Chapter 184 Siege

Er Gouzi felt that Xia Mingyuan was really petty, wasn't he just a county guard?

If it weren't for the fact that it's hard to deny kindness and hard to disobey the king's orders, the two dogs wouldn't be shy about it.

He cultivated the land well, and it was not like he had no food to eat, nor was he without spiritual stones or elixirs.

Now, because of such a position as a county guard, the Xia family has been offended.

Facing General Xia's military order, Ergouziren was under the roof. He had no choice but to obey it despite being unhappy in his heart.

He discussed with Huang Laocai and found that there are still only more than 30,000 people in Sanyang County.

Most of them are poor people who have migrated here in the past few months.

If 50,000 shi of grain were levied from these people, which is more than one shi per capita, it would be more painful than cutting their flesh. They might all run away just after they settled in.

Er Gouzi planned to spend some money this time and transfer 50,000 shi of grain directly from the warehouse without collecting it from the common people.

As for recruiting 500 civilians, it would be easier to handle.

Most poor people don't cherish their lives very much. If they are given some money, they dare to risk their lives, not to mention that it is not necessary to die to be a civilian husband.

Ergouzi was afraid of scaring away the newcomers, so he did not forcefully recruit people this time and asked Huang Laocai to issue a notice.

Recruit 500 civilians, and each person will be compensated with ten stones of grain until the recruitment is full.

As soon as the notice was posted, a large group of people immediately came to sign up, and it was full within a few days.

Those who came late did not register their names, so they could only beat their chests and feel annoyed.

When Ergouzi handed over the 50,000 shi of grain and 500 civilians to Xia Ji, the other party made things difficult for him in every possible way.

After spending some more benefits, he finally sent the person away.

Since the new official Ergouzi took office, he has not gained any money from the people. Instead, he has lost a net loss of 55,000 shi in food.

After losing so much, we can only grow more land to compensate for the loss.

Now, most of the land in Sanyang County is in his hands, and he can harvest millions of stones of grain a year.

However, the most lacking thing now is population, as there is no one to farm.

In terms of attracting the population, currently we can only learn from Ding Laomo.

Put out Mr. Qingtian's sign, and naturally many people will flock here like moths to a flame.

Such detailed chores were all left to Huang Laocai, so Ergouzi didn't need to worry much.

With Huang Laocai's shrewdness, he might be able to do better than Ergouzi.

"Huang Laocai, can you write a memorial?"

Ergouzi planned to write a memorial to request Emperor Longxingsheng to exempt Sanyang County from taxes and corvees.

But after thinking about it, I have never written anything like this before, and it is not in the book. I don’t know how to write it.

"Oh, sir, you've offended me. I'm just a small landowner in the countryside. I've never even seen him, let alone written about him."

Huang Laocai repeatedly begged for mercy. As a rich man, he had no right to touch such a thing.

Ergouzi found that he didn't have any talents in this field, so he had to write it himself.

I locked myself in my room and struggled for several days, and finally wrote a crooked memorial.

After sealing it, give it to Huang Mancang and ask him to deliver it to the capital in person. First find Sima Yi and ask Sima Yi to help deliver it.

At present, the only person under my command who is qualified for this mission seems to be Huang Mancang.

There are still too few talents.

The journey from Sanyang County to the capital was very fast, and it would take at least two or three months to go back and forth.

After Ergouzi arranged all the chores, he began to practice in seclusion.

This time I got a large amount of Xuanyuan Dan, but I haven't had time to take it yet.

It used to take him five days to refine a Xuanyuan Pill after taking it, but now that his cultivation level has improved, it only takes three days to refine one pill.

After practicing for a month, I refined 10 Xuanyuan Pills, and my cultivation level skyrocketed.

The Dantian sea, which is more than two feet wide, is already filled with nearly half of the pool of mana liquid.

If you advance your cultivation a little further, you can break through to the middle stage of foundation building.

Ergouzi practiced for a month and when he came out of seclusion, Huang Laocai came to report to him again.

"Sir, we have a problem recruiting people."

"What's the problem?"

He remembered that it was easy for Ding Laomo to recruit people before.

As long as the Qingtian Master's sign is displayed and the land rent is reduced by a few dou, the government servants will have a better attitude.

The people were rushing here in a hurry.

"Several counties around us have strictly restricted the movement of people out. Violators will be severely fined and even beheaded in public."

"They also sent government officials and soldiers to patrol everywhere and not allow residents to move."

"Qingzhou has a sparse population, so it is reasonable for them to restrict population migration."

Ergouzi said this, but he was wondering in his heart, when did the officials in the surrounding counties become so diligent?

"Not only do they restrict the local population, but they also set up traffic jams for the people we brought in from other states and stopped them from passing through."

Huang Laocai added.

"Several surrounding counties not only strictly check the migrant population, but also impose heavy taxes on the vendors passing through, making things difficult in every possible way."

This seems to be excessive. It is obviously a deliberate attempt to limit the population growth of Sanyang County and let Ergouzi guard an uninhabited Sanyang County as the bare commander.

Then controlling the entry and exit of goods, Sanyang County was completely trapped in their siege.

If several surrounding counties can take action at the same time, it is natural that the Xia family is causing trouble behind it.

Hearing this, Ergouzi pondered for a long time, thinking about ways to break the situation.

What is most lacking now is population, as large areas of land are left uncultivated.

"From today onwards, each person who has migrated will be given one stone of food and shelter allowance."

"One stone? So much?"

Huang Laocai was a little bit unbelievable.

If the population of Sanyang County is restored to the hundreds of thousands before, it will take hundreds of thousands of stones of grain.

This is a huge amount.

"Yes, let's arrange it this way."

Er Gouzi remembered that there were more than 1 million stones of ordinary grain at the foot of Shekou Mountain.

Compared with the annual income of millions of stones of land rent, the cost of paying hundreds of thousands of stones at a time is not high, it is very cost-effective.

Sure enough, when Huang Laocai spread the news, the people in the surrounding counties couldn't stop it.

They dragged their families, crossed mountains and ridges, and took a detour to Sanyang County.

Huang Laocai, on his side, honestly followed Er Gouzi's instructions, and as long as the person was still alive, he would send one stone of grain.

The news spread farther and farther, and such shocking news could not be stopped at all.

In some areas with a large population and little land and high land rent, many people traveled thousands of miles to settle in Sanyang County.

After such a toss, we finally saw an endless stream of people pouring into Sanyang County.

Ergouzi breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone was farming the land.