Jiangnan has been under lockdown for a month, while Liuzhou City already has a population of 100,000!
These numbers were collected by Wu You himself over the past few days.
Hong Lie and he had been in Liuzhou for ten days, and he still hadn't met the mysterious prefect of Liuzhou, while the situation in Liuzhou was visibly getting better and better.
"Hey Old Wu, what's got you looking so gloomy all day?"
At a tea stall near the city gate, Hong Lie was eating a large bowl of golden-fried worms with relish, looking completely carefree, which made Wu You's stomach ache even more.
" General Hong, look. There are more and more people in Liuzhou City."
"Yes, that's true." Hong Lie nodded. "The wait for meals has been longer these past two days than before; there are definitely more and more people."
Wu You's face twitched, and he looked at Hong Lie with a deep gaze. "General, haven't you noticed anything amiss?"
"What's wrong?" Hong Lie asked, eating the worms and looking at the other person curiously.
To be honest, these bugs are really delicious. They have the chewiness of beef but aren't as dry. The gravy paired with their black pepper sauce is really satisfying. When I leave here, I'll have to ask Chen Qing for some to take back and see if I can raise them in the Hong Household's backyard.
"General." Seeing that the other party didn't seem to care at all, Wu You frowned and said, "Look around. Do you know how many people there are in Liuzhou right now?"
"About 100,000 people," Hong Lie replied honestly, not understanding why the other party was so serious.
" Shiyi and sixty-six thousand eight hundred and fifty-three people!" Wu You said coldly, "Among them, less than twenty thousand are the elderly, women, and children, while ninety thousand are able-bodied adults over the age of fourteen!"
"How do you know so much?" Hong Lie asked curiously.
Wu You's face twitched. "You think everyone's like you, carefree all day long, either sunbathing or queuing up with those refugees for meat?"
"Do you know what this means?" Wu You sighed.
"What?"
"Resources!" Wu You squinted, his voice low. "Most young men have lost their families and land; they are excellent sources of soldiers. Moreover, the desire to join the army is extremely strong in Liuzhou!"
"Oh, that's true," Hong Lie nodded. "The treatment is good, ten taels a month. If I were one of those refugees, I would be extremely willing too."
"Ten taels of silver a month," Wu You sighed. "If we had needed to offer great rewards to attract brave warriors to join the army when we initially had no soldiers, that would have been a valid approach. But now that Liuzhou has the capability to defend itself, this condition has remained unchanged."
"So what if it wasn't changed?" Hong Lie asked doubtfully, "What's wrong with that?"
"What's wrong with that?" Wu You chuckled. "The prefect is conscripting soldiers in the name of the imperial court, but everyone knows that the court would never allow such extravagant treatment. Even the garrison troops in the north don't receive this kind of treatment. It's alright now, but what will happen once the crisis is resolved?"
"Has he been bearing the burden of these expensive military salaries all along?"
"They should just disband on the spot," Hong Lie said nonchalantly, eating his meat.
"Disband on the spot?" Wu You rolled his eyes at the other person. "Look at those soldiers, what kind of ability, what kind of strength? Do you think they'd just disband on the spot?"
"What are you worried about?" Hong Lie frowned. "Are you worried that Chen Qing will rebel? Then his recruitment efficiency is not good enough. He hasn't recruited any new soldiers in ten days."
"But this atmosphere hasn't diminished at all!" Wu You said quietly, "Haven't you noticed that Liuzhou is intentionally or unintentionally raising the status of soldiers? There are things like priority for settling in Liuzhou, allocation of housing, and priority for children of soldiers to attend government schools. Now, almost all unmarried girls or widows in Liuzhou want to marry soldiers?"
"Really?" Hong Lie was taken aback. "But didn't I hear that farming in Great Azure Mountain also comes with this kind of treatment?"
"That's why it's abnormal!" Wu You said coldly, "These refugees were rescued during a great disaster, like rootless duckweed. Liuzhou City gave them safety and sufficient food. Logically speaking, there's no need to offer them huge benefits. Let them do what they're supposed to do, such as work relief, letting them farm or work. As long as they're given enough to eat, 99% of the refugees won't resist. Why give them such preferential treatment? Do they have too much money to spend?"
"Uh..." Hong Lie was taken aback, realizing it made sense. He'd also felt these past few days that the people of Liuzhou seemed to be living too comfortably; the costs were indeed quite high.
"But this is good too," Hong Lie said with a smile. "Isn't it a good thing that the people are doing well?"
"A good thing?" Wu You sneered, "What do you think of the taste of these flesh worms?"
"Huh?" Not knowing why the other person suddenly brought up the meat worms again, Hong Lie scratched his head. "They're very good, delicious and chewy, even better than the fatty beef from the West Sea."
"If you're used to eating this, would you be used to eating the lamb from home again?"
"I guess I won't be used to it." Hong Lie's face fell. "It seems I really have to ask Chen Qing to get some to take back to the capital. Just thinking about having to eat that dry and fishy mutton and fish when I get back makes me feel nauseous."
"Look at you, if you're like this, what will those people who can only eat coarse grains when they go back think?"
"Uh," Hong Lie looked up, sensing that something was amiss.
"We all know from our experience leading troops that you can't let the lower-ranking soldiers eat too well," Wu You said coldly. "Unless you can consistently guarantee your soldiers that treatment, you can't raise their pay too high in the first place. As scholars say, it's hard to go from luxury to frugality, and there's truth to that. These farmers have tasted the bitterness of life; now that they have good days, would they be willing to go back to their old ways? The farmers are doing alright, but what about the soldiers?"
"You saw it yourself, what kind of strength do those soldiers have? They're powerful and have relatively good treatment. You want to disband them? Even if Chen Qing is willing, the soldiers themselves aren't!"
"What do we do then?" Hong Lie swallowed the meat in his mouth. "What if these soldiers mutini?"
"That depends on how you look at it," Wu You said quietly. "If Chen Qing disbands these soldiers himself, then the mutiny is his responsibility. But if the court forces Chen Qing to disband these soldiers, then these soldiers will not think it is Chen Qing's responsibility, but will resent the court."
"If they were powerless commoners, it wouldn't matter, but these soldiers are different. They are armed and have a murderous intent. If the court wants to take away their benefits, but Chen Qing can provide them, who do you think they will listen to?"
Hong Lie: "."
" The Jiangnan region has a strong literary tradition, making it the least likely place for rebellion. This is because not only are the traditional moral codes strictly enforced, but the people there are also relatively well-off. Most people seeking stability wouldn't be willing to follow rebels. But now things are different." Wu You pointed outside. "This zombie outbreak has disrupted the stability. Therefore, those who can provide stability and improve people's lives will naturally gain unprecedented prestige."
"So you're saying Chen Qing wants to rebel, right?" Hong Lie rolled his eyes at him. "With just Liuzhou? And what you said earlier isn't right either. The situation you described assumes Chen Qing can continue living like that. How is that possible?"
"At first, I also thought it was impossible," Wu You sighed. "At first, I thought the prefect was a bit foolish, because raising the treatment of refugees like this would only backfire if the treatment declined later. 'A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment,' as the saying goes, and this has been true since ancient times. But look, there are already 100,000 people, have you noticed any reduction in the amount of food distributed?"
Wu You pointed to the worms in Hong Lie's bowl. "Look at these worms. A dozen days ago, when there were only tens of thousands of people, each person could be allocated one a day. Now there are more than 100,000 people, and each person can still be allocated one. It's like they can't finish them all."
"Well..." Hong Lie scratched his head somewhat guiltily, "It should be... temporary, right?"
"What if it's not temporary?" Wu You sneered. "What if he can guarantee such a life? Or even better?"
As he spoke, Wu You pointed to some wandering soldiers outside. "Look, our soldiers are being assigned to guard this place in shifts, and they've been eating the same food every day for over ten days. Guess how they'll feel if they have to eat like this for another month or two, and I take them back to continue eating regular rations?"
"Forehead"
"This is just about food. The rest is much more dangerous," Wu You said in a low voice. "These past few days, I've sent many soldiers to scout out the situation, asking questions and dealing with the soldiers at the city gates. But I didn't expect them to be so unguarded, readily revealing everything. These soldiers in Liuzhou were just ordinary people before. They only became so powerful after they joined the army and worshipped the door gods of Liuzhou and that Battle God of the Tiger Guard Army!"
"Isn't this transparency a good thing?" Hong Lie frowned. "Although the situation is somewhat unreasonable, at least Chen Qing isn't hiding anything."
"He never intended to hide it!" Wu You said coldly, "He deliberately leaked it. Haven't you noticed these past few days that our soldiers are increasingly envious of the soldiers in Liuzhou?"
Hong Lie frowned. He did have a feeling about this. His personal guards were fine, but the ordinary soldiers talked about the soldiers from Liuzhou almost Heavenly Capital, and their words were mostly filled with envy or even jealousy.
"You've never served in the border army, so you don't know what it's like there," Wu You sighed. "The army has always been polarized. Soldiers with bloodlines are treated as superior, while those without bloodlines are treated differently in terms of treatment and promotion. This kind of atmosphere leads to a sense of division within the army. But this situation isn't unique to our Great Jin; it's the same for all forces in the world, and it's something that was originally impossible to resolve."
"But this Prefect Chen's place is different!" Wu You said in a low voice, very confidently, "Here, ordinary people can become as strong as those with special bloodlines. This alone is enough to attract many heroes from the army. If the situation here is magnified infinitely, it will surely be the cause of the downfall of the Great Jin!"