Chapter 763 People Migrate North
Due to the wanton propaganda of the Pingzhou navy, the common people in Dali also learned about this new thing called honeycomb coal.
As Lu Songli, Xie Zhan and others expected, the appeal of affordable honeycomb coal is unparalleled in this extremely cold winter.
After the people learned about honeycomb coal, they discussed it very enthusiastically.
"Have you heard? Pingzhou has developed something called honeycomb coal, and it's very effective for heating."
"Yes, and the key is that they are cheap."
"Governor Lu is truly righteous. He would rather give up making money for the sake of the people he governs."
The people of Dali believe that Lu Songli does not make money, but the boss only sells a piece of honeycomb coal for two cents, so how can he make any profit?
"It's a pity that they don't sell it to the public and only supply it to the people of Pingzhou."
"That's easy. We just need to become citizens of Pingzhou."
"Moving to Pingzhou? But the government may not give us a permit."
"Yes, and if we move our family to Pingzhou, the government will not allow us to sell the land. Then do we not want our land anymore?" The few acres of land in the family were saved by two or three generations of them through frugality. It would be a pity to abandon it.
"As for farming, you can farm anywhere. Let's get through this winter first."
"We've just finished the heavy snow, and we still have the winter solstice and the Lesser and Greater Cold to come. It's going to be very cold."
"Indeed, in such cold weather, it's not uncommon for people to freeze to death." Who cares about material possessions like land when their lives are gone? Anyway, just survive first.
"I heard there's a kind of glass bottle sold in Pingzhou. If you fill it with hot water and put it under the quilt, it'll keep you warm, just like a hot water bottle."
"Is this glass bottle expensive?" Hot water bottles are used by nobles.
"It's not expensive, it's very cheap, ordinary people can afford it."
The people of Dali naturally discussed the matter of moving to Pingzhou.
In recent years, Pingzhou's many benevolent policies have become well-known to the people of Dali. In their hearts, Governor Lu is a good governor, which is why they are willing to come all the way to Pingzhou after making up their minds.
Countless people headed north and poured into Pingzhou.
Qin Heng ordered his men to open the city gates to welcome them and also set up several reception points.
Officials were quickly dispatched from the rear of Pingzhou to take over, welcome the influx of Dali people, and properly accommodate them.
The Dali government officials along the way did not dare to stop the waves of people heading north to Pingzhou.
They were stopped, but the people heading north were very angry, and there were even several times when they almost caused local riots.
At this time, the common people had only one thought: anyone who stopped them from going to Pingzhou did not care about their life or death and wanted to kill their family.
Zhou Da led his troops to maintain order. Looking at this scene, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that the governor's methods of fighting for the world were indeed unique.
Before this, he asked General Qin Heng for orders, saying that he was willing to be the vanguard, lead his own army, attack Yongzhou and Chang'an, and was willing to issue a military order. As long as he was given enough troops and enough food, he would help the general and the governor capture Chang'an!
Chang'an is the capital of the Great Li Kingdom. The symbolic significance of taking Chang'an is self-evident.
But the general refused, saying that this was also the governor's intention. They did not care about these formalities. Attacking Yongzhou and Chang'an was too sensitive and would inevitably lead to a desperate counterattack from Dali.
By then, the casualties on both sides will be difficult to control.
Then the general said, "I won't move if the enemy doesn't move. If Dali doesn't attack us, we'll have to wait and see what happens on the Xianbei battlefield."
Looking at the large number of Dali people in front of him, Zhou Da felt that the governor and the general were right.
Hancheng
Tuoba Lian looked towards the Xianbei royal city of Shengle with a tired face.
Previously, he and his second brother Tuoba Jin took all the Xianbei warriors in Yanzhou City and passed through Dali, hoping to bypass the blockade of Pingzhou and return to the embrace of the grassland.
Unexpectedly, their whereabouts were leaked, and they were ambushed by Sun's army halfway. The second brother Tuoba Jin died in that ambush.
Later, he was forced to retreat to Hancheng with his remaining troops.
Now they are blocked by Sun's army and besieged in Hancheng.
Tuoba Lian didn't know who leaked their whereabouts, but he guessed that something must have gone wrong in Dali, and there must be spies from Pingzhou hiding there.
From the beginning, he hoped that his father Khan would send an army after learning the news from his side, and then they would work together inside and outside to break through the encirclement of the Sun family army and escape.
But as time passed, Tuoba Lian's heart became heavier and heavier. He cried out in his heart, "Father Khan, my son can't hold on any longer. Please send someone to save him."
At this moment, there was another eagle cry, and then things kept falling from the sky.
Tuoba Lian looked up, "What is that?"
"Is it paper?" It's light and yellowish-white, so it must be paper.
From their perspective, they could see the paper on the eagle's back falling from the sky and scattering into the city.
"Send someone to check it out." Tuoba Lian ordered, his face extremely heavy. He always felt that something was wrong.
Not long after, the team that went to check came back with a stack of papers.
"Seventh Prince, let's pick up everything we can. I wonder if any of the brave warriors in the army have taken it away."
Tuoba Lian looked at the pieces of paper. There were pictures on each piece of paper, all of which were food and objects familiar to the Xianbei people, or there were inflammatory words written in Xianbei language, such as "Dad, my child and I miss you very much in our hometown: When will you come back?"
Tuoba Lian didn't know Pingzhou's intention, but he subconsciously felt that it needed to be dealt with. "Go and arrange for manpower to strengthen patrols in the city and deal with these scattered papers."
"yes."
Tuoba Lian didn't know that some Xianbei soldiers had secretly hidden the scattered papers. After reading the contents of the papers, they broke through the defenses in an instant and blew up the camp in the cold and hungry winter night.
The final result was that the fortress was destroyed from within by the enemy, and Tuoba Lian and the remaining Xianbei soldiers became prisoners of Pingzhou.
Chang'an
The situation of a large number of ordinary people going north to Pingzhou to make a living was reported to the court by local officials, who asked the court how to respond.
Xie Zhan sighed. It will rain, my mother will get married, and the common people will grow legs. Who can control where they go?
"Regent, we can't sell our charcoal at all." Liao Xuewang and others were at a loss as to what to do in the face of the unsaleable charcoal.
Xie Zhan said calmly, "Then give it away! Give it to the people for free, at a fixed time and fixed quantity."
Liao Xuewang and other people from the Royal Merchant Group felt their hearts bleed when they heard this. They were bound to lose everything.
There is no way. Although Pingzhou has no charcoal, the low-priced honeycomb coal has squeezed out the charcoal market.
After Xie Zhan finished speaking, he comforted Liao Xuewang and the others, "Don't worry, after passing this level, everything will be fine."
Liao Xuewang and others did not know what Xie Zhan was thinking at the moment, but since things had come to this point, they could only believe the promise of Xie Zhan, the Regent.
Fan Yang knew that the Regent was trying to snatch people from Pingzhou, but——
The amount of charcoal they had was not enough to cover the entire population of Dali for the winter.
Faced with this situation, Xie Zhan thought about it and decided to allocate a large portion of charcoal to the people of Yizhou in addition to Chang'an to ensure their supply for the winter.
Xie Zhan believed that after a winter, Yizhou was the state with the least number of people leaving because of its mountainous terrain and difficulty in traveling. Moreover, with the supply of affordable charcoal, Yizhou was also the state with the least number of people leaving.
"Send Xu Junfan to do this." Xie Zhan ordered.
Fan Yang was puzzled. A while ago, when the Empress Dowager and the Regent were vying for power, most civil and military officials had chosen sides. It was during that time that Xu Junfan joined them. But he didn't see any particularly outstanding talents in him. How had he caught the Regent's eye?
But Xie Zhan didn't say much.
Fan Yang thought to himself, okay, Xu Junfan is a clerk in the warehouse department, so it’s okay to promote him to take on this important task.
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