Chapter 278 Trouble
Compared with Linbian County, Linshui County is much larger and more prosperous.
The city wall of Linshui County is more than six meters high. There is a moat nearly ten meters wide under the city wall, and there are mountains behind and on the left and right. If you want to break through the city, you can only attack from the front. Therefore, it is a good development base.
After a high-level meeting was held, Song Yan dispatched troops and horses to garrison in three county towns, leaving only 8,000 troops in the county town.
But soon, after checking Linshui County's finances, Song Yan became troubled.
At present, the state of Qi has a total of more than 26,000 soldiers, about 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, and thousands of people. The total number of soldiers and horses has exceeded 40,000.
These soldiers and horses have to open their mouths to eat, and they also have to pay the army.
However, the taxation in this era is very simple. In addition to the agricultural tax, there are only some small taxes. It can be said that the financial revenue of the county is very weak, and it cannot support 40,000 soldiers and horses. Life is very hard, and I can't even collect agricultural taxes, let alone those miscellaneous taxes.
If the 30,000 horses brought by Gu Min were to be subdued, it would have to rely on a mere Linshui County to support nearly 100,000 people, even if the tax revenue was doubled.
Therefore, we must find a way to generate income as soon as possible, otherwise, let the soldiers go hungry and wait for the troops from other countries to attack, and the soldiers under their banner will rebel.
After a little thought, Song Yan thought of two ways to increase income.
First, develop business.
Second, war.
The development of commerce is not something that can be done in a short period of time. Moreover, it is difficult for the commoners to fill their stomachs in this era. Where can they get the spare money to buy so-called commodities. Therefore, in order to develop business, it is necessary to make the commoners have enough to eat. , can make money.
As for the second way, a lot of materials can be plundered through war, but this is also a temporary solution, and as the site expands, the consumption will be even greater.
Thinking of this, Song Yan's heart moved. It's better to do this, to siege the city and grab materials, not to occupy the territory.
With a plan in mind, Song Yan invited Song Xiu.
"How are papermaking and movable type printing going?" Song Yan asked.
"Returning to the Great General, according to the papermaking process you provided, there should be three or five days left, but the movable type printing has already been done." Song Xiu answered truthfully.
"Very good, report to me as soon as the paper is made." Song Yan nodded. He wrote the papermaking and movable type printing techniques in great detail, so that anyone could make them step by step.
The raw materials for paper making are very simple. Since paper can be made in a few days, it is better to prepare the raw materials as soon as possible.
After Song Xiu retired, Song Yan called Shen Du again.
"How's the census and cultivated land measurement going?" Song Yan asked directly.
Shen Du said: "General Hui, I currently have a total of 100,000 households in Linshui County, with more than 325,600 people."
"So few?" Song Yan frowned. There are only over 300,000 people in a dignified county town. It seems that in the real world, an ordinary county town has more people than this.
However, considering that technology is backward in this era, sanitary conditions are backward, and wars are frequent, it is not bad that there are more than 300,000 people in a county.
"How many acres of arable land? How about the production?" Song Yan continued to ask.
"General Hui, Linshui County has a total of 100,000 mu of arable land. The crops grown by civilians are mainly corn, wheat and soybeans. The output of corn per mu is about 200 liters, and the output of wheat is about 220 liters. Soybeans are eighty liters a year.”
One liter is equal to 1.25 kilograms. In conversion, the yield per mu of these three crops is very low. Compared with the yield of several thousand catties per mu in the real world, it is simply weak.
The agricultural tax revenue is 50%.
And this 50% still needs to be collected in good weather. Once there is a natural disaster, it will not be collected at all.
Then calculate the consumption of soldiers.
A soldier eats one catty of corn a day, 30 catties a month, 360 catties a year, 36,000 catties for a hundred soldiers, and 3.6 million catties for 10,000 soldiers.
The 100,000 mu of arable land in Linshui County produces only 2.5 million catties of corn, and the official revenue is half, which is 1.25 million catties, plus 1.385 million catties of wheat, and 500,000 catties of soybeans, the total is less than 3 million catties. .
In other words, Linshui County could not even cover 10,000 soldiers in one year's grain tax.
But now there are 40,000 mouths, and he has to eat with Song Yan. After such a careful calculation, he realized the seriousness of the problem. It seems that after the 30,000-strong army of Gu Min is subdued this time, the plundering war must begin. , otherwise the soldiers will go hungry.
"By the way, how much food is left in the county seat?" Song Yan asked again.
"The total amount is less than one million liters." Shen Du said solemnly.
"So little?" Song Yan's brows furrowed even tighter. One million liters of grain can last for a month at most for 40,000 soldiers and horses.
After letting Shen Du go to work, Song Yan summoned Zhao Yan and asked him how much food was left in the army.
The answer he got made Song Yan more and more urgent, and the surplus food in the army was only enough to last for seven days.
That is to say, he only has thirty-seven days, and beyond this time, the army will have no food to eat.
With a thought, Song Yan took out the map of Shenzhou Continent that he had drawn by himself.
Linshui County is also a frontier city. It faces the desert in the north, Heiyan County in the south, Heiyan County is the territory of Chu State, Yi'an County in the west, which is the territory of Zhao State, and Fan County in the east, which is also the territory of the State of Zhao. The county seat of Zhao State.
"Do you know the deployment of troops and horses in Yi'an County and Fan County?"
Hearing Song Yan's question, Zhao Yan thought for a while: "There are about 6,000 people in Yi'an County, and about 8,000 people in Fan County."
"If I give you ten thousand horses, how long will it take you to attack Yi'an County or Fan County?" Song Yan looked at Zhao Yan and said.
Zhao Yan pondered and said: "The city of Yi'an County is three zhang high and the moat is five zhang deep. If you want to attack, it will not be difficult to break through in a month. Fan County is built in the valley basin, and only one thousand men and horses are needed to guard the passage, and ten thousand horses cannot. Break it!"
"In this way, you first sneak into Yi An and Fan Jun to find out how much food is in their treasury! Let's take the next step!"
"Yes!"
When Zhao Yan retreated, Song Yan went to the courtyard where he lived, and rubbed his head at the same time. There are so many troubles just managing a county. If you want to manage a country, you don't know how tired it is. Those so-called Ming Jun didn't live long, and they really had too many things to worry about.
As soon as he entered the yard, Song Yan found that the prince Jiang Dan was squatting under the supervision of the two girls in Chunhe Qiuxiang, and both of them were holding a whip. If his movements were not standard, they would be whipped.
At first, Chunhe Qiuxiang didn't dare to attack because Jiang Dan was the prince, but after being scolded by Song Yan several times in a row, she could only slap her heart.
And after smoking Jiang Dan, they found that they all had an inexplicable pleasure in their hearts. How many people in the world dared to use a whip to beat the prince.
As for Jiang Dan, who was beaten, he didn't hate Chunhe Qiuxiang, but he hated Song Yan half to death.
"I have seen the General!"
As soon as she saw Song Yan, Chunhe Qiuxiang abandoned Jiang Dan and greeted him.
Compared with a few days ago, Chunhe Qiuxiang's complexion is much better, mainly because they have meat every meal, and Song Yan also washes their hair and marrow, and teaches them a set of exercises.
After a few days, the two women have cultivated their inner strength, and Qiuxiang's aptitude is relatively high.