Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 331: General's Mansion during the New Year
The New Year atmosphere among the people of Yangzhou becomes more festive .
This year, "Shennong Essence" has begun to be used as a guide, especially in Guantian, where almost all of the crops have been treated with it.
Combined with Bai Tu's passive strategy, the average per-acre yield in Yangzhou has increased by nearly 50% compared to before the Jian'an period, and the grain tax on the people has been reduced to one-fifth of the tax rate - already lower than during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, when there were no additional wars or famines, the imperial court also imposed a tax rate of one-tenth, and local officials might have collected additional taxes privately.
Although the tax rate is now 10% higher than it was then, the output has increased by 50%. In the end, the harvest left in the hands of ordinary farmers is 30% more than in previous peaceful years!
As for comparing with other princes of the same period...
Even Hanzhong and Yizhou are no match for Yangzhou at this time!
At the same time, because of the salt permit policy of the General's Office, a large amount of grain was recycled by salt merchants and used to exchange for salt permits from the government, which also ensured that grain prices did not plummet.
The government's grain, especially the bran, was invested in raising poultry and livestock. Some people who had spare money planned to save money to buy cows. After all, although the government's cows were enough to rent, they still had to pay rent, and... after all, other people's things were not as secure as those in your own hands.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs also encourages farmers to buy cattle. Having their own oxen will also help farmers improve their farming efficiency.
Ordinary farmers can buy oxen from the Ministry of Civil Affairs as long as they pay a 30% down payment and then repay the loan in three years.
Of course, this is only applicable to ordinary farmers who don’t have cattle…
There are also quite a few people who would be more "free and easy", especially during the Chinese New Year, when buying meat and silk cloth is a matter of course.
In fact, during the Western Han Dynasty, the protein intake of the Han people was extremely high among the feudal dynasties, which made the Han people's physique significantly better than those of the neighboring countries. That's why there is a saying that "one Han is equal to five Barbarians."
However, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the national strength and people's power were weakening, and meat became increasingly rare on the people's tables...
However, in Yangzhou, people can already taste meat every now and then, and can enjoy big fish and meat during the Chinese New Year. The sales of various other light industrial products that are not necessities at ordinary times have also increased - if Liu Bei was selling straw sandals in Nanjing today, he would probably have a wife and children and a warm bed in two years!
At the same time, civilian workshops have gradually sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, which is a sign of the gradual recovery of the small commodity economy.
On the contrary, compared with the general public, the General's Mansion is a little "quieter" this year.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Jiangxia cannot come back, Gan Ning in Donglai cannot come back, and Zhao Yun in Nanyang cannot come back either. Only Jia Xu comes back to report on the work of the Northern Army. As for Jingnan, there is no need to mention it - the transportation is inconvenient, and they will not easily come back specifically for the New Year's Party.
Judging from the war situation in various places this year, the General's Mansion is not only no longer the only one standing out, but is also in a state of "decline". The offensive of Jingzhou has been blocked, and it has not yet reached the edge of Nanjun. Even Jiangxia is about to be counterattacked.
The four counties in southern Jing were considered remote and poor places where barbarians were rampant in the eyes of most people in the Central Plains, but they actually held back the offensive of the General's Mansion in Changsha County!
On the contrary, in Qingzhou, the General's Mansion got a bargain. When the navy returned, they picked up Donglai County. Now they are in a very unpleasant situation with Xuzhou because of this matter...
As for Cao and Liu in the Central Plains, they both made great profits this year!
As the world looked on with awe, Cao Cao enjoyed the glory of defeating Yuan Shao's "million-strong army". Xu Du, which usually had a lot of "noise", was now much quieter. Many of the courtiers who originally disliked Cao Cao were removed by Cao Cao without any consideration.
Originally, Cao Cao still cared about the impact, and he knew best that most of these people were just "using their looks to save the country", so they just needed to be monitored and there was no need to pay too much attention to them.
But this time he defeated "Yuan the Rebel", his reputation was unrivaled, and he was able to speak with authority in the court!
Although Liu Bei's defeat of Yuan Tan in Qingzhou did not cause as great a response as Cao Cao's defeat of Yuan Shao, he did gain benefits. Now that he had most of Qingzhou in his hands, his strategic depth was finally increased, and he was no longer as bullied as before in Xuzhou.
The situation last year was exactly the opposite of last year when the Central Plains had no harvest and the General's Mansion had a huge profit...
Therefore, compared with last year, the staff of the General's Mansion have restrained their arrogant attitude - it's not that they were so arrogant last year, but each of them felt that they had made great contributions to the General's Mansion under the Source of Rainbow, and this year... the battle situation of the General's Mansion is not good, so naturally their arrogance has weakened a lot.
Even the Ministry of Industry has reached bottlenecks in many projects this year.
Although there are many new things, there is no eye-catching thing like the Qi Crossbow...
On the contrary, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was somewhat low-key last year, is now very proud.
Projects in various places are proceeding step by step. Grain production has increased significantly, the average meat intake of the people has increased significantly compared to last year, and the income from workshop taxes and commercial taxes has increased significantly...
With the support of other departments, cousin Lu Su can be said to be in great glory this year.
Jian Yong originally used the fact that the General's Mansion had not been successful in conquering Jingzhou this year as a bargaining chip, and even... Before he left, Liu Bei had instructed him to try to persuade Bai Tu to withdraw his troops, at least not to touch Nanjun, and to withdraw from Jiangxia!
If Bai Tu agreed, announced it to the world, and formed an alliance with Liu Biao of Nanjun, Liu Bei would not only be willing to cooperate with Bai Tu and assert his control over Nanyang and Jingnan, but he would also give the entire Donglai County to Bai Tu to station his navy.
Of course, Jian Yong was not so naive. He understood that Bai Tu had not been forced to negotiate peace with Liu Biao!
Besides, why should he give up his own Donglai for Liu Biao?
He dares to negotiate in this way. Isn't he afraid that the next time he meets Guan Erye, he will be glared at so hard that his back breaks into cold sweats?
Instead, Jian Yong's plan was to use the unfavorable situation of the General's Mansion in Jingzhou as an inducement so that he could stand taller when fighting for the interests of Xuzhou Prefecture.
only……
The "gloomy and gloomy look" that Jian Yong expected did not appear, or rather... it only appeared on the faces of some of the general's staff!
Generally speaking , an unfavorable war situation not only means casualties among the young generals, but also means that the princes have to further exploit the potential of the people to maintain and increase the strength of the front line, which will cause the people to become gloomy and weaken their strength.
However, in Jinling, or rather along the way that Jian Yong saw, this scene did not appear. Instead, there was prosperity and peace everywhere.
Jian Yong even wondered, could it be that the people of Jinling didn't care about the war on the front line? Or was the news blocked by the general's mansion?
But within two days, Jian Yong had erased this possibility from his mind, because... on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the day of the Little New Year, Bai Tu held a grand ceremony at the Humin Temple outside the city of Jinling!
