webnovelfull Chapter 492 Guan Xing and Liu Bei successively expose each other's flaws
Chapter 492 Guan Xing and Liu Bei successively expose each other's flaws
There is no such thing as decision-making incompetence in this world; if you do, it's definitely because you're poor.
Liu Bei has invested all his money in military expenses. Although he has decided to temporarily cease hostilities for a year or two, Cao Cao may not think so. If Cao Cao attacks again, he will have to be forced to participate in the war.
So he really didn't have the spare money to rebuild Jiangling City, but he couldn't just not rebuild it. After all, Liu Bei was the King of Hanzhong, and he couldn't keep working in the open forever, could he?
Guan Xing already had an idea for this, and upon hearing this, he smiled and said, "Actually, there is a way. As long as you want to do it, there are always more solutions than problems."
Liu Bei slapped the back of his head excitedly and said, "I knew you had a plan, kid! Tell me quickly!"
Guan Xing pondered, "Yu Jin's destruction of Jiangling City is not entirely without its benefits. The benefit is that it can disrupt and rebuild, and the land within Jiangling City can be replanned and redistributed. To achieve this goal, the following points need to be addressed."
"First, the land in the city was re-measured, the registered population in the city was registered, and the local population with property deeds and the migrant population without property were separated."
"Secondly, the building area of houses is stipulated. The thatched houses and brick houses of ordinary people can be slightly expanded to win the hearts of the people, while the mansions of the gentry can be appropriately reduced, and the extra land can be used for other purposes. It is equivalent to taking a cut on the original building area of the mansions of the gentry."
“After completing the population registration and land allocation, all the unclaimed land and land obtained through kickbacks should be confiscated and brought to public ownership. Then, houses should be built on the land and sold. Wouldn’t that generate more funds?”
Liu Bei was taken aback and said, "You'd really go to such lengths to take advantage of someone like this?"
Guan Xing rolled his eyes at him and said, "Didn't you ask me that?"
Liu Bei touched his nose and laughed awkwardly, "But selling the house is something that happens after it's built. Where will the money for building the house come from?"
Guan Xing retorted sarcastically, "Who said a house has to be built before it can be sold? Can't I draw up some blueprints first?"
"First, the land is measured and the population is registered to distinguish between private and public land. Then, the public land is planned in a unified manner, and after the renderings are drawn, it is sold. The money from the sale is then used to build houses."
“Now that Jiangling has been recovered and Jiangnan is unified, the gentry and officials from Bashu and Jiangdong will come here. These outsiders don’t have any property in Jiangling. If they want to work and live in Jiangling, they will have to buy or rent property.”
"There are also merchants from all over the country. Merchants who come to do business will definitely need accommodation and food, which also costs money."
"As for private housing, we encourage people to build it themselves, and we can even send a large army to help them build it. We will not charge them for their labor, as long as they provide meals for the people building the houses."
"First build houses for the common people, then build the Hanzhong Prince's Mansion and other official residences and government offices, and then build mansions for the gentry. We can also take on the work of building mansions for the gentry. As long as the gentry pays, we guarantee to build them a magnificent and beautiful mansion."
These words infuriated Liu Bei so much that he almost slapped him. He stared at Liu Bei speechlessly and said, "What do you mean? You want me, the dignified King of Hanzhong, to become a bricklayer and build houses for the gentry?"
Guan Xing chuckled awkwardly, "Making money isn't shameful."
Liu Bei wanted to kick it, but then he thought of the empty granary where rats could run, and sighed helplessly, "Alright, you first submit a memorial with a detailed plan, then select some people and get to work."
Guan Xing shook his head decisively and said, "Uncle, I'm still injured and need to rest. Can you find someone else?"
“I have no problem managing the public land after it is separated, but I will not do the trivial things of registering households and allocating land.”
Liu Bei thought it made sense. He couldn't let his nephew cause trouble all by himself, so he said, "Write down the detailed plan first, and then you'll be done with it."
"Alright..." Guan Xing got up and ran to the military camp to find Zhang Bao and Jiang Wei. He then took two super bodyguards and began to survey the terrain of the city in preparation for replanning the land.
In Guan Xing's plan, the new Jiangling City should have schools, hospitals, trading markets, and a lot of other miscellaneous things.
Given that Liu Bei was about to become emperor, and would certainly launch a northern expedition after that, it would be impossible for him to move the capital back to Chengdu. He would most likely establish the capital in Jiangling.
Once Jiangling becomes the capital, even if it is only a temporary capital, a large number of people will flood in. How can we not carefully plan and calculate the resources to accommodate an unlimited population on limited land?
After spending two whole days with Zhang Bao and Jiang Wei to familiarize themselves with the city's terrain, they spent another day writing a land exchange plan, intending to relocate all the residents living in the southeast corner to other places and leave the land in the southeast corner vacant for real estate development.
This is not the final plan, but a preliminary draft, intended to provide ideas for Liu Bei and the officials in charge. As for the final plan, it will have to wait until Liu Bei has completed the registration of the city's population and returned private land to the people, and then it will be revised based on the specific figures of private and public land.
After writing a draft plan, he threw it to Liu Bei. Liu Bei spent most of the day reading the draft, and finally picked up his pen to add another deduction to the land that Guan Xing had already embezzled.
To give a simple example, Huang Chengyan's mansion in the city occupied ten acres. Guan Xing cut off 20%, reducing it to eight acres, and Liu Bei cut off another 20%, reducing it to six acres. The extra four acres naturally went into Liu Bei's pocket.
Having already stripped Guan Xing bare, Liu Bei then threw the plan to Sun Shao and Huang Chengyan, ordering them to carry it out.
Sun Shao was an outsider who did not own property in Jiangling. The house he lived in was seized from others after Wu's army entered Jiangling. Now that Liu Bei had returned, the house he lived in should naturally be returned to its rightful owner.
Huang Chengyan, being a convict, dared not utter a word and could only grit his teeth and accept the fact that his mansion had shrunk to almost half its original size.
The two old men, on the verge of tears, took the plan, gathered their men, and started working. As they worked, they cursed Guan Xing's ancestors for eighteen generations, because this despicable plan was written by Guan Xing.
……
After returning to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang immediately summoned Chengdu officials and the gentry of Yizhou to announce to everyone the good news of Liu Bei's great victory in the Northern Expedition and Guan Xing's complete annihilation of the Wu army.
After everyone had processed these two bombshell news items, which were comparable to comets hitting the Earth, they decisively stated the purpose of their trip: to get money and supplies.
This time, the stingy gentry of Yizhou did not refuse. Instead, they readily opened their granaries and let Zhuge Liang take whatever he wanted, subtly indicating their desire to serve in the government.
Liu Bei seized the four provinces of Liang, Jing, Yang and Jiao in one fell swoop. With such a large territory, how many official positions would be needed? With so many vacant official posts, wouldn't it be no problem to give a few to the gentry of Yi Province?
There's definitely no problem. Previously, the Yizhou gentry were at the bottom of the various factions under Liu Bei's rule and were severely suppressed. But now, the Jiangdong gentry and the tainted Jingzhou gentry have joined in and replaced the Yizhou gentry in the bottom position. The Yizhou gentry have risen in rank, and the restrictions have naturally been lifted.
To give a simple example, imagine you used to be last in your class and would receive special attention from the teacher during roll call. But suddenly two students with even worse grades than you transferred to the class, raising your ranking by two places and attracting the teacher's attention. The teacher's eyes are still on the last student, but you are no longer last, so you're free, right?
The current state of the Yizhou gentry is such that, due to the expansion of their territory and the addition of the Jiangdong gentry, they have successfully transformed from targets of Liu Bei's attacks into trusted and reliable members of his inner circle. After all, Liu Bei also needs to employ people, and when he does, he considers seniority. The seniority of the Yizhou gentry is certainly greater than that of the Jiangdong gentry.
Moreover, the Han Dynasty did not have an imperial examination system. To become an official, one did not need to be a Juren or Jinshi. As long as someone recommended you, you could become an official. In other words, as long as the leader wanted you to be an official, you could become one. Under such circumstances, wouldn't the gentry of Yizhou try their best to curry favor with Zhuge Liang?
Zhuge Liang was also a man who knew the rules. He completely lifted the restrictions on the gentry of Yizhou and made extensive use of local gentry and commoners to form the Eastern Expeditionary Army. Among them were Ma Zhong, who served as the county magistrate of Hanchang County in Bazhou Commandery, and Zhang Yi, who was recruited as a provincial official for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion.
Zhuge Liang had not yet received news of Sun Quan's surrender. He was worried that Liu Bei would be tied up by the Wei army and unable to reach Jiangling in time. He was also worried that Liu Bei's inability to reach Jiangling would lead to further changes in Jiangling. Therefore, after gathering enough men to form 20,000 troops, he ordered Li Yan to transport supplies and personally led the army to rush to Jiangling.
After many days of trekking, they finally emerged from the Three Gorges and entered the Yiling Mountains. They immediately sent men to scout out the situation in Yidao City in preparation for a strong attack. However, the scouts reported that Han flags had already been planted in Yidao City.
Zhuge Liang was overjoyed and sped up his journey to take over Yidao City.
Upon entering the city and learning from the garrison that Sun Quan had surrendered and Liu Bei had successfully arrived and taken over Jiangling, Liu Bei was no longer in a hurry. He ordered the army to rest in Yidao City while sending the news back to Chengdu to boost morale. He also made some simple adjustments to various affairs in Yizhou before leading the army to Jiangling at a leisurely pace.