Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 59: Specialty Wubao
"Oh." Bai Tu was sitting in front of the desk, resting his head on his head and rubbing his temples, as if he had a headache.
"What are you thinking about? Or those tools for digging wells?" Lu Lingqi couldn't help but ask.
"Those? I have already provided the general ideas for those, and the rest can be left to the craftsmen. I am having a headache... a headache about those matters of the aristocratic and powerful families." Bai Tu said helplessly.
The more remote the place, the more likely it is that a large clan will appear, and Jiangdong has met this condition in the past few hundred years.
Although the population of Jiangdong is not large compared to that of the Central Plains, the power of the gentry is very strong. The four prominent families in Jiangdong, Zhang, Zhu, Lu and Gu, each have a "Zong Ji" - Zong Ji is also a kind of Yi Ji, not a city Ji, and is owned by a clan.
There are no more than ten families in the world that have princesses, and Jiangdong has four of them...
Finally, Yuan Shu was defeated and I was able to look ahead to the bright future of Jiangdong. However, after reading the reports from various places, I felt a headache.
Not to mention the four prominent families, there are also many other first-class families such as the Yu family, the Wei family, and the previous Sun family, the Zhou family...
Even those local tyrants in the Jiangdong region who were not considered to be from aristocratic families were particularly "difficult to deal with".
The so-called local tyrants refer to those local forces who have many guests, own a large amount of land, or are wealthy businessmen, but who do not have much to show for themselves in official circles.
The Mi family of Xuzhou had many servants and thousands of acres of fertile land... they were a powerful family.
The poor families usually have a tradition of farming and studying, and there have been officials in their families, but none of them high-ranking officials. Compared with the poor families, local tyrants are more "rich", but their influence in officialdom may not be as great as that of the poor families.
Because they are generally not as wealthy as the powerful, let alone the aristocratic families, people from humble backgrounds tend to be less selfish towards their clans - after all, there are only a few dozen mouths to feed in a family, and if one person is well fed, the whole family will not be hungry.
To what extent have the aristocratic families in Jiangdong become burdened?
Let’s take an example - a castle, which is a building where people gather together for self-defense, similar to a medieval castle .
This thing became popular during the Wang Mang Rebellion. It is a kind of building that people built in clans and villages to protect themselves in troubled times. Ordinary rebel armies would not take on such a tough bone with no meat.
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court ordered the demolition of Wu Fort, but in the Central Plains, it continued to exist despite repeated bans, especially when troubled times like today come again.
In places like Jiangdong, Wubao was even more popular. Historically, even Sun Quan's initial "place of government" was in Wubao - he called it "Iron Cauldron City", which was located in Jingkou, so it was also called the Capital.
Although Sun Quan was not a king at that time, he was at least the ruler of Jiangdong. A new city should have been built as the seat of government, so it should have been more prosperous, right?
No, the circumference of Tieweng City is only a few miles, and the widest part is two miles. Its characteristics are thick walls, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it also has watchtowers and moats... It is just a larger Wu Fort!
It was not until after the Battle of Chibi that Sun Quan moved out of Wubao and officially moved the capital to Jinling, also known as "Jianye".
In Jiangdong, local tyrants in the surrounding villages also build this thing from time to time!
The reason why Sun Quan hid in Jingkou was, on the one hand, because he was afraid of Cao Cao, and on the other hand... it also showed how bad the situation in Jiangdong was. Before the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan did not trust these aristocratic families at all.
"Wu Fort? How about you give me three thousand... no, one thousand people! I will find the biggest Wu Fort and take it down to make an example of you?" Lu Lingqi said considerately.
But the way his eyes were flashing, he looked mostly excited.
Bai Tu naturally shook his head repeatedly at such a violent method: "No, no, they are in Wu Castle, most of them are not really fighting against anyone, but to protect themselves..."
Why does "Wu Castle" make people feel particularly safe in troubled times?
Do you really think that the regular army can't capture the so-called Wubao? Hangu Pass is dangerous or not, Tongguan is dangerous or not... Didn't the Qin Dynasty still perish!
The reason why Wubao can stand firm in troubled times is because it is not cost-effective to attack it - just like now, as long as Bai Tu can sweep across Jiangdong, they will normally supply manpower and taxes to Bai Tu, and at most hide some people, and they will not really act like "no one can control me".
Building Wu Fort in troubled times simply meant to express "I will follow whoever wins". Today, if the surname of Jiangdong is Yuan, they will give manpower and food to Yuan. Tomorrow, if the surname is Bai, they will give it to Bai. Only when their bottom line is touched, such as forcibly requisitioning a large number of manpower or food, will they fight desperately. When the world is peaceful, they will naturally be willing to come out.
Therefore, in times of chaos, the regular army was unwilling to compete with these Wu Forts, and small groups of bandits were no match for the Wu Forts.
"Self-protection? But what if they hide people?" Lu Lingqi obviously knew this as well.
"So we have to let them out..." Bai Tu said.
"Then give me a thousand soldiers and horses to try?"
"No, calm down...this can't be solved with violence." Bai Tu rolled his eyes.
"Then... let me think about it." Lu Lingqi said as if she was really thinking about it.
Bai Tu even found it a little funny - in his mind, Lu Lingqi was not good at giving advice.
"By the way, is there any noble family that has given up on sticking together in Wu Castle?" Lu Lingqi asked.
"It's true. The Sun and Wu families in Wujun gave up Wu Castle and even moved away with their entire families. However, that's because Sun Ben's younger brother and Wu Jing's nephew is Sun Ce!" Bai Tu said.
The reason was very simple - the patriarchs of the two families, Sun Ce's cousin Sun Ben and uncle Wu Jing, had decided to support Sun Ce and build an achievement in these troubled times, so they gave up Wu Fort and gave up their plans to dominate the village.
They understood that if they really got involved in the chaos and stopped being neutral, Wu Castle would not be able to protect itself.
To put it bluntly, Wu Bao is a guarantee that one can work without exerting too much effort and not be over-exploited, so as to avoid being exploited. And when they really place their bets, then naturally they don't need others to exploit them, and they can just do their best!
"Then you can do it too!" Lu Lingqi said.
"Huh? You mean... let me go and recognize each of them as my godfather one by one? That's not a good idea, right?" Bai Tu said with some embarrassment.
Lu Lingqi looked at Bai Tu helplessly, then said: "No, I mean... since they are trying to protect themselves, then you can make them believe that we will protect them, then they will naturally come out, right?"
Bai Tu was stunned when he heard this. Lu Lingqi's idea was very idealistic, but it had to be said... it was very direct to the point!
In fact, Bai Tu had no hostility towards the aristocratic families. It was just that some of them wanted to occupy land resources, human resources, and even political resources, but they just wouldn't agree with him, which made him very embarrassed.
After Lu Lingqi's suggestion, Bai Tu suddenly felt that supporting the poor to fight against them was one aspect, but at the same time, Bai Tu also had to make them believe in him and be willing to put their chips on the line...
In fact, by the time of the real Three Kingdoms period, that is, after the Battle of Chibi, there were basically no more aristocratic families that could keep themselves out of trouble.
When the various princes transform themselves into "clan families" and then "warlords" before the aristocratic families, if the aristocratic families still want to continue to be stingy, they will be courting death.
Even the aristocratic families in Jiangdong seemed extremely prosperous at the beginning, but from the Battle of Chibi to the demise of Eastern Wu, they were all badly treated badly by the Sun family.
No matter how cunning you are, at most you can be like Zhuge and bet the chips separately - oh, in the end you bet on both big and small and the result is a leopard.
Today, there is still no trace of the Nine-Rank System of Cao Wei, and the current aristocratic families have not yet formed "clans", so their ambitions and selfish desires are mostly within the controllable range.
That chaotic history has not yet happened.
Aristocratic families can also choose not to move towards a future that is doomed to destruction, even though it may seem bright .
Of course, Bai Tu would naturally help those stubborn elements in the aristocratic families and clear away the obstacles to progress - thinking of this, Bai Tu felt that he was worthy of being the adopted son of the "Friend of the Aristocratic Family".
"Oh, since you are so stupid, you still have to have me!" Lu Lingqi said proudly.
Although others say that Bai Tu is a great sage, Lu Lingqi always thinks that this guy is stupid...
"Well... actually I still have a doubt. No, it should be called a question! You say... should I do something that is not good for me but is right?" Bai Tu said in confusion.
Lu Lingqi looked at the white picture carefully, then laughed and said, "Are you worried about this? You have already decided to do it, but you are just a little unhappy, right?"
White picture: ...
For the first time, Bai Tu felt that Lu Lingqi might actually be smarter than his adoptive father!
