Liu Bei's series of rewards actually have a purpose.
During the Nanzhong Rebellion, Wang and Lu Kai held fast to their loyalty and stopped the rebels. Even when all three counties rebelled, they were able to hold on to the prefecture and county and repelled the rebel attack. Their loyalty and bravery were commendable, so they deserved meritorious service. Reward.
Of course, there are also some other factors to consider.
Both Wang and Lu Kai were actually from aristocratic families in Yongchang County. Liu Bei also took a fancy to this and hoped to maintain the stability of Yongchang County by reusing them.
After all, Yongchang County is too remote. If this is not done, it will be difficult to ensure that Yongchang County belongs to the Liu Bei Group.
Ma Zhong's promotion to the post of governor of Zangqi County was, on the one hand, a tribute to Ma Zhong for his contribution in quelling the rebellion in Zangqi County, and his ability to unite the army and govern the local area during the suppression of the rebellion. On the other hand, it was also because Ma Zhong was recommended by Zhang Xi that Liu Bei gave Zhang Xi this face.
In the same way, Li Hui made military exploits second only to Zhang Xi when he went south to quell the rebellion. He was from Jianning himself, and he joined Liu Bei in the early days. Not only was he very capable, he also talked about surrendering to Ma Chao in his early years. Liu Bei not only gave Li Hui the position of prefect of Jianning, but also made Li Hui the general of Anhan.
As for Meng Huo, Liu Bei originally did not plan to give Meng Huo any reward. After all, Meng Huo was a party to the rebellion. Although he later changed his mind, being able to give him and his family the right to participate in the distribution of copper mines was considered an extrajudicial favor. Is there any reward for it? !
But later, because Zhang Xi settled hundreds of thousands of Yi people in the southwest of the original Jianning County, for the sake of stability, Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Bei split Jianning County and establish a new Xinggu County to resettle and manage these Yi people. In order to appease these Yi people, Meng Huo, who had a high reputation among the Yi people, became the most suitable governor of Xinggu County.
Based on this consideration, Liu Bei had to accept Zhuge Liang's suggestion and appointed Meng Huo as the governor of Xinggu County.
As for Ma Di, it was still Zhuge Liang's suggestion, because a large amount of iron ore was discovered near Lushui in Yuexun County, which was later known as the Panzhihua Iron Ore Area.
Coupled with the large number of gold and silver mines upstream and downstream of Lu River, who can rest assured if there is no one to watch? !
Ma Di followed Zhang Xi south this time and made suggestions, and Zhang Xi wrote a letter to Liu Bei, expressing his affirmation of Ma Di's political ability. In addition, Ma Di was Ma Liang's younger brother and was from a Jingzhou family. After comprehensive consideration, Liu Bei Although his impression of Ma Su was not very good, he still appointed Ma Su as the prefect of Yuexun County.
As for Zhang Xi, Liu Bei still trusted Zhang Xi. Not only did he quickly put down the Nanzhong rebellion, but he also brought enough benefits to Liu Bei's group, so he made Zhang Xi the commander-in-chief and prime minister with the rank of General Xinghan. Regarding the military and political affairs in Nanzhong, Liu Bei couldn't be more at ease.
This was Liu Bei's arrangement for Nanzhong. After a reward, the stability of Nanzhong was temporarily guaranteed. At the same time, Zhuge Liang was sent to Nanzhong in person to take charge of the distribution of minerals.
However, when Zhuge Liang arrived at Nanzhong, when Zhang Xi discussed with Zhuge Liang, he did not talk about these minerals at the first time. Instead, he discussed with Zhuge Liang his own definition of Nanzhong.
Zhang Xi plans to turn Nanzhong into a mineral and raw material supply base for Liu Bei Group.
It goes without saying about minerals. In such a large area as Nanzhong, valuable minerals these days are basically distributed. It's just a matter of the amount of reserves and the difficulty of mining.
This place will definitely require a lot of manpower and material resources to be developed.
Furthermore, Zhang Xi feels that Nanzhong is not developed enough, the cultivated area is not high, and the terrain is complex. Most of it is hilly and mountainous. If we follow the path of traditional farming and small-scale gardening, we will not even have the possibility of self-sufficiency. Less than.
After all, with the development of the mine, the population of Nanzhong will definitely increase significantly. In addition, Zhang Xi plans to implement a series of measures in the future to induce the Yi people who are still hiding in the mountains to come out.
With the current area of cultivated land in Nanzhong, it is really difficult to feed such a large population. Food relief must be provided from Shuzhong to make it possible for the people of Nanzhong to survive.
But if Shuzhong is allowed to subsidize Nanzhong for a long time, not to mention that Liu Bei Group has to consider the issue of food allocation, even the aristocratic families in Shuzhong will not accept it. As time goes by, the contradiction between Nanzhong and Shuzhong will gradually evaporate. Increase.
Therefore, Zhang Xi feels that only if the Shuzhong aristocratic families are willing to support Nanzhong can this kind of thing continue for a long time.
Copper mine is a good thing. In order to mine the copper mine, the Shuzhong family will be willing to actively invest manpower in a short time to support the construction of Nanzhong.
But one copper mine is not enough. This thing will always be mined out, or when the income from the copper mine is not enough to satisfy the Shuzhong family, the Shuzhong family will never provide money or food to support Nanzhong. of.
Therefore, Zhang Xi felt that on the one hand, he had to find another long-term financial support for Nanzhong, and on the other hand, he could not limit his sights only to the Shuzhong aristocratic families.
Zhang Xi originally liked rapeseed flowers as a long-term source of income. After all, these days, there is a shortage of oil everywhere.
But the arrival of Zhuge Liang made Zhang Xi realize that rapeseed flowers are not only grown in Nanzhong, but can also be grown in other places. Although this thing is a good economic crop, it is not unique to Nanzhong. .
Therefore, Zhang Xi can only focus on growing sugar cane and obtaining sucrose.
Sucrose is something that has been around these days. It used to be called Shimi, but later it was also called Shaye, which is sugar similar to granules. Zhang Ji once used Shaye as medicine and boiled it into pills.
Shi Xie also once paid tribute to Sun Quan with "sugar cane glutinous rice", which is a clear sucrose product.
However, this thing is indeed rare and can only be produced in a small area of Nanzhong and Jiaozhi. Therefore, most of the time, it is something that only nobles can enjoy.
But the reason why this thing is rare is because no one deliberately cultivates it. After all, sugar, although it is very good, is not food or salt, and can be eaten or not.
But the fact that sugar can become a bulk economic commodity in later generations shows its potential value.
Who doesn't like sweet candy? !
It’s not that we didn’t need it before, it was just out of reach. How many of the nobles who have come into contact with it don’t like sugar? !
Therefore, Zhang Xi believes that as long as sugar cane is grown on a large scale in Nanzhong to obtain sucrose, there is no need to worry about the market for sucrose.
In today's era, although sugar cane is not sweet enough and the sugar production process is backward, sucrose is destined to be impossible to completely follow the civilian route. At best, it can only be popularized in big cities such as Chengdu. Ordinary civilians in some remote areas are still unable to Those who can afford expensive condiments like sucrose.
But because of this, once white sugar takes the high-end route, it will no longer rely on quantity to win. Once the price of white sugar goes up, the Yizhou market alone will be enough for these powerful Yizhou families to invest a lot of manpower and material resources. Do this.
Not to mention that Liu Bei still has Jingzhou in his hands. The powerful families and wealthy households in Jingzhou cannot grow sugar cane in Jingzhou, right? !
Not to mention that Han Dynasty has a vast territory. Now the three families are separated only because of the war. Once they can be reunited, the market is so big that the Yizhou family can just lie at home and count money.
Even under the current situation, not to mention Sun Quan in the east, Cao Cao in the north, and the wealthy families in Yizhou all have ways to sell sugar, but they only need to rely on favors in the middle, and they don't make enough money.
The benefits here are big enough, and it is impossible for the Yizhou families not to see them. It is even possible to obtain greater benefits without Zhuge Liang's earnest persuasion. The Yizhou families all hope that Liu Bei will hurry up the Northern Expedition, kill Sun Quan, and get it done. Cao Wei, so that his cane sugar can be sold to the north and even the countries in the Western Regions.
Even if it is done, there is no need to worry that the Yizhou families will continue to be surrenderers.
After all, although sugarcane does not have high land requirements, it does have high requirements for sunshine and temperature. It can only be planted in some areas of Nanzhong and Jiaozhou.
Yizhou aristocratic families will never allow aristocratic families from other places to enter Yizhou to snatch their vested interests.
At that time, even if someone sneaks into Yinping again, maybe Qiao Zhou will be the first to stand up and encourage Liu Chan to quickly move south to Nanzhong to guard the country and protect the country.
Of course, Zhang Xi just thought about the last sentence in his head and did not tell Zhuge Liang, but Zhang Xi did tell all the previous things.
Regarding Zhang Xi's idea, Zhuge Liang can only say that it is a little too good, but Zhuge Liang also knows that the virtues of the aristocratic families in this era are not much better in nature.
Although using profit to drive people away does not conform to the basic values of this era, it is unexpectedly useful in this war-torn era.
Therefore, in principle, Zhuge Liang does not object to Zhang Xi's sugar cane plantation in Nanzhong.
But Zhuge Liang also has his own concerns. Why must he borrow the power of aristocratic families? !
The aristocratic families these days have become extremely difficult to control. Zhuge Liang has been trying his best these years to help Liu Bei weaken these aristocratic families. If these aristocratic families can control all the processes from growing sugar cane to making sucrose, they can gain a lot of extra money. Will it pose a greater threat to the rule of Liu Bei Group? !
In this regard, Zhang Xi said that Zhuge Liang thought too much.
First, we have no money and no people. We cannot afford to build such a large plantation as a family.
Secondly, the aristocratic families these days have money, food, and people. What they lack is opportunity and ambition. If they want to rebel, they may do so at any time.
The real threat to the aristocratic family is not whether they have money or food, but whether they have people in their hands. They have hidden countless people and land, which can not only help them farm, but also become rebel soldiers when necessary.
Therefore, whether the aristocratic family has mastered sugar-making technology has little direct connection with whether they will rebel. Instead of worrying about this, it is better to find a way to let the aristocratic families spit out all the hidden people. This is the real solution to the root cause. The way for a family to become big.
As for this, Zhuge Liang said that we should discuss it later. This is not a problem that can be solved in a short time.
(End of chapter)
