The One Who Utilizes the Land (1)
What is Tuntian?
It refers to mobilizing soldiers to cultivate land in order to fill the national granaries.
There are two purposes: reclaiming wasteland or putting idle soldiers to work as farmers during peacetime when no wars are raging.
National defense is always crucial. Since wars can erupt at any moment, it must be constantly tended and strengthened. Weak defenses invite rebellions on the frontiers and make the nation vulnerable to foreign invasions.
Thus, every state poured vast sums into defense. The costs of maintaining it all came from taxes, drawn from the people to protect those very same people.
But in eras of peace without war—periods of good governance—keeping soldiers idle was seen as a massive waste.
"Aren't they just eating us out of house and home? Do we really need training in such peaceful times?"
"Right you are! When there's no fighting, make the soldiers farm!"
"Then when do we train?"
"Farm by day, train by night. What's the problem? Haha!"
"......"
Tuntian meant ordering soldiers to reclaim land, plant rice seedlings, and farm under military command.
"I really don't want to do this. Why should we clear land that isn't even ours from scratch?"
"I don't know, damn it. If they say dig, we dig."
"They say if the rice doesn't grow here, we'll be sacrificed as offerings."
"Crazy. Who said that?"
"The prefect. Says he'll rule us by military law."
"Insane. He should come hoe the fields and farm himself instead of spouting nonsense at us while we train hard!"
Tuntian had countless advantages.
"Soldiers farming? Is that even sane?!"
"You all know farming, don't you?"
"I joined to defend the nation, not to dig holes in the dirt!"
"Digging dirt is the surest path to safeguarding the state. Now dig. You did plenty as a kid, right? Heh."
Most soldiers were sons of farming families before being conscripted, so their familiarity with agriculture was one key benefit.
"This land's getting pretty wide now. Let's dig over there next."
"Damn it, whose land is that? The state's?"
"Up to here is the state's, but from there it's the prefect's."
"What? We have to plow the prefect's wasteland too? Lord have mercy."
"Military orders. Heh."
Turning frontiers or wastelands into new farmlands was the second advantage.
"Soldier spirit! Slack off if you want."
"Gonna rule us by military law again?"
"Heard the prefect's inspecting today."
"Damn......"
Forcing them to work diligently just because it was an order—unlike with civilians—was the third perk.
"Whoa, crazy. The rice actually grew."
"Good job. Harvest it and we can cook our meals with that."
"Who's harvesting?"
"You harvest, you mill, you pick the grains, you cook. The prefect's thrilled it cuts food budget costs. His grace—eat your fill."
"......"
If the farming succeeded, soldiers could be self-sufficient, and granaries would fill up—the fourth benefit.
"Hold on. Didn't we agree this was for us to eat?"
"Urgent dispatch from the capital. Plague's hit Jingzhou, leading to crop failures, famine, and starvation. The prefect says ship all resources we've levied here to Jingzhou—pack the sacks quick."
"What about our food?"
"Military orders."
All crops from the fields could be treated as strategic materials—the fifth advantage.
"Haha, excellent work. Tuntian seems like a fine system, doesn't it?"
"Reclaims wasteland, puts idle soldiers to use, lets them self-provision locally, and in emergencies, stockpiles become army rations. How brilliant!"
So why didn't everyone use this great Tuntian?
"Does the state farm? No, the people do."
No matter how much the state ordered it, the laborers were ordinary conscripts. Force them into groups and make them work—who'd bust their asses reclaiming land and farming diligently? Even the supervising officers would hesitate, cowed by the soldiers' glares.
"Not day-job night-study, but day-farm night-drill? They'd revolt with plows at night."
Even volunteers who joined out of loyalty to the state would see their patriotism evaporate amid endless days of digging, weeding, and training.
And if the harvested grain went into their own bellies, fine—but most often, the rice and grains from Tuntian ended up lining the pockets of generals and officials who strolled by, patted shoulders, and muttered, "Mm, bumper crop this year!" as empty platitudes.
Tuntian had almost no success stories. Ideal and logical on paper, but harsh reality crushed it.
Word was, northern nomads were forced to kneel and farm, making Tuntian "succeed" there.
But that was a rare case, and yields fell woefully short of expectations.
Farming demands a farmer's utmost devotion for good crops.
Without timely watering, plants wither; even water's scarce outside rainy breadbaskets, making it tough.
Could soldiers—trained for duty and combat—handle that properly?
"Absolutely not."
Tuntian was essentially pointless.
My personal view on its failures differed from others', but even as a desperate measure, it wasn't optimal.
Especially not with "civilians."
"I'm planning to distribute land to the people."
Sun Uk gazed at the fields tilled by Xuzhou refugees and opened the discussion.
"Right above Yanzhou, in Chenliu near Puyang... we absorbed thirty thousand Yellow Turban remnants. We executed the leaders, of course, but the rank-and-file... the common folk... needed a way to feed themselves."
"So Tuntian is your solution?"
"Yes. Give land to the people and have them cultivate it. Similar to what you're doing here, Wol-yeong."
"......That's different."
It was.
"What I do isn't Tuntian. No coercion—just renting land. It's purely a monetary contract."
"Private deals and state mandates are worlds apart."
"There'll be massive backlash."
"I'm prepared."
"Don't charge in on mere resolve or a 'let's try it' mindset. Look at them."
I pointed to those diligently plowing.
"They arrived here just before last winter. Driven from Xuzhou, they drifted this far."
"......I'm sorry."
Sun Uk fell silent. Though she hadn't fought on the Xuzhou front herself, she hadn't fiercely opposed Cao Cao's invasion from her position under her.
She'd stayed back to defend the base—that was all. She'd critiqued the methods as wrong but never denied the need to seize Xuzhou.
So guilt at the sight of its refugees was natural.
...Xun You and Guo Jia, who'd actually fought, hadn't even shown up. No face to show was normal; no need to stir old wounds.
Even Sun Uk—whom I'd brought to this pavilion atop a high hill overlooking vast lands for our talk—wouldn't stroll these fields with me if I were mad enough to parade Cao Cao's people around.
"Apologies change nothing."
"...I know."
Revealing her Cao Cao ties here? Suicide. I'd accepted Xuzhou folk, but I wouldn't let Sun Uk die. And she wasn't one for such hypocrisy.
"Ahem. You probably can't see their faces, but do you grasp how diligently they're reclaiming the land?"
"I have no words, even ten mouths wouldn't suffice."
"They're not diligent."
"......Pardon?"
Sun Uk blinked in confusion.
"They're not working hard."
I could say it with certainty.
"H-have the Xuzhou events left them too traumatized...?"
"No. They are Xuzhou refugees, but it's not trauma making them slack. That field's actually Cai family land from Yangyang..."
Not mine—my adoptive mother Cai Xuan's.
"I grouped them by village for joint cultivation. Dividing plots family by family was messy, so I gave large chunks."
"...That seems prone to failure."
Sun Uk spotted the issue instantly.
"Exactly. After handing over big plots, I let them farm directly, agreeing to split the joint harvest by headcount."
"......Doomed."
"Yes. Doomed. See the dark-skinned man by the black ox? Slightly tanned. And the one by the yellow ox? Who seems to work harder?"
"The tanned one."
"Right. The former toils to the bone, while the latter does three days' work in five. He claims the extra time for meditation and reflection."
If it were my land, I'd have booted or disciplined him—but Cai Xuan's, so awkward for me to intervene directly. And tattling to her over frontier plots felt petty.
"If anyone thinks joint farming ensures fairness, show them this reality. Humans are selfish; freeloaders riding others' backs outnumber the diligent every time."
"Then is there no good solution?"
"A good solution..."
Should I share? Might this aid Cao Cao's forces unduly? But with Sun Uk, Xun You, and Guo Jia coming to Jingzhou for Tuntian advice, empty platitudes felt rude and embarrassing.
Was there a perfect way? One that saved face for the three women, helped the people, and cornered Cao Cao?
"......Mun-yak."
"Yes?"
"After Lü Bu's rear ambush and the traitors' deaths, how are you handling their lands?"
"Th-that..."
"No heirs or kin to inherit, right? Well..."
I drew my thumb across my throat.
"Cao Cao exterminated their clans."
The fertile lands once held by Lü Bu's faction now sat ownerless. No successors, just vacant fields.
"Tuntian them. Promise ownership after ten years of farming. Heh heh heh."
A petty revenge for making Zhuge Liang cry.