He has never forgotten Yizhou, the land of abundance that Liu Bei wanted from the imperial court.
Therefore, just after the first month of the third year of Jian'an, on the first day of February, Liu Bei issued a notice to implement the slave restriction order in Liangzhou, Yizhou, Youzhou, and Jizhou.
Yizhou and Jizhou are the main attack areas, and Liangzhou and Youzhou are incidental.
Liangzhou has been under his rule for so many years. To put it bluntly, it has been his shape for a long time. With his order, all slaves in Liangzhou will be liberated and become civilian households. Anyone who dares to oppose is seeking death. , purely to make yourself unhappy.
Youzhou had just suffered a major disaster. The old forces suffered heavy casualties and the new forces had not yet taken shape. This was the time when the government's power was at its strongest. The bureaucratic team headed by Xiahou Dun had strong execution capabilities. Liu Bei had no worries that Xiahou Dun would not be able to accomplish this.
To put it bluntly, even Jizhou can do it by the way.
There was also a wave of vested interests in Jizhou that were killed. The army plowed the land of Jizhou several times. At this time, the new internal interest chain had not yet been fully formed.
Liu Bei's power tentacles in Jizhou are also quite powerful. The eunuch group and the ancient literature school are willing to cooperate. It will not be more difficult to implement the slave restriction order than it is in Sili and Bingzhou.
The only one that is more difficult is Yizhou.
But Liu Bei's reasons are also very good.
Yizhou, with its fertile soil, large population and resources, failed to surpass Liangzhou in tax revenue for three consecutive years in the sixth year of Zhongping, the first year of Jian'an and the second year of Jian'an. It was obviously because there were too many slaves and too many households. There was so little that the imperial government did not pay enough taxes.
Many large households in Yizhou kept slaves, so that the land revenue in Yizhou went to the local powerful and not to the imperial court. This is simply a great absurdity.
Therefore, Liu Bei requested the implementation of a slave restriction order in Yizhou, liberated a large number of slaves, returned them to civilian households, and re-expanded the government household registration population to increase land taxes and poll taxes, and increase the court's fiscal revenue. Then, for everyone Good thing.
With his previous work experience, although he was very uncomfortable with Liu Bei's strongman style of fighting for his life, there were always people willing to support Liu Bei in things that were beneficial.
Express your support, pay some symbolic price, and then you can get more land and wealth. You can even get Liu Bei's appreciation for it and the favor of him who holds the power. This is really a good deal.
Of course, people who don't have much idea about their official career may just cooperate with Liu Bei symbolically and release a few slaves, but those who really want to achieve a breakthrough in their official career in the future will be very concerned about Liu Bei's senses.
Just like the previous officials from the Sili region held a competition for the liberation of slaves, this time, officials from the Yizhou and Jizhou divisions held a Grand Prix for the liberation of slaves, and the old subordinates from Liangzhou and Youzhou regions Not to mention too much.
The Gai family and the Yan family took the lead in the charge, releasing 371 and 636 slaves respectively, without even leaving a quota of three slaves per person, and swept away all the family slaves. Realize comprehensive employment and liberalized management.
They publicly expressed their support for Liu Bei's slave restriction order, stating that they would never use any slaves to promote the development of the family, and would report all the amount of the family's land and property to the government to let the government fully understand the status of their family's land and property.
Gai's and Yan's took the lead, and the others charged harder, and they seemed to be fighting against the slaves.
In Liangzhou, there is no pressure on this matter, because there are few slaves in Liangzhou, and the major families have been domesticated by Liu Bei. What he says is what he says. If he says he doesn’t want slaves, then he doesn’t want slaves. Without slaves, everyone will It won't be impossible to live a good life.
It's just that the money spent is a little more, and the feeling of showing off one's power is missing.
In Youzhou, this situation has some twists and turns, but not too much.
After the war, Youzhou's local power has been relatively weak. They were tortured and plundered back and forth by Yuan Shao's army and Xianbei and Wuhuan's armies. They themselves have suffered serious losses, and they have lost a lot of land and property. Now they belong to the living areas. A rather difficult situation.
Therefore, after the war, the surviving local families even took the initiative to throw out their slaves.
The war severely damaged production. In order to maintain their luxurious life, they could not afford to keep so many slaves. Even if there was no slave restriction order, they themselves wanted to relieve some of their troubles.
So for some families, the slave restriction order was simply a favor they gave Liu Bei, and there was nothing unacceptable.
However, the impact of Liu Bei's slave restriction order on most people was still too great. Without official status, he could only leave three slaves, which made quite a few powerful people in Youzhou unwilling to accept it.
In this case, the Liu family of Zhuo County and the Lu family of Zhuo County took the lead in making a statement. Both the heads of the two families expressed their support for the imperial court's slave restriction order and took the initiative to release a large number of the family's slaves and hand them over to the government for unified placement. , set an example.
On this basis, another group of families with a milder attitude and families whose property was seriously damaged and needed help from the government to tide over the crisis also made compromises and released family servants without going against the government.
Therefore, the Youzhou area to the west of Liaodong County was generally willing to make compromises. The few who were unwilling to compromise were intimidated and attacked by Xiahou Dun, who sent state and county soldiers and horses. After more than ten or twenty families were eliminated, Youzhou The slave restriction order was implemented.
As for Liaodong County, Xuantu County and Lelang County, Gongsun Du also expressed his support for Liu Bei's slave restriction order, but Gongsun Du was obviously more playful. He regarded Liu Bei's slave restriction order as a way to consolidate his power. A shortcut to rejecting dissidents.
If you have a good relationship with him, even if the slave restriction order is not implemented, he will report to the other party that the slave restriction order has been implemented.
If someone has a bad relationship with him, even if the slave restriction order is implemented, he will say that the other party has not completely implemented the slave restriction order, so he will convict and destroy the other party's family.
With the promulgation of the slave restriction order, Gongsun Du further consolidated his power and status in the three counties of Liaodong, making his power even greater in the three counties. Many people in the three counties sought refuge with Gongsun Du and worked for Gongsun Du. work.
Despite this, Gongsun Du objectively implemented the slave restriction order and reported a large number of slaves to Liu Bei, which completely turned the local wealthy families into vassals of the government.
Youzhou's slave restriction order was subsequently implemented, and no accidents occurred.
The situation in Jizhou is relatively more complicated, because not only Liu Bei has the final say in Jizhou, but also the Hejian Kingdom, Changshan Kingdom and Zhongshan Kingdom in the north of Jizhou.
Therefore, the major family forces in these three places, led by the Zhen family, actively responded to Liu Bei's slave restriction order and had no intention of going against Liu Bei.
Although they did not hand over all the slaves, because they were large slave-holding households, they united and handed the government a very beautiful figure. From the outside world, it looked like they had strictly implemented the slave restriction order, and there was nothing to criticize.
Secretly, the major families that cooperated with the slave restriction order and supported it in public opinion have reached an agreement with Liu Bei through the matchmaking of the Zhen family.
The salt trading business in Jizhou area is preparing to expand its scale, and partners will be selected from among them later.
It is indeed beneficial to cooperate with me - at this stage, Liu Bei needs to let them see this, so that they can truly cooperate.
Exchanging political obedience and actions for economic benefits and future political care is not a loss-making transaction in the eyes of local wealthy families. Even if they suffer a small loss for this, it is not unacceptable.
As long as Liu Bei remembers their kindness.
(End of chapter)
