of subordinates."

"I've encountered quite a few who refused to surrender back then, and they're all dead, saving me from dealing with this kind of trouble now."

“Hereditary succession isn’t all bad. You feel wronged because you’re all focused on becoming the highest-ranking person, and you all think that after surrendering, you should rise to an even higher level.”

"Those of my subordinates who like the hereditary system are a group of people who used to have no land and were oppressed and bullied every day. Now they have a piece of land that they can cultivate, and a group of comrades and fellow villagers they know who they can go home to live in peace. They have received a lot of money and don't have to worry about paying taxes in the future. Isn't this better than the previous dynasties?"

"Nowadays, they are nothing more than greedy for the wealth and glory of Luoyang, and their eyes are only on high-ranking officials and generous salaries."

“A village only needs one village chief, but if a county needs a magistrate, you have to count the thugs, clerks, sedan chair carriers, cooks, and so on. You think it only takes three or five hundred people? Wrong! At least a thousand!”

"Can a county town of 30,000 to 40,000 people support a thousand people who don't work?"

"Can't afford to raise them!"

"So whether they are landlords or lords, they should do their jobs. But if I send court officials down to the prefectures, states, and counties, they will siphon off all the money from the lower classes to support the people at the top!"

"Look at those officials in Zhengcheng! Ask them what kind of dog-like lives they've been living since they stopped governing the affairs of the various prefectures and counties!"

Li Tangqing was speechless, and a group of officials in Zhengcheng also remained silent.

The official in charge of writing argued, "Your Majesty, we are all paid by Your Majesty, and we have always been loyal to Your Majesty!"

Beijiwu coldly replied, "You all eat the money I give you. Do your wives, concubines, children, elderly parents, servants, doormen, coachmen, grooms, errand boys, relatives, and friends also eat the money I give them?"

"Why are there fewer of these people? It's because you've all been living off your salaries for the past few years!"

“You can only live off your salary, so naturally you can’t support a group of wives, concubines and servants. You can no longer pursue luxurious calligraphy, paintings and antiques as before, and no merchants will send you money or silver.”

"Li Tangqing, what kind of life does your wife lead? What kind of clothes does she wear? Are you blind? Your wife, son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and grandchildren live a good life because you are upright, honest, and righteous, or because you are a high-ranking official who wields power and lives off the government's salary?!"

Li Tangqing was struck dumb, her face turning deathly pale.

Li Chengren, Wen Shumo, and the others stared at the floor, not daring to utter a sound, feeling as if they might die at any moment...

Arctic Martial didn't care about this trivial matter and continued talking about the hereditary system.

"Hereditary succession is not about abandoning some people, but rather about easing the burden on others."

"This group of people can disobey most of the orders of the imperial court, develop their own territory, and do not need to curry favor with the officials and garrisons outside. They provide a circle for the people in various border areas to resist the officials and miscellaneous taxes."

"The reason why the border regions have been chaotic since ancient times is that the people are levied heavy taxes and extortions, which cause them to become disloyal and alienated."

"Many of you worry all day about unrest on the frontier, but you never think about who drove them to rebellion!"

"As long as people speak the same language, write the same script, and abide by the same moral rules, there is no harm in hereditary succession."

"When villages were not governed by the imperial court, how could they have fallen into chaos as they were passed down from generation to generation?"

“You people shouldn’t think too highly of yourselves. If you were useful to the country, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Beiji Wu once again tore off the mask of civil and military officials, and without any mercy.

Do the right thing at the right time.

When they first entered Luoyang, Beijiwu certainly wasn't this arrogant.

Seven or eight years have passed since then, and the imperial palace and Luoyang have undergone several changes in personnel, all of whom have long been replaced by people from the Arctic Martial Army.

Beijiwu coldly said, "Externally, the position will still be hereditary. We will find people from the centurions and banner chiefs in the army. Anyone who volunteers can go to the production teams in various places for training and bring their family members to the local area to become a thousand-household commander!"

Beijiwu then looked at the people from the Three Dukes and Six Ministries.

"Since you don't like hereditary succession and are unwilling to serve me, then let's not have hereditary succession! Go to the frontier and hone your skills for a while, and you'll naturally know whether you're gold or sand."

"Those who are unwilling to go should not become officials; their entire families should be exiled to Annam!"

The group of people in front of him are not the only ones under Arctic Wu's command.

The unique learning atmosphere and organizational system allow Beijiwu to acquire various talents from different production teams.

People like Sang Yang'an and Xue Chonghu, as well as several artisans from various households, were all like this.

The learning atmosphere in the production team was very strong, because one of the criteria for promotion was whether one could read and write the local agricultural script.

From learning to writing, there will be assessments, and there are plenty of people who are proactive in their learning.

Compared to the thousands of households that already had territories, these hundred households and banner chiefs had more motivation and courage to strive for progress.

None of the officials in Zhengcheng were willing to go to Annam. In the end, they preferred to go to the Mongolian Plateau and Liaodong, but none of them were willing to go to Annam.

At least the cold of northern and eastern Liaoning can be overcome, and you can come back after going there.

Almost all the mountain farmers who went to Liaodong have returned, and those who went to Tibet and the Western Regions are also mostly safe.

But in that wretched place of Annam, out of ten thousand people, six or seven thousand would die.

Even the most hardworking mountain farmers wouldn't go, so the other officials were even less likely to go.

Arctic Martial Arts is not about completely abandoning the frontier regions, but about building a sense of identity.

The Mountain Farmer Kingdom is recognized by everyone. Even if the lords of various fiefdoms become local emperors, the people still recognize the Mountain Farmer Kingdom.

What Arctic military cares about is strengthening this sense of identity, not about power.

The power of the Arctic military is earned through bloodshed!
As long as he controls Shanxi and Hebei, Beijiwu will not have to worry about trivial matters in the south, northwest, and northeast.

Hereditary succession was a way to ensure that those who followed one in conquering the land would quickly multiply and become nobles and cultural disseminators in various regions.

Arctic Martial doesn't care about the lives of those at the bottom, and those people in the south have nothing to do with Arctic Martial. Arctic Martial's public accounts have always been held by people from the two northern provinces.

These people recognize the high status of the mountain farmers, as they are responsible for everything from paying taxes and working to serving the Arctic Army and fighting on the battlefield, so they naturally want to give them benefits.

Those southern civilians who had never stood with Arctic Martial Arts, had not helped in any way, and were brought here after the enemy's surrender, Arctic Martial Arts Arts simply wanted them to continue living their previous lives.

***
While Wu was busy with important matters in the Arctic, Liu Jingshun, who had been abandoned in Annam, also lost his last Han Chinese brother.

Liu Jingshun actually breathed a sigh of relief after the last Han Chinese died.

"Shannon Country!"

Liu Jingshun climbed onto the elephant and stood there, shouting to the thousands of people who had gathered: "Their souls have returned to the homeland of the Shannong people! From now on, the ancestors of the Shannong people will protect this land!"

"I am a centurion! A centurion of the Shan Nong people!! The Shan Nong people protected me! They kept me alive! They made me immune to all diseases!!"

Liu Jingshun didn't dare to call himself a thousand-household commander; he was already quite nervous about saying he was a hundred-household commander.

Nearby are Lin Yi people, wild men, and other people from other countries who were innocently conquered by the mountain farmers.

The Mountain Farmer Kingdom had destroyed countless other kingdoms and was the overlord of the north. Now, a group of people, including adults and children of dark complexion, accepted the rule of the Mountain Farmer Kingdom in order to escape the pursuit of the Mountain Farmers. In addition, the leader of this place did not collect heavy taxes and even distributed women.

Liu Jingshun began to teach these people how to hunt, help them build houses, help them identify herbs, and treat livestock.

With his experience surviving in the mountains of Lingnan and the intimidation of the mountain farmers, Liu Jingshun managed to secure his position as leader, even though he was illiterate and could not write.

He felt guilty and dared not contact the people in the north. In addition, his superiors had forgotten about this place, so Beiji Wu and Zhang Weicang did not know that this person existed. Otherwise, they would definitely have provided a lot of assistance.

Among the tens of millions of people under Beijiwu's command, there was no one more adapted to the tropical rainforest climate, more knowledgeable about preventing mosquitoes and malaria, more resistant to sewage and bacteria, and more willing to endure hardship than the local people.

Such a person is one in a hundred million, and belongs to the kind of humanity that Arctic martial arts would never have imagined existing.

Even Arctic Wu himself couldn't adapt to the hot climate, especially the kind that was hot and humid, full of mosquitoes, made it easy to sweat, and had no dirt roads, only mud, sand, and parasites.

In recent years, Arctic fighters have been active in cold and dry areas, and they have been fighting in open plains or mountainous areas without obstructing trees.

Annam is covered with dense jungles and forests, the roads are soft and slippery, and the roads are filled with waterways and muddy swamps, with very few dry places.

The locals themselves couldn't adapt to the climate, resulting in an extremely high mortality rate and a very slow population recovery.

Before the Industrial Age, there were places that only the chosen ones could adapt to.

(End of this chapter)