Farmers of Shu Han

Chapter 1432: Dog bites dog, loyalty and bravery
Given Grand Marshal Feng's current status and position, he was able to personally stand at the ferry to welcome these representatives of the aristocratic families from Bingzhou and Sili, which showed that he attached great importance to them.

Of course, this time they were able to deliver food and grass in time. As long as they could help the people of Hebei survive this winter, it would definitely be worth it for Feng Dasima to stand at the ferry.

Not to mention that Sima Feng asked them to come here for another purpose.

Someone in the group was dusting off his cotton coat, and this was noticed by Mr. Feng.

Feng Da Sima just smiled:
"The cotton coat that the prince is wearing is so fine that it looks almost as good as the finest silk."

As he said this, Feng Dasima felt quite emotional.

I remembered the coarse cloth I made when I first started weaving wool in Hanzhong.

From coarse cloth to fine cotton cloth, countless people have poured their efforts into it.

When he wanted to steal someone from a noble family, he had to do it stealthily like a thief, for fear of being discovered.

And now, these noble families knelt in front of him, shouting at Sima, "Keep pushing, don't stop..."

Time flies so fast, more than 20 years have passed in a flash.

"This is the latest style from Chang'an Weaving House this year. It is strong and warm, and is much better than silk cloth in terms of practicality."

The prince touched the cotton cloth on his body, sighing and admiring:
"Cotton can not only be used to make clothes, but also to keep out the cold and keep warm. The Grand Marshal found this material and promoted it throughout the country, which is a great benefit to the people!"

Food, clothing, shelter and transportation are necessities for the world.

Especially food and clothing, which are indispensable for a day.

As long as you can participate in one of them, why worry about the prosperity of your family business?

Not to mention the current climate, even the rivers freeze from time to time in winter.

As for the north, not to mention the white plague on the grassland, even in Senegal, people and livestock freeze to death every year.

Cotton-padded clothes and quilts are needed not only by ordinary people, but also by dignitaries.

Given the Han Dynasty’s current kindness to its soldiers, future military purchases are inevitable.

In other words, from the south of the Yangtze River to the grasslands outside the Great Wall, there is no one in the world who does not need these things.

Just thinking about it is enough to make people tremble with excitement.

These aristocratic family elites were willing to be led by the nose by the Ghost King Feng. Not only because they were powerless to resist, but the more important reason was that the pie that the Ghost King Feng painted was too big.

Big enough to burst a person's stomach.

"Your Excellency, you have praised me too much. As the saying goes, virtue comes from good governance, and governance is about nourishing the people. The reason why the Han Dynasty is popular among the people is because it has shown benevolence and justice to the people."

Sima Feng said modestly:
"I have always wanted to assist the emperor of the Han Dynasty to revive the Han Dynasty. The cotton business is a move to support the people. How dare I say that I have added merit to the people?"

"The Grand Marshal is wrong!" Wang of Taiyuan refuted righteously, "It is said in the Tribute to Yu: 'The basket is made of woven shells.' In my humble opinion, this cotton may be a relic of ancient shell brocade, which is a blessing from heaven!"

"Now that Bei Jin has reappeared in the world, he has reappeared in the hands of the Grand Marshal to benefit the people of the world. How can the Han Dynasty not prosper? Since it can support the people, it is a virtuous policy. How can this not be called virtue?"

"Yes, yes, yes. The Wang family of Taiyuan is the most respected in the world for its Confucian classics. Since the prince said so, it must be right!"

……

Feng Yong listened to the increasingly flattering praises and suddenly chuckled.

Looking up at the sky, there are clouds as white as soft cotton.

It’s so white! The cotton that will be woven into the web that binds the thousand-year-old family is also so white…

He waved his hand, and Pei Xiu, who was standing behind him, handed over a map called "Cotton Spinning and Planting Map".

"This is the best place to grow cotton in Guandong after Xu Dajia (agriculturalist Li Xu) summarized his experience in Yongliang cotton fields and consulted many agricultural books such as Si Sheng Zhi Shu and Four Min Yue Ling. I have asked someone to draw it on this map."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone held their breath and looked at the map in Pei Xiu's hand with fiery eyes.

"In Hebei, the most suitable place for cotton cultivation is the area near the big river."

Further north, the climate is too cold.

Feng Dasima roughly drew a line on the map with his finger, but it was just a narrow strip.

The area painted with the same color also includes a large area south of the river to the Yangtze and Huaihe River regions.

Unfortunately, that place happened to be under the control of the Pseudo-Wei.

Noticing that many people were looking towards the Pseudo-Wei controlled area, Sima Feng smiled slightly:
"As for cotton planting, we all have no experience. Now we can practice in Hebei. After two or three years, when we are all familiar with it, the Han Dynasty can wipe out the pseudo-Wei in one fell swoop."

As he spoke, Feng Da Sima pointed his finger at the pseudo-Wei controlled area and said, "The cotton issue is not only a matter for you gentlemen, but also related to the national economy and people's livelihood."

"As long as Hebei's cotton is well grown, it is reasonable to expand cotton fields in Shandong and Jianghuai!"

The crowd immediately became commotion.

"Yeah!"

"Da Sima is right!"

"We will definitely live up to the great Sima's expectations and grow good cotton!"

Signaling everyone to be quiet, Feng Da Sima once again crossed the northern bank of the river and sighed:

"There's just one more problem."

"what is the problem?"

Facing the anxious gazes of the crowd, Feng Dasima explained:
"Most of the fertile land in this area is owned by the great families in Hebei. Although the Han Dynasty can confiscate the family property of the great families that support the pseudo-Wei under the pretext of implementing new policies."

"But it is common for big families to hide their people. If they transfer the land to their children and pretend it is the land of ordinary people, it will be difficult for the government to investigate."

"Besides, Hebei has just been settled, and there are many things to be done. The court does not have enough manpower to investigate these activities at this time."

For the imperial court, land surveying was a must.

Because the tax is distributed according to the amount of land, we must prevent tax evasion.

Confiscating land is, of course, necessary.

On the one hand, it is necessary to strike and intimidate the aristocratic families.

On the other hand, it is because the government needs to control a sufficient number of vacant fields to facilitate the distribution of land to the future new population - to avoid the emergence of unemployed vagrants.

But the problem is that when local governments have enough vacant land in their hands, they may not have enough motivation to check who owns the remaining land.

After all, officials and gentry all paid taxes together, and no matter who owned the land, taxes had to be paid, so the amount of tax collected remained unchanged.

Even in later generations, what the government cares most about is still taxation and employment.

Sima Feng asked Shi Bao to do this task in order to conduct a thorough investigation as much as possible from the beginning.

But to say that it can be completely cleared up is just a dream.

But for the aristocratic families in Taiyuan and Sili who wanted to grow cotton, there were some slight differences:
Confiscating the land of Hebei’s aristocratic families is not an option but a necessity.

After all, you can't go to Hebei to rent a field to grow cotton, right?
If this is really the case, who in Hebei who has some financial resources would be willing to rent to you?
Wouldn’t it be nice to grow your own?

Therefore, the Hebei family must die. If the Hebei family is not killed, there is no way for them to create cotton fields.

This is a life-and-death struggle over fundamental interests.

"When it comes to the activities of the great clans, the people present here are the most knowledgeable in the world."

Feng Dasima's words made everyone look a little embarrassed.

"So I would like to ask for a favor from you all. Each family can lend some hands to help investigate what these big families in Hebei are doing secretly."

Feng Da Sima gently pointed to the north bank of the river on the map, and his voice was like the whisper of an evil spirit from underground:

"How many cotton fields Hebei will have in the future depends on whether everyone can help find out how many activities these big families in Hebei have..."

The ferry suddenly fell silent.

Let the aristocratic family investigate the aristocratic family?

Which one is this...

It really is a good idea that the Ghost King came up with.

Everyone looked at Feng Dasima in astonishment.

But the Grand Marshal smiled kindly and warmly.

Like a ray of warm sunshine in the autumn wind.

Someone suddenly realized that what Da Sima wanted was not just cotton, but to crush Hebei and even the entire Guandong and reshape them.

Whether it is Taiyuan, Hedong, or even Henan, no matter who wants to grow cotton, they must wield their swords against the Hebei clans who are also from the Kanto region.

The entire Kanto family will suffer a huge rift because of this incident.

And it is a rift that cannot be repaired.

But so what?
After all, no one will give up their cotton fields, because giving up means withdrawing from the cotton planting industry.

Look at the group of local tycoons in Yongliang. Just because they joined the wool textile industry a few years earlier than others, at least 30% of the wool textile workshops in the Han Dynasty now belong to them.

Thirty percent belong to the Xinghan Society and powerful people closely related to the Xinghan Society.

One tenth belongs to the royal family.

The last 10% is shared among the rest of the people.

If the big families in Guandong such as Taiyuan, Hedong and Henan want to avoid being suppressed by Guanxi forces such as Yongliang in the future, they must firmly grasp cotton planting.

They have already paid too much sunk costs, and it is impossible and they will not be willing to take back the finishing touch at this last moment.

Guanxi wool, Guandong cotton; the Xinghan Society and the Royal Society stood in the middle, one in the opposition and the other in the court.

This is the balance designed by Feng Dasima - keeping his own selfish motives, continuing to restrict the power of the emperor, and trying his best to make the power structure of the Han Dynasty move in the direction of a monarch with real subjects and a false emperor.

Not only for yourself, but also for your brother-in-law's children and grandchildren.

In the future, when someone is hung from a street lamp, he might be able to escape death. If he keeps a clear mind, there is at least a certain probability that his entire family will not die.

Of course, balance is meant to be broken, but Feng Dasima doesn't need to consider this issue.

Anyway, it wasn't him who was hung on the street lamp.

At most he'll have his grave dug up, what's there to be afraid of?
-
The storm caused by Sima Yi's defeat and retreat from Hebei was still brewing in Hebei, but Yanzhou and Qingzhou to the south of the river had already set off huge waves.

"My king, my king, this is bad, this is bad!"

In the dilapidated Jibei Palace, a servant came back from outside, tumbling and crawling, and said to Jibei King Cao Zhi with a panicked face:
"News has come from Dongjun that Master Sima was ambushed by the Han army in Yanjin, and more than half of his troops were killed. He has already retreated southward."

"Now the rumors in the city are that Yanzhou is likely to fall into the hands of the Han State, and the Han army has already attacked this side."

Cao Zhi, who reeked of alcohol, glared at the servants and cursed loudly:

"How dare you, my humble servant, make such a ridiculous statement? When Grand Tutor Sima led a large army to cross the Yellow River to the south, he would have gone through Baima Ferry. The troops in Yanjin were at most a small detachment, how could they have lost more than half of their troops?"

"This is nothing but a rumor to confuse people. Why don't you retreat immediately?"

After Sima Taifu was defeated, he wanted to lead an army of tens of thousands - some say hundreds of thousands - to escape the pursuit of the Han army and rush across the ferry. However, Baima Ferry alone was definitely not enough.

Therefore, there will inevitably be a part of the troops who will go through Yanjin.

But no matter whether it was tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, unless Sima Taifu was out of his mind, he would not have chosen Yanjin, which was closer to Luoyang, as the main ferry crossing.

Therefore, in Cao Zhi's opinion, it was definitely not true that more than half of the troops were lost in Yanjin.

Upon hearing this, the servant did not retreat obediently, but prostrated himself on the ground, crying and admonishing:

"Your Majesty, even if it is a false rumor, it is true that the Grand Master was defeated and lost Hebei."

"Once Hebei is lost, it is only a matter of time before the Han army either crosses the river to the south or marches eastward."

"Although Jibei is 700 miles away from Yanjin, the Grand Tutor has just been defeated and may not defend Bai Ma to the death. The Han cavalry can reach Jibei in seven days at the fastest and half a month at the slowest."

"The Jibei Kingdom has only a hundred soldiers. How can Your Majesty stop them? Please make plans as soon as possible!"

Cao Wei's supervision of the princes of the royal family was very strict, especially for strong competitors like Cao Zhi who had participated in the struggle for succession.

After Cao Pi became emperor, although he did not kill Cao Zhi due to the public's criticism, he must have hated Cao Zhi very much in his heart and punished him severely.

"I was granted the title of Marquis of Juancheng, and then moved to Yongqiu, but both times I found myself in a desolate land... After ten years of separation, I was left alone to guard an empty place, and suffered from hunger and cold."

When he was made the King of Dong'e, "he worked in the mulberry fields, was poor, and had to eat and make ends meet, with his body almost naked."

As for the guards in the country, "there are still more than 30 children aged seven or eight and over 16 years old."

"Now all the soldiers are old, lying in bed, unable to eat unless it is porridge, unable to see, and with weak breath, there are 37 of them. There are 23 of them who are suffering from fatigue, tuberculosis, warts, blindness, deafness and hearing loss."

"But I need these little boys. The older ones can be used as guards. Although they are not enough to resist invaders, they can roughly prevent small thieves. The younger ones are not fit to be ambassadors, but they can be used to weed and weed, and drive away birds."

This was not only true for Cao Zhi, but also for other clan members, "special officials were appointed to monitor and supervise the country to keep an eye on them. This was the literary monitoring official."

However, as Cao Rui continued to lose troops and territory, the Cao Wei court had to focus its main energy on fighting against Ji Han and relaxed its supervision over the princes.

After Cao Rui's death, the struggle between General Cao Shuang and Grand Tutor Sima Yi became increasingly intense, and the chaos and division in the local areas of Cao Wei became increasingly obvious.

By the time the pseudo-Wei court moved to Qiao County, its supervision over the vassal states had become meaningless.

Although Cao Zhi was addicted to drinking and ignored worldly affairs in recent years, he still increased the number of his Jibei State guards from dozens to more than a hundred in the name of "guarding against bandits and thieves."

After all, the King of Jibei had a way to get Ji Han's luxury goods in recent years, and his wealth increased slightly. It was reasonable and beyond reproach for him to recruit dozens of guards to prevent thieves.

Hearing the servant's persuasion, the King of Jibei, who had been drunk all day, immediately became furious:
"I am the grandson of Emperor Wu. I will fight against the enemy if they come. How can I abandon my country and flee if they don't come? Go and gather all the guards and distribute weapons. I will lead the troops and fight the enemy myself."

"This……"

"Go quickly!"

Cao Zhi threw away the wine jug, turned around angrily and pulled out the sword from the wall.

When the servant saw that the King of Jibei was really angry, he immediately agreed and quickly went to call for help.

When the literary assistant officer learned of the movements in the Prince of Jibei's palace, his face changed drastically and he hurried to ask for an audience with the Prince of Jibei.

When he saw that the King of Jibei was already fully armored, his face suddenly turned pale and he asked:

"What does your Majesty want to do?"

The King of Jibei slowly adjusted his armor, then looked at the defense assistant, no longer drunk as before:
"What to do? Of course, call up the guards to serve the country."

"Your Majesty, without the order of Your Majesty, Your Majesty may not summon the guards to go on a expedition without authorization. Have you forgotten?"

"Your Majesty? Which Your Majesty? Are you talking about the puppet Your Majesty in Qiao County who is controlled by powerful officials and has to act according to Cao Shuang's mood?"

Cao Zhi burst into laughter, almost crying:

"I don't know where Emperor Ping got Cao Fang as his adopted son. He was made emperor at the age of seven and has been on the throne for ten years, right? All government affairs are governed by the general. You want me to wait for your majesty's order?"

When the assistant military officer heard Cao Zhi's outrageous words, he pointed at Cao Zhi and shouted:

"Is the king planning to rebel?"

"Qiang!"

"Shh!"

A cold light flashed, and the two fingers that Cheng Pian was pointing at Cao Zhi were cut off and fell to the ground.

"what……"

The literary defense assistant officer screamed, covered his hands, and broke out in a cold sweat.

Cao Zhi pointed his sword at the other party and said murderously:

"My Cao family's kingdom was ruined by you foreign ministers! We lost Liangzhou, Yongzhou, Bingzhou, Sili, and now Youji."

"Now you won't let me summon the guards, but instead ask me to wait for the order of that young boy. How is this different from asking me to wait for death right here?"

"Over the years, the court should have sent someone to replace you. I'm afraid you have written a lot of secret letters and sent them to Qiao County? Have you ever received a response?"

"Wake up! With Hebei's defeat, Qiao County is probably too busy to take care of itself. Do you think anyone will care about this place?"

"In terms of seniority, I am your majesty's uncle. I called up troops to defend the country. Whether they rebel or not is a family affair of the Cao family. How can an outsider like you get to say anything?"

"roll!"

The assistant officer of literary defense had a pale face, and it was unclear whether it was because of the pain or because Cao Zhi’s words had hit the nail on the head.

If Cao Zhi really dared to say this in the past, it would be tantamount to seeking death.

But now, the people of Wei are in panic and chaos, and he knows his own business.

The imperial court has indeed ignored this place for several years.

It seemed that he had become a person forgotten by the court.

Watching Cao Zhi stride out the door, the literary defense assistant officer silently stepped aside.
-
As the defeated troops in Hebei were trying to cross the river, they were defeated by the Han army from Luoyang in Yanjin, and the northern part of Yanzhou was in chaos.

Many powerful and wealthy families followed Sima Yi and fled south in panic towards Qiao County.

At this time, Cao Zhi, the son of Chensi Wang Cao Zhi, stepped forward as the grandson of Emperor Wu and King of Jibei, and called in troops to defend the country.

He even went so far as to violate court rules and, without an imperial decree, led his army north in an attempt to recover the old capital, Yecheng.

Although the King of Jibei was skilled in riding and shooting, he had only a hundred soldiers and was quickly defeated by the Han army. His whereabouts were unknown.

"Nephew Cao Zhi, greetings to uncle."

Just as many loyal ministers of Wei were marveling at the loyalty and bravery of the King of Jibei, Cao Zhi prostrated himself on the ground respectfully and saluted the Grand Marshal of the Han Dynasty.