Steel Dynasty - Chapter 275

[Chapter 275 Household Registration Statistics]

The snow outside the attic is getting heavier and heavier, and the traces of people and carriages on the road will be covered in only a short time.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Xiao Ming tightened the tiger skin cloak around him. This tiger skin was the treasure of Lu Fei’s family, but he lost to him in the last bet.

However, he didn’t make Lu Fei too painful and gave him some money, which made him happy for a long time. After all, he had to sell the tiger skin at a good price.

“Your Highness, it’s snowing so hard. It seems like the barbarians will have a hard time again this year.” Pang Yukun looked at the silver-white Qingzhou City and felt a little worried.

Lu Luo’s words last time reminded Xiao Ming of the Little Ice Age, and now this winter, which is getting colder every year, makes him even more convinced.

He said: “Wang Xuan brought news. Just like last year, many cattle and sheep of the barbarians were frozen to death. In order to produce soap last year, the king asked the Wang family to exchange grain for the dead cattle and sheep. Now that the Wang family is gone, the barbarians can It’s uncomfortable.”

“No, these dead cattle and sheep can at most feed the barbarians for one winter, but when spring comes, the barbarians will be hungry. I have lived among the barbarians for several years, and every time this time comes, the barbarian tribes They will go deep into Dayu to plunder. “

Lu Tong’s former identity was a barbarian slave, who was bought by Liang Dahai while the barbarian cattle and sheep were freezing to death.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming said: “Although the Wang family is destroyed, the trade with the grassland cannot be cut off, and we should take this opportunity to exchange for more slaves. In this way, the barbarian slave soldiers will become more and more There will be more and more labor in Qingzhou.”

Pang Yukun nodded, “The population of the fief is indeed a problem. This re-status of household registration is really shocking.”

Last year, Pang Yukun only based on the past. The household registration records gave Xiao Ming a general figure, but after the Chinese New Year, he asked Pang Yukun to re-calculate the population of the fiefdom, only to find that the population of Qingzhou was actually only about 600,000 households.

This is because Pang Yukun only provided data from many years ago. Since the fall of Youzhou and the massacre of barbarians, many people have been killed or fled Qi.

He finally understood why the ministers did not object when Xiao Wenxuan granted Qidi to him. After all, although Qidi was not very wealthy at that time, it still had a population of one million households.

Now he understood that it turned out that these officials had already had a plan in mind.

Earlier, when Pang Yukun showed him the re-counted number of households, Xiao Ming could say that he almost collapsed at that time, because 600,000 households meant that the actual population of his fiefdom was only between 1.2 million and 200. The range of 500,000 yuan was the reason why Xiao Ming always felt that the fiefdom was a bit desolate this year.

Except for Qingzhou, he felt this sense of desolation wherever he went.

It was precisely because of this that he asked Pang Yukun to launch a refugee policy to attract refugees from the Great Chongqing Kingdom to settle in his fiefdom.

Although these refugees may be mixed, he can’t hide his illness and avoid medical treatment. After all, the real population data makes him feel cold.

This time, almost half of the population was lost. This incident was even more serious than when the barbarians attacked Cangzhou. The lack of labor force was basically equal to the lack of industrial power.

For the sake of population, Xiao Ming doesn’t care about continuing to trade with the barbarians now, because for him, the purpose of all his actions now is to strengthen himself.

Moreover, the new city wall of Cangzhou City will be completed soon. By that time, Cangzhou will be an insurmountable fortress for the barbarians. The only thing he needs to worry about is that the barbarians will attack Jizhou.

Because once the city of Jizhou is defeated, the flanks of his fiefdom will be fully exposed to the iron hooves of the barbarians. At that time, the infantry and cavalry cannot be described as sour.

Even if he already has a musketeer team by then, the barbarian cavalry will naturally flee once they are frustrated, and he will not be able to catch up. However, once the musketeer team is defeated, there will be a full-scale massacre, and they will collapse thousands of miles away.

It’s just that Jizhou is now the palace of King Yong, and Xiao Ming has no way to interfere. He can only hope that King Yong will not become a pig teammate.

“Let Liang Dahai and Li Kaiyuan continue to the grassland and exchange food for slaves.”

Xiao Ming thought a lot in an instant and became more and more determined in his thoughts.

By exchanging food for slaves, one could stabilize the barbarians for a few years and prevent the barbarians from quickly moving south. Secondly, it also weakened the barbarians in disguised form, which was his real purpose.

After the food is gone, there will be no more, but the number of slaves continues to decrease, and the impact of this on the barbarians will slowly be reflected in the future.

Pang Yukun nodded, “When I get back, let Li Kaiyuan and Liang Dahai prepare for the caravan to go to the grassland.”

After saying this, the three of them went downstairs. In the yard, he saw the fireworks sent by Lu Tong.

“Your Highness, these fireworks are still made of bamboo tubes, filled with gunpowder, copper powder, iron powder and other metal powders. After my official experimented, the fireworks sprayed out are really colorful.” Lu Tong smiled with a smile on his face.

He has never seen such beautiful fireworks.

Xiao Ming smiled and nodded. The carriers on the ground were bamboo tubes. One side of the bamboo tube was drilled, and there was a match rope inside. As long as it was lit, the gunpowder inside would spray out from one end of the fireworks, forming a beautiful fireworks.

However, unlike modern fireworks, these fireworks do not have fireworks that are thrown into the air and then explode. After all, this kind of fireworks involves the principle of blooming bombs.

Although the effect of ordinary modern fireworks cannot be seen by the whole city, these fireworks are enough for one’s own entertainment.

After all, there are very few entertainment projects in a place like Dayu.

Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year, he had to have enough fun.

Asking Zi Yuan to put away the fireworks, Lu Tong and Pang Yukun left one after another. During the New Year, the government office will also have a holiday except for those on normal duty. After a busy year, everyone can take a seven-day break.

This is also the rule of rest in Dayu.

After the two left, Ziyuan and Lulu came over and asked, “Your Highness, what should I do with the cotton-padded jackets in the textile shop? It’s the Chinese New Year, and there are so many cotton-padded jackets accumulated. This year, I will have to do a loss-making business.”

” I have already solved this problem for you,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Perhaps due to the influence of the modern Chinese New Year, Xiao Ming’s mentality will relax during the Chinese New Year.

“Solved? How?” Aster said confused.

Xiao Ming raised his head and looked at the flying snow in the sky, with a smile on his face, “If you let me take a bite of rouge, I will tell you.”

Aster and Pothos suddenly turned crimson.

Naturally, there is no such language as kissing in the country of Chongqing. The euphemism is to use the word “chew rouge”, because a woman’s lips contain rouge, so taking a mouthful of rouge means the same as kissing.

PS: Correction, Youzhou is the fiefdom of King Kang. Maybe the Battle of Cangzhou was written as King Yong in excitement. King Yong was the vassal king to the west of Xiao Ming.

(End of chapter)