Chapter 1720 Silence
Almost counting the days, the twenty-two years of Kaibao have arrived.
The past two years have undoubtedly been the most turbulent and chaotic years since Dahan entered the Kaibao era.
Major cases, political trends, party disputes, wars, rebellions... all kinds of disturbances, one after another, in an endless stream. Even the magnificent Kaibao Northern Expedition was not so "splendid" and dazzling.
This is almost a major outbreak and a complete release of the ills that have accumulated over the past thirty years since the founding of the Han Dynasty. It is also the epitome of some deep-seated contradictions under decades of governance.
Of course, for the big man, this is just a little itch that appears on the giant's body, just a little episode, a little adjustment in this glorious era. The general trend of the empire has been established. There may be twists and turns, or there may be minor changes in the trend, but the general trend is hard to change.
As a whole winter passed, the Han people's attention to the Northwest Rebellion plummeted. Even the Tokyo citizens, who were best at discussing politics, were attracted by some fresher and more interesting things, namely those storytellers with a propaganda nature. People find it boring to repeatedly scold traitors and praise the imperial court.
Even the once bustling Guan Nei became somewhat quiet. Under the harsh blockade policy of the imperial court, in three months, a solid blockade was completely constructed outside Yulin to lock down the rebels. In Yulin.
At the beginning of winter, some news can still be heard from Yulin. Whether it is truth or rumors, there is always some news that can be known. The Guannai Road, especially the northern area near Yulin, was also full of troubles and people's hearts were unstable. Depending on the situation, of course, under the pressure of a group of "awakened" bureaucrats and the Wude Division, calm was quickly restored.
Throughout the winter, with the full support of the imperial court, Zhao Wang Liu Fang mobilized troops and generals around Yulin, and the external passages around Yulin were strictly blocked. At each pass and fortress, more troops and food were added to strictly guard against death, even except for Several main logistics supply channels and other roads were all locked up. Even some mountain trails were not spared. A large amount of gunpowder was used to destroy the paths. With the sound of explosions one after another, Yulin's external channels (mainly to the inner pass), All partitions.
As for the Yellow River, there are garrison troops stationed at each ferry, and there are thousands of cavalry patrolling back and forth. To exaggerate the description, even a winter bird can't get over it.
Of course, it is unrealistic to achieve a complete blockade, but the large-scale rebel movement has been effectively restricted. At the beginning of the rebellion, the rebels were still able to send thieves and bandits to carry out banditry and spread chaos. These people were also Liu Fang's first step to eliminate them, and they quickly achieved results. After the Yulin blockade was implemented, the possibility of rebels flowing into the northwest was suppressed to a minimum.
There may be a small group of rebels lurking southward, but not to mention the difficulties involved, even if they successfully cross the border, it will not be easy to carry out operations within the customs and stir up rebellion.
The entire pass is under martial law according to levels, especially in the four prefectures of Huan, Qing, Jin, and Yan near Yulin. The intensity of martial law is almost similar to military control, and the intensity of enforcement is unprecedented.
All non-governmental activities have been suppressed, and non-governmental population movement is prohibited. All farmers, herdsmen and fishermen, except those recruited by the government and with issued documents and certificates, can only live in the countryside. Villages jointly guarantee and supervise each other, even during the New Year. Visit relatives and friends.
Any outsiders or those with strange whereabouts will be rewarded for reporting, and government officers will patrol and inspect them from time to time. Those who do not comply with the rules will be arrested immediately. If they are screened and judged to be suspected of being a thief, they will have to go to jail, or even go to jail. Being thrown into a prison camp or even being beheaded is not unusual at all. The situation of heavy punishment in troubled times has once again appeared in the northwest.
The effect is naturally significant. Although it is inevitable that innocent people will be implicated, if you take the government's ban seriously and stay there honestly, nothing will happen. At the same time, it also really allowed the local governments to detect some thieves who were among the people, arrest them and ask for credit from the court.
Especially those refugees who fled south were a mixed bag, and indeed many rebels were mixed in. The concerns of these local officials were not completely unreasonable. Under the pressure of King Zhao and even the imperial court, they had to take over the task of helping those in need. In one winter, from Huanqing to Jinyan, they accepted more than 40,000 refugees, and arrested over a thousand of them. .
In the second half of the winter of the 21st year of Kaibao, the entire pass was in a state of silence, and the movement and activities of the people were greatly reduced. Except for Chang'an and the cities of various states, merchants were not even allowed to pass easily. Even if they could, they needed to There is a trade certificate issued by the government with the Taosi Customs and Defense stamped on it.
In the past, the situation of numerous business travels and huge crowds no longer existed. The business travel caravans traveling on various official roads were either military transport convoys or wealthy businessmen with backgrounds and backing.
In order to cooperate with the overall campaign of suppressing bandits in Yulin, local governments in the northwest had to introduce policies to restrict business and travel, and control the flow of people to ensure public security and maintain stability. A one-size-fits-all approach is often easier to implement.
However, after so many years, the Han Dynasty's system has long been perfected, and its city management has become increasingly mature, so it is not that it is completely ignorant of flexibility.
The trade certificate is a workaround under such current circumstances. There is no doubt that these cities in the Han Dynasty are basically consumption-oriented cities, and they all need the supply of massive rural resources. Even the workshops and factories in towns and cities need to purchase their raw materials from outside. Those who play the main role in circulation are the large merchants and hawkers who travel between cities and villages.
Therefore, from the beginning to the end, the government's policies were only to restrict business rather than ban it. Winter is the time when various livelihood resources are consumed the most. In this case, if normal production and life in the town cannot be guaranteed, trouble will occur. If so, it will put the cart before the horse and run counter to the original intention of maintaining stability.
It is obvious that the rebellion in Yulin had a serious impact on the livelihood of officials and people in the pass and even in the entire northwest. The current situation was such that under the government's prohibition, many merchants went bankrupt, especially those small traders with poor risk resistance.
Even the most stable rural areas were affected. In order to cooperate with Yulin's suppression of bandits, the government's labor and military service recruitment orders were spread to the vast countryside.
At the same time, it also triggered a wave of people returning to their hometowns. Many people who could not survive in the cities and towns could not find any other way out, so they basically chose to go back to their hometowns and wait for the day when the ban was lifted.
Danger and opportunity have always gone hand in hand, and this is no different. Under the great control that almost covers the entire Guannai Road, power and money transactions cannot be avoided, which has also given rise to a wealth craze.
Ordinary merchants only see government restrictions, making it impossible to do business and make life difficult, but for those few big merchants, it is a rare opportunity. Smart and powerful people, when faced with rules or even bans, think about how to make profits by taking advantage of this opportunity.
There is always demand in the city, and even the government cannot stop it. With this opening, those merchants engaged in transportation trade naturally get a huge business opportunity. The competition plummets, but they can use this to open up their gluttonous mouths. Harvest wealth to your heart’s content.
A trade certificate can even be sold for ten thousand dollars in the first two months before it can be transferred. In big cities like Chang'an and Fengxiang, it is impossible to get it without investing tens of thousands of dollars. It was only after the Taoist government noticed the chaos that it happened that they made a patch, banning the transfer of trade certificates and registering real businesses under their real names.
Even so, the censor of the pass realized the problem and reported the matter to the court, saying that the prohibition policy in the pass was too expanded, causing unscrupulous merchants to cause trouble, making the country difficult to make money, prices in the pass soaring, and people's livelihood uneasy, hoping that the court would put things right in time.
At least, in the eyes of some knowledgeable people, even if the restriction policy is to be implemented, it does not have to be implemented in all areas. For example, in the southern part of Guan Nei, far away from Yulin, there is no need. As for parts of Longyou and Hexi, they are just joining in the fun.
However, after some discussion in the Political Affairs Hall, the acquiescence was adopted to such a proposal. The truth is that, and the chaos that occurs is also a fact, but everything has pros and cons. If it is really based on the local situation, it will be a huge test for the organization and execution capabilities of the officials in the pass.
A one-size-fits-all approach may cause disadvantages, but if we don't do this, new problems and chaos will arise. As of now, there are already some businessmen outside the customs who are keen to participate in this rare wealth within the customs. Frenzy, there is no shortage of adventurous speculators in this world.
However, the censor's remonstrance was not without any effect. At least after Prince Liu Yang learned about the situation in the pass, he was very dissatisfied with the chaos. He just had to endure it temporarily for the sake of the overall situation.
Problems in the northwest occurred frequently, and there was always a lack of clarity. Not only Emperor Liu, but also Liu Yang, who was known for his generosity, was extremely disappointed and almost unbearable.
In response to this, he also urged the Ministry of Officials to come up with a further set of regulations for the administration of officials in the northwest. As for those businessmen who take advantage of the opportunity to make profits, they must also be prepared to settle accounts in the future. Zhao Kuangyi very thoughtfully pointed out that collusion between officials and businessmen, power-for-money transactions, hoarding and even tax evasion are all legitimate reasons and can be used. There is no need to In a hurry.
There is always an upper limit for those who like to make huge profits. Those who prey on the common people are often the people under power. When it comes to cutting leeks, the imperial court has done it not only once or twice, but has already become very good at it. In this way, the dissatisfaction in the heart of Prince Liu Yang was slightly relieved.
No matter how extreme the policy of blocking Yulin was and what kind of sequelae it caused, it achieved immediate results in countering the rebellion.
Twenty-two years after entering Kaibao, Yulin Road seemed to have disappeared from the Han Dynasty. Except for the occasional official news released by the Xuanwei Department, there was no other content, as if it had been forgotten.
(End of chapter)
