"What news does Bofu have to make you so happy?" Zhou Yu was very puzzled. Wasn't it just a letter? How could it bring about such an effect? One must know that Sun Ce was really going to eat someone up, but now he was relaxed. The root cause of this was the letter.
"Gong Jin, you and I are still tangled about how to deal with the King Of Shu, Liu Mang's evil plan, but here, my second brother has already prepared everything for me!" Sun Ce proudly pointed at the letter and said. Sun Ce was his second brother. An elder brother was like a father. Sun Jian died early, so Sun Ce's feelings for Sun Quan were very deep. His younger brother was promising and was able to share the worries of his elder brother. This made Sun Ce very happy!
"Oh!?" Zhou Yu walked over. He and Sun Ce had a very good personal relationship and often visited the Sun family. It could be said that Old Madam Sun almost treated Zhou Yu as half a son. If it wasn't for Sun Ce's younger sister, Sun Shangxiang, being too young, she might have married Sun Shangxiang to Zhou Yu. So he didn't care and directly picked up the letter to read. The more he read, the more shocked Zhou Yu was. He completely understood Liu Mang's conscription strategy.
Liu Mang lacked people under his command. He had thousands of acres of fertile land, which was a lot of wealth. The richness of Shouchun was no worse than that of Xuzhou. The annual output was enough to supply the needs of a province. Otherwise, Yuan Shu wouldn't have been able to build a luxurious palace in Shouchun in Yangzhou. It was also impossible for him to have the money to rebuild Shouchun after it was breached. If there was no one there to cultivate, the thousands of acres of fertile land would become a wasteland. Therefore, Liu Mang had to find someone to help him cultivate the land.
Right now, all the feudal lords in the world were paying attention to the problem of population. Without population, there would be no taxes. Without population, there would be no soldiers. Every year, the population would be greatly depleted. Before the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a population of 60 million. But now, there was less than a third of that population. Every war would cause countless casualties. Take the recent war as an example!
In Guandu, Cao Cao lost sixty thousand men, and Yuan Shao lost a total of one hundred and fifty thousand. In this half a year of fighting, two hundred thousand people disappeared. This did not include the destruction of the cities along the way and the casualties of the people. And this kind of battle happened every day in China. Jingzhou Liu Biao and Sun Ce fought in Changjiang, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in Guandu, Xiliang Ma Teng and Han Sui fought in Wuan, and even Liu Mang fought a while ago.
The war not only killed the soldiers, but also the common people. Therefore, the land of the Han Dynasty was very vacant.
Even Liu Mang knew that after being driven out of Xuzhou by Lao Cao, he had to take a large number of common people with him. Although there were suspicions of using the common people to disturb the pursuers, Liu Mang also had scruples about the future.
30% of the taxes seemed almost like a fantasy. But if you think about it, rather than not getting anything, it was better to get a little bit. Because of the advantage of the land policy, it could bring a huge population to Liu Mang's army. This way, not only could Liu Mang recruit soldiers, but he could also import military provisions. Why not? And the most important thing was that once the common people were under Liu Mang's command, the common people would not be able to do anything! 30% of the taxes could be for a year, or it could be for half a year, or it could even be for a part of the people. These fleeing common people left their original homes and gave up their fields. It was too late to turn back! They could only bite the bullet and fall into Liu Mang's trap.
Therefore, Sun Quan wrote in his letter to Sun Ce. Since the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, wanted to implement 30% of the taxes, then they would go and help him. Not only that, they would also put the King Of Shu on the moral high ground and call him the Saint King. They would also publicize it among the common people.
It was better to lose than to block! Yu the Great completely taught us this truth when he controlled the flood. If you don't let the common people go to Shouchun, then what can you do? Kill them? If they are afraid of death, then they will not go. The riverfront is so long, how many soldiers do you have? Moreover, the soldiers you recruit are from the common people. How can they bear to kill their fellow countrymen? Once they put Liu Mang on the moral high ground, they would tell the common people that the King Of Shu was a saint. Under his rule, Shouchun would only collect 30% of the taxes and would never increase the taxes. They would help Liu Mang publicize and let his name spread through the streets. When Liu Mang's name spread throughout the entire Great Han Dynasty, would Liu Mang still dare to quibble? Would he still dare to adjust the taxes?
If Liu Mang adjusted the taxes, then he would be going back on his words. This was a taboo for those in power. Once Liu Mang adjusted the taxes, then he would be criticized by the common people. Would he still have any prestige in the future? Liu Mang had already offended the nobles. If he offended the common people, then even if Liu Mang was the Son of Heaven, he would not be able to obtain the world. Moreover, Liu Mang's father-in-law, Lü Bu, would also become the laughingstock of the world along with Liu Mang.
If Liu Mang did not adjust the taxes, then he would brace himself and persist. Although Liu Mang had a large amount of land in Shouchun and the fertile land in Shouchun was very plentiful, one should not forget that the fertile land was limited. How many people could Liu Mang's vast land accept? 30% of the taxes? His army would not be able to eat the northwest wind in the future! Moreover, the more people there were, the more pressure Liu Mang would have. With a large population, he would need a large amount of food. Liu Mang's current food was given to him by Lujiang Lü Bu. With a large influx of people, even if he planted food this year, he would only be able to harvest next year. And this year, the common people would have to eat! Where would the food come from? That would depend on Liu Mang. After all, they were recruited by Liu Mang. How could Liu Mang provide food for tens of thousands of people? 50,000? 100,000? Or two hundred thousand? Even if there were enough rations, there would be no need for seeds to farm! If all the fertile land was planted with seeds, then Liu Mang himself would have to eat the northwest wind. Once there was a shortage of food, then the one who would die miserably would be Liu Mang. The common people would do anything.
Why would there be chaos? One of the reasons was that the nobles were ambitious. They wanted to obtain a better status in the family and obtain more resources in the world! Another reason was that the common people would not be able to survive without food.
If they could not survive, they would naturally rebel! Sun Ce did not want to stop the common people from going to Yangzhou. Instead, he wanted them to go. Not only did he want them to go, but he could also encourage them to go. He just needed to control the number of people. Imagine throwing a hundred to two hundred thousand people to Liu Mang and Lü Bu's territory. These people would not be able to produce food in the first year, but they still need to eat. Where would the rations come from? Naturally, they would need the Lvbu's Army to provide rations. How much rations does Lü Bu have to provide for hundreds of thousands of people? One must know that Cao Cao had three provinces, but he could not provide for an army of 100,000 people.
The Lvbu's Army had its own army. With the addition of the common people, they could only wait to run out of food.
Moreover, Sun Ce's plan asked Sun Ce to send messengers to Liu Bei in Yuzhou, Cao Cao in Yanzhou, and even Liu Biao in Jingzhou. There were no eternal enemies between the nobles, only eternal benefits. Would Liu Biao in Jingzhou not have any objections to the Lvbu's Army? Lü Bu had fought in Jiangxia and killed many soldiers in Huangzhou. He had also captured the son of Liu Biao's general, Huang Zu's son. He believed that Liu Biao would not refuse such an opportunity to weaken the Lvbu's Army.
This way, they would not need a lot. Didn't Liu Mang have a shortage of people? If Jiangdong gave Liu Mang hundreds of thousands of common people, Liu Biao in Jingzhou would give another hundreds of thousands, Liu Bei in Yuzhou and Cao Cao in Yanzhou would each use hundreds of thousands, then Shouchun and Yangzhou would be filled with common people. The consequence of this would be that there would be no food to eat. If Liu Mang's Lvbu's Army distributed rations to the common people, his army would starve. Naturally, the morale of the army would be unstable. Moreover, it was a population of a million people! Would the rations be enough? Once it was not enough, the common people would rebel! Sun Ce was very happy when he thought about the starving army facing a large group of hungry people!
If the Lvbu's Army was ruthless enough and did not distribute the rations, his army would be full and the common people would not have anything to eat. The result would be the same. If the common people rebelled, even if Lü Bu could suppress them, the Lvbu's Army would suffer heavy casualties. Most importantly, the Lvbu's Army would lose their trust in the world. It was hard to do things without trust.
Would you trust a person who did not keep his word? Would you follow him and risk your life for him? Definitely not. At that time, Liu Mang would really go for wool and come home shorn.
"Haha, second brother is the pillar of my Sun family. With second brother, I, Sun Ce, can sit back and relax!" Sun Ce was happy to a certain extent. Originally, he was in a disadvantageous situation. But because of Sun Quan, the situation became a dead end. This was Liu Mang's Lvbu's Army's dead end. One must know that Sun Ce could not take down Wancheng city and eliminate Lü Bu. But now, with only a few hundred thousand common people, he could eliminate Lü Bu in Lujiang. So why not?
"Second Young Master Sun Quan?" Zhou Yu thought for a while. He was not like Sun Ce who was dazzled by this good news. Instead, his heart tightened. This plan could be said to be excellent. Without excellent wisdom, one would not be able to think of it. From this, it could be seen that the second young master was very talented. But a talented person would not bow down to others! Zhou Yu did not know about Sun Quan. Cao Cao once said that Sun Quan was like Sun Zhongmou. At that time, Sun Quan was still very young. If Sun Quan was Sun Ce's son, then it would be Jiangdong's fortune. But Sun Quan was Sun Ce's younger brother. Could the two brothers really get along well with each other? Could it be that this second young master had no ambition at all? Zhou Yu was silent. He did not know how to remind Sun Ce. Although Zhou Yu and Sun Ce's relationship was very good, both of them were brothers. But Sun Quan was related by blood. Compared to Sun Quan, he was still an outsider.
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