At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it favored large landowners, and gradually the gentry emerged. This was followed by land annexation, and common people began to lose their land.
At this time, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued year after year, causing the already poor civilians to go bankrupt and lose their livelihoods. They either became tenant farmers, or slaves, or gave up farming to do business, and many were even forced to go into exile and become refugees.
In order to survive, the refugees staged many uprisings, the Yellow Turban Rebellion being the climax of these uprisings.
This was known as the rebellion of the whole world due to the anger of the refugees, but the uprising led to years of war in society, which in turn created more refugees, becoming a cycle that no one in the world could escape.
The main reasons for the emergence of refugees are natural disasters and man-made disasters. Natural disasters create conflicts, and man-made disasters intensify conflicts. The two coexist and the world is in chaos.
Natural disasters are natural disasters and are the direct cause of the migration of people.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was a period in Chinese history when the climate changed from warm to cold. The climate became gradually colder and natural disasters occurred frequently.
The Eastern Han Dynasty lasted a total of 195 years, of which there were 119 years of disasters clearly recorded in historical documents. The typical natural disaster feature of this period was the occurrence of multiple disasters at the same time, among which floods, wind and hail, droughts and locust plagues were relatively common, and often two or three disasters occurred in the same year.
In particular, during the 19 years of Emperor An of Han's reign, there was only one year without any record of famine. Several disasters occurred almost every year. The year with the most disasters was the first year of Yan Guang, when there were six disasters: flood, drought, earthquake, wind, hail, and locusts. The whole world suffered.
This is also the reason why Yuan Xi made up his mind to build as many farmland water conservancy facilities as possible when he read this history.
The so-called good weather and good harvests are entirely dependent on good weather. Only human beings' transformation of nature is the fundamental solution to save themselves, benefit future generations, and benefit future generations.
Nature is beautiful, and people are beautiful too. The sublime beauty that comes from the combination of the two is the process in which working people transform nature and gain rewards from nature.
The Han court could provide disaster relief for natural disasters, but when the court did nothing or was powerless, it became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the people. This is called man-made disaster.
Throughout the dynasties, great importance has been attached to population size. The "Minshu" chapter of "Zhonglun" says: "The number of people is the foundation of a country."
In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, when everything was in ruins, the Han court attached great importance to increasing the population, so it strongly encouraged childbirth. The "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Chronicle of Emperor Zhang" records: "When a man gives birth to a child, the age of three years shall not be counted."
Coupled with factors such as encouraging early marriage, the population grew rapidly. In the middle and late stages, there was a situation of limited land and large population.
But on the other hand, the Han court did not take any measures to prevent the big landlords and the nobles from annexing land. In addition, the taxation in the Eastern Han Dynasty was very heavy. Its characteristics were light land tax and heavy head tax. This was obviously biased towards the big landlords and forced the peasants into a desperate situation.
If a major disaster occurs, farmers will be overwhelmed and go bankrupt and flee, resulting in a situation where "half of the people are displaced without reason" and "the number of households in the country is halved", which will cause a large number of self-cultivating farmers to go bankrupt and become landless poor.
Without food to eat, people naturally revolted. Regardless of whether there were big landlords and aristocratic families taking advantage of the situation during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the instigator was the deviation in the policies of the Han court, which led to the disastrous consequences.
The powerful landlords "violated public laws, pursued private interests, crossed mountains and swamps, and took advantage of government markets", becoming forces of all sizes that dominated one side, while at the same time coveting the pinnacle of power.
Yuan Xi knew that this problem had not been solved since the transition from feudal society to capitalist society. The vested interests had only changed from landlords to capitalists, and the rentier class had been controlling the formulation of policies from the beginning to the end.
In such a society, the main taxpayers are the middle class, while the highest-income people in the upper class try every means to avoid taxes and even have negative income. This is extremely ironic.
This is why Yuan Xi hated the aristocratic landlords so much. The last straw that broke the camel's back might not have been them, but they were definitely the ones who broke the camel's back with the previous few bundles of straw.
Yuan Xi was a very eccentric person. He hated capitalism even more. In his opinion, apart from having much higher productivity than feudal society, the social morality in many aspects of capitalist society was inferior to the latter.
For example, more covert means of exploiting the lower classes.
For example, human relations that appear equal on the surface but are actually more dissolute.
For example, chains that are stronger and impossible to resist.
The emergence of capitalism not only stimulated the advancement of society, but also blatantly squeezed more blood, sweat and lives.
If the two social forms have the same productivity and technological capabilities, Yuan Xi actually doesn't know which one is superior.
Therefore, Yuan Xi did not intend to develop any sprouts of capitalism. This might very well be a detour, and like the ring of fate, it would go around in circles and return to the starting point.
If this is really the cycle of history, then he would rather give it a try. If he doesn't go through this cycle, can he break this vicious circle?
Yuan Xi never denied that things have two sides. The ruling class that is above the common people and under the emperor, from the earliest slave owners in ancient times, to the nobles in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, to the gentry in the late Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin and Tang Dynasties, to the gentry in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and to the capitalists in capitalist society, certainly exploited and oppressed the people, but it is undeniable that there were also positive factors for self-reform and promoting social progress.
Compared to later generations who simply put the blame on the so-called capital, Yuan Xi just couldn't understand: isn't capital just capital?
Capital is dead, and the people who control it are the key. Good people are called entrepreneurs, and bad people are called...reactionaries.
Of course, reactionaries may be rich people, or they may be spiritual slaves who are willing to serve as pawns of the rich.
Working backwards, the same is true today. It is impossible for Yuan Xi to exterminate all the gentry in the world. Depending on their degree of reaction, he can only win over some, attack some, influence some, or eliminate some.
The refugees led to an imbalance in regional development, with a large influx of refugees into wealthy areas, while war-torn areas became uninhabited for thousands of miles.
If Yuan Xi wants to seize the world, he will face similar problems in the future.
Just like he saw in advance the precedent of the Wei and Jin dynasties moving the population inland and foreign races taking the opportunity to occupy the border and cause chaos, he could do the opposite.
There are too many people and not enough land to farm, so we should just move out.
The world is so big, why do we have to stick to one corner?
The trend of expanding frontiers and looking overseas was started by him in Youzhou and spread throughout the world.
When the refugees saw Yuan Xi's soldiers marching in formation, they all hid by the side of the road in panic, trying to stay as far away from the group as possible.
After all, it was a time of chaos and the princes, in order to boost the morale of their soldiers, tacitly agreed that people could be plundered at will. So in times of chaos, the people lived even worse than a dog.
After all, if you are a dog, your owner still has to give you meat to eat.
However, after hiding for most of the day, they were surprised to find out that this team had the same destination as them, which was also Jicheng!
These refugees began to grumble in their hearts. There had been news earlier that Jicheng was recruiting military and civilian settlements, as well as craftsmen and farmers. Those who registered their household registration would be given land, so they brought their families and went to Jicheng.
But unfortunately, I ran into the soldiers!
You must know that in today's world, there are few armies of princes that do not harass the people!
Although they might be able to save their lives, it was common for their property to be robbed and their wives and daughters to be abducted, so no one wanted to get close to the soldiers for fear of getting into trouble.
Many people began to hesitate whether to disperse, but some people could not resist the temptation of getting land in Jicheng, so they walked hard in the woods and weeds beside the road.
The reason why they are still persisting is that Youzhou today has experienced several wars and is very different from when Liu Yu was here.
Ten years ago, when Liu Yu was alive, he adopted a policy of recuperation for Youzhou, which had suffered greatly from the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Production was restored within a few years, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. There were more than one million refugees from other states who came to Youzhou to settle their affairs.
But after Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zan, Gongsun Zan's lax rule led to war and harm to the people, making them suffer terribly.
Especially after the falling out with Yuan Shao, Youzhou was fully involved in the war, including the Han people, Wuhuan, and Xianbei, all were affected and no one was spared.
The damage caused by war to production was devastating. People became refugees, some fled to the mountains to make a living, some became slaves of the gentry and landlords, or simply became bandits.
Before Yuan Xi went to Guangling, he told Zhao Yun that after he captured Jicheng, he should accept refugees and resume production. Now, what Yuan Xi saw from the car window was a scene of people like ants, struggling to survive.
He thought that Zhao Yun had done a good job. If the refugees could do this, it would surely help those who had arrived earlier to settle down, and then word of mouth would spread, and then people would rush to join him.
Yuan Xi let down the curtain, but saw Zhen Mi beside him holding Ah Xiang and teasing her, while opposite him was Madam Wu who looked uneasy.
Mrs. Wu felt that Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi's eyes were always looking at her abdomen intentionally or unintentionally, making her feel at a loss as to where to put her hands and feet.
She originally wanted to avoid meeting Yuan Xi as much as possible, but Yuan Xi's family only had two carriages, each with four seats.
One car was occupied by Huan's mother and daughter and Cai Zhaoji, leaving Mrs. Wu behind and she had to share one with Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi.
When she got into the car, she saw Zhen Mi's malicious smile and thought to herself that this must be intentional!
Zhen Mi teased Ah Xiang in her arms and smiled at Madam Wu.
She is feeling very proud now.
After Zhen Mi's repeated questioning, Yuan Xi reluctantly told Zhen Mi the truth about Mrs. Wu's origins and told her not to reveal it to anyone else.
Zhen Mi thought to herself that her husband was truly extraordinary as he specifically targeted widows.
Their identities are quite extraordinary!
There is no need to talk about Cai Zhaoji. It seems that before she married Yuan Xi, he brought Gongsun Zan's widow back to his mansion, right?
What surprised Zhen Mi even more was that Mrs. Wu was actually the widow of Sun Jian. Could it be that her husband was at odds with the princes of the world?
And this time it was even more excessive, they even had a child!
Zhen Mi understood that Yuan Xi was drunk at the time and his contribution was unintentional, but she still felt a little jealous.
How come it was so easy for Mrs. Wu to get pregnant, but there is still no movement in my belly?
How many doses of medicine should Hua Tuo prescribe?
Mrs. Wu caught a glimpse of Zhen Mi smiling at her out of the corner of her eye, and thought to herself how great it was to be young. She had also been so carefree twenty years ago.
But does Madam Zhen really understand what impact it would have on her if a concubine's eldest son appeared?
Yuan Xi stared at the two women guiltily, feeling the atmosphere in the car becoming increasingly awkward. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a commotion outside the car.