Lan Tian remained in Longbian for three days. During that time, he reviewed Jiaozhi's household registers, treasury records, and other materials. He found that the number of registered households exceeded one hundred thousand, while the commandery's total population had reached nine hundred thousand. Without question, it was the most populous commandery in Jiao Province—and this was after Guangzhou had already siphoned away displaced refugees.
Though Jiaozhi's total population could not compare with the great commanderies of the Central Plains, such as Yu, Yan, and Ji, it ranked third among the Jing Province, Yi Province, and Jiao Province under Liu Bei's rule, surpassed only by Shu Commandery and Ba Commandery of Yi Province, both of which had populations exceeding one million.
Originally, Lingling and Changsha in Jing Province each had populations of over a million, while Nanyang had more than two million. Yet because warfare had been constant at the end of the Han, compounded by the ravages of repeated great plagues, the populations of those regions had dwindled to only twenty or thirty percent of their former numbers. Jiaozhi, on the other hand, lay far from both war and pestilence. Not only had its population escaped any major impact, it had even turned misfortune into fortune by taking in some refugees from the Central Plains.
Jiaozhi had countless rivers and fertile soil. This land nourished nearly a million people, and it also sustained the Shi Clan's extravagant way of life. No wonder Shi Xie and his son Shi Hui wanted to preserve their existing power.
When virtue does not match one's position, disaster is bound to follow.
Taking advantage of the endless chaos in the Central Plains, the Shi Clan had occupied this fertile borderland and made themselves local emperors. Yet their administration and livelihood policies were backward, and life