Chapter 139 Fiscal Deficit, Work-for-Relief As the saying goes, there is no coincidence in the world. Qin Zhen was preparing to propose a strategy of using refugees to reform Liu Bei, and Sun Qian sent the refugees over. When it comes to resettling refugees, Qin Zhen has quite a lot of experience. You should know that when Cao Cao took in a large number of Yellow Turban bandits, it was Qin Zhen who was in charge of the sheltering work. So when he saw Sun Qian so worried, he said, don't panic, I'm here to solve the problem. To Sun Qian, such a simple sentence was like a long-awaited rain. He immediately said that the military advisor was a military advisor and knew everything. After praising him for a while, he pretended to ask for advice sincerely and said: "But I don't know what solution the military advisor has. Can you tell me?" Seeing this, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "No hurry, this matter is quite complicated. We need to see the lord before we can discuss it!" When Sun Qian heard this, he thought that this was true, so he changed direction and walked into the mansion with Qin Zhen.

At this time, Liu Bei was handling affairs in the mansion. As the climate gradually enters deep autumn, the number of refugees is slowly increasing. As a result, Liu Bei had more and more matters to deal with. Liu Bei felt both painful and happy about this. The pain was caused by the large number of things to do, which really gave him a headache. But he was happy because he felt a sense of fulfillment that he hadn't felt for a long time. This feeling is not what I felt when I was busy in Pei County. Although I was busy in Pei County, it was useless. Now I am busy, which means I am fighting for tomorrow. As long as he gets through this winter, Lao Liu will undergo a transformation. Therefore, Liu Bei is now full of energy. However, due to the problems brought by Sun Qian, he felt worried and was thinking about how to resettle these refugees. Unexpectedly, just after Sun Qian left, Qin Zhen brought Sun Qian back. Seeing Qin Zhen coming, Liu Bei smiled and said: "I was just thinking of recruiting a military advisor to discuss matters, but Gongyou unexpectedly found one first!" "Please take your seats, both of you, so that we can discuss this matter." Hearing that Liu Bei also had something to ask, Qin Zhen brushed off his skirt, knelt down and said with a smile: "When I entered the palace, I saw Gongyou wanted to discuss something with me, so I took Gongyou back." "I didn't expect that the Lord would ask something? But I don't know what it is?" When Liu Bei saw this, he didn't waste any more words and raised his question. To put it simply, there is one thing: they are running out of money! Speaking of money and food, it has actually always been a huge problem for Liu Bei's army. After all, they have been in a deficit state since the time of Pei County.

Under the circumstances at that time, even without Qin Zhen's participation, Lao Liu could only last for a year. After Qin Zhen arrived, not only did he not show any restraint, but he also asked Liu Bei to continue expanding his army and let Mi Zhu take out a loan to buy food. As a result, they stockpiled a large amount of grain and fodder. In Pei State alone, the amount of grain stored was more than 400,000 shi. Among them, there were nearly 200,000 stones of silver hoarded by Mi Zhu, Liu Bei's family assets, the autumn wind from Lu Bu, and the money and grain hoarded by Yuan Shu in Pei State. These grains are the basis for Liu Bei's continued expansion. However, as Liu Bei took control of Huainan, they began to consume a lot of money and food. By the time they captured the entire Huainan region, Liu Bei's army had run into a deficit that exceeded the limit. In addition to the 15,000 gold he had promised to pay Lu Bu, he also had to pay Mi Zhu's capital of 10,000 gold and borrow 20,000 gold to purchase food and fodder. Converted into liabilities, they are already in deficit of at least 450 million yuan! Not to mention that once the governance begins now, we will have to face various expenses such as large-scale arms manufacturing, ship purchases, baggage preparation, and disaster relief. All in all, it was not something that Yuan Shu's savings could solve. So Liu Bei looked at Qin Zhen with a worried look on his face and said: "Because of this matter, Zi Zhong has come to me several times, saying that he wants to transport Yuan Shu's looted treasures to Xuzhou to sell in exchange for money." "As for the matter of the navy and our warships, I'm afraid we need to stop first." "In addition, there is still a large shortage of winter clothing, tents and other cold-resistant items for the army, and Zijing has no source of the equipment he needs." "The military advisor also knows that I am not good at this, so I want to find the military advisor to discuss where to cut and where to spend. We must work out a rule!" Facing Qin Zhen, he naturally told him all the problems that had been accumulating for some time. Sun Qian was listening on the side and sighed: "My Lord, what you said is what I am worried about. It is only October and it has already rained twice." "The drought has not eased, and the night has become even colder." "I'm afraid winter will come earlier this year than last year. There are more and more refugees now, so we need to build a batch of houses and purchase some hemp and ramie cloth as soon as possible. Otherwise, even with the relief of our army, the people will have a hard time surviving this winter." "If the people are affected, there may be a plague next year!" As soon as he said this, Liu Bei frowned. He had no money coming in yet, but Sun Qian had another place to go. But these things are necessities. It should be noted that in times of chaos, the number of civilians who actually die in war is actually a minority. The greatest killers of the people are disease, hunger and cold. During war, people can flee, but in the face of plague, hunger, and cold weather, people have nowhere to escape. And these three things have always appeared one after another. Once extreme weather occurs, people will suffer from hunger and cold, and a large number of people will die of hunger and cold. These people who freeze to death or starve to death will turn into pathogens in the spring, spreading large-scale plague and causing widespread infection among those who survive until spring.

This will repeat until the number of living people drops to a certain range. This is the main reason why Cao Cao, who clearly only fought a battle, ended up with "bones exposed in the wild, and no rooster crowing for a thousand miles." In order to avoid causing a chain reaction, they need to buy some warm items for the people. As he pondered, Liu Bei looked at Qin Zhen with increasing worry and said: "Given the situation, does the military advisor have any solution?" After he finished speaking, Qin Zhen said solemnly: "To be honest, my lord, this is also the reason why I came here this time!" "There are only two problems facing our army at present. First, there are too many refugees to manage!" "Secondly, our army is short of money and food and can hardly continue!" "So I have thought of a method of using work in lieu of relief to solve the current problem facing our army!" Seeing that Qin Zhen really had a solution, Liu Bei and Sun Qian were delighted and asked hurriedly: “I don’t know what work-for-relief is?” Seeing this, Qin Zhen took out his plan and handed it to Liu Bei, saying: "The so-called work-for-relief policy is to change the relief method to recruiting refugees to work!" "Since our army is currently short of money and food, we must find a way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure." "If Liu Yuanying's policy is followed, the number of refugees in Huainan this year may reach hundreds of thousands." "There are so many refugees, but our army has to support them until next spring." "It would be fine if our army had some savings, but it is difficult to provide money and food for our army." "Even if we can support the people until next year, our army will have to send them back to their hometowns, provide them with fields, farm tools, and grain seeds, and arrange for them to be cultivated and resume production. The cost is too huge for our army to bear." "So I'm thinking, since we have to ensure the refugees' survival, why not let them help our army do something to strengthen our army!" "It just so happens that our army still has a lot of money and food left. Although it is difficult to save the people, we can develop some industries." "Our army might as well take advantage of the fact that the refugees have not gotten out of control yet and have the officials classify the people according to their strengths, and hire them to work for our army in exchange for food." "For example, those who are carpenters and good at building houses and making tools, let them build houses and make farm tools for our army." "Those who are blacksmiths can be gathered together to forge iron and make tools for our army." "There are also homeless women who have no one to rely on. We can recruit them. Our army will give them looms, cotton and linen and let them weave cloth." "As for those who have no other strengths, they can do some hard labor and help our army to reclaim wasteland and collect supplies!" "Also, recruit another group of refugees to build workshops for our army and manufacture goods for our army to sell." "This way, we can save a lot of manpower for our army, and use their power to create income for our army, and also help the victims!" "If we use this method, our army will only have to pay money and food, but we can save a large number of people." "When the spring comes next year, we can leave some people to farm and some to maintain the industry. This will be a long-term plan and we don't need to spend too much time on resettling the people!" Having said this, he spread out his plan and placed it in front of Liu Bei and said: "As for the workshops and items that our army needs to build, I have already prepared them in advance. My lord, you can take a look at them."

As Qin Zhen spoke, Liu Bei and Sun Qian realized the benefits of work-for-relief, and their eyes lit up. They had never heard of the method of using work as a substitute for relief. Because in this era, the only principle for disaster relief is to do great things with little money! The main purpose is to ensure the survival of the victims and avoid large-scale deaths. Under such circumstances, the victims cannot even get enough to eat, so naturally they have no energy to do other things. However, Qin Zhen's approach was the exact opposite. He did not treat the victims as victims of the disaster, but rather as forced laborers. In a sense, the effect will indeed be better than simple disaster relief. So after taking a closer look at Qin Zhen's plan, Liu Bei nodded and smiled: "The military advisor is truly a genius. If we can really act as the military advisor says, we can solve the current crisis facing our army!" "But I have never heard of these three kinds of workshops!" "Besides this weaving, how much can you earn from paper? And what is this glass?" Naturally, he had no objection to the suggestions of recruiting refugees to open workshops. After all, the current Huainan is different from the original Yanzhou. Back then, Yanzhou took in refugees when its agriculture was still intact. For Yanzhou, one more refugee means one more labor force. But now Huainan has reached a point where change is necessary. There are hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed and agriculture has no income. The only way to change is to use extreme measures! But the problem lies in the industry that Qin Zhen wants to develop. He could understand the textile industry, but he was a little confused about the paper and glass manufacturing industries. First of all, he didn't know what glass was. He had heard of colored glaze, but he hadn't seen much of it. Paper had already appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but its texture was very rough, making it difficult to write on, and its price was extremely low. Therefore, at that time, paper was a lowly commodity, and only the extremely poor scholars would use it. Qin Zhen wanted to make money by making paper. In Liu Bei's opinion, it would be better for him to open some other workshops! Qin Zhen smiled and said: "The paper I'm talking about is not the Caihou paper of today, but the white paper that can be written on, which is much more convenient than bamboo slips." "As for the glass, it is a product from the Western Regions. I'm afraid you have never seen it before." "I have nothing to do right now, so why not wait for me to make it, and then you will know the details!" "In addition, I also have methods to make salt and sugar, which can also bring income to our army. You only need to agree to build a workshop and use the work as relief. I can arrange it one by one." When Liu Bei heard that Qin Zhen also had methods of making salt and sugar, he became interested. Compared to paper and glass, salt and sugar are luxuries in this era. You can certainly make a lot of money by building this kind of workshop! Moreover, Qin Zhen had taken charge of everything, so he nodded and smiled: "I know that the military advisor is very talented. If you are willing to do this, why can't I agree?"

"You can go and do it yourself. If you need money or food, I will do my best to provide it so that you can complete this task!" In this regard, he formulated a plan to provide relief to the victims. Qin Zhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that choosing Huainan as the base was indeed the right decision! Reform is a matter of destruction before construction. This feeling of not being restrained by aristocratic families is extremely refreshing. Now that he had the support of Lao Liu, he was able to make drastic efforts to develop the country. (End of this chapter)