Chapter 2556: 250 million acres of cultivated land, heavy rains prevent Huo
Lu Bu was originally staying well in Luoyang. When he was not practicing martial arts, he was either teasing his young son or teaching his daughter. He was asked to point out his ineffective disciple Sun Ce. However, due to the civil war between the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, he was suddenly transferred to Bingzhou.
Lu Bu did not participate in the second Guanzhong War, but this time he was fighting Yuanmeng. As a native of Bingzhou, he really had no reason to refuse.
The generals who were not part of the Bingzhou military system, but were transferred to Bingzhou, naturally did not know Lu Bu, Gao Shun and Zhang He.
Zhang He went north from Jingzhou and arrived in Luoyang. Before they could react, the cavalry and cavalry battalions stationed in Bingzhou were transferred to Yanmen Pass by the resolute Zhang Liao.
Except for Zhang He, the generals who sent the Bingzhou Army this time were basically all from Bingzhou, and they basically knew each other, so it quickly became a gathering of old friends, and the conversation was lively.
Zhang He was the only one who looked at the unfamiliar generals with a confused look on his face. Although he wanted to make friends with them, he couldn't say anything, and he didn't know what to talk to these people.
At this time, Zhang He was completely confused. He really couldn't understand why he, who had been fighting in Shangyong not long ago, was suddenly transferred to Bingzhou to participate in the war without any warning.
Could it be that his performance in the Battle of Shangyong attracted His Majesty's attention, so he was specially transferred to Bingzhou to give himself a chance to make contributions?
But this shouldn’t be the case.
Although his performance in Shangyong Zhan was not bad, it was only average. It was far less dazzling than Deputy Governor Han Xin's performance. How did His Majesty notice him?
Ying Hao would suddenly transfer Zhang He to Zhang Liao's command, naturally to inspire the five good generals to use the "Five Sons Concentric" combo, but no one except him knew this.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Zhang He has random thoughts. After all, Ying Hao's behavior of suddenly transferring generals from other states to merge states is indeed somewhat unpredictable.
Not only Zhang He didn't understand, but also Jingzhou Deputy Governor Han Xin, and Ying Hao had no intention of explaining, and they didn't dare to ask, so they could only obey his orders.
Zhang Liao also didn't quite understand why His Majesty transferred Zhang He, an old rival, to his command.
In the Battle of Hebei, Zhang Liao was the vanguard of the Qin army. After leading the army to invade Jizhou, he fought many times with Zhang He's Euphorbia warriors.
Although Zhang Liao won in the end, it was not easy, so he admired Zhang He's old rival very much, so he took the initiative to talk to him.
Zhang He was a little flattered when he saw this. Although he was now a senior general of Da Qin, in terms of status and status, he was obviously not on the same level as Zhang Liao, the governor of Bingzhou, so he was naturally a little cautious.
Seeing this, Zhang Liao didn't force himself. After encouraging Zhang He, he went to chat with Lu Bu, Gao Shun and others.
A few days later, Xiao He had solved the morale problem of the army, but still did not receive Bai Qi's order to send troops, and the generals in the army began to become a little anxious.
"Brother Gongming, what do you think this general thinks? Sixty thousand cavalry gathered at the border, but they just stayed like this without going out to fight. What this man eats is money." Yang Yanding asked in confusion.
"This... I don't know. Maybe the general has other considerations." Xu Huang said with some uncertainty.
At this moment, Zhang Dingbian broke into the tent and said excitedly to Zhang Liao: "Grand Governor, the general's order for the expedition has come down."
"good."
Zhang Liao stood up and ordered in a deep voice: "Send the order to the whole army to set out immediately and send troops to the grassland."
"promise."
All the generals responded in unison.
Following Zhang Liao's order, the 20,000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry who were ready to go were quickly prepared for the expedition and would march north from Yanmen Pass to attack the grassland.
After Yanmen closed, Xiao He, the governor of Yanmen County, looked at the cavalry leaving in an orderly manner and couldn't help but sigh: "One general has made thousands of bones dry, but I don't know if any of the soldiers will return safely."
On one side, the guard general of Yanmen Pass, Liu Lang Yang Yanzhao, said with a smile: "Don't worry, Grand Administrator, our army will join forces with Maodun to fight Kublai Khan together. The combined strength of the two families is still higher than that of Yuanmeng, and they will definitely win easily."
"makes sense."
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Hezhou, Yinshan County, Zhenbeiguan.
After receiving Bai Qi's order, Huo Qubing was responsible for dispatching troops and generals, while the governor Wen Tianxiang was responsible for raising grain and supplies.
Hezhou, which was established to develop the Hetao, based on the original six counties, also merged Shuofang County and Beidi County in Liangzhou into the jurisdiction of Hezhou.
Therefore, today's Hezhou is qualified as a state-level administrative unit in terms of area, population, and economy.
The Hetao Plain was originally the granary of Da Qin. After years of reclamation by Da Qin, it now has 40 million acres of arable land. It is also the state with the most arable land and the largest grain production in Da Qin.
Although Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty was not a wise king, during his reign, the total amount of cultivated land in the Han Dynasty reached its peak, with approximately 800 million acres of cultivated land, a population of approximately 48 million, and an average of approximately 15 acres of cultivated land per capita.
Nowadays, the per capita cultivated land in Hezhou has reached 20 acres per capita, surpassing that of Emperor Huan's period.
This is not a land annexation, but a real per capita increase.
In addition to Hezhou, Sili Prefecture, which has the largest amount of cultivated land in the Qin Dynasty, has only exceeded 34 million acres of cultivated land.
The reason why the gap is so large is because the positioning of the two states is different.
In addition to developing agriculture in Sili, industry, commerce, breeding, fishing and other industries are also developing rapidly. About 60% of Sili's population is engaged in agriculture, and the other 40% are engaged in other industries.
Hezhou is completely different. 90% of the population is only engaged in agricultural labor, and the remaining 10% of the population develops nomadism. The rate of agricultural development is naturally faster than that of other states.
For example, if agriculture, industry and commerce are compared to the piebald pattern of morality, intelligence, physical education, art and labor, then Sili is a comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physical education, art and labor, while Hezhou is completely a partial student. Except for agriculture, he is excellent in other subjects. They are just barely passing.
However, as a newly established state, Hezhou has only been established for a short period of time. It is already very rare to have one subject that ranks first in the country, and what else is bicycles?
As for other states, the merging of states is limited by the terrain. The three states of Jing, Qing, and Liang have not yet been completely unified, and the development time of Youji and Hebei is still short, so the agriculture is not as good as that of Hezhou and Sili.
But even so, the per capita cultivated land in these states is more than 15 acres.
Today, the Qin Dynasty, which has not yet been unified, has about 250 million acres of cultivated land in the country, which is barely one-third of what it was during the Huan Emperor's period. However, due to the promotion of various high-yielding grain varieties, the total grain output of the Qin Dynasty is actually less than that during the Huan Emperor's period. 1.3 times.
In other words, even if Da Qin does not continue to cultivate land and agriculture remains at the current standard, the annual grain production can still feed a population of 60 million, while Da Qin's total population is only close to 40 million.
The 40 million people of the Qin Dynasty enjoyed the food of 60 million people?
This is enough to show that Da Qin has eliminated hunger and made it possible for everyone to have food and enough to eat.
To achieve this goal, only two years have passed since Ying Hao proclaimed himself emperor.
At present, Hezhou is still the first granary of Daqin, but its status is not consolidated.
The eight major granaries in the world: Sichuan, Jiangdong, Jingxiang, Jianghuai, Hetao, Shandong, Heluo, and Liaodong.
Da Qin exclusively owned the three major granaries of Hetao, Heluo, and Liaodong, as well as half of the Shandong granary and half of the Jingxiang granary.
Sili, who owned the Heluo Granary, obtained the Guanzhong Plain after the unification, and the total acres of cultivated land increased significantly.
Under the governance of Wei Yang and Zhuge Liang, Youzhou, which owns the granary of Liaodong, and Jizhou, which owns most of the granary of Shandong, have developed rapidly, with millions of acres of new farmland dug out every year.
If Hezhou's agriculture stagnates, it may be surpassed in a few years.
In this regard, Wen Tianxiang, the governor of Hezhou, also felt the pressure.
Hetao is the largest granary in the Qin Dynasty, and Hezhou has a massive amount of grain storage. Not to mention providing food for a mere 20,000 cavalry, even 200,000 can be fully afforded.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about the grain and grass used by the Hezhou Army to go out of the fortress. What really needs to be worried about is the military supplies.
As mentioned above, compared with other states, Hezhou is severely partial in subjects. Except for its excellent agriculture, other industries can only barely pass, while steelmaking, forging and metallurgy are all failed.
The ordnance and supplies accumulated by Hezhou can only barely be enough for the 70,000 Hezhou army.
Although the army leaving the fortress was only 20,000, the consumption of materials was huge. There were 20,000 crossbows alone, 20,000 sets of armor, and as many as one million crossbow arrows.
It is not that this batch of supplies cannot be obtained, but if Wen Tianxiang gives all the troops to the Fortress, there will be a serious gap in the ordnance of the local garrison.
Wen Tianxiang thought about it and felt that he could not resist this matter by himself. He had to learn from Qin Ji, cry poverty to the court, and ask his brothers from surrounding states to support him. Qin Ji also did the same when he was relieving Liangzhou.
After the Luoyang court received Wen Tianxiang's letter, Ying Hao also felt that Wen Tianxiang's words were reasonable. After all, Hezhou's family could not be emptied just to leave the fortress, so he asked Wen Tianxiang to first allocate supplies to the fortress army, and then ordered the soldiers from Yongliang II The state transports supplies to the Loop.
After Ying Hao's imperial edict was transmitted back to Hezhou, Wen Tianxiang had prepared everything, and he knew that the court would definitely agree.
When the governors of the Yongliang and Yongzhou prefectures learned that the imperial court required them to bear the armaments used in the Hezhou fortress, they couldn't help but curse Wen Tianxiang in their hearts for being shameless.
When you go out of Hezhou, you actually ask me, Yongliang, to provide supplies. What kind of logic is this?
Complaints are complaints, but the materials that should be provided are still obtained. After all, the departure from the fortress is not a matter for Hezhou alone, but for the entire Daqin.
Wen Tianxiang collected weapons and supplies for Huo Qubing, but Bai Qi's expedition order had not been issued yet, which made Huo Qubing a little anxious.
"Lord Governor, I have been observing the weather and astronomical phenomena recently. If we don't go out on an expedition, there will probably be heavy rains." Huo Qubing said anxiously.
Wen Tianxiang knew that Huo Qubing was not telling lies. After all, he had served in Hetao for many years and single-handedly built the Hetao Plain, which was nothing, into the largest granary of the Qin Dynasty with a population of more than 4 million in eight counties. Naturally, he was familiar with the climate in Hezhou. Know everything.
Wen Tianxiang also knew that if he didn't set off, there would be heavy rain in the Yinshan area, and it was impossible for the army to go out to fight in the heavy rain, right?
But Bai Qi's expedition order has not yet been issued. If he sets off without authorization, disobeying the order will be a trivial matter. Wen Tianxiang will ruin Bai Qi's plan.
"No, we can't leave now. We have to wait for the general's order." Wen Tianxiang said.
Seeing this, Huo Qubing couldn't help but sigh. Although he had the intention to lead the army to attack in advance without authorization, he also knew that the general's delay in giving orders must have other plans, so he could only hold back.
A few days later, Bai Qi's expedition order had not yet been sent, but heavy rain fell in the northern part of Yinshan County, which happened to cover Huo Qubing's route out of the fortress.
The next day, Bai Qi's order finally came, but Huo Qubing could no longer leave.
Regarding this, Huo Qubing could be said to be on the verge of tears. Now there were only two choices before him, one was to wait, and the other was to take a detour.
Heavy rains here in the Hetao area sometimes last for a month. If we really wait for a month, even the day lilies may be cold.
Therefore, Huo Qubing chose to take a detour and bypass the heavy rain area, which unintentionally led to a lot of mistakes.
Before setting off, Wen Tianxiang persuaded Huo Qubing: "Dudu Huo, are you really not going to wait any longer? Maybe this rain will only fall for a week?"
Huo Qubing pointed to the still thick dark clouds in the distance and said with a depressed look: "It's been three days and there's been no change at all. How can it look like it will only be the next week?
If we continue to wait, there will probably be no results, and how can I be a person who just accepts fate? "
