Chapter 224: Citizens Migrate South
On the Yangtze River, passenger ships were continuously shuttling everywhere, transporting batches of citizens migrating south across the Yangtze River. Given the current situation, with war gradually approaching, a large number of citizens north of the River all had to migrate to Jiangnan.
For the southern commanderies, whose development was far inferior to that of the North, population had always been the most important resource. If the land north of the River could not be held, at least the population north of the River had to be preserved.
Starting from last year’s autumn harvest, the government office began mobilizing and publicizing, saying that war was imminent and hoping that the citizens would all migrate to Jiangnan, with the government office guaranteeing land and residential land.
The destinations for this migration were mainly the Pengli Marsh plains of Yuzhang Commandery and the Dongting Lake plains of Changsha Commandery, as well as the Yangtze River coastal plains of Wuchang Commandery. These three major plains were sufficient to support over ten million people, especially since the Dongting Lake plains and Yangtze River coastal plains were basically undeveloped.
The first batch of migrants came from Jiangxia Commandery, all military households, about 20,000 households, over 100,000 people. They would be settled on the Yangtze River coast of Wuchang Commandery, separated by just the river, with each household still receiving 20 mu of military household land and 2 mu of residential land.
These 20,000 households of citizens were mainly settled in Xiakou County and Chu County, with Chu County alone accommodating 10,000 households of citizens—about 30% settled in the suburbs of Chu County, while the remaining 70% were settled on both banks of the E River, forming more than 30 new villages.
Gan Ning personally brought high officials to inspect Chu County, which was formerly E County, later renamed Wuchang County, and now renamed Chu County again.
Surrounded by hundreds of officials, Gan Ning arrived at a village about two li from the county town. It was very close to the Yangtze River, with the E River right beside it, and large expanses of farmland distributed around.
“Zhuge Sima, I remember a fierce battle broke out here!”
The high official in charge of resettlement was the deputy Sima Zhuge Jin. He was diligent, shrewd, and capable, so Gan Ning put him in charge and established the Resettlement Office, fully responsible for migrating citizens and northern migrants.
Zhuge Jin smiled and introduced, “Reporting to the Marquis of Chu, a fierce battle did indeed break out here, but we have thoroughly cleared and pacified it. At most, one or two rusted arrowheads might be dug up occasionally; nothing else will remain.”
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
Gan Ning and the large group of officials entered the new village. The village was very large, with each household having 2 mu of residential land. The courtyard walls were rammed with soil, and the government office had built a basic house for each household, giving the citizens who crossed the river a place to live.
Although the houses were all built with old wood and the cost was very low, the quantity was enormous. This time, the official side had also spent a fortune for the migrating citizens.
Fortunately, the citizens were quite cooperative, all afraid of encountering war, and they all agreed to move south with their families. The Cao Army had a bad reputation; when they attacked Xuzhou that year, they even let their troops burn, kill, loot, and slaughter countless citizens.
Hearing that the Marquis of Chu had come, the citizens in the village all came out to line the streets in welcome. Two elderly men stepped forward, knelt, and kowtowed, “Thank you, Marquis of Chu, for protecting the citizens from the devastation of warfare.”
Gan Ning hurriedly helped up the two elderly men and said loudly to the crowd, “Everyone has finally settled down north of the River with great difficulty, and now we’ve migrated you all to Jiangnan again. I feel very sorry about this in my heart. The government office will also do its utmost to help everyone settle down stably. If everyone has any requests, as long as we can manage it, we will certainly do our best to satisfy you.”
Seeing that no one dared to speak, Lu Su smiled and said, “Everyone, don’t hold back. Since the Marquis of Chu has asked, speak up about any difficulties.”
A middle-aged man raised his hand and said, “Since the Marquis of Chu is sincere, I’ll boldly say a few words.”
Gan Ning smiled and nodded, “Please speak!”
“The houses we built north of the River all cost money. Although the soil wasn’t valuable, the various beams, wall pillars, and other wood were bought with money, and the tiles also cost money and were quite expensive. I want to go back north of the River to dismantle the houses and transport the wood and tiles back, but it’s not easy to find ships now. Could the government office provide ships to help us transport the materials across the Yangtze River? We need materials here to build houses too!”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said, “I can provide large ships for transport, but not labor—you’ll have to do it yourselves. Additionally, you can organize yourselves and go to north of the River together, so everyone can assist each other in moving things.”
The crowd immediately cheered and jumped for joy, all agreeing. At this time, Zhuge Jin smiled and said, “Marquis of Chu, let me make a reasonable suggestion!”
Gan Ning nodded, “Zhuge Sima, please speak!”
Zhuge Jin smiled and said, “Using large ships is actually not convenient. For example, this small river channel at the village entrance—large ships can’t enter, but small boats of 100 shi can sail in. I suggest providing a few small boats to each village, letting them row to north of the River to transport things. Their homes north of the River are also by the river! It can be door-to-door, saving them effort. They don’t need to move things from the riverbank to the village again; they can load directly onto the small boats and transport into the village.”
Zhuge Jin’s plan was quite good. Gan Ning nodded, “We can lend them. I have just two requirements: first, they must be returned, and not lent long-term—there must be a time limit, three months! Second, it doesn’t matter if they’re damaged, but the ships must remain intact. You formulate the rules.”
“Please rest assured, Marquis of Chu. This subordinate will certainly arrange it well!”
In Dantu County of Jiangdong, Zhang Zhao hurriedly entered Sun Quan’s official residence.
“Reporting to the Marquis of Wu, this subordinate has just received news that Yuzhang Commandery is massively migrating citizens from north of the River to Jiangnan.”
Sun Quan frowned, “Has the Liaodong campaign ended?”
Zhang Zhao said slowly, “We don’t know the intelligence from Liaodong, but it should be soon. Dealing with nomadic peoples like the Wuhuan People won’t involve prolonged war; it’s all about decisive victory in one battle. This subordinate feels that the sense of crisis is very strong in Yuzhang Commandery, while on our side it’s a bit”
“Does the strategist mean our side is a bit too relaxed?”
Zhang Zhao nodded. He didn’t want to be too direct, but Jiangdong truly lacked a sense of crisis here. Recruiting several tens of thousands of troops took three months, while Yuzhang Commandery recruited 30,000 troops in half a month. In comparison, they were too procrastinating.
Sun Quan paced back and forth with hands behind his back and said, “Does the strategist think Cao Cao’s army advancing south will take the eastern Hefei line or the western Xiangyang line?”
“Frankly, this subordinate doesn’t dare to be certain, but Cao Cao has raised Sun Ben for so many years, probably wanting him to play a role at a critical moment. This subordinate believes the possibility of the Cao Army taking the Hefei line is higher.”
“If the Cao Army takes the Hefei line, they’ll cross the river at Liyang?”
“Not necessarily. Cao Cao might first take the entire north of the River, capturing Lujiang Commandery and Jiangxia Commandery, so it’s hard to say where they’ll cross.”
Sun Quan seemed to understand, “So Gan Ning is massively migrating citizens from north of the River because he’s worried the Cao Army will unify north of the River?”
“That should be the reason!”
Sun Quan nodded slowly and asked again, “If we want to strengthen war preparation, what should we do?”
“Assemble troop strength; assemble money and grain supplies; assemble the will of Jiangdong’s people to resist the Cao Army’s impending southern invasion together.”
