Chapter 672: Huge Contrast
Yecheng, suburban fields.

Yuan Shang went on a tour and stopped at the boundary of a manor.

He stood at the shaft of the carriage, holding on to the carriage with one hand to steady his body, and carefully observed the distance and nearness.

The entire manor occupies a large number of irrigated paddy fields. Under the warm spring sun, the men and women of the army are planting rice.

Outside the manor, except for a small number of fenced paddy fields, most of the rest are wheat fields, mainly spring wheat.

After standing there for a long time, Yuan Shang could not help but sigh: “With the benefits of the Zhang River for irrigation, why has it come to this?”

His attendant Li Fu stood on horseback to the side, saying nothing.

The biggest problem in Jizhou’s development is the various manors. The manors are all built by occupying good land, and either have special products related to mountains, forests and minerals, or at least have sufficient water sources.

There are three biggest problems with the manor. The first is that agricultural production is limited, and it can only produce a little surplus food for the operation of the manor, wasting land and manpower; the second is that the development of handicrafts is also mainly based on maintaining the operation of the manor.

The most important point is that it is not under the control of the government.

If the manor is larger, it will reach the level of a city.

Then the development of cities will be more balanced, unlike now when agricultural production is artificially suppressed.

Yuan Shang had already received Black Bear’s letter, but he still did not dare to reduce the number of troops guarding the border.

It was not that he suspected Black Bear, but he was worried that the opponent’s general would launch an attack without authorization.

There are not enough troops guarding the border areas, and the enemy’s generals can launch a surprise attack and expand their victory… This will encourage other generals to take risks, causing the situation to get completely out of control.

Apart from anything else, if Ma Teng and Zhang Yan joined forces to attack now.

When the war starts, Black Bear can’t just call a halt. He has to wait and see how the war situation develops and then act based on the outcome of the battle.

So many prisoners were taken away in the Battle of Chanhebi that the positions of the various manors are now very conflicted.

The manor could provide Yuan Shang with money, food, supplies and military service, but the management rights were still in the hands of the powerful, and it was impossible for them to accept the macro-adjustments of the State of Zhao.

Therefore, in a short period of time, Zhao’s national strength was no match for Qi and Guanzhong, and even Liaodong began to experience significant growth.

Sacrifice the estate for the ultimate victory?
What a joke! If you donate your manor, what will all the people in your family, young and old, eat and drink?
Preserving the manor, even if it lasts until the demise of Zhao State… means that each wealthy family can survive until that moment.

But to give is to harm others and yourself.

The more estates Yuan Shang controlled, the stronger his power became, and the forces in the country that could check and restrain Yuan Shang became weaker.

When Yuan Shang obtained all the manors, he would not be able to manage so many manors alone. Wouldn’t he then divide them among others to manage?
What is the difference between the new managers and the old ones?
Even if the new managers come from the old management group, how will these people view the old group?
As a result, Hebei’s best resources are stuck and difficult to integrate.

Yuan Shang imitated the black bear and went out for inspection. Just near Yecheng, he saw many abandoned fertile fields in the manor area.

It cannot be said that the land has been abandoned. The plan is just to plant grass to feed livestock, collect it as fuel in the winter, or to restore the land’s fertility.

In short, due to the manpower and planning limitations of the estate, many irrigated paddy fields are left abandoned.

Including the population reported by various manors, the population of Zhao State was only 700,000 households.

Although the population of the manors and the registered population of the counties and prefectures will reproduce, it is too late.

During the inspection, Yuan Shang became more and more angry.

The hundred-household system in Guanzhong is almost the same as the manor system.

The Hundred Households Office also provided military service and financial support to Black Bear. The only difference was that the centurions could be promoted, and the team officers and presidents under the centurions could also be promoted to centurions.

Those who perform well in the assessment will be promoted to the Grand Marshal’s Office and have a bright future.

Don’t the landlords have any future?
Yuan Shang inspected along the Zhang River basin. There were almost no towns or villages with registered households along the way, but all he could see were various manors.

A family only has a manor?
Don’t look down on people. Shen Pei’s family alone had nearly 20,000 followers and servants, and their large and small manors were scattered throughout Wei County. Even many small manors could only be managed by old servants.

If Shen Pei offered all of his clan estates to Yuan Shang, Yuan Shang would not be able to find so many management talents at once. It is easy to find people to collect taxes, but it is difficult to find people who have grassroots management skills and are willing to work hard.

The development of the Shen clan has also reached a bottleneck, unless they have a city that truly belongs to the family.

After two days of inspection, Yuan Shang arrived at Lieren County.

As the sun set, Yuan Shang was walking on the county wall.

Li Fu followed Yuan Shang and heard him say, “Today, the Grand Marshal is looking forward to ruling the country and the nine provinces. No one can stop him. For the sake of the officials and clans, I should follow my brother’s example.”

Li Fu lagged behind and said, “Your Majesty, Jiaozhou is a remote place. If we want to migrate, we will need 30,000 naval forces and make several trips to complete the migration.”

“too difficult.”

Yuan Shang stopped and turned to look at Li Fu: “I will not take part in this matter. You go to Liaodong to pay a visit to Lord Xuande. Combine the forces of the two navies and move the people of Jizhou and their servants to the three counties of Liaodong. This will also be a good thing for him. My brother and I will go south alone. In this way, Lord Xuande will not have any doubts.”

Every family has migrated, and now they are migrating on a large scale.

Yuan Shang didn’t think that there would be many people who would stand up to oppose him, as they only took away the soldiers and servants in the manor with them during the migration.

We should first try to relocate some people and have them take the means of production to the three counties of Liaodong. There is plenty of time now and it will be easy for them to gain a foothold.

Many manors will also be vacated, and Yuan Shang wants to try to build a Zhao version of the Hundred Households Suo.

If it works, then continue to wait and see the situation.

Seeing that the effect was not good, he increased the size of the navy, took the initiative to evacuate, and headed to Jiaozhou.

After all, Cao Cao is a father-in-law. If you give Cao Cao and the Langya Navy enough money, they will let them go.

As long as there is no strong wind, the entire fleet can still reach Jiaozhou.

He also resumed correspondence with Yuan Tan…Compared to the bitter cold of Liaodong, he yearned for Jiaozhou where the four seasons were like spring.

The three brothers gathered in Jiaozhou, and with the huge manpower and navy brought from Hebei, it was not difficult to suppress the local Han warlords in Jiaozhou, and they also had the capital to maintain a long-term separatist regime.

Now he was really tired. He believed that Black Bear didn’t want to beat him, but Black Bear’s troops really wanted to beat him and could kill him.

Victory and defeat are common in the military. The most disgusting thing is that if Black Bear’s troops start a war without authorization and are at a disadvantage, Black Bear will definitely lead the central army to assist in the battle.

So there is no hope of winning at all. Instead of this, it is better to exit with dignity.

After driving Yuan Tan away, he became a general and also the King of Zhao. He had fought for all the honors he needed to fight for.

If he didn’t leave now, everyone around him would die, and even Yuan Shao’s tomb might not be saved.

Li Fu looked at Yuan Shang’s tired face and felt that the world was unpredictable.

He had high hopes for the heroic Yuan Shang back then, but he didn’t expect a black bear to appear.

I thought that after two years of rest, I would be able to recover my fighting strength.

However, Guanzhong recovered faster, and the amount of troops that could be mobilized was difficult to estimate.

Let Black Bear make comprehensive preparations and distribute hundreds of thousands of troops to various places in Hebei in one go… At that time, in order to absorb resources and suppress Hebei for a long time, the clothing of the two counties of Hedong and Taiyuan will serve as a lesson.

The later the war was launched, the more thorough the cleansing of Hebei’s clothing and customs would be.

As Yuan Shang said, now if we migrate abroad, we can also take our capital with us and it will not be difficult to gain a foothold.

As long as the county and prefecture household registration is not affected, there will not be any drastic reaction in Guanzhong.

Anyway, what the other party wants is land, and they don’t care about the life or death of the well-off or wealthy people.

Seeing Li Fu lowering his head and looking dejected, Yuan Shang’s energy and spirit gradually faded, and his body immediately became two or three inches shorter.

(End of this chapter)