Chapter 561

Before this, the two most powerful aristocratic families in Yizhou were none other than the Zhang family of Zhang Song and the Wu family of Wu Yi.

But now.

Zhang Song has already been appointed by Gu Yi as the new Governor of Xuzhou, and the Zhang family has long since relocated from Yizhou to Chang'an.

As for Wu Yi, there is even less need to mention him.

Just as the old saying goes:

"Wu Yi is not in this place."

Consequently, the landscape of aristocratic families in Yizhou has undergone a massive change.

The Qiao family has leapt to become one of the most powerful clans.

Furthermore, everything is "thriving," developing in the direction that the Qiao family patriarch, Qiao Rong, wants to see.

However.

Just as Qiao Rong was planning to go out and stroll around the city.

Suddenly, several collateral descendants of the Qiao family ran in from outside, looking panicked.

Seeing this, Qiao Rong put on a show of reprimanding them:

"In broad daylight, to be so panicked—what kind of decorum is this?"

The collateral descendants hurriedly begged Qiao Rong for forgiveness.

Afterward, one of them explained:

"Master, it is widely rumored outside that Lord Qin Wang intends to liquidate the wealthiest aristocratic families in the province."

Hearing this, Qiao Rong nearly stood frozen in place; he hurriedly grabbed the collateral descendant by the collar and demanded:

"Where did this rumor pop up from?"

"Lord Qin Wang has always struck hard against his enemies."

"But hasn't he always been very good to his own people?"

The collateral descendants shook their heads hurriedly and handed a letter to Qiao Rong.

"This..."

In an instant, Qiao Rong's complexion turned deathly pale.

If it were truly as the letter stated.

I fear Gu Yi really is highly likely to launch a liquidation against these great aristocratic families!

"Master, what should be done about this?"

The collateral descendants were also filled with immense worry.

Aristocratic families are aristocratic families; aside from the direct line, the collateral branches are also an indispensable part of the clan.

So, what is the usual role of the collateral branches?

It is to serve as assistants and scapegoats for the direct line.

For details, one can refer to the Hyuga clan in the neighboring Naruto world.

Of course, the collateral branches of aristocratic families do not have "Caged Bird" curse seals as restrictions.

But as members of the family, their honor and disgrace have always been tightly bound together with the clan.

If the direct members of a family are liquidated, the collateral members cannot possibly stay out of it.

The only ending awaiting them is to die before the direct members.

"No, this matter is grave."

"I, as the family head, must discuss this with the others and come up with a countermeasure."

Qiao Rong said with a panicked expression.

Having said that, he hurriedly sent people to notify the other great aristocratic families in Chengdu.

But before his messengers could even leave, the other great families had already taken the lead and sent people to his estate.

Seeing this, Qiao Rong was truly panicked.

As the saying goes, rumors are fearsome.

In the late Han era, where information media was not developed.

It was impossible for Qiao Rong and the others to rush to Chang'an in a short time to verify the truth of the news.

Thus, they could only gather a group of "cobblers" together to discuss countermeasures.

Soon.

The heads of the other great aristocratic families in Chengdu, along with Qiao Rong, all gathered together.

However.

After half a day of discussion, they still couldn't come up with any suitable countermeasure.

"Damn it!"

"We aristocratic families only want to honestly strengthen our clans; is there something wrong with that?"

Qiao Rong said with grief and indignation.

This statement received unanimous approval from the other family heads.

But... if Gu Yi were here, he would definitely sneer at what Qiao Rong said.

Because the "honesty" in Qiao Rong's mouth refers to human trafficking, land annexation, and persecuting commoners until their families are destroyed.

In original history, Yizhou in the late Han era had a registered population of 1.9 million.

Yes, you heard that right, 1.9 million people.

But by the time Shu Han fell, how many were left?

There were only 940,000 left, damn it!

Why is that?

Is it because of the incessant wars?

That is just nonsense the aristocratic families wrote in history books to fool children.

In reality, during the years of Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, they also took in hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Sanfu region.

These refugees were not included in the household registration.

In other words, in the era of Liu Zhang, the total population of Yizhou had already exceeded 2 million.

After Liu Bei entered Shu, the Battle of Hanzhong did indeed lose some military and human resources.

But that added up to at most a few tens of thousands; it would never reach the point of hurting Yizhou's foundation.

And in the Battle of Yiling, the main force Liu Bei brought was not Yizhou soldiers at all.

You must know, all the local people of Yizhou held an opposing attitude toward the Eastern Expedition launched by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei is not a fool.

The Eastern Expedition was extremely important to him.

The group of people he brought naturally could not be the low-morale Yizhou soldiers, but the Jingzhou soldiers who longed to reclaim their lost territory!

In other words.

In Liu Bei's Eastern Expedition, 80% of the soldiers were the old Jingzhou veterans who followed him into Sichuan.

This point is actually very easy to verify.

Fu Tong, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Gao Xiang, and other main generals of the Battle of Yiling were all Jingzhou people.

The only ones who could be said to be Yizhou people were Huang Quan, who guarded the north bank, and his ten thousand troops.

Of course, Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling did not result in 700,000 deaths all at once, as Luo wrote in the Romance.

In reality, Liu Bei's total military strength, plus the troops of the Wuxi barbarian king Shamoke, was less than 60,000.

Furthermore, the Shu Han regime went through the eras of Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Jiang Wei.

The population might indeed have declined to a certain extent compared to the Liu Zhang era.

But Yizhou, from beginning to end, never experienced large-scale wars like Yuzhou, nor did it experience massacres like Xuzhou.

It is completely impossible for it to have dropped from the original 2 million-plus population to only 940,000 all of a sudden.

Moreover, those 940,000 included all the officials of Shu Han.

By comparison, compared to the populations of Wei and Wu, the population of Shu Han appeared extremely sparse.

Of course, the population numbers of Wei and Wu were actually not quite right either.

All three countries suffered from the same ailment, being plagued by a certain disease.

And that disease refers precisely to the "aristocratic families" that cling to the state power to absorb nutrients for survival!

The constant land annexation and human trafficking by aristocratic families led to a year-by-year decrease in population.