Chapter 304 Placement

Chapter 304 Placement

Chapter 304 Placement
The second batch of grain ships had actually passed Chen County and reached the junction of Chen County and Yangxia, where they were stopped.

The Yamen troops set up camp on the spot and unloaded the food.

"General Li, here are 185,220 hu of grain and beans. I'll give them all to you." Chen Yan said as he put away the handwritten receipt from Li Chong.

A grain ship carried 5,000 hu of grain.

The group of ships he led consisted of a total of eighty, half of which unloaded grain on the spot and sailed empty downstream back to Hefei.

The other half of the ships continued to load grain and transport it to Junyi, where they were handed over to Yang Bao, the commander of the Luoyang Duzhi Army.

More than 185,000 hu of grain can actually not save many people.

Assuming there are five people in a family, including old and young, men and women, on average each person will eat one hu of grain per month.

In an era of scarcity of fat and protein, people who do physical work have an astonishing craving for carbohydrates.

In the Tang Dynasty, in a peasant family of five, each person would eat an average of four hu of millet per year (one hu of millet = 108.32 jin), which means more than one jin of grain per day - the elderly, children, and women ate less, while young men ate more.

Moreover, they would also look for wild vegetables, mulberries, fruits and other things they could find to supplement their food.

Of course, this was during the middle and late Tang Dynasty when ordinary people suffered from food shortages because a lot of food was taken away to feed the military.

When food was relatively abundant, a person would definitely eat more than this amount in a day.

The volume of a Jin hu is less than one-third of a Tang hu, about thirty kilograms of millet.

One hu per month is about one jin per day, which is about three liters and three he (one hu = ten dou = one hundred liters = one thousand he).

But that is normal. In a disaster, it is good enough to be alive. Don't think too much.

Li Chong directly ordered: the large population (adult men) would be given two liters of food per day, the medium population (adult women) would be given one liter and a half of food per day, and the small population would be given one liter of food per day.

As soon as the order was given, the action began immediately.

All people were organized into teams and battalions, with their own leaders and military management.

In addition, he also organized soldiers to dig trenches and set up curtains to catch locusts, which were then dried or steamed and mixed into food.

At this time, you can’t worry about whether you will get sick after eating, and you should replenish your nutrition first. Don’t underestimate the “small matter” of catching locusts. It is not something that the disaster victims who are dizzy and hungry can do easily.

Chen Yan stayed in the disaster relief camp for several days, feeling very worried.

What he was worried about was the consequences of intercepting the grain boats.

Although half was cut and the other half was released, giving the court a way out, it is hard to say whether Luoyang would appreciate it.

Perhaps the emperor and his ministers have enough food, but the imperial guards, craftsmen and other people in the capital all rely on importation of grain.

Once the conflict intensifies, the court and the Marquis of Chen will fall out, which will be very troublesome. When the Xiongnu marches south, the court and the Marquis of Chen will be destroyed together, which will be a joke.

However, what has been done is done. There is no point in thinking too much. Let’s consider how to help the people.

"General Li, I heard that Cao Wei is providing disaster relief and gathering refugees. They are grouped into camps every five miles, with sixty people in each camp." Two days later, Chen Yan couldn't help but look at the chaotic refugees and suggested, "General, you should govern them by military law, which is in line with the old practice of previous generations, but it is not a good idea to keep them like this. Now that the enemy troops have retreated, it is better to disperse the people along the river to prevent them from gathering together and causing epidemics. It is also better to choose some land and occupy it first. If there is an abundance of grain and beans in the future, give them more grain and feed them for a while. Then organize the people to grow a season of grains, which can be harvested in March. In this way, we may be able to barely get by."

Li Zhong was silent for a while after hearing this, and then said, "If Captain Chen hadn't reminded me, I would have missed the big event."

At the same time, I also feel a little sad. If you ask him to deploy the troops, he can do it easily, but if it comes to the complicated issues of resettlement, management and organization of production of disaster victims, he will be a little confused.

He didn't even know what the "old rules of Cao Wei" that Chen Yan mentioned were.

Chen Yan was born into the Yingchuan Chen family. He was a descendant of a noble family. He had read many books and knew a lot. In this respect, he was indeed better than him.

No wonder these matters have been handed over to scholars in ancient times. They may not be good at fighting, but they are indeed better at managing the people than these military men.

"There are many rivers and fertile fields in the area of ​​Yangxia, Fugou and Chenxian, which can accommodate many people. However, many of the lands are owned by others, which is troublesome." Chen Yan said, "General, please settle the unowned lands first. The rest will mostly be decided by Lu Yuzhou and Chen Hou. That's all I have to say. You can think about it yourself."

"Thank you for your advice, Captain." Li Zhong bowed.

Chen Yan looked at the people again.

If Marquis Chen can really settle all these disaster victims and help them get through this, it will only take a few years for these places to no longer belong to the imperial court.

What he did was much more difficult than what Shi Le and his ilk did, but the subsequent benefits were also greater.

To some extent, his situation was the same as that of Shi Le and Wang Mi.

Shi and Wang are now under the control of the Liu Han court and cannot, let alone dare, establish themselves.

Lord Chen also has ambitions, but at this stage, he does not dare to establish himself.

But if these refugees were resettled, the situation would be very different.

They were equivalent to the followers of Marquis Chen and were no longer the king's subjects.

On May 28, Chen Yan led part of the fleet to leave Chen County and return to Hefei to load the next batch of grain.

Upon hearing the news, more and more refugees gathered in Chen County and Yangxia areas.

******
On the last day of May, Yuzhou Governor Lu Zhi arrived in Chen County.

The first thing he did was to visit Xie Pei and Yuan Chong.

As May is approaching, the number of locusts is decreasing and the situation is becoming clearer.

Zhi Xiong's troops, who went south to Yingchuan to plunder, fled in a panic because they could not raise enough food. They were then chased by the government soldiers and suffered heavy casualties.

Kui An retreated directly to Chenliu, risking his life to plunder. Wen Zhi and Kui's troops both retreated, and Tao Bao, who was active in the Liang State area, did not dare to move south, and retreated to Puyang in a shady way.

He suffered the least losses along the way, but during the retreat, some of his men still fled due to lack of food.

It is just like the saying goes: "There are countless invincible people who have broken themselves."

Of course, to put it in a darker light, this might not be a bad thing for Shi Le.

In the context of food shortage, it is too risky to gather a large number of weak soldiers and hope to win by numbers. If they cannot plunder enough food, they will face great internal unrest.

The death, injury and destruction of ten or twenty thousand people might help ease his burden.

"You have made a great contribution in driving away the enemy troops this time." Lu Zhi started by complimenting them.

"With the locusts and drought, there is no surplus food for Shi Le to support his troops." Yuan Chong smiled bitterly and said, "Besides, we still rely on the reputation of Lord Chen to repel the enemy."

Xie Pei also said: "If it weren't for the Marquis of Chen and the envoy, Chenjun and Yingchuan would be united, and it would not be easy to withdraw the troops."

After listening to this, Lu Zhi smiled and said nothing.

That's the attitude.

In fact, even if he and Chen Hou were not there, it would be unlikely for Shi Le to go south at this time.

After all, this man was a Han official. Without the order of the Liu Han court, how could he act on his own like a wild horse? Was he seeking death?
Unless an excellent opportunity arises in Jingzhou and the Liu Han court sees the possibility of capturing these states and counties, it will send Shi Le or Wang Mi deep into Yuzhou and go south.

"Since you two know how kind Lord Chen is, I have a difficult matter now and need your help." Lu Zhi clapped his hands and asked his followers to come in from outside.

Yuan Chong and Xie Pei were both startled. Could it be that he was asking them for food?
To be honest, they are also in great need of supplies. After all, this year's harvest is gone.

There are so many soldiers and farmhands to support, and it is really impossible to provide food - the soldiers and farmhands depend on you for their lives. If you can't even guarantee this, it is tantamount to breaking the contract, and the foundation of the family will be shaken.

There is no such thing in the world that you can enjoy benefits without fulfilling your obligations. You must pay for what you get.

Fortunately, the follower spread out a map, which made the two of them feel a little relieved.

"There have been two consecutive years of natural disasters, and there have been many wars." Lu Zhi pointed to the map and drew a line around the Suiyang Canal and Woshui River, saying, "Some people died in natural disasters and wars, and some people became discouraged and fled south, leaving a lot of land vacant."

Xie Pei looked at the map and seemed to understand something.

In fact, he didn't care much, because he didn't want to stay in the Central Plains anymore. He wanted to find a place in the south of the Yangtze River to settle down and continue to live a leisurely life.

The land of Yangxia is no longer that important to him.

Yuan Chong was an old fox. How could he not think of what Xie Pei could understand? But he remained calm and continued to listen.

"Your Excellency wants to gather these lands together and settle the refugees in a unified way." Lu Zhi said, "But some of the lands seem to be owned by someone else and need to be exchanged..."

There was some silence in the field for a while.

Theoretically speaking, Lord Chen did not let the Yuan and Xie families suffer any loss. It was just an exchange of land, and it was not given to you for free.

But the problem is that their land is now connected, which makes it easier to manage and protect themselves.

The land they were given in exchange for the land might not be connected to the existing fields. If they sent farmhands to farm, they would have to be resettled, not to mention the cost, and their safety would not be guaranteed because the family's power would be dispersed.

Give the simplest example.

Which is safer, two thousand households farming together or dividing into four plots with 500 households in each plot?
It must be the former.

Of course, it is not impossible to continue the exchange and connect the land as much as possible.

But this matter is more complicated. It requires gathering all the scholars and powerful people in the county to discuss it together, and it is not certain that a result can be reached in the end.

This is because the land has different fertility levels, and there is also the issue of whether irrigation is convenient or not. There are a lot of trivial matters, and it is estimated that there will be a lot of arguments.

"You two don't have to worry." Lu Zhi looked at them and said, "I will personally supervise this matter. No matter how much effort it takes, I will get it done. The army of Lord Chen is in Xingyang and will be there in a moment. If anyone causes trouble, we can suppress it immediately. How do you think?"

The field became even quieter.

Xie Pei was furious, but he didn't want to get entangled with Lu Zhi on this matter. He was disappointed with the north and wanted to cross the river to Wu. He didn't care much about Yangxia, but Lu Zhi's aggressive attitude made him uncomfortable.

I don’t know what Shao Xun saw in him. How could such a tactless person be a good governor of a state?
Yuan Chong also understood the threat in Lu Zhi's words, but he was more cunning and knew that there was no point in talking to someone holding a knife. After thinking for a long time, he finally nodded and sighed, "Natural disasters and man-made disasters have come together, and we have to get through the difficulties together. I have no objection, so let's do it this way."

After Yuan Chong expressed his opinion, Lu Zhi turned his gaze to Xie Pei.

Xie Pei said sparingly, "Yes."

Lu Zhi smiled. If he caught these two bulls by the nose, he could lead Yangxia away.

As the two largest existing families in Chen County, they have set an example, and there is nothing much to say about others.

"We need to act quickly on this matter." Lu Zhi said, "The locust plague will soon subside, and it would be best if we could plant beans and millet in June. Thank you for your help."

The two nodded again.

What Lu Zhi meant was: I will take your land first, and we can discuss the exchange later.

What can they do? They are giving you face and abiding by the rules by consulting you.

If you continue to make trouble, you will learn from the He family's mistakes. You can handle it as you wish.

(End of this chapter)