diymy Chapter 6 People's Livelihood in Border Counties
Chapter 6 People's Livelihood in Border Counties
Liaoxi Commandery is located in the northern frontier, a place where Han and non-Han peoples coexist.
Since the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, the border defenses have been weak, and the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes have invaded the borders year after year.
Historical records state that "the border prefectures of You, Bing, and Liang provinces were plundered every year, and the number of people killed and robbed was countless."
Liaoxi, guarding the gateway to Youzhou, was the first to bear the brunt of the attack.
The people live under crumbling walls, as if sitting on a knife's edge every day.
After leaving Yangle City, Liu Bei traveled westward with a small entourage.
The wheels rolled over the uneven dirt road, and everywhere you looked was desolation.
The roadside, which should have been lined with fertile fields, is now overgrown with knee-high weeds and has long lost its original appearance.
The few plots of land that had been turned over were in a mess, with collapsed field ridges and clogged ditches, devoid of any sign of the life of farmers.
As the sun began to set, we finally arrived at Xipingbao, the most remote town under the jurisdiction of Yangle County.
But when Liu Bei looked at it, he could hardly call it a fortress.
The rammed earth walls were uneven, with the lowest point no higher than shoulder height, and many sections of the walls had collapsed, creating gaps more than ten feet wide.
The earthen wall was eroded by wind and rain, leaving it pitted and uneven. Wild grass grew at the base of the wall, and even the watchtower that was originally used for lookout had collapsed on one side, leaving only a pile of rubble.
The fortress gate consisted of two rotten wooden doors, leaning precariously against the doorframe.
One of the doors was broken in half, barely held up by a few wooden sticks, creaking in the wind as if it would fall apart at any moment.
Liu Bei's expression turned grave. How could they defend against the enemy in this situation?
He knew that Liaoxi was in ruins and that it would be difficult to establish a foothold there, but he never expected it to turn out this badly.
Liu Bei sighed inwardly, then ordered the two accompanying constables to stop the carriage outside the fortress. He straightened his black official robes and stepped into the fortress alone.
Everywhere you look, there is a desolate scene.
In the vast fortified village, only a few dozen earthen houses remain relatively intact.
Most of the rest had peeling paint, exposed roofs, and many houses didn't even have doors or windows, with only thatched openings.
The streets and alleys were deserted, with only a few figures occasionally flashing by. Upon seeing his official attire, they immediately shrank back, slammed their doors shut, and remained silent.
Occasionally, a few ragged children would stare at him from afar with frightened eyes. When an adult pulled them away, they would immediately hide back inside the house and refuse to show their faces again.
Standing in the empty streets, Liu Bei felt as if something had clenched his heart.
Having lived through more than sixty years of dreams, he knew all too well the weight behind this desolation.
According to historical records, in the second year of the Yuanshi era of the Western Han Dynasty, Liaoxi Commandery comprised fourteen counties, with 72,654 households and a population of 352,325.
Although western Liaoning was located on the frontier at that time, it was a place where paths crisscrossed and the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard.
However, by the fifth year of the Yonghe era of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liaoxi Commandery had been merged into five counties, leaving only 14,150 households and 81,714 people.
In the past century, the population has decreased by nearly 80%.
In particular, in recent decades, the Xianbei have raided the border year after year, and the Wuhuan have repeatedly rebelled and plundered, and the flames of war have almost never stopped on the Liaoxi land.
The imperial court's exorbitant taxes and levies only increased, while local officials colluded with powerful clans to exploit the people.
As far as Liu Bei knew, the imperial court was about to summon Wuheng to Xiliang to quell the Qiang rebellion.
Then came the bizarre turn of events: the imperial court, lacking funds and provisions, ordered the dispatch of troops, leading to the Wuheng rebellion and adding fuel to the fire in the Northeast.
Not to mention Xia Yu's three-pronged attack on the Xianbei, which resulted in a crushing defeat and the loss of all the elite troops in the border regions.
Faced with this, Liu Bei could only rely on his foresight to accumulate strength as much as possible, hoping to rebuild the Han Dynasty in the future.
As for writing a letter to the imperial court, Liu Bei simply didn't even consider it!
This is no longer the time after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, when the dangers of the Party Prohibitions still linger. If he dares to submit a reckless memorial, his entire family will likely be exiled within a few days.
How about forming factions and eliminating dissent?
That's when the word came about.
In the eyes of the emperor, the three dukes, and the nine ministers, this situation is still a time of peace and prosperity.
After all, those who lacked this awareness would have been exiled long ago.
Anyone who dares to speak of chaos is a dissident and should be punished!
The dilapidated state of Xipingbao is not an isolated case, but rather a unique phenomenon.
Rather, it is a microcosm of the entire Liaoxi border prefectures, and even the border prefectures of You, Bing, and Liang prefectures.
Liu Bei pulled himself out of his thoughts and strolled slowly along the streets, his eyes scanning every detail.
In the vegetable patch next to the earthen house, only a few sparse wild vegetables were planted, and there wasn't even a half patch of proper vegetable seedlings to be seen.
What was piled up in the corner was not firewood for the winter, but dried tree bark and grass roots.
Occasionally, one could hear weak coughing coming from inside the house; the cough was feeble and clearly indicated a lack of energy.
At the end of the fort, in front of an earthen house deep inside, he saw an old man with a hunched back sitting on the threshold, polishing a piece of wood with a piece of gravel.
One end of the wood was sharpened to a point, presumably to be made into a plow.
But the old man's hands were shaking so badly that after grinding for a long time, he could only manage to grind out a blurry tip.
The old man's face was weathered, with deep wrinkles that looked as if they had been carved by a knife.
His hair and beard were completely white, matted and tangled together, and his clothes were torn to shreds, barely enough to cover his body.
Liu Bei stopped and bowed to the old man, speaking in a very gentle and mild tone, without a trace of official authority.
"Old man, I am Liu Bei, a military officer of Liaoxi Commandery. I have come here on the orders of the Prefect to check the household registration and appease the people in the fort."
"The people here are suffering terribly; may I speak to them about it?"
The old man was so startled by the greeting that he trembled and dropped the piece of wood in his hand to the ground.
He hurriedly raised his head and saw Liu Bei bowing respectfully. He was terrified and wanted to get up and hide.
His legs were not nimble, and he staggered before shakily standing up.
"Sir, sir..."
"The fort has long since run out of grain to pay taxes and men to conscript!"
"We are all useless old, weak, sick, and disabled people. We beg the official to have mercy and spare our lives!"
As he spoke, the old man was about to kneel down.
Liu Bei quickly stepped forward, reached out to support him, and said gently, "Old man, there's no need for such formality, and no need to be alarmed."
"I've come not to demand grain, nor to conscript men, nor to ask for a single penny or item; I've only come to hear the truth and find a way for us to survive..."
"How much of the farmland in the fort has been abandoned?"
"How did the people in the fortress escape when the barbarian cavalry came?"
"Tell me about any difficulties you may have."
His eyes were sincere, and his tone was gentle, without a trace of falsehood.
The old man looked at him hesitantly, his cloudy eyes full of wariness.
After watching for a while, seeing that he really had no ill intentions, her tense body relaxed a little.
The old man sighed, patted the threshold, and gestured for Liu Bei to sit down.
He called out again into the house, and a sallow-faced, thin child poked his head out, looked at Liu Bei, and then shrank back inside.
"Sir, you are a kind and honest man. Well then, this old man will tell you what's going on!"
The old man sighed deeply, and when he opened his mouth, he began to recount decades of blood and tears.
The old man's surname is Zhang, he is forty-two years old this year, and he is a native of Xipingbao.
Yes, he was only forty-two, but he looked like a sixty-year-old man, which made Liu Bei feel even more distressed.
The old man said that when he was young, Xipingbao was not like this.
At that time, there were more than 200 households and over a thousand people in the fort, and thousands of acres of fertile land outside the fort. Every household had oxen for plowing.
Spring planting and autumn harvest; although there were occasional attacks from barbarian cavalry, the fortress walls were sturdy, the beacon towers could send out warnings, and everyone stuck together to defend it, so they were always able to get through it.
When he spoke of these things, his eyes shone, as if he were seeing a peaceful and prosperous world.
"But over the past few decades, things have gotten worse year by year!" The old man's voice grew increasingly sorrowful.
"First the Xianbei people came every year, then the Wuhuan people came too..."
"Nowadays, they come three or four times a year. They come to trample on the fields as soon as we sow the seeds in the spring."
"When the crops are almost ripe in autumn, they come to steal the grain."
"Sir, as you can see, those lands outside the fortress are all top-quality farmland, but who dares to cultivate them now?"
Liu Bei remained silent; even he wouldn't dare!