Liu Yu ignored the previous order issued by the Western Jin Dynasty to transfer to Chengyang County to attack Wang Mi's rebels. Finally, under the persuasion of Gongsun Sheng and others, he asked the scribe to write a letter with various reasons to shirk the transfer. The written form was sent to Luoyang.
Then, Liu Yu ordered his soldiers to strictly guard the pass and Jindu, blocking out Ju Xian, a fellow from Donglai who was planning to replace him. Ju Xian had to return in despair, not daring to break through. On the one hand, Liu Yu Yu's soldiers didn't seem to pay much attention to the majesty of the imperial court. On the other hand, Ju Xian's son Ju Peng and his clan were both in Donglai County, and their life and death were in Liu Yu's hands.
The reason why Liu Yu didn't want to attack Wang Mi was not because he was worried about the "friendship" of the past common rebellion, nor was he afraid of fighting Wang Mi, who claimed to have an army of 100,000.
It's just because he is so poor that there is not much savings in the entire Donglai County.
If he raises troops to attack Wang Mi again, he will not only fall into Luoyang's trick.
Moreover, there is not much food left to support his long-term battle. You must know that Chengyang County has been destroyed by Wang Mi's rebels, and there is no hope of local supplies.
The number of registered households in the entire Dongnai County at this time was less than 7,000. Based on the population of each household at this time, the maximum population was about 100,000.
Of course, there are also a large number of farmers who are not registered as tax-paying households by the government. Instead, they are the shadow households of powerful tribes. In addition to the immigrants, soldiers, mountain people, etc. in the county, the entire Donglai County The full population is more than 200,000.
Even among these 200,000 people, only 30% of them were men and women in their prime. According to the requirements of the Western Jin Dynasty, these people not only needed to work in the fields, but also to serve the government or do labor for the master's family. An adult man worked hard. One year is probably just enough for a family to survive starvation.
Moreover, Dongnae County is very mountainous, and almost all the good flat land is owned by various powerful people. Ordinary farmers with household registration often farm on the hillside.
From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty, every hero who wanted to unite the world would not only recruit and use powerful families, but also support and use the power of ordinary people.
Liu Yu forcefully recruited famous people among the powerful to become his subordinates. He also recruited hundreds of their descendants to fill the county soldiers, and tied the powerful to his chariot. This was the power of a big stick.
In the way of being an ambassador, just having a stick is not enough, you also need a carrot.
Liu Yu built large-scale salt fields along the coasts of Yinxian and Huangxian counties, and used the incredibly profitable salt industry to win over powerful businesses.
Donglai County has a salt field directly under the jurisdiction of Luoyang Duzhiyousi. At first, the salt officer was still tough in opposing Donglai County's private construction of salt fields. However, after receiving personal protection from Donglai Army soldiers, he immediately led all his salt households and Zao households. They all became salt workers in the new salt field.
In just a few months, thousands of acres of scattered salt fields appeared on the seaside. Liu Yu also ordered craftsmen to test and make hundreds of water-lifting windmills. In just one month, the output of the previous year was produced, and the amount of water used was The manpower has not increased at all, and most of the fuel consumption has been saved.
When the salt fields built by Liu Yu produced a huge amount of cheap salt using the sun-dried salt method, Liu Yu specially invited powerful clan leaders to go to the salt field. After seeing the mountains of salt grains, most of the powerful people in Donglai County They all fell in front of the huge interests.
At this time, the famous salt-producing places in the world include Liangzhou, Yizhou, Bingzhou, Jizhou and Qingzhou.
Except for Liangzhou, which has too little output and is located in a remote area, Yizhou, which produces well salt, has been completely occupied by the rebellious Li Xiong. Bingzhou, which is rich in well salt, has lost all its houses because of the Xiongnu rebellion. Jizhou has also suffered from natural disasters and war, and the production of sea salt has been disrupted. Almost cut off, only Qingzhou still has the conditions to produce large amounts of salt.
In the face of Donglai County's salt-drying method, the cost of salt in other counties in Qingzhou is sky-high, so these powerful family owners understand how huge the benefits of this private salt are.
After using the hugely profitable salt to divide the cake among the powerful, Liu Yu needed to support and utilize the ordinary people with household registration.
As for ordinary people, what they are most concerned about at this time is probably how to fill their stomachs. Their biggest extravagant wishes can never be separated from the words "eating" and "clothing".
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, when spring plowing began every year, county officials had to go to the fields in person to urge farmers to cultivate and punish any villains who obstructed spring plowing, fully demonstrating the importance of farming since ancient times.
The warm spring sun shines on the earth, and the fields in Dongnae County are full of busy farmers. After a precious spring rain, the farmers who rely on farming to make a living hastily started sowing seeds.
Liu Yu led a group of officials and sergeants from Donglai County to inspect spring plowing in several counties.
In order to be able to feed the tens of thousands of people under his care, Liu Yu had to behave more like a county governor.
Moreover, Liu Yu was not like most county guards in the Western Jin Dynasty, who just went to the countryside for an outing and wrote a few parallel essays to persuade farmers.
He assigned his assistant officials to various places to vigorously promote the curved shaft plow, barrel cart, water lifting windmill, composting method, etc. he invented.
Anyway, Liu Yu trial-produced almost all the technologies and tools of later generations that he could think of.
Moreover, Liu Yu personally visited various places to check and evaluate the performance of subordinate officials in various regions.
Surrounded by a group of people, Liu Yu unknowingly walked near an ordinary village.
Seeing that it was past noon and everyone was feeling tired and thirsty, Liu Yu immediately decided to take a rest and eat some food in this village.
After receiving the order from Liu Yu and his party to get news in this village, the accompanying pavilion chief and Chefu of the local village hurried into the village to make arrangements.
Soon, when Liu Yu and his party arrived at the village gate, the village elders and clan leaders were already waiting respectfully at the door.
