Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Without registering their households in Wu Commandery, those displaced people were essentially still displaced.

What kind of head tax would displaced people pay?

Which displaced people would have land?

Furthermore, with even the land tax waived, these displaced people, who were clearly farming the land and living peacefully in Wu Commandery, wouldn't have to pay any tax at all.

"This is exploiting loopholes in the Han law," Zhang Zhao said, somewhat agitated.

"Nonsense!" Li Ji said solemnly.

"Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have poured into Wu Commandery. I have already exhausted all my efforts to ensure that these displaced people don't starve to death. Where would I find enough manpower to register each and every displaced person?"

"It's not that I want to exploit loopholes in the Han law, but that Wu Commandery simply doesn't have that much manpower."

"And without corresponding household registration, how can I collect the population tax from those displaced people? This violates Han law, and I will not do it."

At that moment, Zhang Zhao finally understood what it meant to be eloquent.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao had now fully realized what was happening.

Li Ji clearly didn't want to pay even a single copper coin of tax from those displaced people to the imperial court. That's why he simultaneously waived the land tax and population tax for the displaced people in this way, and then collected the Wu Commandery government's tax from those displaced people through the so-called repayment of loans.

A great talent who could settle hundreds of thousands of displaced people and multiply the amount of cultivated land in a very short period of time, if he really wanted to, how could he not be able to register those displaced people at the same time?

Even if Li Ji stubbornly insisted that he was powerless, Zhang Zhao was certain that Li Ji was doing it on purpose.

"Then when does Master Zikun plan to register those displaced people?" Zhang Zhao asked again.

Li Ji frowned slightly, and then replied.

"Currently, the yamen is short of manpower. I'm afraid it will take three to five years to free up enough people."

After a pause, Li Ji continued.

"Furthermore, those loans are also necessary. After all, the granaries in the treasury are almost overrun with rats. Moreover, if we unconditionally give land and houses to the displaced people, where is the fairness for the local residents of Wu Commandery?"

After a moment of silence, Zhang Zhao cupped his hands, took the bamboo slip, and withdrew.

Li Ji watched Zhang Zhao's departing figure, tilted his head slightly, and instead missed Gu Yong somewhat.

If it were Gu Yong, he would never have asked so many questions, but would have chosen to play dumb.

Zhang Zhao didn't know what his position would be. It seemed necessary to have the Embroidered Uniform Guard observe him more closely.

Caring for the people?

Or caring for the Han Dynasty?

Or simply asking questions?

However, Li Ji actually knew that the land tax of the current Han Dynasty was relatively light, but the population tax was quite heavy. In addition, rampant corruption and the increasing severity of land annexation gradually led to a miserable life for the common people at the bottom.

It's just that the Han Dynasty hasn't completely collapsed yet, and Li Ji is naturally powerless to change the Han Dynasty's tax system. Even if he wanted to reduce the burden on the people of Wu Commandery, it was impossible.

Therefore, besides ensuring that there were no other miscellaneous taxes, Li Ji could only temporarily exempt those displaced people who fled to Wu Commandery from land tax and head tax by exploiting this loophole.

Instead, he collected money and grain to ensure the operation of the Wu Commandery government by means of repaying loans, so that the people could recuperate.

And the current Emperor's death was not far away. Only after the Han Dynasty completely collapsed could Li Ji truly begin to change the tax system under Liu Bei's rule.

What Li Ji didn't know was that Zhang Zhao, after leaving, didn't return directly to the main hall, but instead found Liu Bei and recounted the conversation with Li Ji in detail.

Finally, Zhang Zhao concluded. "My lord, from what I have seen, Li Zikun may not have the Han Dynasty in his heart, which is why he is creating all sorts of pretexts, wanting to embezzle the taxes that should belong to the imperial court for his own personal use."

After listening silently, Liu Bei stroked his beard and said. "Is that so?"

Immediately, Liu Bei seemed to deliberate for a moment before continuing.

"In that case, Zibu should act according to Zikun's words for the time being. Don't alarm Zikun. I will secretly investigate and weigh the matter before making a decision."

"Yes, my lord."

Zhang Zhao nodded before turning to leave.

After Zhang Zhao left, Liu Bei turned to Xiahou Bo, who was beside him, and asked. "Jichang, what do you think is the purpose of Zhang Zibu's actions?"

"Bo dares not speak rashly," Xiahou Bo replied.

"Perhaps, it's mostly about vying for power…"

Liu Bei muttered to himself, with a hint of regret in his tone.

Originally, Liu Bei thought that Zhang Zhao was also a talented person in government affairs, and intended to cultivate him as Li Ji's deputy in government affairs, so that Li Ji could relax a lot on weekdays.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhao had been in the yamen for less than a month, and after realizing that the entire yamen was almost entirely controlled by Li Ji alone, he had some thoughts.

"However, Zikun's administration is indeed a bit sensitive. If he's not careful, he will be used by those with ulterior motives and attacked. Jichang, you must help Zikun keep an eye on things and don't let any rumors that are unfavorable to Zikun spread in the city."

"Yes, my lord," Xiahou Bo replied.

After thinking for a while, Liu Bei continued.

"Also, record everything that Zhang Zibu said just now and send it to Zikun for him to read. Whether Zhang Zibu should be given important positions, temporarily used, or abandoned, let Zikun weigh it himself."

"Yes, my lord."

As Xiahou Bo responded, a look of sympathy for Zhang Zhao couldn't help but appear in his eyes.

To secretly provoke the relationship between the lord and Master Zikun, although the lord seems to be indifferent, I'm afraid he has already been blacklisted in the lord's heart.

Even if Master Zikun doesn't mind this matter at all, I'm afraid he will never be reused by the lord in the future.

When Li Ji received this record of Zhang Zhao's words, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Originally, Li Ji was wondering what Zhang Zhao's purpose and position were in asking so many detailed questions, but unexpectedly, it was actually to compete for power.

However, Li Ji thought more deeply than Liu Bei.

As Sun Quan's teacher in the original trajectory, Sun Quan's "balance" was probably deeply influenced by Zhang Zhao.

In this way, Zhang Zhao's purpose was clear at a glance.

Zhang Zhao didn't fail to understand that Liu Bei and Li Ji had a very good personal relationship, and he also understood that Liu Bei had the Han Dynasty in his heart.

Therefore, judging by himself, he believed that Liu Bei would create another confidant to check and balance Li Ji when he knew that Li Ji was disrespectful to the Han Dynasty and held great power.

A typical Eastern Wu style, it can only be said that Zhang Zhao is worthy of being Sun Quan's teacher in the original trajectory.

'It's a pity that the land belongs to Eastern Wu, and the people belong to Shu Han…'

Li Ji secretly said, but he didn't deliberately pursue Zhang Zhao's intentions.

Now is the time to employ people, if Zhang Zhao can still be used, then use him again.

At worst, Zhang Zhao likes the way of checks and balances so much, then in the future, send him to some places suitable for playing this game.

And Zhang Zhao's talent is indeed beyond doubt.

With Zhang Zhao's cooperation, not only did the yamen, which had lost Gu Yong, continue to operate smoothly as usual, but also many government loans were confirmed and implemented one by one.

In the beginning, many displaced people who had just settled in Wu Commandery were quite confused, but eventually, after learning that all taxes would be waived for the next three years, and they only needed to repay the Wu Commandery government four hundred to five hundred coins per household each year, almost every displaced person began to sing praises of Liu Bei.

After all, compared with the taxes stipulated by the Han Dynasty, the money and grain required to be given to the Wu Commandery government was almost half less.

Originally, Liu Bei's already extremely high prestige in Wu Commandery was greatly enhanced again.

While the people of Wu Commandery were almost truly entering a stage of peaceful and prosperous life, Madam Gan and Cai Zhaoji gave birth to sons on the same day in July, both were boys.

This matter made Liu Bei happy for a full half month, not only happy to have an heir, but also for the coincidence and fate between him and Li Ji, repeatedly lamenting.

"In this life, I was not able to be born in the same year, same month, and same day as Zikun, but your and my direct sons were born in the same year, same month, and same day, undoubtedly destined to be brothers."

Because Madam Gan had a dream of swallowing the Big Dipper before giving birth, Liu Bei still gave his direct son the nickname "Adou", and enthusiastically took the initiative to name Li Ji's son "Li Xiang", saying that with Li Ji's talent, his son should also have the appearance of a prime minister.

Li Ji could only accept Liu Bei's high expectations with a smile.

In fact, for his own direct son's expectations, Li Ji believed that as long as he was not a great villain, harming the people, then it would be enough.

If Liu Bei eventually wins the world, then as long as Li Ji can enjoy his old age, his descendants will be guaranteed to be rich and carefree, and there is no need to struggle at all.

On the contrary, a family with two prime ministers is sometimes very easy to cause jealousy.

Therefore, Li Ji often felt that it didn't seem impossible for his son to be a waste, if he could become a talent, then he would become a talent, if he couldn't become a talent, then he would just lie flat.

Liu Bei also did not forget to follow the previous agreement, and when the direct sons of both parties were a hundred days old, he made Liu Adou and Li Xiang become brothers, hoping that the two of them would support each other for life and be as close as brothers.

Because Li Xiang was born an hour earlier, Li Xiang was the elder brother and Adou was the younger brother.

However, compared to Liu Bei, who poured a lot of love on these two young children, Li Ji's attention was more focused on Yizhou and Yingzhou.

The development of Yizhou is as expected.

With the full cooperation of Guan Yu and Gu Yong, in the past half year, a small city has been established in Yizhou with the village as its prototype, and the contact with the Yizhou survivors is quite smooth, and no major friction has occurred.

On the contrary, Guan Yu's unique and majestic image shocked the Yizhou survivors, almost worshiping Guan Yu as a god descended from heaven.

In addition, the Xu Fu's voyage to the east records forged by Jia Xu after a long time are also about to be unearthed.

As the autumn harvest in Wu Commandery concluded, the granaries were practically overflowing with grain. Furthermore, Wu Commandery had spent the better part of the year preparing its troops, truly embodying the phrase "elite soldiers and ample provisions."

Coupled with Gan Ning's ever-growing reputation as the "Brocade Sail Bandit," Wu Commandery naturally took the opportunity to expand its navy extensively.

Currently, Wu Commandery's naval forces alone number over fifteen thousand.

This caused Li Ji, who had been deliberately restraining himself, to feel a sense of impatience.

Before the Great Han officially descended into chaos, he wanted to remove Yingzhou from the chessboard. Moreover, pacifying the chaos would require the vast amounts of gold and silver ore found in Yingzhou.

Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone, a double stroke of good fortune?