Chapter 151 Huainan is in great order, Liu Chong is in danger However, when Liu Bei received Liu Ye's letter, he was delighted that all he had asked for was fulfilled. Seeing Liu Ye talking about Liu Chong's problem again, he knew that the matter was serious, so he simply sent someone to summon Qin Zhen to discuss the matter. At this time, it was already January of the third year of Jian'an. After nearly three months of governance, order has gradually returned to Huainan. First, Yuan Huan led Zheng Hun and others to personally inspect various places, appease the people in various counties, develop water conservancy, and successively decided on the Shaobei, Rubei, Qimen, Wutang and other dam irrigation projects. Later, Liu Fu, Sun Qian and others started the military farming plan and began to take in refugees from all over the place. The responsibilities of the two parties are different, but they complement each other. In order to stabilize the overall situation, Liu Fu first implemented a local military farming policy. For those farmers who were about to lose their land, the government purchased the land and the people cultivated the land. Simply put, the people survived the disaster years with the help of government relief, which was divided into 30% and 70% in the first year. Thirty percent goes to the people, and seventy percent goes to the government! Starting from the second year, if you use government oxen, farm tools, and seeds, the profit will be split 50-50.

If one farms independently, the harvest will be shared with the government in a 6:4 ratio. After five years of farming in this way, the land can be bought back at the government purchase price. After cultivating the land for ten years, one can take back the land for free. As for those people who have been displaced, Sun Qian also introduced a policy based on Qin Zhen's suggestion. One is to transform from farmers to craftsmen, work for them in exchange for wages, and then use the wages to rent a house to live in. Similarly, within the five-year period, if one wants to return to being a farmer after five years, he or she can purchase good farmland from the government. If you can work for ten years, you can buy fifty acres of good farmland in Shouchun. The second option is to continue being a farmer, but you need to cultivate the land yourself, the government is responsible for providing tools, and the cultivated land becomes government property. The rest of the profit-sharing system is the same as that of the people who originally owned land. Of course, you can also work as a farmer and worker, earn wages, and redeem the land from the government. Once these policies were implemented, the people of Huainan finally saw hope for survival. Because the tax rate in the Han Dynasty was only 1 in 20 on paper, after deducting various miscellaneous taxes, only less than a quarter of the tax could be collected. The policy of Liu Bei’s army was a one-time deal, with the government providing a safety net. If there was a profit, you would get a share, and if there was a loss, you would not starve to death. This went on for several months, and the people began to see the difference between Liu Bei's army and Yuan Shu's. At one time, people were united in their support and there was no more chaos. As for the workshop outside Shouchun City, its scale has been getting bigger and bigger. Since it started to produce products, Qin Zhen began to expand and reproduce. By this time, the paper mill had become stable. At the same time, after the first batch of looms in the textile workshop were completed, they were put into use. However, the issue of peasant women giving birth independently still caused quite a stir.

On the one hand, it was official. Shi Yi Guan, Zong Cheng, Tao Qiuhong and others expressed their concerns to Liu Bei. It is said that Qin Zhen's action was "a great offense against the world." Given the serious population loss today and the fact that women should focus on childbearing and raising children, Liu Bei gave up the idea of ​​using women as substitute workers. In response to this, Qin Zhen naturally started a debate with these old scholars, discussing whether women could be substitute workers. His reasons were naturally very sufficient. Although Confucius had said before that "only women and villains are difficult to raise", the tradition of men farming and women weaving has been passed down for thousands of years. Throughout the ages, a family has only been supported by one man and one woman. Now, the people are displaced and homeless, and Huainan is the home of these people. It is reasonable for men to work outside to build canals and reclaim wasteland, while women stay at home to weave cloth and earn income. It’s just that their family is a bit too big, so they combined the independent looms together. His reason was naturally to change the concept, but he gained Liu Bei's full support. Because this era still has certain visions of such a harmonious society. Since it is a harmonious society, the concept of small family should be eliminated. Moreover, Liu Bei also knew that Qin Zhen was carrying out reforms, so he naturally gave his full support. Just as the official debate had ended, problems arose among the people. For the government, it is a question of etiquette, but for the people, it is more about family matters and moral issues. A considerable number of women did not dare to come, and the husbands of some women were opposed to their wives coming out in public. Qin Zhen's solution to this problem was to first recruit some young girls to work in the workshop, and then to recruit a group of old women to work in the workshop. At the same time, a women's joint association was established to provide special protection for these women. He even asked Cai Yan to invite Mrs. Mi and Mrs. Gan to personally visit the workshop to observe the work and participate in activities such as distributing porridge. After a few times, the people saw that Liu Bei and other high-ranking officials were so close to the people, so they naturally calmed down. As a large number of peasant women entered the weaving industry, the ready-made clothing sales industry began to emerge in Huainan. Of course, these clothes are not expensive, and you can get one for twenty or thirty cents. The material may not be that great, but it keeps you warm! A middle-aged man only needs to work for half a month to buy one, so he would naturally buy it to save trouble. Likewise, expensive silk garments appeared in the city. But ordinary people can't afford it, only the children of wealthy families will come to take a look, and the sales are quite bleak. In contrast, Huai silk emerged as a new force. The Huai silk produced by the textile machines made by Qin Zhen used techniques such as yarn interlacing, color matching, warp thread, and flower picking to create bright patterns that were not available in this era. This kind of cloth has great appeal to the children of wealthy families. Even though each piece of Huai silk was sold at a high price of five or six thousand coins, it was still in short supply. There were even scalper merchants who specialized in purchasing Huai silk and selling it at a higher price, at one point pushing the price of Huai silk to over ten thousand coins per piece. Faced with this situation, Qin Zhen had to take measures to limit purchases, increase production, and impose regional purchase restrictions to try to ensure a smooth supply of goods.

This naturally gave Mi Zhu an opportunity to make money. Without waiting for Qin Zhen's arrangements, he purchased a batch of raw silk from Guangling, preparing to seize the market for Wu silk. Seeing Mi Zhu like this, Qin Zhen naturally felt happy and at ease and let him do whatever he wanted. Seeing that textiles and papermaking began to make money, he naturally turned his attention to glassmaking. On the one hand, he asked Zhao Yun to look for open-pit coal mines in Pei State, and on the other hand, he improved the smelting technology. As a result, a small coal mine was found at the junction of Jiujiang and Peiguo. However, it is difficult to mine and transport, so only some small coal blocks can be supplied temporarily. This situation really stumped Qin Zhen, but he finally came up with a solution. If coal blocks can't be used, then use honeycomb coal first! This will improve efficiency and save coal blocks. However, the temperature was increased, but the difficulty of firing glass was far beyond his imagination. After repeated burning, only a small number of products will have transparent material. Seeing this, Qin Zhen knew that he had reached the limit of the technology of this era. Apart from improving the process through trial and error, theoretical knowledge can no longer advance the project. I simply left it to the craftsmen to study on their own and continued to focus on education. On the basis of the Agricultural College, he also opened military literacy classes and ideological education classes for the new non-commissioned officers who had joined the army. Strive to build the entire Huainan into an iron-clad foundation for hegemony. Apart from inspecting the workshop every day, he also went to the army to teach, and was very busy. So when Liu Bei summoned him to discuss matters, he was on his way out of the city. When he heard that Old Liu had something to ask him, he rode his horse back to the city and went all the way to Liu Bei's mansion. When he entered the mansion, he saw Liu Bei sitting at his desk, checking the official documents in front of him. Seeing this, Qin Zhen knocked on the door first and then stood at the door. When Old Liu heard the knock on the door, he looked up and saw that it was Qin Zhen. He grinned and said: "The military advisor is here, why don't you come in? Do you have to get up and invite him?" Qin Zhen saw it, smiled, and walked in: "Not really, but I see that my lord is taking it very seriously, so I don't want to bother you!" "I just wonder what has happened to make you so worried?" As he spoke, he walked towards his old seat. Seeing this, Liu Bei looked at the document and said: "There are a few things that are quite important!" As he spoke, he raised his head again: "But let's not talk about this first. I heard that Zhao Ji is pregnant, so I asked Madam to send a lot of pregnancy-preserving medicine yesterday. I wonder if you received them all?"

"I thought it was my wife who came here, but I didn't expect it was my lord's idea!" Qin Zhen listened and naturally smiled again: "There are quite a few precious medicinal herbs, but I don't dare to use them carelessly, so I just put them at home." That’s right, Cai Yan was pregnant. It happened in December last year. After Cai Yan expressed her wish to have a second child, Qin Zhen worked hard and finally became pregnant with her second child. Originally, this matter was just Qin Zhen's family affair, but when Liu Bei found out about it, he became more concerned about it than Qin Zhen. From looking for a doctor to delivering medicine, I was quite busy. Seeing that Qin Zhen didn't seem to care, Liu Bei said earnestly: "Military advisors must know that in autumn and winter, the weather is cold and the air is hot, so it is best to take care of your troops." "Although Zhao Ji is not weak, perhaps she should focus on protecting the fetus to avoid any root cause of illness and trouble with childbirth next year!" Qin Zhen listened and nodded repeatedly in agreement. After all, Liu Bei was an experienced person, and given the low medical technology in that era, having children was indeed a major problem. However, he always insisted that all medicines are poisonous. It's okay to take some supplements, but he is unwilling to give his wife medicine for the sake of the children. After listening to Liu Bei's chatter for a while, he smiled and said: "I know you are caring for me, but the baby is still half a year away, so there is no rush now!" "We should first consider the things at hand. I wonder what the most important things are?" Seeing Qin Zhen talking about official business again, Liu Bei smiled and said: "Military Advisor is truly dedicated to the public good. Well, there is still half a year left, so I won't say much!" "Speaking of this important matter, although it is important, it is not bad news." "First, Jiang Gan, who was recommended by the military advisor, has already persuaded Ziyi to join our army." "It's been a few years since we last met, but Ziyi is still as heroic as ever. After receiving the order, he even took the lands of Jing County and Wanling, and said he would help our army capture Lujiang first!" As he spoke, he pushed Jiang Gan's letter in front of Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen picked up the letter and read it carefully. After seeing what Taishi Ci had done, he nodded and said: "This Taishi Ziyi is truly a heroic man!" "As soon as he surrendered, he wanted to help our army capture Lujiang." "If he takes Wanling now, it will really add a surprise force to our army. It will give us a better chance of taking Lujiang in the future!" He thought that it was a pity that Taishi Ci died too early, otherwise he would definitely have been the best general of the Eastern Wu. According to his understanding, Taishi Ci died of illness, but he didn't know what the disease was or whether it could be cured. It would be a pity if he died in his forties as the original story had turned out. While thinking, he said to Liu Bei: "But although Taishi Ci can be used, he has too few soldiers and horses!"

"We should immediately appoint him as the governor of Danyang and order him to recruit soldiers and horses. At the same time, we should send an envoy to contact Zu Lang, the leader of the Shanyue clan, to see if we can recruit his troops for use!" "But I wonder if Zi Yang has any news to report back now?" To be honest, they now have the strength to send troops to Lujiang. All we need is a reason to send troops. And this title belongs to Liu Ye. Whether an official appointment can be given depends on how Liu Ye performs. As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Bei picked up another letter and said: "This is also what I called the military advisor to discuss!" "Now Zi Yang has presented the Imperial Seal to the Emperor, and the Emperor has agreed to our army's request to appoint Liu Yuanying as the Governor of Yangzhou!" "But in Zi Yang's letter, he emphasized Liu Chong, saying that Liu Chong indulged in pleasure and neglected military affairs, and there might be disaster!" "I suggest that we send more troops to Peiguo, Runan and other places. What do you think, military advisor?" After hearing this, Qin Zhen fell into deep thought. This letter from Liu Ye reminded him of one thing. Judging from the current situation, Liu Chong might not live long! (End of this chapter)