In the blink of an eye, the Liu brothers had been on their journey for sixty-five days and had now reached Liaodong. They could feel the chilly weather here, but these people were still very energetic. Everyone was busy along the way and were getting to know each other.
"This is Goguryeo's territory. It's a pity you're late. The land north of the Yangtze River has nothing to do with us. It's all been bought by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Do you see the people farming over there? They are His Royal Highness's slaves."
After leaving the pass, they found that the plains here were too large. The land they had lived in Guanzhong for a long time was all small, and basically two or three hundred acres of land was considered a big landlord. But after arriving in Liaodong, two or three hundred acres of land was really nothing. Of course, the land here can only produce one harvest a year, and even if Li Xiang's special seeds are used, it can only guarantee three harvests in two years.
If you want to have two harvests a year, you have to go further south. The weather is a problem that not everyone can solve.
After hearing the coachman's words, these people were envious. "His Highness is about the same age as us, how could he have achieved so much? From where we are standing, the past is endless. How much land must this be?"
"Your Highness is truly courageous. He actually sentenced all the people of Goguryeo to slavery."
It happened to be the time for the carriage to rest, and a coachman next to them also came over with a water bag. These coachmen traveled all over the country and knew a lot of news. Those who went to Goguryeo to farm liked to listen to the coachmen chatting the most.
"Then won't the people of Goguryeo resist? I heard that there are quite a lot of people in Goguryeo, equivalent to more than a dozen provinces in our country."
Liu Laosan said with some surprise. He knew that slaves had a hard life. In the past, he followed his brother to do odd jobs in the landlord's house. Their lives were pretty good, at least not like those slaves. It was said that those slaves had to count their sleeping hours with their fingers every day and had to work in the fields most of the time.
"Resist bullshit! Do you think we're still the same Goguryeo? We've defeated their army of over 100,000. Apart from a few who have surrendered, the rest of the army is long gone. Even those who fled to the mountains have been pulled out by us."
The coachman spoke very proudly, as if he had done it himself. However, the situation in Goguryeo was similar to what he said. Currently, millions of people in the country were working in the fields. In such a short period of time, Li Xiang had really put a lot of thought into getting so many people on track. It's not that you can just conquer a country. You have to make this country generate wealth for you. Otherwise, if you conquer this country, you will have to bear a heavy burden.
"With so much more food, wouldn't food in our Tang Dynasty be cheaper again?"
Another young man thought about this matter. His family is still eating porridge because they can't afford to buy food. If the price of food drops, then the people at home can eat dry food like us.
"Isn't it a good thing to have a bargain? His Highness said that apart from keeping a portion of this grain, just to give them some food, as long as they don't starve to death, the rest of the grain will be shipped back to the Tang Dynasty to improve the living conditions of our people. By then, no one in the Tang Dynasty will starve to death."
The coachman thought of something he had heard before. It was the law promulgated by Li Xiang in Goguryeo. At that time, many people did not believe it and thought that His Highness might be fooling me. But now those who did not believe it have shut up. Just look at the fertile fields along the way. Isn’t the food in these fields enough to eat?
"Your Highness is truly amazing. He has single-handedly changed the current situation of our Tang Dynasty. We must worship him when we return. His Highness's contribution to us is even greater than that of Guanyin Bodhisattva."
"Who says it's not true? If we didn't have this policy, we wouldn't know what we would do at home. We only have eight acres of land. If my brother used it as a betrothal gift, we two brothers would starve to death."
The others were talking in unison, praising Li Xiang's merits. The coachman hadn't said one thing yet, which was that the current situation in Liaodong region was the result of a lot of effort. Of course, the losses were not suffered by us, but by the people of Goguryeo.
Take the field not far away for example. When they came here last time, there was only half of the field, and the other part was wasteland. But now it has been reclaimed. Although there are oxen here, the daily working hours are very long. If your body can't stand it, you will probably become fertilizer in this field.
The two coachmen had heard from government officials here that the total number of people reclaiming wasteland here was more than 7,000. A round trip to Chang'an would take at most five months, and only more than 6,000 people would be left, and the other more than 1,000 people would have been worked to death.
There is nothing to pity about the two of them in such a situation. You people from Goguryeo were defeated. Since His Highness has labeled you and said that you are all slaves, then who will care about the life and death of slaves?
What's more, they heard from people in the army that the total population of Goguryeo was too large and they were wasting food. It would be better to let them burn their lives and then do whatever they want to do, so as to avoid the heartache of eating our food for nothing in the future.
"Let's go, everyone hurry up and get in the car. We're going to the Yalu River today."
The leader in front has already started to greet people. These people have only heard of the Taedong River here, and have never heard of the Yalu River here. However, when they heard that this was the name changed by His Highness, these people no longer cared about the Taedong River.
After another ten days, these people finally arrived at their destination. In the distance, the coachman's leader had already started negotiating with the officers, and was handing over the heads according to the list.
These coachmen have finally made it through. They have to hurry to the army to get money, then transport the things that need to be transported back, and then transport the people back from the capital again.
The money they earn on this line is more than what they will earn in their entire life, so they have to take advantage of the opportunity to pull it a few more times, so as to avoid having no chance in the future and having no place to make money.