Chapter 248 Half Man
"How is the progress on the grassland?"
Tian Ze looked at Pang De, Lu Bu and Li Ru.
Although Lu Bu and Li Ru will inevitably become independent in the future, and are even in a semi-independent state now, they are still Tian Ze's subordinates, so it is natural for them to come and report on their work.
Although Lu Bu was somewhat unwilling at first to have a new lord above him, he has now calmed down and adapted to the situation.
It is really comfortable to get along with this kind of "coal boss" who pays without discounts, does not interfere in one's affairs, and takes the initiative to help one solve many problems. Apart from buying some captured people, he has almost no demands.
Not to mention that he had also experienced Tian Ze's fighting strength, Lu Bu could only be convinced by this lord who crushed him in all aspects.
After getting used to it, Lu Bu even felt that it was good to have Tian Ze as a backer, as he had fewer worries.
Now he can do whatever he wants without restraint. When he has nothing to do, he would lead a few thousand wolf riders to the grassland to "collect money", or he would indulge in wine and sex, and his life is very carefree.
All matters including logistics, internal affairs, and contact with Tian Ze were handled by Li Ru, which made Tian Ze wonder at one point whether the relationship between the two was that between Lu Bu and his adviser, or between Li Ru and his General Who Conquers the Northern Expedition.
Tian Ze even secretly inquired about it. Didn't Lu Bu recognize Li Ru as his adoptive father? Li Ru was Dong Zhuo's son-in-law. Wouldn't it be a generation difference if he did so?
Although the relationship between the two was a little unclear, Tian Ze expressed his respect.
No matter who is in charge between the two of you, just work for me quietly.
Hearing Tian Ze's question, Pang De was the first to speak: "My lord, most of the Xianbei tribes have already moved westward. Now there are basically no traces of Hu people within a radius of 500 miles of the Great Xianbei Mountain. Our gains from raids every month are getting less and less."
"I estimate that after the battle in Bingzhou, the Xianbei must have suffered a great loss of strength, and it may take several years for them to recover."
Tian Ze nodded, then looked at the other two.
Lu Bu was touching his new armor out of boredom.
I have to say that the craftsmanship of Tian Ze's craftsmen is really good. This new armor is much lighter than his original one, and is even stronger.
Li Ru was not surprised at all. He simply ignored this immature lord and stepped out and said, "Envoy, our understanding of the situation is similar to that of General Pang."
"However, because the northern part of Bingzhou is relatively close to the Central Xianbei and Western Xianbei, we have gained quite a lot. We can capture about 20,000 Hulu people every month."
"The Xianbei are indeed weak now. Fengxian once tried to penetrate deep into the enemy territory alone, but the number of Hu cavalrymen who surrounded and suppressed them was only over 30,000."
Hearing Li Ru's words, Lu Bu suddenly became interested: "Sir, can you lend me Guan Hai? I want to go to Langjuxu Mountain and Yanran Mountain for a stroll, but the logistics are a bit behind."
When Tian Ze, who was sitting on the high seat, heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
After he injected spiritual energy into him and knew that he had no chance of escape, Lu Bu seemed to have let go of something and became even more detached, doing whatever he wanted.
"Wenyou, take care of your master!"
Li Ru was already used to it. He narrowed his eyes slightly, releasing a hint of majesty. Lu Bu immediately smiled awkwardly and stopped talking.
As a human being, you always have to have some dreams.
The dream of conquering the world is gone, and it is too early to divide the land and become a king, so Lu Bu wants to fulfill his childhood dream first.
Fenglangjuxu and engraved stones at Yanran, how desirable it is, but it can be considered as not having taken a trip to the northern border.
"The Xianbei population today is less than one million, and the number of soldiers under their command does not exceed 100,000. My lord, you can actually consider closing the net," said Jia Xu.
Taking over the desert, that is, the Mongolian grassland, has always been one of Tian Ze's strategic goals.
However, the desert is too vast and barren. Although the Xianbei are not a concern, completely occupying this area is much more difficult than taking over the Northeast Plain, and garrisoning there is even more difficult.
The logistical costs and operating costs are simply unimaginable.
It would definitely be a loss to operate such a place in a short period of time. Even if you could rely on resources such as meat, goat milk and wool provided by animal husbandry, it would take at least ten years to recover the investment costs.
It's not that Chen Gong and others didn't think about renting or selling the land, but all businessmen with a little bit of strength came from powerful backgrounds. There weren't many people under Tian Ze's rule, and most of their money and grain had been spent on the Northeast Plain. Who would care about this place?
As for distributing national debts to the people as collateral, the effect is actually limited. Because Mi Zhu has done this kind of operation many times, the wealth in the hands of the people is too limited after all. Even so, the desert must be taken, and as soon as possible, because it takes a long time to manage the desert and educate the Xianbei.
"In our original strategic direction, Sili must be the primary target, no doubt about it. The second is Yizhou, and then the desert."
"But given the current situation, I'm afraid Yizhou cannot act rashly. Perhaps we should take the desert first, then take Liangzhou, and finally go south to Yizhou." Tian Feng said after careful consideration.
It was inevitable to take Sili first. Not only could it cut off Cao Cao's possibility of advancing westward, it could also cut off Gongsun Zan's connection with the princes in the Central Plains and prevent Yizhou from being easily captured by Liu Bei.
However, their original second plan of taking Yizhou became somewhat inappropriate after Liu Bei took control of Jingzhou.
As discussed before, attacking Yizhou requires preparation for a protracted war on all fronts, which is too costly and risky.
Instead of doing this, it would be safer to first resolve the two unstable factors, Xianbei and Gongsun Zan, to avoid being attacked from both sides and accumulate strength before fighting this battle.
"It will probably take at least two years to take over the desert, and the logistics and the money and food consumption..." Cheng Yu glanced at Chen Gong.
Chen Gong's face turned pale.
"No money! And not enough food."
Tian Ze was slightly stunned when he heard this, and his eyes couldn't help but look at Chen Gong and Guo Yuan who was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture.
"Is there not enough food? This shouldn't be the case!"
In Tian Ze's impression, with the soil-moisturizing technique and the spiritual rain technique, the grain production under his rule was extremely abundant, and there was basically no shortage from beginning to end. How could there be a shortage of food?
Guo Yuan looked bitter, and explained: "My Lord, although the farmland under our rule is sufficient and fertile, each person can produce nearly five times more grain than during the reign of Emperor Ling."
"However, due to the continuous construction, factory construction and childbirth encouragement, the proportion of people actually engaged in farming has dropped by nearly half compared to the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Ling. Overall, the per capita grain output is only about three times that of the Lingdi period."
"Although it looks quite abundant, the people who have been under our rule for a long time have some savings. They can't just eat porridge and vegetables every day. Their living standards also need to be improved, so the per capita food consumption is much higher than during the reign of Emperor Ling."
"If that were the case, we would still have a large surplus. But we have grown too fast in recent years."
Guo Yuan let out a long sigh.
Under Tian Ze's rule, the country seemed prosperous and the people were wealthy, but they had put in too much effort behind the scenes, and even so, they could not sustain it.
Seeing that many people present didn't think much of this, Chen Gong stood up.
"Before the princes came to fight Dong, our population was only 15 million. Now, in just about four years, our population has reached more than 43 million! It is nearly three times the original number!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present suddenly woke up.
Yes! Although they only took over three states, and two of them were just taken, they have stolen a lot of people over the years.
Everyone knows that the population is increasing rapidly, but we don’t have a specific impression.
Chen Gong directly told them the data "four years", "more than 43 million", and "three times", and they immediately felt the horror clearly.
Upon hearing this, Li Ru widened his eyes in disbelief.
In four years, nearly half of the Han population was stolen!
Tian Ze is really cruel and evil!
It would have been fine if he just wanted to steal a country, but this guy simply cut off the source of the trouble and dug out half of the Han Dynasty's roots.
How cruel!
Who can afford this?
At this moment, Li Ru finally understood that his loss was absolutely not unfair.
The remaining princes can still jump around, but Tian Ze did not push them too hard in order to preserve the vitality of the Central Plains as much as possible. Sooner or later, they will end up like himself.
For a moment, he suddenly felt that being the first to leave was not a bad thing. To some extent, he had the upper hand.
(End of this chapter)
