The origin of wasteland reclamation

Reclaiming farmland can give you more food to support your troops, but others will not fail to see the benefits. When the rulers follow suit, it will only lead to the expansion of the scale of the campaign and more deaths in the war. This is what Zhao Yang is most worried about.

In war, food is the material basis of the battle. To ensure the supply of grain and grass, developing agricultural production is also a very important means. At the same time, in ancient China, some wars often lasted for a long time, even for decades. In order to obtain long-term and stable grain production and supply in this protracted war, it is even more necessary to establish some form of grain production base. And this kind of grain production base, it is best to build near the war zone, so as to ensure that the loss of grain on the road can be reduced by hiring civilian workers to transport grain. And this method is land reclamation.

However, this reclamation was not Cao Cao's invention. In fact, as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, this reclamation measure has already appeared:

Before the Qin Dynasty, every war didn't last long, so there was no need to establish a logistics base for grain production. Qin Shihuang first encountered this problem when he was at war with Xiongnu. "When the emperor ordered Meng Tian to attack Hu in the north, he learned that this land in Henan was blocked by the river, and forty-four counties were built, facing the river, so it was appropriate to fill it." This can be said to be the predecessor of wasteland reclamation.

During the reign of Emperor Wendi, the Xiongnu in the north was strong in national strength and often invaded the border and harassed local residents. The emperor called the army to resist. Chao Cuo believes that it is not a long-term solution to let foot soldiers guard the border in turn. In a letter to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, he advocated recruiting, immigrating in a planned way, developing frontier production, and linking the protection of the country and defending the country, and stipulated specific implementation steps:

First of all, the grain obtained by donating grain to the country to obtain the title is used for border defense and reclamation. Secondly, choose the border area with abundant water and grass as the immigration place, and where the castle is built. Again; The government is responsible for building houses, providing necessary farm tools and seeds, and providing doctors and wizards.

Emperor Wen of Han adopted Chao Cuo's suggestion and ordered immigrants to enrich the frontier defense, effectively preventing the invasion of Xiongnu.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di, the Qiang people in the northwest launched an armed rebellion, invaded the border, captured towns and massacred people. Zhao Chongguo, a famous star in the Western Han Dynasty, was over 70 years old. He volunteered to take part in the war and put down the rebellion. Zhao Chongguo decided to open up wasteland in the frontier after knowing the logistics conditions such as grain, hay and trench in detail, which effectively quelled the armed rebellion of Xiongnu colluding with Qiang people. This not only saves a lot of military expenses and corvee work when the national treasury is empty and the finance is tight, but also strengthens the border defense construction, increases the material reserve and improves the ability to resist the enemy. It not only opens up new sources, but also reduces expenses and effectively ensures national security. There are10,000 non-commissioned officers and more than 2,000 hectares of land have been reclaimed. "Leave the chariot as a military preparation, because the fields lead to the valley and the weeds go hand in hand." Xiqiang's 50,000 troops were successively wiped out by Zhao Chongguo, with more than 46,000 people. In the end, Zhao Chongguo summed up the famous "four humbleness and twelve things", that is, twelve benefits of reclamation, which became an important document reflecting the reclamation system in China.

-quoted from the elvish "Three Kingdoms Examination, Literature Department"