PFC Chapter 7041 Original Intention and Grounding
Chapter 7041 Original Intention and Grounding
Chapter 7041 Original Intention and Grounding
There are many things in this world that you don't like, but you have to make a choice. Chen Xi doesn't really like the logic of the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, but in the long run, Chen Xi can only choose this. Similarly, Chen Xi doesn't like the outcome of justice, but Man Chong is still around, so at least this can be a safety net.
“Some things, depending on the level and the standpoint you take, will lead to very different conclusions. I am now at a very high level, but as for my standpoint, I have witnessed how the Han Empire declined. So, even after all these years, I still stand on the same standpoint. In the end, the people are just trying to survive,” Liu Bei said to Chen Xi with a serious expression.
In this matter, Liu Bei did not really agree with Huangfu Song, but as he said before, if you can't even beat Huangfu Song, what good will your rebellion do?
It's just a matter of trying to survive in a desperate situation!
No matter what kind of temple it is, there are always ghosts of those who died unjustly. But you can't overthrow the evil gods in the temple, so you can only choose to seek common ground while reserving differences. Forcing your way in won't solve any problems.
In a sense, Huangfu Song was an evil god in the great temple of the Han Dynasty.
“Yes, I share the same view on this.” Chen Xi nodded.
Well, Chen Xi's stance on this matter is quite different from Liu Bei's. He doesn't stand entirely on the side of the people. Chen Xi chose the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the principle of justice in the outcome simply because this would gain him more support from the people, make the world more stable, and thus achieve greater prosperity. But in this world, many times, actions are judged by deeds, not intentions.
Therefore, it is entirely correct for Chen Xi to say that he stands on the side of the people.
"Alas, sometimes, even when we can clearly see the signs of error, we can't take the initiative to change things." Liu Bei looked at Chen Xi with a hint of disappointment.
"Because some things actually operate on the basis of this kind of error," Chen Xi said calmly. "After all, some things are indeed based on bad ideas, but the real social environment forces them to become good things, such as what is happening in the northern border region now."
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Chen Xi speechlessly. Could the matter in the northern frontier be considered as having bad intentions?
Chen Xi smiled and said nothing. To be honest, building fences on the grasslands in the northern border region is a bad thing, at least from a realistic point of view. Well, it is a bad thing that Chen Xi is using as a model for the future, but once it is done, it is actually a good thing for the country and for ordinary people.
This kind of thing happened again in later generations, but fundamentally, the people who did it back then didn't have any good intentions. However, the social environment allowed people with bad intentions to do a good thing.
This practice of building fences on the grasslands eventually led to herders completely enclosing their land, establishing the concepts of their own pastures and public pastures.
You have to understand that in the past, all pastures were public pastures, and there were no private pastures. So, herders who owned a lot of cattle and sheep would naturally encroach on others' pastures. Well, it's not really encroachment, it's more like the natural movement of cattle and sheep. And as they ate, it naturally started to merge.
Nomadism is inherently a form of existence, not to mention that even in agrarian civilizations, land tends to flow towards landlords during feudal times.
The formation of large-scale nomadic communities on the northern grasslands followed the same logic: public pastures would naturally fall to the forces with the most cattle and sheep, and then large tribes would naturally form. What happened afterward was similar to what happened to the aristocratic families in the Central Plains.
I have become so powerful that I naturally need to absorb the surrounding areas, build up my own army, and fight against the central government. Similarly, after the Hu people in the northern frontier formed a powerful tribe, they naturally expanded outwards and began to invade the surrounding areas, thus forming a new Hu group.
This is also why the northern nomadic tribes in ancient times could not be eradicated. Just when you finally managed to wipe them out, new tribes would migrate over, eat the pastures, and then rise up again to fight you.
Similarly, this is also why it was impossible to establish prefectures and counties in the ancient northern frontier. To put it bluntly, the officials who went there were actually unable to manage the local people. When local herders had problems, they would naturally go to the person with the most cattle and horses and the strongest power in the area to handle it.
Just like most people in the Central Plains, when they have problems, they will seek mediation from local elders rather than escalate the matter to the county government and stand in court.
This behavior is caused by two factors: firstly, these forces naturally need to control the judicial and moral interpretation rights of the lower classes; and secondly, by the issue of implicit personal restraint.
However, after the pastures were fenced off in northern Xinjiang, the grassroots herders gained the concept of private property, or more accurately, permanent property.
The saying "Those who have stable property have stable minds" is a universal truth, applicable not only to the people of the Central Plains but also to the non-Han peoples.
The logic of "barefoot people are not afraid of those wearing shoes" is also based on this point. After the Hu people of the northern frontier had their own concept of pastures, and confirmed that they were protected by Chang'an and guaranteed by documents with the iron fist of the feudal imperial system, the first thing they did was to determine the location and status of their pastures. Then, they had to turn all the creatures that dared to come to their pastures to graze into their own!
That's right. If a family with many cattle and sheep dares to come to their pasture to eat grass, then it is considered an encroachment on private property, and there is a legal basis to rely on. You eat my pasture, I will eat your cattle and sheep!
After all, even those who are at the bottom and being exploited want to climb up and become superior. They were exploited by you before, but now that there are clear regulations, why should they still be exploited by you? I have the great Han Empire behind me, and I'm going to sue you!
It's hard to explain things clearly when it comes to other matters, but with this, the county magistrate can easily make a judgment, since there are real boundary markers and poles, so it's easy to clarify!
Even if the bureaucratic system has become ingrained, bureaucrats still like to do things that are easy to solve and can be counted as achievements, since they are beneficial without costing anything.
In this way, in less than ten years, the Hu tribes that should have naturally formed in the northern border region were all transformed into local people who lived off their own pastures and guarded their own pastoral areas.
After all, who would want to run around if they could live off their own ranch? And once they've confirmed that this is their own ranch, if any of the cattle or horses from the neighboring Zhang San or Li Si dare to come over and take a bite, they'll be committing a capital offense!
From a certain perspective, this system completely eradicated the roots of the Hu people in the northern frontier. As long as the government in the north can protect the private ownership of pastures, ensure the clear definition of each family's property, and prevent the largest households with the most cattle and horses from arbitrarily annexing them, then the Hu people in the northern frontier will be gone in less than two generations.
Nomadic? What a joke! Every good pasture is owned!
Do you understand the joy of some veterans, led by He Zhen and Hua Chen, using their titles to acquire 5,000 acres of the most fertile public pastures, then renting them out to locals, raising cattle and sheep while living off the rent? If it weren't for this incredible advantage, where would Hua Chen, He Zhen, and others get their glittering 5-zhu coins worth a little over 100,000 to 200,000 yuan a year?
How can you earn so much by working for them?
What are you thinking? They can only enjoy this by taking advantage of the era's benefits and the land grants that come with their titles. Moreover, they can enfeoff veterans who don't want to work and only want to enjoy the benefits to the northern frontier to acquire land, and then rent it out to the locals. It's a win-win-win situation for the country, the veterans, and the locals.
The Han dynasty resolved the foundation for the nomadic life of the northern nomadic peoples. Veterans did nothing but receive money every year. After all, the locals' cattle and horses didn't graze there, but the state-run ranches would. They were rich anyway, it was just a matter of how much. For the locals, renting the ranches of powerful figures could prevent them from being extorted.
After all, those who manage to get to the northern border ranches are basically lazy dogs who don't want to build fiefdoms. They only have a quarter of the fiefdoms in the country, so they feel they're losing out. They don't want to go abroad to build their own fiefdoms, so they find connections with Chen Xi to have the state hold the fiefdoms on their behalf. Chen Xi was speechless.
Sometimes Chen Xi felt he was too lenient, but these people could actually find someone who could talk to him and plead for mercy. Chen Xi thought there was a simple solution, so he just dealt with it. After all, since Chen Xi had been working as a yamen runner in Mount Tai since the Taishan era when he was in charge, quite a few of them were still alive!
Although most of these people can only reach around the tenth rank of nobility due to their abilities, when the holidays come and they bring some gifts to pay their respects to Chen Xi, would Chen Xi really not open the door and pretend he's not there? What a joke.
Chen Xi wasn't really heartless. In fact, he saw too many scoundrels from the aristocratic families all year round. When he occasionally saw a few stupid people from his own side, Chen Xi not only didn't think there was a problem, but he also felt that he was cultivating his character. After all, there were just too many anthropomorphic creatures from the various aristocratic families.
Damn it, after seeing the supermodel Yunqi, Hua Xin actually dared to ask Chen Xi if this should be taxed? Accumulating little by little for a rainy day, holy crap, it's already a sign of Chen Xi's good manners that he didn't smash Hua Xin's head on the spot. The problem is that most of the year, Chen Xi encounters these anthropomorphic creatures. What can Chen Xi do? Watching some silly monkeys during the New Year is not bad either.
This led to the absurd practice of the state holding a portion of the noble titles on behalf of the ruler...
After all, as someone who knew the fatal flaws of the military merit system, it was impossible for him to actually grant 7400 mu of land to a tenth-rank nobleman in the country. It was agreed from the beginning that there would be a kickback for the land reward of higher-rank nobles, which is why Tao Tong, who was a thirteenth-rank nobleman, only received a real fief of two thousand mu.
Although Chen Xi thought that 2,000 mu of land fiefdom was quite outrageous, it was actually quite a loss for the veterans under Liu Bei who stayed in China. After all, a ninth-rank noble with a fiefdom document could claim several square kilometers to hundreds of square kilometers in the south, north, and Central Asia, and one square kilometer is a full 1500 mu. So it was a loss for many veterans who stayed in China.
Moreover, most of the veterans currently staying in China are under Liu Bei's command. Although they receive compensation in terms of official positions, once people are well-fed, they always think of other things and want to get some other benefits.
Then there was this veteran, well, Wang Wu, one of Guan Yu's subordinates, who came to Chen Xi and asked if he could have 1800 mu of land granted domestically, and the remaining 5,000 mu granted abroad. He didn't even want the foreign grant to be several times larger than the domestic one; he just wanted the original 5,000 mu to be transferred abroad and enclosed.
Chen Xi asked Wang Wu, "What are you thinking? It's pointless to grant over 5,000 mu of land abroad. You're not going there anyway, so why grant it to them? If you really need land, you can just take the land grant document and claim 100 square kilometers of land abroad. Nobody will care."
Wang Wu said that he didn't actually want to go abroad to establish fiefdoms. The environment in China is so good, there's everything he needs, and life is so enjoyable. Plus, he has everything he could want, so he doesn't want to go abroad to establish fiefdoms at all. He just wants to retire in China. He likes staying at home, he likes his homeland, and he likes to act like a superior person in his hometown. So he never thought about establishing fiefdoms.
Then Chen Xi asked, "Since you don't want to be enfeoffed, why do you want to find a place to develop those 5,000 mu? You're not going there, so why are you doing that?"
Wang Wu said that he was poor, and his four older brothers had all starved to death, so he had some wasteful thoughts. In other words, even though he couldn't use those 5,000 mu of land, he still wanted it.
Chen Xi was speechless but too lazy to argue, saying it wasn't a problem. He then asked Wang Wu to go to Liu Bei and ask how many veterans had this idea.
Then, the veterans in China all have this thought—although I'm very happy that I've received so much in China, it hurts me to think that a portion of it has been withheld and I need to go abroad to get it back. So if possible, please send it to me.
However, this only involved veterans under Liu Bei's command, so in the sixth year of Yuanfeng, Chen Xi piloted a new plan, which was a simple and crude land grab in the northern frontier, with the state holding the land on his behalf.
For a 13th-rank noble title, the state will provide you with 2,000 mu of land within the country, and the remaining 6,000 mu will be allocated to the northern frontier, which the state will hold on your behalf. Based on the situation of others leasing your land this year, you will receive some money from the output. Basically, for 6,000 mu, you can receive 120,000 coins a year, which is an average of 20 coins per mu.
It's all up to the weather. You don't have to worry about anything. This is the output. If you want the state to hold the shares on your behalf, the state will hold them for you. If you don't want to hold them on your behalf and want to work as hard as Brilliance Auto, personally going to northern Xinjiang to produce silage and then selling the silage to others, earning three or four hundred thousand yuan a year, that's fine too.
Then most veterans chose to hold the money on behalf of others. Some veterans even spent four or five years just remembering to collect the money and to this day have no idea where the ranch that theoretically belonged to them is. Well, the number of such veterans is relatively small. Most veterans, after receiving the money, will go and see where the ranch that theoretically belongs to them, but which they don't have to worry about, is.
However, it was precisely because of these veterans of the rank of Grand Master and Minister that the operation of planting flags on the large ranch in this way further secured the private property of the local people in the northern frontier. There was nothing more reasonable than setting up boundary markers next to these people, since these people would not care about local forces and would only consider how much money the locals who ate my ranch would have to pay me this year.
It's said that the average price is twenty coins per mu (unit of land area), but this can fluctuate.
Therefore, if the locals really stop these de facto military leaders from making money, then the iron fist will really come down.
However, these days, the naturalized people in the northern border region are only gradually being released back into the wild. At present, the forces that own the most livestock in the northern border region are actually the major state-owned ranches. So most of the time, Chen Xi is actually distributing money to these people. Well, he found a reasonable plan that other forces think is indeed fine. Once they return to the market, the lazy dogs' lives may not be so good.
There will definitely be some locals who try to pull strings and pay less. In that case, we'll have to rely on these veterans who have come from the battlefield to strengthen control. The local magistrate might not be able to handle things due to systemic issues, but the veterans with vested interests might be able to get things done from another angle.
From a certain perspective, Chen Xi spent some money and truly achieved a win-win-win situation. Even the ecological niche of the Hu people's large tribe was occupied by the state-run super ranch. As long as the foundation of this operation is not destroyed, it will be basically impossible for nomadic tribes to emerge in the northern border region again.
Regardless of the circumstances, this approach is fundamentally a disgusting and evil policy, purely designed to harm the lower classes. But who would have thought that this evil policy, due to the outrageous exploitation under the tribal system, would become a benevolent policy and generate positive feedback at the social level?
Chen Xi naturally chose to accept this kind of thing. Whatever his true intentions were, as long as the result was good, that was enough. He could talk about pursuing his true intentions later when he had more free time.
“Zichuan, I’m sometimes really curious about how you view this era,” Liu Bei said with a touch of emotion. “Before you came along, there were many things in this world that were so bad that I felt they had to be changed. But after you came along, these things have clearly started to improve, and now they’re so good that I can hardly believe it, yet you still think they’re bad.”
"It's not that I think they're all terrible." Chen Xi chuckled dryly, indicating that he didn't think they were particularly bad. "It's just that they're not very good, and they don't meet my expectations. Unfortunately, due to my current situation, I can't make these things reach my ideal level, which is very frustrating."
Having ideals is good, and having the ability to realize them is even better. But it's frustrating when you can't reach your ideals even when you've pushed your abilities to the limit. One of the realities Chen Xi faces is that he knows how to achieve his ideals and what pieces of the puzzle he needs, but reality doesn't support him!
“Your expectations are too high. You really don’t need to be so hard on yourself. If you randomly grab any middle-aged person who lived through twenty years ago and ask them, they will all give you a positive answer.” Liu Bei said, patting Chen Xi on the shoulder. He had noticed something strange before: Chen Xi was actually in a state of indecision.
Why is this supposedly a bad policy, yet it has produced amazingly good results? You can look it up and then vote!