In Xianwu, people evolve infinitely starting from the prince

Gu Yuncheng frowned and said nothing.

Although the words spoken by Venerable Blood Slaughter were sincere, they seemed to be sincere.

But considering his status as a demonic warrior.

Gu Yuncheng had a big question mark as to how credible the words of the Blood Slaughter Master were.

After all, an old devil like the Venerable Blood Slaughter is a cunning and cunning person who always tells lies. Who knows whether what he says is true or false?

Of course, although Gu Yuncheng didn't know whether the words of the Blood Slaughter Master were true or false, he didn't think that the Blood Slaughter Master dared to attack Yang An, the Thirteenth Prince of Da Gan.

He felt that the Blood Slaughter Venerable, or the Blood Soul Sect, wanted to negotiate with Yang An about the White Demon Pirates, or they wanted to take this opportunity to get on Yang An's line.

So this should be done without having a bad impact on the Gu family.

Gu Yuncheng thought of this and pondered for a moment: "I see, I didn't expect that someone would be so bold as to frame Guizong."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will definitely inform the Thirteenth Prince about this matter."

"only……"

Gu Yuncheng paused slightly when he said this, and then looked confused: "It's just that this junior can only promise to inform the Thirteenth Prince of what the Lord has said. As for whether the Thirteenth Prince is willing to meet with the senior, that's not the junior. It’s guaranteed.”

After saying that, it seemed that he was afraid that the Lord Blood Slaughter would feel that he did not want to do his best and would cause the Lord Blood Slaughter to be dissatisfied.

Gu Yuncheng hurriedly added: "After all, although our Gu family is the mother-in-law of the Thirteenth Prince, Haizhou is far away from Tianjing City, and the junior and others have never seen the Thirteenth Prince. Is the Thirteenth Prince willing to give this junior this face? Even juniors can’t guarantee it.”

This is definitely not Gu Yuncheng's excuse.

He really has this concern.

In particular, when Concubine Gu Yun entered the palace, the Gu family did not do it very honorably, and they did not consider Concubine Gu Yun's own thoughts at all.

So even though Concubine Gu Yun was born in the Gu family, she was the direct daughter of the Gu family.

But how much affection is left between the two parties, even Gu Yuncheng, his biological brother, is not sure.

What kind of attitude will Thirteenth Prince Yang An have towards the Gu family?

It would be even harder to guess.

Therefore, Gu Yuncheng could not guarantee that Yang An would betray his face and meet the Lord Blood Slaughter.

When the Venerable Blood Slaughter heard this, he smiled and said: "Master Gu, don't worry, I can naturally understand this matter."

"And our Blood Soul Sect will not let Master Gu's help go in vain. This bottle of Divine Transformation Pill is our Blood Soul Sect's thank you gift for asking Master Gu for help."

"In addition, I see that the children of your mansion are full of talents, and many of them are talented and beautiful. It just so happens that our Blood Soul Sect is trying to recruit more disciples. If the head of the Gu family does not give up, I am willing to introduce one or two of the children of your mansion to join my Blood Soul Sect. "

"Our Blood Soul Sect is the Holy Land of the Nine Sects and Six Paths. It has a long heritage. From generation to generation, we have disciples who occupy the top ten in the Hidden Dragon Ranking of China. The disciples have excellent moral character. There are also many powerful masters of heaven and humans sitting here. We have a profound foundation. I believe it is absolutely I won’t delay the talents of your house.”

The Venerable Blood Slaughter didn't show any signs of insincerity, he just threw out a bottle of second-grade divine elixir that was hard to exchange for a million dollars, and even promised that the children of the Gu family could directly join the Blood Soul Sect.

Such conditions immediately made Gu Yuncheng's heart flutter.

If there wasn't a trace of reason left, he might have eagerly agreed and kneeled down to lick the Lord Blood Slaughter.

This is the face of China's top martial arts holy land, which is beyond the imagination of ordinary families.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will do my best to fulfill His Majesty's instructions."

Gu Yuncheng took a deep breath and assured the Lord Blood Slaughter.

If the Gu family can rely on the behemoth of the Blood Soul Sect, they will definitely be able to reach a higher level in the future.

Even if the next generation succeeds, they may be able to obtain a first-grade martial arts Grand Master inheritance, allowing the Gu family to become a top family with a reputation in the world.

Upon hearing this, Venerable Blood Slaughter nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "This will trouble the Gu family master."

The Gu family is not at a loss, and the Blood Soul Sect is not at a loss even more.

After all, according to the Blood Soul Sect, the thirteenth prince Yang An will be a prince of Daqian at worst in the future, and will be the controller of Haizhou for decades or even hundreds of years in the future.

As the mother clan of Yang An, if the Gu family can take refuge in the Blood Soul Sect.

The Blood Soul Sect can take this opportunity to establish a relationship with the Thirteenth Prince Yang An, and use Yang An, the future lord of Haizhou, to occupy greater interests in Haizhou, and even in the Nanyang Sea and other places.

Compared to this.

What does a bottle of magic elixir and a few apprenticeship quotas mean?

In fact, as long as they can establish a relationship with the Thirteenth Prince Yang An and achieve close cooperation, even the White God Pirates and others can give up.

Jianghu!

Not only the fighting and killing, but also the worldly relations.

…………

A scene from the Gu family.

Of course Yang An didn't know.

After a brief conversation with his cheap uncle Gu Yunfeng, he stayed with Gu Yunfeng for lunch, directly showing his closeness to the Gu family to outsiders.

no way.

Who told me that when I first came to Haizhou, I would have no one to help me.

With the Gu family as a matriarchal family, when I do something in the future, I will have eyes and ears to wave the flag accordingly.

This is enough for Yang An.

The cheap second uncle Gu Yunfeng is about to be sent away.

People from the Arch Guard Department and the Imperial City Department also sent vehicles to deliver all the intelligence materials he wanted.

Five large trucks and tens of thousands of files almost completely emptied the document warehouses of these two departments.

Yang An first asked his accompanying eunuchs, Gong E and others, to send these archives to the study and sort them for easy reference. Then he turned to look at the two military princes from the Gongwei Division and the Imperial City Division.

In the Daqian Dynasty, military marquis was not an official position, but a title, also known as prince.

The title system of Daqian has six levels from top to bottom: king, duke, marquis, uncle, son and male.

Among them, only members of the royal family and clan of Daqian can be canonized. Even as early as the founding of the Daqian dynasty, Emperor Gaozu made a rule: "Anyone who is not the Yang family and is a king will be attacked by the whole world."

Therefore, whether he is a prince, a county king, or a county king, he must be a descendant of the Yang family.

Below the king's title is the duke.

Today's Daqian Dynasty has twenty-four dukes, all of whom are first-level martial arts masters. They guard the borders and defend the enemies outside Daqian.

Then there is the Marquis.

In the Daqian Dynasty, many people were granted the title of marquis.

Many second-level martial arts masters have been conferred the title of marquis.

Especially for important departments such as Zhenwu Department, Gongwei Department, Imperial City Department, etc., the main person in charge of each Daozhou will often be canonized as an unknown monarch, with a position on the same level as the Daozhou Governor, and will be directly dispatched by the central court and not subject to any influence. Local control.

Yang An felt that this kind of canonization of monarchs was mainly to restrain local officials so that they could not control the sky with one hand.

Then there are the titles of earl, viscount, baron and so on.

These titles are all conferred to meritorious persons under second-grade martial arts masters, or are the product of downgrades from hereditary titles such as "king, duke, and marquis" from generation to generation.

On the issue of title canonization and inheritance.

The Daqian Dynasty has always had a complete system.

For a Daqian prince like Yang An, even if he is granted a title by a prince when he reaches adulthood, he will completely lose his title after six generations. If he wants to regain the title or keep his family title from being downgraded, he can only exchange it through merit. .

Of course, if Yang An had been alive for six generations.

The title of prince that no one can take away from him is certain.

This is why there are so many palaces in the Daqian Dynasty today.

Because the ancestors of these palaces are not dead yet, when they die, the title of the palace will be downgraded.

However, this is not absolute. If any member of the clan breaks through to the realm of a first-grade heavenly master in martial arts, they can also improve their title.

A first-level martial arts master, corresponding to the prince.

A second-grade martial arts master, corresponding to the county king.

The third-grade martial arts master is the corresponding marquis.

Those below the third level of martial arts will be demoted from generation to generation in accordance with the imperial title canonization regulations.

Therefore, from the number of royal palaces in the Daqian Dynasty, we can roughly estimate the number of powerful people in the Daqian royal family.

Of course, speculation is speculation. Is this speculation accurate and how much deviation is there?

That is a matter of benevolence and wisdom.

After all, virtual reality is the kingly way.

It is impossible for the Daqian royal family to put all the powerful people in front of them.

"Tell me about the current situation in Haizhou!"

Yang An looked at Zhao Yuan, the Marquis of the Archguard Division, and Wei Dayong, the Marquis of the Imperial City Division, and said calmly: "Today's Haizhou, how many people, how many fields, how much annual taxes, how much expenditures, etc., all told Just take a moment.”

He did not ask the two people about the distribution of Haizhou's power, but directly asked Haizhou's key issues, namely population, land, taxes, etc.

According to statistics from the Household Department of the Daqian Dynasty: "Haizhou's official population is 9.6 million households, with a population of more than 31 million, more than 360.54 million acres of fertile land, and an annual tax of approximately There are 8.4 million taels of silver.”

to these data.

Yang An definitely didn't believe it.

After all, there is no big family in the world who does not hide their population and land, just like there is no cat in this world who does not steal fish.

Nothing else to say.

The tax alone is worth 8.4 million taels of silver.

This number sounds like a lot, but it actually means sending beggars away.

After all, this is only a total tax revenue of 8.4 million taels of silver, and it is necessary to exclude several thousand official salaries, 8.9 million military expenses, and daily losses.

According to such an algorithm.

After adding and subtracting like this, one million taels of silver would be pretty good if it finally fell into Yang An's hands.

What do you think this is about sending beggars away?

Such a small amount of money is probably not as much as the corruption and bribery taken by officials in various counties in Haizhou in a year.

Therefore, Yang An is very dissatisfied with Haizhou's tax situation.

This is all his money!

He would chop off the claws of anyone who dared to take his money, cut their bodies into pieces, and fill the sea with cement to build a land.

Hear Yang An's inquiry.

Both Zhao Yuan, the military lord of the Gongwei Division, and Wei Dayong, the military lord of the Imperial City Division, all felt their scalps numb.

Neither of them expected that the man in front of them would already ask about Haizhou's taxes and money before he was canonized.

The problem here is not just about killing people.

It's not enough that they don't want to answer.

After all, this man is waiting for them to speak.

It can't be said that as the intelligence department of the Daqian imperial court in Haizhou, it doesn't even know the population and tax issues of Haizhou, right?

The two of them really dare to say that.

I believe that within a few days, he may be captured directly and sent to Tianjing City for questioning.

Zhao Yuan and Wei Dayong looked at each other.

The expressions in their eyes were full of expressions, and they were both expecting the other to speak first.

Yang An watched the scene in front of him without urging him, and allowed the two of them to flirt with each other and make secret glances.

Anyway, he has already thought about it.

If the answers from these two people don't satisfy him.

Then when the Whitebeard pirate group is surrounded and suppressed, there are still two cannon fodders missing, so just let them take over.

I believe that the people from the Blood Soul Sect will definitely give me a satisfactory answer by then.

"Return to your highness."

"According to the secret investigation of the Imperial City Department, Haizhou now has a population of about 65 million, and almost 90 million acres of fertile land. As for Haizhou's taxes..."

Wei Dayong, the Imperial City's Chief Military Officer, said bravely: "Haizhou's annual taxes are about ten million taels of silver, and various expenses require more than six million taels."

It's not that Wei Dayong wants to expose the secrets and dirty things here.

It is the duty of the Imperial City Division to supervise local officials and aristocratic families.

Imperial City Division, Gongwei Division, and Zhenwu Division.

These three divisions are the most well-known violent departments of the Daqian Dynasty.

Among them, the Imperial City Division is mainly composed of eunuchs, targeting local officials and wealthy families.

The Gongwei Division mainly targets dark forces such as the Six Paths of Demons, the Three Evil Sects, and local bandit gangs that can directly pose a potential threat to the rule of the Daqian court.

Finally, there is the Zhenwu Division, which is mainly responsible for handling martial arts affairs, such as local martial arts sects, martial arts sects, etc.

The three divisions are clearly defined and each performs its own duties.

Yang An asked about Haizhou's population, land, taxes and other issues.

Although people from the Guards Division also knew it, the person really responsible was the Imperial City Division.

Therefore, this question can only be answered by Wei Dayong.

"Sixty-five million people, more than 90 million acres of farmland."

"Haha, these people's appetites are greater than I imagined."

When Yang An heard Wei Dayong's answer, he couldn't help but sneered.

It can only be said that these local aristocratic families are really not greedy, and they have directly hidden half of the population and two-thirds of the fertile land.

This alone directly caused Haizhou's tax revenue to be reduced by more than half.

Think about it again, of the more than 10 million taels of tax reduction, 30% belongs to you.

Yang An has almost already sentenced these wealthy families in Haizhou to death in his heart.

Dare to be greedy for your own money.

Is there any royal law or heavenly law?

Each of these people has already found a way to die.

But Haizhou’s real tax is only about 10 million taels of silver?

This is something Yang An has never thought about.

He pondered for a moment, and then asked with a calm face: "Why are the taxes in Haizhou so low? Isn't it true that in Haizhou, maritime trade does not need to pay taxes?"

The source of taxation for the Daqian Dynasty was very simple.

Among them, the most important sources are land tax, salt tax, iron tax and head tax.

Because of the emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business, the imperial court did not form a sound system in business.

In other words, in the Daqian Dynasty, commercial shops, trading houses, workshops, etc. were basically all controlled by powerful people, sects, and aristocratic families.

The court wants to collect business taxes?

Isn't this grabbing food from their bowl?

Therefore, the imperfection of commercial taxation in the Daqian Dynasty was not only due to the emphasis on agriculture and the suppression of commerce, but also to the great conflicts of interest within it.

Yang An also knows this.

So he didn't ask about commercial taxes, but directly asked about maritime trade taxes.

In other words, it is ship tax and price tax.

Ship tax, as the name suggests, is a tax based on the size of the ship. Whether it is going to sea or returning to port, you need to pay ship tax.

Price tax is levied according to the value of the goods on the ship, which is generally 20% of the goods on the ship. No tax is required for empty ships.

Haizhou's maritime trade is prosperous.

I'm afraid the sea tax alone can cost more than tens of millions of taels of silver a year.

As a result, according to statistics from the Ministry of Revenue, Haizhou's annual sea tax was less than two million taels of silver.

This is undoubtedly impossible, and there is something very fishy about it.

Hear the question.

Cold sweat broke out on Wei Dayong's forehead.

He did not dare to raise his head at all, stood there and said bravely: "Back to Your Highness, there are indeed many falsehoods in the sea tax on Haizhou, but the key to the difficulty of collecting sea tax is that there are many pirates in the Nanyang waters, and the ships cannot Going to sea..."

Wei Dayong couldn't talk any more as he talked.

Because a terrifying coercion came from all directions and enveloped him directly, making his heart feel like a huge stone was pressing down on him, making it difficult to even breathe.

"The top Dharma Master? Or the Great Master of Heavenly Beings?"

Wei Dayong's eyes changed, and he was horrified. He continued to argue: "Your Highness, you know that everything you say is true, and there is absolutely no falsehood. Because of the existence of pirates in the South Seas, they directly set up markets on the islands outside Haizhou to conduct transactions. Buy and sell.”

"A large number of maritime merchants do not dare to go to sea because of the threat of pirates. But those who really dare to go to sea are supported by Haizhou dignitaries, martial arts sects, aristocratic families, etc., and there are many ways to evade sea tax collection."

"In addition, the Tian Hai Corps has been unsuccessful in clearing pirates many times, and the personnel within the Shipping Department are not clean, so it is really difficult to collect sea tax on Haizhou."

This change of words can only be described as smooth and smooth, and he directly sold the Tianhai Corps, the Shipping Department, the dignitaries of Tiannan City, and the local aristocratic families in Haizhou, etc.

no way.

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist.

If he continued to hide it for them, Wei Dayong doubted whether he would be able to walk out of this hall today.

The most important thing is that he can clearly realize that the source of the previous pressure did not come from the protectors around Yang An, but from Yang An himself.

What does this mean?

This shows that the Thirteenth Prince in front of him is not the innate warrior that everyone imagined. He is very likely to be a top Dharma Master, or even a first-level Heavenly Master of Martial Arts.

But the latter guess was too scary, so he felt that Yang An was more likely to be a top Dharma Master.

After all, if Yang An really wants to break through to the first-level heavenly master in martial arts, he doesn't need to participate in any examination to become a king, and he can be directly canonized as the prince of Daqian.

Of course, it is also possible that Yang Anyou used a certain magical weapon to put so much pressure on himself.

But never mind which one.

This all means that the Thirteenth Prince in front of him is not as simple as he appears, and he is not someone he can provoke.

So after he figured out the pros and cons in a very short period of time, he poured beans into the bamboo tube and told everything he knew without daring to think anything else.

"So it turns out that I wrongly blamed Wei Junhou."

After Yang An heard this answer, he did not use the topic as an excuse. He smiled lightly and said: "Marquis Wei Jun, there is no need to panic. I have no intention of holding anyone accountable. After all, I have a little understanding of the situation in Haizhou and know the difficulty of Marquis Wei Jun."

"Inquiring about this matter today is just for verification."

"Since my father has appointed Wei Junhou as the commander of the Ten Thousand Households of the Haizhou Imperial City Division, he naturally recognizes Wei Junhou's abilities and has great trust in Wei Junhou."

"So this king's assessment for the title of king requires a lot of support from the Marquis of Wei Jun."

Yang An had a pleasant look on his face, and expressed his admiration for Wei Dayong, the Commander-in-Chief of Haizhou Imperial City.

The solemn atmosphere in the hall suddenly and quietly dissolved, like a spring breeze.

Wei Dayong seemed to understand, and immediately knelt on his knees and said respectfully: "I have no talent, but only a martial arts skill. I can dedicate my life to Da Qian and His Highness. I am willing to go through fire and water for Your Highness, and I will never give up even if I die!" "