Chapter 363 The Great Escape of the Farmers
Ma Su gave all the farmers a choice, leaving them to continue to be farmers for Cao Wei. Or maybe they moved south to Nanyang. The Shu Han Dynasty has passed the Land Equalization Act, and the ownerless land will be allocated to the people for farming.
Moreover, the policies of Shu Han were much better than those of Cao Wei, at least they would not treat the people in the fields as human beings.
Although during the Three Kingdoms era, all three countries carried out farming strategies, their specific implementation was different.
For example, Cao Wei had a slave-type farming system that did not regard the people in the farming areas as human beings at all. All the people who were forcibly moved to farmland had no freedom at all and were exploited to the extreme by the government.
Therefore, the story of Cao Cao cutting off his hair to replace his head can only exist in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In history, there is no such thing as Cao Mengde cutting his hair and taking his place as the head to establish military discipline. More often than not, Cao's army burned, killed, and looted wherever they went, and then the refugees were packed up and moved back to their own territory to work as farmers.
Why did Cao Wei's economy become barter-for-barter, but the government remained as stable as Mount Tai? It is precisely because of the existence of a large number of farm estates in the Guandong region that a steady stream of blood transfusions were given to Cao Wei. Even if the economy collapses, Cao Wei will still not fall if the fundamentals are not in chaos.
If the Shu Han had hundreds of thousands of farmers all over the country who were exploited at will, the Shu Han would not be poor. Even when Prime Minister Zhuge went on the Northern Expedition, he dispatched more than that amount of troops.
In contrast, the Shu Han side seemed much more humane. Since Liu Bei began to farm in Xinye, he basically just distributed land to the refugees and opened up wasteland for production under the initiative of the government.
Taxes are not strict either. Generally, there is a tax of one out of five, which leaves room for survival for the grassroots people.
Liu Bei's benevolence was also passed down by word of mouth in Guizhou under such a series of policies.
After the Shu Han regime was established, it also followed the policies of the late emperor. From the organization of common people to farm to Ma Su's land equalization method, most of them left a way for the ants of this era to survive.
Therefore, Ma Su directly issued preferential policies and advertised them widely to all refugees. As long as you are willing to go to Nanyang, we promise to provide land and policies and will not let you starve to death.
Ma Su's notice immediately informed all the newly released camp residents, which triggered a controversy among the group of camp residents.
The people who had been forcibly moved from Jingzhou didn't hesitate and packed their bags to go with the Han army. Not only is his hometown in Jingzhou, but also because the Han army is Liu Bei's people, and they can trust this former new wild animal husbandry.
However, many people whose hometowns are in the north are hesitant and subconsciously resist the move.
After all, in this era, migration is a technical job, similar to random shooting. Especially moving through a war zone and traveling hundreds of miles is even more risky.
The people in Jingzhou are willing to go back because their hometown is there, but the people in the north have been stationed here for 20 or 30 years and are already familiar with the local environment. Under such circumstances, if they are allowed to move to the south, many people will not be willing to do so even if they are offered a slightly higher salary.
Ma Su also discovered this problem after receiving the report below. After pondering for a while, Ma Di decided to explain it to these people in person.
Then Ma Di, with only a few guards, appeared openly and openly in front of the people in each farm, and personally held a loudspeaker and shouted to the people.
"Dear fellow villagers, I am Ma Su, the general of the Han Dynasty conquering the north. I have led the troops here under the orders of the emperor. I will attack the unjust, punish the rebels, and restore the Han Dynasty Sheji Ancestral Temple to rectify the destiny of heaven."
"Today, my army has arrived in Yingchuan, with the purpose of destroying the farmland manor of the puppet Wei. You have been rescued and will no longer be oppressed by the Wei army. If possible, I hope to occupy this place so that you will not be troubled by relocation."
"But now our Han Dynasty is still short of troops and unable to establish a foothold in Yingchuan. But the Tuntian Manor has to be destroyed and cannot be left to the puppet Wei, so I have to trouble you fellow villagers."
"Anyone who is willing to follow my Han army back to the south is welcome. I, Ma Di, swear on my reputation and my head that if a commoner is bullied by the army when he returns to the south and fails to redress his grievances, I will kill myself immediately to apologize!"
"General Han, we all have family business here. If we go to the south, I'm afraid..." In response to Ma Su's explanation, some people stood up and shouted, hoping to get Ma Su's response.
Ma Su was not indifferent to this, he immediately cupped his hands and replied calmly,
"If you don't want to return south, I won't force you, but you still need to pack some food and flee elsewhere. Our army will soon fight the Wei army here, and I don't want it to affect the people."
Ma Di personally appeared on the field and explained to these Guizhou leaders what the Han army was going to do next. Although many people who were unwilling to leave were still reluctant, they heard that there was going to be a war in Yingchuan, so they had no choice but to find a place to hide.
Of course, there are also some ambitious people who call on the villagers to gather in the mountains and forests to fight against the bastard Cao Wei.
As for the people who were willing to leave, Ma Su tried every means to protect them and cover the people returning south from Yingchuan.
Under Ma Su's various strategies, tens of thousands of farmers near Yingyang broke through the shackles of the manor and began their great escape. Most fled south on a large scale, and some fled to other places. There are basically few who are willing to stay and continue to be oppressed by Cao Wei.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the large number of people who were willing to follow the return south, many Cao Wei soldiers even asked to join the Han army directly. After all, they had been bullied for so many years, and these farmers had long been angry with Cao Wei.
Before, it was because you, Cao Wei, had a big fist, and I had a family, children, and weaknesses that I dared not resist. Now the Han army, which is not inferior to you, Cao Wei, has come out, and there are also a lot of people who hope to fight Cao Wei.
For these, Ma Di directly accepted them all, and those who were willing to defect were collected on the spot and then sent to Liu Yin for collective reorganization. In just a few days, tens of thousands of people in Cao Wei and Yingyang were lost!
Ma Su then continued his efforts and quickly led his troops southward, successively harassing Fanchang, Linying, Yingyin and other places, and wreaked havoc on the local Cao Wei farm estates. In less than half a month, the Han army released more than 100,000 people from the farmland, and a large number of people began to find ways to move south.
Even in some places, the Han troops did not need to arrive before they started to rebel.
For example, in Changshe north of Xuchang, Sun Hu, a commoner, attacked and killed the county magistrate, leading more than 10,000 farmers to rebel. In Yingchuan, there were countless people who fled because of the rebellion, and there were also many people who responded to Ma Su's troops.
When Cao Rui went on a personal expedition and led the 20,000 Yulin Army of the Central Army from Luoyang to Xuchang, he was almost overwhelmed by the battle reports he received.
"Your Majesty! The thieves of Changshe killed the county magistrate and caused chaos, and Ma Di was attached to the south!"
"Your Majesty, tens of thousands of bandits from the Chen Kingdom are causing rebellion and responding to the Shu army's strength!"
"His Majesty……"
"Shut up, everyone!" Cao Rui's face changed a bit with anger, and he suddenly interrupted everyone's report,
"You have been fighting on the front line in Yingchuan for so long. Is there even a piece of good news that makes me feel relieved?"
Immediately, there was a dead silence in the palace, and no one was embarrassed to speak. Everyone shrank their heads tightly, for fear of meeting Cao Rui's eyes.
"Okay, okay! You are all my loyal ministers, and you all do things like this!" Cao Rui's eyes were full of anger, and he was obviously very dissatisfied with the current situation.
"So, in the face of Ma Su's destruction in Yingchuan and the destruction of my Da Wei's farmland? And none of you even have a way to restrain it?"
"Your Majesty, it's not impossible."