Overlord!

Chapter 51
Less than three days after Moling City was conquered, the magistrate of Jurong County, the last county in the north of Danyang County, also abandoned the city.

Moling County was Liu Yao's key line of defense. More than [-] troops were stationed there. Moling County surrendered, and Jurong County, which had no troops, naturally couldn't hold on.

And Liu Yao also had the intention to gather the troops scattered in various counties, because Sun Ce took down the whole county of Danyang, and the next step was to attack Qu'a eastward.

Jurong and Qu'a are connected in territory.The decisive battle to determine Jiangdong's ownership will break out here.

But now it was late February, and Sun Ce raised his troops in December. By the end of February, not only had he crossed the Yangtze River in two months, but he had also conquered the entire northern part of Danyang County. At this time, Sun Ce was not too anxious for a decisive battle.

His main energy was spent on stabilizing the rear and rectifying the army.

Recently, the army has taken three counties in a row, and the conquest army and Zorong's troops have taken more than [-] prisoners in total.

These are all Jianghuai people, living in Jiangdong, wandering, and the morale of the army is unstable. It takes a lot of energy to stabilize them.

The main force of Sun Ce's army was stationed in Moling City to deal with these matters.

Hearing that Sun Ce's army had captured Moling, Lu Fan also took a boat overnight and rushed hundreds of miles to Liyang City.

Sun Ce attached great importance to this right-hand man, and personally welcomed him into the mansion.

After taking his seat, Lu Fan congratulated briefly, and immediately turned to the main topic: "General, we have captured Danyang, and the general has tens of thousands of people under his command. It should be time for soldiers to enter Wu County and get rid of the constraints."

Sun Ce nodded slightly, approved Lu Fan's words, and replied: "I stayed in Moling for a while, just to rectify the forces under my command, gather strength, and then go eastward with all my strength, and fight Liu Yao. Ziheng will take charge of the rear on my behalf. Take care of the logistics, let’s talk about the specific situation of the matter you are in charge of first.”

Lu Fan came to Moling for this purpose, and he was fully prepared. He immediately took out a thick stack of booklets from his luggage.

"General, this is the list I compiled, which records in detail all the movements, supplies, and grain under the general's command."

Sun Ce didn't rush to ask, but his eyes lit up, looking at the thick stack of books that Lu Fan took out, he said in surprise, "There are so many papers?"

Lu Fan opened the brochure with the fragrance of paper rolls, and replied: "This is the first batch of paper just made in Shicheng County. Mr. Gao County provided a manor for paper craftsmen in Shicheng County, and nearly a hundred craftsmen pressed paper in it. Paper is made in a mature way, and two stones of paper have been produced in the past two months."

Two stones of paper are about 54 catties, which sounds like a lot, but a book weighs almost a catty, and it may only be packed in a few baskets.

Lu Fan saw that Sun Ce became less interested, and explained: "The artisans of papermaking have matured, but it is not easy to collect materials such as bark, hemp, cloth, and fishing nets for a while, so the first batch of papermaking is small. , will gradually improve in the future.”

Bark, hemp heads, rags, and fishing nets are really cheap raw materials for production.

Sun Ce said: "There are many bamboos in the south of the Yangtze River. Let the craftsmen try to soak the bamboo for a hundred days, and then mass-produce bamboo paper. I hope that one day, a consensus can be formed in the world. If you have money, don't buy gold, but buy Jiangdong paper. Jiangdong paper is as white as spring clouds."

Of course, this sentence was not made up by Sun Ce, but a poem that really appeared in history.

The main reason is that there are many bamboos in the south of the Yangtze River, and the papermaking technology is highly developed.

Bamboo is cheap, but it may not be cheaper than the items used in papermaking today.

But his output is huge, and he can produce continuously.Scale will always be one of the greatest advantages of industry.

Lu Fan nodded, solemnly responded, and said: "After I go back, I will discuss this matter with the craftsmen."

Sun Ce is not in a hurry about this matter. Even if technology matters come out in ten or twenty years, it is a great achievement and it will never be too late.

At present, the main energy of the two is still in the military and internal affairs.

Lu Fan opened the scroll and officially began to report: "General, we can only count as one county that we can strongly influence now, because we can only count half of Liyang and Shicheng counties. It is entirely because of our garrison counties, Only with the cooperation of the county magistrate can we exert influence."

In terms of territory and territory, Sun Ce's sphere of influence is indeed small.

Liyang County and Shicheng County, which he can strongly influence, are nominally owned. Liyang belongs to Chen Ji of Jiujiang County, and Shicheng County belongs to Zhou Shang of Danyang County.

Sun Ce said calmly: "This aspect has little influence. Whether it is Liyang County Magistrate Shao Zhuo or Shicheng County Magistrate Gao Cheng, they are both smart people. Our army camp is stationed in the county, and they will cooperate with us in governing."

Especially Gao Cheng, the county magistrate of Shicheng, is very ambitious.In order to follow Sun Ce, he would not hesitate to hang seals and seal officials.

It is still the most suitable reason for the current world, where a prince's army is stationed, that is his sphere of influence.

Sun Ce's army was in Liyang and Shicheng counties, even if the county government issued an order to collect taxes and corvee.The county magistrate can also spread his hands and push it all on the head of Sun Ce's army.

Unfortunately, all the money, food and soldiers were robbed by Sun Ce's army.If the county government needs it, go to them for it.

This is a relatively friendly rhetoric. Under normal circumstances, a large army is stationed in a county, and in theory, the local politics, economy, and security will all collapse.

Bandits pass like a comb, soldiers pass like a dog.Before Sun Ce arrived in Liyang, the state of Liyang was in line with the tragic situation of the current era.

The county government doesn't even have to think about population, taxes, and security.

Otherwise, Chen Ji would have to go to the front line and ask the generals on the front line to restrain military discipline?It would be nice if the frontline general didn't ask him for food, soldiers, or women.He was afraid of avoiding it, so he would not care about Li Yang's life or death.

Lu Fan said: "Although Shao Zhuo, the magistrate of Liyang County, is a little bit weak, he is indeed a talent. In the past few months, he has dealt with the government orders of us and the county government with ease, and he has not offended either party. And during this period, he also The governance of Liyang has been restored, and all kinds of statistics have been cleared."

"Now there are 1 and eight households in Liyang, with a population of 370 and two!"

This number is very accurate, it has been accurate to each one, which shows that Shao Zhuo is indeed very talented.

We must know that some dynasties in later generations can hardly change their population and household registration for hundreds of years, and it is not clear whether the population they govern is 5000 million, hundreds of millions, or even [-] million.In this case, it is a miracle that the finances do not collapse.

In comparison, Shao Zhuo's essay is already a model.

Sun Ce asked: "The population is nearly 3 more than the normal size of the household. Is it because of the opening of granaries?"

Lu Fan nodded and suddenly laughed.

Sun Ce asked curiously, "Why is Ziheng laughing?"

Lu Fan smiled and said: "I remembered the general's jokes by the Chaohu Lake. I heard that there were ladies, and hundreds of soldiers flocked to the lake. The general made a bold promise to give all the soldiers a home. Now there are condition."

"Oh?" Sun Ce also became interested. He was going to bring a large number of prisoners to Wu County to develop the local Taihu Plain.

For example, there were more than 6000 captives in Moling, and thousands of craftsmen in Niuzhu camp.

Most of these people fled the war from the north and fled to the south of the Yangtze River, and some were captured soldiers and tribes, but generally speaking, most of them were bachelors.

Sun Ce naturally hoped to help all of them settle down.The so-called those who have a fixed property have perseverance, and with a wife and daughter's family business, they are no longer unstable elements who flee from evil and evil together, but the mainstay of social production.

Lu Fan explained: "The above statistics will count the strong men and strong women in the county, and the county magistrate of Liyang submitted the count to us according to the above calculation. There are more than [-] strong men in Liyang County. There are more than [-] strong women. Among them, there are more than [-] unmarried and widowed women, and most of them are refugees."

Sun Ce understood immediately, and asked, "Ziheng specifically mentioned this, because Liyang can't house so many people?"

Lu Fan nodded: "Liyang is a big county with a population of tens of thousands of households, and the devastation is undoubtedly lighter than that of Shicheng County. The advantage is that Haoqiang can sell more grain, but the disadvantage is also very obvious. Haoqiang A large amount of land has been merged, and there is not much redundant farmland to house refugees."

Sun Ce couldn't help laughing, and sighed: "In this world, good people should be pointed at by guns?"

Sun Ce was sure that Liyang Haoqiang must have complained to himself, angry that he had distributed those abandoned lands to refugees, and delayed them from making a fortune for the country.

But they don't know how many lives have been saved because of their own rule.

If Yuan Shu were allowed to rule them, the entire Jianghuai River would be devastated, and counties and counties would be destroyed. When Liu Fu came to serve as the governor of Yangzhou, all the counties would become empty cities, and there would only be bandits in the wild.In this case, let alone resentment, being able to eat people and survive is a luxury.

But at this moment, they responded with the greatest hostility to Sun Ce who would save countless lives of them.

Sun Ce naturally didn't care about the powerful men in a single county in Liyang County, and immediately said to Lu Fan, "Some of the strong men are narrow-minded, while others have great ambitions. I would like to help the needy instead of doing more." Contact, because of help. Those narrow-minded and brutal people don’t need to show mercy, they directly follow the Han system and clean them up. Collect their money and use it for military use. Use their fields and houses to resettle refugees.”

Tyrants are not so noble that they cannot be killed.The capable ministers and officials of the Han Dynasty have to clean up a group of brutal and powerful officials every time they take office.This kind of thing goes up to the aristocratic family, down to the ordinary people, and the drummer applauds it.

But in today's troubled times, the princes are even more ruthless than each other.Cao Cao is notoriously ruthless, he will not spare the living, even the dead, digging up hills and digging graves, he will do everything possible, even the ancestral graves of powerful families have been scraped.

The same is true for the Yuan brothers. Yuan Shao cut off rich families in Hebei and collected examination money, that is to say, he arrested people and extorted tribute.Yuan Shu went a step further in Jianghuai. He failed to establish a virtuous government and relied on plundering for capital.

Sun Ce is also willing to follow the laws of the Han Dynasty to govern counties and counties, which is already very lenient.

Lu Fan agreed with Sun Ce's statement very much, and said: "The punishment of the three canons of the former king was used to calm chaos. Now the Han Dynasty has lost its virtue, the world is in chaos, Yuan Shu's moral government is not established, and Jianghuai is full of complaints. If we can clearly punish the law, the superior will not memorize it. Fa-rectification is to obey the hearts of the people. It will surely make the people secure their careers and achieve great virtues. Even the powerful in other counties may not come here without admiration."

It was because Yuan Shu was greedy for family wealth, so he had his head chopped off and his wife and daughter robbed for no reason.Or to live and work in peace and contentment in a county with fair laws. Obviously, it is still easy for most tyrants to make a choice.

Neither Sun Ce nor Lu Fan had much hostility towards Haoqiang, nor did they have a system against them.

Basically, as long as a tycoon is not overly greedy, there will not be much conflict between the two sides.

In this troubled world, if the tyrants gather together to defend, they are more likely to survive than ordinary people.In Youzhou and Yangzhou, the common people will spontaneously recommend a few wise men and lead them to gather together to reclaim wasteland.

So even if Lu Fan cleared out a few Liyang tyrants, there would not be too much land that could be used to resettle the people, because there were many hidden households under their names.

Lu Fan suggested: "After Liyang is cleaned up, the population will further increase. The best way is to let the people take refuge in the south of the Yangtze River and help them settle down in the south of the Yangtze River. There are more than [-] strong women in Liyang, and they are powerless to go to the south of the Yangtze River. Living alone and marrying a sergeant is the best choice."

Sun Ce nodded slightly. There was chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty and the population dropped sharply. Women were an extremely important strategic resource. Basically, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu all had national policies on marriage.

Cao Wei is famous for his love of widows. The national policy ordered the statistics of widows in all counties, and then the court unified the marriage.Cao Rui even ordered that all noble women marrying non-shi family women should be broken up and remarried to soldiers.

Sun Wu's policy is more like what Sun Ce is implementing now, the state divides wives.The king loves the people more than infants, and the people who have no wives give them concubines, those who see single clothes give them silk, and the dead bones are not collected but buried.

That is to say, in Soochow, if you are a bachelor, it is really possible for the imperial court to send you the next wife.There was even a period of time when the Imperial Palace Department sent out palace ladies to match those who had no wives.

Sun Ce is indeed not so generous, giving his concubine to a wifeless man as his wife.

But with some effort, it is still possible to match the strong women who fled the north with soldiers as wives.

Sun Ce said: "After conquering Qu'a, I will send all the ships back to Liyang to help the refugees cross the river and resettle them. But for the marriage, we also need to count the number of soldiers. Now that soldiers are being recruited everywhere, can the number of the whole army be counted? "

Lu Fan nodded immediately, and turned a page of the book: "Now the general has tens of thousands of people, divided into several divisions. Liyang has more than 2000 recruits, Niuzhu has more than [-] soldiers and soldiers, and more than [-] prisoners , more than [-] craftsmen. The navy has nearly [-] people. There are also [-] soldiers in each of Moling and Danyang counties."

Sun Ce added and concluded: "There are still [-] captives in Moling County. I calculated that there are more than [-] prisoners in total."

This number is a bit more than when Sun Ce moved eastward in history.

Historically, when Sun Ce left Danyang, there were already tens of thousands of followers, so he said to Zhou Yu, "It is enough for me to take Wu Huiping with these people. You should return to Danyang."

Now there are tens of thousands more, mainly because Sun Ce kept Sha Tai's old and weak, and instead of letting them fend for themselves, he organized them to go to the army to reclaim land, build water conservancy, and promote infrastructure.

In fact, Sun Ce's main elite soldiers are actually smaller, worthy of ten thousand people.

Lu Fan asked: "General, it's not uncommon to have a crowd of [-] in the north. It's just that they stay in a county, and they are called kings and orphans. But if we want to bring all the [-] people to Wujun , I am afraid it will be extremely difficult to achieve.”

Sun Ce waved his hands resolutely and said, "I never intended to take away more than [-] people."

　Thanks to the book friend Xuanwei General Cao Xueyang of Tiance Mansion for the 100 starting coins

　　
　
(End of this chapter)