There are many rivers south of the Huai River, but that is only generally speaking.
For each village and each piece of land, there may be no river, or the river may be separated by a mountain, making it inconvenient to irrigate purely with river water.
Nanqin County was run by Zhu Xiang, who built many canals and water wheels, which were barely enough to cope with spring ploughing.
After the establishment of the Southern Chu Kingdom, the King had no time to care about agricultural production, and only relied on the natural richness of the Jianghuai Plain to collect taxes. The original water conservancy projects in the Jianghuai Plain were also abandoned during the civil war.
Zhu Xiang anticipated a spring drought and urgently repaired some water conservancy projects in the winter, but this was far from enough to solve the spring drought crisis in the Jianghuai Plain.
Zhu Xiang could only keep the fields close to water sources with good irrigation conditions. For the remaining fields with poor irrigation conditions, he taught farmers to set aside some of the fields to plant more drought-resistant crops and beans.
Farmers have their own ideas about how to grow crops, and the people of Southern Chu do not trust Qin enough. Zhu Xiang can only make suggestions, but cannot force them to grow anything. If he forces them to grow crops, it will definitely arouse resentment among the people.
Zhu Xiang was anxious. Ying Xiaozheng thought this was a good thing.
Now, after last year's autumn harvest, the granaries in Nanqin County are full again, so Nanqin is not under much pressure on food.
Although the farmers in Southern Chu were very poor, the nobles in Southern Chu had many granaries in their homes.
Because Bai Qi, the Lord of Wu'an, fought so smoothly, the Southern Chu Kingdom did not consume too much military rations. The food stored by the Southern Chu Kingdom alone could cover the famine relief this year. Then, it would be just right for those hungry people to repair canals and roads.
Now that the Southern Chu Kingdom has been conquered, Ying Xiaozheng can send people to repair the Han Canal that was destroyed by the Southern Chu King, so that the Huai River and the Yangtze River can be opened to navigation as soon as possible.
Inland air travel is much safer than sea travel and has a much lower cost.
Even if sailing along the coastline, seagoing ships may still encounter strong winds and waves. In order to withstand the waves, seagoing ships are much larger than inland ships and have different structures. Li Mu can only drive a warship along the coastline. Inland waterways only require a small boat to carry goods and people.
Having served as a local official for so many years, Ying Xiaozheng does not have as much prejudice against businessmen as the great Ying Zheng in the dream.
Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce is a necessary measure.
Only by tying people to the land can it be easier to collect taxes and impose labor service.
Moreover, merchants are not only prone to tax evasion and labor service evasion, but they will also do anything for profit. They are a destabilizing factor in society, so they must be suppressed.
But suppressing businessmen does not mean prohibiting business.
After the Qin State became the Qin Dynasty, the world was so vast that it would be inconvenient for the court to manage if every city or place closed itself off.
The various places exchanged what they had and what they needed, and collected checkpoint taxes, city gate taxes, and market taxes, which not only increased the court's revenue, but also strengthened communication between the various places and allowed them to establish the idea of "I am a Qin person."
Ying Xiaozheng came up with this idea himself.
When Ying Xiaozheng and Zhu Xiang mentioned this idea, Zhu Xiang slapped his head and remembered that he had not taught Ying Xiaozheng any knowledge about business. Although he didn't know much, a casual chat about the views of later generations on business should help Ying Xiaozheng broaden his horizons.
If businessmen make too much money, it is easy for them to collude with officials and become local tyrants.
Ying Xiaozheng is still trying to figure out how to open up business while restricting merchants.
He rarely wrote to Lu Buwei to seek his advice.
When Lu Buwei saw the letter from the prince, he did not hesitate at all and immediately gave advice, each of which was aimed at the lifeblood of the merchants.
As a former wealthy businessman, who knows better than him what businessmen fear
As for whether these measures will dismantle my family's industry, that's a joke. I, Lu Buwei, am now a minister. What do I have to do with wealthy merchants
Ying Xiaozheng continued to digest the land of Southern Chu step by step.
When the harvest in the Jianghuai Plain fails and the people of Southern Chu realize that they will suffer if they do not listen to Lord Changping, Southern Chu will quickly become the Qin State. A small, controllable famine in the Jianghuai Plain is a good thing for Qin's rule in the Jianghuai Plain.
Ying Xiaozheng is now waiting for that group of people to cry.
Zhu Xiang and Xue Ji were busy in various places, hoping to minimize the disaster.
Whether it is the people of Southern Qin or the people of Southern Chu who have not yet fully returned, they do not want too many people to starve to death.
When the Jianghuai Plain and Southern Qin County successively suffered spring droughts of varying degrees, the spring drought in the heartland of Qin State was even more severe.
Although the Qin State had built many water conservancy facilities in Guanzhong and Guandong since King Zhaoxiang of Qin began to recuperate, watching the river water level drop little by little, even people who don't understand farming know that this year will be a bit difficult.
However, the King of Qin and the Prime Minister, who were at the highest position in the temple, understood that if the harvest was poor this year, the most difficult time would be next year.
The conditions of granaries and spring plowing in various places were piled on the desk of Prince Chu of Qin. Even Xunzi, who usually only took care of education and etiquette, sat down next to Prince Chu and kept reading reports on disasters from various places.
Although the Qin State responded promptly, the damage caused by the natural disaster could only be alleviated but not completely eliminated.
The war between Han and Zhao on two fronts consumed a large amount of Qin's grain reserves.
Although the army has now established farming on the spot, the effect is not good due to the spring drought, and the Qin State still needs to continue to provide food to the army.
Furthermore, the counties of Zhao State were all located in relatively arid areas.
Yanmen County was directly managed by Li Mu and Xinling Jun, and its irrigation measures could barely cope with the spring drought. Yunzhong County and Jiuyuan County were not only indirectly managed by Li Mu and Xinling Jun, but also had poor irrigation conditions and even less rainfall, so they always needed food support from the hinterland of Zhao.
Now that Qin has taken over these two counties, it must supply grain to them on behalf of Zhao.
Otherwise, if famine occurred in the two counties, even if the two counties were disappointed with King Zhao because of the death of General Sima Shang, they would rebel again.
Compared with the food gap in Zhao County, Han's tiny territory is nothing.
"I didn't expect that the land we conquered would become a huge burden." Qin Wang Zichu pressed his forehead and said, "Has the situation in Shu County not been reported yet?"
Just as Prince Chu of Qin was asking this question, someone came with new documents.
Shu County and Xianyang were separated by mountains. Li Bing's documents arrived more than a month later than those of other county governors, but they finally arrived.
Qin Wang Zichu immediately opened Li Bing's document and breathed a sigh of relief: "There is no spring drought in the Chengdu Plain, and there is enough food. More food will be transported this year."
Cai Ze, Xunzi and Lin Zhi also breathed a sigh of relief.
Ba County is mostly mountainous and relies on the mountains for food, so we cannot expect them to provide food, but they are small in number and can basically be self-sufficient.
Not only did Shu County not suffer any disaster, it was also able to grit its teeth and offer more grain to alleviate the urgent need.
Cai Ze said: "Nanqin County is not a problem either. Zhu Xiang said that if Nanqin County had not been hit by a flood, 50% more food could have been transported..."
Before Cai Ze finished speaking, Prince Chu of Qin interrupted him in surprise, "Where did he get 50% of the food?! Didn't he say that Li Mu was always asking for food, and that Wu'an Jun's attack on the Southern Chu State also consumed a lot of food. Is there no more food?"
Cai Ze said: "That's what he said. Since he said yes, then yes."
Lin Zhi smiled bitterly: "Isn't there also a spring drought there? How can there be an extra 50%? Where did this 50% come from?"
Xunzi thought for a moment and said, “Perhaps even if it suffers from the disaster, the Jianghuai Plain under the governance of the Crown Prince and Zhu Xiang can produce several times more grain than the Jianghuai Plain under the governance of the Southern Chu State.”
Qin Prince Chu thought about what Xunzi said for a while and said, "It's probably because the feudal lords of Southern Chu eat less, so there is more food."
The Jianghuai Plain had long been developed to perfection, and produced more grain than the traditional Central Plains. Although the water conservancy was basically abandoned, the foundation was there, there was no war or excessive corvee labor, and there were people to guide farming. As long as the harvest was not lost, the grain produced should be quite a lot.
The feudal lords of Southern Chu also stored a lot of grain. Now that the feudal lord of Southern Chu is gone, Ying Xiaozheng is "well fed".
Cai Ze said: "To be able to get 50% more food out of nowhere, it seems that the prince has been very ruthless towards the nobles of Southern Chu."
Qin Wang Zichu said indifferently: "Just don't let them pile up the food until it gets moldy. They will definitely be able to eat their fill every day."
Xunzi, Cai Ze and Lin Zhi all nodded in agreement.
"With the Crown Prince and Zhu Xiang, we don't have to worry about the land in the south." Qin Wang Zichu was completely relieved. "Just get through this year, and everything will be fine next year."
People hope so too.
There should be no famine this year. As long as the weather is good and the harvest is good next year, Qin will be able to recover immediately.
Summer has come in a flash, and rainfall has finally increased in various places.
The farmer breathed a sigh of relief.
Thanks to these rains, the harvest in Nanqin County and the Jianghuai Plain will not be completely wiped out.
Zhu Xiang counted the harvest in Southern Qin. The grain was only 20% less, and with the famine relief crops, the actual grain harvest might be more than in previous years.
The famine relief crops were not durable and could only be used as food for farmers. Zhu Xiang collected the same amount of grain as in previous years, so that farmers could eat the famine relief crops for the first few months and save the grain for paying taxes.
But Zhu Xiang's plan was defeated by Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng collected 10% more tax.
"This year's harvest is passable. If the harvest is poor next year, it won't be as good as this year. We need to collect more food and store it." Ying Xiaozheng insisted, "The famine relief crops can be eaten sparingly for two months, so they don't need to keep too much grain."
Zhu Xiang thought that in the climate south of the Huai River, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins would probably rot after two months of storage.
But in the end he compromised.
This country eventually belonged to Ying Xiaozheng, and Ying Xiaozheng's talent in governing a country was much better than his.
Zhu Xiang knew that his modern concept of governing the people would not work in this era. As long as his bottom line was not touched and the taxes collected were so high that people starved to death, he would not interfere with Ying Xiaozheng's policy of governing the country.
This was the first time in many years that Nanqin County had increased taxes, but the farmers had no objections.
Everyone knew that Qin was at war, and war would certainly lead to more taxes.
It is strange that taxes have been so low and corvée labor so light for so many years.
Besides, they still had pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and potatoes to eat. Although eating these things made them full quickly and hungry quickly, they felt full every day and felt that their lives were similar to those of previous years.
Ying Xiaozheng only collected 10% more taxes in Nanqin County. The Jianghuai Plain was more severely affected by the disaster than Nanqin County, but he collected 10% more taxes than Nanqin County.
When the Southern Chu State was founded, many new feudal lords were appointed. In order to support these nobles, they levied a lot of taxes. Even in years of famine, they never reduced taxes.
Now Ying Xiaozheng distributed the feudal lord's land to the common people and self-cultivating scholars. Although the tax collected was 10% more than that in Nanqin County, it was much lower than in previous years. There was no feudal lord as a middleman to make a profit. Everyone in Nanchu accepted it well and even shed tears of gratitude.
When some people learned that the taxes in Southern Qin were lower, they did not feel that it was unfair.
If common people begin to have the idea of fairness, that will be the time when the world will be in chaos.
However, Ying Xiaozheng deliberately spread the news in the Jianghuai Plain that the Southern Qin County had more food to eat because they listened to Changping Jun.
After paying taxes, the farmers in the Jianghuai Plain were barely able to avoid starvation and thought they were living a good life.
When some people around them listened to Changping Jun's advice and planted famine relief crops that they were not familiar with, and ate one more bite of food than them every day, they felt even more unbalanced.
This time, Zhu Xiang again instructed them on summer planting. They were all very obedient and did whatever Zhu Xiang said.
They also listened carefully when the Qin official taught them the Qin laws.
In the past six months, Ying Xiaozheng has arrested many people who violated Qin laws. In particular, the families of scholars and retainers who were originally attached to the nobles of Southern Chu were all sent to repair canals and roads, and many people died of exhaustion.
If you are obedient, you won't starve to death, and if you are lucky, you may even be able to eat half a full meal occasionally; if you are disobedient, even for the smallest mistake, you may be caught and forced to repair canals and roads, so the people of Nanchu are all well-behaved.
Ying Xiaozheng allowed those who were able to farm to continue farming, and all the nobles who were dissatisfied were framed with crimes and sent to forced labor.
The nobles of Southern Chu found out that they had been deceived and that Qin did not guarantee their rights after surrendering, so they plotted a rebellion.
Ying Xiaozheng supported the side branches of the great nobles of Southern Chu to be officials, and then, with the help of internal and external forces, he waited for them to form connections and uprooted them.
He gave one-third of these noble families' property to the side branches that were originally on the margins and had almost nothing, making them the direct descendants, and confiscated the rest.
The nobles of Southern Chu were in mourning. But because the "family" itself still existed and even served as an official in Qin, when the news spread to the other five countries, it did not attract the attention of the nobles of the five countries.
Ying Xiaozheng began to demonstrate his "imperial skills".
Just because he despises South Korea for focusing only on "techniques" doesn't mean he doesn't use "techniques".
Ying Xiaozheng used one faction to fight against another, and treacherously tormented all the nobles who surrendered from the Southern Chu State, but he did not yet have a reputation for being too harsh.
"Power", "law", "skill" and "benevolence" complement each other. Ying Xiaozheng has already explored his own way of being an emperor in practice.
Zhu Xiang just focused on farming, and even though he felt a little reluctant, he did not stop Ying Xiaozheng.
Many of the Southern Chu nobles whose families were destroyed had actually done nothing wrong. They cooperated well with the Qin's governance and did not bully the people there. They could even be called good people with high moral character and high respect.
If Zhu Xiang were in charge, he would definitely strictly distinguish the "crimes" of the Southern Qin nobles and handle the matter more carefully so as not to affect too many innocent people.
But Ying Xiaozheng's goal is to affect more people.
In order to achieve the goal of completely destroying the aristocracy of Southern Chu and replacing them with his own people, Ying Xiaozheng did not care whether these people were innocent or not.
He doesn't care at all whether there are people who died unjustly.
He doesn't care at all whether the people he supports are good people.
He even deliberately replaced a group of good people with both virtue and morality with some bad guys who were willing to kill for money as family heads, because the reputation of the good nobles of the Southern Chu State who were both virtuous and kind was too high.
The child raised by Zhu Xiang will never be like him.
Zhu Xiang had accepted this fact a long time ago, so when Ying Xiaozheng showed his coldness and calculation, Zhu Xiang took the initiative to avoid him.
He buried his head in the fields, making the land grow more food. This was the only thing he could do all the time without conflicting with anyone.
At the end of June and the beginning of July, heavy rains finally came to the Yangtze River Basin.
Although Zhu Xiang reinforced the river bank in advance, he was unable to stop the flood peaks that were getting higher and higher.
At that time, the Yangtze River Basin had not yet been fully developed, which became an advantage. The flood discharge channels prepared in advance by Zhu Xiang saved the important cities and grain-producing areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
By mid-July, the floods in the Yangtze River Basin had passed and various areas began to replant crops.
Another typhoon hit the area near the Yangtze River estuary, and even Wucheng was affected, killing many people.
Fortunately, the typhoon was over in a few days, so there was still time to replant.
Nanqin County barely survived this summer's disaster and entered the normal process of summer planting.
The Jianghuai Plain also suffered heavy rainfall, the Huai River surged, and even Shouchun City was severely flooded.
Ying Xiaozheng secretly sent people to the other side of the Huai River, and when the rain stopped occasionally, they used explosives to blow up the north bank of the Huai River. The south bank of the Huai River survived the flood, but the north bank of the Huai River suffered heavy losses.
The State of Chu also wanted to follow suit and attempted to destroy the dam on the south bank of the Huai River.
But Ying Xiaozheng was well prepared, and the Chu army's efficiency in carrying the goods on their shoulders and hands was too low, so they were always discovered by the patrolling Qin army and never succeeded.
When the flood season of the Huai River was over, the state of Chu was littered with corpses and plagues, like hell on earth.
Many Chu people wanted to go south to survive. In order to prevent the disease from spreading, Ying Xiaozheng bribed the Chu general and cooperated with him to prevent the Chu people from crossing the Huai River and blockaded the north bank of the Huai River.
Ying Xiaozheng had contained the epidemic on the other side of the Huai River without getting his hands dirty, so all the bad reputation fell on the State of Chu.
But even though the King of Chu and the ministers around him knew Qin's trick, they could do nothing about it and could only follow the path planned by the Crown Prince of Qin.
If the Huai River is not blocked, a large number of Chu people will move south, and the number of common people in their country will be greatly reduced.
The land of Chu State was now only north of the Huai River. Even though its area was similar to that of the other four states, a lean camel was still bigger than a horse, but it was much smaller than before.
Furthermore, without the buffer zone of Southern Chu, Chu and Qin were separated only by the Huai River, and the long border line made the Chu people feel desperate.
Even the fact that the Crown Prince of Qin sent people to destroy the embankment on the north bank of the Huai River was tacitly approved by the top leaders of the Chu State.
Only by making the Huai River "wider" and turning the northern bank of the Huai River into a wilderness would it be easier to stop the Qin army's attack.
This kind of thing was also done by some dynasties in later generations.
Ying Xiaozheng successfully preserved the Jianghuai Plain by using the northern bank of the Huai River as a flood diversion area.
The Jianghuai Plain has also entered the normal replanting process and started preparing for the autumn harvest.
It was not so easy in the Qin State's heartland, Guanzhong and Guandong areas.
Compared with the two crops per year south of the Huai River, there is more room for error. In Guanzhong and the Guandong Plain, crops are harvested once or twice a year, and only a very small amount of land can be harvested twice a year. Once a problem occurs in the middle, it is difficult to make up for it.
The Huai River and the Yangtze River are both experiencing flooding, but there is still little rainfall in the Wei River basin.
By the time of autumn harvest, Qin's taxes had been reduced by at least 50%.
After barely supplying Jiuyuan County, Yunzhong County and Yanmen County, Qin's granaries were almost empty.
The food supply from Shuzhong, Southern Qin and Southern Chu alleviated the urgent need, but the food in the granaries this year can only barely last until next summer.
If there is another disaster next year, there will be famine in Qin.
Zhu Xiang felt a little desperate when he learned about this.
The Qin State had recuperated for such a long time and had accumulated so much grain. But a great war, coupled with two years of famine, would immediately cause the Qin people to fall from food and clothing to famine.
The ability to resist disasters in this era is so poor that once people encounter natural disasters continuously, they can hardly see any hope.
Everyone is looking forward to good weather and good harvests in the coming year.
As long as there is good weather next year, we will be able to get through it.
But the laws of nature are constant. They do not exist for the sake of Yao or die for the sake of Jie, and they will not show mercy because of the prayers of all living beings.
This winter, there was no rain or snow for a month at the beginning of spring.
In Xianyang Palace, the ministers were having a heated debate.
It is obvious that the Qin State will definitely suffer from famine this year.
At this time, Prince Chu of Qin had two options.
The first way is to go to war with the five countries directly, consume the young and strong population of Qin, and at the same time rob the five countries of their food to alleviate the famine, thus shifting the conflict to the five countries;
The second way is to scale back the offensive, reduce the standing army preparing to attack the five countries, let them return to the countryside, reduce the pressure on military food, and allow more people to participate in agricultural production.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
The latter will be slow to take effect and will drag down the offensive that has already been launched. It may take Qin several years to raise the flag of war again. The advantage is that it can preserve Qin's reputation as a "benevolent and righteous country" that it has cultivated for more than ten years, and it will be easier to govern after conquering the world.
Prince Chu of Qin sat on the throne without saying a word.
If it were a dozen years ago, Qin would have sent troops without hesitation.
Because at that time, the Qin State was still thinking about "struggle for hegemony" and had not yet realized that "after unifying the world, people from other countries will also be Qin people." In order to shift domestic conflicts, the Qin people would not care about the lives of other people.
Now the two sides of Qin State have equal ideologies. The idea of "great unification" has been subtly influenced by more than a decade, and the officials of Qin State have come to the concept that "all people in the world are Qin people". They understand how much resentment Qin State has accumulated in the war of unification, and will repay it tenfold or even a hundredfold after unifying the world.
But the pro-war side believed that future matters could be considered later, and the most important thing now was to divert the internal conflicts in Qin as soon as possible.
Most of them are veterans.
If they continue to attack the five countries now, they will still be able to see the day when Qin will unify the country. If Qin shrinks its front again and rests for this year, the credit will not be theirs.
Everyone has their own interests that they want to pursue, and they choose their position based on those interests.
Which side will King Zichu of Qin choose
After a few days of court meetings, Prince Chu of Qin returned to Zhu Xiang's manor, refused all requests for audience, and only drank in the manor with his two friends Lin Zhi and Cai Ze.
Lin Zhi and Cai Ze only accompanied Prince Chu of Qin to drink and did not mention any matters of the court.
Prince Chu of Qin gets drunk and wakes up, and gets drunk again when he wakes up.
After waking up again, he said to his two friends: "Qin has generals like Li Mu, Wang Jian, Lian Po, and Meng Ao. It will be easy for them to sweep across the world."
He counted on his fingers and said, "Li Mu and Wang Jian can easily destroy Chu. Wei is already surrounded by Qin, and the King of Wei is seriously ill. Yan and Qi are not strong enough to fight Qin. Zhao is a little harder to deal with, but it is easy to capture Handan. They just need to hide for a while."
"But when Handan is destroyed, I can announce that I have unified the world and become the Qin Shi Huang that Zheng'er has always dreamed of." Prince Chu of Qin raised his fingers and counted, seeming confused.
He put down his hand, was silent for a while, and said: "Zheng'er is so capable, even if I leave him a mess, he will definitely be able to handle it. Besides, there is Zhu Xiang."
Cai Ze and Lin Zhi quietly accompanied their good friend Zichu, listening to Zichu's confession quietly without saying a word.
The next day, Prince Chu of Qin recalled Meng Ao and Lian Po, leaving only the soldiers to guard the city. The rest of the Qin army disbanded and returned home to deal with the famine with all their strength.
(End of this chapter)