Taiping Inn

In early summer, the heat was already slightly warm, and the wind was filled with heat, so I could no longer wear thick clothes. Rich families changed their silk early. Although Emperor Taizu once issued a decree that merchants and people should not wear silk and satin. But nowadays, eating has become a problem, and the government can't even control the refugees everywhere. Who cares about this?

However, when it comes to refugees, as the governor of Qizhou Qin Daofang pacified the Baiyang riot army in Qizhou, it has improved greatly now.

At this time, on the official road from Luzhou to Qizhou, people in rags could be seen everywhere, heading towards Qizhou. Due to the war, many fields in Qizhou were deserted, especially those large households who annexed the land. The land under his name became a masterless thing and was distributed to other people by the Governor's Office, which was also considered a good thing done by the Qingyang Sect. Now that the Qingyang Sect has been completely pacified, Qin Daofang naturally wants to recruit refugees to go back to farm the fields. Moreover, Qin Daofang has made a promise that as long as it has been cultivated for more than seven years, the fields can become their own property and the land deed will be issued by the Governor's Office. For ordinary people, food is the most important thing for people. With the ground, there will be food. Naturally, I yearn for it. In addition to the people of Qizhou who escaped from war, there are many people from other prefectures. Crowding towards Qizhou.

There are also merchants who have been cutting off their business paths for a long time because of the war. They also smelled the business opportunities. The Governor obviously had great ambitions and had broken the practices of the imperial court in the past. At this time, Qizhou Although he was still poor and had great potential, many businessmen came to Qizhou one after another.

For a moment, everyone went to Qizhou.

On this road where everyone goes to Qizhou, two riders seem a little conspicuous because they are not going to Qizhou, but from Qizhou to Luzhou and go upstream.

These two cavalrymen were Li Xuandu and Shen Changsheng who left Langya Mansion.

This was the first time Shen Changsheng rode a horse. He grabbed the reins carefully, his waist and back were straight, and he did not dare to be distracted at all. On the other hand, Li Xuandu had to be much more casual, and at this time, Li Xuandu had already changed into a suit. He was no longer a deep dress with big sleeves, but a neat short dress with a short and wore a head. He put on a hat to cover most of his eyebrows and eyes. Because his sword "Bone Flowing Light" was too conspicuous, he wrapped it in cloth and placed it horizontally on the horse's back, making it clear that it was a weapon at first glance.

After walking out for a while, Li Xuandu saw a convoy coming from a distance, with large and small carriages, some carrying luggage and some carrying people. The carriages in the middle were quite gorgeous, and it was obvious that the owner of the carriage was extraordinary. In addition, there are many guards carrying weapons in the convoy, who are calm and sophisticated.

Shen Changsheng asked curiously: "Mr. Li, who are those people?"

Li Xuandu just glanced at it and replied, "I'm returning home."

"Returning home?" Shen Changsheng didn't understand for a moment: "I think everyone in Qizhou is all ordinary people, why do they have such wealthy families?"

Li Xuandu smiled and explained, "There is nothing I don't understand. When the Qingyang Sect was in trouble, they fled from Qizhou. Now that the Qingyang Sect has been pacified, they will naturally come back. After all, they are still in Qizhou. There are many things that they can’t take away, such as houses and land. So this time they come back, they want to take back their own things.”

Shen Changsheng widened his eyes: "It's been so many years, can he come back?"

"It's hard to say." Li Xuandu shook his head and said, "It depends on the meaning of Qinbutang. If Qinbutang only wants to be a good official in the court, then he will probably be able to come back, but if Qinbutang wants to change the Sun and Moon to a new one, he will probably be able to do so. Oh my god, then I won’t come back.”

Shen Changsheng became increasingly confused: "Why would Qinbutang not come back if he wanted to change the sun and moon to the new sky?"

Li Xuandu asked back, "Do you know who the people's biggest enemy is?"

Shen Changsheng thought for a while and said a little uncertain: "Is it the emperor?"

Li Xuandu shook his head and said, "No."

Shen Changsheng said again: "Is it Qingyang Sect?"

Li Xuandu still shook his head: "It's not right."

This time, Shen Changsheng shook his head: "Then I can't guess, please tell me Mr. Li."

"It is a gentry, and it also envelops officials at all levels. The one who can really exploit the people is not the emperor, but the gentry. Those who can enter the emperor's pockets are not one ten." Li Xuandu said: "In a sense," In the above, the interests of the emperor are consistent with the interests of the people."

This was the first time Shen Changsheng heard this statement, so he disagreed: "But the emperor built a large-scale construction, was extremely extravagant, and the people were suffering. This is what he said in history books."

Li Xuandu said "Ha": "The emperor's extravagance will indeed suffer the people, but what really makes the people suffer is not how much money the emperor spent, but because the emperor's extravagance will give the officials in the middle an excuse to plunder. Take Emperor Shizong of this dynasty for example. He once wanted to build a large-scale construction and build a palace. The budget for the two palaces was 5 million taels, but just building one palace cost 5 million taels, and it made the people of the world complain. No. But if you really need to calculate carefully, is it a lot of five million taels? It's so much that the people of the world can't afford it? The tax revenue of our Great Wei is as large as 90 million taels a year, only five hundred Ten thousand taels of silver will make the people's opinions surge. What do you think is the reason?”

Shen Changsheng was stopped and didn't know how to answer.

Li Xuandu sighed lightly: "Building a palace requires wood, a piece of material that can be used as a pillar. It costs 100,000 taels of silver to transport it from Yunzhou to the imperial capital. How many prefectures and counties have greedy for silver? This is just wood, marble and granite. How can it not be much if these pieces are calculated? The emperor spent a liang of silver on it, and officials at all levels below could take this opportunity to plunder ten taels. The emperor spent a liang of flowers. Five million taels of silver, they will plunder 50 million taels of silver. Don’t think it’s too much. This is not something that a person is greedy, but something that officials at all levels are corrupt. The people cannot bear it. If you live, you can only sell your land and go to the gentry."

"Gentlemen do not have to pay taxes to the court. The people join the gentry's command, so that they can exempt the taxes from the court. But in this way, the court cannot collect taxes, so they have to increase taxes to those who have not devoted themselves to the gentry, and force them to force them to These people could not survive, so they also joined the gentry. Over time, the gentry's land became more and more, and the imperial court's taxes were less and less. And because of the increasing number of people, there were more and less people, and the people's land was less and less, and the people's Life is getting harder and harder, and it is difficult to save food and wasteland by just being able to live. If there are natural disasters and man-made disasters, refugees are everywhere, and the court is unable to provide relief, the people will rebel, the court has no money, and even less able to suppress the rebellion, so the court has to perish. ”

Shen Changsheng was stunned when he heard this.

Li Xuandu continued: "So every time the dynasty changes, we have to go through a chaos, kill a bloody trip, destroy all the old gentry and nobles, and distribute their land to the people. At the same time, the people have experienced it. After the war, the number of people decreased greatly. At this time, there were fewer people and more land. The food planted could not only be enough for oneself to eat, but also save it for wasteland. So everyone lived and worked in peace and contentment. This was the peaceful world."

"The emperor and the court are one, prospering and losing together. But the officials are different. After they finish this position, no matter what they do in the future, there are loyal ministers and honest officials who take the world as their responsibility, but there are also those treacherous ministers and corrupt officials who seek wealth and honor. The court takes the people as its foundation, and the king, the country, and the people depend on each other. The people hate corruption, and the emperor also hates corruption. The people think that the corrupt officials have robbed their money, and the emperor thinks that these corrupt officials have stolen his money and have harmed them. His world. That's why I say that in a sense, the interests of the emperor and the people are consistent."

"Some dynasties have been in a bad state and have not had a great chaos. Instead, they have become throne with conspiracy from the court. The gentry and nobles still occupy a large amount of land, and the people still have no land. Such dynasties will have short lives and will not last long."

Shen Changsheng shook his head, feeling a little clear, and still a little confused: "Mr. Li means that if Governor Qin is for the good of the people, he would not return the land to those wealthy families, right? ”

Li Xuandu nodded and praised, "You can teach me."