"Old Zuo, Zhang Liaos courtesy name, you two have worked hard this time."
Zhang Xin waved his hand, "The soldiers who participated this time, in addition to the original rewards, will each receive an extra portion! "
"General thanks Lord on behalf of the soldiers."
The two clasped their fists and smiled.
Zhang Xin ordered someone to call Guo Yuan over and had him take charge of the inventorying of the supplies. Afterward, he held a banquet in the army to reward the Generals who had been on assignment.
Xu He, Guan Hai, Sima Ju, and Wang Meng also secretly returned with the main army.
After Zhang Xin finished saying what needed to be said, drinking what needed to be drunk, and giving the rewards that needed to be given, he disregarded the late hour and ran to the city wall of Pingyuan in the middle of the nite, watching carts of supplies being pulled into the city all nite long.
He stood on the city wall for an entire nite, constantly muttering 'getting rich'.
It wasn't until dawn, when the last cart of supplies had entered the city, that he reluctantly headed toward the State Prefecture, pondering when he could raid another aristocratic family.
Along the way, the common people watched the dragon-like convoy, discussing animatedly.
Zhang Xin took all this in. Upon returning to the State Prefecture, he ordered the already prepared announcements to be posted throughout the city, informing the common people of the situation and telling them to resume their normal lives.
After doing this, Zhang Xin stretched, then returned to the inner chambers to catch up on sleep.
Such trivial matters as inventorying could be left to his subordinates; he didn't need to worry about them.
Zhang Xin slept until evening, then got up to relieve himself, wash, and eat.
"Zi Qing."
Liu Hua walked over, carrying dishes of food. "Today I went into the city and saw the announcements on the streets. Were those gentry and powerful families escorted to Pingyuan? "
Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, previous dynasties did not impose many restrictions on women.
During the Han dynasty, whether a woman was married or not, she could go out for leisure and relaxation whenever she wished.
Sometimes, due to financial difficulties, even young ladies from prominent families had to go out and do some work to supplement the household income.
The most famous example of this was Xiahou Yuan's niece.
She was spotted by Zhang Fei when she went out to gather firewood.
Of course, by that time, the Central Plains had already endured over a decade of warfare, prices had soared, and people's livelihoods were in decline.
Furthermore, Xiahou Yuan had basically given all his money to Cao Cao for his ventures, so his family was struggling, which was why the Xiahou family member needed to go out and work.
Zhang Xin was now rolling in money, and the prices in Qingzhou were still relatively stable, so naturally, his own wife and daughters did not need to go out and work.
They only needed to raise their respective sons well.
"Mm."
Zhang Xin nodded, picked up his rice bowl, and ate with relish.
"How many people did you capture this time? " Liu Hua asked.
"Around one hundred thousand, I suppose."
Zhang Xin said while eating.
"One hundred thousand people! "
Liu Hua gasped, "So many people, are you going to kill them all? "
She had heard about the common people besieging the city with petitions a while ago.
She had originally thot it was just a few lawless powerful families who had incited public anger, and killing them would be fine.
She hadn't expected there to be so many people!
"It won't come to that."
Zhang Xin thot for a moment and said, "The old, weak, women, and children will certainly not be killed. Those to be killed are all able-bodied men between the ages of fifteen and sixty."
"I estimate it will be around twenty thousand people."
As Governor, Zhang Xin had naturally reviewed Qingzhou's household registers and had a General impression of Qingzhou's population structure in his mind.
Able-bodied males between the ages of fifteen and sixty accounted for approximately thirty-five percent of the total population.
That is, about thirty-five percent.
However, this proportion was for the entire four million population of Qingzhou.
Large families had many wives and concubines, many children, and also maids and the like...
The proportion of able-bodied men was probably only about twenty percent.
The aristocratic families captured this time constituted roughly half of the total in Qingzhou.
Calculating it this way, the proportion of people in Qingzhou's upper class was exactly about one percent, which conformed to social norms.
"Twenty thousand people? 'Only'? "
Liu Hua widened her eyes, "Zi Qing, with one stroke of your blade, half of Qingzhou's prominent figures will be gone! "
"Why don't you just pick out those with serious crimes to kill, and let the others atone for their sins with silk? How about that? "
"That way, they wilw the expression on his face and pondered for a moment.
"My eldest, tomorrow you'll go out with me."