Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 93: Lu Su: The prophecies and divinations cannot be trusted!
"Dig a well? And a deep well... Is it necessary?" Lu Su frowned as he looked at Bai Tu's plan.
That’s right, in addition to the strategic material reserve, the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ other short-term task is to train grassroots officials to use new well-digging tools, and then organize the people of Danyang and Wujun to perform additional corvee labor during the slack farming season - digging wells!
Bai Tu planned to replace the wages required for additional corvee labor with "relief food".
The so-called relief food is a kind of grain mixed with bran, wheat bran, wild vegetables, a small amount of eggs... In coastal areas, dried fish is also mixed in. It is a kind of "food" that tastes like chewing sand and does not taste very good. Only those processed by Chengji are called food!
At the same time, after being processed by Chengji, the taste of the food will deteriorate further, but the shape will be suitable for storage and transportation.
It looks like a brick and tastes more like a brick. It doesn’t taste good, but it fills you up and doesn’t harm your body.
Two stone of grain, plus those miscellaneous things, can be "exchanged" for three stone of relief grain!
In addition, there is also "growth food" with higher nutritional content and lower proportion of bran and wheat bran, which can be provided to children and soldiers who need training and fighting.
As for those that contain no wheat bran or wheat gluten and have a high ratio of meat and eggs, they are prepared for a small number of elite soldiers who need high-intensity training. This is the product of Bai Tu's balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats from a nutritional perspective.
"This 'relief grain' is quite good. It can not only increase grain taxes in disguise, but also reduce some public grievances. In addition the lord publicly announces the achievements and reputation of 'Bai Gong Li' and 'Bai Gong Huan', people in Jiangdong should still be in favor of it." Lu Su said.
Lu Su was very supportive of the relief grain policy.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the people were taxed very heavily. During the Han Dynasty, the tax rate was usually one-tenth, that is, one-tenth of the grain production had to be handed over. During the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, who advocated non-intervention and keeping wealth in the hands of the people, the tax rate was as low as one-thirty. By the real Three Kingdoms period, in the State of Wei, those who used official cattle were paid 60% by officials and 40% by civilians, while those who did not use official cattle were paid 50-50.
Although Shu Han had Shu brocade, Yunnan horses, and gold and silver produced in Nanzhong, in order to maintain a large army, the tax revenue was always close to half...
It can be said that during this period, aristocratic families successively transitioned to powerful clans, while the common people were extremely miserable.
Even now, the princes of all parties have generally significantly increased the head tax, and the land tax has also reached five taxes to one, or three taxes to one, to balance the huge military expenditures.
In comparison, the original garrison troops in various places in Jiangdong now total more than 50,000 people. Bai Tu plans to recruit no more than 30,000 new soldiers in the four counties, which is not much compared to Jiangdong's population of three million.
It was just because he foresaw that drought would begin next winter and Bai Tu had to start preparing food, so he had no choice but to choose the five-tax-one rate.
At that time, even in Jiangdong, where rice and wheat were rotated and two crops were harvested a year, the average yield per mu was only one dan.
Taking a household with 100 acres of land as an example, Bai Tu would collect 20 shi of grain, and even "cruelly" force 60 shi of relief grain to exchange for 60 shi of ordinary rice.
This is equivalent to 100 dan of grain for every 100 mu of land. Bai Tu will collect 80 dan, turn it into 120 dan of relief grain, and then return 60 dan!
There is another advantage. The sale of ordinary rice cannot be restricted across the board, but the relief food produced by Chengji can be restricted.
At that time, Bai Tu would issue an order that those who privately bought and sold relief grain would be treated as smugglers of salt and iron, thus preventing large-scale open reselling and preventing people from hoarding grain in years of disaster.
"But if this continues for a long time, I'm afraid the morale of the army and the people will be in turmoil. It would be better to reduce the tax to three out of ten, or to reduce the tax to two out of five, or even to increase the tax rate," Lu Su suggested.
The so-called "suanfu" is actually a poll tax, which is paid by farmers, merchants and handicraftsmen. Generally, farmers pay the poll tax with silk, hemp, meat and eggs.
"Of course it's not a long-term solution, but... I have a hunch that there will be a severe drought in Huainan next winter. The year after will be a good opportunity to conquer Huainan, but it will require a lot of disaster relief grain, and the drought may spread to Jiangdong, so we must also be prepared." Bai Tu said.
Lu Su became serious upon hearing this, and said solemnly: "My lord, you cannot make orders based on prophecies and divinations!" As he spoke, he glanced at Taishi Ci, as if he wanted to ask something.
Seeing this, Bai Tu realized that Lu Su thought he was fooled by some fortune teller and wanted Taishi Ci to reveal something.
"It's not a prophecy, it's me...it's me who came into my dream!" Bai Tu said with a stiff face.
"What you think about during the day you will dream about at night. My lord, you are worried about Yuan Shu in Huainan, so you had this dream, right?" Lu Su retorted.
In Lu Su's view, "gods entering dreams" is not impossible, but it should be a means and an excuse, not the driving force!
Bai Tu knew he couldn't explain it, so he said, "Since we have this dream, why can't ?"
Hearing this, Lu Su said helplessly: "But I can guarantee that there will be no major disasters in Huainan in the next few years."
"How can you guarantee that?" Bai Tu couldn't help but wonder when he heard that.
"In fact... Su is very knowledgeable about Feng Shui and can observe the energy of the world..."
Hearing Lu Su's words, Bai Tu stared at him with a MMP look on his face - who just said that "prophecies and divinations" were not credible?
So only my "gods entering dreams" falls into the category of prophecies, and your "feng shui and earth energy" is very scientific?
Lu Su saw the look in Bai Tu's eyes and said excitedly: "My method of observing Feng Shui and the earth's energy is recorded in the Book of Heaven!"
"Oh, how much is a copy of the heavenly book?" Bai Tu was already convinced that Lu Su had been fooled.
"A priceless treasure... Wait! My lord, I was not deceived, this is a real heavenly book! One of the ten volumes of the heavenly book..." Lu Su said hurriedly.
"Ten volumes? One? When that person comes to sell you the other nine, let me know." Bai Tu looked like he wanted to seek justice for Lu Su.
Lu Su went crazy , and tried hard to explain to Bai Tu that the Book of Heaven was free, and it was not sold by beggars on the street who saw someone with amazing bones, but it was a gift from heaven...
Originally, Lu Su thought that Bai Tu might also have a heavenly book, but now it seems that is not the case.
But Bai Tu was still skeptical. After all, he often saw examples of scammers fooling smart people.
But at this time, Taishi Ci interjected: "My lord, I have also heard of the legend of the ten volumes of the Heavenly Book..."
Bai Tu then began to believe it to about 70%. There were even Cheng Ji in this world, so in comparison, the Heavenly Book was nothing special.
But now Bai Tu is very suspicious, whether Lu Su's heavenly book is a counterfeit or he has not mastered the skills well enough - comparing the current world with the direction of major events that Bai Tu knows, the severe drought next winter should not be wrong, why did Lu Su come to the opposite conclusion after "observing the earth's energy"?
On the other hand, what Lu Su said afterwards made Bai Tu believe some of the claims about the "Heavenly Book"...
